World Extinction Path

Begonia Manor.

Ning Qiancheng gave Ning Xiaochuan a long, deep look, his expression full of approval. "Not bad. Although you cannot cultivate Martial Dao Profound Qi, you have not disgraced our Sword Pavilion Marquis's Mansion. You have a little of your third uncle's bearing from back then."

Ning Xiaochuan naturally guessed who this man was. He had to be the second uncle he had never met.

A legendary figure of the Sword Pavilion Marquis's Mansion.

Ning Xiaochuan cautiously asked, "Second Uncle, weren't you leading troops elsewhere? Why have you suddenly returned?"

Ning Qiancheng said, "Ten years! It is time I came back for a look! This time, I invited a rather formidable Heart Nourisher from the Heavenly Mystery Dynasty for you. She should be able to cure your congenital illness."

Ning Xiaochuan had actually wanted to tell Ning Qiancheng that his congenital illness had already healed, but he remained guarded around strangers. After all, this was his first time meeting Ning Qiancheng, and he knew nothing about him.

Revealing all his secrets upon their first meeting would have been an exceedingly foolish thing to do.

Ning Xiaochuan continued concealing the Martial Dao Profound Qi within him. "Where is this Heart Nourisher now?"

"On the road. In two months, she will return to the Imperial City with me," Ning Qiancheng said.

"Two months... later?" Ning Xiaochuan stared at Ning Qiancheng, who stood right before him.

"What you see now is merely my Martial Soul Avatar. It can only last three days before dispersing. I am about to return to the Sword Pavilion Marquis's Mansion. Are you willing to come back with me?" Ning Qiancheng asked.

Ning Xiaochuan shook his head. "I cannot cultivate Martial Dao Profound Qi, so what would I return for? Even if I am to return, it will be after my congenital illness is cured and my Martial Dao cultivation reaches great completion."

"Haha! You have backbone."

Ning Qiancheng said no more. With a flicker of his body, he vanished from outside Begonia Manor. The next moment, he had already entered the Imperial City and arrived on a bustling, prosperous street.

His Martial Soul Avatar could only last three days. More than two days had already been spent on the journey, leaving him little time.

He had condensed his Martial Soul Avatar and rushed back in advance mainly to discuss an extremely important matter with the Old Marquis. Stopping the Cloud Marquis from storming Begonia Manor had merely been a matter of convenience.

Ning Xiaochuan looked at the ruined gate before him and let out a long sigh. "How much will this cost to repair now? You there! Yes, you. Go to the military camp at Nanshan Village and have their general send me the money for repairing the gate. Otherwise, I will go collect it myself."

With his hands behind his back, Ning Xiaochuan walked into Begonia Manor. As soon as he entered Purple Qi Garden, he saw Minister Tian sitting beside the pool, a table set before him as he held a small bronze horn cup and drank tea.

He was wrapped from head to toe in a black robe. Strands of black Profound Qi drifted from his body, shrouding him within them.

"You are quite at ease. Do you know that because of you, Begonia Manor nearly got razed to the ground?" Ning Xiaochuan said.

Minister Tian crossed his legs as he sat by the pool watching the fish, tea cup in hand. "Of course I know. Didn't Yue Wuyang already come?"

Ning Xiaochuan said, "Since you know Yue Wuyang has already come, then you should know he might return at any time. Now is the best time for you to leave."

Minister Tian shook his head. "I cannot leave. This is the best place to take refuge. Yue Wuyang has always been cautious and meticulous. He has surely arranged experts to watch Begonia Manor. The moment I step outside Begonia Manor, I will truly be walking straight into the net."

Ning Xiaochuan had never seen anyone with such thick skin. He no longer bothered with him and sat cross-legged beneath the Blood Toad Wood, beginning to break through the final hidden meridian.

After witnessing the formidable cultivation of people such as Yue Wuyang and Ning Qiancheng, Ning Xiaochuan had deeply realized his own shortcomings. Forget comparing himself to them—even compared to Yue Wuyang's disciple, Ji Hanxing, he was far inferior.

Ning Xiaochuan had only one hidden meridian left. Once he opened it, he would step into the Divine Body Realm.

Once he entered the Divine Body Realm, everything would be entirely different. The body would transcend mortal flesh, produce divinity, nurture Martial Dao Divine Powers, and unleash unimaginable strength.

Upon entering that realm, it would no longer be merely a contest of fists and kicks, but a clash of Martial Dao Divine Powers.

The third hidden meridian extended from the Martial Dao Star Palace straight to the cerebral cortex. It circled once within the brain, then returned to the Martial Heart Palace.

This hidden meridian was the shortest, yet Ning Xiaochuan had never dared open it lightly. The brain was the most fragile part of a person and could not endure the slightest injury. A minor injury could result in paralysis; a serious one meant death.

"Profound Qi goes directly into the brain. Is it meant to develop my intelligence? Or is it related to the soul?"

Ning Xiaochuan stopped thinking so much and began gathering Martial Dao Profound Qi, carefully striking at this hidden meridian.

Minister Tian sat not far away, staring at Ning Xiaochuan beneath the Blood Toad Wood. Surprise appeared in his bone-green eyes. "The hidden meridian actually passes through the brain. This is an exceedingly rare hidden meridian. If he succeeds in breaking through, this boy's intelligence will rise to another level. Interesting, interesting."

Every martial artist's hidden meridians were different. Some were merely a short segment within the body; some appeared only in the abdominal cavity; some existed only within the arms. Very few people had hidden meridians that entered the brain.

Generally speaking, the longer the hidden meridians within a martial artist's body, the greater their potential.

The more mysterious the hidden meridians within a martial artist's body, the more mysterious their constitution.

If Minister Tian had known that Ning Xiaochuan's first two hidden meridians had respectively traveled through his limbs and internal organs, he would likely have been even more astonished.

Those two hidden meridians nearly covered Ning Xiaochuan's entire body. A martial artist possessing such hidden meridians had truly boundless potential.

For three days straight, Ning Xiaochuan continued opening the third hidden meridian.

Though the third hidden meridian was the shortest, it was also the most complicated. He had to advance with the utmost care.

After a full three days, Ning Xiaochuan finally expanded the third hidden meridian to its final step.

Only the last step remained before he could break through this hidden meridian.

Streams of flowing Profound Qi surrounded Ning Xiaochuan's body, completely enveloping him.

"Break!" he uttered.

Boom!

The final hidden meridian was broken through. Martial Dao Profound Qi surged out of the Martial Heart Palace and rushed along the hidden meridian into the cerebral cortex.

One hidden meridian transformed into countless fine veins, like thousands upon thousands of rivers of Profound Qi flooding into the cerebral cortex. Ning Xiaochuan's brain cells became active, and the speed of his thoughts surpassed all reason.

Then the Profound Qi surged back into the Martial Heart Palace, completing one full circulation.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Every part of Ning Xiaochuan's body began transforming, continuously emitting explosive sounds. His blood vessels, bones, internal organs, and divine marrow all roared as arcs of lightning burst forth from his body.

Lightning radiated from within him outward.

Minister Tian, seated by the pool, was once again stunned. He fixed his gaze on Ning Xiaochuan. "The Divine Body he has cultivated seems far from ordinary. It is actually releasing lightning from within his body. Could it be the Celestial Phenomenon Divine Body?"

Minister Tian knew this was the crucial moment of Ning Xiaochuan's breakthrough, so he did not disturb him.

Between heaven and earth, Profound Qi rapidly flowed into Ning Xiaochuan's body. The naked eye could see strands of Profound Qi moving through the air, then vanishing into his pores as he absorbed them.

Within Ning Xiaochuan's heart, that blood-red Demon Sword was also madly absorbing Profound Qi and blood qi. The source of that blood qi was the Blood Toad Wood Tree beside Ning Xiaochuan.

The blood qi within the Blood Toad Wood Tree rapidly flowed into Ning Xiaochuan's body, causing even its bark to wither.

The Demon Sword spun within his heart. The blood veins on its blade became increasingly distinct, emanating a tremendous suction force.

Ning Xiaochuan felt the Demon Sword tugging at his soul, forcibly dragging it into his heart.

Ning Xiaochuan stood before the Demon Sword, feeling incomparably small, like a grain of sand. The Demon Sword, meanwhile, was boundlessly immense, like a blood-red mountain thrusting into the clouds.

"Who exactly are you? How did you hide inside my heart?"

Ning Xiaochuan felt that the Demon Sword was not like a sword at all, but more like a person—a person with intelligence. A woman's shadow appeared upon the blade of the Demon Sword!

The woman was unfathomably mysterious. Her long hair fluttered, her skin like jade and ice, her beauty immortal. Like a Divine Maiden in a painting, she inspired the urge to kneel and worship.

Ning Xiaochuan had not expected to actually call forth a person. He took two steps back. "Who exactly are you? How are you inside the sword?"

Yet the woman's bearing was nothing like that of a Divine Maiden. Instead, she resembled a witch overflowing with Evil Qi. "Sui Hanyu, third-generation successor of the World Extinction Path."

"World Extinction Path!"

At the sound of this name, Ning Xiaochuan felt his heart violently tremble. Images of mountains of corpses, seas of blood, and falling stars appeared in his mind. "Then how were you sealed inside the sword?"

Sui Hanyu did not answer Ning Xiaochuan's question. "There is a strand of World Extinction Sword Qi within your body. That means the World Extinction Sword Qi has chosen you as the fourth-generation successor of the World Extinction Path. It was also the World Extinction Sword Qi that brought you here, but we can only communicate briefly. Once your cultivation grows strong enough, the World Extinction Sword Qi will naturally bring you to see me. Then the doubts in your heart will naturally be answered."

Bang!

The scene before him shattered.

Ning Xiaochuan felt something more in his mind: strange inscriptions that gathered into a single character—"Sword."

"So the Demon Sword in my heart was merely formed from a single strand of World Extinction Sword Qi. One strand of sword qi is already this powerful; just how powerful must the World Extinction Sword itself be?"

Ning Xiaochuan closed his eyes and contemplated that character, "Sword." Suddenly, he opened his eyes and spat out one word. "Sword!"

A gigantic blood-red sword flew from his chest, carrying boundless demonic nature and sword qi that filled the sky as it slashed toward Minister Tian.

Its sword intent surged like a vast tide, carrying a chilling aura of slaughter.

Logically, with Minister Tian's cultivation, a martial artist who had only just reached the Divine Body Realm should not have posed the slightest threat to him.

Yet when the sword qi burst forth, it still gave him a fright. He felt as if a demon god had swung a sword down at him.