Trial Tower Ranking

"I wonder if the flying sword provided by the Trial Tower can be refined." Qin Huaian thought to himself, then sliced open his finger and let a drop of blood fall onto the flying sword.

Qin Huaian enveloped the flying sword with his divine sense and refined it. Before long, he sensed a faint connection with the sword. With a thought, he used his divine sense to control it as it revolved around him. It really worked!

Having refined the flying sword, Qin Huaian stepped onto the seventh flight of stairs.

"It's been so long. Why hasn't Senior Brother Qin come out yet?" Lin Qingxuan looked around the plaza.

When she had practiced swordsmanship with Qin Huaian before, she had been able to tell that although his cultivation realm was higher than hers, his swordsmanship seemed inferior to hers.

"I've already comprehended Basic Swordsmanship at the greater mastery level. I should practice with Senior Brother Qin more often from now on and help him improve his swordsmanship too." Lin Qingxuan secretly thought.

At that moment, she saw Duanmu Zhiqin walking toward her.

"Over here!" Lin Qingxuan waved. "Senior Sister Duanmu, what rank did you get this time?"

"Sixty-sixth. A few places better than last time," Duanmu Zhiqin said calmly.

"Wow, Senior Sister, you're amazing! Which floor did you reach?" Lin Qingxuan asked excitedly.

"I cleared the fifth floor and lost on the sixth-floor arena. What about you, Qingxuan?"

"I cleared the fourth floor, but unfortunately, I couldn't even pass the fifth flight of stairs. I ranked 466th." Though Lin Qingxuan spoke of regret, a trace of excitement still showed on her face.

"You're already very impressive, Qingxuan. You should be the highest-ranked outer sect disciple at the seventh level of Qi Refinement on our East Dawn Peak." Duanmu Zhiqin smiled.

"By the way, Senior Brother Qin still hasn't come out?"

"No. I wonder which floor he's reached." Lin Qingxuan stared at the rotating light gate of the Trial Tower.

On the seventh flight of stairs, streak after streak of sword radiance came one after another. Relying on his extended divine sense, Qin Huaian dodged as many of them as he could. The flying sword in his hand swung without pause, slashing at the sword lights he could not evade. At last, Qin Huaian shattered the final streak of sword radiance and stepped onto the seventh-floor arena.

Without giving Qin Huaian any time to rest, a figure had already appeared on the arena. As expected, it was another puppet at the ninth level of Qi Refinement. Its swordsmanship should have reached the perfected level as well.

Very soon, Qin Huaian learned that he had guessed right again!

The puppet struck with its sword. Qin Huaian hurriedly raised his own blade to block, but a tremendous force surged through the flying sword, forcing him back several steps. Qin Huaian could hardly withstand that blow.

As Qin Huaian retreated, the puppet pressed forward.

He could not confront it head-on! Qin Huaian unleashed perfected Skystride Hundred Transformations and instantly opened up the distance between himself and the puppet.

Then a bizarre scene unfolded: Qin Huaian and the puppet circled the arena, one chasing while the other fled. From time to time, Qin Huaian would also use his divine sense to control the flying sword and launch a sneak attack on the puppet.

An hour passed. The puppet had been struck many times by Qin Huaian's sneak attacks, and parts of its body were already damaged. Yet it still pursued him tirelessly.

After swallowing a True Essence Pill, Qin Huaian continued dragging the puppet around the arena at a run.

"It's been so long. Senior Brother Qin should have come out by now." By this point, it was already afternoon, and Lin Qingxuan kept pacing through the plaza before the Trial Tower.

"Don't worry, Junior Sister Qingxuan. Perhaps Senior Brother Qin is comprehending swordsmanship after finishing on some floor's arena," Duanmu Zhiqin comforted her.

"There's nothing to worry about. Senior Brother Qin will definitely crush his jade token if he's in danger," Lin Qingxuan said, as though she were speaking to Duanmu Zhiqin, yet also as though she were telling herself.

Hah, she was still putting up a brave front even now. Duanmu Zhiqin shot a sidelong glance at Lin Qingxuan, who was still pacing back and forth.

Another hour later, the puppet had lost an arm, and its pursuit had slowed. Qin Huaian controlled the flying sword with his divine sense, making its sneak attacks ever more frequent.

Sure enough, the energy inside the puppet was limited. Given enough time, it would be depleted.

From the start, Qin Huaian had guessed that the puppet was like an ordinary ninth-level Qi Refinement cultivator: if its spiritual power was continually consumed, it would eventually run dry. Otherwise, cultivators taking the trial would find it exceedingly difficult to defeat a puppet with inexhaustible stamina.

Thus, he adopted a strategy of retreating when the enemy advanced—fire one shot, then change locations.

Meanwhile, relying on True Essence Pills and the mirror body circulating the perfected Yi Wood True Formula, Qin Huaian replenished himself even as he ran, so his spiritual power had not dropped by much.

As time passed, the puppet's speed grew slower and slower. By then, whenever Qin Huaian's flying sword attacked, it was already nearly unable to block.

Another half hour went by. The puppet's movements had begun to turn sluggish. Qin Huaian continued to maintain his distance from it. He was not at ease—he feared the puppet might be feigning exhaustion. If a ninth-level Qi Refinement opponent unleashed a major move on him, he definitely would not be able to withstand it.

After a while longer, Qin Huaian gripped his flying sword and watched the one-armed puppet struggle toward him step by step. He hesitated no longer. Suddenly accelerating, he circled to the puppet's side and slashed down with his sword. At last, the puppet dissolved into specks of light.

Qin Huaian tossed aside his flying sword, sat down on the ground, and panted heavily.

"Seventh-floor arena cleared. Please receive your reward."

At that moment, wave after wave of insight flooded into Qin Huaian's mind. "After swordsmanship is cultivated to perfection, the spirit merges with the sword, giving rise to sword intent. Sword intent is the realm of swordsmanship, and also the realm of the swordsman..."

It was actually insight into sword intent! Qin Huaian had seen introductions to sword intent in the library. It was said that sword intent could only be grasped through intuition and could not be put into words. The sword-intent insight imparted by the Trial Tower was a painting.

The painting depicted a massive azure boulder. Across it lay an enormous sword scar, which radiated sharpness like a blade.

"Sword-intent inheritance detected. It may be deduced and learned."

The Seed Space rang out with a mechanical voice.

He could actually deduce the sword intent within this painting. Qin Huaian was immediately thrilled. His hours spent wearing down the puppet had not been in vain.

"Deduce sword intent!"

[Consume 20,000 spirit stones: the mirror body can deduce sword intent to the beginner level, requiring 20 days; consume 40,000 spirit stones: time required can be halved]

"Consume 20,000 spirit stones to deduce it."

Qin Huaian immediately had the mirror body begin deducing sword intent.

He himself then began meditating to rest and recover his spiritual power.

An hour later, Qin Huaian's spiritual power had fully recovered.

He stepped onto the eighth flight of stairs. At once, powerful streaks of sword radiance shot toward him. After only a few steps, Qin Huaian could no longer hold on. These sword radiances were far stronger than those at the ninth level of the Qi Refining Realm.

Before long, just as a streak of sword radiance was about to strike him, Qin Huaian crushed his jade token.

Before Qin Huaian was teleported out, he heard the Trial Tower's prompt:

"Overall Evaluation: 11th place in the Qi Refining Realm rankings."

In the blink of an eye, Qin Huaian appeared on the Trial Plaza. He discovered that the sun had already set, and the fiery-red sunset clouds on the horizon were incomparably brilliant.

"Look! Another East Dawn Peak disciple has broken into the top twenty—he's actually eleventh!"

Someone suddenly shouted before the formation display screen at the entrance of the Trial Tower.

His shout quickly drew everyone's attention, and they all turned to look at the Qi Refining Realm display screen.

"11th place: Qin Huaian, East Dawn Peak (Outer Sect)!"