Gray light surged at the center of the Sword Pool.
Liu Xingfang entered, and a Dao Platform manifested beneath his feet. The place was dark, with only heavenly stars twinkling overhead.
The Dao Platform was ancient and weathered, hewn from an enormous blackish-brown rock. Its surface was pitted as though it had melted in fire. Starlight flowed around it, carrying Liu Xingfang to its center.
"This Sword Pool is definitely no mere Foundation Establishment object."
Doubts stirred in Liu Xingfang's mind. Containing space like this, turning the void into substance, was beyond a Foundation Establishment artifact. Even on the path of Cosmic Stars, only those at the Purple Mansion stage possessed such power.
He came from the Liu Household and had seen plenty of Foundation Establishment spiritual objects and artifacts. Moreover, his household's [Verdant Willow] was among the finest ancient artifacts of that level, yet the wonders of the Sword Pool before him surpassed even the Verdant Willow.
Just as Liu Xingfang began to grow suspicious, gray light gathered before him. A figure actually stepped out of it, wearing silver-gray Daoist robes much like Qi Wen's. Drawing a sword, the figure advanced and attacked without hesitation.
His doubts vanished in an instant, and he turned his full attention to dealing with this pool spirit.
The figure's features were blurred beneath a shroud of gray light, impossible to make out clearly. But the Dharma Sword in its hand twisted and turned, appearing and disappearing, putting considerable pressure on Liu Xingfang.
This was Liu Xingfang's first encounter with a cultivator of this lineage. The opponent's ash-gray Dharma Sword constantly shifted position in the air, appearing like a ghost and vanishing like a phantom, forcing him entirely onto the defensive.
This pool spirit had also reached the sword momentum realm, but its swordsmanship