This Blade Spanned a Full Hundred Years

"Was that Saber Intent?"

The middle-aged man from Qingbei Martial School drew in a sharp breath. "He actually cultivated the Wind Severing Saber Technique to perfection and even comprehended Saber Intent?"

"Who would have thought that such a tiny Beihe City could produce a prodigy like this?" Elder Lin's eyes gleamed brilliantly as well. "Little Zhang, this time, you mustn't compete with me again."

Behind the Beast Fighting Arena.

Lin Yuanliang's expression was incomparably grim. Eleven fighting beasts—this time, he had suffered grievous losses.

"Ten mutated beasts? Nothing more than that."

A strange light flickered in Lin Lingfei's cool eyes, making Lin Yuanliang forcibly swallow back the curse on the tip of his tongue.

"Lingfei, don't tell me you've taken a liking to him?" Lin Yuanliang's expression was somewhat strange. His younger sister had always been proud and aloof, yet now she was actually praising a boy her own age.

Lin Lingfei shot her brother a sidelong glance and said slowly, "If every martial artist in Great Xia were like him, unafraid of mutated beasts..."

"Grandfather and Father might not have died."

The moment those words fell, Lin Yuanliang's expression stiffened, and his gaze darkened as well.

At this moment, Jiang Li ignored everyone's shock, as well as the cheers and curses.

He continued looking ahead as fresh lines of text emerged on the Yellow Book.

[Slain a Ninth Grade mutated beast. Obtained 13 years of Lifespan.]

[Slain a Ninth Grade mutated beast. Obtained 10 years of Lifespan.]

[Slain a Ninth Grade mutated beast. Obtained 12 years of Lifespan.]

This time, killing ten fighting beasts had earned him 128 years of Lifespan.

Now, his Cultivatable Lifespan had reached 1171 years.

Even after repaying the 1100 years of Lifespan he owed, he would still have 71 years left to live.

At that thought, Jiang Li could not help but hold his head high and puff out his chest, feeling light all over.

Unfortunately, the Yellow Book could not be used to repay debts in advance.

Even so, as long as he left those 1100 years of Lifespan untouched, once the settlement came a hundred days later, he would escape the danger of being erased.

As for the more than one million in external debts he owed, he had killed eleven mutated beasts. At one hundred thousand per beast, that should amount to 1.1 million, no matter what.

For a moment, Jiang Li felt that his future was bright.

But before his smile could last long, a chilling sensation suddenly crawled over his scalp.

Acting on instinct, Jiang Li gripped his saber and spun around.

What entered his sight was a giant spider as tall as a person, its spider legs like spears and its face like an evil ghost, enough to make one's scalp tingle.

Even Jiang Li felt cold air rising in his heart.

Without the slightest hesitation, he unleashed the Wind Severing Saber Technique, colliding with the giant spider's spear-like leg.

Sparks flew in all directions. A moment later, Jiang Li was blasted backward like a cannonball and crashed to the ground.

This giant spider's strength was several times greater than that of the fighting beasts before it.

"That's a Ghost-Faced Giant Spider!?"

In the stands, Elder Lin frowned.

The Ghost-Faced Giant Spider was an anomaly among Ninth Grade mutated beasts. Insect-type mutated beasts were often far more terrifying than other types at the same size.

This Ghost-Faced Giant Spider appeared to be Ninth Grade, but in truth, even an Eighth-grade Martial Artist would have difficulty dealing with it.

"No. A genius like this cannot be allowed to die." Elder Lin made his decision at once and prepared to intervene.

At such a young age, he had already comprehended Saber Intent. If he later mastered a Breathing Technique and awakened through an Awakening Stone, who knew what heights he could reach in the future?

But just as Elder Lin was about to act, Jiang Li slowly climbed to his feet in the Beast Fighting Arena.

His body was slightly hunched. The anger and viciousness in his eyes gradually faded, replaced by a calm, indifferent stillness that seemed capable of containing everything.

The instant he had been sent flying, Jiang Li knew that the Ghost-Faced Giant Spider before him was not an opponent he could defeat.

At least, not with his current cultivation.

If he wanted to survive, he had to become stronger.

But his martial arts and cultivation technique had already been raised to their limits. To become stronger again was almost impossible.

As he raised his eyes, he saw his information on the Yellow Book.

Name: Jiang Li Age: 18

Cultivatable Lifespan: 1171

Ability: None

Cultivation Technique: Hundred Battles Art, Fourth Layer (Ninth Grade Perfection)

Martial Art: Wind Severing Saber Technique (Ninth Grade Perfection) (Initial Saber Intent)

His cultivation technique had already reached its limit. To break through to Eighth Grade, he needed a corresponding cultivation technique. That was common knowledge.

Although his martial art had reached perfection, Jiang Li recalled from the original owner's memories that some people had cultivated martial arts to the ultimate extreme, broken through their shackles, and even created their own martial arts from them.

So if he wanted to become stronger, perhaps spending Lifespan on his martial art still offered a sliver of hope.

Just then, the Ghost-Faced Giant Spider moved. Its eight legs were like long spears as it charged toward him wildly.

It gave Jiang Li no more time to think. At once, a thought surfaced in his mind.

"Consume Lifespan. Continue cultivating the Wind Severing Saber Technique."

A new line of text appeared on the Yellow Book.

[Year 1: You continued cultivating the Wind Severing Saber Technique. The saber technique had reached perfection, and your Saber Intent had only just formed. You could advance no further.]

[Year 10: The Wind Severing Saber Technique still showed not the slightest progress. You fell into a predicament.]

[Year 29: You had become possessed by saber practice, endlessly repeating every stance and strike.]

[Year 52: You finally emerged from your possessed state. Your heart gradually calmed, yet you continued practicing every stance and strike of the Wind Severing Saber Technique without pause.]

[Year 71: You gradually began to forget each stance and strike of the Wind Severing Saber Technique. Your eyes held only the saber in your hand. You merged all techniques into a single slash, practicing ten thousand swings every day.]

[Year 103: You had completely forgotten the moves of the Wind Severing Saber Technique and even forgotten why you swung your saber. Yet at this moment, your eyes held only the saber in your hand and nothing else. You named this slash the Blade Wielding Technique.]

Martial Art: Blade Wielding Technique (Self-Created) (Initial Saber Intent)

Jiang Li opened his eyes. The 103 years recorded in the Yellow Book felt as though he had awakened from a great dream. His hand gripped the saber, and at this moment, he seemed to have fused as one with the blade in his hand.

A hundred and three years—countless hundreds of millions of saber swings.

At this moment, let alone a mere Ghost-Faced Giant Spider, even if it were a First-grade Martial Venerable, the gods of heaven and earth, Jiang Li would not hesitate in the slightest to deliver this slash.

His eyes held only the saber in his hand, only the instinctive memories formed through countless breaths—muscles, bones, and every part of his body melding with the act of swinging his blade.

The Ghost-Faced Giant Spider was already right before him. Its spear-like legs stabbed down fiercely.

Its power and speed were such that even an Eighth-grade Martial Artist would have to avoid its edge.

Yet Jiang Li did not move an inch. There was no panic, no attempt to dodge.

Only at the instant those spider spears were about to fall did the borrowed saber in his hand swing out.

Ninth-Rank Martial Artists could not even see Jiang Li's figure. Even Elder Lin, who had already reached the arena, stopped in his tracks.

Everyone only felt that Jiang Li had vanished. When he reappeared, he was already standing behind the Ghost-Faced Giant Spider.

Green blood slowly trickled down from the saber in his hand.

Jiang Li closed his eyes and slowly exhaled. Having exhausted all his strength, he looked as if a gust of wind could blow him over.

Bang!

Behind him, the Ghost-Faced Giant Spider collapsed. That single slash had forcibly split the entire Ghost-Faced Giant Spider in two.

After a brief silence in the stands, thunderous cheers erupted, as if they were about to overturn the entire Beast Fighting Arena.

Only then did Jiang Li slowly open his eyes. Beneath the mask, his calm gaze swept over the others' cheers and shouts. He slowly turned back to look at the dead Ghost-Faced Giant Spider.

[Slain a mutated beast. Obtained 27 years of Lifespan.]

Cultivatable Lifespan: 1095

An unprecedented look of horror and shock appeared on Elder Lin's face.

As he looked at Jiang Li standing there with his eyes closed, only one thought remained in his heart.

"This child's future is boundless!"