Heaven Dou Imperial Palace, rear courtyard.
The sun had just risen in the east, and the mist had yet to disperse.
But at that moment, the secluded rear courtyard presented a sight that made people's scalps tingle.
More than a hundred Yan Lingjis sat cross-legged.
Each one had a pair of fluffy, snow-white fox ears and nine bushy tails fanned out behind her.
Their black-and-red dresses spread across the bluestone ground, their necklines cut low, revealing large expanses of snow-white skin wrapped in black bodysuits.
Their peach-blossom eyes were lowered, their red lips gently pressed together. Their originally alluring, bewitching faces now bore a rare solemnity.
More than a hundred identical figures sat cross-legged in the not-so-large rear courtyard, packed together yet arranged in perfect order.
Their auras were linked to one another, as if they were a single entity.
This was Yan Lingji's sixth Soul Skill—Celestial Fox Nine Thoughts.
It consumed half her Soul Power to create a physical clone identical to her original self, with an independent consciousness.
The clones and the original shared their senses, cultivation experience, and combat insights.
She also had two other Soul Skills that reduced Soul Power consumption. With their effects stacked, creating three clones at once was no difficult feat.
Once her Soul Power recovered, she would continue splitting off more clones.
Every clone was deducing the Holy Spirit Sword Technique.
With more than a hundred clones studying it at once, her cultivation and deduction speed was effectively multiplied by more than a hundred.
And what these clones shared was not merely Yan Lingji's own sword insights.
Jiang Ce had shared the cultivation insights of Xiaomeng, Tide Enchantress, Snow Maiden, and the others with her.
Xiaomeng was the foremost disciple of the Taoist Heavenly Sect. At eight, she defeated six elders; at eighteen, she took charge of the sect. Her talent in the sword was unparalleled.
Yan Lingji herself had also been a martial artist in her original world. Though she could not be considered a top expert, she had a solid foundation in the Fire Charm Technique, the Fire Control Technique, and swordsmanship.
More importantly, in the mind of Jiang Ce, a modern man,
were countless novels, television dramas, anime, and manga he had seen in his previous life.
Ximen Chuixue's sword was merciless and pure. One stroke sealed the throat, never wasting a motion.
Ye Gucheng's Flying Immortal from Beyond the Heavens was like a shooting star from beyond the heavens, a dazzling sword that came from the west.
Every one of Xie Xiaofeng's strokes went for the vital points—vicious, decisive, and leaving no room for retreat.
The Nine Swords of Dugu: victory without a move, breaking every martial art beneath the heavens.
And there were also the wild ideas and concepts from those fantasy worlds: a sword that shattered ten thousand techniques, a sword that split open the gates of heaven, a sword that cut down the stars.
In his previous life, these things had been mere entertainment, topics for idle chatter over tea after a meal.
But in this world, with a genuine foundation in the sword,
those "concepts" became seeds.
They took root and sprouted in Yan Lingji's consciousness, intertwined with Xiaomeng's sword insights, and eventually grew into a towering tree.
A mere ten days passed.
The sword intent in the rear courtyard grew denser by the day.
At first, there had been only the faintest hint of sharpness, as if someone were holding an invisible sword and lightly tracing it through the air.
Gradually, the sword intent began to gather, taking shape from nothingness.
Translucent sword auras spread from the women, intertwining and winding around one another in the courtyard.
Sword One to Sword Eighteen took their meaning from "three threes never end, six sixes are infinite." The sword auras were like threads and nets, unbroken and ceaseless, trapping enemies unseen.
Yan Lingji and her more than a hundred clones repeatedly deduced, honed, and refined these eighteen sentimental sword forms.
They incorporated Xiaomeng's ideas about the sword and the sword masters' states of mind from Jiang Ce's memories.
The Holy Spirit Sword Technique that emerged in the end was no longer the original version created by Dugu Jian in the world of Wind and Cloud.
Instead, it was a brand-new version unique to Yan Lingji, blending the essence of swordsmanship from multiple worlds.
After Sword Eighteen, the sword intent began to change.
The gentle, waterlike sword aura gradually cooled, growing sharper and colder, stripped of every trace of emotion.
Sword Nineteen.
Sword Twenty.
Sword Twenty-One.
Sword Twenty-Two.
The merciless sword forms.
To move from sentiment to heartlessness, Dugu Jian had needed decades. He had built up his experience from youth to old age before completing his deductions of Sword Nineteen through Sword Twenty-Two.
But Yan Lingji, bolstered by Xiaomeng's foundation in the sword and Jiang Ce's ideas, with more than a hundred clones deducing at once—a threefold advantage stacked together—
had needed only ten days to devise these four heartless sword forms.
That was because Xiaomeng herself practiced the Path of Heartlessness.
The Taoist Heavenly Sect's "Heart Like Still Water"—
letting nothing disturb the heart, feeling neither joy nor sorrow, and making no distinctions—
was perfectly aligned with the later Holy Spirit Sword Technique's concept of "heartlessness."
Xiaomeng's understanding of "heartlessness" was even purer than Dugu Jian's,
because she had cultivated this state of mind since childhood.
So when Yan Lingji incorporated Xiaomeng's sword insights into Sword Nineteen through Sword Twenty-Two,
these four heartless sword forms displayed an even greater sharpness and chill.
At that moment, the more than a hundred Yan Lingjis in the rear courtyard
were wreathed in sword intent that had reached its peak.
Sword auras shot from their bodies, weaving together in midair, winding around one another and congealing into a vast web of sword energy.
Three threes never ended; six sixes were infinite. Layer upon layer, the sword auras stretched on without end, shrouding the entire rear courtyard.
Then, the sword intent began to spread outward.
It passed through the courtyard walls, through the palaces, through the city gates, and spread across the entirety of Heaven Dou Imperial City.
The people of Heaven Dou City were beginning another day.
A vegetable seller pushed a handcart down the street.
Clanging and hammering rang out from the smithy, while the teahouses were already full of early-rising patrons.
Suddenly, everyone stopped what they were doing.
A chill rose from their spines, like a bucket of ice water dumped over their heads, making them shudder from head to toe.
Some looked up at the sky, their pupils contracting sharply.
The clouds directly above Heaven Dou Imperial Palace were being torn apart by an invisible force.
They rolled away from the center, revealing the deep-blue sky.
And within that blue expanse, the faint image of a gigantic sword floated in midair.
The sword was entirely transparent, yet it radiated a dazzling, icy light.
Its tip pointed down at the entire palace, as if it could fall at any moment.
"What—what is that?!"
"The sky...the sky is splitting open!"
"What kind of Soul Skill is this?"
Some Soul Masters with keen senses were pale as sheets.
They could clearly feel that the sword intent spreading from deep within the palace could no longer be described as merely "powerful."
It was pure killing intent, so sharp that even breathing became difficult.
"The sword...the purest swordsmanship!"
A middle-aged Soul Master stared fixedly at the sword's shadow in the sky, his voice trembling. "The greatest sword master on the Douluo Continent is Sword Douluo Chen Xin, a ninety-third-rank Titled Douluo, but even his sword intent...isn't this terrifying, is it?"
No one answered him.
Because everyone was wondering the same thing.
When had such a terrifying sword master appeared in the palace?
In the rear courtyard, the more than a hundred Yan Lingjis all opened their eyes.
Their peach-blossom eyes blazed with sharpness.
The eyes that had once been so alluring and bewitching now seemed like two unsheathed swords, so keen that no one dared look directly at them.
More than a hundred gazes focused on the empty sky at once.
The sword's shadow hovering above the imperial city trembled slightly, and its sword intent surged once more.
"Sword One to Sword Twenty-Two...complete."
More than a hundred voices rang out simultaneously, overlapping like heavenly music.
Then the clones began to merge.
One figure after another walked toward the original and fused into her.
With each clone that merged, Yan Lingji's aura grew stronger,
and the sword intent swirling around her grew denser.
When the last clone fused into her body, the sword's shadow hovering above the imperial city suddenly contracted,
becoming a condensed beam of sword light that descended from the sky and sank into Yan Lingji's brow.
A blue flower-shaped mark even appeared at the center of Yan Lingji's forehead.
In an instant, heaven and earth changed color.
The sword intent that had spread across the entire imperial city did not dissipate. Instead, it grew even sharper.
The people of Heaven Dou City felt the chill suddenly intensify,
as if an invisible Sword of Damocles had been laid across their necks, ready to fall at any moment.
"Enough, enough. Stop scaring people."
Jiang Ce's voice sounded in Yan Lingji's mind, touched with amusement.
"If this goes on, you'll scare the whole city into wetting their pants."
Yan Lingji's lips curled. The sharpness in her peach-blossom eyes slowly receded,
and the fierce sword intent ebbed away like a receding tide,
leaving her once more the alluring and bewitching Calamity Enchantress.
She raised a hand, and a strand of sword aura as fine as a hair gathered at her slender fingertip, dancing lightly there.
"Master, what do you think?"
"Not bad." Jiang Ce's voice carried a hint of approval.
"To deduce Sword One to Sword Twenty-Two to this level in ten days has far exceeded my expectations."
A pitch-black tentacle slipped out from beneath Yan Lingji's skirt and gently rubbed her red lips.
"I still have to thank you for your gift, Master."
Yan Lingji reached out and caressed the tentacle, kissing it once. Her peach-blossom eyes brimmed with allure.
"Otherwise, your servant could never have devised such a terrifying sword technique."
She knew very well that her talent had originally been only second-rate.
In her original world, she had counted as an expert, but she had been nowhere near the very best.
To deduce the Holy Spirit Sword Technique to the level of Sword Twenty-Two in a mere ten days,
she had relied on the sword foundation of Xiaomeng, shared by Jiang Ce; Tide Enchantress's use of spiritual power; Snow Maiden's insights into sound waves and ice; and Jiang Ce's ideas about the sword.
Only the combination of all these resources, together with the hundredfold deduction speed granted by the clones created through Celestial Fox Nine Thoughts, had brought about today's achievement.
"Dugu Jian was a genius of the sword. He and his beloved, Miyamoto Xueling, created Sword One to Sword Eighteen together.
They both had profound foundations in the sword, and completed the first eighteen sentimental sword forms while deeply in love."
Yan Lingji recalled the information Jiang Ce had instilled in her and spoke softly. "As for Sword Nineteen to Sword Twenty-Two, he spent decades moving from sentiment to heartlessness, building up his experience from youth to old age before completing his deductions."
She paused, a trace of emotion flashing through her peach-blossom eyes. "As for Sword Twenty-Three, it was an epiphany born of a lifetime of experience, gained in the final instant of his life.
In his battle against Xiong Ba, exhausted to the point of collapse, with his body dead and his life fading, his primordial spirit transcended the shackles of his flesh at the very last moment and grasped the ultimate sword that could freeze space and time."
"If Bu Jingyun hadn't interfered, Xiong Ba would have died to that sword without a doubt."
Jiang Ce's tentacle gently tapped her:
"So you've only deduced Sword Twenty-Two for now. You haven't reached Sword Twenty-Three yet."
"It's not that easy." Yan Lingji rolled her eyes at him. "Sword Twenty-Three is no longer a 'sword technique.' My current level isn't enough."
"But—" She changed tack, a sly glint flashing in her peach-blossom eyes. "With the ideas you shared, Master, together with Sister Xiaomeng's sword insights and the deductions of more than a hundred clones...Sword Twenty-Three is only a matter of time."
"I still owe all this to your gift, Master."
"What's yours is yours. Others can't envy their way into it. Luck is a kind of strength, too."
His tentacle gently brushed Yan Lingji's red lips, and the snow-white fox ears atop her head twitched.
"By the way," Jiang Ce changed the subject, "Xiaomeng and the others will soon be bringing back those twenty thousand or so Horned Scale Horses. You need to send people to receive them."
"Yes, Master. I'll send people right away." Yan Lingji nodded.
"The Heavenly Strategy Army's cavalry battalion is being expanded, and stables and a training ground have been prepared especially for this batch of Horned Scale Horses. As soon as they arrive, training can begin."
"Good." Jiang Ce paused. "On the other hand, construction of the Tyrannical Mechanism Art should be nearly complete, too. Go take a look."
Yan Lingji's eyes lit up.
The Tyrannical Mechanism Art—Earth-Breaking Three, the Hundred-Battle Divine Crossbow, Earth-Breaking Seven, and the Three-Zhang Bat Wings.
She had only heard of these things. She had yet to see the finished products with her own eyes.
"Yes, Master." She licked her red lips and stood up, her nine snow-white fox tails swaying gently behind her.
Her eyes reflected the wisps of smoke rising in the distance from the direction of the workshop.
Just as Master had said,
it was time to let the natives of the Douluo Continent experience what a crushing technological advantage felt like.
Before you continue