The night was as quiet as still water.

Under the cover of night, Lin Hao made his way to the Danling Sect’s Ice and Fire Pool.

The moment he arrived, Lin Hao was taken aback. Seeing the scene before him, he thought he must have come to the wrong place.

What lay before him was not the pool he had seen yesterday, but a deep, bottomless pit.

Nearby, the sign for the Ice and Fire Pool was gone, replaced by one that read "Sword Enlightenment Pool."

Even the stone bearing the words seemed to have been replaced.

Lin Hao glanced around, then prepared to retreat.

"What’s the matter? Thinking of leaving so soon after arriving?" A woman’s voice suddenly rang out without any warning.

Though the voice was pleasant, a chill ran down Lin Hao’s spine as he heard it.

’After cultivating my Imperial Art, my Spiritual Sense has become terrifyingly sharp. Yet now, someone has snuck up on me completely undetected. If they had intended to kill me, the outcome would have been dire.’

But Lin Hao’s will was incredibly strong. He composed himself in an instant and turned around.

Standing before him was the very woman he had seen at the Ice and Fire Pool last night.

The woman wore a flowing white dress. With her delicate features, she looked like an otherworldly fairy who subsisted on anything but mortal fare.

A stunned look flashed across Lin Hao’s eyes, but his mind involuntarily recalled the risqué scene he had witnessed the previous night.

"Why so quiet?" the woman’s voice asked, pulling Lin Hao back to reality.

Lin Hao snapped out of it, but his eyes uncontrollably scanned her slender figure.

A flash of killing intent and anger flickered in the woman’s eyes, then vanished, replaced by calm.

She even smiled sweetly and asked, "Like what you see?"

"Elegant and shapely. A beautiful sight," Lin Hao blurted out without a second thought.

The moment the words left his mouth, Lin Hao froze, a jolt of alarm shooting through him.

’This woman is incredibly powerful. The consequences of angering her would be dire.’

But then, a single sentence left Lin Hao completely dumbfounded.

"Beat me, and I’ll take it all off for you," the stunning, fairy-like woman said with a dazzling smile.

Lin Hao gulped but didn’t take the bait, shaking his head furiously like a pellet drum.

’This woman’s cultivation is immense, and she’s completely unpredictable. Who knows what she’s really planning?’

"What do you really want? Just say it." ’The more beautiful the woman, the more dangerous.’ Lin Hao’s expression turned serious as he focused his mind and asked bluntly.

"I gained enlightenment on a new swordsmanship technique last night, but I have no one to test it on. Then, I thought of you," the beautiful woman said.

Lin Hao’s eyes lit up.

’This is perfect. What I want most right now is to see all kinds of martial arts techniques.’ He wasn’t about to turn down such a golden opportunity.

Lin Hao drew his Evil-Slaying Sword, gripped it tightly, and nodded.

’This woman’s cultivation is unfathomable. I can’t afford to be careless.’

Seeing Lin Hao’s ready stance, the woman simply smiled. She extended her hand, and a dry twig from dozens of feet away flew directly into her grasp.

Lin Hao’s expression turned grave.

Her ability to manipulate objects from a distance with True Essence was beyond anything he could have imagined.

Besides, Lin Hao knew that for a sufficiently advanced Sword Cultivator, anything in the world could serve as a sword.

So, rather than underestimating her for using a mere twig, he grew even more vigilant.

Seeing Lin Hao’s expression, a smile flickered in the woman’s eyes. Her ruby lips parted. "Get ready."

The words had barely left her lips when the twig in her hand shot forward.

So fast!

Impossibly fast!

Before Lin Hao could even react, he felt something hard pressed against his throat.

’One move. I couldn’t even last a single move against her.’

Lin Hao’s eyes narrowed. He gritted his teeth. "Again!"

The woman backed away.

Lin Hao seized the opportunity to circulate his Imperial Art, and his eyes began to shine with a brilliant light.

"Get ready!"

Still the same two words.

This time, Lin Hao caught the trajectory of the twig and tried to meet it with his sword, but he was still too slow.

In a rush, Lin Hao could only raise his sword to block.

CLANG!

The twig struck the flat of his blade, less than an inch from his throat.

Lin Hao’s throat went dry.

’Even by circulating my Imperial Art, I could barely track the twig’s path. I was still too slow. Her speed is just unreal.’

At the same time, he realized a terrifying fact: she was only using True Qi.

In other words, her attack was, at most, at the level of the Third Layer of the Blood Coagulation Realm.

Even so, Lin Hao could feel Sword Qi emanating from the twig. It was contained, yet it felt utterly unstoppable.

Utterly terrifying.

’This woman’s cultivation is beyond my imagination.’

The woman backed away again and shook her head, an expression of disappointment on her face.

Lin Hao’s grip on his Evil-Slaying Sword tightened. "Now you try taking a blow from me," he said coolly.

Since obtaining his Imperial Art, he had never suffered two consecutive defeats. In that moment, Lin Hao forgot all about the woman’s beauty. His eyes were fixed on that single, unremarkable twig.

Setbacks didn’t defeat him; they only fueled his will to fight.

The beautiful woman nodded.

With a sharp cry, Lin Hao’s Evil-Slaying Sword transformed into a streak of light, moving with incredible speed.

He held nothing back, immediately unleashing the first form of the Evil-Slaying Sword Skill he had just grasped: *Sword Manifests as a Myriad*.

The form was now countless times more powerful than when he had first learned it, and its speed was blinding.

A flicker of admiration crossed the woman’s eyes, but she calmly raised the twig.

The myriad streams of Sword Qi erupting from the Evil-Slaying Sword instantly vanished into thin air. An instant later, the tip of the sword met the twig.

Then, to Lin Hao’s surprise, something unexpected happened.

The dry twig suddenly went limp, then let out a low hum.

The hum was incredibly piercing, making the Evil-Slaying Sword vibrate loudly in response.

The sounds of a dragon’s roar and a tiger’s cry echoed from within Lin Hao’s body as his flesh began to glow.

This was his Protective Gang Qi, which formed automatically in response to danger after his physical body had achieved the ability to generate Gang Qi.

It had been triggered by the low hum.

A flicker of shock appeared in the woman’s eyes, but her movements remained unaffected.

The twig suddenly went ramrod straight, trembling and buzzing erratically.

Even the Evil-Slaying Sword in Lin Hao’s hand began to bend under the force transmitted from the twig.

Immediately after, an overwhelming murderous aura surged toward Lin Hao.

Lin Hao’s expression changed dramatically. He tried to pull back but found he couldn’t. His only option was to circulate the Godslaying Celestial Slash Skill with all his might.

Invisible Sword Qi surged forward, hammering against Lin Hao’s body with a series of THUDS.

Lin Hao had no choice but to endure the invisible Sword Qi with his physical body.

Fortunately, the invisible Sword Qi contained no killing intent. Lin Hao’s body was incredibly resilient, and he managed to endure it.

Having failed to find its mark, the twig in the woman’s hand retreated quietly.

Lin Hao had just breathed a sigh of relief when his expression suddenly changed. The next instant, he pitched forward and slammed into the ground, creating a large crater.

Climbing out of the crater covered in dirt, Lin Hao wasn’t the least bit angry. He just stared at the woman in shock. "The Ice and Fire Pool... was that you?"

After experiencing the woman’s bizarre techniques and thinking back on them, Lin Hao finally understood why the Ice and Fire Pool was now a crater.

"What do you think?" the woman countered.

"Those sword techniques you just used... you came up with them last night?" Lin Hao recalled another terrifying fact.

Lin Hao knew this continent was vast, filled with countless heroes and prodigies.

But he had never met anyone like her.

Now, hearing the woman’s claim, Lin Hao was deeply shaken.

’To be able to invent your own swordsmanship... she must be a genius of the Sword Dao.’

As if reading his mind, the woman pointed to the large rock nearby.

The words "Ice and Fire Pool" had originally been carved on that rock.

Now, it read "Sword Enlightenment Pool."

Seeing those three words, Lin Hao’s eyes suddenly lit up.

Sword Enlightenment Pool... the key was the word "enlightenment."

"’Swordsmanship is born from nature, captured by a master’s serendipitous hand,’" Lin Hao murmured.

A bright light flashed in the woman’s eyes. She stared intently at Lin Hao for several seconds, then suddenly moved. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

The next instant, Lin Hao discovered the Evil-Slaying Sword was now in her hand.

Then, the woman began to recite in a low voice:

"The world’s storms are stirred by our generation; once we enter the martial world, time hastens on.

Imperial ambitions are dismissed with a laugh; nothing surpasses a life of drunken bliss.

Sword in hand, I ride through a rain of phantoms; mountains of bone startle the birds to flight.

The mortal world is a tide, its people like water; one can only sigh, for how few return from the martial world."

With each line she recited, she demonstrated a corresponding sword technique.

She used no cultivation, only pure sword forms.

Yet the light from her blade flowed like silk, radiating an oppressive chill.

Above the Sword Enlightenment Pool, the air became thick with a faint Sword Qi.

Below, the beautiful woman in white danced with the sword before Lin Hao, her robes fluttering as she moved with ethereal grace.

It was a breathtakingly beautiful scene.

But Lin Hao’s eyes shone brightly. He was not mesmerized by the beautiful sight, his gaze simply following the arcs of the blade until the woman came to a stop.

When the beautiful woman finished her recitation, she tossed the Evil-Slaying Sword over her shoulder without a glance.

With a soft *SHIING*, the Evil-Slaying Sword landed perfectly in the scabbard at Lin Hao’s side.

Lin Hao was stunned. The woman’s talent was simply terrifying.

’I only recited a poem off the cuff, and she gained enlightenment on a whole new swordsmanship from it.’

Thanks to the Carefree Divine Monarch, Lin Hao’s mind was a repository of countless famous poems.

’If I were to recite a couple more, would she be able to create even more swordsmanship techniques?’

’And what’s more, her movements just now... she was clearly teaching me this new swordsmanship.’

Lin Hao couldn’t fathom her reasons.

"This swordsmanship came into being because of you, so you have the right to practice it. More importantly, I want you to use it to defeat the sword attendants of Mingjian Manor."

The woman’s words took Lin Hao completely by surprise.

"Do you have a grudge against Mingjian Manor?" Lin Hao asked.

The woman let out a soft sigh. "Twenty years ago, I descended the mountain under my master’s orders to challenge Zuo Wuque. But swordsmanship was not my strength, and I was ultimately defeated. I failed to fulfill my promise to my master. He later died, consumed by sorrow."

"What does that have to do with Mingjian Manor’s sword attendants?" Lin Hao asked.

The woman replied, "The swordsmanship practiced by Mingjian Manor’s sword attendants is derived from the Evil-Slaying Sword Skill."

Recalling the swordsmanship of the few sword attendants he had encountered, Lin Hao nodded.

"The swordsmanship of Mingjian Manor’s sword attendants grows stronger with each one. Sword Three, Sword Two, and Sword One, in particular, were already famous before they began following Zuo Wuque. They are terrifyingly powerful. Defeating them with swordsmanship will be incredibly difficult. I hope you won’t disappoint me."

When she finished speaking, she vanished without a trace.

Lin Hao stood dazed for a moment, then pushed the mysterious woman from his thoughts and began to practice the swordsmanship she had shown him.

In Lin Hao’s mind, the allure of cultivation techniques and martial arts was far greater than that of any peerless beauty.

The night deepened and the cold wind howled, but Lin Hao, gripping his Evil-Slaying Sword, practiced tirelessly...