System, Add Points!

This Six-Winged White Tiger's strength clearly exceeded Shangguan Hongyue's expectations.

She had assumed that once the Six-Winged White Tiger was trapped by the Black Iron Cage artifact, she could easily slay it.

But she never expected that the Black Iron Cage, which weighed over a thousand jun when deployed, could actually be pushed open by the Six-Winged White Tiger.

Still, fortunately, the Six-Winged White Tiger's wings had been injured earlier by her sneak attack, preventing it from flying high or for long.

She, on the other hand, stood atop her flying sword, looking down from above.

She only needed to wear it down slowly with artifacts and techniques to take down the Six-Winged White Tiger.

So, although the battle was fierce, she herself had not suffered much injury.

She had also noticed the mortal villagers rushing over from the village.

But seeing that those villagers wisely stayed outside the battle range, she stopped paying them any attention.

"Roar!" The Six-Winged White Tiger leaped into the air again, trying to grab Shangguan Hongyue off her flying sword with its claws.

Shangguan Hongyue merely rose a bit higher, easily dodging the attack, and countered with a Sword Qi strike on the tiger's paw.

The Six-Winged White Tiger's paw immediately bled profusely, and it could no longer use its injured wings to leap high.

By now, it had begun to think of retreat.

Though its intelligence was not high, it knew that continuing like this meant certain death.

It hesitated no longer, turned around, and fled.

"Beast! Trying to run?"

Shangguan Hongyue's eyes sharpened, her hands forming seals in rapid succession as an extremely condensed silver sword light gathered swiftly above her head.

At the same time, a hundred-meter radius of light expanded outward from her, with a faint, barely visible beam locking onto and tracking the Six-Winged White Tiger's head.

But this technique clearly consumed a great deal of energy and was cumbersome to execute.

As the Six-Winged White Tiger was about to escape the light's range, the attack still had not fallen.

The Six-Winged White Tiger felt an intense killing intent hanging over its head the whole time, fleeing while looking back every few steps.

Just as it was ten meters from escaping the light's range, it suddenly felt something trip it, sending it crashing heavily to the ground.

The long-condensed sword light shot out from above Shangguan Hongyue's head, following the tracking beam straight toward its skull.

The Six-Winged White Tiger almost resignedly lay flat on the ground, no longer moving.

Just then, it suddenly saw a small, bleeding old man cursing as he picked himself up off the ground.

"Damn it, I lost another tooth!"

Chen Xian spat out a mouthful of bloody spittle with a tooth in it. This time, the teeth had been knocked out—both upper teeth, one on each side of his front teeth, perfectly symmetrical.

The Six-Winged White Tiger stared closely and saw that it was none other than that old man who had shoved the sugar-coated hawthorn skewer down its throat!

And just now, it was clearly this old man who had tripped it!

The second time!

Damn it to the sages' tablets, this old bastard had really screwed it over, this Mountain Lord!

"Roar!!" In an instant, the Six-Winged White Tiger, which had already resigned itself, lunged at Chen Xian, determined to trade life for life.

The sword light also curved in midair, following after him.

"What's that? So big, so white, so bright and dazzling."

Chen Xian, still a bit dizzy, squinted, trying to make out what was flying toward him.

Once he saw clearly, his soul nearly fled in terror.

"My life is over!"

Facing this tiger and sword light, a mere mortal old man like him had absolutely no way to dodge.

At death's door, he instead calmed down.

He quickly straightened his clothes, then calmly closed his eyes, ready to die with dignity.

Only, he regretted not having a cigarette in his mouth.

[Detected replicable trait: Innate Sword Bone (Yellow). Requires 10 replication points.]

[Note: First-time replication of a cultivation trait does not require direct contact with the target for 1 minute.]

At the critical moment, the system suddenly popped up with a reminder.

Chen Xian didn't hesitate for a second, directly selecting to replicate and bind it to the trait slot.

[Use successful! Replication points -10.]

Almost at the same time, he felt his spine crackle, and a powerful, sharp "Qi" instantly filled his entire body.

As long as he wanted, with just a thought, this Qi naturally generated from his spine would burst out of his body to protect him.

"Not enough, it can't block the tiger and the sword light's attack!"

Chen Xian instinctively sensed that the "Qi" inside him couldn't withstand the fatal strike.

A flash of inspiration struck his mind: "Refine! Add points to refine!!"

The refinement points that had been grayed out for sixty years finally lit up, and Chen Xian immediately began refining [Innate Sword Bone (Yellow)].

[Ding! Refinement point -1, refinement successful!]

[Innate Sword Bone (Yellow+1)]

[Ding! Refinement point -1, refinement successful!]

[Innate Sword Bone (Yellow+2)]

[Ding! Refinement point -1, refinement successful!]

[Innate Sword Bone (Yellow+9)]

Along with the continuous chime of deduction sounds, the sharp aura within his body grew denser and denser, until finally—

[Congratulations! Trait promotion successful! "Innate Sword Bone (Yellow+9)" has been promoted to "Mystic Jade Sword Bone (Mystic)!"]

With the trait's promotion, Chen Xian felt as though the Sword Qi within him had nearly condensed into a tangible substance.

What flowed through his meridians and blood vessels seemed no longer to be "qi," but sharp swords—each one, yet these swords not only refrained from harming his body in the slightest, but could also be mobilized at his will to any part of his body for attack or defense.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye. Before he could fully absorb the changes in his body, Chen Xian's attention had already returned to the outside world.

He sensed it. He opened his eyes.

That beam of sword light hurtling toward him—so powerful it could annihilate everything—now seemed like a puppy encountering a Tibetan mastiff, its very speed turning sluggish.

Chen Xian moved with a thought. His age-spotted hand swept before him.

The killing sword light instantly disintegrated before his eyes, scattering into harmless spiritual radiance that slowly dissipated between heaven and earth.

As for the Six-Winged White Tiger, it slammed on the brakes, its entire body trembling where it stood.

In its eyes, the old man it could have crushed with one paw just moments ago had suddenly transformed into a holy sword, its edge fully bared.

If its paw dared to strike down, it wouldn't be the old man torn to pieces—it would be itself!

It dared not attack Chen Xian, but now it was Chen Xian's turn to strike back.

A withered finger pressed against the Six-Winged White Tiger's forehead. A torrent of innate Sword Qi shot forth from the fingertip, piercing straight through the tiger's massive skull.

The light in the Six-Winged White Tiger's eyes faded rapidly. It crashed to the ground.

The Six-Winged White Tiger was dead!

"Such profound innate Sword Qi!"

Shangguan Hongyue's beautiful eyes widened slightly. She couldn't believe that her fatal strike, condensed from her Sword Bone's innate Sword Qi, had been so easily neutralized by the old man below.

She couldn't see through his cultivation level. He seemed like a mortal, yet carried a faint trace of cultivation?

No!

Someone possessing innate Sword Qi like this could never be a mortal.

Possessing innate Sword Qi meant that, like her, the cultivator had a Sword Heart or Sword Bone. Even without training, their cultivation would naturally rise to the ninth level of Sword Disciple.

He must be a senior sword cultivator whose cultivation was too high for her to perceive!

Realizing she was still standing in the air—a grave disrespect to a senior—she quickly urged her flying sword down to the ground.

Before her bare feet touched the soil, a pair of silver-threaded cloth boots automatically wrapped around them.

With her feet on solid ground, Shangguan Hongyue hurriedly put away her flying sword and strode quickly to stand before Chen Xian, bowing in salute: "This junior, sword cultivator Shangguan Hongyue, pays respects to Senior!"

"Did I overdo it?"

Staring at the Six-Winged White Tiger with a gaping hole in its head, Chen Xian couldn't help muttering while looking at his finger.

It was his first time using innate Sword Qi, and he hadn't controlled his strength well, draining nearly all of it from his Sword Bone.

A wave of emptiness washed through his body. The Mystic Jade Sword Bone, fused with his spine, vibrated faintly, as if protesting his wasteful behavior.

"Senior?" Shangguan Hongyue maintained her bowing posture and called out again.

The next second, a pair of rough, withered hands, dry as autumn wood, suddenly gripped hers tightly.

"I've finally found you. Good thing I never gave up~"

Chen Xian's murky old eyes brimmed with excitement, his face glowing red as he stared at Shangguan Hongyue: "Quick, take me back to the Mystic Cloud Sword Sect! I can't wait any longer!"