Monster Paradise

“The three main cultivation directions for Sword Dao are rapid speed, force-type, and ultimate dao-type.

Rapid speed requires ultimate attack speed, force-type requires the ultimate output, while the ultimate dao-type requires the ultimate Sword Dao.

Cultivators who go for the ultimate dao-type tend to elevate the level of their Sword Dao true meaning as much as they can. While they are still at the same rank of Sword Dao true meaning, they pursue the mastery of more sword skills and sword skills of a higher grade. Some even learn a great many effects and other divine ability skills that are helpful for Sword Dao.

However, ultimate dao-type isn’t an easy path to master. Talent and hard work are essential; you can’t have one without the other. If you have insufficient talent, you might be several dozen or even a hundred times slower in cultivating sword skills compared to people with innate talent. Even if you’ve spent a great amount of time cultivating many sword skills, it’s difficult to actively use them all in actual battle. That’s why taking this particular path is a difficult journey for anyone who doesn’t have the talent. On the other hand, if one doesn’t work hard enough, having talent alone is just futile. No matter how prodigious one’s talent is, as long one’s foundation in Sword Dao isn’t strong enough or one hasn’t accumulated enough sword skills, it’s almost impossible to build something out of nothing and become a genuine Sword Dao powerhouse.

“Since you’ve managed to get to the final Trial of the Great Heaven inheritance, this is sufficient proof that you have stunning talent and Sword Dao potential. However, I would only be able to judge where you’re at in Sword Dao through actual combat.”

Sword10 spun the battle sword in his hand as he finished speaking, tracing a sword arc in the void.

“Let’s spar with pure sword skills this round. We won’t use any God Rule Powers, Elemental Enlightenments, or any other skills. We’ll spare only with pure sword skills containing Sword Dao true meaning and the lowest level of Divine Power! What do you think?”

Lin Huang agreed right away to what Sword10 suggested.

He did so because this rule was beneficial to him. Although he had ample Divine Power in his body and Divine Fire to replenish it, he still had to face ten Sword Servants after all, not just Sword10 alone. Naturally, the less he needed to exhaust Divine Power the better.

After agreeing on the rules of engagement, the duo soon went into battle mode.

Naturally, this round of combat was not as colorful as the previous two.

There was no ultimate speed, no clash of ultimate force, and no dazzling sparks coming from intense Divine Power collisions…

There were merely battle swords imbued with Sword Dao that were swung with the lowest possible level of Divine Power.

In the void, two silhouettes collided over and over again.

Lin Huang attacked repeatedly in earnest; likewise, Sword10 did not dare to delay.

Although this battle was less visually interesting than the two previous ones, if one were to talk about Sword Dao skill, then this was the climax of all three battles.

If there had been other sword cultivators present, this third battle would definitely be the one that they would most willingly watch because they would be able to see the clash of tens of thousands of sword skills. Even if they only managed to assimilate one percent out of everything in the entire battle, that in itself was a significant amount of knowledge reaped.

Lin Huang delivered blow after blow with all of the sword skills that he had ever learned.

Meanwhile on the other side, Sword10 would always find ways to counter Lin Huang’s attacks.

In the void, the two silhouettes leaped continuously, battle swords clashing again and again.

However, over two hours later, Lin Huang had utilized all of the sword skills that he had ever learned in his life but had not even managed to graze the corner of Sword10’s shirt.

Upon observing that Lin Huang had exhausted his sword skills, only then did Sword10 sheathe his sword back in its scabbard and initiate a retreat from battle.

Lin Huang did not insist on continuing the fight after that.

He knew very well that Sword10 had obviously mastered way more sword skills than he had.

“There are two main issues in your ultimate dao-type attack.

One is that you’ve mastered too few sword skills; another is that you’re lacking in the mastery of high-grade sword skills.

Both these problems are why your Sword Dao true meaning is constrained by limits.

Going by your talent and potential, once you’ve mastered sword skills in sufficient number and at a high enough grade, it might be possible for you to breakthrough to Sword Dao true meaning from Sword Dao and straight away achieve peak True Martial Level. However, your Sword Dao true meaning is only average at present.

However, the good news is that you’re the participant in this Trial round. Therefore, the Sword Dao true meaning of the guardians in this round will be capped to the same level as when you were when you entered the final Trial.

Even with that, however, your lack of accumulated sword skills is also your biggest flaw. I can even say without exaggeration that this might be the biggest obstacle for you in obtaining the swordmaster’s inheritance.

Each of the swordmaster’s bodyguards has mastered at least 300,000 sword skills. Some of them have even mastered over a million skills. If you can conclude a battle within a short period of time, you’d naturally have no issues later on. However, as soon as you enter the exhaustion stage of the battle, it would take two hours at most for your combat style to be seen through completely.

However, the biggest issue now is that this flaw of yours can’t be fixed within a short period of time…” Sword10 frowned hard.

“So from your perspective, the chances of me obtaining the swordmaster’s inheritance are extremely low?” Lin Huang asked after a moment of consideration.

“It’s not extremely low, it’s basically zero,” Sword10 said honestly.

“There’s no need to even talk about other people; you definitely won’t be able to pass the battle against Sword1, the most powerful bodyguard under the swordmaster. Of all the ultimate dao-type powerhouses under the swordmaster, Sword1 is the most powerful of them all. He’s mastered at least a million sword skills. Not only that, but he’s also integrated all of the sword skills that he has mastered. Any kind of sword skill in this world he can counter immediately the next round, after engaging in battle just once.

Sword1 looks down the most on Sword Dao cultivators with insufficient sword skills because to him, it’s proof that one’s Sword Dao foundation isn’t solid.

As far as you’re concerned, there’s another worse piece of news—Sword1 is a loyal member of the Regression Sect.

As a Regression Sect member, he’ll judge all candidates by the strictest and most difficult assessments.

Even if you’re lucky enough to overcome all the other nine palaces, you absolutely won’t be able to get through the last one!”

“You really have such low confidence in me?” Lin Huang said with a smile while scratching his nose.

“It’s not that I don’t have confidence in you; I’m just telling you the facts that I’m absolutely certain of.” Sword10 sighed rather helplessly. “In reality, as a Succession Sect member, I, more than anyone else, hope that you can pass this and obtain the swordmaster’s inheritance. I hope that the swordmaster’s mantle can be passed down to his heir; I also hope that these 300,000 years of waiting can finally end… However, it’s a pity but I don’t see the possibility of you obtaining the swordmaster’s inheritance.”

“Is there a time limit for this final Trial?” Lin Huang asked suddenly.

“There’s no time limit. Moreover, since Golden Crow Mountain is within the boundaries of Great Heaven Palace and the swordmaster predicted that the final Trial might take a long time, the time flow is 1,000 times faster than the outside world.”

“Since it’s been 300,000 years in the outside world, have all of you actually been guardians in here for 300,000 million years?” Lin Huang asked, eyes wide.

“Theoretically, you could say that. However, we’re in hibernation most of the time. In the beginning, we’d still observe the trials in the Swordfiend Abyss—we would wake up to watch every time someone participated. However, we stopped checking as time went by. If you hadn’t managed to make it all the way to the final Trial, the ten of us wouldn’t have woken up at all.”

“Since there’s no time limit, I have a ridiculous request to ask of you, Senior,” Lin Huang said with a smile before uttering his request, “I hope that Senior Sword10 will be my sparring partner!”

“Huh?!”

Sword10 was dumbfounded.