Ling Tian Sword God

Leaving Spirit Snake Island, Ling Chen retraced his steps and returned to Grey Bear Island, where he had originally set off.

However, at this time, the talented young people from Xuzhou who had gathered there had obviously all left Grey Bear Island. The brothers Ling Hai and Ling Feng, as well as Fang Qingwei and Lan Xingling, were no longer on the island.

It seems that since their last encounter with Ghost Fire Venerable, this group must have been dispersed. But after all, these people are the outstanding young talents of various Saint Families. They wouldn’t be killed but likely fled this shallow sea area.

Ling Chen didn’t plan to stay in this shallow sea area for long. Originally, he intended to find Ling Hai and Ling Feng to settle some scores, but unexpectedly, they had already left.

He directly bought a sea ship on Grey Bear Island and set off back to the Nine Provinces Land.

The price of a sea ship is about 10,000 taels of gold, but for a Sky Apex Realm martial artist like Ling Chen, gold is long since pointless, not something precious.

Sitting cross-legged in the cabin, Ling Chen was circulating his True Qi throughout his body, consuming Spirit Nurturing Pills one by one, beginning his daily cultivation.

In martial arts cultivation, True Qi cultivation is just one aspect; in fact, compared to True Qi cultivation, the breakthrough in one’s state of mind is more important.

A breakthrough in True Qi cultivation is often merely a quantitative change, whereas a breakthrough in mindset is a qualitative change.

All along this path, whether Ling Chen faced challenges, pursued by enemies, or found himself in desperate situations—even if there were failures—it was never a failure of mindset.

No matter how strong a person is, they may still be defeated by others. Even when supreme experts had their failures in their youth, these were merely failures on the surface.

Encountering surface-level failures does not matter, for as long as the heart is strong enough, such failures are temporary, fleeting. The truly frightening challenge is a failure of the mind, a defeat within.

If one’s inner self is defeated, then they have truly lost. It is a great setback for them, and if they cannot emerge from this inner failure, they might become utterly ruined.

Therefore, the most important thing is first to have the heart of a strong person.

The existence of the strong is always relative, but the heart of the strong is an absolute existence. As long as you believe in your heart that you are strong enough, one day you will become the strong one in your eyes.

Secondly, one needs a heart of innocence.

What is a heart of innocence?

It’s like a newborn child. At that time, there is no distinction between good and evil, good and bad. The child observes the world with the purest, most innocent eyes! Their heart is pure, untainted, unaffected by outside teachings and limitations.

The higher the cultivation goes, the more one needs a heart of innocence.

This is what the Human Emperor refers to as returning to simplicity.

Ling Chen now possesses a sufficiently powerful heart of a strong person, but in terms of a heart of innocence, he feels somewhat lacking.

It might be due to his realm being insufficient or his cultivation having limits. To cultivate a so-called heart of innocence, Ling Chen feels he has a long way to go.

However, since entering the Nine Provinces Land, through the journey and trials, Ling Chen feels his mindset has greatly improved. Now, drifting at sea, it’s also a process of honing the mind and understanding martial arts.

...

By evening, the sea breeze began to grow intense.

Boom!

Suddenly, the cabin shook violently, as if the entire ship had been struck by some powerful force.

Ling Chen, who was cultivating, was suddenly awakened; the impact just now must have caused considerable damage to the ship.

Splatter...

As soon as he opened the cabin door, a torrent of rainwater poured in, chilling on his face: ”Such a great storm, could we have hit a reef?”

Ling Chen immediately leaped out and then promptly shut the cabin door.

”Rumble...”

Outside, Ling Chen realized how dire the situation was. Ahead, the dark seawater was angrily roaring and surging, and the entire sea ship was constantly tossing in the violent waters.

”It seems to be a sea storm indeed.”

Ling Chen’s face was serious. He quickly lowered all the sails and stood on the ship, feeling unsteady. With a swift leap, he left the deck and hovered in mid-air.

He could see the water continuously swirling, with a massive menacing whirlpool already formed. The ship spun along with the whirlpool, rolling in the waves. The entire vessel seemed like a toy, apparently on the verge of shattering at any moment, making Ling Chen’s heart tense.

”It really is an ocean whirlpool? I need to get the ship out as fast as possible.”

Ling Chen landed at the bow, trying to steer the ship away, but no matter how he turned the rudder, the ship kept spinning in place, unable to leave the whirlpool.

It felt as if there was a powerful suction releasing endlessly from below, locking the ship in place.

”There’s something strange about this whirlpool!”

Ling Chen frowned. An ordinary ocean whirlpool couldn’t possibly be so peculiar, making it impossible for him to control direction and escape its pull.

With his Sky Apex Realm strength, even encountering a sea storm, he should be able to rise above it.

With a move, Ling Chen flew over the water, walking on the surface, looking into the depths of the whirlpool.

Through the whirlpool, Ling Chen seemed to see two energy spheres, like thunderballs, flashing intensely, getting closer and closer. Behind the thunderballs, a massive shadow tens of zhang long was swiftly rising towards the sea surface.

”It turns out to be a sea beast!”

Ling Chen’s eyes narrowed slightly. This sea beast was entirely black, only its head bore several golden thunder patterns. Its eyes flickered incessantly, and the two thunderballs he saw before turned out to be the eyes of this sea beast.

”Thunder Eye Colossal Whale!”

As soon as Ling Chen recognized the appearance of the sea beast, he immediately identified it. The Thunder Eye Colossal Whale is an incredibly powerful exotic beast, reaching the peak of the Fourth Grade, equivalent to a Sky Apex Realm Ninth Level human expert. Its strength surpasses even that of the Blackwater Swamp Python he encountered earlier.

”Boom!”

The water suddenly parted, and a column of water mixed with violent lightning shot fiercely towards Ling Chen.

”Thunder Cut!”

Ling Chen reacted with extraordinary speed. At the moment the lightning water column shot towards him, he already drew his sword and sliced it through the air, splitting the lightning water column into two.

After slicing through the lightning with one sword stroke, Ling Chen felt the power of Thunder Cut seem to invisibly strengthen, becoming faster and sharper.

”I didn’t expect the Thunder Energy from this Thunder Eye Colossal Whale could enhance the power of my Thunder Cut.”

Ling Chen had an unexpected delight. He immediately pointed his sword at the Thunder Eye Colossal Whale, smiling provocatively: ”Come on, big guy. Today, I’ll be your sparring partner.”

The Thunder Eye Colossal Whale, swiftly whipping its tail, broke through the water and circled Ling Chen madly. It let out an angry roar, its golden eyes filled with the fury of being provoked! It was the king of this sea domain, and no exotic beast dared to challenge it around here.

A mere human dared to provoke it?