Elder Mo Xuan waved his hand, and I appeared on a vast plain covered with grass.
I looked around, not pondering much over the environment, even though it looked completely different from the place I had been before.
“Where’s this place?” I asked while keeping my distance from him.
“This is my little world, and that shouldn’t be your problem if I were you.”
I looked at him, not pondering over what he said about this being his world, but rather the latter part.
He has his own little world?
I pushed that thought aside.
“Heaven Freedom Sword Art was comprehended during life-and-death battles, so it won’t be fair if you comprehend it yourself in that luxurious bedroom of yours.”
He pulled out a net from the void containing a few beasts.
Thank the heavens.
It’s just three beasts.
At least I’ll only have a brutal battle like the other one instead of dying instantly.
Don’t jump to conclusions immediately, Host.
I let out a breath of relief and relaxed, completely ignoring what the System said.
“Why are you suddenly relaxing?” Elder Mo Xuan asked with genuine surprise.
He simply shrugged before letting out what I thought was a few beasts.
Then the net suddenly became like a deep void filled with demonic beasts.
Endless.
Every second, more beasts came out.
My face turned ugly as the number continued to increase, while the crazy smirk on Elder Mo Xuan’s face expanded.
The vast plain suddenly felt so small.
I was sweating buckets.
“To play the matter fair, since I am benevolent by nature…”
Fair my ass.
“Those beasts will come in waves so that you won’t die faster.”
I stared at him.
“But I will increase the scent of your bloodline, so these beasts will go into a frenzy, since your blood is a great tonic for those poor beasts that the heavens have ignored.”
“Wait…” I tried to negotiate.
“The first layer of the Art talks about freedom from patterns of footwork.
You’re not free if you exist only outside the battle.
You must exist within it.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Now show me if you have what it takes to be this Clan’s Son of God.”
With a mysterious command, the beasts separated into batches of hundreds.
Hundreds.
And that was only one batch.
Elder Mo Xuan looked at me before appearing on a distant mountain.
“You should at least give me a proper sword!” I shouted while looking at the wooden sword in my hand.
He ignored me.
All of a sudden, hundreds of beasts charged toward me.
Host, your fiancée will be coming tomorrow.
Don’t make her a young widow.
I didn’t have time to process what the System had just said.
The first beast arrived.
I swung the wooden sword.
Thud!
The impact sent my arms trembling.
Another beast came from my left.
I moved backward.
A third attacked from behind.
I barely twisted my body in time.
Too many.
I swung again, but my movement was stiff.
The sword moved exactly where I wanted it to.
And that was the problem.
Heaven Freedom Sword Art wasn’t supposed to be like this.
I was still thinking about every movement.
Every step.
Every attack.
Every direction.
I’m trapped by my own movements.
A massive beast slammed into me.
I was sent flying across the grass.
I rolled several times before stopping.
Blood dripped from the corner of my mouth.
Another roar sounded.
I looked up.
More beasts were already approaching.
“Come on!”
I forced myself up.
The wooden sword trembled in my hand.
I rushed forward.
A beast swung its claw.
I blocked.
Another attacked.
I dodged.
A third came from the side.
I swung my sword.
Too slow.
Its claws tore across my chest.
Blood sprayed across the grass.
“Argh!”
I staggered backward.
Host, you’re repeating the same mistake.
“What mistake?!”
You’re trying to perform the sword art.
I froze for a fraction of a second.
Another beast attacked.
I ducked beneath its claws.
Don’t perform it.
The wooden sword moved.
I struck its leg.
The beast stumbled.
Another beast lunged at me.
I turned.
Blocked.
The impact forced me several steps backward.
Then what the hell am I supposed to do?!
Survive.
“That’s your advice?!”
For now.
The beast lunged again.
I moved.
Not because I planned to.
My body simply moved.
The wooden sword brushed past its claws.
I stepped sideways.
Another beast attacked from that same direction.
I didn’t think.
I moved again.
My feet carried me somewhere my mind hadn’t decided to go.
Whoosh!
The wooden sword struck the beast’s jaw.
It flew sideways.
My eyes widened.
That movement…
I suddenly remembered Mo Xuan’s demonstration.
His sword had never followed a fixed pattern.
It wasn’t random.
It was freedom.
He hadn’t been moving according to the sword.
The sword had been moving according to the battle.
“Is that it?”
A beast roared and attacked.
I didn’t retreat.
I stepped forward.
The wooden sword moved.
Bang!
Its head was smashed sideways.
Another came from behind.
I turned.
The sword moved with me.
Bang!
It struck the beast’s chest.
But the moment I attacked, three more beasts surrounded me.
My breathing became heavy.
Hundreds of beasts.
There was no way to predict every movement.
No way to memorize every attack.
No way to create a perfect pattern.
I suddenly understood.
If I try to control everything…
I’ll lose.
The golden veins beneath my skin suddenly began glowing.
My bloodline stirred.
A strange sensation spread through my body.
For a moment, everything around me slowed.
Not actually.
My perception had simply changed.
The beasts weren’t moving slower.
I was beginning to understand their movements.
The System’s voice became unusually serious.
Host.
Your bloodline is responding to your intent.
“Responding?”
It isn’t teaching you the sword art.
A strange presence appeared somewhere deep within my blood.
It wasn’t a voice.
It wasn’t a person.
It was closer to an instinct.
An ancient instinct buried beneath layers of bloodline suppression.
My grip loosened.
The wooden sword almost fell from my hand.
Then I stopped trying to hold it so tightly.
A beast attacked.
I moved.
Another attacked.
I moved again.
My feet no longer followed a fixed pattern.
One step forward.
Half a step sideways.
A turn.
A slash.
A retreat.
Then forward again.
There was no sequence.
No fixed rhythm.
Yet everything connected.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Beasts fell one after another.
I didn’t know whether I was using Heaven Freedom Sword Art correctly.
I only knew that for the first time…
I wasn’t fighting the battle.
I was moving with it.
High above the mountain, Elder Mo Xuan’s smile slowly disappeared.
His eyes narrowed.
“So quickly?”
He stared at Zaitian below.
“That boy actually understood the rudimentary principle.”
Back on the plain, I was surrounded again.
My body was covered in wounds.
My breathing was ragged.
But I smiled.
“Come.”
Hundreds of beasts roared and charged.
I stepped forward.
The wooden sword moved.
Then something inside my body shook violently.
BOOM!
My cultivation surged.
The spiritual energy around me was pulled toward my body.
I froze.
“What the…”
My Foundation Establishment realm began trembling violently.
The golden light beneath my skin became brighter.
Cracks of spiritual energy spread through my body as if something was trying to break through.
The beasts continued charging.
I gripped the wooden sword.
My eyes widened.
I’m breaking through?!
The System remained silent for the first time.
And then—
BOOM!