Day 1.

Shadow's gaze sharpened as he imbued his Dark Qi into the colossal sword and slowly, he lifted up the sword with much effort.

Once the sword was at his waist area, his feet sunk into the stone platform, causing a shoe mark to be embedded in it. The Dark Qi in his body churned as he tediously swung the sword horizontally. Immediately after that, he retracted his Dark Qi and with the loss of support, the sword came crashing down and struck the stone platform, surprisingly, only a small crack formed on the stone platform.

The momentum that the sword brought caused the whole cave to tremble, however, the mysterious force still repelled the force brought forth by the sword.

'One swing!' Shadow's eyes gleamed as he prepared for another swing.

With that, he continued the swings for the rest of the day, without even resting for a single minute, until the Dark Qi in his body ran out. At the end of the first day, he completed 50 horizontal swings.

After Shadow ran out of Dark Qi, he immediately assumed his cultivation state and prepared for another day of training.

Day 3.

With the passing of each day, Shadow realized that the amount of Dark Qi in his body has increased, even if it's only by a minuscule amount.

Within these three days, Shadow discovered that this cave seemed to have a Qi gathering array as whenever his Dark Qi was exhausted, wisps of Dark Qi would flow towards him, which increased the replenishing rate.

At the end of the day, Shadow has completed 200 horizontal swings.

Day 7. Rainy day.

"998...999...ARGH...1,000!" With a loud groan, Shadow completed his first 1,000 swings. Upon checking the amount of Dark Qi left in his body, the corners of Shadow's lips curled upwards. Despite finishing 1,000 horizontal swings, there was still one fifth amount of Dark Qi left.

Just when Shadow was about to start on the vertical swings, he felt something dripping onto him.

Drip...drip...drip...

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Startled, Shadow immediately looked up. From the ceiling, beads of water droplets could be seen dripping down onto the stone platform.

'Right! Sharpening the sword!' Shadow immediately awoke from the stupor and assumed the horizontal swing stance. His previous thoughts about how ridiculous it was was cast beyond the nine heavens.

Using the blade of the sword to deflect the water droplets on the wall, Shadow readied himself as he prepared to intercept the water droplets.

With a swing of the colossal sword, a bunch water droplets were successfully deflected onto the walls and to Shadow's amazement, it created a small depth.

However, not all were deflected and some landed onto Shadow. Suddenly, Shadow felt a cooling sensation inside his body. Shocked, Shadow immediately checked his body.

As the water droplets touched his body, it was immediately converted into a sparkling grey mist which was absorbed by the unknown dark mist in his body. Instantly, brightly twinkling spots appeared on the unknown dark mist giving off the impression of an extremely exquisite starry sky.

"This is...Spirit Qi?!" Shadow could not hold back his shock and immediately blurted out. He had read in a book before that only Dark and White Qi could be found in the Mortal realm while those realms that were higher up in the stellar contained Spirit Qi, which was what cultivator above the Spirit Ascension used to cultivate.

Logically speaking, if a cultivator that is at the Spirit Ascension stage and below absorbed Spirit Qi, it would only cause more harm to their body due to the difference in quality of Qi. However, Shadow was an exception.

Since he could not figure out why he could absorb the Spirit Qi, Shadow did not give it much thought and focused his attention on sharpening the sword.

Eventually, the water droplets stopped dripping and at the same time, the Dark Qi in his body was almost depleted.

Swiftly, Shadow assumed his cultivation stance.

Day 50.

Within these past few days, Shadow could already complete 1,000 horizontal and another 1,000 vertical swings per day with half of his Dark Qi left. Based on Shadow's assumption, it must have been the Spirit Qi in his body that caused his strength to skyrocket.

Whenever Shadow's Dark Qi fell below half of its initial amount, the unknown starry mist will harden, causing Shadow's body to become completely corporeal which also granted him an immense amount of strength.

Based on Shadow's observation, the water droplets only dripped for about an hour every seven days, hence, each time he absorbed the water droplets, the Spirit Qi in his body would increase proportionally.

After completing the swings, Shadow began his daily attack on the stone entrance. Despite not making a single dent in it, Shadow continued to strike at it, his gaze unwavering.

During these 50 days, Shadow endured the boredom, loneliness, pain and suffering. He dedicated all of his effort into training with the sword, even striking at the entrance could be counted as a form of training.

Day 70.

A starry figure could be seating in the dark, occasionally, several glimmers of light could be seen radiating off the dark blanket.

When Shadow woke up this morning, he felt that his was about to make a breakthrough again and thus, instead of sharpening the sword, he was waiting for the water droplets to fall on him.

Drip...drip...

'Here it is!' The black core in Shadow's body churned as waves of Dark Qi circulated his entire body.

As expected, when the water droplets were submerged into his body, the Spirit Qi was immediately absorbed by the unknown dark mist, causing his body to glow brighter and brighter. At the same time, the Dark Qi in his body began to swirl more violently, plunging his body into a state of chaos.

Shadow had no idea about how to ascend to the next stage and he could only go with flow. As more Spirit Qi gathered, some of them was dispel into the waves of Dark Qi, causing clashes between the 2 forces.

Shadow immediately puke out a mouthful of Dark Qi. Right now, his condition was extremely severe. All of the Dark Qi in his body was tainted with Spirit Qi and his black core was on the verge of cracking under the relentless assault of Spirit Qi. The unknown black mist was, however, perfectly fine.

As Shadow tried to moved out of the stone platform, the black core in his body exploded, causing a tremendous wave of energy to be emitted out. Amidst the chaos, a dark figure was flung lifelessly against the entrance. Shadow wasn't moving at all, the colored eyes dimmed as a large hole remained at his torso.

Hong!

As the cave quietened down, the colossal sword suddenly vibrated, causing the air around it to tremor. In the next moment, it hovered above the stone platform and slowly, it turned and its handle was pointed towards Shadow.