As the stone door to the fourth floor of the Sword Tower slowly opened, a more complex Sword Intent than those of the first three floors rushed toward him—not a single wind or earth attribute, but a mottled aura laced with pale gold and light blue, as though countless swords were gathering strength in the darkness, waiting to launch a surprise assault the instant an intruder stepped inside. The moment Ling Yun crossed the threshold, the stone door behind him slammed shut. Countless pearly-white points of light instantly lit up across the surrounding walls, shooting out slender sword shadows that stabbed toward him like a sudden downpour.
"This is the Sword Shadow Maze. Every sword shadow contains a trace of a remnant thought left behind by an ancient sword cultivator. They imitate basic sword techniques of different attributes and adjust their trajectories according to how you respond." Sword Elder's voice tightened. "Be careful. Though these sword shadows have no physical form, they can tear apart Sword Intent. If you are struck repeatedly, the Sword Qi in your body will descend into chaos."
Ling Yun did not dare slack off. He held the Sky-Rending Sword across his chest as Chaos Sword Qi flowed along his arm, making the faint blue-green and brownish glow around the coarse-cloth scabbard increasingly distinct—after the fusion on the third floor, these two attributes of Sword Intent could now cooperate initially. The first sword shadow came at him, carrying the fierce might of Gold Element Sword Intent and stabbing straight for his heart. Ling Yun turned his wrist and flicked the scabbard upward at an angle. The momentum-borrowing technique of the "Heaven and Earth First Form" was unleashed once more. Pale brown Sword Qi wrapped around the scabbard and struck the side of the sword shadow with precision, diverting it toward the ground.
Pfft! The sword shadow pierced the bluestone floor, scattering fine motes of light. Yet before it dissipated, it suddenly changed direction, transforming into a light-blue water-element sword shadow that rebounded from the ground and slashed at his ankle.
"What a swift change of moves!" Ling Yun tapped off the ground, his body drifting three feet backward as he swung his sword in a horizontal sweep. The "Wind Chant" sword technique tore through the air, pale blue-green Sword Qi forming a wall of wind that blocked the water-element sword shadow outside. But the instant the wind wall touched it, the sword shadow transformed again, merging into the wind force and slipping through a gap in the wall, rushing straight for his throat.
In only a few breaths, Ling Yun had been forced back again and again by three sword shadows of different attributes. These sword shadows had no fixed trajectories and could switch attributes at any moment, making them even harder to deal with than the puppets on the second floor. What this tested was not merely one's proficiency with sword techniques, but one's immediate judgment of changes in Sword Intent—the true core difficulty of the Sword Shadow Maze.
"Don't defend passively! Use Clear Sword Heart to see the core of the sword shadows!" Sword Elder's voice rang out urgently. "Every sword shadow has a pale-gold point of light. That is the core where its remnant thought is condensed. Only by shattering the core can you make the sword shadow Completely Dissipate!"
Hearing this, Ling Yun immediately activated Clear Sword Heart. The scene before him instantly changed. The originally chaotic sword shadows slowed in his eyes, and at the tail end of each one, there truly hung a pale-gold point no larger than a grain of rice. The frequency at which those points flickered matched the changes in the sword shadows' attributes. For instance, the point of a gold-element sword shadow flickered fastest, that of a water-element shadow slowest, while wind-element shadows fell somewhere in between.
"Found them!" A sharp glint flashed through Ling Yun's eyes. He no longer simply dodged, but charged directly into the sword shadows. He targeted the glowing point of a gold-element sword shadow as the pale blue-green and pale brown Sword Qi within him intertwined madly, surging along the blade of the Sky-Rending Sword and forming a spiraling composite Sword Qi—this was the first time he had fully let loose and thoroughly kneaded the two kinds of Sword Intent together. Though it had yet to reach the realm of the Seven Absolute Wind Water Slash, it was already the embryonic form of a composite sword technique unique to him.
Whoosh!
The composite Sword Qi struck the pale-gold point with precision. The gold-element sword shadow instantly collapsed, turning into fine fragments of Sword Intent that were automatically absorbed by Ling Yun's Chaos Sword Body. What delighted him even more was that after the Gold Element Sword Intent of that sword shadow entered his dantian, it unexpectedly formed a subtle balance with his original wind and earth Sword Intent. The Sword Qi in his body flowed faster, and more than half the exhaustion from his previous battles was instantly restored.
"The Chaos Sword Body truly can accommodate every attribute!" Sword Elder's voice brimmed with excitement. "Keep absorbing the Sword Intent of the sword shadows. Not only will it replenish your consumption, it will also build a foundation for condensing Basic Sword Intent later!"
Ling Yun's confidence surged. He darted through the sword shadows with Clear Sword Heart continuously active, every strike aimed at a point of light. His composite Sword Qi grew increasingly proficient. At times, he used Wind Element Sword Intent to guide its trajectory; at others, Earth Element Sword Intent to amplify its power. After absorbing several gold-element sword shadows, a hint of pale gold even appeared in his Sword Qi, making the spiraling Sword Qi's penetrating force all the greater.
Half an hour passed. Ling Yun had shattered nearly a hundred sword shadows, and the Sword Qi within him was three times denser than when he had entered the fourth floor. The blue-green, brown, and gold halos winding around him stood out particularly clearly within the dim stone chamber. But at that moment, the pearly-white points on the stone walls suddenly lit up at once, shooting out dozens of sword shadows. These shadows no longer attacked separately. Instead, they intertwined with one another, forming an enormous net of swords that bore Gold, Water, Wind, and Earth Sword Intent as it descended over Ling Yun's head.
"Not good! It's the Great Sword Shadow Array!" Sword Elder cried out. "This is the ultimate test of the fourth floor. You must shatter the cores of every sword shadow in one stroke. Otherwise, the sword net will trap you within it, and you will continuously endure the agony of Sword Intent tearing you apart!"
Ling Yun's pupils contracted sharply. The sword net covered an enormous area, and dozens of pale-gold points were scattered throughout it. There was no way to shatter them one by one. At this critical moment, he suddenly recalled the record in the Qiankun Sword Canon about "using a point to break a surface"—Sword Elder had once said that the essence of Chaos Sword Qi was "fusion." It could fuse not only attributes, but also the Sword Intent in the surrounding space, creating an area attack.
"I'll stake everything on this!" Ling Yun took a deep breath and gripped his sword with both hands, pouring all the composite Sword Qi in his body into the Sky-Rending Sword. This time, he no longer deliberately controlled the form of his Sword Qi. Instead, he allowed the blue-green, brown, and gold Sword Intent to spill from the blade, forming an enormous Sword Qi vortex above his head. While rotating, the vortex forcibly drew in the wandering Sword Intent from the surrounding space. It grew larger and larger until it finally transformed into a pillar of Sword Qi woven from three colors, crashing directly into the sword net overhead.
Boom!
The instant the Sword Qi pillar collided with the sword net, the entire fourth floor of the Sword Tower trembled. Countless sword shadows collapsed within the pillar, pale-gold points shattering one after another and turning into Sword Intent that filled the sky, all of it absorbed by the Sword Qi vortex. Ling Yun felt the Sword Qi within him surge wildly, waves of swelling pain spreading through his meridians, yet it also carried the opportunity for a breakthrough—he could clearly sense that his cultivation was steadily advancing from the Late Stage Sword Apprentice toward the Swordsman Realm.
The sword net dissipated, and every pearly-white point on the stone walls went dark. The cold mechanical voice sounded again. "Sword Shadow Maze trial passed! Reward: one Sword Intent Refining Pill. It can purify the mottled Sword Intent within your body and assist you in breaking through your realm!"
A completely pearly-white pill descended from the air. Ling Yun reached out and caught it. The moment it landed in his hand, it emitted pure Sword Intent. As soon as it neared his dantian, a thread of medicinal power automatically seeped inside, beginning to sort through the three-colored Sword Qi within him. His originally somewhat mottled Sword Qi gradually became more condensed under the pill's effects. The blue-green, brown, and gold colors were no longer merely mixed together, but formed a ring of Sword Qi that circulated in an endless cycle.
"This pill came at exactly the right time!" Sword Elder's voice was full of gratification. "You already have one foot in the Swordsman Realm. You only need a few more days of consolidation to formally break through. However, the trial on the fifth floor will be even harder. As far as I know, the fifth floor's 'Sword Intent Overload' requires you to keep your sword heart steady under ever-increasing Sword Intent pressure. One misstep, and your sword force will be crushed."
Ling Yun nodded and looked up at the stairs leading to the fifth floor. The Sword Intent lingering over them had become so dense it was almost tangible, light purple in color. It was clearly a wood-element or dark-element attribute, carrying an even greater sense of oppression than the mottled Sword Intent on the fourth floor. Just as he was about to step forward, his gaze was drawn to a sword mark on the stone wall—a slender yet razor-sharp sword mark deeply embedded in the wall. Pure Wind Element Sword Intent lingered around it. It was unmistakably Murong Shuang's handiwork.
Beside the sword mark was a line of small carved words: "The Great Sword Shadow Array must be broken with pure Sword Intent. Mottled brings chaos; purity brings strength."
Ling Yun looked at those words, deep in thought. Murong Shuang had severed the sword net with pure Wind Element Sword Intent, while he had broken the deadlock through force with composite Sword Intent. Different paths, yet both had passed the trial—such was the charm of the Way of the Sword. There was no single correct answer, only the choice best suited to oneself.
He tightened his grip on the Sky-Rending Sword. By now, the coarse cloth around its scabbard had loosened by more than half, revealing a small section of the blade. The blade was dark blue-green, carved with blurry ancient patterns, and it trembled softly along with his Sword Intent, as though yearning for more battles and growth.
"Fifth floor, here I come." Ling Yun took a deep breath, tucked the Sword Intent Refining Pill into his robes, and stepped onto the stairs leading to the fifth floor. He knew that the higher he climbed, the closer he would come to the Sword Intent Stele on the seventh floor, to his goal of vengeance, and to the vast Spirit Realm and Immortal Realm beyond. Every trial in this Sword Tower was an unavoidable road on his path toward the Peak of the Way of the Sword.
Before you continue