On the hundred-foot square arena, two shadowy figures collided repeatedly. The sound of metal clashing echoed as true energy surged fiercely. After a moment, the two fighters once again clashed, flying backward.

Li Sheng bent over, breathing heavily, with a serious expression. From the beginning, their strengths were equal, but gradually, he had been suppressed more and more.

Every move and technique mirrored each other, but the outcomes were distinctly different. He had noticed this obvious change. While fighting, he observed the opponent's movements and gradually gained some understanding, which allowed him to create some distance.

"Being at ease and handling things with ease... the ability to unleash fifteen times the combat power with ten times the strength—this is the Realm of Extreme Strength, isn't it? Thankfully, it's only the first level; my combat power has only increased by half a level... it's not entirely hopeless."

As he watched the opponent charge again, he decided to exchange injury for injury. Although the opponent was slightly stronger, he was rather rigid, following a certain pattern in his moves. Li Sheng gritted his teeth and faced the attack head-on.

Empowered by seven spirit forms, his left fist, containing a massive force of 170,000 pounds, struck towards the long sword, creating a deafening sound.

"Boom!"

The point of impact erupted with true energy. Seizing the opportunity, Li Sheng transformed his punch into a palm and grabbed the long sword. A sharp aura entered his arm, wreaking havoc on his body.

"One breath…"

He silently counted, thrusting himself forward and collapsing into the opponent's embrace, while his right hand thrust the sword deep into the opponent's heart. At the same time, the opponent's true energy also erupted within him, causing half of Li Sheng's body to explode.

"Achieved first victory, rewarded with a memory fragment."

"You have died. The arena will be temporarily closed until mental recovery."

The two notifications sounded one after another, almost indistinguishable. Li Sheng's remaining body transformed into light spots and vanished.

Before the vortex, Li Sheng's figure slowly reappeared, looking pale and dazed.

"Senior brother?"

"Junior brother!"

Bai Ye and Liu Hongfeng noticed something was wrong and rushed over. After a few breaths, Li Sheng regained his senses, cold sweat dripping from his forehead, still shaken by the experience.

"Thankfully, it wasn't real death. That feeling of everything plunging into darkness, returning to dust, is unbearable."

"Why does Senior Brother look so pale? What happened?"Bai Ye asked, her delicate face slightly worried.

Li Sheng shook his head and took a deep breath, saying, "There should be a hundred levels of challenges in there. The first challenge is facing one's own reflection, with identical strength and techniques."

"After defeating it, I'll receive a memory fragment, but I don't know what effect it will have."

He opened his palm to reveal a small white crystal, the size of a fingernail. The others took turns examining it, but couldn't discern its significance.

Li Sheng took back the crystal and advised, "Only those who have reached the Realm of Extreme Strength can challenge it. Junior sister, you shouldn't enter for now."

"If senior sister is willing, she can give it a try, but dying in the secret realm will damage your mental energy. You cannot enter again until you recover. I'll go check out the Secret Realm of Divine Powers."

"Go ahead, senior brother."

"Don't worry, junior brother; I know my limits and won't overreach,"the two replied.

Li Sheng nodded, focusing his thoughts and moving into the Secret Realm of Divine Powers.

As he approached the swirling azure light, he took a deep breath and stepped inside.

The scene shifted, and a wave of dizziness washed over him. When Li Sheng regained his senses, he found himself on a wide dirt path about ten feet wide. The sky resembled a deep blue mirror, and lush grass stretched endlessly on both sides.

Following the yellow earth road, he saw a towering green mountain reaching into the sky at the horizon.

"The Path of Enlightenment has been opened."

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"Yellow Earth Road: Walk a thousand miles, comprehend myriad laws."

"Path of Enlightenment: Once every ten days."

Li Sheng closed the panel and moved forward.

As he took a step, an invisible pressure enveloped him. It felt as if he were carrying a small mountain, making it hard to move.

One step, two steps.

As he reached a hundred steps, he was drenched in sweat, his body trembling, and he could no longer hold on, collapsing to the ground. At that moment, the invisible pressure vanished.

"A hundred steps—this is my limit... a thousand miles... how long will this take?"He forced a bitter smile, then noticed something was off.

Here, his thoughts were more active, and the medicinal power of the top-grade elixir in his body was depleting faster, while the headache caused by mental strain eased significantly.

"The Path of Enlightenment... could it be that the process of understanding begins on this yellow earth road?"Li Sheng's eyes brightened, and he began to practice the Dragon Elephant Breathing Technique.

A dragon's roar echoed from within him, rising from low to high, resonating throughout the space. Gradually, a yellow mist rose from the ground, enveloping him.

During his practice, he felt a cool sensation wash over him, making his whole body feel comfortable, and the dragon's roar grew more majestic.

"This training speed is more than ten times faster than outside... what a treasure of a place."Li Sheng marveled, and two hours later, he completed the body tempering with the Dragon Roar Technique.

Li Sheng opened his eyes, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, and exclaimed, "My organs have reached great perfection, with strength hitting 38,000 pounds!"

Feeling the immense power within him, he pondered, "Now, when I unleash my full strength, I can produce nearly 270,000 pounds of force. If I fight Chen Hu again, I'm confident I can take his life within three moves."

"The medicinal power has been exhausted. Should I refine another batch of pills and return to continue my training...?"

Just as he was deep in thought, a notification rang out.

"You can only enter the Land of Enlightenment once every ten days."

"Initial enlightenment time: four hours (increases with distance)."

"Alright... there are still two hours left..."Li Sheng dismissed the thought of leaving and took out the memory crystal.

"How do I use this?"He squeezed it with force, but it wouldn't budge. He put it in his mouth, but still got no response.

Only when he held the crystal up to his eyes did it suddenly vaporize, piercing into his brow.

Li Sheng was startled, and before he could react, a pure scene unfolded in his mind.

In a dim space, a figure wielding a long sword practiced strikes, slashes, thrusts, and stabs repeatedly. A familiar sensation surged within him, and Li Sheng was struck by inspiration.

"This memory fragment... contains the martial insights of the other person?"

He quickly drew his long sword, mimicking the figure's movements.

Points, thrusts, slashes, sweeps, draws, pulls, intercepts, slices, and strikes—he practiced the basic sword techniques for an entire hour, repeating each move thousands of times.

Even with his current physique, his arms felt sore.

Previously, he had only viewed the sword as a simple medium to extend his martial arts and channel his true energy, having no understanding of swordsmanship at all. But after this training, he gained a clear comprehension of the sword.

He understood what the former sect leader had said about achieving harmony with the tool and grasping its methods.

For the next hour, he followed the figure's lead to practice the Still Sword Style. Each time he executed a move, he would pause for a moment, using his mind to sense the long sword in his hand.

Gradually, he felt a connection with the sword, and his movements became more fluid as he wielded it.

The images in his mind slowly faded until they disappeared.

Li Sheng paid no mind to it, calmly swinging the long sword.

Whether slicing or stabbing, his movements were filled with grace.

"Understanding the sword, merging energy and intention, creating a bond, allows for fluidity as if it were a part of me."

"I did it!"

"Realm of Extreme Strength!"