Mu Chen stood at the edge of the valley and looked around for a fresh target. He crouched and picked up a pebble. Satisfied with the weight of the stone, he stood up. Mu Chen aimed and shot the pebble towards a lizard. The stone flew with a speed faster than a flying arrow and hit the head of the lizard, knocking it awake. The lizard was incensed and after spotting Mu Chen darted towards him.

Mu Chen distanced himself a bit further away from the valley and drew his sword and let it hang by his side. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he once again recalled the moment he had made that strike.

Trust. He needed to have faith in his sword. Faith that his sword would cut through the tough skin of the lizard, against all common sense. He could not doubt if his sword may break—it will certainly cut through his opponent.

Hiss! The lizard arrived in front of Mu Chen. Mu Chen opened his eyes. His eyes flickered with determination and a desire to cut the opponent standing opposite him. Mu Chen raised his sword, gripping it with both hands.

The lizard attacked. Mu Chen slashed with his sword. He did not hesitate as he attacked in one fluid motion.

The sword struck the forehead of the lizard, but it met no resistance. It sliced through the skin, the skull, and the brain of the lizard as if it was paper, not flesh and bone. The cut didn't stop there. It extended far beyond the range of the sword as the entire body of the lizard was split in two.

"Hah!" Mu Chen was elated. "I succee—aargh!" Mu Chen groaned and fell on his knees hugging his head. Sharp pain raided his head. The sword slipped from his hand and hit the ground with a clatter.

The pain was intense. His head throbbed and even veins on his forehead became visible. Mu Chen was confident he could handle any degree of pain after going through the torture of Hell's Water, but he was proven wrong. The pain wasn't physical, yet it was real. Like being stabbed with a thousand knives, but the target wasn't the body, rather his spirit and mind.

Mu Chen continued to clutch his head for several breaths of time. He grabbed his sword and struggled to get up with the support of a tree beside him. The pain had subsided a lot, but now he had a headache. His vision was blurry and he was mentally exhausted. Mu Chen panted as he leaned with his back against the tree.

"Ha...ha…" Mu Chen gasped for breath as he took a sip of his energy drink. It made him feel a bit better. Then he glanced at the dead reptile. The cut was smooth and uniform. Despite the pain he had just undergone, Mu Chen couldn't help but grin in satisfaction.

"I get it! Before, I was afraid of breaking the sword and I doubted if my sword could cut. So I was not able to use my entire strength behind the strike. When I trusted my sword, the focus shifted. Not worried about breaking the sword, I became focused on cutting through the enemy and that became my intent." Mu Chen's eyes shone with excitement. He had found the right direction. It was never about facing life-threatening or desperate situations. They were at most a catalyst. The true key was an intense focus, faith, and…

"Intent." Mu Chen muttered and looked at the cut that far exceeded the limits of common sense.

"Shit! Can't stay." Mu Chen sheathed his sword. If he could, he wanted to go to sleep then and there. But it was not safe to linger around. Although the lizard didn't have the opportunity to send out a death growl, there was a lot of blood.

Mu Chen forced himself to stay awake and waddled away.

#

When he woke up, the headache had disappeared. Feeling refreshed, Mu Chen sat up and looked around before coming out of the tree hollow.

"That was dangerous!" Mu Chen sighed. It had taken everything he had to just make it to this spot. It wasn't the safest place to sleep, but Mu Chen wasn't in the condition to find a better place. Fortunately, there weren't any monster beasts who attacked him while he was asleep.

"I didn't expect I would become so exhausted." Mu Chen thought of the scene when he had fought the assailant. That time he had also lost his consciousness soon after the strike. But he assumed it was because he had lost a lot of blood.

"But it was worth it!" Mu Chen couldn't help but smile. He unsheathed his sword and inspected the blade. Just hours ago, the sword had sliced through the tough skin and skull of a monster beast. There was no trace of deformity, even the edge was as sharp as he remembered.

"Since it's my sword and my intent, I will just call it sword intent." With the realization of sword intent, Mu Chen felt as if a new door had opened.

"But, I can only use it once," Mu Chen sighed. "It's not enough to be practical. I need to train in using it."

Sword intent was powerful, but it was also demanding. It didn't seem to rely on his physical strength. There were still ten days for the selection, Mu Chen wanted to get adapted to using sword intent.

"I don't need to fight the monster beasts for practice." Mu Chen thought as he eyed the thick trunks of trees around him. There was no need to risk his life since he had understood the trick.

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The next few days, Mu Chen practiced cutting through a thick log of tree in the forest while using his sword intent. It was the same fallen trunk of a tree that Xia Ping and Mu Chen had sat on. The thickness and strength of the log was not something an ordinary sword could cut through relying on brute force. It was a good choice for practice.

The first few times Mu Chen used his sword intent, he was so mentally exhausted he had to sleep several hours. But as he got used, the time he needed to sleep decreased. Now Mu Chen could do several strikes using his sword intent before his head began to hurt and he needed to sleep.

"Ha!" Mu Chen gasped and wiped his forehead. He was exhausted. His entire body was sweating profusely.

"Reminds me of the time when I first started practicing with the sword, except for the bamboo poles." Mu Chen looked around. Several circular pieces of wood with a diameter larger than a carriage wheel were scattered everywhere around him.

"It looks like I have hit a plateau." Mu Chen could feel his progress in the last two days was no longer fast as it was at the start. But although the progress had slowed, it had made him more familiar with the characteristics of sword intent.

First, he only had a limited amount of sword intent. And once he expended it all, any further attempt would cause his head to ache. Second, sword intent was independent of his physical strength or stamina. The only way to replenish it was to rest. His energy drink was completely useless in that aspect.

Third, although sword intent was consumable, it would only be consumed if he cut through some object. Just slashing his sword through the air didn't consume it. It was very advantageous in battle since he wouldn't have to worry about missing his strikes. But it was a disadvantage during training because he would have to find something to practice his sword intent on.

Fourth, sword intent wasn't discrete. Although there was only a finite amount, it was like water. He could use all of his sword intent in just a single big strike or several less powerful ones.

Fifth, Mu Chen realized the sword intent he could currently use wasn't the same as he had used when he killed the assailant-it wasn't sharp enough. Mu Chen guessed it was because it was a strike he had made during his dying moment. But it made Mu Chen delighted because it meant there was room for improvement.

"Only a few days remain for the selection. Even if I continue to practice, there won't be any significant progress." Mu Chen looked in the direction of the valley. "Since I can now protect myself, it would be a waste if I don't explore a bit more."

After a few hours of rest, Mu Chen picked up a few pieces of wood and brought them with him to the valley. He climbed down the slope with as little noise he could. Once he was near the river he threw them into the river, each piece farther than the other.

Mu Chen's existence attracted the attention of the monitor lizards, but he had already jumped on a floating piece of wood. Using it as a base, Mu Chen jumped onto another piece of wood, then another. Mu Chen crossed the river and entered, climbed the slope, and entered the thicket.

Once he crossed the valley, Mu Chen became alert. The monsters in this region were much stronger than those he had fought so far, he couldn't be careless. But much to Mu Chen's surprise, he didn't encounter any monster beasts for a long time.

"Huh?" Mu Chen finally saw a monster beast, but it was already dead. Its chest was ripped open and its core was missing. "Cultivators?" But then Mu Chen saw the bite marks. "This was done by some monster beast."

Mu Chen continued to travel further for half a day, but all he found were more dead monster beasts. Their hearts and cores had been gouged.

"From the bite marks, it looks like it is the same monster beast. Judging from the condition of the bodies, not much time has passed. All of them must have been killed within the same week." Mu Chen thought. "But it's weird that the bodies are left as is."

Monster beasts coveted the heart of other monster beasts since it contained essence or core, which was beneficial for their cultivation. The stronger beasts would just eat the heart and didn't care about the rest of the body. Weaker monster beasts would feast on the rest of the body.

"Are other beasts so scared of this killer beast, that they won't even dare to eat the remains? That must be why it's so quiet." Mu Chen was depressed. He came here to learn more about the beast language, but all the beasts in the area were scared out of their wits and hiding, not making a sound. And he wasn't confident if he could handle this mysterious killer beast. Other than the bite marks, he hadn't seen any other tracks affirming its existence.

"Might as well just go back." Mu Chen was disappointed but he didn't venture further into the forest. There were bases of several families and sects in this region of the forest. So there were many cultivators exploring the forest from this point onward. As long as he continued to stay in the region, it was guaranteed he would run into them. Mu Chen was trying to be low-key and didn't want to be the center of attention.

On his way back, Mu Chen came across a pond of water. Mu Chen, who hadn't had a bath in ages was tempted to take one. After making sure there were no monster beasts in the vicinity, Mu Chen placed his sword and spatial pouches at the bank, got rid of his loincloth, and dived in.

The water was clean and pristine. After cleaning himself for a while, Mu Chen enjoyed the cool sensation of water as he floated on his back. Mu Chen closed his eyes to relish the feeling. With his eyes, closed he became focused more on his hearing.

"Hmm?" The beasts that had been very quiet so far, had become noisy. Mu Chen didn't understand what they were talking about. But he could sense the emotion. At first, it was fear, then shock, and a sense of awe. Then there was a pause and that feeling of awe disappeared. What replaced it was a growing sense of excitement, desire, and…

"Greed?" Mu Chen was perplexed. "What's going on?" He stood up and got out of the pond. Something big was happening in this part of the forest, he could no longer idle.

Mu Chen bent to pick up his stuff when he heard a twig crack beside him. Mu Chen hastily grabbed his sword and whirled in the direction where the sound had come from, ready for battle. But what he saw surprised him.

It was a fox. A tiny white fox that was just a foot long, with a fluffy tail that was slightly longer than its body. Mu Chen immediately recognized it. It was the same little monster beast Xia Ping had been chasing.

Both Mu Chen and the little fox froze upon seeing each other. The little fox's mouth was slightly open as if it didn't expect to see Mu Chen.

A pair of black eyes and a pair of bright blue eyes, stared into each other. Neither Mu Chen nor the little fox moved for a while.

The little fox was the one to break the deadlock. It took a step forward, causing Mu Chen to become alert. He had seen how fast the fox was. If it attacked him at such a close range, it would be hard to dodge it. Looks were deceiving. Mu Chen didn't need to guess if the tiny fox was capable of killing him.

But the attack didn't come. The little fox took a step forward and wobbled. It let out a soft whine as it fell.