Immortal Sword Master

Chapter 264: Chapter 260: The Seventh Gate, World in the Painting

On the scroll painting, the grass and trees trembled. They shot up ramrod straight, and a sharp fluctuation radiated from them like needles, like swords.

From them, a Sword Intent began to spread, making one’s skin feel as if it were being pricked by needles.

Every blade of grass, every tree, could become a sword—an army of plants.

”Half-Step Sword Intent.”

Ning Jiang felt it for a moment. This Sword Intent wasn’t complete; it was only a Half-Step Sword Intent.

”CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG!”

The next moment, the clang of metal rang out in the room as sharp streams of Qi Force erupted.

This power was enough to kill a young prodigy in the blink of an eye.

”CLANG.”

With a sword’s cry, the Ice Soul Sword was unsheathed.

This was the first time Ning Jiang had drawn his sword since the trials began.

”Four Seasons Sword Technique.”

As the Sword Technique began, the four seasons changed. Spring was birth, summer was flourish, autumn was wither, and winter was end. A single sword strike seemed to transport one through all four seasons.

DANG DANG DANG DANG!

Sparks flew as streams of cyan Sword Aura erupted from the grass and trees, clashing with the Ice Soul Sword.

The power of a single strike wasn’t great, but there were hundreds, thousands of them, packed so densely that they gave him no chance to breathe.

WHOOSH!

Suddenly, a gale erupted.

Streams of cyan Sword Aura converged, spinning together to form a tornado of Sword Qi that roared toward Ning Jiang.

The airflow in the entire room was sliced and torn apart, making it hard to breathe.

The power of this attack was comparable to Jian Xinghe’s strongest strike at the Qing Province Grand Assembly.

”Winter’s End.”

A ghastly white Sword Qi swept out, carrying an indomitable intent as it shattered the rampaging tornado of Sword Qi.

The sixth trial was successfully passed.

’The sixth trial forced me to use Winter’s End. For the seventh, I’ll probably have to use Four Extremes One Sword. But the stronger the challenge, the more interesting it is. I wonder what the ultimate test of the Profound Celestial Ancient Hall is?’

Ning Jiang was actually looking forward to the subsequent trials.

That was just his nature; the stronger the opponent, the stronger he became.

”Half-Step Sword Intent against Half-Step Sword Intent. I will not lose!”

In another room, Jian Xinghe’s hair whipped about wildly. The Xinghe Sword in his hand burst with brilliant light as he slashed down.

”Ning Jiang, die!”

He envisioned the tornado of Sword Qi before him as Ning Jiang. In this state of mind, his Essence, Qi, and Spirit condensed to an incredible degree. His mind held only a single thought: defeat Ning Jiang and reclaim his position as the number one in Qing Province!

Fueled by this obsession, the power of his sword strike rose to a peak he had never before reached.

”BOOM—”

The Sword Qi slashed down, successfully tearing the tornado of Sword Qi apart.

”Hahaha, the power of this strike is no weaker than Ning Jiang’s Winter’s End! If I fight him again, I’ll have at least a seventy percent chance of winning!”

Jian Xinghe laughed, his confidence soaring. It was as if he had returned to his days as the number one in Qing Province.

Now, all he had to do was wait until he got out, fight Ning Jiang again, and reclaim his glory.

But what he didn’t know was that Ning Jiang’s ultimate moves were hardly limited to just Winter’s End.

He wasn’t even qualified to witness Four Extremes One Sword.

”Saber Qi Like a Mountain!”

Meanwhile, in the room next to his, Duan Lengya wore a grave expression. His clothes whipped about him as he gripped his saber with both hands and slashed down.

His saber was enormous and heavy, with a wide, solid black blade, and it weighed over a thousand jin.

It was a heavy-bladed saber.

His Saber Technique was also extremely heavy. When he slashed, the Saber Qi was like a mountain, destroying everything in its path with outrageous force.

The tornado of Sword Qi was destroyed, and he successfully passed.

”ROAR.”

A world-shaking roar erupted. A surge of Demon Qi burst from Yao Yingkuang’s body, and his entire arm actually began to swell and expand at a visible rate.

After just three breaths, his arm had grown more than ten times its original size. It was covered in black hair, with each strand as sharp as a steel needle.

It was a gigantic eagle’s claw, gleaming with a sharp, metallic luster.

Demon Transformation Technique.

This Cultivation Technique allowed a person to transform a part of their body into that of a Demon Beast, thereby gaining power comparable to a true Demon Beast.

”Break.”

The giant eagle’s claw plunged directly into the tornado of Sword Qi and viciously tore it apart.

Just as Yao Yingkuang passed the sixth trial, Du Bing of the Earth Gate also unleashed his strongest attack.

”BOOM.”

He threw a punch, and the entire space turned a murky yellow, becoming as heavy and solid as the earth itself.

”Earth Fist Technique!”

The sheer dominance of this Fist Technique far surpassed that of Li Kuangba. The earthen-yellow Fist Force spread out, indomitable, and ripped the tornado of Sword Qi to shreds.

”Evil Spirit Finger.” In his room, Xu Chen, one of the two prodigies of the Evil Spirit Sect, pointed a finger.

A black finger materialized in the air, radiating a sinister, soul-stealing evil aura.

This was a famous Finger Technique within the Evil Spirit Sect. With a single point, it could freeze an opponent’s blood and damage their internal organs and meridians.

In terms of dominance, it was only slightly inferior to the Eye of Evil Spirit.

The black finger slammed into the Sword Qi, tearing it apart.

”The sixth trial was no challenge for me. The seventh trial is my real goal. Whatever that woman can do, I can do too.” Madman Tu was dressed in a blood-red, gold-trimmed robe, his face pale and effeminate.

Just moments ago, he had used the Eye of Evil Spirit to successfully pass the sixth trial.

The Eye of Evil Spirit. No more than five people in the Evil Spirit Sect cultivated this Cultivation Technique. It was simply too overbearing; in the past, many had blinded themselves trying to master it, only to fail.

”Hm? The seventh trial is coming!”

Madman Tu’s expression suddenly hardened, his eyes filled with a fierce will to fight.

The scroll painting trembled slightly, and a burst of light emerged, swallowing Madman Tu.

”Huh? Where is this?”

A moment later, Madman Tu found that the scene before him had completely changed. He was in a beautiful landscape of mountains and water.

”Don’t tell me I’ve entered the scroll painting?”

Madman Tu was shocked, but he quickly calmed down. ”No, that’s not right. It’s only my consciousness that has entered, not my physical body.”

”If it were my physical body, that would be far too astonishing.”

For a painting to be able to absorb a person’s physical body, it would have to be a spatial Treasure of the highest order. But not even a Celestial Martial Realm King would be qualified to possess such a Treasure.

The scroll painting used for these trials couldn’t possibly be a Treasure of that level.

”As I thought.”

Madman Tu glanced over and saw his physical body standing outside the painting, unmoving with its eyes closed.

The same thing was happening in the other rooms.

’Interesting. I wonder what the test for this seventh trial will be?’

Gazing at the beautiful landscape around him, Ning Jiang remained calm. Since he was already here, he would make the best of it. He felt no alarm; while others might find this method of pulling one’s consciousness into a painting incredibly profound, to him, it was nothing special.

In his past life, he had seen some Top Level Magical Treasures—a scroll painting, a single bead—that contained entire worlds within them.

”Ning Jiang, it’s you!”

A voice sounded from behind Ning Jiang. He turned to see Jian Xinghe.

At that moment, more figures began to appear all around.

Madman Tu, Xu Chen, Duan Lengya, Du Bing, Yao Yingkuang—they had all arrived.

Somehow, everyone’s consciousness had appeared in the same World in the Painting.

What kind of test would the seventh trial be?

PS: I’d like to talk about the recent update schedule. I’ve really been struggling with writer’s block lately, and it’s been very difficult to write. I’m pulling all-nighters every day.

The biggest problem for me is that I always want to write a satisfying plot. I’m always trying to come up with clever designs and create a setting that will really impress people.

My friends all advise me not to set my standards so high, to write something more mindless. To put it bluntly, they tell me to write something dumber, without worrying about logic or foreshadowing. That would make things much easier, but I just can’t do it. I always strive for perfection, wanting the plot to be tightly woven and the story to be exciting.

Readers might not understand what writer’s block feels like. I know two authors who are very successful, earning over 100,000 a month, with achievements many would envy.

But in the end, because of writer’s block, they couldn’t continue writing. It was a real shame.

I hope everyone can be understanding. Writing a story requires racking my brains every day to come up with the plot, and it’s inevitable that I’ll run into difficulties.

As it says in the book: The path to becoming a King is rugged and difficult to travel.

Writing a book is the same. An author has to overcome one problem after another.

I believe I can break through this bottleneck. I’m sorry about the recent updates, and I hope everyone can bear with me.