With the third test done, Lo Shen guided the prospective disciples toward the nearby cliff’s edge and climbed up, leading them into a small cave entrance hidden by a formation disk carved into the mountain where one of the most difficult challenges was held, even for current outer and inner sect members.
Inside this cave stood an opulent palace crafted entirely from green jade. At its entrance, a statue of the Sword King kept a watchful eye along with a cultivator sitting in a lotus position right beside it. At the bottom of the statue, an inscription read:
Sword Sect’s Treasure Pavilion.
Viewing the statue from a distance, the group felt a sense of puzzlement. They couldn't perceive any distinct aura or sense of challenge, making the nature of this final test all the more elusive. After they had ventured a few steps inside this immense cave, Lo Shen halted them and began his explanation.
"This is the site of your final trial. The statue that stands before you is a representation of our respected sect master, personally placed here by every generation of the Sword King to guard the Sword Pavilion you see in the back there."
After a momentary pause, Lo Shen resumed, "The statue serves a dual purpose. Firstly, it acts as a test of mettle, designed to ensure that anyone who passes this point possesses the requisite resilience and determination to become a core part of the Sword Sect. Secondly, it serves as a gatekeeper to the treasures within the pavilion, accessible only to a select few of the sect disciples. According to sect rules, anyone capable of passing beyond this statue and enter the pavilion beyond during their entrance exams can choose a single treasure from within.”
Observing the group, he noticed that everyone appeared to be devoid of inquiries while their eyes sparkled at the thought of acquiring a treasure from the mighty Sword Sect! This prompted him to proceed with his final address.
"Once you take exactly 5 steps from this point, the Sword Intent will envelop you. Be vigilant in protecting your mind and soul, and above all, recognize when it is necessary to retreat. This trial is renowned for severely crippling people under the Sea Formation stage or even outright killing them. If anyone wishes to withdraw, now is the opportune moment. Some of you already have secured positions in the inner and outer sects, so don’t be too hard on yourselves."
As soon as those final words left his lips, a sense of horror washed over the faces of most participants, causing them to promptly announce their retirement from the trial.
Ultimately, only three individuals remained out of the first batch of testers, Tyler included. The other two, a teenage boy named Lazar Flame and a girl in her early 20s named Kelly.
Lazar was around 14 years old, had tight top knotted bright flame orange hair, and had an extremely lean frame and features. His eyes were an odd grey color with a subtle hint of gold around the iris which would cause pause to anyone looking at him.
The young man's clothing and demeanor gave no indication of significant wealth or poverty. Aside from his distinct eyes and hair color, he appeared entirely ordinary and wouldn't attract attention from anyone passing by.
Lazar Flame had barely passed the first Combat Test at the third level. Had made it to the 450 meter mark on the second trial and successfully beat an outer sect disciple in formation crafting. All of this while having a cultivation at the very peak of the 9th level. He had been very average throughout so this made his choice to participate here to be unexpected by Shen.
Without wasting any words or waiting for approval, the young man stepped forward.
The unfolding scene left the observers flabbergasted and from Tyler’s divine sense, everything was clear as day.
The moment he entered the range of the statue’s powers, Tyler could feel that the whole area lit up with a form of soul attack. It was almost like millions of swords were falling down from the ceiling of the cave and smashed down into the intruder in order to cut him into pieces.
A Rain of Swords.
Being the one bombarded by this assault of sword intent, Lazar responded in kind!
Lazar's eyes abruptly transformed into a brilliant shade of gold, emitting a power that appeared incongruent with his fragile and youthful appearance. A resplendent, dragon-like illusion erupted from his being, its golden form slicing through a swath of incoming swords with a swift, clawed motion as it cried out.
*ROAR!!!!*
*Rumble*
The whole area shook from the clash of intents and the draconian roar, and after a few seconds, it became calm once more.
Only those in possession of divine sense had the ability to perceive these soul fluctuations and attacks clearly. Everyone else that possessed intent could only feel the repercussions of this clash.
As soon as the initial surge of power emanated from the youth, the cultivator seated beside the statue abruptly opened his eyes, breaking free from his meditative trance for the first time.
A profound stillness enveloped the entire area as the golden dragon lingered around Lazar like a vigilant guardian. Swords descended upon him, only to be shattered upon contact with the dragon's claws as Lazar advanced steadily, unhindered and unrestrained.
Lazar maintained his stoic demeanor and continued advancing, unchallenged until he touched the statue.
At that moment, the elder who was sitting next to the statue spoke up as he looked at Shen in the distance. “My young friend, how about you leave this one with me, this young man has a treasure to claim. Naturally I shall send him to the sect above afterwards so he can be guided to Profound City proper. How does that sound?”
Tyler, having his divine sense continually spread out now, could clearly feel that this man wasn’t ordinary as he had about the same levels of power as Master Tanaka.
A dense silver aperture radiated constant True Essence into his dantian but its energy signature was extremely mute, as if he was containing it as much as he could.
This unexpected development sent shock waves through everyone present as they knew what this meant, the sect had gained another Core Disciple!
Shen, having his own intent and being the youngest in the last thousand years to have developed it in Veridian Peaks, he, above anyone else, understood the significance of a level 9 possessing such strong and primal soul defenses.
Not only was it an intent, but one coming from a Draconic Bloodline!
Without further ado, Shen wholeheartedly concurred. "Yes, Elder Trane. However, if you don't mind, I'd like to request a brief moment before you go."
Intrigued, the elder inquired, "Oh? What's the matter?"
Shen began to explain, but before he could articulate more than a few words, Tyler stepped forward, intending to illustrate the point his friend was trying to make.
Entering the area affected with the intent, Tyler felt the influence of the statue immediately as he saw that same rain of swords come crashing down on him.
He became serious as that intent also attempted to invade his soul space! It appeared as if the curtain of swords surrounded the entirety of his inner world. Understanding the nature of this threat far better than most, his whole body tensed up as he sensed that gargantuan sword intent attacking him from all sides, primed to cleave his inner world into pieces!
With the threat coming in fast, his heart pounded like a drum in his chest, echoing throughout his soul space, causing the surrounding ocean to violently churn in response and the sword clouds to respond in kind, entering a sort of dance.
He had no time to panic, however. He was no stranger to overcoming looming threats or challenges; his few combat deployments from before the shattering and surviving Lin Jian’s breakthrough were prime examples of this. Now it was no different.
As his divine sense extended to its maximum reach, Tyler found himself almost overwhelmed by the task of tracking each rapidly approaching sword. The sheer number of these attacks was causing his divine sense, which originally covered a 50-meter radius, to shrink down to just a dozen meters in order to keep up with the onslaught.
While meticulously monitoring each incoming attack, Tyler concentrated on his connection with his acupoints and his mastery of the winds.
He detected the subtle disturbances in the air, a result of the sword intent. At that moment, it felt as if he were rehearsing a well-practiced drill for the thousandth time and his soul avatar replicated the precise movements of the Thundering Winds.
Manipulating the winds wasn't a skill consciously developed by Tyler but rather a byproduct of his cultivation method.
However, this didn't mean he had no understanding of it.
In fact, he possessed a rudimentary comprehension of this phenomenon. By intentionally guiding his body's Qi and following a consistent rhythmic pattern, he could subtly influence the surrounding winds, which was also heavily influenced by his soul’s action on its environment.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Through this interaction, he gained awareness of the winds or rather, he had reached the first level of the Wind Laws. Resulting in his understanding of the winds’ impact on the environment and learning how to manipulate them to a limited extent for his own benefit.
This was completely backwards from how others learned and understood laws as most would first need to understand its principles before even attempting to apply it to anything. Unfortunately for them though, they did not possess divine sense or an inner world to make that process a million times easier.
In the outside world, a soft bubble of transparent clouds started to form around Tyler’s body as he focused on redirecting the winds, using the cloud as a medium to control the winds.
Pulsating with soul power along with his Qi, Tyler’s way of dealing with this intent was clearly different from Lazar’s previous display and if Tyler would’ve had the pleasure of dealing with the System, he would’ve known that this was a technique aptly named [Galeweave Shield].
As Tyler steeled himself for the incoming sword strikes, the onlookers stared ahead at his unique way of dealing with the intent. Elder Trane, being one of the few Aperture Strengthening masters who possessed Divine Sense was shocked once more today from what he saw.
Tyler however, seemed calm, stoic even, in the face of such an existential threat, but inside his inner world, he was fiercely fighting for his soul’s survival.
The sword curtain fell.
In a mere fraction of a moment, the impact reverberated through his inner world like a cataclysmic event was taking place.
The colossal sword intents clashed fiercely against his shield, unleashing a powerful shockwave that ripped through the very fabric of his soul space and caused his physical body to cough out a massive amount of blood.
His protective barrier disintegrated into nothingness, managing to redirect only half of the relentless onslaught and leaving him vulnerable to the rest.
Amidst the collision, Tyler detected lingering traces of the Sword King's true essence, intertwined with the sword intent. While not precisely true essence, he recognized it as a signature, a remnant of it.
With the shield's disappearance, the crystalline structure of his inner world resounded with a loud crack. The force of the sword attacks sent a formidable surge of sword Qi cascading into the sea below, temporarily parting the ocean into distinct, separate blocks.
Immediately, under the immense pressure and resulting damage to his soul space, even Tyler’s avatar also coughed out a mouthful of metaphoric blood.
Yet, to his fortune, his shield, though vaporized, had managed to divert all of the swords from hitting his soul avatar directly. With the imminent danger dissipating, the formidable rain of swords began to fade, breaking into spectral particles that reintegrated into his soul space.
Tyler released a sigh of relief after enduring the initial onslaught from the statue. However, he understood that this respite would be brief, as another wave of danger loomed on the horizon.
As he pressed forward, a second barrage of spectral swords materialized, and this time, they possessed even greater potency. Although he had already known about this, he was still taken aback by the strength of the attack but Tyler did not waver.
Despite the toll the grueling test had already exacted upon him, he remained resolute. Death didn’t mean much when you had nothing left in this world. Therefore, the prospect of facing another potentially lethal strike from the ethereal blades did not deter him. Worst case scenario, he'd simply become another paragraph in the infinite book of history.
Driven by unwavering confidence and indomitable determination to either make it or die trying, Tyler forged ahead.
His experimentation with his cultivation method had led to various speculations about its underlying mechanism.
By harnessing his will and manipulating his soul avatar, he found ways to echo his own intentions, which resulted in minor modifications to the technique which could be seen through Tyler’s integration of the method into most of his big attacks.
This was also the reason for its resulting soul attack components into almost anything he did. By cutting off the mimicking of the techniques by his soul avatar was how he had tampered it down a lot when he had fought hand to hand with Xin earlier today and prevented the youth’s death.
Based on his recent insights into soul attacks, divine sense, cultivation and talks with the Sword King, Tyler had conjectured that he could probably produce a pure soul attack from within his inner world, which he had confirmed by crushing the three elders' divine sense earlier today.
Facing a precarious situation, Tyler called upon the method yet again, and he did something only possible from within his inner world as he gathered his entire cultivation and mobilized every piece of Qi that he could.
Guided by his intuition, and his divine sense, he modified his approach to his most well practiced technique, the One Finger, One Sword.
He marshaled the surrounding Qi to create a sword from within his inner world containing everything that he had, but as he had merged the various cloud swords when opening his 33rd acupoint, he now split that power into multiple swords.
2 Swords.
10 Swords.
50 Swords.
125 Swords!
Having his entire cultivation base split into 125 different tiny swords was extremely draining on Tyler’s mind as his control over each of those became fainter and fainter with each creation. But, within his inner world, he was god and nothing could escape his grasp.
Using that faint thread of control he had over the 125 swords, he pushed them outside of his inner world, pointing in the ten directions. Regardless of where the sword intent came from—north, south, east, west, northwest, northeast, southeast, and southwest—plus up and down a singular tiny sword met them head on.
*Boom*
*Boom*
*Boom*
Explosions happened all across the cave as the inch long illusory swords met the incoming attacks and the resulting remnants of soul attacks created a literal wave forward and barreled towards everyone across the entire cave.
Shocked by this development, Elder Trane swiftly yelled out to Lo Shen who was already in motion. “Quick! Soul Defense Formation Disk or the young ones will all die!”
Lazar Flame’s eyes shined with a bright golden light once more and the dragon made another appearance, this time however, it wasn’t as domineering as before and it curled up in a ball around the young man’s body instead of lashing out at the oncoming wave of soul attack from Tyler.
In this crucible of his soul, Tyler's heart calmed down as he unleashed that last attack.
The chilling sensation that coursed through him from the soul injury transformed from a piercing cold blade stuck inside into a warm fire that kept his soul company.
With a resolute grip, he embraced the feeling, intertwining it with his own heart and unknowingly entered a state of semi-meditation.
For a split second, Tyler became the embodiment of his defiance and unwavering will to perish by the blade or to destroy it at all cost and keep moving forward.
Through his divine sense, the 125 swords became an extension of his very being, a symbol of his refusal to die. In this moment, he stood not only against the Sword Intent but against any force that sought to kill him.
He was the master of his destiny, and no mere intent could break his indomitable spirit.
In the culmination of his heart and soul being forged by the experience, the sword intent manifestation vanished into thin air.
It became apparent that this sword intent had a deeper purpose than to simply kill intruders. It was meant to assess one's true nature, to gauge if they possessed the qualities required to embody the sword, and by extension, the sword sect.
This ethereal force sought individuals capable of fully embodying the maxim "live by the sword and die by the sword." It sought those who could be resolute, decisive, and unyielding in the face of overwhelming adversity, much like the unwavering nature of a blade itself.
Tyler stood there, his heart and soul now resonating with the very essence of the sword intent. He understood that this test was not just about physical skill, but about embodying the virtues that the sword represented.
The chilling sensation that had coursed through him earlier now transformed into a sense of clarity and focus.
At that moment, Tyler knew he had proven himself worthy.
This test’s goal wasn’t to overcome it like Lazar had done, but to embrace the nature of the intent. It wasn’t a test of one’s cultivation or of one’s ability to use techniques and treasures. It was a pure test of character set up by the Sword King to assess the members of his sect.
This of course didn’t matter much to people like Lazar who possessed something as rare as a draconic bloodline that relied on its ancient power to overwhelm the Sea Formation power that the statue possessed and protect its owner's soul.
Although the rain of swords had vanished, its presence lingered within Tyler's mind.
From this point forward, Tyler now had a proper tool to deal with soul attacks and intents. Something he’d call the Ten Directions Sword.
Content with his performance and seeing the lack of oncoming threats, Tyler focused on a healing pill inside his inner world and devoured it, settling into a meditative posture to heal his internal injuries, paying no attention to his surroundings.
He barely registered Elder Trane and the Sword King's divine senses sweeping over him. Several hours later, Tyler was fully recovered from his injuries after devouring two healing pills back to back.
By this time, Lazar had already been escorted into the treasure pavilion by Elder Shaw and had been sent to Profound City by some of the Sword King’s attendants in the sect, Elder Trane returning to his position beside the statue. During this time, Kelly had also undergone the test but her soul had shattered the instant she faced a singular intent sword, sending shivers down the spines of every other participants.
The rest of the candidates who had joined him for the fourth trial were also returned to either the sect above or Edge City proper, and the other groups of potential disciples had been ushered in for testing.
Eventually, Tyler sensed a foreign presence drawing near, his eyes snapped open.
Taking a cue from the intent displayed by the statue, he fixed his gaze directly upon that intrusive soul presence and endeavored to crush it with a tiny replica of the One Finger, One Sword.
To his surprise, Elder Brady, the leader of the last group, responded by infusing his own intent into his divine sense, redirecting Tyler’s attack towards the skies, preventing a soul backlash on Tyler’s part.
"Tyler, as you may recall, I am Elder Brady, responsible for overseeing the last group," he stated. "Young Master Shen wanted me to inform you that you can find him in his office near the courtyard above to proceed with your admission into the sect."
“Ah, sorry… I was still in my own head after the trial and sensing something I lashed out.” replied Tyler.
"No need to worry, you’ll get used to it as anyone developing intent is bound to experience this," the Elder reassured. "Now, if you please, I have another test to conduct here."
Pleased that the man had thought this was Tyler’s intent, just like all the other old monsters from before, the Sword King was once more satisfied with the man’s progress.
As in reality, intent was the precursor to divine sense and was usually acquired right after stepping into the Sea Formation stage. A toned down version of having your senses expanded and something that enabled your soul to navigate the world in a way, to extend your will into the world.
Then, before Tyler could depart and climb up to the sect above, Elder Trane spoke up. “Young man, don’t forget, you have earned the right to choose a treasure from this pavilion.”
Stopping in his tracks, Tyler considered it for a few seconds but shook his head. He didn’t want this treasure. He thought back to his conversation with Ancestor Fang from a few months ago and what he had said at the time.
“As cultivators, you have the best resource available to become a master of all those facets, time. Are you not limiting yourself to treasures you can find and that others can make?”
With that in mind, he answered Elder Shaw. “Thank you, but no. If I need a treasure, I’ll make it myself.” and walked away.
Now, it was time to experience first hand what a Sect in this new world was like.