Chapter 309 - 294: Sword Intent in the Fragment

Hearing Xiong Li concede defeat, Zhaang Ye smiled faintly. He pressed his palm gently into the air, and the powerful tornado instantly dissipated without a trace.

"Excellent!" Xiong Li was a straightforward person, not at all dejected by his defeat at Zhaang Ye’s hands. Landing on the ground, he praised, "Junior Brother, you have some real skill! Not only is your strength immense, but you have plenty of unique tricks up your sleeve. I have no complaints about losing this fight. None at all!"

Zhaang Ye smiled faintly. "Senior Brother Xiong, you’re very formidable as well. By the way, there are even more powerful Combat Skills beyond your Iron Bear Battle Body, aren’t there?"

Xiong Li nodded. "Beyond the Iron Bear Battle Body, there are Combat Skills like the Copper Bear Battle Body and Silver Bear Battle Body. It’s a shame my bloodline is too diluted, so I’ve been unable to comprehend them. If I could, I might have had a chance to enter the True Dao..."

After another sentence or two, Xiong Li departed in a hurry. Fang Caiying also rushed back to prepare. Both Wei Jingtian and Xuli Long were incredibly powerful opponents, and she needed to center her energy for the coming fight.

Only Zhaang Ye and the Fourth Hall Master remained on the scene.

The Fourth Hall Master sat with his eyes closed, appearing to have entered a state of Cultivation. Zhaang Ye, however, could distinctly feel his master’s immensely powerful Spiritual Power silently observing him. Under the scrutiny of that meticulous Spiritual Power, Zhaang Ye felt as if he was being seen through, down to his very bones.

"Ahem." Zhaang Ye coughed, a wry look on his face. "Master, I’m not a woman. There’s no need to scrutinize me like this, is there?"

"You little rascal!" The Fourth Hall Master opened his eyes, half-laughing, half-scolding. "What’s so interesting about that hide of yours? I was just wondering what other trump cards you’re still hiding."

Zhaang Ye chuckled. "You saw right through me, Master. That’s right, I do have one trump card left: my Sword Technique: Mountain-Breaking Slash. My Cloud-Breaking Slash isn’t perfected yet, so for now, the Mountain-Breaking Slash is my strongest attack."

The Fourth Hall Master shook his head. "No, that’s not it. I can faintly sense another, incomparably powerful force within you. It’s similar to the Ancient Elephant Power, but it also resembles the Ancient Dragon Power. It’s domineering yet unpredictable, and remarkably profound. That must be the Dragon Elephant Power you’ve been cultivating, right? With that Dragon Elephant Power, could you defeat an expert at the Martial Arts Ninth Level Middle Stage?"

Zhaang Ye’s heart skipped a beat. Knowing he couldn’t hide it from his master, he had no choice but to nod. At the 5th Layer of the Dragon Elephant Skill, his combat prowess had only been equivalent to a Martial Arts Seventh Layer expert. But after cultivating it to the 6th Layer, the Ancient Dragon Power and Ancient Elephant Power had intertwined, forming a delicate balance that made his combat prowess skyrocket. Relying on his formidable Dragon Elephant Power, Zhaang Ye feared no expert at the Early Stage of Martial Arts Ninth Layer. He was even confident he could defeat someone at the Martial Arts Ninth Level Middle Stage.

"HAHAHAHA!" To Zhaang Ye’s surprise, the Fourth Hall Master showed no sign of displeasure at all. Instead, he heard him say cheerfully, "Zhaang Ye, you have done very well. With your current strength, even someone at the Martial Arts Ninth Level Middle Stage would find it difficult to defeat you. As your master, I will be waiting for you to defeat both Wei Jingtian and Xuli Long and take first place in the Wei Kingdom’s New Star Selection Tournament."

Zhaang Ye smiled confidently. "That won’t be a problem." Although Wei Jingtian and Xuli Long were rare geniuses with astonishing power, Zhaang Ye’s own strength had surged. He had defeated someone as formidable as Xiong Li; no matter how strong Wei Jingtian and Xuli Long were, Zhaang Ye was completely certain he could beat them.

The Fourth Hall Master nodded in satisfaction. "It seems you’ve had some fortuitous encounters. Your strength is already impressive, but the Heavy Saber you’re using can no longer bring out your full potential. Come with me to the Armory now and choose a weapon that you find suitable."

Zhaang Ye was overjoyed. "Thank you, Master!"

The Heavy Saber in Zhaang Ye’s hands had been forged several years ago. Back when he had it made, his Cultivation was only at the Martial Arts Fourth Layer Early Stage, so the 698-jin Heavy Saber was a perfect fit. Now that his Cultivation had advanced to the Early Stage of Martial Arts Ninth Layer and his strength had surged, only a heavier weapon would allow him to unleash his full power.

About two incense sticks’ worth of time later, Zhaang Ye followed the Fourth Hall Master to the face of a sheer cliff. The Fourth Hall Master led the way, striking the cliff face dozens of times with his palms. A deep RUMBLING sound echoed as the mirror-smooth rock wall split down the middle, revealing a pitch-black entrance.

As he followed the Fourth Hall Master inside, a sudden chill ran through Zhaang Ye’s body. He looked around and saw that a massive space had been carved out within the cliff, where over a dozen weapon racks were neatly arranged. The racks were filled to the brim with weapons, and the cold aura and killing intent they emanated caused the temperature in the entire space to drop by several degrees.

Zhaang Ye ignored the other weapons and walked straight to an unadorned, ancient-looking rack. It was filled with all sorts of sabers: the most common kind, long and slender ones, flexible ones that could be rolled up, and massive ones that were two palms thick and incredibly heavy... After just a moment, Zhaang Ye felt his eyes glaze over from the sheer variety.

After looking for a while, Zhaang Ye found himself puzzled. Most of the weapons the Fourth Hall Master had collected were Pseudo-True Artifacts; there were only one or two True Artifacts. As if sensing his confusion, the Fourth Hall Master explained, "Forging a True Artifact is no easy feat. First, just gathering the materials is difficult enough. Then, even after you have the materials, the refining process is exceptionally complex. Not even an Artifact Refining Master can guarantee success. Take your Second Senior Uncle, for example. He is a master of Artifact Refining, yet he might not successfully forge a single True Artifact in a decade..."

Zhaang Ye knew nothing about the Alchemy Dao or Artifact Refining, so after hearing his master’s explanation, he said in realization, "No wonder most of the weapons here are Pseudo-True Artifacts. Hmm, I have to see what one of these legendary True Artifacts looks like..."

With that, Zhaang Ye picked up a large saber about four feet long. Its blade was inscribed with all kinds of profound patterns, which formed one Array after another; it was clearly a True Artifact. After examining it closely for a moment, Zhaang Ye circulated his True Qi and channeled a stream of it into the body of the saber.

BUZZ! As the True Qi surged into the blade, it trembled slightly before the energy simply vanished into the Arrays, like a stone dropped into the ocean.

"Heh." Seeing Zhaang Ye try to channel True Qi into the blade, the Fourth Hall Master chuckled. "A True Artifact is a True Artifact. It requires Innate True Qi to activate, something only a Daoist Master can wield. Though your True Qi is exceptionally pure, it’s still worlds apart from Innate True Qi. You can’t use this saber. I have plenty of Pseudo-True Artifacts here; you’d be better off choosing one of those as your weapon."

Zhaang Ye nodded, put down the large saber, and began to search for a suitable weapon among the vast assortment. His strength now far exceeded 1,000,000 jin, so he didn’t even bother with ordinary sabers, focusing only on the heaviest ones made of the highest-quality materials.

After searching for a while, Zhaang Ye felt a pang of disappointment. He found that while all the sabers here were rare masterpieces, none of them were truly suitable for him.

The first requirement for the saber Zhaang Ye sought was weight; he hoped to find one weighing three or four thousand jin. But the heaviest one here was just over a thousand jin, a far cry from what he needed. This left him completely uninterested.

Seeing Zhaang Ye’s disappointed expression, the Fourth Hall Master shook his head slightly. "Your strength is freakishly great; you can run around carrying a saber that weighs several thousand jin and swing it with ease. Unfortunately, the weapons here were all forged for ordinary Martial Artists. It’s no wonder you can’t find a suitable one."

Zhaang Ye gave a wry smile. Just as he was about to check the other weapon racks, a metal fragment suddenly caught his eye.

Zhaang Ye strode over and picked up the fragment. A single glance was all it took for his entire body to start trembling. He had realized that this metal shard was clearly from a saber, and its material was identical to that of the Mysterious Blade Tip he carried with him!

’Could it be... that this fragment and the blade tip I carry are from the same saber?’ Zhaang Ye felt a thrill of excitement as his Mental Power slowly extended toward the metal shard.

The Fourth Hall Master was startled to see Zhaang Ye pick up the metal fragment. He shouted, "Don’t probe it with your Mental Power!"

The Fourth Hall Master’s warning came too late. Just as he shouted, Zhaang Ye’s Mental Power had already penetrated the metal shard.

BOOM!

The instant Zhaang Ye’s Spiritual Power entered the fragment, he felt a terrifying Sword Intent slash out madly from within. He felt as if his very soul had been viciously cleaved, a pain from its deepest core that nearly scattered it to the winds and killed him on the spot.

Zhaang Ye spat out three mouthfuls of blood in succession. The energy in his body fell into chaos as his True Qi and Dragon Elephant Power rampaged wildly through his meridians, bringing him to the brink of cultivation deviation.

The Fourth Hall Master had expected that if Zhaang Ye didn’t die, he would at least be reduced to a mindless idiot. He was shocked to see that after spitting up some blood, Zhaang Ye managed to stabilize himself. "That fragment contains the Sword Intent of an Ancient Great Power!" he exclaimed in astonishment. "Even I wouldn’t dare probe it directly with my Mental Power. You reckless brat... you’re incredibly lucky to still be alive!" (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for Recommendation Tickets and Monthly Tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)