This was nothing worth boasting about. What truly won people's wholehearted admiration was the strength you could unleash in this battle of the mind. Could you kill enemies, slay generals, or seize the flag?
The stronger you were, the more slowly the black substance advanced.
Anyone who lasted more than a hundred breaths was what the Shaolong Sword Academy called a "Divine General."
That was the entire secret of Fearlessness Pass.
At that moment, within "Sword Heart Reflection," the boy held his sword horizontally before his eyes, staring at it in something of a daze. Behind him, a shadow that blotted out heaven and earth was already bearing down on him.
It was a demon that peeled back the entire sky and casually tore the moon to pieces. The shadow it cast filled heaven and earth, and its foul breath billowed like clouds and mist. All that overwhelming power was now directed solely at the tiny Egret-Viewing Terrace.
The Egret-Viewing Terrace was like a grain of millet, and the boy standing upon it was like a speck of dust clinging to that grain.
The shadow engulfed the Egret-Viewing Terrace. He turned his head, revealing a peaceful, steady face, with what seemed like flames burning deep in eyes as still as autumn waters.
Once he saw what was coming, his expression did not change in the slightest. He stepped back, turned, and thrust his sword.
His movements were calm and easy, neither fast nor slow, as though he were demonstrating for children just beginning to learn. Yet the instant his sword tip touched the shadow, a savage gale rose from the deepest reaches of the world. Shadow, clinging murk, foul wind, darkness, demon-every evil portent was torn apart and annihilated like rotten wood and withered grass.
The blazing sun broke through