Outside the sword domain.
The crowd was still keeping a close eye on the latest progress. Among those attempting to break through the domain, Ma Yuanwu remained in the lead. In less than a day, he had already reached the fifth trial.
Based on past experience, the next few trials would start slowing things down. Each could easily take several days to complete. With only ten days to reach the end, time was tight. Ma Yuanwu didn't dare waste a single moment, charging ahead like a wildfire.
Behind him were Yu Songnian and Feng Linglong, both at the fourth trial.
After clearing the third trial simultaneously, their pace had noticeably dropped. Though they hadn't cleared the fourth yet, they seemed close.
The bulk of the group, meanwhile, was still stuck on the third trial. At this moment, Yun Jin had just barely passed the second trial and was heading toward the next.
Mu Lan chuckled. "Preceptor Qin, your disciple's talent is about on par with Yu Songnian's, but still falls short of Yuanwu."
He was clearly pleased with himself. This outcome was exactly what he had predicted. Among the younger generation of Yuehua Sect, Ma Yuanwu was undoubtedly the most gifted in the way of the sword. What's more, although this Sword Tomb only opened to outsiders once every ten years, it opened internally once a year.
Ma Yuanwu had already challenged the Sword Domain multiple times. Even if each challenge differed slightly in content, the general structure remained the same. To Ma Yuanwu, the only real obstacle was the final trial. Everything before that no longer posed a threat. Even that final trial—this time, he was eighty percent confident of success.
Qin Ping had personally brought Feng Linglong along, but to Mu Lan, it seemed like he was just offering her up as a stepping stone for Ma Yuanwu.
Qin Ping smiled but said nothing. He didn't seem particularly concerned with how Feng Linglong was doing. His gaze kept drifting toward Yun Jin.
Years ago, he had served as Prime Minister of the Canglan Kingdom. By practicing benevolent governance, he had earned the people's devotion. That collective belief had gathered into great Luck, which now lingered on him like an unseen force.
Luck—ethereal and intangible—but in key moments, it always gave him some form of guidance. From the first time he met Yun Jin, he'd felt something guiding him, as though fate itself were nudging him in her direction.
It was as if destiny were whispering:
This young woman, only at the Golden Core stage, would one day change the fate of the Canglan Kingdom.
Though the guidance of fate seldom failed him...
Qin Ping still found it hard to believe.
How could a Golden Core stage cultivator possibly shift the balance of the current world?
What could she possibly have that would allow her to do so?
This lingering feeling had drawn all of his attention to Yun Jin, to the point he had no interest in watching Feng Linglong anymore. He couldn't shake the conviction that her current slow progress was only temporary. That Yun Jin would, sooner or later, give him a true surprise.
Noticing where Qin Ping was looking, Mu Lan sneered. "She's only just passed the second trial. That's practically dead last. Once the three-day limit ends, Yun Jin will be thrown out of the Sword Domain with the others."
"Perhaps," Qin Ping replied mildly, not bothering to argue. He simply continued watching Yun Jin.
He wanted to know.
Why had fate chosen to guide him toward her?
What was it about Yun Jin that made her different?
By now, Yun Jin had reached the third trial at a steady pace.
She was just about to examine the stone tablet when a sudden, pained scream rang out. A cultivator sitting in meditation was abruptly flung from the space.
[Lin Yi has failed. Removed from the formation.]
The cultivator named Lin Yi turned pale and vanished on the spot.
Yun Jin lifted a brow.
It seemed this third trial had increased in difficulty.
People were starting to be eliminated outright.
That hadn't happened in the first two trials.
She glanced over and saw Yu Liangping still seated in the third trial, frowning as though he were facing a tough problem.
Yun Jin ignored him and turned her attention to the stone tablet.
"Cloudmist Sword, High-Grade Mystic Level. Destroyed a thousand years ago."
Just as before, the inscription was brief and vague. Yun Jin was now fairly certain that all the swords buried within the Sword Tomb had been destroyed around a thousand years ago.
What had happened back then?
Maybe she would only understand once she claimed the final treasure. She sat cross-legged and entered the Cloudmist Sword space. Just like its name, the realm was shrouded in layer upon layer of thick mist. Her vision was blocked, though her spiritual sense still worked. The moment she extended it outward, a sharp sword aura shot toward her from the fog.
Yun Jin narrowed her eyes and easily dodged. Another strike followed almost immediately, appearing without warning. The sword aura had no visible form, and its angles of attack were bizarre and unpredictable.
Still, it wasn't particularly powerful, nor was it especially fast. Yun Jin guessed that the trial's overt challenge was simply to evade these surprise sword attacks. If one were struck a certain number of times, they'd be forcibly removed—just like that man earlier. But if one could hold out for a set period, they would pass.
Avoiding these attacks posed no real challenge for Yun Jin. But after her experience with the first two trials, she had learned to expect more. There had to be something hidden beneath the surface.
For others, these invisible sword strikes might be a serious obstacle. For her, they were trivial. She moved slowly through the fog, using her divine sense to feel her way forward. But no matter how far she walked, the mist didn't change. It just went on endlessly, with no variation.
After a while, Yun Jin came to a halt. Maybe the key wasn't in the mist at all. Maybe it lay in the sword aura itself.
She sat down and waited.
A sword strike came slicing toward her from a twisted angle.
This time, Yun Jin didn't dodge. She raised the Tai'a Sword and met the attack head-on with a sword aura of her own.
Steel against steel.
A sharp crack rang out.
Both waves of sword aura vanished on impact.
The moment she chose this method of counterattack, two sword strikes appeared at once.
Yun Jin narrowed her eyes and responded in kind.
Next time, it was three.
Each time she used sword aura to strike back, the trial increased in difficulty.
Yun Jin formed a theory.
Others had likely tried this same tactic. When the sword aura multiplied in response, they probably assumed they were on the wrong path. If they stopped counterattacking and returned to evasion, the difficulty would reset.
But...
Was sword-against-sword really a dead end?
Yun Jin didn't believe it.
She would take on every attack, no matter how many came. Within the mist, sword strikes gathered like a storm. The intervals between them grew shorter and shorter. By the end, sword aura came from all directions.
Yun Jin stood at the center, her sword technique forming a seamless defense.
No one knew how long it lasted.
Eventually, the countless waves of sword aura vanished into nothing.
Was it over?
Yun Jin lifted her eyes. The mist still hung thick, but deep within it, she saw something taking shape.
A final force was gathering.
The last strike?
Would this final blow be the key to clearing the trial?
Or was there something more still required?
Before she could think further, the last sword aura coalesced, crashing down toward her with the force of a mountain splitting apart.
Yun Jin narrowed her eyes. Tai'a shone brilliantly, her own sword aura surging to meet the blow. The final attack was unlike all the others. Its angle was twisted, almost impossible to read.
In that moment, Tai'a's aura shifted too, twisting into something equally strange. As Yun Jin met that last attack, her technique—without conscious thought—had begun to mirror the uncanny style of the Cloudmist Sword.