Breakthrough

Lin Hao had only taken a few steps when a sudden sharp pain struck his heart. He dropped to one knee, clutching his chest, beads of sweat as large as beans rolling down his forehead. The Sword Lord state could no longer hold, and he slowly reverted to his original form.

Checking his body, Lin Hao gave a bitter smile—that last sword strike had clearly drained every last drop of Spiritual Power left in him. His vision began to blur. Just before losing consciousness, he felt himself fall into a warm embrace.

"Lin Hao! Lin Hao!" Jiang Weiwei could no longer hold back; tears burst forth like a dam breaking.

"Weiwei, let's check Lin Hao's condition first," Su Xiaorui whispered in reminder.

Jiang Weiwei stifled her sobs, gently laid Lin Hao on the ground, and despite her own exhaustion, a green light suddenly flared around her. Martial Art: Withered Wood Meets Spring activated. Lin Hao was enveloped in a mass of green light, and in just a short moment, his external injuries were mostly healed. Seeing this, Jiang Weiwei increased her Spiritual Power output, but she had little left herself. A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.

"Weiwei, no!" Su Xiaorui hurriedly tried to stop her, but Jiang Weiwei ignored her, still squeezing out the last wisp of her Spiritual Power.

"Lin Hao, I won't let anything happen to you."

But it was not to be. Jiang Weiwei's Spiritual Power was nearly spent, and she couldn't heal Lin Hao. Seeing this, Su Xiaorui quickly intervened. "You can't keep using the Martial Art, or you'll damage your foundation."

"I..." Jiang Weiwei started to speak, but a wave of dizziness hit her, and she collapsed unconscious.

Just then, a fiery figure streaked across the sky with an unstoppable momentum. She halted above Su Xiaorui and the others, then descended to their side. The newcomer was none other than the overall commander of Vermilion Bird Fortress, Jiang Hanhan.

Taking in the ground littered with fierce beast corpses and the large and small craters everywhere, Jiang Hanhan fell silent. It seemed the battle was already over—she had still arrived too late. She walked over to the corpse of the Three-headed Earth Demon Mastiff, observed it for a moment, and furrowed her brow slightly. "Could someone have gotten here before me?"

Then, Jiang Hanhan approached Su Xiaorui and stated her purpose. Su Xiaorui exchanged a glance with the other instructors and recounted the events to Jiang Hanhan, though she omitted Lin Hao's involvement, simply saying that a mysterious expert had one-shot the Platinum-rank Three-headed Earth Demon Mastiff and then left. Jiang Hanhan had no reason to doubt her; from her observation, the strike that killed the Three-headed Earth Demon Mastiff was enough to match a Diamond-rank Expert. Afterward, Jiang Hanhan escorted everyone back to Vermilion Bird Fortress.

The moment she returned to the fortress, Jiang Hanhan reported the matter to her superiors. Jiang Tianhai was quite worried when he heard that both his daughter and Lin Hao had fallen unconscious, but Jiang Hanhan said they were merely drained of Spiritual Power and not seriously injured. Only then did Jiang Tianhai relax.

Three days later, Lin Hao slowly opened his eyes. He was lying in his own dorm room. He tried to sit up but found that aside from his eyes and mouth, he had no sensation anywhere else.

Damn, I'm not amputated from the neck down, am I? He checked his body and found it was still there, which put him at ease. Then he began to examine his internal condition: Spiritual Power depleted, multiple bone fractures.

He felt deeply frustrated. It seemed that behind the Sword Lord's immense power, a vast reserve of Spiritual Power was necessary to sustain it; otherwise, he'd end up like this, backlashed by the Sword Lord. The bone fractures were also from insufficient Spiritual Power, shattered by the sword energy.

Sigh, looks like I'll need some time to recover. Lin Hao stared gloomily at the ceiling.

Just then, the door suddenly swung open. A girl in a white dress walked into Lin Hao's room carrying a washbasin. Seeing Lin Hao awake, she was overjoyed. She set down the basin and immediately threw herself onto him.

"Lin Hao, you're finally awake!"

She was crying so hard, tears streaming down her face, that she didn't notice how priceless Lin Hao's expression was.

At that moment, Su Xiaorui heard the noise and rushed into Lin Hao's room. The moment she entered, she saw Jiang Weiwei hugging Lin Hao and sobbing, while Lin Hao's expression grew even more exaggerated—his features were scrunched up like they were at an emergency assembly.

"Damn, Weiwei, can you get off me first? You're killing me here."

Jiang Weiwei finally noticed Lin Hao's face and quickly climbed off him. Su Xiaorui stood at the door, watching the two of them with an amused look.

Realizing someone was at the door, Jiang Weiwei's tear-reddened face flushed even deeper.

Su Xiaorui walked over to Lin Hao's bedside, a teasing grin on her face. "Brother Lin Hao, you're awake, huh? You have no idea—you've been out for three whole days. My dear Weiwei hasn't slept a wink, taking care of you the whole time. I'm so jealous. You don't even know, she fed you water and food every day, and even changed your... mmmph!"

Jiang Weiwei, too embarrassed to care anymore, clamped her hand over Su Xiaorui's mouth. Lin Hao had no mood for Su Xiaorui's teasing. He shot Jiang Weiwei a grateful look. "Thanks."

That simple "thanks" warmed Jiang Weiwei's heart. "It's nothing. I'm just glad you're awake."

A week later, with Jiang Weiwei and Su Xiaorui's careful attention, Lin Hao finally recovered. The first thing he did was throw himself into intense cultivation. He chose to go into seclusion directly. His body needed the nourishment of Spiritual Energy. He went to the training room in the basement of his dorm, gripped a Silver-grade beast core, and entered a cultivation state. A torrent of Spiritual Energy surged into Lin Hao's body, and his body, like a thirsty man finding water in the desert, frantically absorbed the incoming energy. At the same time, the black Sword Box on his body slowly opened, also absorbing the influx of Spiritual Energy. In less than an hour, Lin Hao had absorbed an entire Silver-grade beast core. While marveling at his absorption speed, he also realized that part of the Spiritual Power he absorbed was being snatched away by the black Sword Box.

"Hey, I don't believe this. Let's see just how big your appetite is." Lin Hao then began a frenzy of absorption. In just one day, he absorbed ten Silver-grade beast cores. Once his body was full, the Sword Box finally stopped competing with him for the Spiritual Energy.

Whew, I'm finally back to peak condition, Lin Hao thought silently. Time to break through in one go. He took out a Gold-grade beast core and began to cultivate.

And so, five days passed in a flash.

On the evening of the fifth day, a muffled thud came from the basement of Lin Hao's dorm. Lin Hao slowly opened his eyes. He stood up and stretched lazily.

"I finally broke through to Bronze High-rank."

That's right, Bronze High-rank. The life-and-death battle with the Platinum-rank fierce beast had given Lin Hao many insights. That was also the reason he had jumped two minor realms.

"System, open the Character Attribute Panel."

Code
"Host: Lin Hao"
"Talent: Dual SSS-rank"
"Ability: Asura Annihilation Divine Thunder (Unique)"
"Martial Artist Profession: Sword Lord (Unique)"
"Level: Bronze High-rank Martial Artist, Bronze High-rank Ability User"
"Strength: 1900 points"
"Agility: 1700 points"
"Physique: 1700 points"
"Spirit: 2100 points"

Lin Hao burst out laughing after reading it. With his current stats, even against a Platinum-rank fierce beast without activating Sword Lord, he could go toe-to-toe.