Chapter 30: Hellish Training, Power Surges

Old Mu was feeling absolutely wonderful from head to toe, inside and out.

Within Sword Demon Sect, he had won bets against many people — but Old Geng was the one person he had never beaten.

Or rather, this was the first time the two of them had ever wagered against each other.

For the title of God of Gamblers, and even more so for Lin Xiao — a disciple of such explosive talent — he had to win.

"Old Qiao, you ghost, do you think Old Geng still has a chance of beating me this time? Hm?? Hey, hey — Old Qiao, why are you walking away? Let me finish what I'm saying…"

* * *

On the other side.

Lin Xiao was led into Pyre Heaven Sword Tomb by Old Geng, who hadn't said a word the entire way. They flew for some time before finally reaching their destination.

The surroundings were still a graveyard of sword tombs, but the atmosphere here was far more eerie. Each sword tomb was considerably larger in scale than those in the outer burial grounds.

The very air seemed to carry the scent of the sword.

"This is the interior of Pyre Heaven Sword Tomb. The sword tombs you see here all belonged to Core Disciples and Personal Disciples of our sect in their lifetimes."

"There are only a little over two thousand three hundred sword tombs in total. Each one contains countless strands of Sword Qi, and the strength of that Sword Qi is roughly at the Wheel Sea Realm level."

"Little one, from here on out, this is where you'll be training."

Old Geng finally broke his silence with a few words of explanation.

It was plain to see that his mood was terrible.

Something that had seemed like a sure thing had suddenly been turned on its head — anyone would be rattled by that.

"Understood, Old Geng. I'll give it everything I have," Lin Xiao said with conviction.

He was quite satisfied with this environment.

The Sword Qi was potent, and the density of Spiritual Qi was equally impressive.

He had been worried about finding a good place to train properly, and here it was.

Old Geng gave a single nod.

He seemed to be mulling something over.

After hesitating for a long moment, he spoke in a low, measured tone.

"Little one, I'm going to give you a Fortuitous Encounter. Whether you can seize it depends entirely on your own ability."

"Remember — if you can't hold on, call out to me, and I will come to your aid."

Lin Xiao was taken aback by those words.

A Fortuitous Encounter for me?

Call for help if I can't hold on??

This… why does that sound so ominous? What exactly is Old Geng planning to do?!

"Old Geng, are you going to…"

Lin Xiao had barely begun to ask when Old Geng's next action cut him off.

He watched as Old Geng swept one hand toward the sky.

A surge of dark, ethereal Sword Intent shot upward like a pillar.

The cold, powerful Sword Intent sent a chill through Lin Xiao's entire body, making him shudder involuntarily.

Powerful.

Truly powerful.

Before this Sword Intent, he felt utterly insignificant.

How many percent of Sword Intent was this?

When would he ever reach such a level?

"As dusk falls over the ages, the sword sweeps forth — ten thousand clans bow low to offer sacrifice to the departed!"

"Tombs — awaken!"

Boom! Boom! Rumble!!

Every sword tomb in the surrounding area began to tremble.

One by one, longswords began to rise free of their tombs.

Then, slowly, the tip of every single sword turned — pointing directly at Lin Xiao.

Lin Xiao's eyes went wide with shock. A creeping sense of danger closed in on him from every direction.

The swords of the dead had moved.

This was far too eerie.

Swish! Swish!!

Suddenly.

The longsword nearest to him slashed a streak of Sword Qi straight at him.

"Shifting Phantom Step!"

Lin Xiao swiftly activated his movement technique and dodged aside.

The moment he moved, ten thousand swords moved with him.

Countless blades of Sword Qi came crashing down, hacking toward him from all sides.

Even with his movement technique at major mastery, his cultivation was only at the fourth stage of the Spirit Gathering Realm — there was simply no way to dodge them all.

In a moment of inattention, several streaks of Sword Qi pierced into his body.

"Ugh!!"

Lin Xiao's body lurched to a halt. He sucked in a sharp breath, his face contorting in pain.

It hurt.

A bone-deep, heart-piercing agony.

The fierce Sword Qi rampaged through his meridians like a blade scraping bone and salt being rubbed into the wound — utterly unbearable.

And because of that momentary pause, even more Sword Qi poured into his body.

The searing pain doubled, then doubled again.

"Nine Abyssal Demon-Suppressing Seal!!" Lin Xiao roared.

A yellow demonic seal burst from the surface of his body, blocking all the incoming Sword Qi from the outside.

Whoosh!!

Only then did Lin Xiao let out a faint breath of relief.

Worthy of a Heaven-grade technique — the moment the Demon-Suppressing Seal activated, not a single strand of Sword Qi could breach it by even a hair.

It was worth noting that the Sword Qi here was all at the Wheel Sea Realm level of power.

An ordinary Spirit Gathering Realm cultivator — even someone at the Perfected Spirit Gathering Realm — would not be able to withstand even one or two of these strikes.

A single hit would mean certain death.

At that moment, Old Geng's voice rang out again.

"Little one — blocking is inferior to diverting, diverting is inferior to guiding, and guiding is inferior to refining the Sword Qi and making it your own."

"You should be circulating the Heavenly Sovereign Sword Canon right now to refine the Sword Qi and cultivate. Do you really think your Demon-Suppressing Seal can hold indefinitely? Once it fails, what do you think will happen?"

Those two prompts from Old Geng jolted Lin Xiao awake as if from a dream.

Of course!

If not now, when?

He could already feel it clearly — while the Nine Abyssal Demon-Suppressing Seal had temporarily blocked all the Sword Qi, it was consuming his internal Spiritual Energy at a frightening rate.

Once his Spiritual Energy ran dry, he would be in serious trouble.

With that thought, Lin Xiao immediately began circulating the Heavenly Sovereign Sword Canon.

In an instant, the Sword Qi rampaging inside his body seemed to receive a summons, and began flowing in accordance with his commands.

The Heavenly Sovereign Sword Canon used Sword Qi as its foundation to forge the Sword Heart, Sword Bone, Sword Meridian, and Sword Vessel.

The agony of scraping bone. The agony of a heart being torn out. The agony of meridians being severed. The agony of vessels being cut off.

Only by forging the Sword Body could one nurture Sword Intent.

Sword Intent gathered into Sword Momentum; Sword Momentum condensed into the Sword Sea; the Sword Sea converged into the Sword Core.

Thus the Revolving Pill was formed — or more precisely, the Sword Core.

Beads of sweat the size of soybeans dripped from Lin Xiao's forehead.

Damn it all.

Who on earth invented this technique?

Couldn't it be even a little more comfortable?

Suffering before sweetness.

Suffering before sweetness.

Suffering before sweetness.

Lin Xiao repeated the mantra three times in his heart, gritted his teeth against the pain, and pressed on with his training.

Three hundred meters away from Lin Xiao.

Old Geng hovered in the air, his full spiritual sense locked onto Lin Xiao.

The moment he detected anything amiss, he was ready to intervene.

And when he saw Lin Xiao clench his jaw and push through, continuing to cultivate without stopping —

Old Geng gave a quiet nod.

This boy's talent and comprehension were extraordinary, and his willpower was equally formidable.

Only in a crisis environment could a person's greatest potential be drawn out.

The only question was how long this little fellow could hold on.

The longer he endured, the greater the rewards would surely be.

Old Geng watched Lin Xiao as he trained, his heart full of anticipation.

In truth, this was a gamble on his part as well.

Under normal training conditions, there was simply no way to achieve a major breakthrough within ten days.

Fortunately, this little fellow had already cultivated the Nine Abyssal Demon-Suppressing Seal to its third layer, and had thoroughly tempered his body in the process.

Without that, he would never have been able to withstand the Sword Qi here.

Let alone use it to cultivate.

And so it began.

Lin Xiao embarked on a hellish path of cultivation and growth.

Time passed, little by little.

One day.

Two days.

Three days.

Old Geng remained hidden three hundred meters away from Lin Xiao, standing guard the entire time.

He had expected this little fellow to last three days at most before hitting his limit.

After that, he would rest for two days and then continue.

But what he hadn't anticipated was that Lin Xiao showed no intention of stopping whatsoever.

Even when he was on the verge of collapse, the little fellow forced himself through every time.

Most remarkably of all, Lin Xiao's comprehension of the Heavenly Sovereign Sword Canon far exceeded anything Old Geng had imagined.

Four days…

Six days…

Seven days…

A full eight days passed.

Lin Xiao finally stopped.

Not because he chose to quit.

But because… every last strand of Sword Qi in this place had been completely absorbed.