Chapter 138: The Formation of Sword Intent (First Chapter)

  Jade Valley

  Conference Hall.

  At the top, Zhuang Qingxian's face showed contemplation, and after a long time, he said: "Lao Lao, you are saying that there is no need to let the most outstanding disciple go."

  Lan Zhanglao is the inner gate elder of Feicui Valley, now over 80 years old. Although his innate talent is not particularly high, he is a indispensable pillar for Feicui Valley. However, in recent years, due to his advanced age, he has become more conservative in his dealings with others. He is one of the few representatives who hold opposing views on the matter of Tiandu Ancient Land.

  "Valley Master, our Valley of Emeralds is now the overlord of Tianfeng Country. It's not necessary to take risks. The mortality rate in Tiandream Ancient Land is extremely high. Thirty years ago, 645 disciples from nine countries entered, and only 450 came out alive. Twenty years ago, 630 disciples entered, and only 410 came out. Ten years ago, 615 people entered, and only 370 came out. The mortality rate has been increasing year by year. This time, I'm afraid it will exceed a 50% mortality rate."

  As soon as this was said, the inner sect elders who were about to persuade Lian Zongzhu fell silent. Indeed, it was a fact that Tianmeng Ancient Land had a high mortality rate. If they sent the best disciples from the valley in, and luck wasn't on their side, it was highly likely that more than half of them would be killed or injured.

  This will be a heavy blow for Emerald Valley.

  A radical elder of the inner door stood up and said, "Valley Master, Lian Changlao, you can't say that. Just because the mortality rate is high, we can't be timid. If I'm not mistaken, the other four major sects will definitely send their most outstanding disciples in. As long as these disciples can come out alive, they will definitely improve a lot compared to before, and may even break through to the Embracing Yuan Realm. At that time, the advantage of our young generation in Feicui Valley will be completely lost."

  "Old Liu is right, it's time for the younger generation to see some blood. If there are any remaining spots, I'm willing to let my nephew go in."

  "The heavenly dream of ancient lands is opened once every ten years. The opportunity is extremely rare and mustn't be wasted!"

  "One-tenth of the disciples who survived from Tian Meng Gu will enter the realm of Bao Yuan, that is to say, among three hundred people, thirty can become warriors in the realm of Bao Yuan."

  The Second Elder beside the First Elder spoke up, "Valley Master, I think this matter can be compromised. The Fei Cui Valley is a seventh-grade sect with eight quotas. We can send four of our most outstanding talents and choose the next best ones for the remaining four quotas. In this way, even if we suffer heavy losses, it won't be crippling."

  Upon hearing this, Zhuang Qingxian was somewhat moved. As the ruler of Feicui Valley, the overlord of Tianfeng Country, it was indeed unnecessary to risk everything on a single bet; having both would be the best outcome.

  "So how do you think the quotas should be allocated?" asked Zhuang Qingxian.

  The two elders looked at each other, "Big Brother Zhuang Fei must go, he is a martial artist in the early stages of Hugging Yuan, enough to contend with ordinary mid-term Hugging Yuan martial artists. With him, the survival of our Feicui Valley disciples will be more secure. It's equivalent to a deterrent force. From what I know, among the young generation of Hugging Yuan martial artists in the countries, Daluo has the most, reaching four, Bai Xuan and Tian She each have three, while the other five countries, like our Tianfeng, only have one or two. We can't be unprepared."

  At this time, Lian Yan also nodded in agreement with Er Lao's statement.

  The two elders continued: "Liu Wu Xiang and Ji Xue Yan are also going, they have a great chance of entering the Bao Yuan realm. Shi Po Tian has not yet recovered, so he will stay in the valley. Instead, Liu Xuan, who is currently ranked fifth among the core disciples, will go. The other four can choose from the core disciples outside the top ten!"

  Zhuang Qingxian was very satisfied with the two Lao's perfect solution, and said: "Alright, the quota for Tianmeng Ancient Land is now confirmed, no need to discuss further."

  Beishan Villa

  Hall of Discussion

  Xue Wu Ren crossed his arms behind his back, "There's nothing good to discuss about this matter. The eight spots must be the most outstanding disciples. I don't want to wait another ten years."

  Like his swordsmanship, Xue Wujian has always been decisive in his actions, and once he has made up his mind, it cannot be changed.

  Everyone smiled wryly and left the hall.

  A moment later.

  Eight young figures walked in, with the first three being a gentle youth in white clothes who was as warm as snow, Bei Xue's swift and fierce Lin Qi, and Ba Dao Yu Yue.

  "Master Zhuang." The crowd respectfully said.

  Xue Wu Ren nodded, "I called you here for no other reason, just to let you understand the Tian Meng ancient land and what to pay attention to."

  The gentle youth asked: "Master, Tianmeng ancient land is invisible to the naked eye, is it true?"

  "The Heavenly Dream Ancient Land is in a spatial crevice, and before it opens, the naked eye can't see it, nor can spiritual power detect it. This time when you enter the Heavenly Dream Ancient Land, remember to know when to stop, prioritize steadily increasing your strength, beware of being greedy. Secondly, don't become the target of everyone's attacks, understand that a single person is not guilty, but possessing something valuable is a sin. When something appears in your hands that makes others jealous, either immediately kill the opponent or discard the item, never let yourself be surrounded by many people, otherwise, even if you die, it will also implicate others."

  The Tianmeng Ancient Land has many treasures, such as divine weapons and elixirs, as well as secret manuals. The five major sects' foundations are becoming increasingly profound because every ten years they send a batch of disciples to enter the Tianmeng Ancient Land. After their return, the sect's treasures and secret manuals will increase accordingly. Of course, it is not that they contribute to the sect for nothing; the high-ranking members of the sect reward them with corresponding amounts of spiritual stones based on the value of the treasures.

  ……

  In the courtyard, Ye Chen sat under a tree, his body motionless.

  This tree is a common sight on Qingfeng Mountain, the Cangxuan Tree starts to shed its leaves in July. Now that it's mid-September, the leaves are falling extremely fast, even with just a gentle breeze, three or four leaves will swirl down.

  After a few hours, Ye Chen's hair and clothes were covered with more than ten pieces of dry yellow leaves.

  There were faint footsteps coming from far outside the courtyard, getting closer and closer with each step.

  "Is Ye Chen here?"

  "Is Ye Chen here?"

  Squeak!

  Someone called out several times, seeing no one respond, pushed open the courtyard door and walked in.

  It was the Disciplinary Son who came in, and the Disciplinary Son was also an Inner Door disciple. According to the sect's rules, if an Inner Door disciple could not enter the stage of embracing the origin before the age of 24, he must be transferred to the Disciplinary Hall, becoming a combatant or non-combatant member of the sect. Of course, once they entered the stage of embracing the origin, they could also become Outer Door elders, which was the most critical point.

  This deacon disciple was about twenty-five years old, and his cultivation was at the late stage of the Condensing True Realm, which was very high compared to most inner disciples. He almost didn't lose to the top ten inner disciples. He quickly saw Ye Chen sitting under the tree, and his eyebrows slightly furrowed.

  When a warrior is cultivating, they are basically not allowed to be disturbed. If they are interrupted at a critical moment, the other party will probably have the heart to kill them.

  He couldn't help but smile wryly, his disciples stood by silently waiting, without making a single sound.

  Hoo... Hoo... Hoo...

  Suddenly——

  A gust of wind blew by, and dozens of withered leaves were swept down, fluttering about.

  At this time, Ye Chen opened his eyes. Sharp and piercing light shone brightly.

  The deacon's disciple was about to speak, but saw an astonishing scene. He saw Ye Chen's gaze sweep across, and the leaves floating in front of him seemed to be cut by an invisible sharp blade, instantly splitting into two, then four, then eight, and in an instant becoming a sky full of fragments.

  "Sword intent, the legendary sword intent!"

  The deacon's disciple was frantically shouting in his heart, although he was just an ordinary deacon's disciple, it didn't mean that his insight was low. Whether from ancient books or word of mouth, swordsmen who grasped the intent of the sword could use intangible objects to harm people, such as imbuing a strand of air with sword intent. This gave it extraordinary lethality, taking lives away. Just now, Ye Chen had done just that, using his gaze to infuse the air in front of him with sword intent, effortlessly cutting through leaves.

  "What's wrong?"

  He stood up, shaking off the leaves on his body and asked.

  "The disciples of the sect leader respectfully said: 'The Sect Leader has an invitation.'"

  "Lead the way!"

  Ye Chen's expression was very calm, and in recent days, his desire for sword intent had become less urgent. After finishing his daily cultivation, he would sit under the big tree, wandering in the void, forgetting himself and everything else. Perhaps it was precisely this state of mind that transcended desires that allowed him to break through to the next level of sword intent, ultimately grasping the true sword intent that swordsmen dreamed of. Whether it was his temperament or soul, he had made a qualitative leap forward. As for what level he had reached, he still wasn't clear.

  "Yes!"

  The servant's tone was humble, originally he didn't need to curry favor with the inner disciples or core disciples, but when facing Ye Chen, a respectful attitude naturally emerged. It's not surprising, after all, in the True Spirit Continent, the strong are always respected, even if it's an unsophisticated genius encountering a high-level strong person, they still need to maintain a certain level of respect, otherwise it would be purely ignorant and could be killed at any time.

  Under the leadership of the deacon's son, Ye Chen arrived at the main hall.

  In the hall.

  Zhu Mei, Luo Hanshan and Xu Jing were all present, alongside some inner sect elders, with the first seat being the majestic Sect Master Luo Xianlie.

  "Your Excellency, esteemed elders." Ye Chen bowed with his fists clasped together.

  Luó Xíng Liè nodded slightly.

  "Tomorrow is the day we head to Tianmeng Ancient Land. Before that, I'd like to bid you farewell. The terrain of Tianmeng Ancient Land is complex and unpredictable. There may be palaces in the mountains, tombs underwater, or treasure vaults underground. As for how to enter, there are countless methods - sometimes a large tree might be an entrance, other times you need to move a boulder, and sometimes jumping down the mountain can also get you inside. In short, anything can happen within, so beware and keep your wits about you, don't lose your footing."

  "Yes!"

  Ye Dust and the other three nodded.

  Luo Xinglie continued: "The Tianmeng Ancient Land has many treasures and countless secret manuals. It's obvious that you can't contribute them for nothing, so based on the value of the contributed items, our sect will give you a certain amount of spirit stones. For example, a top-grade human-level secret manual can be exchanged for 50 pieces of low-grade spirit stones, while a low-grade earth-level secret manual can be exchanged for 3,000 pieces of low-grade spirit stones. Earth-level mid-grade secret manuals are extremely rare and hard to find in the Tianmeng Ancient Land, but they can be exchanged for 3,000 pieces of mid-grade spirit stones. Other treasures and spiritual medicines are also handled similarly. Of course, if you contribute a secret manual to our sect, you can still cultivate it yourself, but you cannot pass it on to others. Do you understand?"

  "I understand!"

  Although he knew that these things were worth so many spirit stones, Ye Chen was still very surprised. It seemed that this time the sect was going to go all out. However, the Tian Meng Ancient Land was not a playground. The disciples of nine countries had all entered it, and killings were very normal, especially for those who possessed precious treasures.

  P.S: I'm sweating, yesterday was a total mess, my speech was somewhat decadent, it won't happen again. My cold is starting to get better now, and I'll be updating steadily while slowly making up for the missing chapters.