Chapter 111

Xiao Minghuang examined the tablet for a few moments, feeling the profound sword dao aura it contained, and murmured:

“The sword dao realm within this tablet far surpasses that of the Sixth Prince—it’s like an insurmountable chasm!”

The realms of sword dao are divided into embryonic, entry, minor mastery, major mastery, and perfection.

Strictly speaking, the embryonic form cannot be considered within the realm of sword dao, but because it possesses a certain degree of power, it is usually included.

The stele before her exuded a power far surpassing that of the embryonic sword intent, with a qualitative difference, suggesting it might have transcended the realm of sword intent.

It had reached the level of sword will!

“Within this stele lies at least an introductory level of sword will.”

Xiao Minghuang took a deep breath, her expression growing more serious.

The expert who left this stele was likely a World Origin realm powerhouse in their lifetime!

Her eyes sparkled with realization. Inheriting the stele meant she could receive the legacy of a World Origin realm powerhouse!

Such an opportunity truly deserved the color cyan.

Thus, Xiao Minghuang couldn’t help but imagine in her heart. If a blue opportunity was already so powerful, how terrifying must the purple, red, and even golden opportunities above it be?

Suppressing the distracting thoughts in her mind, Xiao Minghuang refocused her attention on the stele before her.

She took a deep breath and placed her palm on the stele.

Whoosh!

The moment her palm touched the stele.

The sword dao patterns on the stele instantly became clear, and countless runes emerged from within, transforming into beams of light that converged into a single point, eventually forming a sword shadow that sliced through the air and landed on Xiao Minghuang.

Mysterious and profound energies flowed between the waters of the lake, creating a misty glow.

In an instant.

Xiao Minghuang’s head spun, and her vision went dark.

When she regained her senses, it felt as if she had entered another world.

Before her eyes were countless sword shadows, thousands upon thousands, innumerable.

Each sword seemed capable of shattering mountains and severing rivers.

Yet, these incredibly powerful sword shadows held no hostility towards Xiao Minghuang. Instead, they flew towards her like swallows returning to their nest.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Countless sword shadows flew into her body.

Xiao Minghuang had already gained the stele’s acknowledgment, so these sword shadows posed no threat to her. On the contrary, they were extremely affectionate. As each sword shadow merged into her body, boundless insights into sword dao flooded her mind.

In her mind, it seemed as though hundreds of figures appeared, continuously practicing sword techniques within her consciousness.

These sword techniques were not at all obscure, as if they were as natural as eating, requiring no deep understanding to master.

Soon, the insights into sword dao filled her mind, and Xiao Minghuang became completely immersed in them.

As time passed.

Xiao Minghuang’s comprehension of sword dao continued to improve.

From a basic understanding of sword dao to grasping the embryonic form of sword intent.

It took her three days.

But from the embryonic form to the introductory level of sword intent, it only took half a day.

The subsequent minor mastery, major mastery, and perfection of sword intent took only a day in total.

As her understanding of sword dao deepened, Xiao Minghuang realized that sword dao was different from martial arts.

The deeper one delves into martial arts, the more difficult it becomes.

After reaching minor mastery in martial arts, achieving major mastery is as difficult as ascending to heaven.

But after entering the realm of sword dao, there were almost no bottlenecks, and advancing through the levels was almost effortless.

Between the two, the former becomes increasingly difficult because martial arts are often complex, and as one progresses, the knowledge required multiplies, making comprehension exponentially harder.

The path of the sword is one of refinement and specialization, and the more specialized it becomes, the easier it is. Once you step through the gate, the most difficult hurdle has already been crossed. What remains is to follow the map, and the knowledge to be mastered is solely that of the sword itself. She only needs to stride forward boldly, encountering no bottlenecks along the way.

Finally a clear and resonant sword cry suddenly erupted from within Xiao Minghuang.

At this moment, Xiao Minghuang was like a peerless sword that had been polished for decades, its dust cleared and its light shining, ready to be drawn from its sheath to reveal its unparalleled sharpness!

Hum! Hum! Hum!

An extremely sharp aura radiated from her entire being, and a powerful wave of sword energy burst forth.

Then the sword light formed a disc, resembling a full moon, rippling across the surface of the lake.

A powerful surge of energy erupted from the surface of the lake.

This terrifying sword intent, carrying with it the water, shot into the sky, creating a water column dozens of feet thick. The entire lake was thrown into turmoil, with towering waves crashing everywhere.

At the same time.

Within Xiao Minghuang’s body, the sound of sword chimes resonated, shaking the void as if it could cut through anything, unmatched and invincible.

This sharp and immense force flowed through her meridians, converging towards her dantian, and finally condensed into a phantom sword shadow, hovering above the spiritual spring.

The sword shadow was not large, only about a foot long, but it radiated an endless, fierce aura.

This phantom sword shadow was the sword intent!

Suddenly.

Xiao Minghuang opened her eyes.

Within her pupils, sword light intertwined, flashing with a dazzling brilliance, as if it were tangible, leaping within her eyes.

Her gaze seemed capable of piercing through everything, as if all things in the world could be shattered with a single thought!

“Sword Intent Embryo!”

Xiao Minghuang murmured softly, feeling the surging power within her body, a smile appearing on her face.

She had only a basic understanding of the Sword Dao, far from even the embryonic stage of sword intent, let alone the more profound sword intent.

But with the inheritance from the Sword Dao Stone Tablet, she had directly leaped across a major realm, comprehending the embryonic stage of sword intent!

The inheritance contained within the stone tablet was originally a perfected sword intent, but after the wear of time, only a fraction remained.

Even with Xiao Minghuang’s exceptional talent and astonishing comprehension, she had only grasped the embryonic stage of sword intent.

If a few more years had passed, even the embryonic stage of sword intent might have been difficult to preserve.

Thinking of this, Xiao Minghuang couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief in her heart.

The next moment.

Xiao Minghuang leaped into the air, looking down at the valley, and saw that the once picturesque valley had been ravaged by sword energy, a scene of utter chaos.

“Since it’s already in such a state, let me add fuel to the fire!”

Having comprehended the embryonic stage of sword intent, she naturally wanted to test the strength of this realm.

Xiao Minghuang knew that the sword intent in the Sword Dao realm was comparable to the minor mastery in martial arts, as martial arts were diverse and specialized in different areas.

Moreover, swordsmen focused on killing, so sword intent often surpassed minor mastery martial arts by a significant margin, yet it still fell short of major mastery martial arts.

Major mastery martial arts above the Earth Rank could derive divine abilities, far beyond what sword intent could achieve.

However, sword intent, focused on killing, could derive divine abilities that surpassed major mastery martial arts.

Above that, there was the legendary sword domain, which surpassed perfected martial arts, something Xiao Minghuang could not yet fathom.

In the Sword Dao and martial arts, sword intent and minor mastery belonged to the same realm, but sword intent was stronger than minor mastery martial arts.

This was roughly the information Xiao Minghuang had received from the inheritance.

“The senior who left the stone tablet specialized in the Sword Dao and seemed to have little involvement in other martial arts.”

She let out a light breath, calming her mind, and extended her slender, fair hand, grasping at the void. A golden longsword materialized out of thin air.

Xiao Minghuang held the golden longsword in her hand, feeling an overwhelming sword intent surge into her body, making her appear sharp and indestructible.

With a gentle twist of her wrist, she spun the sword once and lightly slashed towards the lake in the valley.

Swish!

The sword qi arced through the air with a sharp hiss, leaving a straight white line in its wake, like a dazzling lightning bolt streaking across the night sky, tracing an incomplete trajectory in the air.

A beam of sword light descended from the heavens, striking the lake and illuminating the entire surface in a brilliant, snowy white!

As the sword light fell, it carved a hundreds-of-zhang-long scar into the lake, sending up massive sprays of water and stirring endless waves, like a colossal waterfall gushing forth and cascading down.

Boom!

The entire lake was struck by the sword light, erupting with a thunderous explosion. Countless enormous water sprays erupted from the lake’s surface, and the lake itself was split in two by a single stroke of sword qi, cleaving it into halves that flowed away in opposite directions.

At the center of the lake, a fissure spread across the ground, hundreds of zhang long and bottomless, resembling a vast chasm.

“Although it’s only the embryonic form of sword intent, its power far surpasses my previous strongest strike.”

After the initial shock, Xiao Minghuang steadied her mind, gazing at the bisected lake and reflecting on her thoughts.

Before she had grasped the embryonic form of sword intent, even with the aid of a magical artifact and pushing her “White Sun Star Manifestation” to its limit, she could not rival such might.

But now, with just a casual swing of her sword, she could unleash such formidable power.

If she were to fully utilize her magical artifacts and divine abilities in battle, how much more powerful could she become?

Xiao Minghuang felt a surge of anticipation.

She longed for an opponent, someone who could push her to unleash her full strength.

“Life is as lonely as snow…”

Xiao Minghuang shook her head slightly, sighed softly, and then stepped onto a cloud, drifting away.

…

Half a day later.

Amidst the devastated valley, a young man in black robes appeared.

If Xiao Minghuang had not left, she would have been greatly astonished to see him.

For this young man in black robes was none other than the First Prince, whom she had once met at Prince Wu’an’s residence!

At this moment, there was no one around.

The First Prince surveyed his surroundings, taking in the heart-wrenching scene of ruins. He frowned, touched the ring on his finger, and asked:

“Master, you said there was a sword dao inheritance here. Where is the opportunity?”

Inside the ring’s space, in the pitch-black darkness.

An elderly man with white hair, appearing extremely frail, suddenly opened his eyes.

“I’ll come out and take a look myself.”

As soon as he finished speaking.

The old man’s illusory figure emerged from the ring, manifesting in the outside world.

Looking at the devastation before him, the old man frowned and said:

“It seems a great battle just took place here?”

The First Prince curled his lip. Anyone could tell that a battle had occurred here. Did he really need to point it out?

The old man’s illusory figure floated around, following the massive chasm at the lake’s center downward, eventually arriving at a pile of rubble.

The First Prince naturally followed along.

The old man leaned down, carefully examining the rubble.

After a moment, his expression suddenly changed.

“The inheritance here must have been taken by someone else!”

“After absorbing the sword dao inheritance, this person tested their sword here, trying to destroy the evidence.”

“This person’s cultivation shouldn’t be too high, at least at the Qi Refining stage, but no more than the Spring Realm.”

Hearing this, the First Prince frowned.

“Master, this sword dao inheritance is crucial to me. Without it, I’ll have a hard time defeating that woman in the upcoming competition.”

The old man said gravely:

“I naturally know… Xiao Yan, my disciple. I also know of another opportunity. I will take you to obtain it now. It is a top-tier Earth Grade cultivation technique that combines body refining and qi refining. Once you acquire it, I will personally refine elixirs to help you quickly comprehend the technique and elevate your realm. By then, no one within the Spring Realm will be your match!”

Hearing this, the First Prince’s face lit up with joy, and he immediately clasped his hands in gratitude:

“Thank you, Master!”

As his words fell, the old man’s illusory figure vanished, returning to the ring.

The ring on the First Prince’s hand, entirely purple-black, shimmered with an eerie and magnificent brilliance under the sunlight, appearing extraordinarily unique.

This ring was a keepsake from the mother of this body.

Under the guidance of the old man within the ring, the First Prince had diligently cultivated, enduring countless hardships, and finally refined an elixir that enhanced his innate talent.

After consuming the elixir, his talent finally reached a level comparable to that of an ordinary person.

Through accumulated effort and with the old man’s assistance and guidance, the First Prince’s cultivation rapidly advanced, soon reaching the second level of the Spring Realm.

However, in his eagerness for quick success, the First Prince secretly refined a forbidden elixir, which led to his untimely death.

Instead, it was Xiao Yan, who shared the same name and surname as the First Prince but hailed from another world, who took advantage of the situation, possessing the body and returning to life.

Thinking of this, the First Prince… or rather, Xiao Yan from another world, curled his lips into a strange smile.

In his previous life, he had been a small-time gangster, making a living by extorting small vendors. He was killed in a gang fight, never expecting to be reincarnated in another world, and even gaining a ring-bound elder as his golden finger.

At the beginning of his transmigration, Xiao Yan had meticulously imitated the original owner’s speech and behavior, but over time, his true nature gradually surfaced.

However, perhaps because it was too familiar, the old man never seemed to suspect anything.

According to the agreement between the original owner and the old man, the old man would take Xiao Yan as his disciple, nurture him, and once Xiao Yan’s strength had sufficiently increased, he would help the old man reconstruct a suitable physical body.

To reconstruct a suitable physical body, the assistance of a powerful faction was undoubtedly necessary.

After all, the materials required for such a task were far too numerous for one person to gather alone.

Thus, Xiao Yan and the old man’s current goal was to win the grand competition, step by step becoming the ruler of the Great Xia, and then proceed as they wished.

Inside the ring, the old man recalled Xiao Yan’s recent behavior, a hint of doubt crossing his mind.

“Xiao Yan’s smile feels a bit off, as if he’s always somewhat absent-minded. Could it be that I’m mistaken?”

After a moment of contemplation, he pushed the thought aside.

“Now is the critical moment to help Xiao Yan seize the throne. There’s no room for hesitation.”

Next, he guided Xiao Yan toward the location of the next opportunity.

Meanwhile, three hundred miles away, at the entrance of a mountain cave, Xiao Minghuang emerged from the shadowy depths, her face beaming with joy.

“《Stellar Qi Guidance Technique》, a top-tier Earth Grade technique!”

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Translator: Glariosa
Editor: Ruu

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