Lin Huang looked up at the side of the cliff and realized he could now sense the first level of Sword Dao true meaning.
Lin Huang could vaguely sense indistinct threats from every one of the sword marks, so different each from the other. Almost every mark emanated an impression that it might be fatal to him.
There were a total of 368 of these sword marks, many more than the Sword Dao within Level-6.
“Is this just the first level of Sword Dao? Nearly every sword mark is emanating death threats.”
There were three levels of Martial Dao true meaning, the same as Sword Dao, Blade Dao, and Spear Dao.
The first level: True Martial Level.
Sword Dao true meaning that attained True Martial Level meant that one’s Sword Dao technique had achieved an extreme breakthrough. Every sword stroke would be equivalent to the True God’s God rule.
The second level: True Meaning Level.
The sword force produced by peak Sword Dao true meaning would be almost unstoppable when the wielder faced cultivators at a lower level of Martial Dao true meaning. Within attack range, it would seem as if the sword were everywhere at once. The magnitude of this was equivalent to the descent of a True God’s God Territory; the effect could be doubled if it were unleashed within the True God’s God Territory.
The third level: True Self Level.
Only when one’s skills, concept, and self were unified would Martial Dao true meaning be fully complete. At this level, Martial Dao true meaning would evolve into Martial Dao true self. In theory, the Martial Dao true self would be immune to most attacks. Only those at the same level of Rule Bending Power or those who had achieved Martial Dao true meaning would be able to hurt those who had achieved Martial Dao true self (any Rule Bending Power below the power of ninth-rank True God would basically be free from harm).
If this were a normal battle, Lin Huang would never even consider touching those sword marks once he sensed the threat coming from them.
However, now that he had death immunity, his consciousness would not be scattered within the sword mark space but would be returned immediately to his physical body. This gave Lin Huang the perfect opportunity, as he had always wanted to explore Sword Dao true meaning.
This was not just a simple opportunity for observation but actual combat, which meant he could directly experience how powerful Sword Dao true meaning could be. There was no way Lin Huang wanted to miss out on this.
His gaze swept the surroundings. He could sense faint emanations from the sword marks. It took Lin Huang quite a while to finally settle on the sword mark he felt was least dangerous. This sword mark had actually been emanating deathly threats all this while, but it was just weaker compared to the others. After making his choice, Lin Huang contacted it with his Divine Telekinesis.
The very next moment, he found himself yet again within the sword mark space.
This time, the background was a green field.
Before his opponent materialized, a Swordfiend Abyss push notification popped up.
“As the participant has already passed the official trial, this round of True Martial Level will not be considered part of the official trial. As the participant has a lower Combat Strength, all battle tactics within normal rules are permissible in order for this trial to be fair. For this round of the checkpoint, all Sword Dao Combat Strength will be decreased to the Nine Rotation destiny-level (Nine Rotation Virtual God-level), and only Sword Dao technique is allowed.”
Lin Huang could clearly feel parts of his body unseal the moment this push notification appeared. He sent his consciousness deep within him and realized that not only could he use his Sword Dao techniques, but also all his Monster Skills, Secret Skills, divine abilities, and divine skills. Even his telekinetic power was unsealed.
Aside from being unable to use any of his cards, Lin Huang’s ability was released 100%.
Lin Huang also noticed that the sword in his hand had turned into a god battle sword relic. There were even god telekinetic weapon relics hidden in his sleeves.
“Once the participant is slain in this unofficial trial, his consciousness will return to his physical body and the participant will not be able to re-enter the sword mark space he has challenged.”
Following the second appearance of the push notification, his opponent’s body slowly began to materialize nearby.
Lin Huang immediately began observing his opponent.
It was a girl in green, petite and very skinny. She looked extremely delicate and fragile.
This was Lin Huang’s first impression of her; he even doubted whether or not she was a sword cultivator.
However, as her form materialized completely, her Sword Dao manifested itself. Lin Huang could finally sense Sword Dao true meaning emanating from her.
The impression Lin Huang got was that his Sword Dao was nothing but a flowing river facing a vast, unfathomably deep ocean.
The girl in green soon turned her attention to Lin Huang. After a moment of eyeing him up and down, she could not help raising an eyebrow.
“You haven’t even attained True Martial Level, and you want to challenge me?”
Lin Huang changed tactics and initiated an attack once the five-second safeguard was up.
His form split into hundreds of scattered shadows and charged at the girl in green from different angles.
A corner of the girl’s lips curled up, as if in disdain. Only when Lin Huang’s hundreds of scattered shadows reached her did she finally draw her sword. All she did was press her thumb against the hilt of her sword; a green light flashed and dissipated. She only drew out a tenth of her sword before returning it to its sheath.
A circle of green sword gleam glimmered in the space like a water ripple and suddenly spread out in all directions. Lin Huang’s true form and his hundreds of scattered shadows were suddenly slowed down.
Before he knew it, each shadow quickly disintegrated and a bloody slash appeared on the neck of Lin Huang’s true form.
It was as if Lin Huang could see the dark surface of a lake. A green droplet fell onto the lake’s surface and the circle of green ripples slowly spread across it under the moonlight. At the same time, he felt a chilling sensation from his neck, and the next thing he knew, his consciousness had fallen into darkness.
The next second, Lin Huang’s consciousness had returned to his physical body within the Swordfiend Abyss.
“Can’t you even handle one swing from a sword?!”
Recalling the girl in green’s attack, Lin Huang suddenly realized he could not even figure out one sword swing, no, make that one-tenth of her sword swing.
The girl was too fast. The circle of sword gleam might have looked like it was gradually spreading out, but in fact, it was happening at blinding speed.
In fact, Lin Huang had not managed to catch a glimpse of his opponent’s sword swing nor the spreading of the sword gleam. It was just his Sword Dao sensing this picture, and that was all.
His body did not react fast enough and he was unable to avoid or deflect the attack. He did not even have the opportunity to face off against his opponent. He could only stand there helpless as he was killed.
“Is this really Sword Dao true meaning?! This is just the first level of the Sword Dao true meaning!” Lin Huang found the experience daunting with the mere memory of that swing of the sword.
He closed his eyes and went into deep thought for quite a while. Still, Lin Huang could not figure out any method of blocking that sword swing.
As far as the speed of his sword swing and his movements went, he was merely a slow-crawling snail in his opponent’s eyes.
What Lin Huang did not know was that this first opponent he had faced was a wind attribute sword cultivator with exceptional sword speed.
He closed his eyes and ruminated for another ten minutes, but he still could not figure out any way to break down her method. For now, he was forced to let it lie temporarily, and he turned once again toward the wall of the cliff.
His gaze swept across the wall. The sword mark he had previously chosen no longer emanated any signals. He could only sense 367 sword marks, compared to the previous 368.
“I only have three days here. If I want to explore all the Sword Dao within True Martial level, I would only have less than 12 minutes for each battle to reference and observe. I won’t be able to crack any of the sword fighting methods in such a short time and it won’t help my Sword Dao to achieve any upgrades. I can’t waste any time. I need to focus my observations on a battle that would really help me level up my Sword Dao!”
After spending some time doing a bit of simple planning, Lin Huang quickly chose his second sword mark and used his Divine Telekinesis to make the connection.
