CHAPTER 27

  That night, Yang Feng did not sleep.

  The stone door of his cave abode had just closed.

  Outside, the mountain wind swept along the cliffs of One-Sword Peak. It struck the towering rock face and rebounded, producing deep, drawn-out echoes that sounded almost like the breathing of the mountain itself.

  Yet inside the cave abode, the air was so still it felt almost frozen.

  A spirit lamp hanging from the stone wall swayed faintly. Its pale golden glow spread across the rough stone floor, making the entire chamber appear as though it were submerged beneath a thin veil of mist.

  Yang Feng sat down in the center of the cave.

  His wooden sword rested beside him.

  A jade-green slip lay in his hand.

  He stared at it for a long time.

  The cultivation method Leng Wuqing had given him.

  The Heavenly Sword Inner Cultivation Method.

  A cultivation method that, until now, only Inner Sect disciples had been permitted to access.

  He raised the jade slip.

  And pressed it against his forehead.

  The seal opened softly.

  A stream of cold intent flowed instantly into his sea of consciousness like a mountain spring.

  Normally, when cultivators read a jade slip, they only open a small portion of their awareness.

  This prevents the overwhelming amount of information from damaging their spiritual sense.

  But this time, Yang Feng did not do that.

  He opened his sea of consciousness completely.

  Accepting the entire cultivation method at once.

  Boom.

  A vast torrent of information flooded into his mind.

  The Heavenly Sword Inner Cultivation Method.

  The qi circulation manual.

  In a single instant, he realized something that shook him deeply.

  This cultivation method…

  was completely opposite to the sect’s standard breathing method.

  It did not absorb Spiritual Qi

  On the contrary.

  It consumed it.

  Completely.

  Every breath dragged Spiritual Power

  Driving it into the meridians.

  Into the arms.

  Into the sword.

  Boom.

  Yang Feng’s dantian trembled.

  The two layers of his Mortal Foundation

  Spiritual Power was pulled out violently.

  His face turned pale.

  His entire body burned with heat.

  His skin prickled.

  The Spiritual Power stored in his dantian felt as though it were being swept away by a raging storm.

  “Cough…”

  His breathing became unstable.

  Spiritual Power was being dragged out too quickly. His meridians trembled in waves, and his sea of consciousness churned like water struck by a violent gale.

  A thought flashed through his mind.

  But in the very next instant, he understood.

  No.

  The complete opposite.

  At the very moment when his Spiritual Power was nearly exhausted, when his dantian felt so empty it seemed ready to collapse, his mind suddenly became calm.

  A calm so deep it was almost terrifying.

  Like the ocean after a storm has passed.

  Every sound vanished.

  No wind.

  No fire.

  No movement of Spiritual Qi within his meridians.

  Even the sensation of his own body disappeared.

  No cave abode.

  No mountains.

  No body.

  Only an endless void remained.

  A silence as profound as the moment when heaven and earth were first born.

  Within that boundless stillness, Yang Feng saw something.

  A sword.

  Not the wooden sword in his hand.

  But an invisible sword.

  The sword stood silently in the void.

  It did not tremble.

  It did not move.

  It emitted no light.

  Yet its sharpness was so absolute that one felt their very soul would be cut in half if they dared take even a single step closer.

  Yang Feng stood before that sword.

  He did not reach out.

  He did not need to.

  Because he already understood.

  That sword…

  was his sword.

  The sword within his heart.

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  For a long moment, he simply stood there.

  Then he laughed.

  The sound was not loud.

  Yet it echoed endlessly through the boundless void.

  “So that’s it…”

  Origin Qi.

  The mysterious force that had always existed deep within his body.

  Ever since he stepped onto the path of cultivation, it had been there.

  Yet it had never been guided.

  Never been used.

  Like a mountain sleeping beneath the earth.

  But now…

  it began to move.

  Boom.

  Origin Qi circulated.

  It was nothing like Spiritual Qi.

  It felt more like raw fuel.

  A primitive power.

  Rough.

  Ancient.

  And incomparably stable.

  It flowed into his meridians.

  Merged with his Spiritual Power.

  And transformed it.

  Yang Feng opened his eyes.

  At some point, the wooden sword had already appeared in his hand.

  He rose to his feet.

  And breathed.

  The Heavenly Sword Inner Cultivation Method

  Spiritual Power was immediately dragged out of his dantian.

  Like water being drained from a lake.

  But in the very next instant—

  he inhaled.

  The breathing technique activated on its own.

  Spiritual Qi from heaven and earth surged into his body.

  His dantian refilled.

  Then it was drained again.

  A violent cycle began to form.

  He struck.

  The Heavenly Sword Art.

  First Form.

  Second Form.

  Third Form.

  Fourth Form.

  Fifth Form.

  But this time—

  the five forms were no longer separate.

  They flowed together like water rushing through a mountain gorge.

  Linked forms.

  Sword shadows flashed throughout the cave abode.

  He struck.

  His Spiritual Power emptied.

  He inhaled.

  Spiritual Qi from the surrounding heaven and earth rushed into his body.

  Then he struck again.

  Then he absorbed Qi again.

  The cycle repeated endlessly.

  Something even Heaven Foundation cultivators

  Because if they slowed even slightly, their Spiritual Power would collapse and their meridians would shatter.

  But Yang Feng was different.

  The Origin Qi

  It was like a massive furnace.

  Every time Spiritual Power was pulled from the dantian, Origin Qi seized it instantly.

  It did not destroy it.

  It transformed it.

  The Spiritual Power became denser.

  Heavier.

  More stable.

  His sword technique gradually began to change.

  No longer stiff.

  No longer mechanical.

  It felt as though the sword itself was being born from his body.

  The sword within the heart.

  Sword Heart.

  His dantian trembled.

  A storm of chaotic Spiritual Power spun wildly within it.

  Shockwaves of energy slammed repeatedly against the walls of his dantian.

  Boom.

  A new layer of the dantian wall was forced outward.

  Crack.

  The third layer of the Mortal Foundation

  But it did not stop.

  The aftershock of Spiritual Power was still surging violently.

  Origin Qi continued to crush the remaining Spiritual Power and reconstruct it.

  A tremendous pressure pressed against the walls of the dantian.

  Boom.

  Crack.

  Another layer was forcibly formed.

  Fourth layer.

  Mid-Foundation Realm.

  Yet Yang Feng still did not stop.

  The Origin Qi within his body suddenly boiled once more.

  The Spiritual Power that had just formed was immediately devoured.

  Not destroyed.

  But refined.

  A completely new kind of power was born.

  A name surfaced in Yang Feng’s mind.

  Spiritual Qi and Liquid Qi produced Spiritual Power

  But when that Spiritual Power was devoured and reforged by the Origin Qi

  what would the resulting force become?

  Yang Feng whispered.

  “Inner Power""...

  The new energy flowed through his meridians.

  Heavy.

  Stable.

  Fierce.

  Yang Feng turned.

  The wooden sword rose in his hand.

  The Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth surged toward him.

  It compressed tightly around the blade.

  The wooden sword trembled.

  Sword Qi erupted.

  Azure Spiritual Power of the Foundation Realm

  Yet within that blue radiance—

  a faint crimson aura flickered.

  Like molten magma surging beneath the ocean floor.

  Yang Feng stepped forward.

  The Heavenly Sword Art.

  Fifth Form.

  Heavenline Sundering Strike.

  The sword descended.

  BOOM.

  A beam of azure sword qi shot straight into the sky.

  Yet within that beam—

  a streak of crimson burned like fire.

  The strike pierced through the ceiling of the cave abode.

  And tore open the night sky.

  The clouds split apart.

  A colossal crimson sword began to form above the heavens.

  The sword hung between heaven and earth.

  Its red radiance dyed the sky.

  Across the entire Eastern Region

  A phenomenon.

  A phenomenon had appeared.

  In that instant, the Spiritual Qi throughout the Eastern Region trembled.

  Sword cultivators who were meditating opened their eyes simultaneously.

  The swords in their hands trembled faintly.

  A Sword Dao phenomenon.

  A Grandmaster phenomenon

  One that had never appeared in the history of the Heavenly Sword Sect.

  The radiance of that crimson sword illuminated the entire Heavenly Sword Mountain Range.

  Inside the Sect Master HallWu Huaizhang

  The moment the crimson sword appeared, heaven and earth within the Heavenly Sword Mountains trembled faintly.

  He rose to his feet.

  Then slowly stepped out of the great hall.

  The black robes of the sect master stirred gently in the night wind.

  Wu Huaizhang lifted his head and looked toward the sky.

  The colossal crimson sword hung between heaven and earth.

  Thunderclouds were gathering above it.

  Heaven itself had begun to take notice.

  The corner of Wu Huaizhang’s mouth curved slightly.

  “Heavenly Dao.”

  “Are you curious as well?”

  A surge of Sword Intent

  A colossal phantom sword appeared behind him.

  The phantom blade slashed upward.

  The thunderclouds were torn apart.

  The crimson sword in the sky blazed even brighter.

  The phenomenon expanded.

  A gigantic sword stretched across the sky of the entire Eastern Region.

  On One-Sword Peak

  Leng Wuqing gazed at the phenomenon.

  She shook her head slightly.

  “He chose the Mortal Foundation…”

  “…to avoid the gaze of Heaven.”

  Her eyes rose toward the crimson sword that now spanned the sky.

  The faintest smile appeared at the corner of her lips.

  “And yet now…”

  “the entire world is forced to look at him.”

  Inside the cave abode,

  Yang Feng stood still.

  The wooden sword rested in his hand.

  He only felt one thing.

  Power.

  A new power flowing through his body.

  He did not know that the single strike he had just unleashed…

  had shaken heaven and earth.

  Yang Feng’s three senior sisters had already stepped into the stone courtyard.

  The night wind lifted their robes.

  Liao Jiran

  The Fourth Senior Sister was usually playful and carefree, but now she could not say a single word. The wooden practice sword slipped from her hand and fell onto the stone floor with a soft

  “Th-this…”

  She raised her head to stare at the crimson sword hanging in the sky.

  Her eyes widened.

  “A Sword Dao phenomenon?”

  Beside her, Liu Lingling

  The Second Senior Sister was normally quiet, yet even she could not hide the shock on her face.

  Her gaze shifted toward Yang Feng’s cave abode.

  Then back to the crimson sword in the sky.

  After a long silence, she finally murmured,

  “…Little Five?”

  Su Xueni

  The First Senior Sister of One-Sword Peak had always been calm.

  Yet even she could not maintain that composure now.

  Her eyes were fixed on the phenomenon in the sky.

  The massive crimson sword was reflected within her pupils.

  Su Xueni took a slow breath.

  “A Grandmaster phenomenon…”

  Her voice was soft.

  But she understood perfectly well what it meant.

  A new path of the Sword Dao

  A path capable of changing the entire sect.

  Su Xueni turned her head toward Yang Feng’s cave abode.

  For the first time, a genuine tremor appeared in her eyes.

  “Little Five…”

  “…what exactly did you do?”

  Elsewhere within the Heavenly Sword Sect

  Mystic Array Peak.

  Ou Wuji

  The night wind whipped his beard and hair.

  He raised his head and looked toward the crimson sword in the sky.

  For a long time, he said nothing.

  Then he clicked his tongue.

  “Ha…”

  He shook his head.

  There was a trace of regret in his voice.

  “I knew that kid wasn’t ordinary.”

  “But I never expected…”

  His gaze drifted toward One-Sword Peak

  His eyes grew complicated.

  “I never expected him to be such a monster.”

  He sighed.

  “Back during the selection…”

  “I should have fought harder to take him.”

  Then he laughed.

  But there was a hint of helplessness in that laugh.

  “Leng Wuqing…”

  “This time, you truly picked up a treasure.”

  Inside the Council Hall

  The great hall was brightly illuminated by spirit lamps.

  The Grand Elder, Wu Zhixiang

  Two elders stood beside him.

  One was the Outer Sect Elder

  The other was the elder of the Healing Pavilion

  All three of them were staring at the sky.

  The crimson sword was reflected in their eyes.

  For a long time, none of them spoke.

  Finally,

  the Outer Sect Elder broke the silence.

  “Grand Elder…”

  His voice trembled slightly.

  “Is this… a Grandmaster phenomenon?”

  Wu Zhixiang did not answer immediately.

  He gazed at the sky.

  His eyes were deep and unreadable.

  Then he slowly nodded.

  “Yes.”

  “A Sword Dao phenomenon.”

  “Someone has just opened a completely new path of the Sword Dao.”

  At that moment—

  laughter suddenly rang out.

  It was loud.

  Unrestrained.

  Full of delight.

  The three elders turned.

  The one laughing was Li Xiaodao

  The Third Senior Sister of One-Sword Peak.

  And also the Pavilion Master of the Cloudshade Pavilion

  She leaned casually against a stone pillar before the hall, her long hair drifting in the night wind. The crimson glow of the phenomenon reflected within her crescent-shaped eyes.

  She looked up at the crimson sword in the sky.

  Then burst into laughter.

  “Ha ha ha!”

  “That kid Yang Feng…”

  “He’s formed a unique Sword Heart

  “This time, One-Sword Peak won the wager.”

  The two elders looked at her.

  Their expressions were a mixture of confusion and surprise.

  But Wu Zhixiang merely smiled.

  He looked up at the phenomenon again.

  Then said quietly,

  “That kid…”

  “…is provoking the entire Eastern Region.”

  Li Xiaodao turned to look at him.

  Her eyes shone brightly.

  “Grand Elder.”

  She smiled.

  “Do you know what this means?”

  Wu Zhixiang slowly nodded.

  His gaze swept across the crimson sky.

  Then across the entire Heavenly Sword Sect.

  His voice lowered.

  Yet every word echoed clearly throughout the hall.

  “The Heavenly Sword Sect…”

  “…is no longer a mid-grade sect.”

  Outside the hall,

  the crimson sword still hung in the sky.

  Its radiance covered the entire Eastern Region.

  As if proclaiming to the world—

  a new path of the Sword Dao

  had been born.

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