A Surge in Strength, a Challenge for His Father

The pool was clear and cold, the ground around it damp.

Lin Chen stood beside the pool, feeling a power utterly different from anything he had known before.

His cultivation had not risen. He was still at the sixth level of the Spirit Martial Realm, but his strength had changed beyond recognition.

With a thought, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within the reach of his Sword Intent fell into line, as though he were a king whose every call was answered.

"So this is Sword Intent..."

Lin Chen murmured as he quietly explored its mysteries.

Some tales passed around the streets told of a woodcutter.

He had chopped wood every day, an ordinary man with white hair and a failing body by his sixties. Then, one day while chopping, he attained enlightenment, became an immortal, and ascended.

Those legends were plainly exaggerated, but one thing about them rang true:

The gulf between levels of understanding was vast.

A single moment of enlightenment could transform a person. For a martial artist, it could send combat strength soaring, carrying him past several thresholds at once. That was no empty claim.

"Ordinarily, a martial artist can only attempt to comprehend Martial Dao True Intent after entering the Profound Martial Realm.

"But with the Sword Diagram's help, I reached that stage early, while still in the Spirit Martial Realm. I've grasped only ten percent of Sword Intent, yet I'm already far ahead of my peers on the path of martial arts."

As Lin Chen thought this, he looked toward the bluestone beside the pool.

The Sword Diagram that had once held a supreme resonance with the Dao lay quietly on the stone. Its resonance was gone, its ink faded. It had become an ordinary painting.

"The Sword Diagram lets someone with no foundation in Sword Dao gradually comprehend Sword Intent through firsthand experience, time after time. Now it's done its job."

Lin Chen stepped forward, bent down, folded the diagram that had lost its resonance, and put it away.

"Perhaps one day, when my understanding of Sword Dao is high enough, I'll leave behind a Sword Diagram like this for those who come after me. It might become their chance to comprehend Sword Dao..."

After leaving the pool, Lin Chen returned to the small courtyard.

First, he dealt with the idle gains that had accumulated over the nearly year he had devoted himself to studying the Sword Diagram.

Without hesitation, he claimed them and poured every point of experience into his cultivation.

Boom!

His dantian's Qi Sea roiled like a lake struck by a boulder. Spiritual power surged and rapidly expanded, soon reaching its limit.

Then Lin Chen crossed, as naturally as breathing, the bottleneck that had troubled Elder Lin Song for years.

The seventh level of the Spirit Martial Realm came as a matter of course.

Feeling the power surging through him, stronger than ever before, Lin Chen smiled faintly.

He had only just entered the seventh level, but with the might of Sword Intent behind him, he had every confidence that no one at his level could stand against him!

"One moment of enlightenment sent my combat strength soaring. Even fighting someone above my level is within reach now."

"But I won't know exactly how strong I've become until I test it in a real fight..."

As Lin Chen thought about it, his father's face came to mind.

His father was at the tenth level of the Spirit Martial Realm, the very peak of that realm.

His spiritual power was so deep it could advance no further, and he had perfected his martial techniques. He had reached a formidable height in every respect, with no obvious weakness.

He would be the perfect person to test Lin Chen's sword against.

"Looks like I'll have to trouble Father..."

Before challenging Lin Hai, though, Lin Chen had one more thing to do: bring the Thunderlight Sword Technique to perfection.

He had practiced this low-grade spirit-level sword technique for years. It was just one step short of perfection, but that final step had eluded him for several more years.

Perfecting a martial technique was not merely a matter of mastering its moves. He had to grasp every subtlety, make it part of his own martial path, and use it freely, without the slightest hesitation or hindrance.

In the past, Lin Chen's progress had not been slow, but it had hardly been fast either.

Now, however, he had comprehended Sword Intent. His understanding of Sword Dao had reached an entirely new level.

When he returned to the Thunderlight Sword Technique with that deeper understanding, insights came one after another, and his progress was swift.

"The Thunderlight Sword Technique—swift as a flash of lightning..."

This time, after only a few months of study, Lin Chen pressed the fingers of his right hand together like a sword and traced a stroke through the air.

Crackle!

A faint arc of electricity flashed through the air.

The Thunderlight Sword Technique was perfected!

"So that's it."

"The 'thunderlight' in its name doesn't mean summoning lightning from the heavens. It means capturing the force of thunder and the speed of lightning. Before, I'd learned its form, but not its essence."

Lin Chen sprang to his feet.

Shing!

The Greenedge Sword left its sheath once more.

The blade flashed like a thunderbolt. In the space of a heartbeat, the strike was already upon its target.

Fast. Nothing but fast!

Too fast to follow, too fast to parry!

Lin Chen turned his wrist, and the sword moves flowed on without pause.

The second move, the third, the fourth...

The flashes of his sword grew faster, the electric glow brighter. Lightning seemed to snake through the courtyard, sparks bursting from its path.

At last, he slashed, and a pale blue arc of sword energy a foot long shot toward the rockery in the corner.

Bang!

The sword energy struck almost instantly.

With a deafening crash, the rockery exploded, leaving a charred pit in its place.

Lin Chen lowered his sword and stood still as the electric light around him slowly faded. He let out a long breath, his eyes shining.

"After grasping Sword Intent, coming back to study these spirit-level martial techniques is as easy as eating and drinking."

"This is what happens when a higher level of understanding makes everything below it seem simple."

Lin Chen murmured, then summoned his status panel with a thought:

[Character]: Lin Chen

[Age]: 26/215

[Life-Bound Divine Artifact]: Greenedge Sword (Tier 2, Excellent)

[Realm]: Spirit Martial Realm, seventh level (509/1980)

[Sword Dao]: Sword Intent, ten percent (0/10000)

[Martial Techniques]: Evergreen Art, seventh layer; Thunderlight Sword Technique, perfected; Swimming Body Step, advanced

[Idle Training]: Miasma Forest (in progress)

[Idle Gains: 94–99 experience points per month; minuscule chance of obtaining Spirit Stones, Spirit Herbs, pills...]

"If this were a game, I'd at least count as an elite monster, wouldn't I?"

Lin Chen grinned, eagerness for battle surging in his eyes.

"I wonder how far I still am from Father?"

Three days later, at dawn.

The morning mist had yet to clear, and the sky was only beginning to brighten.

On a secluded stretch of wasteland outside the city, jagged rocks lay scattered among wild grass that swayed in the breeze.

Dressed in fitted training clothes, Lin Chen stood with sword in hand.

His aura was steady and restrained. Only deep in his eyes did a keen, peerless light seem to stir.

He had made breakthroughs in Sword Dao, cultivation, and martial techniques. Now he needed a real fight to see just how strong he had become.

The best opponent was naturally his father, Lin Hai. At the tenth level of the Spirit Martial Realm, he was strong enough to force Lin Chen to go all out, yet could stop in time and protect him if Lin Chen lost.

"The seventh level of the Spirit Martial Realm... Your aura is solid, and your edge is well hidden. It seems this past year of secluded training has brought you far more than I expected."

Lin Hai stood some distance away in a gray brocade robe, his hands clasped behind his back. He studied Lin Chen closely, appraisal in his eyes alongside a trace of pride that was almost impossible to detect.

"I've made some progress. Please give me your guidance, Father."

Lin Chen cupped his hands. His tone was calm, but his eyes betrayed his eagerness to begin.