Noon.
The blazing sun hung high.
Yet Jiang Ning's courtyard was deathly quiet, the air thick with a stifling oppression.
Not even the surrounding courtyards carried the chirping of birds or the buzzing of insects.
At this moment, ripples seemed to stir through the void.
On the lake.
A seven-colored Dragon Carp suddenly surfaced.
Its gold-and-red scales glimmered with radiant light beneath the sun.
The next moment.
Buzz!
A sword cry suddenly rang out from the void.
Then a longsword rose into the air, hovering some ten feet above the ground as its blade trembled without cease.
Elsewhere.
Several hundred meters away, within Bai Luoyu's residence.
Bzzzz!
The longsword on the stone table trembled incessantly.
Bai Luoyu immediately withdrew his gaze from Jiang Ning's direction and looked at the sword on the stone table.
The sword was shaking continuously, as though affected by some force and ready to leave its sheath at any moment.
Seeing this, Bai Luoyu flashed forward.
He instantly arrived beside the stone table.
"Clang!"
He drew the sword, immediately feeling the blade in his hand shake wildly.
He could sense an invisible force tugging at the sword in his hand, and the source of that invisible force lay in Jiang Ning's direction.
"What astonishing sword intent! Is this what it means for sword intent to connect heaven and man?"
Looking at the trembling sword in his hand, Bai Luoyu murmured in surprise.
Then, gripping the sword, he looked toward Jiang Ning once more, unable to keep a trace of envy from appearing in his eyes.
He understood that once sword intent connected heaven and man, one could draw the spiritual workings of heaven and earth into the body. Upon reaching the completion of the fourth rank, one could step into the realm of a third-rank Grandmaster