Supreme Sword Exalt

The feeling of death instantly engulfed Gu Han.

Damn it! His heart tightened, and his spirit qi surged wildly. He instinctively retreated. Being willing to risk everything didn’t mean he would throw his life away foolishly.

Hiss!

Gu Han’s movements seemed to enrage the creature. Its crimson forked tongue flickered, and the snake transformed into a streak of red light as it lunged at Gu Han at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye.

In an instant, it was already in front of him. Its snow-white fangs were terrifyingly sharp and Gu Han could feel a fishy, pungent stench coming from it.

I can’t escape. I have to fight.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye, just enough time for Gu Han to form that thought!

At this moment, his extraordinary spirit perception once again played a crucial role. Although the tiny snake was incredibly fast, he was still barely able to track its movement.

Without hesitation, he swiftly drew his sword. He channeled every ounce of his remaining spirit qi, and slashed at the snake’s neck, seven cun[1] down from its head. That spot was precisely its weak point[2].

Hiss!

A flicker of almost human-like fear appeared in the snake’s blood-red eyes. It twisted its body slightly, trying to dodge.

Clang!

A metallic sound echoed and sparks erupted as the blade left behind a deep white gouge in the scales.. Aside from that, there was no further damage; the snake had avoided a fatal blow. Meanwhile, Gu Han’s entire right arm lost all feeling, trembling uncontrollably. Even gripping his longsword became a struggle.

“Hiss!”

As it was enraged by the pain, the snake’s ferocity erupted. With another swift twist of its body, its fangs sank into Gu Han’s hand.

Gu Han felt a searing pain.

In an instant, venom surged into his arm. An unbearable, scorching heat spread from the wound up his arm. It was as though he were being set ablaze. His arm turned crimson in the blink of an eye. The fire poison then spread throughout his body.

His flesh, bones, and internal organs...His consciousness slowly blurred. Yet Gu Han clenched his teeth, holding onto the last shred of clarity in his mind. His left hand gripped the sword and repeatedly slashed at the tiny snake.

Clang! Clang!

Sparks were flying. But even as the snake writhed in pain, its eyes gleamed with even greater ferocity. More fire poison surged into Gu Han’s body. Soon, the fire poison reached his meridians. And at that very moment, a sudden transformation occurred.

Instead of being corroded, his newly-formed meridians shimmered with countless tiny silver lights. Those lights converged into microscopic vortexes, which began absorbing the fire poison.

Under the vortexes’ filtration, the toxin within the fire poison was erased. All that was left behind was only pure spirit qi, which coursed through his meridians.

The next instant, Gu Han’s cultivation surged, starting to climb at an unbelievable speed. Fifth stage of Qi Condensation. Sixth stage. Seventh stage.

Soon, he reached the ninth stage, teetering on the brink of breaking through to Meridian Opening.

I can’t break through! As the burning sensation faded, Gu Han’s eyes regained clarity. As he sensed the anomaly within his body, he made an immediate decision.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Supreme Stage. Now is the time!

He had no time to think about the cause of this change. He forcibly sealed off the critical points in his meridians, trapping more and more spirit qi within them.

The tiny snake was far superior to Gu Han in cultivation. Its venom was the condensed essence of its power. It contained an immense amount of spirit qi.

Soon, a faint pressure built within Gu Han’s meridians. Had it been an ordinary person instead, their meridians would have ruptured under the chaotic spirit qi, leading to an explosive death.

But Gu Han’s reconstructed meridians were exceptionally resilient and several times wider than normal. Although he felt discomfort, he had yet to reach his limit.

A while later, the tiny snake lay motionless on the ground, utterly drained from having exhausted its venom. Its former ferocity and brutality were gone.

Meanwhile, the pressure in Gu Han’s meridians suddenly eased. The once-vast, fog-like spirit qi had condensed into a gentle, flowing stream.

It was liquid spirit qi, the hallmark of the tenth stage of Qi Condensation!

“Hah...”

Gu Han exhaled slowly, rising to his feet as he carefully sensed the changes in his body.

“So this is the Supreme Stage?”

Though the stream of liquid spirit qi flowing through his meridians was only one-fifth the width of his thumb, the total amount was nearly five times that of an ordinary cultivator at the same level. It was comparable to someone at the fifth or sixth stage of Meridian Opening. More importantly, his spirit qi was far purer than ever before.

“This is amazing! Even though I’m still in the Qi Condensation Realm, those at the fifth or sixth stage of Meridian Opening wouldn’t be my match. So that guy wasn’t lying. This Supreme Stage isn’t so difficult to reach after all. But...”

Glancing at the red snake’s corpse, a lingering fear crept into his heart.

“I can’t be this reckless next time!”

Upon reflection, he understood what had happened. Though the tiny red snake was high tier, it primarily relied on its venom to attack.

For ordinary cultivators, even those at the Acupoint Unsealing Realm, facing it directly would have been suicidal. However, Gu Han’s mysterious meridians were a natural counter to its venom, and that made all its power completely useless.

Had it been any other demonic beast instead, he would have likely been torn to pieces by now. It would have been impossible for him to turn misfortune into fortune and gain this great blessing.

“Hiss!”

As Gu Han was contemplating, the red snake seemed to have regained some strength. Its tongue flicked out, and with its blood-red eyes filled with venomous hatred, it lunged at Gu Han’s eyes.

However, it underestimated Gu Han’s spirit perception. Gu Han reacted the moment it moved.

He swung his sword, and at the same time, the liquid spirit qi within his body surged. It circulated through his body along a mysterious path, and then poured into the sword.

The sword accelerated, instantly reaching twice its previous speed as it once more struck at the point seven cun below the snake’s head!

The snake was gravely wounded, while Gu Han had advanced significantly. The gap between them had closed, and they now matched each other in speed.

Due to the massive amount of spirit qi infused into it, a three-cun sword light unexpectedly emerged from the broken tip of his blade.

A light sound then echoed. Just as the snake closed within half a chi[3] of Gu Han’s face, his sword struck its weak point. The sword effortlessly pierced through, as this point was much weaker than the rest of its body. Then, a scorching red liquid burst out as the snake was split in two. It twitched a few times and fell lifeless.

“Just now...” Gu Han stared at his sword. “That was... the Great Evolution Sword Qi?”

With this thought, he once more started to circulate his spirit qi according to the Great Evolution Sword Scripture’s guidance. Once again, a three-inch sword light appeared and replaced his sword’s missing tip.

As he poured more spirit qi into it, the sword light extended more and more until it reached half a chi.

At that moment, his spirit qi had been depleted by one-fifth. As Gu Han swung his sword, the half-foot sword beam shot forth. It transformed into a beam of sword qi that streaked toward a distant gray-blue boulder.

There was no resistance. The sword qi passed through seamlessly and pierced deep into the mountain wall behind it, leaving behind a fine, needle-like hole.

A moment later, the boulder suddenly split into two and tumbled to the ground. The cut was as smooth as a mirror. It was flawless.

“Inescapable... Unstoppable...”

Gu Han took a deep breath and gripped his sword tightly.

“The Great Evolution Sword Scripture is truly formidable! Even at the tenth stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, I can barely form a single strand of sword qi. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to create forty-nine strands!”

As he suppressed his thoughts, he stored the tiny red snake’s corpse in his storage bag. Then, he made his way to the small tree ahead.

With this spirit fruit, my cultivation would soar once more. And every bit of progress I make will bring me one step closer to vengeance.

Suddenly, a frantic cry rang out from the distance. “Young master, run—Waaaaaaah!”

“Damn it!”

Gu Han recognized the voice immediately. It was Ah Sha.

There was no time to pick the spirit fruit. His spirit qi surged, and his footsteps became like the wind. Then, he rushed toward the sound at full speed.

In just a few moments, he arrived at the dense forest. There, a middle-aged man stood with a firm hand clamped over Ah Sha’s mouth, silencing her struggles. It was none other than Commander Gu, who had been pursuing him all this time.

1. Traditional Chinese unit of measurement. 1 cun = 3.3 cm. ☜

2. Snakes are traditionally considered to be able to attack even after they are beheaded, or even able to revive/regenerate. The point 7 cun (around 23cm or 9 inches) below a snake’s head is considered a weak point that must be struck in order to actually kill a snake. ☜

3. Traditional Chinese unit of measurement. 1 chi = 33 cm. ☜