Sword One, White Rainbow Piercing the Sun!

Within the Sea of Consciousness, a single sword hung aloft, like a blazing great sun, radiating dazzling sword-light.

Within the ten-thousand-zhang sword-light, scenes of destruction, termination, and slaughter endlessly played out, evoking a sense of great terror and great extinction.

Lu Chen stood beneath the sword-light. The moment his "gaze" fixed upon it, the sun-like sword-light trembled slightly, projecting a thread-thin wisp of sword-light that pierced into his pupils.

As the sword-light entered his eyes, Lu Chen's mind jolted, and a series of fragmented, chaotic visions flashed before him:

A rainy night, with torrential downpours and ink-black clouds piled like mountains. A lightning bolt spanning the sky flickered once, appearing and vanishing in an instant. The rain clouds split apart, revealing a bizarre divine demon whose head and body were severed...

An ocean, where fierce winds howled and monstrous waves raged. A radiant aurora flew in from beyond the heavens, and then the wind ceased, the waves calmed, the sea parted, and the aurora plunged straight into a ten-thousand-zhang abyss. The head of an ink-black dragon, thousands of zhang long, burst apart...

A starry sky, where countless stars burned silently, radiating light and heat. A white rainbow streaked past, piercing through a star. The star vanished in an instant. An enormous three-legged golden-feathered bird, of unimaginable size, tumbled out from the star's core, its massive body slowly splitting in two...

An unknown span of time passed.

The visions that had flashed before Lu Chen's eyes shattered and dissipated, leaving only that lightning bolt, that aurora, and that white rainbow imprinted in his mind.

Then, the lightning, aurora, and white rainbow slowly merged into one, forming a vivid brand that seemed eternal and indestructible.

Grasping the "brand" deep in his mind, formed from the fusion of lightning, aurora, and white rainbow, Lu Chen understood in his heart:

This was "Sword One."

It was the first feedback from the Sword Intent of Extermination of Immortals, now that he had finally unlocked the first layer of its seal.

With Sword One, there would naturally be Sword Two, Sword Three, and so on...

But for now, he was only qualified to comprehend "Sword One."

The subsequent Sword Two, Sword Three, and beyond would require accumulating more "Extraordinary Sword Techniques" to unlock higher layers of the seal.

As for the current Sword One.

Lu Chen immersed his mind in that brand, and various insights gradually dawned upon him.

This was a pure "Sword Intent."

It had no techniques, nor any mental cultivation methods.

He needed to comprehend this pure "intent" himself, uncover the "Dao" contained within the sword intent, and integrate it into his own swordsmanship, thereby manifesting his own unique "Sword One."

So, how could he express with his own swordsmanship that lightning bolt which tore apart the rainy night and beheaded the demon, that aurora which calmed the wind and waves, split the ocean, and slew the ink-black dragon, and that white rainbow which traversed the cosmos, pierced through a star, and instantly killed the Golden Crow?

Lu Chen, contemplating the "brand" deep in his mind, sank into the deepest meditation.

Outside.

Huang Rong told Lu Chen to continue practicing his swordplay, while she returned to sit at the stone table under the big tree, crossing her legs, swinging her little feet, and contentedly cracking melon seeds—melon seeds were already popular in the Song Dynasty, though sunflower seeds weren't around yet; people cracked watermelon seeds instead.

What delighted her most about Lu Chen developing Internal Energy wasn't just that the "Immortal Realm Journey" was now almost certain. It was the sense of accomplishment from personally carving a rough jade into a polished vessel. That joy and satisfaction brought her genuine happiness.

But just as she was happily cracking seeds, she saw Lu Chen, after executing a forward-thrust stance, suddenly freeze as if struck by a paralysis technique. His body stiffened, his face went blank, his eyes hollow, looking as if his soul had left him.

Huang Rong thought he might have suffered a qi deviation. Startled, she quickly tossed aside the melon seeds, leaped to his side in a single stride, and pressed her hand against his lower abdomen.

When qi deviates during practice, external interference is most dangerous. Especially when the person cannot cooperate actively, rash intervention could easily worsen the injury.

However, Lu Chen had only just developed Internal Energy, cultivated through the Maiden of Yue Swordplay, making it both weak and sparse. Although Huang Rong wasn't known for her Internal Energy either, she was still the Daughter of the Eastern Heretic. Her Internal Energy might not be abundant, but its purity and refinement far surpassed that of ordinary martial artists.

With her Internal Energy cultivation, even if Lu Chen had truly suffered a qi deviation, she could easily suppress his Internal Energy and save him.

Yet, when her small hand pressed against Lu Chen's lower abdomen and she sent her Internal Energy to investigate, she found his thin Internal Energy was fine. Though it had stopped circulating because he ceased his practice, it remained obediently in his dantian, not running wild.

"What's going on?"

Huang Rong was puzzled. She looked at Lu Chen again, still with a blank face, hollow eyes, and a rigid body frozen in the forward-thrust stance.

"Lu Chen, Lu Chen..."

She waved her hand before his eyes and called his name a few times, but got no response. A hint of panic crept into her heart.

No matter how clever she was, she was still just a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl. Having never seen such a strange state in Lu Chen, she truly didn't know how to handle it, and naturally, she grew flustered.

Just as she was anxious and at a loss, Lu Chen's eyes suddenly twitched. In his hollow pupils, a dazzling gleam like a sword-light flashed. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, and a faint smile appeared on his wooden face.

Huang Rong's eyes widened. Had he snapped out of it on his own?

Could it be that he had been faking it all along, just to see her worried and helpless, and laugh at her?

Thinking this, Huang Rong couldn't help but pout, ready to scold him. But before she could speak, Lu Chen laughed out loud:

"Ha, I've got it!"

This sudden laugh startled Huang Rong a little. Just as she was about to ask what he had figured out, she saw him looking at her with wild joy, laughing:

"Rong'er, I've got it! Thank you, Rong'er. If you hadn't taught me, I wouldn't have understood so quickly!"

With that, he grabbed Huang Rong by her slender waist, lifted her high, and spun her around twice on the spot.

Huang Rong froze, her pretty face flushing slightly. Then, embarrassed and annoyed, she slapped his shoulders repeatedly:

"What nonsense are you up to? Put me down this instant!"

Lu Chen, immersed in the ecstasy of his "enlightenment," suddenly realized that his behavior was quite inappropriate for someone of this era. He quickly set Huang Rong down, stepped back two paces, and apologized:

"Sorry, Rong'er. I was just too happy. I got carried away and offended you..."

Huang Rong puffed out her cheeks, pouted, and put her hands on her hips, pretending to be angry.

"So you do know you bumped into me? Honestly, what's gotten into you, acting all crazy for no reason..."

In truth, she herself found it a bit strange.

With her skill, let alone Lu Chen hugging her, it was nearly impossible for him to even touch a corner of her clothes.

Yet when he laughed and reached out to embrace her, she hadn't thought to dodge. Instead, she let him scoop her up and lift her high...

Recalling her own reaction just now, Huang Rong felt a little embarrassed.

Of course, she wouldn't admit to any fault on her part, nor did she want to dwell on this awkward topic. She cleared her throat lightly, her small face flushing as she asked with curiosity:

"What exactly did you comprehend?"

"Rong'er, just watch!"

Lu Chen smiled, strode to the thick tree in the courtyard that took two arms to encircle, steadied his breath, and assumed the starting stance of the basic "Stabbing Sword Style." Fixing his gaze on the trunk, he raised the wooden sword and thrust.

The moment the wooden sword shot out.

A mysterious sensation surged from the depths of his heart. Following that thread of mystery, his foot suddenly stamped the ground. An explosive force erupted from his sole, like a reverse tide, coiling up through his knee, thigh, waist, and spine, layering and amplifying as it climbed. It passed his shoulder, traveled down his arm, condensed in his fingers and palm, and burst forth through the sword.

Swish!

The originally blunt wooden sword, driven by this explosive, reverse-tide force, let out a sharp wind howl.

In Huang Rong's eyes, when Lu Chen thrust that sword, the wooden blade turned into a streak of black light, a fleeting afterimage—so fast that even with her eyesight, she could barely catch a blurry shadow.

Then came a dull thud. The wooden sword stabbed fiercely into the trunk, burying itself a full half-foot deep before the blade snapped with a crack.

"Huh?"

Huang Rong's lips parted slightly, her bright eyes wide as saucers, her face a mix of stunned adoration and shock.

In the Martial Arts World, there was indeed a saying that grass, wood, bamboo, and stone could all become lethal weapons—but that required an extremely profound and pure Internal Energy, attainable only by peerless masters.

In Huang Rong's view, anyone who could pierce the tough, dense living wood of a tree with a blunt practice wooden sword, driving it half a foot deep, was beyond the reach of anyone in the current age except the Five Greats of the World.

But what was she seeing now?

Lu Chen said he had "comprehended," then used the basic "Stabbing Sword Style" to unleash a thrust as fast as an afterimage, piercing the tree trunk with a wooden sword half a foot deep!

This...

How did he do it?

How could it be possible?

Just as she was reeling in shock, she saw Lu Chen, who had executed that astonishing strike, suddenly go weak in the knees. With a plop, he sat down on the ground, his chest heaving like a bellows, while beads of sweat rapidly seeped out across his forehead and neck. In an instant, the back of his clothes was soaked through with sweat.

"..."

Huang Rong blinked. One strike, and he was already collapsed from exhaustion?

Even though that single sword strike had the power of a Five Greats-level attack—enough to shock the world—she still felt a little urge to laugh...

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