Chapter 1298: 1298
Chapter 1298: Level-6 Sword Dao
He had just undergone an intense battle in the sword mark space, but it was actually only a clash of minds . The actual passage of time was completely unlike what he seemed to experience; less than a second had passed in the actual world .
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After completing the first match, Lin Huang was in no hurry to choose his second target . Instead, he summarized his experience from the first match .
“As I expected, be it in terms of their Sword Dao or sword skills, my opponents in the sword marks are all the best of their peers . At the very least, they’re as strong as four-star geniuses, and they’re as talented as the average Protoss .
“The depth of the sword mark should have nothing to do with the opponent’s power . It might only be due to the nature of their Sword Dao and their personalities .
“Still, I could clear the first round by bulldozing through my opponent’s skills . That means that these trials don’t have any battle completion requirements . It doesn’t matter what I do as long as I win . I don’t have to tailor my solution to my opponent’s individual styles .
“Nevertheless, it’ll be harder to bulldoze through my opponents as I go on . After all, my Sword Dao and combat level have been forcefully suppressed to match theirs, so we’re competing in terms of our Sword Dao mastery, combat experience, and combat mindsets .
“In the battles to follow, it would be best if I could find a solution to every one of my opponents’ skills . That’s also a way to accumulate combat experience and train my combat thought processes . After all, it’s a battle in the consciousness, so even if it takes me a fortnight to win, only an instant would’ve passed in the world outside . I won’t waste any time . ”
After he sorted everything out, Lin Huang raised his eyes to look at the marks on the wall .
The hairline mark he had passed earlier no longer emanated any hints of a Sword Dao .
He quickly settled on his second target .
It was an extremely deep mark, as though someone had stabbed their sword tip right into the wall . It was at least twenty to thirty centimeters deep .
After he touched it with his Telekinesis, Lin Huang’s consciousness was once more pulled into the sword mark space .
This time, Lin Huang’s opponent was a man with an extremely sharp aura, as though he was himself an unsheathed sword .
This man attacked with his sword extremely quickly, and he was very good at stabbing too .
This battle lasted for more than half an hour in the sword mark space before Lin Huang managed to kill him .
It was not that the opponent was strong enough to match Lin Huang for half an hour . Lin Huang simply figured that he had quite a few stabbing sword moves too, so he spent most of the battle secretly learning his opponent’s Sword Dao techniques .
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At the end of the battle, Lin Huang did indeed learn quite a lot . After all, the opponent specialized in this .
That was Lin Huang did in every subsequent match with a Sword Dao that intrigued him . He let his opponent use their sword skills and Sword Dao to the extreme, picking up the bits that suited him .
Thankfully, every time Lin Huang’s consciousness returned to his body after every battle, the weariness he felt in his mind would instantly vanish .
This was probably also a special effect that Swordfiend Abyss provided for the participants .
After every match, Lin Huang did not really need to rest for too long, but he still closed his eyes to recover for a while, digesting everything he had learned from the earlier battle before jumping into the next one .
That was why he spent almost four hours to complete the thousand-odd Nuance-level matches .
When he completed the last Nuance trial, Lin Huang vaguely felt as though his Sword Dao had increased just a sliver after a long plateau .
Although the change was extremely minute, it had to be noted that his Sword Dao was at level-6 now . Even an increase that small did not come easy .
He spent another half an hour to close his eyes and digest all he had learned over those thousand-odd fights . Finally, Lin Huang opened his eyes and looked at the level-2 Consonance sword marks .
He swept his gaze across the walls . There were slightly fewer Consonance sword marks than there had been Nuance ones, numbering up to slightly over eight hundred .
Lin Huang randomly chose one and reached his Telekinesis toward it .
The next instant, his consciousness was pulled into the sword mark space once more .
Unlike previously, Lin Huang could feel that suppressed Sword Dao had been unsealed somewhat, but only to the extent of a complete-stage level-2 Consonance cultivator .
Some of the sword skills he could not use during the Nuance level had also been unlocked after his Sword Dao level increased .
Lin Huang could even clearly feel that his sword skills’ potency had increased accordingly as well .
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With the experience from more than a thousand Nuance-level battles earlier, Lin Huang felt even more comfortable now with the new round of matches .
Just as before, he chose the same slow and steady approach . Whenever he encountered a sword skill that piqued his interest, he would allow his opponent to flaunt all their skills before killing them .
The eight hundred matches there took Lin Huang another three and a half hours .
Actually, the battles did not take him too much time . He spent more time trying to digest the battles afterward .
Nevertheless, the time he spent was worth it .
Upon completing the Consonance trials, Lin Huang could clearly feel his Sword Dao improving again .
For the next stage, level-3 Illumination, there were only slightly over six hundred marks .
For level-4 Oblivion, there were only slightly over four hundred marks .
For level-5 Void Breaker, there were only two hundred and eighty marks .
As the levels increased, it was clear that Great Heaven’s criteria grew stricter .
By the time he reached level-5, every one of Lin Huang’s battles took over three hours . Some even took more than six hours . On one hand, his opponents grew stronger, but on the other hand, they showed more skills as well, so the battles became even more beneficial to Lin Huang .
Thankfully, it did not matter how long he spent in the sword mark spaces . That had no effect on the passage of time outside .
However, Lin Huang spent more time digesting his post-battle thoughts as well .
The level-5 fights had taken him two days and two nights to digest it all .
After the two days’ digestion, Lin Huang could clearly feel his level-6 Sword Dao approaching the final complete stage .
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“I’m so close to being a complete-stage Deity!” Lin Huang looked at the remaining sword marks on the wall, his eyes shining . There were a hundred and twenty-one marks there emanating the level-6 aura . “Mu Sword Dao will probably reach the complete stage before I complete the level-6 trials . ”
Lin Huang was growing ever more ecstatic . He had even temporarily forgotten all about his final aim upon completing these trials, losing himself in the process of the trials themselves .
He looked around at the hundred and twenty-one sword marks, and soon Lin Huang settled on one of them .
It was a line from a poem that said, “This gold-engraved sword in a hilt of jade shall, through the curtains, the night illuminate . ” (TN: from a patriotic poem by Southern Song poet, Lu You . )
“Interesting . You’ll be first, then . ”
Lin Huang grinned and reached his Telekinesis toward it .
When his body was formed inside the sword mark space, Lin Huang finally felt free of the oppression he suffered earlier .
His Sword Dao was completely unleashed now, and all his sword skills and Sword Dao methods were completely unlocked . Even his combat level was back to the grade-9 imperial-level .
Just as Lin Huang was wondering what kind of an opponent he would face, a pop-up suddenly appeared before him .
“The participant’s cultivation route is unique . Despite your being only imperial-level at the moment, the Divine Power in your body is almost equal to that of a destiny-level rank-9 (rank-9 virtual god level) . Hence, all the Sword Dao users will have their combat powers adjusted to destiny-level rank-9 .
“Alright…” Lin Huang did not have any objections to that .
If the opponent was an imperial palace-level like he was, he would probably kill them all with one slash . It would be even easier than the level-5 fights earlier .
Before this, his power had been restricted to match his opponents’, but now it was finally time for the others to stoop to his level instead .
The level-6 Sword Dao Deity was completely unlike the first five levels . There was a huge barrier between them .
Level-6 Sword Dao would only increase evidently when he mastered mythical-level sword skills . Even pseudo-mythical-level sword skills had a limited effect on his improvement .
That was why very few sword cultivators below virtual god-level could reach level-6 . Those who were below virtual god-level did not have Divine Power in their bodies, so they could not cultivate mythical-level sword skills .
Of course, that did not mean that it was impossible for sword cultivators below virtual god-level to increase their Sword Dao to level-6 . There were powerhouses who mastered enough sword skills below mythical level, after which they grinded a little and slowly broke past the limits of level-5 Sword Dao .
Nevertheless, this method was not possible without mastering almost ten thousand different sword skills .
That went far beyond merely learning the skills . They had to merge them completely and digest these sword skills inside out, until their mastery was so complete that there was nothing else to be done .
That was why there were very few sword cultivators below virtual god level who managed to reach level-6 . Even once they reached level-6, it would be nearly impossible for them to improve even further .
Lin Huang had a cheat code on his side, so he could already use Divine Power at imperial palace level . He had also mastered more than ten mythical-level sword skills and several hundred pseudo-mythical-level sword skills .
By now, he had also experienced several thousand battles between sword cultivators in Swordfiend Abyss, and only then did he approach the complete stage of level-6 Sword Dao .
Any other imperial palace-level would not even dream of learning mythical-level sword skills . Even buying a pseudo-mythical-level sword skill that did not require Divine Power to use would probably cost them far more than they could afford .
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