58: Chapter 58 The Three Sword Auras Left Behind by Cui Ping

"Focus your thoughts and clear your mind."

The old man's mellow voice echoed in Shen Xingchen's ears.

Following the old man's guidance, Shen Xingchen adjusted his body, mind, and soul to their optimal state.

Suddenly.

It felt as if his brain was about to explode.

A torrent of memories surged over him like a tide, with countless fragments of information flashing through his mind.

"Use divine iron as the sword embryo..."

"Use heart-vessel essence blood as the guide, and righteous noble aura as the sword intent..."

"Unify heart and sword..."

"Cast the sword foundation with the heart forge, and temper intent with the heart fire..."

"Transform the soul into the sword spirit; the heart sword becomes formless..."

"Circulate the heart sword through the heavenly cycle..."

"..."

As the memories poured into him, Shen Xingchen gradually came to understand what it meant to nurture the heart sword with heart-blood.

Unconsciously, he began to circulate the [Zhoutian Formless Sword].

Six streams of sword qi danced and hovered around his body.

"Once you leave, you must find suitable divine iron to serve as the sword embryo. The quality of the divine iron... Huh?"

As the old man, Sword Saint Cui Ping, was explaining, he let out a sudden gasp of surprise.

"The Zhoutian Formless Sword? You actually cultivated this?"

"What's wrong?" Shen Xingchen asked.

Sword Saint Cui Ping stroked his beard. "Destiny works in mysterious ways! You truly have incredible good fortune!"

With a thought from him, a fierce wind suddenly whipped up near the broken bridge.

Swish, swish, swish—

Three streams of formless sword qi shot up from beneath the broken bridge, piercing through the dense clouds and abruptly halting beside the bridge.

The old man smiled and said, "These are a few remnants of my sword qi. After so many years, they have long lost their original sharpness, but given your current realm, they can serve as a unique, powerful trump card."

Why was it said that Shen Xingchen was uniquely blessed?

The Zhoutian Formless Sword shared the same origin as his sword qi.

Since he had already practiced the Zhoutian Formless Sword,

as long as Sword Saint Cui Ping released his mental ownership of these three streams of sword qi,

Shen Xingchen could naturally gather these masterless streams of sword qi into his acupuncture points.

Then, upon encountering a powerful enemy, he could unleash all the sword qi at once.

Even though many years had passed and the power of these three streams of sword qi had greatly diminished, they were still not something an ordinary person could withstand!

"Thank you, Senior Sword Saint Cui Ping!"

Shen Xingchen knew this was a priceless treasure.

So he began to refine the sword qi and absorb it into his acupuncture points.

The moment he touched it, he felt an excruciating, piercing pain.

Yet, he grit his teeth and persevered.

Half an hour later.

Shen Xingchen's aura calmed down.

At the same time, the system prompt sounded.

{Congratulations to the host for successfully recording the cultivation secret: [Heart-Blood Sword Cultivation Technique]}

{[Heart-Blood Sword Cultivation Technique]: Uninitiated}

{Grade: Unknown}

{Congratulations to the host for successfully gathering three streams of sword qi from Sword Saint Cui Ping}

Everything was complete.

With a wave of his hand, the old man brought forth an object.

Looking closely, it was actually a mirror.

"This is called the twin mirror. It was an item owned by the Tuitian Demon Snake in life—a forbidden item created by blood-sacrificing a human who possessed the Talent Divine Ability 'Duplication'."

"The ability of forbidden items like this is to copy objects. I estimate it can still be used three times. It should be useful to you, so take it."

Shen Xingchen looked at the twin mirror in his hand.

This was the first time he had heard the term "forbidden item."

Sword Saint Cui Ping comforted him, saying, "Although forbidden items are refined from human blood, since it is already a foregone conclusion, do not dwell on it."

"In this world invaded by the demon race, only by being strong enough yourself can you protect everything you hold dear."

Shen Xingchen nodded.

The old man smiled with gratification.

Three hundred years later, the human race still possessed such prodigious talents.

At just eighteen years old, he had reached Rank 2, Level 6, and even awakened an impressively powerful Divine Beast-type Dragon-attribute Talent Divine Ability.

That was S-rank!

Even in his era when talents emerged in large numbers, S-rank was an exceedingly rare existence.

Moreover, this child had a good disposition.

Hm!?

His martial skill cultivation was quite decent as well, meaning his comprehension talent must be extraordinary.

Eh?

How does he have another Talent Divine Ability?

And it's SS-rank?

Lightning attribute?

Another violently powerful Talent Divine Ability!

Just how terrifyingly high must this child's explosive power be?

In just an instant,

the old man saw through the entirety of Shen Xingchen's strength.

Such was the vision and realm of a former King-rank power.

Sword Saint Cui Ping's figure gradually faded, knowing his time was running out.

"I am truly glad that three hundred years later, such outstanding youths still exist."

"Senior!"

Shen Xingchen reached forward, but caught only empty air.

Sword Saint Cui Ping smiled warmly at the end, chuckling with relief:

"May my human race stand firm between heaven and earth for ten thousand, thousand years!"

...

Outer perimeter of Wang Mountain.

"What rank and level is your child? Can they get into Qiunan University this year?"

"I heard Beifeng University is expanding admissions this year, my child definitely needs to give it a shot!"

"My kid is only Rank 1 Level 7. As long as they can reach the peak of Wang Mountain and get into an undergraduate college, that's enough..."

"I heard we have an S-rank student this year. I wonder how their score will be."

"And Bai Chenyue from No. 1 High School, is there a chance he'll get into Shangjing University?"

"..."

Parents and teachers waited anxiously outside, chatting in low voices every now and then.

Right at that moment...

"They're coming out, they're coming out!"

Someone shouted.

The mist over Wang Mountain cleared.

One by one, the examinees appeared at the outer perimeter of Wang Mountain.

After seven days of intense concentration, tiredness showed on all the students' faces.

Still, their emotions were plain to see.

Some were worried, some were lost, some were proud, and some were overjoyed.

"How did you do on the exam?"

Finally, people began asking this classic question one after another.

The students reported their results one by one.

Naturally, some were thrilled while others were despondent.

Some parents had even brought rattan canes, ready to strike the moment their child looked guilty.

Most of these parents possessed a foundation in martial arts.

When they whipped those rattan canes, they could even shout named techniques.

Techniques like "Flood Dragon Emerging from the Sea," "A Thousand Staff Shadows," "Eighteen Wandering Dragon Stances"...

They used whatever came to mind.

The kids were all martial artists too, so they were quite durable...

...

One after another, prominent young prodigies walked out.

"Why does Wen Heng look so terrible?"

"Bai Chenyue doesn't look right either. Isn't he a candidate for top scorer?"

"..."

"Does Beiming Xue seem off too? She looks like she's on the verge of a breakdown!"

"What on earth happened?"

"What did they experience inside the Wangshan Ruins?"

"..."

People began muttering among themselves in hushed voices.

"Can someone tell me where my daughter is!?"

A roar suddenly erupted.

Many people looked over in the direction of the roar.

It was a middle-aged man immaculately dressed in a suit and tie.

Someone said in surprise, "Isn't that the head of the He Family? Isn't his daughter He Yan, the prodigy from No. 1 High School?"

"Ah, that's right. Why haven't we seen He Yan come out?" Passerby A asked.

He Yan's father was growing increasingly anxious.

Although he trusted his daughter's strength, some students died in the exam venue every year.

This made it impossible for him not to worry.

Almost all the students worthy of being called prodigies had come out by now, except for his daughter.

Then he overheard some whispers.

"Among these prodigies, only Shen Xingchen and He Yan haven't come out, right?"

He Yan's father froze.

He had paid attention to the name Shen Xingchen because the boy had previously gotten into a conflict with his daughter.

Shen Xingchen was backed by the Chief, making it hard to make trouble for him anyway.

But now, with only the two of them missing... wasn't that a bit too coincidental?

Soon after, he heard another whisper:

"Shen Xingchen climbed to the ninety-ninth floor of the Divine Dao Heavenly Ladder and is currently receiving the inheritance!"

Although the voice wasn't loud,

it drew countless gazes.

Even some students who knew the situation wore resentful expressions.

Couldn't you wait until I walked farther away before bringing this up!?

...

He Yan's father froze in shock.

Shen Xingchen was receiving an inheritance, but what about his daughter, He Yan?