This Time, He Finally Stood Tall

[In the tenth month, you finally finished your preparations and followed Li Changge into a Secret Realm.

The sky here was gray and dim, and a faint bloody stench hung in the air.

Only after Li Changge explained did you learn that this was a shattered Demon Realm.

Li Changge had been fighting the demon beasts here for some time.

After introducing the surroundings, he introduced you to several companions.

You chatted with them for a while and discovered, to your surprise, that they were all sword cultivators at the Core Formation Stage.

They needed only one more Wood Attribute sword cultivator to form the Five Elements Sword Formation.

They invited you to become the final member who would complete the sword formation, and you gladly agreed.]

[In the twelfth month, you did not go out to fight. Instead, you kept practicing the Five Elements Sword Formation with the others.

Under the guidance of the other four Core Formation seniors, your swordsmanship improved by leaps and bounds.

Coupled with your exceptionally solid foundation, you could actually unleash seventy to eighty percent of the Five Elements Sword Formation's power with your Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation, much to the others' surprise.]

[In the first month of the second year, you finally fought demon beasts for the first time.

The battle was not particularly fierce. You easily killed several Core Formation Stage demon beasts and seized several Demon Cores.

This easy victory greatly boosted your confidence, and you felt increasingly at home within the group.]

[In the sixth month of the second year, several consecutive months of fighting brought your swordsmanship to blazing perfection, and your sword heart grew ever sharper through battle.

To your surprise, you discovered that you were already beginning to feel the urge to form your core.

But you were determined to form a first-rank Golden Core, so you did not rush to break through.]

[In the eighth month of the second year, demon beasts ambushed you, plunging you into a bitter battle. They had even deployed a demon beast comparable to a Nascent Soul Ancestor, and you were driven back again and again.

In this battle, you finally witnessed Eldest Senior Brother Li Changge's swordsmanship.

His swordsmanship had already approached the divine. With just himself and his sword, he was almost a match for the sword formation formed by all five of you.

With his transcendent swordsmanship, he managed to hold off the enemy's Nascent Soul Ancestor.

Even so, your situation remained dire.

In the midst of the crisis, you forcibly condensed your Golden Core, forming a second-rank core.

Your breakthrough filled the last gap in the Five Elements Sword Formation.

Your sword formation forcibly encircled the enemy's Nascent Soul Ancestor.

Li Changge seized the opportunity to unleash his power, killing the enemy's Nascent Soul Ancestor in a single stroke.

The demon fiends were frightened out of their wits and fled in disarray.

You pursued them for hundreds of miles, laughing with abandon.

Suddenly, you felt that forming a second-rank core was no great matter. As long as you had a sword in your hand, you were no weaker than anyone who had formed a first-rank core.]

[In the third month of the third year, Li Changge achieved core-breaking ascension and returned to the Setting Sun Sect to stabilize his cultivation.

You, meanwhile, continued fighting in the Secret Realm.]

[In the fourth month of the third year, you fell into a trap while pursuing several Core Formation demon beasts.

A Nascent Soul old devil suddenly sprang out nearby and launched a surprise attack on you.

The Five Elements Sword Formation was broken, and two of your close friends had their bodies shattered at once.

Before dying, both entrusted their minds to their Flying Swords, desperately preserving their respective blades.

The three of you controlled five Flying Swords, fighting as you fled.

But the Nascent Soul old devil was far too fierce, and the other two Core Formation sword cultivators were nowhere near Li Changge's level. They suffered grievous wounds one after another.

You, too, were badly wounded, but your deep foundation allowed you to hold on.

Yet if this continued, death would still be inescapable.

You decided to shatter your Golden Cores simultaneously and stake your lives on one final attack.

Three Golden Cores shattered at once, unleashing an incomparably mighty force.

Sword light flared, instantly dealing a grievous wound to the Nascent Soul Ancestor old devil facing you.

He shot you a vicious glare, then turned and left.

You and your two remaining friends exchanged glances, but none of you could smile.

In this battle, two of your close friends had died, while the other two had shattered their Golden Cores, leaving almost no hope of recovery.

Only you still had a chance to recover. Because you had established your foundation with nine cloud patterns, your Golden Core had broken without shattering completely.

After learning that you could recover, the other two decided to give you their Flying Swords, so you could carry their blades into further battles.

Overwhelmed with grief and fury, you swore to avenge your friends.]

[In the fifth month of the third year, Li Changge heard what had happened and fought his way back into this Secret Realm.

He took you through a hundred days of continuous battles in the Secret Realm, killing five Nascent Soul old devils in succession and cutting a path straight into their lair.

In this battle, Li Changge's sword light resembled a sky full of stars, illuminating half the Secret Realm.

After this battle, the demon fiends in this Secret Realm no longer had the strength to fight back, and your gains were richer than ever before.

But you had no heart to gather the spoils. You merely took the heads of several Nascent Soul old devils to the graves of your two friends in silence.]

[In the ninth month of the third year, after spending a hundred days seeking enlightenment before your friends' graves, you suddenly condensed a sword core.

With your core as a sword, its keen aura shot straight into the heavens.

Liu Chenyu was utterly astonished by your transformation, repeatedly exclaiming that he had misjudged you before.

He wanted you to remain in the sect and continue cultivating, but you decided to take the others' Flying Swords with you and continue fighting in other Secret Realms.]

[In the tenth month of the third year, you entered another Secret Realm infested with demon fiends and continued fighting the demon beasts there.]

[In the second month of the fourth year, your brilliance shone too fiercely, drawing an ambush from a Nascent Soul old devil. Yet you remained utterly unafraid.

You unleashed five Flying Swords and laid out the Five Elements Sword Formation single-handedly, battling this Nascent Soul old devil for three days and three nights without a victor.

Your fearsome reputation spread swiftly, and you were hailed as the Setting Sun Sect's second Li Changge.]

[In the ninth month of the fourth year, you finally broke through again, reaching the Core Formation Late Stage.

Your Five Elements Sword Formation also approached perfection through battle after battle.

At this point, you encountered the old devil who had ambushed you before.

You fought him once again.

After a single night, you slew him beneath your sword.

This was the first time your sword drank its fill of a Nascent Soul old devil's blood.

Its ringing cry pierced the clouds, astounding every cultivator within a hundred miles.]

[In the sixth month of the fifth year, several Nascent Soul old devils ambushed you. But relying on the life-saving magical treasures you had prepared over the years, you escaped death time and again, eventually fleeing this Secret Realm.]

[In the eighth month of the sixth year, after more than a year of recuperation, your injuries finally healed. Your sword heart had also become much more refined during this year of quiet rest.

To your delight, you discovered that your five Flying Swords were showing faint signs of merging.

With unwavering faith in victory, you stepped into the previous Secret Realm once more.]

[In the ninth month of the sixth year, you found a lone Nascent Soul old devil and, catching him unprepared, grievously wounded him with a single sword strike.

The old devil fled in panic, sending out a signal to summon his allies in this realm.

You pursued him for a hundred miles. Even with two other old devils coming to his aid, you still managed to kill the Nascent Soul old devil you had grievously wounded.

You laughed with abandon and rode your sword back.

The other two old devils actually stood frozen in place, not daring to pursue.]