Gou Sword? Daoist Disciple Second Level!

Chen Xian could no longer tell whether the scene before him was an illusion or the real battlefield.

"Damn it, am I still human?"

"Slap!"

He swallowed his saliva and gave himself a slap across the face.

If he really ran, he would be a traitor to the human race!

Weighing the longsword in his hand, his murky gaze sharpened. Those aged eyes now turned eagle-like, scanning the battlefield for his prey.

Soon, he found his target.

It was a pig-headed monster holding a rake, its back to him, pressing down on a blade cultivator.

Chen Xian looked left and right, saw no other enemies, and quietly crept up behind the pig-headed monster.

"Oink! Oink oink, I wonder if you can still take three more rakes from Old Pig me. Die! Human!"

He drew closer and closer, even able to smell the pig stench on the monster's body.

The blade cultivator spotted him first, eyes flying wide open.

An old sword cultivator?

Could a sword cultivator expert have come to support him?

The blade cultivator's spirit surged. He fought back fiercely, blade light flashing, forcing the pig-headed monster back several steps in a row.

"Closer! Closer!"

Chen Xian's nerves were taut. He gripped the longsword tightly, his mouth dry.

The blade cultivator was already at his last gasp. Seeing Chen Xian within three meters of the pig-headed monster yet still not striking, he nearly lost his breath.

"Clang!"

His long blade was smashed in two by the Nine-Tooth Rake. The blade cultivator finally couldn't hold back and shouted:

"Senior! Save me!"

"Old Here I come!"

Chen Xian knew the opportunity was fleeting. With a quick step forward, he drove the sharp longsword into the back of the pig-headed monster's skull.

"Urgh—"

The pig-headed monster's eyes rolled upward. In its dying terror, it found a sword tip sprouting like a horn from its forehead.

"Whew... Thank you, senior, for saving my life!"

Having escaped death, the blade cultivator let out a long breath and cupped his hands in thanks, only to find the old man had vanished without a trace.

Chen Xian did not leave the battlefield. He didn't know how to leave the battlefield, either.

Bearing the mission to fight for the human race, he had to take it seriously.

But he also knew that pitting this aged body head-on against the enemy was suicide. So he took a different path, specializing in backstabs.

He lurked behind trees, lurked in the water, lurked beneath corpses...

From day to night, and from night to day again, three of his fingers were broken, his sword had two notches, and the pig-headed monsters he'd killed numbered no less than fifty, maybe thirty.

The sky was growing light. A foul, rotting swamp.

A pig-headed monster jumped into the stinking mud and began scrubbing itself comfortably.

But it didn't notice the mud behind it suddenly bubbling up in big, greasy bubbles.

Half a head rose eerily from beneath the sludge, revealing only a pair of bloodshot old eyes fixed on it.

"Oink... oink..."

The pig-headed monster scrubbed its armpits, letting out contented grunts.

Chen Xian wriggled bit by bit to its back, raised the broken sword in his left hand, and prepared to give it a chilling thrust through the heart.

Right there! "Die!"

"Clang!"

The broken sword stabbed into the pig-headed monster's back, but was blocked by something hard, then snapped cleanly in two.

"Oink oink! Human old man, I spotted you long ago!"

The pig-headed monster stood up, wearing a full set of Black Iron Back Armor, clearly prepared.

It reached out a six-fingered pig's trotter, ready to crush this bold old man in one grip.

Chen Xian stared at the massive hand reaching for him, not moving a muscle. Not out of fear—he just had no strength left. Struggling was no better than facing death calmly.

"Woo—"

The next moment, he heard a familiar horn sound from the sky.

But this time it wasn't urgent. The sound was long and drawn-out, as if calling to him.

Hearing the horn, the pig-headed monster that was about to crush Chen Xian suddenly changed expression drastically. It scrambled out of the swamp, abandoning even the axe lying nearby, and disappeared into the dense forest without a trace.

"Too exhausting..."

Having narrowly escaped death, Chen Xian felt his spirit completely give out, not a shred of strength left.

His entire body sank into the mire, until he was utterly submerged.

"Chen Xian! Wake up at once!" A cry that pierced straight through the soul.

Chen Xian's eyes snapped open. He found himself no longer in the swamp, but standing inside a vast golden hall.

It was like the legendary Heavenly Court—on both sides stood rows of luminous figures, solemn and still.

He raised his head and looked ahead, spotting a familiar silhouette.

It was the thousand-zhang-tall Faceless Dharma Image.

"Saint? Where is this?" Chen Xian's eyes widened slightly.

The Saint spoke: "This place is the Temple of Human Dao. You have gained the recognition of the Great Dao of the Sword. We are here to guide your path."

"Then am I on the Path of Defensive Sword, the Path of Offensive Sword, or the Path of Auxiliary Sword?"

Chen Xian's heart jolted. After cramming knowledge these past few days, he knew the Sword Dao was subdivided into several types, broadly categorized as defense, offense, and support.

For instance, Shangguan Hongyue walked the Path of Defensive Sword, specializing in protective sword techniques.

The Saint shook his head. "None of those."

Then Chen Xian heard the figures standing on both sides of the hall seem to be laughing.

He furrowed his brow. There was another kind of Sword Dao?

He pressed on: "Then what am I?"

"You walk the Path of Cautious Sword!" the Saint declared.

Though the Saint had no face, for some reason Chen Xian felt he was laughing too—why else would the Dharma Image be trembling slightly?

"What the hell is the Cautious Sword?"

Before Chen Xian could ask further, his vision blurred. When he opened his eyes again, he was already back in his own room.

"How? How could it be the Cautious Sword?"

He stared blankly at the Cyan Jade Tablet in his hand, still unable to process it.

Once more, he gathered his Dao consciousness and plunged it into the Cyan Jade Tablet.

This time, only a single point of light remained in the space—a sword.

"You have gained the recognition of the Sword Dao. I shall impart to you the guiding heart technique!"

That grand voice rang out again, and in the next instant, a heart technique appeared in Chen Xian's mind.

Take the sword as foundation, guide the Dao into the body.

Dao energy tempers the meridians, Dao power refines the bones.

Three yangs draw in energy, the cloud sea as the source.

Heart moves with the sword, intent aligns with heaven's mind.

Dao follows nature, heart and sword return to truth.

Chen Xian subconsciously recited the heart technique once, and his body suddenly trembled.

The method of inner vision came to him without a teacher.

He sensed a mysterious stream of energy entering his body from the outside, circulating through his meridians in major and minor cycles, finally sinking into his dantian and condensing into a wisp of solid Dao power floating above it.

And within his dantian, there was already another wisp of Dao power.

He quickly checked his panel:

[Realm: Dao Disciple, Second Layer]

[Cultivation Dao: Sword Dao (Cautious Sword)]

He had actually broken through a minor realm directly, reaching Dao Disciple Second Layer!

And the panel now had a new line of data.

"No way, when was this old man ever cautious? That was prudence! The Saint must have made a mistake!"

Seeing the "Cautious Sword" label marked after Sword Dao, Chen Xian was deeply unconvinced.

But he only dared to mutter under his breath.

Who knew whether the Saint in that illusion was real or fake?

What if the Saint heard him and started making things difficult? That would be disastrous.

Mm! Better lie low for now, cultivate until he reached Sainthood, then go argue with the Saint.

With that thought, he sat down again and continued practicing the Mystic Cloud Dao-Guiding Art heart technique.

First, he needed to break through to the Dao Master Realm and raise his lifespan cap—that was the urgent priority.