Within the Sword Chamber, a young man in green moved nimbly, wielding the Steelwood Sword in his hand with effortless speed and precision. Wind and thunder roared around him like waves crashing against a shore or a rising ocean tide. When his movements reached their height, great echoes shook the entire chamber, and powerful gusts rolled outward.
With every sword stroke, dark gleams shot from the tip. Interlacing lights and shadows seemed to embody the endless mysteries of flourishing and decline, giving rise to an unfathomable sense of profundity.
The young man shouted, “Scorching Formula!”
Scalding heat spread in the sword wind, accompanied by faint thunder. Anyone caught in the attack would feel waves of fire pressing in, bringing intolerable suffering.
He raised his sword tip, turned suddenly in midair, and called, “Withering Formula!”
An aura of decay instantly spilled from his sword wind. Whatever it touched began to decline. If another sword technique approached him, its power would weaken by thirty percent before it could even reach him!
Then the young man shook his extended arm and crouched slightly. “Concealment Formula!”
In the next instant, he vanished from the chamber. A faint breeze stirred, but not a trace of his aura remained, as though no one had ever been there. Yet hidden killing intent lingered, faintly disturbing the mind.
After he had executed these moves in succession, another violent attack erupted, and the young man’s figure suddenly reappeared like a swimming dragon!
Within his swordsmanship, spring rain was fine and lingering, its killing intent soft yet unending. Summer thunder crashed explosively, its murderous force violent and relentless. Autumn wind was bleak and bitter, its murderous intent cold as frost and drifting without end. Winter snow was lonely and soundless, concealing killing intent as it waited for the proper moment.
When that moment came, spring grass sprouted and the will to kill burst from the earth, striking its target in a single blow!
Then the four sword formulas were unleashed one after another, reaping lives and severing their vitality!
A long while later, the young man finally stopped. Much of his clothing was soaked through with sweat, but his smile was gentle and his eyes shone with happiness.
His many days of arduous cultivation had not been wasted after all.
Not only had he thoroughly mastered the Four Seasons Sword Art, he had also comprehended four sword formulas of his own: the Sprouting Formula, Scorching Formula, Withering Formula, and Concealment Formula. All four were tremendously powerful. When he faced enemies in the future, the improvement in his attacking ability would amount to far more than a mere tenfold increase!
After practicing his sword for so long, Xu Ziqing had finally produced sword light from all four seasonal forms. And since the four formulas he had comprehended originated from the Four Seasons Sword Art, they too blazed with sword light, producing an earth-shaking effect whenever he unleashed them.
More than three months had already passed. He had also slain the four thought manifestations corresponding to the four seasonal sword arts. By rights, he could now be considered to have achieved initial mastery.
Xu Ziqing calculated his remaining time. There were still twenty-three days before the deadline his senior martial brother had set. Should he continue tempering his sword in the Sword Chamber or go outside to train against the Five Elements astral winds?
While he was thinking, an overwhelming force of rejection suddenly arose within the chamber. Before he could decide what to do, he was involuntarily hurled into the air, then sent plunging down.
Xu Ziqing hastily steadied his feet. Looking around, he found himself once again among the concentric caves and ring-shaped inner chambers. The Sword Chamber had expelled him!
He sighed inwardly. Perhaps the chamber possessed a spirit of its own. Seeing that his swordsmanship had reached initial mastery, it had refused to let him linger and waste time.
Since he was already outside, there was no need to weigh his choices any longer. He turned around and headed toward the cave entrance.
What would happen if he used his newly comprehended sword techniques against the Five Elements astral winds…?
When he reached the entrance, Xu Ziqing regarded the astral winds with some emotion.
The winds were fearsome, but something seemed to contain them. They rushed about only within that single tunnel and could not spill beyond it.
Who knew what extraordinary master of ancient times had collected these winds and devised such a method for the benefit of later disciples? The feat was truly admirable.
Without dwelling on it, Xu Ziqing looked to either side and went to the left. He sat cross-legged several feet away from the other cultivators so as not to disturb them.
With a thought, he summoned the Steelwood Sword into his palm.
But he did not stop there. Green light flickered in his eyes and spread over the sword. Before long, the Steelwood Sword visibly contracted until it was only about one chi long.
Xu Ziqing smiled faintly and loosened his wrist.
Just then, the thin protective layer of true essence around him was abraded away by the Five Elements astral winds. His wrist turned, and with two metallic clashes, he shattered the two gusts rushing toward him.
Xu Ziqing sat amid innumerable sharp currents, perfectly still and firm as a rock. Let the winds do as they pleased; he would not move. The winds were fierce, but he intended to remain within that tiny space, using clever sword movements to neutralize each approaching attack. In this way, he would temper his techniques and make his responses more flexible, without allowing himself to become trapped in fixed patterns.
He thought, I’ve watched Senior Martial Brother decide life and death with a turn of his hand, using sword qi alone. But who knows how many astonishing techniques he mastered while tempering his sword years ago? If I train here for some time, perhaps once I emerge I can ask him to teach me another lesson…
With this hope in mind, Xu Ziqing applied himself even more diligently.
The Five Elements astral winds approached unpredictably, and their attributes changed just as often. Training against them allowed him to glimpse how he should respond to different opponents. His attacks truly became more versatile and adaptable.
After several days, Xu Ziqing sensed a change.
In the past, whenever he wielded his sword, he liked to begin with the Spring Rain Sword Art and finish with the four sword formulas. It had become a habit. Against a real opponent, however, such predictability would allow the enemy to anticipate his moves and defeat him. Things were different now. As soon as he saw where an astral gust originated, he could identify its attribute and estimate its speed. He could instantly switch between techniques with practiced ease.
Xu Ziqing gradually realized that his swordsmanship was becoming increasingly refined. If his previous proficiency had been six parts in ten, it was now nine. As his sword techniques grew more flexible, a faint liveliness appeared in his expression, and his eyes occasionally flashed with the subtle moods of the four seasons as he struck.
His state of mind grew ever steadier through this sword tempering. His resolve strengthened, and his thoughts became clearer and more unblemished.
While tempering his sword, he lost all sense of time. In the blink of an eye, twenty days had passed.
Xu Ziqing had gained enormously during that period. The aura emanating from his entire body was considerably stronger than before. He had not only consolidated his unexpected advancement to middle Foundation Establishment, but had also become a practitioner of the Sword-Light Stage. His swordsmanship could no longer be dismissed as beneath notice.
Only three days remained before his agreed meeting with Yun Lie. Xu Ziqing stopped sitting in the Five Elements astral winds, rose to his feet, and stepped into the windless interior of the cave.
Only then did he suddenly feel a chill against his skin.
Looking down, Xu Ziqing saw that his robes were in tatters, slashed in countless places by the astral winds. Large patches of flesh were exposed. He blushed in embarrassment. A man did not need to be overly particular about appearances, but going around scarcely clothed was still improper. Fortunately, he had a spare set of magical robes in his storage ring, sparing him the humiliation of appearing before others in that state.
After changing quickly, he was neat and presentable again and finally sighed with relief.
There was still some time left. Acting on an impulse, Xu Ziqing moved to a secluded spot near the wall of the inner cave, assumed a familiar stance, and brought his sword down in a cleaving stroke.
During the past few months, in his haste to comprehend the Four Seasons Sword Art, he had not been practicing his thirty thousand daily sword strokes as he had on Little Slaughter Peak. If his senior martial brother learned that he had neglected his fundamentals, he might well reprimand him… Better to pick them up again!
Once Xu Ziqing immersed himself in the exercise, his concentration became absolute.
All his will centered on the Steelwood Sword in his hand. His entire body coordinated with the weapon, every muscle and every inch of his meridians obeying his direction without the slightest negligence.
One stroke, two strokes, three strokes…
Xu Ziqing shut out everything around him, devoting himself entirely to swinging his sword.
He forgot the endlessly changing moves of the Four Seasons Sword Art and the four sword formulas. All that remained in his mind were the fundamentals: cleave, thrust, slash, sweep.
Suddenly, a warning surged through him!
Xu Ziqing appeared unaware. Yet he abruptly turned and slashed with his long sword, meeting an icy sword light head-on.
Clang!
Metal rang against metal, and two more beams of sword light came flying toward him!
Xu Ziqing swung his extended arm and unleashed a move called Thunder Moves, Fire Rises. Two beams of his own sword light shot out, colliding with the attacks and forcibly stopping them!
Only then did Xu Ziqing see his assailant: a short, thin man holding a slender, three-chi-long sword, malice concealed deep in his eyes.
“We have no grievance between us. Why would you attack me so viciously?” Xu Ziqing looked carefully at the man. He did not recognize him at all, and his brows drew together.
Never had he imagined that someone would dare openly attempt murder inside a Sword Cave belonging to their own sect. His vigilance intensified. He could not discern the man’s cultivation, which meant the man was stronger than he was. Yet despite that advantage, his assailant had chosen to strike from the shadows. Clearly, he was no honorable person, and there was little hope of reasoning with him.
Sure enough, the short man smiled viciously. “Blame yourself for not knowing your place and offending someone you shouldn’t have. If you die in this Sword Cave, you’ll have brought it on yourself!”
With that, he shook his arm violently. The slender sword quivered several times, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue, then stabbed toward the point between Xu Ziqing’s brows with lightning speed!
Xu Ziqing retreated at once, but the slender sword pressed after him. The tip remained barely an inch from his brow, leaving him neither room to evade nor a moment to pause and defend himself!
His life hung in the balance. The slightest mistake would make him another soul beneath the blade!
The short man continued pressing forward while Xu Ziqing retreated, every nerve stretched taut.
As he was driven backward, one nested cave and ring-shaped chamber after another flashed past him. Still, the short man did not stop. He seemed determined to force Xu Ziqing toward an even deeper, more isolated part of the Sword Cave!
Xu Ziqing knew perfectly well that the man intended him harm, yet he could not find the slightest opportunity to counterattack. Frustration welled up within him. Precisely because he had been pushed to such an extreme, however, his mind grew calmer.
He had been careless again. There were still many sword practitioners training near the entrance. The short man surely could not wage a fierce battle there, much less murder him before numerous witnesses.
But matters would be entirely different in a place with no one around.
If the short man continued forcing him toward the depths of the Sword Cave, he would likely change his moves once they reached a suitably secluded location.
Xu Ziqing needed to be even more cautious. If the earlier ambush had merely been a test, the man’s true abilities remained unknown…
Just as that thought occurred to him, the slender sword rippled like water and suddenly moved away from his brow.
In the very next instant, Xu Ziqing felt an intense, icy chill at his throat!
This attack was even faster than the last!