Wenjian Sect's back mountain range, shrouded in clouds and mist.
A winding stone staircase path passed through layers of restrictions, leading directly to the mountain peak.
Ren Wencai walked with his hands clasped behind his back, leading Gu Chengming up the steps.
Although his face was calm, his peripheral vision subtly glanced at the young man behind him.
Agreeing to Gu Chengming's request was partly for the upcoming disciple assessment, wanting this unpolished jade to shine brighter before others, but on the other hand, it was also due to his own ulterior motives.
He was somewhat curious: how far could a freak who could practice the tricky sword art like Flowing Light Sword Shadow to have a “sword cultivator Special Attack” flavor in just a few days, go before the Sword-Questioning Stone?
“We’re here.”
Ren Wencai paused his steps.
As he waved his large sleeve, the clouds and mist before them were forcibly torn open by an invisible large hand, revealing the suffocating true appearance behind it.
Gu Chengming’s breath hitched, his pupils slightly contracting.
It was a giant stone.
Or rather, it was a towering small mountain.
It was entirely a deep profound azure color, over a hundred zhang tall, like a broken giant sword plunged into the earth. The stone body was mottled, crisscrossed with countless marks of varying depths.
Some were like dragons and snakes rising from the land, some like trickling streams, some were just a point of cold light. Even dozens of zhang away, the sword pressure still rushed at him, stinging Gu Chengming’s skin.
Around the Sword-Questioning Stone, several deacons responsible for guarding, seeing the Huiyuan Gate Grand Elder personally arrive, quickly dispersed their aura and bowed respectfully.
“Greetings, Elder Ren.”
Ren Wencai nodded slightly, not saying much, just turned sideways and pointed at the giant stone:
“This is the Sword-Questioning Stone.”
He looked at Gu Chengming and explained:
“The Sword-Questioning Stone has its own field around it. The closer you get, the stronger the pressure from the innate sword qi on your spirit and body. It will question your dao heart and crush your will.”
“For a first realm disciple, being able to walk thirty steps on those ninety-nine steps is considered firm-willed; if one can reach seventy steps, they are an Outer Sect prodigy.”
Speaking of this, Ren Wencai paused, his gaze sweeping over the shocking sword marks on the stone wall:
“As for those sword marks...”
“Only by enduring the mountain-and-sea-like pressure, facing one's true self, and still being able to unleash a regretless sword strike when both spirit and body have reached their limit, and receiving the Sword-Questioning Stone’s recognition, can a mark be left.”
“Normally, those who can achieve this are often sword cultivators above the second realm.”
Gu Chengming listened quietly, his gaze fixed on the inconspicuous, yet existing, faint marks in the bottom corner of the stone wall.
“Go.”
Ren Wencai stepped back, clearing the path to the steps.
The steps stretched towards the sky.
Gu Chengming took a deep breath, adjusted his breathing, and then took the first step.
“Buzz—”
The moment his foot landed, a low sword hum seemed to echo in his ears.
The air became viscous, like walking in water, but this was nothing to the current Gu Chengming.
His steps were steady, one by one, climbing unhurriedly.
Five steps, ten steps, fifteen steps...
Ren Wencai stood in the distance, nodding slightly.
“Hmm, the first twenty steps should be like walking on flat ground for him. After all, he’s at the First Realm, Fifth Level. If he can’t even do that much, then it’s too...”
Before the thought finished, Gu Chengming had already crossed the thirtieth step.
That dividing line representing “firm-willed” was easily crossed by him as if stepping over his own threshold.
Ren Wencai raised an eyebrow, his actions stopping.
At this point, Gu Chengming finally felt a trace of pressure.
It was not just an increase in gravity, but also a spiritual stinging pain.
It was as if countless tiny sharp swords were constantly cutting his skin, drilling into his pores, trying to find weak points in his will.
【Flowing Light Sword Shadow: CG Unlock Progress +1】
In his mind, that familiar yet strange voice sounded.
【Huiyuan Sword Manual giggled】
【It asked if you needed its help? As long as you use that move, this level of obstruction is nothing at all..】
Gu Chengming’s steps paused slightly.
He knew she wanted to help him. As long as he activated that advanced sword art and used its sharp sword intent to counter the pressure, he could indeed be much easier.
But he didn't speak, just lifted his leg again.
Fortieth step.
Sweat began to seep from his forehead, running down his cheeks.
Gu Chengming’s breathing became heavy, and he heard his heart pounding in his ears.
.....
Eightieth step.
The pressure suddenly increased!
Every muscle was wailing, and his bones made creaking sounds under the unbearable weight.
Ren Wencai’s expression finally changed.
He had originally thought that eighty steps would be Gu Chengming’s limit.
After all, this was a questioning of the spirit. If one’s dao heart was unstable, it would be impossible to move, and it also had a lot to do with cultivation realm.
No matter how firm-willed, he was still only at the First Realm, Fifth Level.
But this kid...
He looked at that back, which, although trembling and soaked with sweat, had a perfectly straight spine.
“This kid’s temperament is actually so resilient?”
Eighty-fifth step.
Gu Chengming’s vision began to blur.
The Sword-Questioning Stone before him seemed to come alive, and countless chaotic voices exploded in his mind.
“Go back, you’re just a normal person.”
“Your longevity is only a few years, why suffer like this...”
“Use that advanced sword art! You’ll be much easier if you use it! Why are you stubbornly holding on?”
“Isn’t it good to be alive?”
Gu Chengming stopped.
He stood on the eighty-fifth step, trembling all over, with faint blood seeping from his seven orifices, staining his outer sect disciple’s gray robe mottled.
Ren Wencai watched this scene, his heart tightened, and he instinctively raised his hand to call for a stop.
Too much is as bad as too little.
This had already far exceeded his expectations. If he continued to push himself, he might injure his foundation.
“Gu Chengming! Enough! Retreat!”
Ren Wencai shouted in a deep voice, his voice mixed with spiritual power, trying to awaken the young man who had fallen into obsession.
However, Gu Chengming did not retreat.
He slowly raised his head, his blood-red eyes, through his blurry vision, stared intently at the Sword-Questioning Stone, which was almost within reach.
“I want to live.”
“But I don’t want to turn you into another existence just to live.”
【...】
The voice in his mind stopped abruptly.
Gu Chengming laughed.
“I know you’re scared. You’re afraid that you’re just a basic sword manual, afraid that you can’t keep up with my pace, afraid that one day I’ll throw you in a corner to gather dust.”
“So you twisted yourself into this form that even you don’t recognize, just to prove your usefulness to me.”
As he spoke, he felt his Gal Soul burning!
“But I don’t need that....”
“I’ve gotten to where I am today not by Flowing Light Sword Shadow, but by you, who accompanied me in swinging my sword a thousand, ten thousand times, day after day!”
“What I want isn’t a perfect tool, what I want is the Huiyuan Sword Manual!”
It was as if something shattered deep within his soul.
That magnificent shell named “Flowing Light Sword Shadow” was, at this moment, forcibly stripped away and crushed by Gu Chengming’s almost fanatical will.
【Huiyuan Sword Manual: Flowing Light Sword Shadow (CG Unlocked)】
That line of text flashed wildly, and finally, the four characters “Flowing Light Sword Shadow” gradually faded, returning to that plain, unadorned name.
And accompanying it was an unprecedented, utterly pure intent.
In Ren Wencai’s gaze, that figure, which had been tottering, moved again.
Not inching forward step by step.
But bursting forth!
He endured the terrifying pressure that could crush a first realm cultivator into dust, like a madman, leaping ten steps at once, instantly rushing to the front of the Sword-Questioning Stone!
Blood spurted like a fountain, his skin cracked, muscles tore, and he instantly became a bloodied person.
But the wooden sword in his hand was as steady as a rock.
There were no fancy afterimages, no strange aura. And no astonishing speed.
Gu Chengming held the sword with both hands, his eyes seeing nothing else, only the giant stone before him that carried the glory of countless prodigies.
He remembered that afternoon when he first entered the sect, and the awkwardness of holding a wooden sword for the first time.
Gu Chengming used the last shred of his strength to fiercely thrust out that ordinary wooden sword.
Among those crisscrossing, sky-reaching sword intent marks, beside those marks representing peerless prodigies and the supreme Dao.
A small, shallow white dot appeared.
It was the most basic, simplest, and most unrefined move in the entire world.
It was also the only sword mark belonging to the Huiyuan Sword Manual in the thousands of years of this Sword-Questioning Stone’s existence.
Gu Chengming maintained the sword-thrusting posture, his consciousness already fallen into a coma, his body softly collapsing.
And the moment he fell, the CG image in his mind, which had never been unlocked, finally seemed to break some kind of confinement and slowly lit up.
In the image, there were no dazzling special effects, nor graceful celestial maidens.
There was only a small phantom dressed in coarse linen, holding a wooden sword taller than herself, sitting amidst a pile of ruins. Although tear-stained, she showed a not-so-perfect but brilliantly silly smile to the camera.
【Huiyuan Sword Manual Affection +10】
【Huiyuan Sword Manual Affection: 100/Life and Death Together】
【Bonding Mission Completed.】
【CG Unlocked】
Rate on N.U.
