Sea-Overturning Saber Technique

Qingzhou.

Outside the prefectural city of Changliu Prefecture.

White Lotus Abbey.

The Daoist abbey had few inhabitants, only a little over twenty.

Yet it received no shortage of offerings, with gentry and wealthy households coming from time to time to donate lamp oil money.

Inside the main hall.

A woman sat upright with her eyes closed beneath the statue of the White Lotus Divine Mother. Her long hair fell to her waist, and she wore a plain white dress and a gauzy veil over her face. The dress outlined her enticing curves.

At one moment, a shadow appeared behind her.

"Shen Guan, why did you leave Yue State and come running to Qin State?"

The woman in the plain white dress slowly opened her eyes. She did not look back, merely parting her red lips.

"Naturally, I came for Xu Fan on my master's orders."

Shen Guan chuckled, leaning against the doorframe as he glanced at her beautiful, alluring figure from behind.

"Xu Fan is suspected of possessing a Celestial Person's inheritance. Alive or dead, it would be best to bring him back."

"Bai Lianxin, surely your White Lotus Path doesn't truly intend to take Xu Fan in as a disciple?"

After Xu Fan had slain Han Tianling last time, several Celestial Person sects had sent tokens, hoping to take him in as a disciple.

Among their Six Paths of the Demonic Sect, the White Lotus Path had also sent a token.

Yet Xu Fan had put off making a choice and instead stayed at the tiny Mystic Yang Sect as an honorary elder.

Now that the new Hidden Dragon Ranking had appeared, the Three Lives Pavilion had placed Xu Fan, the suspected inheritor of a Celestial Person's legacy, directly in eleventh place, despite his cultivation being at the Great Grandmaster realm.

Everyone else in the top twenty was at the Primal Core realm.

What were the Primal Core geniuses ranked behind Xu Fan supposed to think of that?

It would have been one thing if he were the Weapon Lord, but Xu Fan was not.

And now, Han Tianling, a disciple of Saber-Nurturing Valley, had died at Xu Fan's hands. Someone was coming to settle the score and see whether Xu Fan lived up to his reputation.

Fu Yuanwu, ranked twelfth on the Hidden Dragon Ranking, disdained to suppress someone a major realm below him, so he had sent Chen Cuo, who was at the Divine Intention Peak, instead. It was truly arrogant stupidity.

"What the White Lotus Path does is none of your Formless Dao's business."

Bai Lianxin rose without so much as looking at Shen Guan. With a single step, she was outside the door.

"You... broke through?"

Shen Guan frowned slightly, annoyed that this woman was ignoring him.

But he quickly realized what had happened, and shock showed in his eyes.

He and Bai Lianxin had been stuck at the Divine Intention Peak for years. He had not expected to fall a step behind.

Of the six True Disciples of the Six Paths of the Demonic Sect, was he now the only one who had yet to enter the Primal Core realm?

No wonder his master had ordered him to come. It seemed his master had meant to spur him on, at least in part, and not merely to bring Xu Fan away.

"Your old rival looks like he intends to use you to sharpen his blade before fighting Xu Fan."

Bai Lianxin raised her eyes slightly and chuckled.

Chen Cuo and Shen Guan both hailed from Yue State. One had been brought into the Formless Dao, while the other had joined Saber-Nurturing Valley. They had fought many times, but neither had ever managed to win.

Chen Cuo was now ranked twenty-eighth on the Hidden Dragon Ranking.

Shen Guan followed close behind, ranked twenty-ninth.

"Chen Cuo?"

Shen Guan froze, then quickly sensed a familiar "spirit" approaching at great speed from afar.

That Sea-Overturning Saber Intent had already locked onto him from a distance.

"How dare he!"

His fury made him laugh instead, and his face turned cold.

In his past fights with Chen Cuo, neither had been able to gain the upper hand.

Yet now Chen Cuo dared come after him before fighting Xu Fan, clearly intending to use him to sharpen his blade.

Was Chen Cuo worthy?

With a cold snort, Shen Guan stamped his foot and appeared in the sky above White Lotus Abbey, his own "spirit" locking onto his opponent.

As an expert at the Divine Intention Peak erupted in anger, the sky within a twelve-li radius abruptly changed, and thunder crashed in broad daylight.

Dark clouds gathered with White Lotus Abbey at their center, forming a vortex in the cloud layer as countless silver serpents raced through it.

The Formless Spirit Refinement Method was a supreme art of the Formless Dao, famed for its unpredictable transformations and Divine Intention.

Against an opponent in the same realm, even if one could not win, one would be hard to defeat.

In the distance.

A young man in a blue robe patterned with white ripples strode over, a treasured saber in his arms.

Each step carried him more than a thousand meters.

In the space of a few breaths, he arrived in the sky above White Lotus Abbey and stood facing Shen Guan.

"Shen Guan, it's time we settled the score between us today."

Chen Cuo's tone was calm, as though he were stating something perfectly ordinary and natural.

"I'm curious. Where does your confidence come from?"

"Or do you intend to use the Saber-Nurturing Technique?"

Shen Guan's voice was icy, and he gave another chuckle.

Chen Cuo was still at the Divine Intention Peak. Aside from using Saber-Nurturing Valley's Secret Method, how could he possibly defeat him?

The Saber-Nurturing Technique was a closely guarded secret of Saber-Nurturing Valley.

It was said that a saber nurtured for three hundred years could slay a High Person in the heavens.

Though somewhat exaggerated, it was indeed an extremely fearsome Secret Method that lasted as long as heaven and earth.

To cultivate the Saber-Nurturing Technique, one had to use one's own Divine Intention to condense a "divine saber" within the Dantian, then nourish it daily with one's true essence and Divine Intention.

The longer it was nurtured, the greater its power.

A Land Immortal of Saber-Nurturing Valley had once slain a Half-Step Celestial Person with a Saber-Nurturing Technique he had nurtured for three hundred years.

Although he had died as a result, it had still won the Saber-Nurturing Technique immense renown.

A Half-Step Celestial Person had stepped beyond the realm of Land Immortals, yet had been slain with a single slash.

The Saber-Nurturing Technique had thus become the strongest Secret Method of the age.

Its only flaw was that nurturing a saber took tremendous time and effort, measured in units of ten years.

Eleven years had passed since Chen Cuo became a True Disciple, so the power of his Saber-Nurturing Technique could not be underestimated.

But once he used it, that would mean he could no longer fight Xu Fan.

Shen Guan did not believe Chen Cuo would use the Saber-Nurturing Technique.

"We haven't seen each other in years, and you still haven't made much progress."

Chen Cuo shook his head slightly.

"To defeat you, why would I need the Saber-Nurturing Technique?"

As his words fell, Divine Intention spread out.

In every direction for ten li, a scene of raging seas loomed in and out of view. Towering waves washed incessantly against the mountain where White Lotus Abbey stood.

The Divine Intention tornado and the giant waves clashed against each other again and again.

A dim light flickered in Bai Lianxin's eyes as she looked toward a distant mountaintop. In the end, she abandoned her plan to keep the Saber-Nurturing Valley disciple here.

With her cultivation at the newly attained Primal Core realm, killing Chen Cuo would not be difficult, but getting away afterward would not be so easy.

In the world today, though those Celestial Person sects were powerful, the Demonic Sect was the strongest as long as the Celestial Person Divine Weapons did not awaken.

There was no need for her to put herself in danger over this.

Once Lord Demon Venerable ascended to the position of Celestial Person, he would settle accounts with those Celestial Person sects.

They merely relied on paths laid down by their predecessors. How could they compare with Lord Demon Venerable?

"If you won't use the Saber-Nurturing Technique, then stay here!"

Shen Guan resolved to be ruthless and raised a hand to seize him.

How could he bear being treated with such contempt by a rival of many years?

A huge Formless Hand appeared out of thin air, enveloping Chen Cuo. Even the void around it rippled.

Then it clenched, seeking to crush Chen Cuo to death on the spot!

Clang!

Faced with the Formless Dao's supreme art, Chen Cuo put aside his contempt. The treasured saber in his arms rang as it left its sheath.

A blue saber light slashed down!

The Formless Hand, not yet fully closed, was instantly cleaved in two.

"All these years, and these are still the only tricks you have."

Chen Cuo raised his treasured saber and pointed it at Shen Guan, Divine Intention surging around him like a tide.

"I watched the tides rise and fall and sat in meditation for two years. At sea, I gained insight into two more moves of the Sea-Overturning Saber Technique."

"How many of my moves... can you withstand?"

Shen Guan's face darkened as he stared fixedly at him.

He had not expected Chen Cuo to gain insight into two more moves on top of the original five.

Each move of the Sea-Overturning Saber Technique was already stronger than the last.

Like surging waves, each rose higher than the one before.

Suppressing the stray thoughts in his mind, he snorted coldly.

"I'm just afraid those two moves of yours will look impressive but prove useless."