Ren expanded his divine sense to detect fluctuations in spiritual energy.The technique for using a divine sense wasn’t yet fully mastered; he could only cover an area of about a hundred meters. Withou...Chapter 500 Defeat Zhao Kuo!
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh... hundreds of blue sword beams swept across the sea surface. ~
Hao Ren stood steadily on the sea surface with his feet on grayish-white sword qi.
Boom!
120 black sword beams pierced through from underwater.
Hao Ren quickly darted up, releasing 160 red sword beams from his palms.
Swoosh... white sword beams shone brightly in the air.
Zhao Kuo, wearing a gray long robe, stood on the waves. Hundreds of colorful sword beams battled ceaselessly both above and below water.
Hao Ren's clothes were tattered, but his aura radiating with sword qi was awe-inspiring!
Bang! An array of protective energy burst from Zhao Kuo's body.
Hao Ren practiced the Heavenly Thunder Body Refinement method while Zhao Kuo used the Five Elements Body Refinement technique. Hao Ren’s lightning-based cultivation could break through all elemental attacks, whereas Zhao Kuo's five-element techniques could absorb any element.
Clang...
The hundreds of sword beams collided at the center of the sea surface.
A depression was first formed on the water surface before a huge wave surged with the return flow of seawater!
Hao Ren focused intently, releasing sword beams from his hundred acupoints in an array formation and pouncing toward Zhao Kuo again.
Zhao Kuo stood atop the waves, laughing madly. He released hundreds of sword beams with both hands in a direct confrontation!
Hao Ren practiced the Splitting Light Sword Shadow Technique, just like Zhao Kuo, so only Hao Ren could engage Zhao Kuo in an exhilarating battle using sword arrays.
These few days, apart from spending two hours every day to resolve some of Hao Ren’s cultivation doubts, Zhao Kuo would also spend one hour practicing the Splitting Light Sword Shadow Technique with Hao Ren for a fierce duel.
Whenever they fought, the seas around Purple Bamboo Island became dark and gloomy; the Eastern Sea soldiers on patrol nearby quickly fled.
Bang!
Hao Ren’s sword beams clashed once again with Zhao Kuo's.
The sea surface near them hissed and steamed, with their intense energies directly evaporating hundreds of tons of seawater!
Ding ding ding… All 320 sword beams from Hao Ren were shaken away.
Zhao Kuo's 320 sword beams, however, lined up in a straight formation and charged toward Hao Ren. Zhao Kuo, having reached the Exchange Rank (Dui), did not release all 640 sword beams, still leaving some room for maneuvering.
"Uncle Three, here comes my sword!" At a critical moment, Zhao Yanzi suddenly emerged from beneath the sea surface.
She held a silver longsword in her hand and walked on the waves toward Zhao Kuo, slashing out two sword strikes with a whooshing sound.
Moving across water was a basic spell for dragon cultivators, especially those specializing in water-based techniques. Without even standing on a flying sword or manipulating the sea waves, Zhao Yanzi could move swiftly.
Zhao Kuo sidestepped to avoid them, and instantly, it seemed like two underwater bombs had exploded beside him, drenching him thoroughly with a wave over ten meters high.
Tianshu!
The Tianshu sword form from the Northern Dipper Sword Technique was straightforward and powerful, fully utilizing spiritual energy to achieve its maximum effectiveness.
Zhao Yanzi had left her Purple-Green Treasure Sword at the Fifth Layer of Heaven. This longsword was borrowed from Zhao Hongyu, but in coordination with Hao Ren's attack, she slashed out sword techniques gracefully.
"Uncle Three, there’s more!" Seeing that Zhao Kuo merely evaded simply, Zhao Yanzi changed her sword technique and thrust toward him again.
Tianxuan!
The second form in the Northern Dipper Sword Technique!
Named after the Big Dipper constellation, each of its seven sword forms had unique characteristics. Tianshu represented Heaven, also known as Taigong (Tiger's Head) or Tanlang (Greedy Wolf), characterized by expansive and powerful movements; Tianxuan represented Earth, also known as Jumen (Great Gate), with steady and versatile sword techniques.
Within this month, Zhao Yanzi had been meticulously guided by Zhao Kuo to breakthrough to the middle Foundation Establishment stage in her cultivation realm, and she had mastered the second form of the Northern Dipper Sword Technique!
Zhao Kuo smiled easily as he released five sword beams from his palm.
Ding ding ding…
With a reverse slash, Zhao Yanzi managed to shake all five sword beams away.
At this moment, Hao Ren's 320 sword beams reappeared and forced Zhao Kuo to retreat three steps.
Zhao Yanzi took advantage of the momentum from Hao Ren’s sword beams and advanced another three steps, launching both Tianshu and Tianxuan sword forms in conjunction!
The ingenuity of the Northern Dipper Sword Technique did not merely lie in its ability to aid cultivation through sword techniques or enhance sword skills with cultivation progress. More importantly, it lay in how these seven sword forms interlinked and could be combined into a versatile array of movements.
Zhao Yanzǐ had just reached the middle stage of Foundation Establishment and was not yet familiar with Tiǎnxún's sword techniques. However, when combined with Tiānshū's sword techniques, the spirit energy infused into her longsword flowed continuously, astonishing and delighting Zhao Yanzǐ. ~
Professor Hao Ren’s 320 sword beams assisted Zhao Yanzǐ's sword moves, forcing Zhao Kuò to retreat another three steps.
Standing on the viewing platform of the imperial palace, Chancellor Xia turned his head and looked at Zhao Guang with a beaming smile. "Princess Zǐ is truly a prodigy in cultivation; it’s wonderful news."
The Master Elder Lu standing beside Zhao Guang nodded in agreement. “Princess Ah Zi has made remarkable progress recently. It looks like she will soon reach the Core Formation stage of human cultivators.”
Master Sun observed the duel on the sea and nodded calmly. "Princess Ah Zi's sword techniques are indeed exquisite. Marquis Hao must have put a lot of effort into finding this set of techniques for her."
Zhao Guang stared at them for a few seconds before turning to Senior Elder Star Moon beside Zhao Hongyu. “Senior Elder Star Moon, what do you think about Ah Zi’s progress”
As the person responsible for all female cultivators' training in the East Sea Dragon Palace and its equivalent of a central girls' school principal, Senior Elder Star Moon had initiated Zhao Yanzǐ's cultivation journey. Therefore, she was best positioned to evaluate Zhao Yanzǐ's progress.
Sr. Elder Star Moon focused her gaze for a few seconds before saying, “Princess Ah Zi’s talent is excellent. She only neglected her cultivation in the past. In my view, her innate abilities and intelligence are not much different from Su Han's. The sword techniques she uses are swift yet orderly, steady with proper measures, leaving room for maneuver and potential variations. It’s quite impressive.”
Hearing Sr. Elder Star Moon say this, Zhao Hongyu smiled contentedly. She knew that Zhao Yanzǐ had good innate talent, but since she previously refused to focus on cultivation, there was no point in forcing her. Now, without a dragon pearl and with the pressure from Xie Yujia's pursuit, Zhao Yanzǐ felt a sense of urgency.
As they were talking, Jia Ren suddenly retracted his 320 sword beams, condensing them into his palm to form a tangible light sword according to the Sword Shadow Technique. Since these sword beams originally consisted of five elements and all objects in the world are made up of the same five elements, condensing the sword beams into a sword results in an item with balanced Five Elements that is akin to Hao Ren's soul.
With his hand holding the Five-Element Sword, Hao Ren stood by Zhao Yanzǐ’s side and slashed two swords at Zhao Kuò.
The technique he used was from the "Mystic Water Sword Technique." Over this past month, Hao Ren had been dragging a tire around the island during the day to practice running, received cultivation guidance from Zhao Kuò in the evenings, and spent his nights alone in the small cottage in the Purple Bamboo Forest meditating and studying the jade slip.
In one month, Hao Ren barely grasped six changes within the first sword technique of the Mystic Water Sword Technique and could perform it smoothly.
He didn’t know if he was mistaken or not, but when using the Mystic Water Sword Technique, he felt a connection to heaven and earth. Previously, even when fully unleashing the Sword Shadow Technique, he hadn't experienced such clarity of transformation.
Hao Ren's spirit energy surged through his meridians into the Five-Element Sword, while some spiritual qi from the surroundings also infused within it.
With one sword thrust, there were six changes in an instant.
Rush!
Using Tiānshū and Tiǎnxún's sword techniques, Zhao Yanzǐ’s two strikes came out seamlessly.
Zhao Kuò suddenly backed up half a step and lost his footing, dropping into the sea with a splash.
"Haha! Uncle Kuo has been defeated!" Zhao Yanzǐ cheerfully exclaimed. "Now Hao Ren can enter the palace!"
As she was speaking, she suddenly turned her head to look at Hao Ren beside her and pouted. “I... I didn’t win Uncle Kuo just for you!”
Hao Ren smiled as the Five Elements Sword in his hand faded into specks of light, returning to his body.
On the viewing platform of the palace," Minister Xia stroked his beard and laughed heartily, surprised. "I didn’t expect Marquis and Princess to actually manage to force Third Uncle back!"
Zhao Guang shook his head with a smile. "Zhao Kuo was just trying to cheer up Ah Zi and intentionally lost."
Xingyue looked out at the sea without speaking. She thought that Zhao Kuo truly couldn’t defeat them for a moment, but he didn’t want to harm Hao Ren or Zhao Yanzi, so he fell into the sea.
Whoosh...
Zhao Kuo, drenched from head to toe, crawled out of the waves. His body was enveloped in fiery red light that instantly dried his clothes.
Zhao Kuo’s practice of the Five Elements Body Refinement had reached a certain realm; he could adjust his physical attributes at will and thus easily perform various spells from the Five Dragon Tribes, which was somewhat different from Hao Ren’s method of Lightning Cultivator Body Refinement.
Holding Zhao Yanzi’s hand, Hao Ren shot up in an instant to land on the viewing platform of the palace.
During this month, he had been staying in the Purple Bamboo Grove on the island every day, diligently cultivating. Zhao Kuo had proposed that if a day came when Zhao Yanzi and Hao Ren could defeat him, then Hao Ren would be able to enter the palace.
Hence, combining efforts to attack Zhao Kuo became their daily training routine. Zhao Yanzi was unwilling to accept her uncle’s bad treatment of her and wanted to defeat him, while Hao Ren aimed at testing his own strength improvements; in fact, these daily battles had greatly advanced his control over the Sword Image Decision.
Now that Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi had forced Zhao Kuo into the sea, Hao Ren finally earned the right to approach the palace.
The two of them returned to the viewing platform. Zhao Hongyu looked at Hao Ren who was as ragged as a wild man from the mountains and smiled, turning to order Minister Xia, "Go get some clothes for Ah Ren."
"Yes!" Minister Xia immediately left the viewing platform.
"You’ve worked hard during this period," Zhao Hongyu said consolingly while looking at Hao Ren.
To create conditions for Hao Ren to cultivate in peace, nobody had visited him in the Purple Bamboo Grove, including Zhao Hongyu herself.
However, Hao Ren indeed made remarkable progress over these past few weeks; his rank rose from lower grade Geng to mid-grade Geng, and he opened two new acupoints, significantly increasing his strength.
In the past, he was often held back by various trivial matters. Now, he truly felt how effective seclusion could be for cultivation. As a former peak-level Qian cultivator, Zhao Kuo had extensive experience in cultivation insights, allowing Hao Ren to gauge whether his progress was fast or slow and gain deeper understanding of how to utilize the dragon pill.
"Mom, I worked hard too!" Zhao Yanzi looked at Zhao Hongyu and couldn’t help but ask for praise.
"Alright, alright. You’ve worked hard as well," said Zhao Hongyu while patting Zhao Yanzi’s head with a smile.
From the Sword Techniques she used just now, it was clear that Zhao Yanzi had been diligently practicing. In such a short month, her cultivation level rose from Foundation Establishment to mid-stage Foundation Establishment; this was indeed significant progress.
It’s worth noting that Zhao Yanzi was currently cultivating human cultivator methods and lacked the dragon pill, making each stage exceedingly difficult for her advancement. For Dragon Tribes cultivators, they only truly encounter a bottleneck when reaching Exchange level (equivalent to a human cultivator's Nascent Soul Initial Stage).reak through the "Zi Ling Spirit-Killing Net," the sixteen Dui Rank cultivators from the Western Sea disregarded all taboos and directly transformed into flying dragons to surround Hao Ren!For sixteen...