Chapter 6: Sword Intent Achieved! Little One, There's No Need to Hide Your Talent

Because this was within the forbidden grounds of Pyre Heaven Sword Tomb, the strange phenomenon that had just occurred went completely unnoticed by the rest of Sword Demon Sect.

"What's going on?! The swords on all the Sword Tombs around me are trembling!"

"Same over here!"

"What in the world is happening? Should we run?"

"Run? Run where? This is Pyre Heaven Sword Tomb — if you bump into something, you're dead on the spot."

The newly arrived Tomb Guardians had never witnessed anything like this before. Every single one of them was frozen in place, too frightened to move.

Not far away, a figure shot out from the Sword Pavilion and rushed at full speed toward the source of the phenomenon. It was Supervisor Wei, one of the Sword Pavilion's administrators, and his eyes were wide with shock.

Since he was some distance away from where the disturbance had occurred, he couldn't be certain what had happened there. But whatever could cause thousands of Sword Tombs to tremble simultaneously was no small matter.

Could it be that some Fortuitous Encounter had manifested within Pyre Heaven Sword Tomb?

The thought sent a surge of excitement through him. Even if the Fortuitous Encounter didn't belong to him, being the first to discover it would still be a merit worth claiming.

Supervisor Wei pushed himself to move even faster.

Yet when he finally arrived at the site of the disturbance, his brow furrowed deeply.

Gone?!

There was nothing. The phenomenon had vanished entirely, and there was nothing on the ground either.

Could someone have already taken the Fortuitous Encounter away?

Wait… no, that's not it…

Supervisor Wei approached one of the Sword Tombs and carefully extended his senses.

"This is… a lingering trace of Sword Intent?! Hiss — someone actually condensed Sword Intent here?!" Supervisor Wei blurted out, his voice failing him.

Sword Intent, after all, was the hallmark of those great figures at the Revolving Pill Realm. Even the most gifted of cultivators would need to reach at least the mid-to-late Wheel Sea Realm before they could hope to comprehend it. Though Supervisor Wei had already reached the Perfected Spirit Gathering Realm, let alone comprehending Sword Intent — whether he could even break through to the Wheel Sea Realm in this lifetime was anyone's guess.

"Brother Wei! What happened here? Did a Fortuitous Encounter appear?" Another figure arrived at the scene and immediately called out.

"It's not a Fortuitous Encounter. A senior cultivated Sword Intent here," Supervisor Wei said gravely.

"Condensed Sword Intent?! Wait — it really is!" The newcomer extended his senses carefully, his face filling with astonishment.

"No idea which senior had a moment of enlightenment. Never mind that — I'm going to sit here and absorb what I can. This lingering Sword Intent is enormously beneficial for cultivation." With that, Supervisor Wei sat down on the spot and closed his eyes to cultivate.

"Right, right — while the residual Sword Intent hasn't dissipated yet, cultivation comes first." The other administrator quickly sat down as well.

After the two of them, a few more people arrived. Upon sensing the residual Sword Intent, they too guessed at what had transpired, and before long the area had become an impromptu cultivation ground for them all.

* * *

Elsewhere, Lin Xiao was sprinting through Pyre Heaven Sword Tomb. After making a wide loop to throw off any pursuit, he finally made his way back to his quarters.

Even now, he could barely believe it — he had actually condensed Sword Intent.

Indeed, once he had gathered a thousand strands of Sword Qi, those strands had spontaneously fused together into a true Sword Intent. And riding the surge of that energy, he had even broken through the Qi Refinement Realm, his cultivation officially reaching the first stage of the Spirit Gathering Realm.

Two blessings had arrived at once.

Feeling that razor-sharp yet intimately familiar Sword Intent residing within his Dantian, Lin Xiao was overcome with elation.

A trump card.

He finally had a trump card of his own.

The Sword Qi he had absorbed before was certainly powerful, but in the end it had belonged to others — merely borrowed for his use. This Sword Intent, however, was truly his.

And condensing this Sword Intent didn't stop him from continuing to absorb more Sword Qi. He just wondered how powerful this Sword Intent actually was. He'd have to find somewhere to test it the next time he applied for permission to leave.

Lin Xiao wandered the area for a little while longer before finally heading back to sleep and rest. Apart from the abundant Spiritual Energy filling his body and that single strand of Sword Intent, he was otherwise empty. Starting tomorrow, he could begin a new round of absorbing Sword Qi.

Lin Xiao returned to his "luxurious private room" — which was, in truth, a bare, unfinished room of roughly ten square meters. After all, he was just a Tomb Guardian; having a private room at all was already quite generous.

However, the moment Lin Xiao stepped through the door, every pore on his body stood on end as a powerful sense of crisis washed over him.

Someone.

There was someone standing inside his room.

Not a girl, but a grey-haired old man dressed in white robes.

Lin Xiao's first instinct was to bolt out the door. Every fiber of his being told him he was no match for the elder standing before him.

But before he could act, it felt as though an entire mountain had been pressed down upon him, leaving him unable to breathe.

"No need to run. I mean you no harm." A weathered voice emerged from the old man's lips.

At the sound of that voice, Lin Xiao's eyes went wide as saucers.

He had never seen this old man before, but that aged voice was burned into his memory. It was the same voice that had welcomed them into Pyre Heaven Sword Tomb and taught them the Qi Nourishing Art.

Lin Xiao recalled that Elder Chen had addressed this person as Old Geng.

Who was this person? Why was he here? What did he want?

A thousand questions swirled through Lin Xiao's mind, alongside a deep and overwhelming sense of helplessness. Before a truly powerful cultivator, he was no different from an ant — utterly at their mercy, with no means of resistance whatsoever.

Old Geng took a casual step forward and appeared at Lin Xiao's side in an instant. He then placed a hand on Lin Xiao's shoulder, and a tendril of Spiritual Energy probed inward.

"Hmm? No signs of Sword Qi erosion on the body?"

"And despite being only at the first stage of the Spirit Gathering Realm, he has genuinely condensed a strand of Sword Intent. Though the Sword Intent has some imperfections, this level of talent is truly rare…"

A look of surprise crossed Old Geng's aged face. He studied Lin Xiao for a long moment, then withdrew his hand.

The moment he did, Lin Xiao felt the crushing pressure lift from his body, and he could move again. But having witnessed the old man's terrifying power firsthand, he no longer had any thought of fleeing.

"Greetings, Old Geng!" Lin Xiao bowed respectfully.

Setting aside the old man's unfathomable cultivation, he had been the one to teach Lin Xiao the Qi Nourishing Art and formally initiate him into the path of cultivation. This bow was the least he could offer.

"This is an Origin Restoration Pill — take it to stabilize your realm. And these two Tokens will allow you to visit the Technique Depository and select two cultivation techniques or martial arts."

Old Geng offered no further explanation. He simply handed Lin Xiao three items and turned to walk out the door.

Lin Xiao: "???"

He stared blankly at the pill and Tokens in his hands, completely bewildered.

The Origin Restoration Pill was a high-quality pill used by Spirit Gathering Realm cultivators, worth two hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones per pill. And the Tokens granting access to the Technique Depository to select techniques and martial arts were items that only Outer Sect Disciples and above could obtain, exchanged using sect contribution points.

Lin Xiao had to admit — for someone who had just broken through to the Spirit Gathering Realm, these two things were exactly what he needed most, like charcoal delivered in the dead of winter.

"Old Geng, what is this about…?" Lin Xiao turned to ask, hoping to voice his confusion.

But the moment he turned around, Old Geng — who had been right behind him just a second ago — had already vanished without a trace.

Only a single sentence drifted into his ears.

"Once the Outer Sect Trial is over, come find me at the Sword Pavilion. And remember this, little one — in my Sword Demon Sect, if you have talent, show it. There is no need to hide it."