Cracked Stone

The Thunderclap Hall was lit by flickering candles at midnight, the scent of blood mingling with burning pine oil swirling between the beams and pillars.

Chu Ning sat upright on the gilded execution chair, the Start of Winter Blade resting across his knees. Its blade reflected the pale, paper-like faces of twenty-six individuals.

"Steward Chu," an apprentice from Courtyard B knelt on the ground, his sleeves embroidered with the Wang Family's hidden patterns, his voice trembling, "I'll cut off a finger..."

A flash of blade light!

A severed finger, dotted with blood, rolled onto the blue bricks. The apprentice's scream caught in his throat.

"Next."

Outside the execution hall, the wind howled with snow. Twenty-six streaks of blade light lit up one after another.

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

Chu Ning rose, dusting the bloodstains from his robe. His gaze swept over the contorted figures, curled up like shrimp: "If you dare to offend again, I'll break more than just your fingers."

The morning mist had yet to dissipate when the cliff behind Thunderclap Martial Hall erupted with deafening roars.

Chu Ning stood bare-chested before a thirty-foot-tall giant rock. His tattered cloth pants were whipped by the mountain wind, and the Lightning Patterns on his back writhed like living creatures. He gripped the Rusty Saber tightly, purple lightning spitting from its blade, grinding the碎石 beneath his feet into dust.

"One thousand nine hundred times."

He murmured, pointing the blade tip towards the sky.

Half a month ago, he had accepted a death trial, using Thunderous Force to slaughter the Wang Family's lackeys and purging traitors in the execution hall.

Now, the entire martial hall was in a state of terrified silence. Even Instructor Zhou's remnants cowered in corners.

But Chu Ning knew that his feud with the Wang Family was far from over, and a true threat still loomed overhead.

The Wang Family could strike like venomous snakes at any moment.

If they targeted his Elder Sister, he would be powerless to resist.

With this thought, he raised his saber and struck down again.

Boom!

The blade light, wrapped in a thunder dragon, struck the same crack in the rock face. Debris splashed like rain, but the crack only spread half an inch.

For half a month, he had been chopping non-stop, practicing the Thunderclap Saber Art ceaselessly.

"Not enough!"

Chu Ning wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. His tiger's mouth had already split open to the bone.

Since being promoted to steward, he had come to the cliff to practice his saber every day from Yin hour to Shen hour, and bathed in the medicine pool to temper his body. Even the most rigorous instructors in Courtyard A marveled at how this madman forged his body like iron.

The Chaos Divine Order hummed in his Sea of Consciousness:

[Repayment Condition: Split a thirty-foot-thick giant rock with one saber strike]

The blood-red characters pressed down like shackles.

"Since the Heavenly Dao wishes to temper me," he bent his knees, gathering strength, the Lightning Patterns exploding from his spine, "then I shall forge a saber that can cleave the heavens!"

His saber stance changed drastically!

The Rusty Saber no longer chopped directly. Instead, it followed the incomplete "Awakening of Insects" stance of the Thunderclap Saber Art. The blade vibrated like a viper's tongue, each ounce of force condensed into a single point.

Clang——!

The piercing shriek of metal striking metal tore through the sky. The giant rock finally cracked with a spiderweb pattern.

Blood trickled from Chu Ning's nose and ears, but he grinned wildly, "It's done!"

His saber momentum grew even more frenzied, purple lightning coursing through the cracks. As the one thousand nine hundred and ninety-ninth strike landed, heaven and earth fell into sudden silence.

Crack...

A faint cracking sound echoed from the heart of the rock. The thirty-foot giant rock split in half with a roar. The cut surface was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting Chu Ning's blood-soaked figure.

[Repayment Condition Achieved!]

The Chaos Divine Order exploded with ten thousand feet of bloody light. Chu Ning's vision was suddenly filled with an illusion of raging thunderstorms.

He saw himself standing in the highest heavens, drawing myriad bolts of lightning to temper his saber; he saw the Rusty Saber peel away inch by inch, revealing a purple crystal blade body like dragon bone; he even saw the thunderclouds churning in his dantian, condensing into a dragon-shaped vortex!

"Break!"

Chu Ning roared, swinging his saber. A thunder dragon roared from the blade's edge, leveling half the cliff. When the smoke and dust cleared, he knelt on one knee, the rust on his saber having turned into purple crystal fragments scattered on the ground.

"Good! Good! Good!"

Lei Wanjun's wild laughter shook the accumulated snow from the cliff. The old man strode into the ruins, his Ninth Rank pressure causing the surrounding stones to float. "In thirty years, you are the first to have practiced the Thunderclap Saber Art to minor success!"

Chu Ning leaned on his saber and stood up, the Lightning Patterns flickering beneath his newly formed skin. "The Hall Master flatters me."

"Flatter?" Lei Wanjun flicked his finger at the saber, and the Start of Winter Blade hummed as if weeping. "When the Thunder Saber Sect was at its peak, the Sect Master used this saber art to kill three Eighth Rank martial artists consecutively! It's a shame that later generations were dull-witted, even demoting this art to a Yellow Tier low-grade technique..."

Before he could finish speaking, the old man suddenly pointed his fingers like a sword and thrust directly at Chu Ning's brow!

Chu Ning's pupils contracted sharply. He instinctively blocked.

Clang!

The surge of energy exploded outwards, creating a thirty-foot wave of force. Chu Ning retreated seven steps, his tiger's mouth splitting again. Lei Wanjun, however, stroked his beard and laughed heartily, "Your Thunder Cloud Qi Sea has formed. You've already stepped onto the threshold of Middle Tenth Rank!"

Chu Ning was stunned.

Martial artists were ranked from ten to one, with each rank divided into upper, middle, and lower grades. He had only reached the tenth rank half a month ago, and now he was directly in the middle grade of the tenth rank?

"Is this the price for repaying the Chaos Divine Order?" He rubbed the hilt of his saber, recalling the excruciating pain of his meridians bursting when he had preemptively received the cultivation technique.

Lei Wanjun slid a gilded invitation from his sleeve. "On the third day of next month, the prefecture city's once-a-decade 'Azure Cloud Arena' will be held. Thunderclap Martial Hall needs a disciple to participate."

Chu Ning scanned the flood dragon patterns on the invitation; it was the emblem of the Qingzhou Prefecture Governor.

"The arena champion can choose any Profound Tier cultivation technique from the martial arts library, and more importantly, receive a recommendation from the Prefecture Governor to serve in the 'Town Martial Division'," Lei Wanjun said, his eyes burning. "But after you win, I want you to publicly declare your master as Thunderclap Martial Hall!"

The mountain wind rustled the invitation, making it flap noisily.

Chu Ning instantly understood: the old hall master wanted to use the Azure Cloud Arena to restore the prestige of the Thunder Saber Sect.

"What if I refuse?"

"Wang Chongshan, the third elder of the Wang Family, broke through to the Eighth Rank yesterday," Lei Wanjun sneered. "Do you think killing a few thugs will bring you peace of mind? Only the tiger skin of the Town Martial Division can suppress the fangs of the aristocratic families!"

His long saber suddenly trembled. Chu Ning remembered his Elder Sister's relaxed brow as she drank her medicine, and the sneering laughter of the Wang Family thugs as they kicked down the door.

He sheathed his saber with a reverse grip, the lightning patterns disappearing into his sleeve. "I'll take the champion's position."

"Excellent!"

Lei Wanjun's withered fingertips brushed over the yellowed, tattered scroll. The scorched edges of the paper looked like crawling centipedes.

He tossed the scroll to Chu Ning. It unfurled in mid-air, revealing half of a torn meridian diagram. "The second level of the Thunderclap Saber Art not only slashes enemies, but also slashes inner demons!"

The moment Chu Ning caught the scroll, the ink on it twisted and transformed into lightning snakes that shot into his palm.

Excruciating pain spread from his wrist bone to his heart meridian. He grunted, and the Rusty Saber almost slipped from his grasp.

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

Chu Ning sat cross-legged in the center of the pool, the Rusty Saber resting on his knees.

The bloody text of the Chaos Divine Order reappeared:

[Current Order Master is attempting to rely on a Yellow Tier low-grade cultivation technique: "Thunderclap Saber Art" (Second Level)]
[Pre-advance condition: None]
[Repayment condition: Must successfully cleave stone with a single strike. Upon repayment, the next pre-advance effect will be unlocked!]

He tilted his head back and drank the Bone Forging Powder. The medicinal power pierced his bone marrow like steel needles.

Suddenly, a vast wilderness unfolded before Chu Ning's eyes.

Countless broken sabers were stuck in the scorched earth, each blade carved with incomplete stances of the "Thunderclap Saber Art."

The wind swept blood-red sand across the sea of blades, emitting shrieks like the wails of thousands of vengeful spirits.

"This is... the Blade Tomb?"

Chu Ning gripped the Rusty Saber in his hand and found that its blade was resonating with the nearest broken saber.

That saber was carved with the latter half of the "Awakening of Insects Stance," precisely the missing part from the tattered scroll Lei Wanjun had given him!

Clang!

The broken saber suddenly struck out, its blade light aimed directly at his throat.

Chu Ning instinctively blocked with his saber, but the Rusty Saber cracked the moment they made contact. Intense pain spread from his neck, and he stumbled to his knees, his hands finding a handful of illusory blood.

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

A low voice echoed across the wilderness. Chu Ning was shocked to find his wound healing rapidly, while a crack on the broken saber opposite him had disappeared.

He suddenly realized: each broken saber represented a death trial!