Cracked Stone

At midnight, the candle flames in Thunderclap Hall wavered, while the stench of blood mingled with the charred smell of pine oil and coiled between the rafters and pillars.

Chu Ning sat upright in the gilded punishment chair, the Start of Winter Blade laid across his knees. Its edge reflected twenty-six faces as pale as paper.

"Steward Chu..." The Courtyard B apprentice collapsed to his knees, the hem embroidered with the Wang family's hidden insignia trembling violently. "I'm willing to cut off one finger."

The blade flashed!

A severed finger, trailing beads of blood, rolled across the blue bricks. The apprentice's scream caught in his throat.

"Next."

Outside the punishment hall, wind and snow howled as twenty-six blades flashed in succession.

When the last severed finger struck the ground, the Law Blade hummed as it returned to its sheath.

Chu Ning rose and brushed the bloodstains from his robe. His gaze swept over the prisoners curled up like shrimp. "If you dare repeat the offense, I'll cut off more than your fingers."

The morning mist had yet to disperse when an ear-splitting boom erupted from the cliff behind Thunderclap Martial Hall.

Chu Ning stood bare-chested before a massive three-zhang boulder. His ragged cloth trousers whipped in the mountain wind, while the thunder patterns on his back writhed like living things. He gripped the Rusty Saber in both hands, purple lightning spitting from its blade as it ground the stones beneath his feet into powder.

"One thousand nine hundredth time."

He muttered softly, angling the blade toward the heavens.

Half a month ago, he had accepted the deathmatch trial, slaughtered the Wang family's lackeys with Thunderous Force, and washed the punishment hall in the blood of its traitors.

Now, everyone in the martial hall held their breath. Even Instructor Zhou's remaining followers had shrunk into corners, trembling like frightened mice.

But Chu Ning knew that his feud with the Wang family was far from over. The true threat still hung over his head.

The Wang family could pounce at any moment, like a venomous snake.

If they targeted his elder sister, he would be powerless to resist.

At that thought, he raised his blade and brought it down again.

Boom!

The blade light, wrapped in a thunder dragon, struck the same crack in the cliff face. Shattered rock sprayed like rain, yet the crack extended only half an inch.

For half a month, he had hacked away without pause, constantly practicing the Thunderclap Saber Art.

"Not enough!"

Chu Ning wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. The web between his thumb and forefinger had long since split open, exposing bone.

Ever since he had been promoted to steward, he came to the cliff to practice his saber at dawn every day, then soaked in the Medicine Pool at dusk to temper his body. Even the harshest instructors in Courtyard A clicked their tongues in amazement. This madman was actually tempering his flesh like an iron billet.

The Chaos Divine Order hummed within his sea of consciousness:

Repayment condition: Split open a three-zhang-thick boulder with one slash

Blood-red characters pressed down on him like shackles.

"If the Heaven Dao wishes to temper me..." He bent his knees and gathered his strength, thunder patterns exploding from his spine. "Then I'll temper a blade that can sever the heavens!"

The saber momentum abruptly changed!

The Rusty Saber no longer struck straight down. Instead, following the incomplete "Start of Winter Form" from the Thunderclap Saber Art, its edge trembled like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, every ounce of force condensing into a single point.

Clang—!

The piercing shriek of metal and stone colliding tore through the clouds. At last, the massive boulder split with a spiderweb of cracks.

Blood seeped from Chu Ning's ears and nose, yet he bared his teeth in a wild laugh. "I did it!"

His saber momentum grew increasingly frenzied, purple lightning coursing through the cracks. When the one thousand nine hundred ninety-ninth slash fell, heaven and earth suddenly fell silent.

Crack.

A faint sound of splitting came from the heart of the rock. The three-zhang boulder thunderously divided in two. Its cut surface was smooth as a mirror, reflecting Chu Ning's blood-soaked figure.

Repayment condition fulfilled!

The Chaos Divine Order exploded with ten thousand zhang of blood-red radiance. A vision of raging thunderstorms suddenly appeared before Chu Ning's eyes.

He saw himself standing among the nine heavens, drawing down countless bolts of lightning to temper his saber. He saw the Rusty Saber peel away inch by inch, revealing a purple crystal blade like the bones of a flood dragon. He also saw the thunderclouds in his dantian roil and surge, condensing into a dragon-shaped vortex of qi!

"Break!"

Chu Ning roared and swung his saber. A thunder dragon howled from the edge and flattened half the cliff. When the smoke and dust cleared, he was kneeling on one knee, while the Rusty Saber's rust had transformed into purple crystal fragments scattered across the ground.

"Good! Good! Good!"

Lei Wanjun's wild laughter shook the snow from the cliff. The old man strode into the ruins, his ninth-grade pressure lifting the shattered stones into the air. "In thirty years, you're the first person to cultivate the Thunderclap Saber Art to minor mastery!"

Chu Ning rose, leaning on his saber. Thunder patterns flickered beneath his newly regenerated skin. "You flatter me, Hall Master."

"Flatter you?" Lei Wanjun bent a finger and flicked the Start of Winter Blade. It hummed like a sob. "At the height of the Thunder Saber Sect, its master used this saber art to kill three eighth-grade martial artists in succession! Sadly, later generations were fools and actually demoted this art to low-grade Yellow rank."

Before he had finished speaking, the old man suddenly formed his fingers into a sword and thrust straight toward Chu Ning's brow!

Chu Ning's pupils shrank. He blocked on instinct.

Clang!

Qi exploded into a three-zhang wave. Chu Ning staggered back seven steps, the web between his thumb and forefinger splitting open. Lei Wanjun merely stroked his beard and laughed heartily. "Your thundercloud qi sea has formed. You've already stepped across the threshold of mid-tier tenth grade!"

Chu Ning froze.

Martial artists were divided into ten grades, and each grade had upper, middle, and lower tiers. He had only entered tenth grade half a month ago, yet he had already reached mid-tier tenth grade?

"Is this the price for repaying the Chaos Divine Order?" He rubbed the saber's hilt, recalling the excruciating pain of his meridians bursting when he had advanced the technique in advance.

A gilded invitation slipped from Lei Wanjun's sleeve. "On the third day of next month, the Azure Cloud Arena will be held in the prefectural city for the first time in ten years. Thunderclap Martial Hall needs one disciple to participate."

Chu Ning glanced over the flood-dragon emblem on the invitation. It was the insignia of the prefectural governor of Qingzhou Prefecture.

"The arena champion may choose any Profound-ranked technique from the martial repository and will also receive the prefectural governor's recommendation to join the Town Martial Division." Lei Wanjun's eyes burned brightly. "But I want you to announce publicly, after taking the championship, that you were taught by Thunderclap Martial Hall!"

The mountain wind whipped the invitation until it crackled loudly.

Chu Ning understood at once: the old hall master intended to use the Azure Cloud Arena to restore the Thunder Saber Sect's reputation.

"What if I refuse?"

"Wang Chongshan, the Wang family's third elder, broke through to eighth grade yesterday." Lei Wanjun sneered. "Do you think killing a few lackeys will let you sleep soundly? Only the tiger skin of the Town Martial Division can suppress the fangs of those aristocratic clans!"

The long saber suddenly trembled. Chu Ning remembered the relaxed expression on his elder sister's face when she drank her medicine, and the feral grin of the Wang family thugs when they kicked down the door.

He reversed his grip and sheathed the saber, the thunder patterns vanishing into his sleeve. "I'll take the champion's seat."

"Excellent!"

Lei Wanjun's withered fingertips brushed over the yellowed fragment. Along its edges, charred cracks crawled like centipedes.

He tossed the fragment toward Chu Ning. The scroll unfurled by itself in midair, revealing half of a torn meridian diagram. "The second level of the Thunderclap Saber Art doesn't just sever enemies. It must also sever the inner demon!"

The moment Chu Ning caught the scroll, the ink on it suddenly twisted and transformed into a thunder serpent that darted into his palm.

Excruciating pain spread from his wrist bones to his heart meridian. He let out a muffled groan, and the Rusty Saber nearly slipped from his hand.

That night, the Medicine Pool in Courtyard A boiled like a furnace.

Chu Ning sat cross-legged at the center of the pool, the Rusty Saber laid across his knees.

The blood-red characters of the Chaos Divine Order appeared once more:

Current order master attempting to rely on low-grade Yellow-rank technique: "Thunderclap Saber Art" (Second Level)

Advance condition: None

Repayment condition: Strike a stone without breaking it to succeed; after repayment, the next advance effect will be unlocked!

He tilted his head back and drank the Bone Forging Powder in one gulp. Its medicinal power stabbed into his marrow like steel needles.

A boundless wilderness suddenly unfolded before Chu Ning's eyes.

Countless broken sabers stood buried in scorched earth, each blade engraved with incomplete moves from the Thunderclap Saber Art.

The wind swept blood sand through the forest of blades, producing shrill wails like the cries of ten thousand wronged souls.

"What is this... the Blade Tomb?"

Chu Ning tightened his grip on the Rusty Saber and discovered that the blade was resonating with the nearest broken saber.

The latter bore the second half of the "Start of Winter Form"—precisely the portion missing from the fragment Lei Wanjun had given him!

Clang!

The broken saber suddenly burst forth, its blade light shooting straight for his throat.

Chu Ning instinctively swung to block, but the Rusty Saber shattered the moment they touched. Excruciating pain spread from his neck. He staggered to his knees and touched a hand coated in illusory blood.

"The loser's soul returns to the Blade Tomb."

A low voice echoed across the wilderness. Chu Ning realized in shock that his wound was healing at astonishing speed, while one of the cracks on the broken saber opposite him had vanished.

He suddenly understood: every broken saber was a trial of death!