Chapter 6: Jian Lin
Swoosh!
Sword light danced, flickering fast and slow, bright and dim—sometimes condensing all its power into a single point, sometimes spreading it across every strand of sword gleam. This was the Bright Moon Sword Art, one of the many first-rate sword techniques of the Sword Marquis Manor.
In this Human-Grade cultivation chamber, Jian Wushuang began practicing sword arts, and under that formidable gravitational force, the spiritual power within his body was also being consumed at an unbelievable speed.
In merely a moment's time—before Jian Wushuang could even complete a single full cycle of the Bright Moon Sword Art—he found his spiritual power squeezed completely dry.
Without hesitation, Jian Wushuang hurriedly withdrew his longsword and walked with difficulty to the right corner of the chamber. In that corner lay a yellowed rush cushion, specially placed there for restoring spiritual power. Cultivating on this cushion, one would not be affected by that gravitational force.
Sitting down on the cushion, Jian Wushuang began circulating the Great Fate Creation Art. Streams of spiritual power surged in from all directions, traveling through his eight extraordinary meridians before finally gathering in his dantian, at an absurdly fast speed.
A quarter of an hour later, Jian Wushuang stood up once more, and at this moment, the spiritual power throughout his body had recovered to its peak—even slightly stronger than before.
"Just as I thought. The Great Fate Creation Art absorbs the spiritual power of heaven and earth at a speed many times faster than ordinary cultivation methods, so naturally the speed of recovering spiritual power should be extremely fast as well. And that's exactly the case. For an ordinary warrior whose spiritual power is completely depleted, it would take several hours to recover to peak condition. But me? I only need a quarter of an hour..." A trace of joy flickered in Jian Wushuang's eyes.
This was another terrifying aspect of the Great Fate Creation Art compared to other methods.
Not only was its cultivation speed fast, but its spiritual power recovery speed was absurdly fast as well.
And within this Human-Grade cultivation chamber, that recovery speed was practically equivalent to a cheat for cultivation.
One must understand that the process from exhausting one's spiritual power to fully recovering it is of tremendous benefit to cultivation. It is a complete cultivation cycle, and every time such a cycle is completed, even an ordinary warrior's spiritual power would increase considerably. As for a heaven-defying cultivation art like the one Jian Wushuang practiced, the improvement to his spiritual power would be even greater.
Just now, the moment he had recovered to his peak, he immediately discovered that his spiritual power had grown by a noticeable amount.
This was also one of the benefits of cultivating in the Human-Grade cultivation chamber.
However, for ordinary warriors, their spiritual power recovery speed was simply too slow—at most they could complete two such cycles a day, so the effect was not particularly significant.
Moreover... cultivating in this chamber came with that feeling of one's entire body and mind being suppressed, which was extremely uncomfortable. So on normal days, very few disciples chose to cultivate here. Only occasionally would disciples who had hit a bottleneck in their cultivation and were unable to break through come to this chamber, hoping to use that gravitational force to force a breakthrough.
Four years ago, when Jian Wushuang was unable to condense spiritual power, he had also come to this Human-Grade cultivation chamber to train once.
"The Great Fate Creation Art I cultivate recovers spiritual power at an unbelievable speed. Others can only complete two cultivation cycles a day, but I can complete at least twenty. By that calculation, my cultivation speed will be more than ten times that of ordinary cultivators!"
The Great Fate Creation Art was already extremely fast in cultivation, and combined with the Human-Grade cultivation chamber, his cultivation speed would be incredible. In all likelihood, within a day or two, he would be able to step into the second level of the Divine Path.
"It took me four whole years longer than others to become a warrior. I've already fallen so far behind—I absolutely cannot fall further behind. So I must put in more effort than anyone else." A sharp light burst forth in Jian Wushuang's eyes.
From that day on, he immersed himself completely in cultivation within the Human-Grade cultivation chamber.
From completely exhausting his spiritual power to recovering to peak condition constituted one cultivation cycle, and each cycle raised his spiritual power considerably. He completed dozens of such cultivation cycles nearly every day.
His cultivation speed was thus more than ten times that of an ordinary warrior, or even more.
In the blink of an eye, ten days passed.
Before the Sword Pavilion.
Bang!
A dull impact sounded, and then a Sword Pavilion disciple was flung out in utter disarray, crashing heavily onto the ground.
"Haha, the disciples of the Sword Pavilion are truly pathetic."
The one laughing was a purple-robed young man. This purple-robed youth was clearly not a Sword Pavilion disciple, yet he was flaunting his power right before the Sword Pavilion's gates. Many Sword Pavilion disciples were present nearby, and hearing these words, every one of them seethed with anger inside, yet none could erupt.
"You merely broke through to the sixth realm a bit earlier than me, and your spiritual power is a little deeper than mine. What is there to be so smug about?" The defeated Sword Pavilion disciple stood up and said quite angrily.
"Lost is lost, and you still won't accept it? Are all Sword Pavilion disciples trash like you?" The purple-robed young man sneered, completely disregarding the hostile glares around him that looked as if they wanted to devour him.
"Hm?" The purple-robed young man's gaze shifted, landing right on Jian Wushuang as he walked toward the Sword Pavilion, and a mocking smile crept onto the corner of his mouth.
Jian Wushuang was entering the Sword Pavilion to cultivate, just like any other day, but the moment he arrived at its gates—
"If it isn't the Young Pavilion Master of the Sword Pavilion, Jian Wushuang?" A voice tinged with mockery suddenly came from the side.
Jian Wushuang's steps halted. He raised his head to look at the purple-robed young man, his eyes narrowing slightly.
He had some impression of this purple-robed youth, knowing his name was Jian Lin, one of the more outstanding disciples of the Blood Martial Hall. Most importantly, this Jian Lin had long been interested in Jian Meng'er, always thinking up ways to win her favor.
But unfortunately, for the sake of the Sword Pavilion's eighteen first-rate sword techniques, Jian Meng'er had spent these four years constantly at Jian Wushuang's side, which made Jian Lin incredibly jealous. Naturally, the hostility and resentment toward Jian Wushuang in his heart ran very deep.
However, because of the previous relationship between Jian Lan and Jian Meng'er, Jian Lin had never found an opportunity to deal with Jian Wushuang. But now... everything had changed.
"A single sword in hand, unmatched under heaven. It's a good name, sure, but wasted on someone like you." Jian Lin blocked Jian Wushuang's path, mocking him without the slightest restraint. "What's more, you actually dared to set your sights on Meng'er. What a toad dreaming of eating swan meat. Why don't you take a piss and look at your reflection? With you being this kind of trash who can't even condense spiritual power, how could Meng'er ever truly fancy you?"
Jian Wushuang glanced at Jian Lin. He did not get angry; instead, the corner of his mouth curled up as he sneered, "You're quite right. How could someone like me deserve Jian Meng'er? So—I give her up to you!"
"Give her up to me?" Jian Lin froze for a moment, then flew into a rage. "Damn it, like I need trash like you to hand her over!"
Jian Wushuang gave a cold smile, too lazy to say more, and turned to continue walking into the Sword Pavilion.
"Trash, stop right there!" Jian Lin roared.
Jian Wushuang paid him no heed whatsoever, his steps never pausing.
"Bastard, you dare ignore me?" Jian Lin's face twisted. He cursed loudly, then his figure moved, sending a palm strike directly at Jian Wushuang's back.
Sensing the force of the wind behind him, Jian Wushuang's gaze turned cold. He spun around abruptly, his right hand—already clenched into a fist—exploding with power in an instant, his deep spiritual power surging through it in a flash.
"Get lost!"
Jian Wushuang's roar erupted, his voice bursting forth alongside the strength in his arm, clashing head-on with Jian Lin's palm.
Bang!
Jian Wushuang's figure staggered back several steps in a row, while that Jian Lin was actually forced to take a step back as well.
Although it was merely a single step back, it left Jian Lin completely stunned.
"How is that possible?" Jian Lin stared wide-eyed at Jian Wushuang.
With that palm strike just now, he had not dared use his full strength for fear of going too hard, so he had not exerted much force. But even so, an ordinary person could never have easily received his strike—let alone the fact that Jian Wushuang had actually forced him back.
"The third realm—he must at least be at the third level of the Spirit Path, or perhaps even the peak of the third realm!" Jian Lin said in horror.