Chapter 326: Chapter 325: Sword Heart has a minor accomplishment
Inside a room of the villa.
Shi Xiaole is seated cross-legged on the bed.
He wasn’t aware of the bugs inside his body but now that he found out, there was no way he would just sit idly by and wait for death. He immediately deployed his spirit strength to scan his entire body over and over again.
Shi Xiaole’s spirit strength had always been higher than top practitioners in the Spiritual-Passage Realm. His strength had grown exponentially after absorbing the spiritual essence from the mysterious creature’s brain in the ghost fortress, unparalleled beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.
After scanning his body dozens of times, he finally discovered an anomaly in his rib.
It was a tiny, barely noticeable dark spot, not much bigger than a speck of dust, which was moving with the flow of his blood, making it hard to discover.
To his astonishment, the bug was being eroded by some unknown force within his body, having already lost a small part of its form.
"I once consumed a golden toad’s inner alchemy and later activated a certain ability that absorbs poisons. Ordinary bugs cannot harm me."
The master of bug manipulation from Sky Edge Pavilion was undoubtedly powerful, otherwise Shi Xiaole wouldn’t have been tricked.
But it was clear that even the bugs planted by the opponent’s hand were being rejected by Shi Xiaole’s body, and he believed that in no time, they would be completely assimilated.
It seemed that a single drop of blood essence was causing Shi Xiaole a grave concern. He guessed without a doubt that it was extracted from the Black Devil Divine Monarch.
A thought passed through his mind, and the blood essence from his body trickled out from his pores, suspending itself on his fingertips.
Presumably, it is this very blood essence that triggered the detection by the Heaven’s Mandate Compass.
There was no hesitation. His internal power gushed out from his fingers, colliding with the blood essence.
"You cannot destroy me, or you will lose the chance of absorbing my Devil Path essence."
A terrifying scene ensued as a black fog emerged from the blood essence, drifting in front of Shi Xiaole and transformed into a blurry shadow.
However, Shi Xiaole was not surprised. He had already sensed the spirit fluctuations within it. Focusing more of his internal power, he smashed the shadow like a sharp sword.
"Hold on, don’t you want to know Sky Edge Pavilion’s startling secret? We can work together. I can help you to become the ruler of the Great Cold Demon Path."
The shadow became impatient.
"I don’t want to know, nor do I want to work with you."
Only equals can form alliances; otherwise it can easily turn into stealing a tiger’s skin, and Shi Xiaole wouldn’t believe in someone like Black Devil Divine Monarch.
With his current power, any involvement in such secrets would only lead to his death. There was no reason for him to make trouble for himself.
"You forced me into this!"
Seeing Shi Xiaole’s decisive attack, the black shadow transformed into a sharp spear, ferociously stabbing towards Shi Xiaole’s forehead, aiming to annihilate his spirit sea.
He initially wanted to slowly devise a plan and launch an attack when the spirit seed had grown strong enough, but now he was left with no other options.
Fortunately, even though it was just a spirit seed, the Black Devil Divine Monarch believed that conquering Shi Xiaole’s spirit sea should not be difficult provided he was careful enough.
The black spear stabbed into Shi Xiaole’s spirit sea, only to be repelled back like a thin wire striking a steel plate. The spirit sea showed no signs of damage, and instead the vast counterforce left the black spear shattered.
"Your spirit strength, how can it be this powerful?!"
The shadow was shocked.
Shi Xiaole chuckled.
The spirit energy he had just used to scan his body was only one-tenth of the total, the remaining nine-tenths was currently not operational. Otherwise, he probably would have detected the abnormality in the Black Devil’s arm from the start.
With one-tenth of his spirit energy, Shi Xiaole continuously assaulted the black shadow. After dozens of confrontations, the black shadow finally broke.
"Brat, I will remember you! When I escape from Sky Edge Pavilion, I will tear you into thousands of pieces!"
Just before breaking into pieces, the black shadow made an ominous vow.
"First get yourself out and then we will see."
Shi Xiaole was not bothered.
As it was evident the Black Devil Divine Monarch meant harm, Shi Xiaole felt no need to be polite. Moreover, there was no way to tell when the Divine Monarch would escape from the Sky Edge Pavilion.
After the shadow broke apart, it transformed into pure spiritual power and melded into Shi Xiaole’s spirit sea.
In an instant, Shi Xiaole keenly felt his spiritual power strengthen. Surprisingly, some vague fragments of memory flashed before him.
There were scenes of battle, incantations, and conversations.
"Are these the memories of the Black Devil Divine Monarch?"
As the spirit seed originated from the host, it inevitably carried its owner’s memories.
Shi Xiaole even found quite a few profound demonic martial arts techniques in these memories. However, they were too fragmented to be exchanged in the system.
Observing the floating blood essence in the air, Shi Xiaole surprisingly chose not to destroy it. He had gleaned from the memory fragments that surrounding the blood essence with internal power would block the detection of the Heaven’s Mandate Compass.
Therefore, it was better to keep it for the time being; it could be used for both attack and defense. He might need it in case he had to deal with the Devil Path in the future.
...
Just as the black shadow broke apart, far away from Shi Xiaole in some distant dungeon, a man whose body was penetrated by sharp chains and nailed to a stone wall let out a quiet grunt and opened his cruel, beast-like eyes.
"Damn bastard, dared to destroy my spirit seed!"
His body emitted a suffocating killing aura that even made the flames flicker on the wall. Hence, it’s easy to imagine the kind of ferocious character he was in the past.
Just as Sky Edge Pavilion wished to seize the Black Devil Divine Monarch’s secrets, the Black Devil Divine Monarch too had his own secret agenda. He fused spirit power into the blood essence, preparing to ’reincarnate through body possession’.
Years ago, he learned a ground-breaking spiritual practice from an ancient relic and has been cultivating it ever since. This is why the Sky Edge Pavilion has never been able to extract any secrets from him.
He had put a restriction on himself long ago. If someone tries to hypnotize him, his mental power would automatically collapse.
Originally, as long as the seed of his consciousness could control his host body, the Black Devil Monarch should be able to make internal and external changes. He could offer the secret as a price to invite some hidden masters of the Devil Path to assist him in escaping his predicament.
Now, all efforts had been in vain!
"I won’t give up. Once my spiritual practice is fully completed, let’s see who in the Sky Edge Pavilion can stop me, hahaha...."
Laughing uproariously inside, the Black Devil Monarch closed his eyes, continuing to comprehend his spiritual practice.
...
After two more days staying in the mansion, the Tianya Saintess really sent a black-robed old woman over with a martial arts technique created by by imitating the unique skills of the Black Devil Monarch, the Demon Sky Hand. However, only the first half was included.
"Second-class superior grade."
Shi Xiaole took a deep breath. He suspected that if this martial art technique was complete, it should be of the first-class grade.
How powerful must the Sky Edge Pavilion be to be able to create a first-class martial art?
"The Saintess commanded that you must practice this martial art until you reach the level of proficiency within two months. By then, you can leave. You better practice well, so as not to disrupt any big plans!"
The black-robed old woman gave Shi Xiaole a scornful look, chuckled coldly, and turned to leave.
After quickly observing the Demon Jade Hand in his hand and remembering it, Shi Xiaole immediately exchanged it for five thousand reward points.
Subtracting the rewards he had spent on the Divine Sword Slash and the Universal Brahma, Shi Xiaole’s reward points reached a staggering total of thirty-one thousand five hundred.
He was getting closer and closer to the fifty thousand reward points required to purchase a first-class martial art!
Knowing that he would be under surveillance, Shi Xiaole pretended to be very serious. He practiced the Demon Jade Hand during the day and read the paper the Tianya Saintess gave him at night.
To Shi Xiaole’s surprise, he found that practicing the Devil Path martial arts came naturally to him. In just one short month, he was able to practice the Demon Jade Hand to proficiency, which was much faster than the Death Claiming Fifteen Sword.
Moreover, even though he had expelled the blood essence of the Black Devil Monarch, he was still able to absorb the other party’s martial essence. These two facts raised doubts about his origin once again.
Could he really have something to do with the Devil Path?
"What a terrifying sword technique."
There was a piece of paper spread on the table, with the character "sword" written on it. The strokes were strong and vigorous, each stroke and line was like a peerless swordsman swinging his sword. If viewed for too long, even his eyes would sting.
Shi Xiaole didn’t know how many times he had looked at it, but every time, he would still be immersed in its wondrous world, his heart dancing with the sword.
"Within this sword technique, there is a breath of slaughter. This swordsman from the Sky Edge Pavilion should be practicing the Sword Path of Slaughter."
Slaughter bore no small resemblance to Fierce Kill. After observing it for a month, Shi Xiaole’s Fierce Kill Intent Realm had unknowingly improved from the thirty percent threshold to sixty percent.
If he were to use the Death Claiming Fifteen Sword now, Shi Xiaole was confident that even if he was facing a fourth tier expert in the Spiritual-Passage Realm head-on, he would not be at a disadvantage. Combined with the Redfire Sword, he could even compete against a fifth tier expert!
However, Shi Xiaole was not completely satisfied. He felt that he had yet to see through this word and there was much potential to be tapped.
"Your Highness Saintess, he is still studying that word."
The disciple of the Sky Edge Pavilion who was in charge of surveillance went to the hall and reported.
"Overestimating himself. Only the first-class disciples of our Sky Edge Pavilion are capable of understanding that character. Who does he think he is?"
The black-robed old woman laughed.
"If he can comprehend something, I don’t mind giving him more opportunities, even officially recognizing him, and letting him become one of the real Five Hundred Gold Boys."
The Tianya Saintess said lightly.
She was not an unfeeling person. As a person of the Righteous Path, she ultimately felt guilty about what had happened to Shi Xiaole, so she gave him a word as compensation. Of course, if Shi Xiaole was incapable, she could only do so much.
Another month flew by quickly.
The Demon Jade Hand was actually practiced to perfection by Shi Xiaole. However, he was very cautious and only showed progress beyond proficiency, conforming to the ’positioning’ the Tianya Saintess and the black-robed old woman had for him.
"The sword, an effective killing instrument, my Sword Path, is unstoppable and endlessly murderous!"
"The Sword Path follows the heart’s direction, the intent’s direction, and the conduct’s destination."
After countless views of the word ’sword’, the impressions in Shi Xiaole’s heart grew deeper. Some mysterious force seemed to well up from the bottom of his heart, lacking only a small outlet to burst forth.
"Although I have understood the Perilous Intent Realm, Enchanted Moon Intent Realm, Wind Intent Realm, and Fierce Kill Intent Realm, what is my Sword Path?"
Shi Xiaole asked himself, suddenly feeling lost.
He had never considered this question. In the Martial World, only swordsmen who have perfected the Sword Heart were able to look back on their past learning and create a Sword Path that belonged to them.
"I want to carve out an invincible Sword Path that incorporates the strengths of hundreds of techniques, extracting their essence and discarding their dross."
Shi Xiaole muttered to himself, immersing himself in the Intent Realm of Slaughter emanating from the word ’sword’.
At a certain moment, the force at the bottom of his heart became tangible, gradually seeming to condense into a sword of nothingness.
Sword Heart Realm, proficiency!
Upon initial entry into the Sword Heart Realm, it can only amplify the attack power of the sword technique. When the Sword Heart reaches proficiency, the swordsman can get rid of all distractions in his heart with the sword he envisions, preventing himself from being affected by negative emotions.
This is why countless swordsmen yearn to enter this realm.
The terrifying sword aura had just sprung up and immediately Shi Xiaole pulled it back into his body. The Sky Edge Pavilion disciple in charge of surveillance blinked. What just happened? It seemed as though something frightening had just happened.
"Must be because I’m too tired."
Seeing no anomalies in the room, the disciple from the Sky Edge Pavilion shook his head, chiding himself for overthinking.
