Chapter 387 - 176: Slaying a Tier Nine

The great hall trembled.

Just as Liang Cheng was about to rise, the ground beneath his feet suddenly quaked. The vibrations emanated from the depths of the hall, like the awakening heartbeat of a primordial beast.

THUD.

THUD.

THUD.

Each beat sent his Qi Blood roiling. Liang Cheng’s gaze sharpened as he fully extended his Golden Core Realm perception, probing into the hall’s depths.

In the next instant, a ray of light flared up from the deepest part of the hall.

The light was ancient and boundless, as if it had traversed endless eons and crossed the river of time to arrive in this very place.

Within the light, an illusory human figure slowly solidified.

It was dressed in a long, green robe with a battle saber hanging at its waist. Its face was a blur, but its eyes were as bright as the stars.

It just stood there, quietly watching Liang Cheng.

It didn’t speak, yet Liang Cheng felt a pressure as vast as the ocean crashing down on him.

"Junior Liang Cheng, I had no intention of disturbing your rest, Senior. I only—"

Liang Cheng cupped his fist and began to speak, but before he could finish, the Heroic Spirit suddenly lifted its battle saber and pointed it gently at him.

BOOM!

The scene before Liang Cheng’s eyes changed abruptly.

The great hall vanished.

The Ancient Wilderness Battlefield vanished.

He found himself standing in an endless void. All around him was a gray haze; there was no sky, no earth, no sense of direction.

And in his hand, he held a battle saber.

A battered battle saber.

Liang Cheng looked down at the hand gripping the saber.

It wasn’t his hand.

This hand was long and powerful, with well-defined knuckles, yet it was covered in calluses and scars—the marks of a veteran warrior.

The next moment, dense hordes of Demon Beasts appeared before him.

They blotted out the sky and covered the earth.

Tier Seven.

Tier Eight.

Tier Nine.

And there were even stronger beings among them.

They shrieked and roared, surging in from all directions like a black tide, threatening to submerge everything in their path.

Liang Cheng had no time to think.

The Demon Beasts were already upon him.

A Tier Nine Profound Ice Python opened its cavernous maw, its fangs like swords, and lunged for his head.

Liang Cheng raised his hand.

And swung the saber.

The moment the saber swung, he froze.

’This strike... it’s not my own power at all.’

It was the natural, reflexive action of this body, of this hand gripping the saber.

The instant the blade flashed, the world lost its color.

A single saber light, like the one that split the heavens and earth at the dawn of creation, tore through the void.

The Tier Nine Profound Ice Python was cleaved in two, from head to tail.

Black blood rained down like a torrential storm.

But more Demon Beasts were already swarming forward.

Ten.

A hundred.

A thousand.

Liang Cheng had no time to think, for the hand had already swung the saber again.

One slash.

Three Tier Nine beasts fell dead.

Another slash.

Dozens of Tier Eight beasts were cut in half at the waist.

And another.

Countless Demon Beasts fell like stalks of wheat.

Liang Cheng was in the midst of it all, yet he felt like a mere spectator.

He could feel the trajectory of every slash, the circulation of True Intent with each movement, and the power contained within the blade’s light that surpassed his own understanding.

This was Peak Perfection, a Blade Intent Profound, the Unity of Man and Blade.

It even contained higher principles that he simply couldn’t comprehend.

All he knew was that the owner of this hand was using a bloody battle to show him the meaning of true Saber Technique.

With one slash, the heavens and earth crumbled.

With one slash, ten thousand beasts submitted.

With one slash, none could withstand a single exchange in its path.

He didn’t know how much time had passed.

Perhaps it was the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

Perhaps it was a day.

Perhaps it was a year.

In this gray void, time itself seemed to have lost all meaning.

When the last Demon Beast fell and the rain of blood finally subsided, the figure at last came to a halt.

It sheathed its saber and stood tall.

Liang Cheng could finally see its face clearly.

It was the face of an old, resolute man.

He had sword-like brows and star-like eyes, a rugged visage, and eyes filled with the vicissitudes of time and the baptism of war.

He just stood there, quietly watching Liang Cheng.

Liang Cheng watched him back.

The two stared at each other for a long time.

The next instant, the Heroic Spirit raised a hand and pointed a finger at the spot between Liang Cheng’s eyebrows.

BOOM!

Countless images flooded into his mind like a tidal wave.

This time, he was no longer a spectator.

He himself had become that figure.

He stood in the center of the battlefield.

He gripped that battered battle saber.

He faced the overwhelming horde of Demon Beasts.

He raised his hand.

And struck with the saber.

The moment the blade flashed, he could feel Pill Qi rising from his Dantian, surging through his Meridians, and finally gathering in the saber’s blade.

And with the Blade Intent embodied within him, the feeling was incredibly real.

So real that he could feel every wisp of Martial Dao True Intent circulating, feel the tremor of his muscles with every strike, and feel the sensation of the blade’s edge slicing through the hide and flesh of the Demon Beasts.

Kill.

Kill.

Kill.

One.

Ten.

A hundred.

He was bathed in blood, but the light of his saber never ceased. The Demon Beasts were like moths to a flame, charging to their deaths one after another.

The power within his body began to wane, but he couldn’t stop.

Because to stop meant death.

He gritted his teeth.

He roared in fury.

And he poured every last ounce of his strength into one final slash.

The moment that slash flew, his mind went blank.

There was only the saber.

There was only the intent.

There was only that streak of light tearing through the void.

BOOM!

Under this single strike, all the Demon Beasts were annihilated, turned to dust and smoke.

He stood on the spot, gasping for breath.

Then, he collapsed.

Darkness consumed his vision.

An unknown amount of time passed.

Liang Cheng opened his eyes.

He was still standing in the gray void.

But now, it was completely empty. The illusory figure from before was gone without a trace.

There was only him.

And the Zhenxian Saber in his hand.

He didn’t know when, but the saber was already unsheathed.

Liang Cheng lowered his head, gazing at the saber in his hand.

Everything that had just happened was still vivid in his mind.

Every slash.

Every form.

Every circulation of True Intent.

It was all engraved in his mind.

He closed his eyes, sensing it quietly.

Within his Sea of Consciousness, the phantom of his Blade Intent floated silently.

But it was no longer the same as before. The phantom was more solid, more profound, as if it had experienced countless bloody battles and distilled into a true Blade Intent.