Thousands and millions of crescent-shaped golden sword gleams attacked from multiple angles and speeds within the void. They assailed Lin Huang menacingly like a storm blown towards him by a raging wind.
In the blink of an eye, hundreds of Lin Huang’s shadow copies appeared. The long sword in his hand, flashing with the glint of thousands and millions of shadow blades, attacked each crescent-shaped golden sword gleam. Not a single one was left out.
He had not used an avatar skill; the sword mark space did not allow him to use any skills other than Sword Dao. He had relied on extreme agility in speed and a swift blade to create this terrifying effect of shadow copies.
There was a bitter taste in the strong man’s mouth as he watched each and every one of his numerous sword gleams being effortlessly countered by Lin Huang.
He knew he had lost.
This battle had been going on for more than ten hours. He had used almost all of his tactics; even the Ten Thousand Blades, the strongest of his techniques, had been utilized many times. He had managed to hurt Lin Huang the first time, but after that, his subsequent attacks barely brushed even the hem of his opponent’s garments.
Lin Huang hardly bothered to dodge the attacks. Instead, he swung his sword over and over to eliminate all the assaults directed at him.
“It’s been fun battling with you!”
The golden sword gleams disappeared and Lin Huang stood tall and proud in the void. “I’ll repay the favor with the sword technique I just acquired.”
Lin Huang swung his sword forcefully with his right hand as he spoke.
The next moment, thousands of sword gleams blossomed from the swing, like a sudden explosion of brightly-colored fireworks.
Each sword gleam followed a different path at different speeds, all in myriad different forms.
Some rained down like meteor showers, some were like flashes of electricity, some were magnificent arcs of light, while some were just like monstrous waves…
Every sword gleam had a different form and substance, but they were obviously a level up from the single cut of Ten Thousand Blades which the strong man had demonstrated.
The strong man’s eyes gleamed with fascination as he watched.
“Can one really be at this level before attaining Sword Dao true meaning…”
The next moment, those thousands of sword gleams swept toward the strong man at varying speeds and angles, engulfing him completely.
“You’ve gone the wrong way on your Sword Dao journey. Slashes should be about quality, not quantity. You produced millions of sword gleams, but none of them was equal in power to my one hundred sword gleams.”
Lin Huang said this slowly while watching the strong man vanish into the sword gleams. There was no knowing if his opponent had even heard them.
“The participant has passed the first Deity checkpoint!”
His consciousness returned from the sword mark space. Barely a second had passed in the Swordfiend Abyss, but Lin Huang had used around half an hour to completely absorb what he had obtained from this battle.
When he opened his eyes, Lin Huang could feel the Sword Dao in him level up, albeit very faintly.
“As expected, the upgrade from a Level-6 opponent can’t compare with the previous one—just one battle and I could feel my Sword Dao level up. Based on this estimation, my Sword Dao will be able to fully attain Level-6 after twenty to thirty battles.”
After absorbing all that he had gotten from the first battle, Lin Huang lifted his head once more to look at the remaining 120 sword marks. He quickly chose one of the marks and reached out to it with his Divine Telekinesis.
Lin Huang’s second opponent was a strong, vicious sword cultivator proficient in melee attacks. He was also a naturally physically dominant Protoss. Even in human form, he was more than three meters tall.
Most Protoss like him would normally choose to cultivate combat skills, but this fellow had chosen to cultivate sword skills instead. Given his dominant physique, battling him would be like fighting a demon.
It took Lin Huang nearly 15 hours to finally slaughter this opponent as the Protoss’ physical abilities were equal to his own.
After this battle, Lin Huang spent another half an hour to absorb what he had gained—some melee tactics that were previously unknown to him.
Practically none of his subsequent battles were easily won.
Almost every match lasted more than ten hours, with a few that went on for more than twenty hours even.
Before attaining Level-6, Lin Huang had purposely allowed his opponents to show off their skills first. Once he had attained Level-6 however, Lin Huang’s opponents were powerful enough to go up against him for more than 10 hours, and it was no longer a case of him purposely buying time by allowing his opponents to flaunt their abilities. He even faced some opponents whose Sword Dao was equal to his own. If he did not strategize his fights, it would have been difficult for him to slay his enemies.
As each battle came and went, Lin Huang learned many Sword Dao techniques that were useful in combat. His Sword Dao was in a continuous state of advancement as well.
After his 23rd battle, Lin Huang’s Sword Dao finally fully attained Level-6. At this point, his Sword Dao was already at its limits. If he continued to break through, he would attain Sword Dao true meaning.
When he sensed that his Sword Dao had reached its fullness, Lin Huang closed his eyes and sat where he was. He used more than three hours to connect to the Sword Dao’s ultimate level before getting up to start the next battle.
Lin Huang was more at ease in his subsequent battles, although each match within the sword mark space still took him no less than ten hours.
Even though his Sword Dao had achieved fullness at all levels, he still took the time to assimilate and absorb everything obtained from his battles. He had also taken the opportunity to bring out the pseudo-mythical-level and mythical level sword techniques that he had not been able to properly cultivate or practice, and use them in combat.
He kept to his usual habit after each battle, closing his eyes to absorb whatever he obtained.
Even though he had achieved completion in his Sword Dao, Lin Huang could vaguely sense that it had not yet reached a bottleneck in advancement. It was just leveling up gradually in an undetectable manner.
Lin Huang spent about three and a half days to complete all 121 matches within Level-6.
The actual battles within the sword mark space took next to no time to complete. The three and a half days were mainly used to absorb his gains.
At the completion of the last match, a push notification finally appeared in the Swordfiend Abyss.
“The participant has passed Deity levels!”
“Congratulations, you have passed the first stage of the Great Heaven inheritance trials!”
Lin Huang was a little startled at the second notification.
Firstly, this was because the Swordfiend Abyss really had turned out to be the first stage of the Great Heaven inheritance.
Second, he had actually passed the stage without attaining enlightenment in Sword Dao true meaning.
After some careful consideration, he could roughly make a guess at the situation. The standard for passing each stage must have something do with the cultivator’s battle grade. He was, after all, only imperial-level. It was almost unheard of for someone of imperial-level to actually achieve Level-6 Sword Dao. However, he had successfully passed all levels within Level-6 despite being imperial-level; small wonder that he had obtained approval from Great Heaven.
The push notification in the Swordfiend Abyss only paused for a moment before more information began scrolling past.
“You may choose to stay within the Swordfiend Abyss to advance to the next checkpoint and take part in the trials for the different levels of Sword Dao true meaning. You may also choose to directly advance to the second stage of the Great Heaven inheritance trials.”
“As the participant has passed all the trials of the Swordfiend Abyss, you will gain death immunity if you choose to take part in the trials for the different levels of Sword Dao true meaning. If you are killed within the sword mark space, your consciousness will not die but will be returned to your physical body immediately. After you are killed, you will not be allowed to enter the sword mark space a second time.”
“Note: From now on, the participant is only allowed to stay in the Swordfiend Abyss for a maximum of three days. Once the three days are up, you will be immediately sent to the second stage of the Great Heaven inheritance.”
“Please make your choice. 1. Directly enter the second stage of the Great Heaven inheritance. 2. Stay in the Swordfiend Abyss.”
“If no selection has been made within 10 seconds, the selection will default to No.1.”
“10, 9, 8…”
The push notification started a countdown. Lin Huang thought quickly and made a swift decision—he would stay in the Swordfiend Abyss.
“Since I have death immunity, why not take the opportunity to find out just how powerful Sword Dao true meaning is?!”