Chapter 108 - 53: Innate Qi Sword, Light of Thunder

Chapter 108: Chapter 53: Innate Qi Sword, Light of Thunder

"Huh?!"

The girl instantly detected the abrupt shift in Jiang Xuan’s aura. Her heart seized in shock as a sudden chill ran through her body—it was a pressure originating from the depths of her Divine Soul, one that nearly brought the flow of her qi and blood to a standstill.

Instinctively, she wanted to disperse the starlight gathered on her longsword and dodge, or immediately activate her Starlight Armor for protection. But her fingertips had barely twitched when she realized with a jolt that it was too late.

The instant his aura erupted, Jiang Xuan’s mouth flew open. There were no extra moves, not a single shout—only a blinding white light that burst violently from his throat.

BOOM—!

The moment the white light appeared, it transformed into a bolt of Thunder, carrying a deafening roar as it shot toward the girl’s head like a meteor, so fast it left only an afterimage.

[One Qi Sword Technique, Innate Qi Sword!]

This was Jiang Xuan’s trump card, a move he had kept hidden until this very moment. Based on the Sword of the Spirit and forged from condensed Five Viscera Origin Qi, this sword wasn’t just shaped like a bolt of light—it *was* Thunder itself!

Daoism has an orthodox Thunder Technique called Palm Thunder. It doesn’t summon lightning out of thin air. Instead, it is a Technique where the five energies of the Five Viscera are stimulated to clash, internally refined into thunder, and then unleashed from the palm.

Jiang Xuan’s Innate Qi Sword operated on the same principle. Thus, this white light was both an indestructible Sword Qi and the purest yang Thunder.

As the authority of creation and the foremost of the Ten Thousand Laws, the speed of Thunder is unparalleled, and its attack and Penetration Power are immense.

BANG!

The girl didn’t even have time to assume a full defensive stance. The Innate Qi Sword, now a bolt of Thunder, instantly tore through the protective starlight surrounding her and, like a hot knife through butter, pierced straight through her head.

The next second, with another earth-shattering roar, the Innate Qi Sword detonated inside her head. A blinding white light swept out. The girl’s head was instantly pulverized by the Thunder Power into a spray of blood mist and fragments, before she could even let out a scream.

"Hah... hah..."

As the headless corpse before him crashed to the ground, Jiang Xuan could no longer hold himself up. Gasping for breath, he collapsed into the reeds, his chest heaving violently as cold sweat soaked through his clothes in an instant.

’I finally won.’

Although he had won, there wasn’t a trace of joy on Jiang Xuan’s face. All he felt was a profound, unshakable solemnity.

’How was that girl so strong! Her strength, speed, Magical Power... all of it was several times greater than mine. That’s not what someone who has only been cultivating for less than a month should be like!’

The girl’s strength had truly stunned Jiang Xuan. More than that, he knew his victory was an incredible stroke of luck.

’If Qin Feng and Xie Hanyan have this kind of strength, I don’t have much confidence in taking first place... And if Dong Hao and the others are the same, even cracking the top ten in the second assessment will be a struggle.’

At this thought, Jiang Xuan quickly shook his head, forcibly suppressing the turmoil in his heart. ’It’s probably not that bad. The auras from Dong Hao, Su Linyin, and Zeng Jun don’t feel nearly as oppressive as hers did.’

’But I can’t let my guard down. Their clans have been around for hundreds of years; they have too many hidden trump cards that I know nothing about.’

’In the first assessment, any disciple from the clans with even a bit of Talent could pass. So, they probably didn’t reveal their hidden depths. But a lot more is at stake in the second assessment. That’s when some real monsters will definitely come out of the woodwork.’

’If I want to secure first place, I have to redouble my efforts.’

...

Meanwhile, still reeling from the fight, Jiang Xuan regulated his breathing to stabilize his condition while re-evaluating the Direct Lineage Disciples of the various Cultivation Clans.

And as he was reviewing the battle, on the other side, Su Xingying’s Divine Soul was still reeling from the moment of her death. She was completely stunned.

’I... lost?’

The sudden, unexpected defeat left Su Xingying struggling to process what had happened. Or perhaps, she was simply unwilling to believe it.

She couldn’t accept it. She was stronger than Jiang Xuan in every way—Magical Power, Flesh Body, and Divine Soul. The situation had been completely in her favor. Yet he had seized one desperate opportunity, turned the tables, and killed her with a single sword strike.

And as everyone knows, while the tale of the weak defeating the strong is always popular and met with thunderous applause, the only ones who are happy are the audience and the victor.

As the villain on the receiving end of this upset, Su Xingying was feeling anything but good.

Wronged, frustrated, and resentful—that was what Su Xingying was feeling right now.

Unable to accept this outcome, she acted almost on instinct, using the Martial Arts Arena’s Array to immediately send a message to Jiang Xuan. Her tone was filled with indignation and stubbornness.

"I was careless just now! Let’s go again!"

...

DING DING...

Looking at the message and the duel invitation displayed on the Array, Jiang Xuan wasn’t particularly surprised.

In his previous life, if he’d been in a sure-win situation and someone had managed to turn the tables and snatch a victory—especially if the comeback felt ’stolen’—he would’ve been too furious to sleep, even if it was just a game.

But even though he understood, Jiang Xuan had no intention of accepting a rematch.

This wasn’t because Jiang Xuan was afraid, but because his physical condition simply wouldn’t allow it.

He had indeed won the battle against the girl, but it had cost him everything.

At this moment, sharp pains pulsed from his internal organs and acupoints. He couldn’t even suppress the chill within his body any longer; his fingertips were already turning a deathly pale.

’I’m about to die.’

Feeling his Life Force drain away bit by bit, Jiang Xuan didn’t struggle. He didn’t rush to regulate his breathing to prolong his life, nor did he pay any mind to the incessant messages pinging from the Array.

He just lay there quietly in the reeds of the Ancient Battlefield, eyes lightly closed, allowing the aura of death to envelop him. This wasn’t despair; it was a form of Cultivation he had deliberately chosen. He wanted to experience the process of dying, bit by bit, to comprehend the core of his Winter Solstice Sword Intent and touch the true meaning of death.

’In the past half-month, I’ve reached Minor Success with both the One-Nine Swordsmanship and the Twenty-Nine Swordsmanship. But the Winter Solstice Sword Intent, the first and most important technique I learned, is still stuck at the Second Realm. That’s not good enough.’

This situation had arisen not just because the Winter Solstice Sword Intent was more profound, but more critically, because of his scientific knowledge from his past life.

Both the Three Purification Spell and Heart·Sincerity (Sword) were abilities Jiang Xuan kept active at all times, and they were effective for the Winter Solstice Sword Intent, One-Nine Swordsmanship, and Twenty-Nine Swordsmanship.

They didn’t account for the difference in his progress among the three sword techniques.

Reaching Third Realm Minor Success in the One-Nine Swordsmanship required making the Ice and Snow Sword colorless and transparent. For others, this was a hurdle as difficult as ascending to the heavens, but for Jiang Xuan, who was well-versed in the principles of light scattering, refraction, and reflection, it was a simple matter.

Relying on his scientific knowledge from his previous life, he only needed three days of practice to make his Blade of Ice and Snow completely colorless. He even managed to reach Minor Success with the Ice Mirror Technique in the process, allowing him to easily conjure several ice mirrors around his body to refract his image and confuse enemies.

The same was true for the Twenty-Nine Swordsmanship. The key to Ice Split Burst Shadow was the "Burst" aspect. Coincidentally, research into explosives in his past life had reached its peak.

Even though Jiang Xuan only had a superficial understanding, he easily raised his Twenty-Nine Swordsmanship to the Minor Success stage.

But the Winter Solstice Sword Intent was different. It dealt with the Frosty Winter Dao Rhyme and the Death Dao Rhyme—concepts that were profound, mysterious, and intangible.

Furthermore, for the first half of the month, Jiang Xuan had been sparring with senior disciples like Xia He and Meng Yingyue. With no killing intent in his heart and no thoughts of life or death, his Winter Solstice Sword Intent had remained stagnant despite half a month of practice.

But now, his chance had come.

’By truly dying once, my Winter Solstice Sword Intent might be able to break through to the Third Realm in these brief moments.’

...

However, just as Jiang Xuan calmed his mind to quietly experience the arrival of death, the continuous pinging of the Array’s messages in his ear shattered his peace.

"Why won’t you accept my challenge? You’re not scared, are you?"

At this moment, Su Xingying had long since lost her usual composure.

Losing to Jiang Xuan had been unexpected, even infuriating, but at first, she had been angry at herself for her carelessness.

But Jiang Xuan’s behavior—winning and then running off—was what truly infuriated her.

She had a feeling that if she left the Martial Arts Arena like this, she wouldn’t just be unable to sleep that night—the frustration would suffocate her for days to come. This was what prompted her to send message after message.

—Young and proud, she couldn’t stomach being defeated by someone weaker. She was confident that if they had a rematch, as long as she wasn’t careless again, victory would surely be hers.

...