"Ping Tian Sword. Earth-grade, lower tier. Destroyed a thousand years ago."
Yun Jin's brow twitched slightly.
An Earth-grade lower-tier sword?
And this was only the fourth trial. Inside the Sword Tomb, a treasure of this level had already appeared. If this kept up, were there going to be Heaven-grade swords in the next few levels?
And what about the sword in the tenth trial? Could it be beyond Heaven-grade?
Yun Jin didn't dare to think too far ahead.
Seeing Yun Jin's shocked expression, Yu Liangping sneered, "Bumpkin."
Yun Jin smiled with her eyes curving. "Young Master Yu is so capable, I suppose you've seen many of the swords in the later stages?"
His face darkened on the spot. The last time he attempted the challenge, he had only reached this fourth stage. How could he have seen what came after?
Yu Liangping let out a cold snort. "Don't say I didn't warn you. Every three stages, the difficulty jumps significantly. Don't even think about the later trials!"
Yun Jin chuckled. "What if the Sword Tomb opens the back door for me again?"
Yu Liangping's expression turned pitch black. "Keep dreaming."
He couldn't be bothered to argue with Yun Jin anymore. He simply sat cross-legged and entered the space of the Ping Tian Sword.
Yun Jin smiled, found a quiet spot, and let her consciousness enter as well.
While Yun Jin continued her trial, at the very heart of the Sword Tomb, within the sword domain of the giant sword...
Many swords were gathered.
"Boss, this human named Yun Jin is too much!" Ice Jade Sword wailed. "She used up a huge portion of the energy I've been storing for years, and then she called me stingy!"
The giant sword remained silent.
"She's the worst I've ever seen," Lieyang Sword couldn't help but complain. "She comprehended my most important sword intent, cultivated in my domain, and after I sent her out, she still said I was as annoying as Ice Jade Sword! I'm a proud and dignified man! How could she lump me in with Ice Jade Sword?!"
Ice Jade Sword was immediately offended. "What's that supposed to mean? Why am I annoying?"
The two swords immediately started bickering, looking like they were about to come to blows.
Cloudmist Sword sighed and spoke in a low tone. "I gave her the key fragment, and she tried to slash it with her sword. She even wanted to melt it down! Boss, we can't let her keep going like this!"
The giant sword continued to remain silent.
The other swords, however, were getting curious. After all these years, this was the first time someone had triggered the core challenge and actually cleared stage after stage. This should've been something worth celebrating. Yet, the swords who had been part of her trials didn't seem particularly happy...
Which only proved how unusual Yun Jin was.
"I think you all are just being too petty. She's in my Ping Tian Sword's space right now, and I think she's wonderful," Ping Tian Sword said cheerfully.
The Sword Tomb trials followed a cycle: three stages per round.
First stage, sword technique.
Second stage, sword intent.
Third stage, key fragment.
Then the cycle would repeat.
Only by proceeding this way could one reach the final trial.
Ma Yuanwu might currently be progressing the fastest, but he was walking the path of the ordinary trial. He was never meant to obtain the true treasure.
It was Yun Jin...
She was the one they had been waiting for, the breaker of trials foretold over a thousand years ago.
Ping Tian Sword was in the middle of his happy thoughts when his expression suddenly shifted. "Wait. What is Yun Jin doing?"
Ping Tian Sword's consciousness disappeared in a flash, rushing back into his sword domain.
Inside the sword domain.
[Emotion Points +200]
[Emotion Points +200]
[Emotion Points +200]
A triple strike notification rang out immediately.
All of it came from the Sword Tomb.
Yun Jin blinked with an innocent expression.
What? She hadn't even done anything.
Why was Ping Tian Sword suddenly losing it?
Ping Tian Sword's space was extremely simple. Other than a massive stone wall, there was nothing else.
On the surface of the wall was a Yellow-grade sword technique.
To Yun Jin, a technique of that level posed no challenge at all. She didn't even need the system's boost — she could learn it effortlessly.
The more sword techniques she mastered, the more she felt certain sealed fragments inside her were beginning to stir. Having crossed through so many small worlds, Yun Jin's swordsmanship had already been honed to a very high level. But after coming back this time, everything she had gained in those small worlds had been sealed away.
Now, with each new sword technique she learned, bits of her previous understanding reemerged — gradually becoming hers once more.
Even without the system, Yun Jin was a bona fide sword genius.
Using the system only saved time.
This Yellow-grade sword technique really was too basic.
But of course...
It couldn't be the real challenge.
Yun Jin began to probe the stone wall with her spiritual sense.
Then, she noticed something hidden deep at its center.
Whatever it was, even her spiritual sense couldn't penetrate it.
She didn't need to guess.
Without hesitation, Yun Jin drew the Tai'a Sword and began hammering the wall with wild abandon.
She was just getting into it when the Emotion Value alerts started popping up again. Before she could react, the stone wall abruptly sank into the ground — completely vanishing.
Yun Jin: "???"
The next moment, a new sword technique appeared in her mind — Return to True Sword Art.
It was an earth-element sword technique.
So Yun Jin obediently began cultivating it.
Meanwhile, Ping Tian Sword had already started wailing.
"Boss! Yun Jin's gone too far! That was my precious stone wall! She just attacked it without hesitation. The treasure I was hiding... it was almost..."
Before he could finish, Ping Tian Sword clamped his mouth shut. But the other swords weren't about to let him off that easily.
"So, Ping Tian, what treasure were you hiding?"
"Hah! Earth-element types are always hiding things. That ore I lost back then — was it you?!"
"And my jade piece too!"
The group of swords started chattering noisily.
Ping Tian Sword looked defiant. "Those are all my personal belongings. Don't talk nonsense."
He was honestly on the verge of tears.
He had always been the best at hiding things. And he had no idea how Yun Jin's divine sense worked — how had she managed to find the treasure he had buried so deeply?
Once she finished learning the technique, he was going to eject her immediately!
The massive sword watched the chaotic scene quietly.
Finally, he spoke in a low, steady voice. "No matter what, she is the first in a thousand years to open the core challenge. I look forward to the day she stands before me."
At his words, the other swords gradually fell silent.
A glimmer of anticipation lit up their eyes.
After all...
They were looking forward to it too.
It had been a thousand years.
Could it finally be time to fulfill their mission?
Back in the sword domain, Yun Jin spent some Emotion Value and quickly mastered the technique. Return to True Sword Art — already at the upper tier of Mystic -grade.
She intended to stay a bit longer to refine her technique.
But just as she finished learning it — before her proficiency even ticked up a single notch...
In a flash, she was ejected.
Yun Jin: "???"
Seriously?
Was she some kind of walking disaster?
Why were they all in such a hurry to throw her out?
How was she supposed to live like this?
Outside, as everyone watched the water screen, their expressions began to shift.
Everyone else slowed down as the trials grew harder, but Yun Jin...
Why was she getting faster the further she went?
How did that make any sense?