Chapter 111: Chapter 111: The Eve of Dawn
Su Yue mentally ran through the possibilities and came up with a plan.
"Yan Sea, focus on getting yourself in peak condition. Be ready to heal your Dantian at a moment’s notice."
"Yu Fei, you just continue your training at your own pace. Don’t rush. If an Apostle really does attack, it won’t matter much whether you’re at the first or second realm. Even perfecting your Sword Nurturing Skill won’t be enough.
Understand? Your top priority is to protect yourself, even if something happens to Yan Sea and me."
Su Yue’s tone was grave, and Yu Fei nodded slowly.
Although Yan Sea had offered a lot of advice, he had never explained how to actually deal with an Apostle.
Against an enemy of that caliber, it wouldn’t matter how many people you threw at them unless you had a Martial Artist of an equal level to intercept them.
Besides, with one Apostle appearing openly, who knew if there were other enemies lurking in the shadows. What if there was a Grandmaster?
Yan Sea and Su Yue had to prepare for the worst.
When Yu Fei returned home that evening, his expression was grave. He simply told his parents to be careful for a while and to stay away from strangers, especially anyone who looked or acted strangely.
Pressure was a powerful motivator for his training.
With Su Yue’s unconditional support, his stance training progressed at an astonishing rate. His blood-refining made leaps and bounds. Every day, Yu Fei could feel himself growing stronger as his Qi Blood became more and more abundant.
Among the five stages of the first martial realm, the blood-refining stage didn’t provide a huge boost to physical attributes. However, the total volume of one’s Qi Blood would skyrocket. In simple terms, passing this stage was like drastically increasing a Martial Artist’s health and mana bars, making them far more resilient.
In the silent Meditation Chamber, Yu Fei cleared his mind of all distracting thoughts, maintaining a state of inner peace. After regulating his breathing, he drank a full cup of the clear, lustrous Enlightenment Tea. As its immense medicinal power spread through him, Yu Fei allowed the thousands of thoughts to soar through his mind and slowly formed a hand seal for his Sword Technique.
"Manifest!"
A gloomy, abstruse Sword Intent brought all things to a standstill. Like a king ruling from the shadows, it descended upon his spiritual space.
Under this threat, the chaotic torrent of Yu Fei’s thoughts was forcibly redirected, all of them converging on a single purpose: to deduce a way to counter the invading Sword Intent.
Empowered by these myriad thoughts, his own Sword Intent shed its former simplicity, taking on an air of nothingness. It allowed the third Sword Intent to pursue all things, yet that intent could not touch it in the slightest.
The two sides were locked in a stalemate. One Sword Intent was tyrannical and unrestrained, a harbinger of darkness and ruin. The other was ephemeral and indistinct, like the reflection of the moon on water.
The former was the third and final supreme Sword Intent left behind by Mr. Lanren in the Cyan Lotus Sword. The latter was Yu Fei’s own creation, achieved with the aid of the Enlightenment Tea.
Their fundamental concepts were the same; it was only that Yu Fei’s power was insufficient and his Sword Intent was still incomplete.
In the invisible confrontation, the glow of the Dark Sword Intent could never locate its target. It tore through the space again and again, gradually revealing its own position. Meanwhile, Yu Fei’s intent focused all its power on concealment, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Finally, in a flash, Yu Fei perceived the true location of the dark sword glow.
’Strike!’
The moon-on-water Sword Intent instantly accelerated to its absolute limit. In the split second it neared its opponent, it solidified from illusion to reality, unleashing its full, terrifying sharpness.
HMMMM...
The instant the two intents clashed, Yu Fei’s face went pale, and blood trickled from his mouth and nose.
But a smile touched the corners of his lips.
Back in his spiritual space, the Dark Sword Intent had been struck. Although it had defeated the moon-on-water intent with its superior power, its own strength was nearly exhausted. It lashed out one last time in a show of frustration, striking wildly within the spiritual space. Yu Fei endured the blow with his resilient spirit, taking no damage.
It had been half a month since he started using the twenty-year-old Enlightenment Tea to aid his training, and Yu Fei had made unprecedented progress in the growth of his Sword Intent.
’But I can be even faster.’
The Dark Sword Intent could no longer cause any real damage to his spirit. In the beginning, a single strike would cause him to black out. Now, it just caused a tremor in his Qi Blood and a slight nosebleed.
After briefly regulating his breathing, Yu Fei began his second round of sword practice for the day.
"Manifest!"
Inside his spiritual space, the Dark Sword Intent had devolved from a world-conquering king into a hysterical shrew. An invisible threat was always at its side, but it could never find its opponent. All it could do was frantically suppress all creation and tear through space again and again, which only served to weaken it further.
After all, it was just a remnant of Sword Intent left by Mr. Lanren. It could only act on instinct. Against an opponent like Yu Fei, whose intent could shift between the tangible and intangible to conceal itself, it was completely helpless.
Finally, the opportunity arrived...
’Strike!’
PTOO...
Yu Fei’s mind went blank. Under the violent tremor of his Qi Blood, he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.
’Still off by a hair... I guess that’s all for today.’
Yu Fei felt a pang of regret.
As his training session ended, Su Yue and Yan Sea once again approached him, their faces filled with concern.
"How did it go?"
Yu Fei’s eyes were bright. Though his face was pale, his spirit was high.
"I have a feeling. Within the next five Sword Nurturing sessions, I will definitely shatter this third Sword Intent."
Yan Sea’s expression grew excited upon hearing this. "Yu Fei, are you sure? This is no joking matter."
"Teacher, I’m confident!"
"Good, good, good..." Yan Sea stepped forward and clapped Yu Fei on the shoulder. He was incredibly thankful for the choice he had made. This young man was simply too brilliant.
"Right, go and get some rest for now. In a few days, I’ll teach you the Tribulation Sword Dao Foundation Secret Skill."
"A Dao Foundation Secret Skill?"
Yu Fei was confused.
Yan Sea laughed heartily. "I told you from the very beginning, the Cyan Lotus Sword Nurturing Skill is just a start. The [Tribulation Sea Formless Sword Manual] my master left behind contains a complete set of techniques—it was his life’s work. The Secret Technique I’m about to pass on to you is called the [Heart Furnace Lotus Planting Skill], and it’s used specifically to forge your Dao Foundation."
"[Heart Furnace Lotus Planting Skill]?"
Yu Fei had a suspicion. ’Is it related to the seed that came with the Cyan Lotus Sword?’
"Yes. It’s called a Primordial Qi Sword Lotus Seed. It comes from a special Exotic Origin Realm and is an essential component for the Tribulation Sword Dao Foundation."
Seeing the curiosity on Yu Fei’s face, Su Yue smiled. "Go and rest for now. You can study it with your teacher once you’re in better shape."
The high-intensity Sword Nurturing over the past several days had clearly tempered Yu Fei’s mind. Even though he was incredibly curious, he still reined in his racing thoughts and said calmly:
"Alright, Teacher. I’ll go rest then."
The two watched Yu Fei walk away. Yan Sea said unconsciously, "Yuanyuan, I feel like I’m in a dream. It’s hard to believe a nightmare filled with such despair could have such a wonderful ending."
Su Yue squeezed his hand. "Don’t I feel the same? If you hadn’t pulled yourself out of that despair, I never would have come to see you...."
She had watched over Yan Sea here for ten years, observed him for ten years. In his despair, Yan Sea was like a walking corpse, silently waiting for death’s embrace. There would have been no point in her seeing him then.
Things began to change this spring. A light gradually returned to the stubborn man’s eyes, and that light soon grew into a flame. The moment she saw Yan Sea guarding Yu Fei, never leaving his side, she knew the time to meet had finally come.
And now, it was like the darkness before the dawn. They only had to wait for the day Yu Fei’s sword would ring through the heavens. On that day, the shackles binding her and Yan Sea would be shattered, and the two of them would be reborn.
Su Yue sneered to herself. ’It would be for the best if those rats from the Illuminati don’t show their faces. But if they dare... Hmph...’
