***
Before long, the body that was like a tattered rag dissipated, and one could see the grey mist surging, strands and threads gathering together to once again condense Zhang Yunlu’s physical form.
[Enemy: Ninth Layer Qi Refinement Sword Cultivator, Flowing Cloud Sword Technique at Perfection]
[Killing this enemy can end this trial]
There were the familiar golden characters, as well as a medicinal pill.
Zhang Yunlu grabbed the pill and threw it into her mouth, beginning to close her eyes to regulate her breathing.
Several minutes later, her exhausted spiritual power was once again filled to the brim, and the total amount had even increased by a tiny bit.
Meanwhile, that sword cultivator phantom just watched quietly, waiting until Zhang Yunlu took up her sword and stood up.
His spiritual power, which had weakened somewhat, also returned to its peak once more and became a tiny bit stronger.
"You bastard!"
This was a boss that would strengthen itself in synchronization with her and would not suffer any loss of condition.
After shouting a curse, she charged forward.
However, the result was not much better.
After exchanging only a few moves, her heart was once again pierced through by a sword glow, and then her head was severed by a single sword strike.
Once again, after resisting for a few more moves, she was cut in half at the waist by that sword cultivator phantom, but Zhang Yunlu stubbornly dragged her half-severed body and managed to land a sword strike on the sword cultivator phantom’s right hand.
The third time, Zhang Yunlu chose a hit-and-run style of fighting, but as a result, she did not even last for two sword strikes before her throat was pierced through by the sword cultivator phantom.
The fourth time, the fifth time, the sixth time, for three times in a row, her performance was even worse than at the very beginning, and she did not even last for a minute.
The seventh time, Zhang Yunlu gave up on the hit-and-run tactics and chose to engage the sword cultivator phantom in a direct frontal battle, continuously refining her own sword moves during the slaughter.
This time also did not exceed one minute, but she once again managed to wound the sword cultivator phantom.
In the several times that followed, her sword moves became more and more skillful.
Aside from the agility and elegance of the Flowing Cloud Sword Technique itself, there was now a bit more fearlessness added to it.
The time they spent fighting became longer and longer, and the injuries sustained by the sword cultivator phantom also became heavier and heavier.
The fifteenth time, Zhang Yunlu’s left hand was cut off, there was a hole that went straight through her abdomen from front to back, and there was a wound on her neck that was constantly leaking blood.
But that sword cultivator phantom was not faring any better.
The right wrist that held the sword had been sliced off, so it had switched to holding the sword in its left hand, and its chest and abdomen were as if they had been carved open, with strands of grey mist dissipating from within.
"Huff... huff~"
Zhang Yunlu panted heavily, and her vision went black in waves.
This was a symptom of excessive blood loss, and she was reaching the point where she could no longer hold on...
It was just a trial, so why make it so realistic!
Opposite her, that sword cultivator phantom had already forced itself to stand up.
Damn it!
It really was a damn monster!
She liked reading books and wanted to become the kind of sword cultivator from the "Secret History of Ancient Cultivation" who wore fluttering white clothes and could take a person's head from a thousand miles away with a flick of a finger.
Now, however, she was here holding a sword, fighting with a monster that did not know pain, and she had not even broken down after dying more than a hundred times.
"I actually even admire myself!"
Squeezing the last trace of strength from her body, she used her sword for support and forced herself to stand up.
Clang!
Zhang Yunlu dropped her longsword.
The longsword was too heavy, and she could no longer lift it.
She drew the shortsword from her waist.
It was only after dying once at the very beginning that she discovered she also possessed this thing.
Without the slightest sign or warning, the two of them charged toward each other almost simultaneously!
The tip of the sword cultivator phantom's blade pointed directly at Zhang Yunlu’s throat.
With a longsword against a shortsword, she would certainly be struck first, so avoiding it in advance was the best choice.
However...
A ruthless look flashed through Zhang Yunlu’s eyes, and she actually neither dodged nor avoided it.
The longsword pierced through Zhang Yunlu’s throat without any suspense, poking out from the side of her neck.
However, she did not stop, using her last remaining trace of spiritual power to protect her life force.
Puff!
The shortsword in her hand sank into the blurred features of the sword cultivator phantom, roughly at the position where the eyes would be, and she twisted it with force!
[Enemy Slain: Ninth Layer Qi Refinement Sword Cultivator, Flowing Cloud Sword Technique at Perfection]
[Time Taken: Seven minutes and twenty-five seconds]
[The current trial has ended]
Golden characters emerged, but Zhang Yunlu did not pay them any attention, instead looking at that dissipating sword cultivator phantom and letting out a laugh.
............
"Not bad, she is able to harden her heart at the moment of desperation to bet everything, forcing a mutual death upon the enemy by trading injury for injury."
Within the villa, an image was projected in mid-air.
Xu Xing spoke with admiration, and as Zhang Xiu watched that scene, the corners of his eyes twitched uncontrollably.
That person who had lost an arm, had a sword hanging from her neck, was about to run out of breath, and yet was still laughing—that is my younger sister?!
"Having experienced one hundred and two deaths, she finally killed a ninth-layer Qi Refinement sword cultivator who had mastered a perfection-level sword technique through the method of direct frontal slaughter."
One hundred and two deaths?
Zhang Xiu looked at the fallen figure in the image, and his heart was incomparably conflicted.
He felt pained for his sister, but he also understood that this held no harm for his own younger sister.
"Senior..."
"You are also a Heaven-made Foundation, so you should be clear on the pain and danger of the process of gathering the essence of the sun, condensing the radiance of the moon, and refining the brilliance of the stars."
"..."
How could he not be clear?
The pain of that process could be described as nothing less than being sliced by a thousand blades.
"However, looking at her current appearance, that difficult hurdle might not be difficult for her at all."
The image of Zhang Yunlu laughing while half-dead once again surfaced in Zhang Xiu’s mind, and this image overlapped with the Zhang Yunlu who usually sat under the sunlight reading books.
This kind of ruthless person, is she really that quiet Xiao Lu who likes to read?
............
The residence of the Zhang siblings.
Inside the bedroom, a stick of calming incense had burned for a small portion of its length, and Zhang Yunlu’s eyes were tightly closed, looking as if she were sleeping very soundly.
But in the next instant, that curling smoke that was rising was suddenly blown apart, and a vigorous aura of spiritual power blew against the window curtains.
She, who originally had her eyes tightly closed, suddenly snapped them open and sat up in an instant, her eyes filled with vigilance.
Everything familiar yet strange entered her vision, and the continuous warm current was also reminding her that she had now returned to reality.
Wait, if that was only an illusion, then what was going on with her spiritual power?
After remaining silent for a long time, she got out of bed, opened the door and walked to the refrigerator, then opened the refrigerator door to pour herself a glass of fruit juice.
Feeling the cold and sweet fruit juice, she had a feeling that she had finally come back to life.
Carrying the fruit juice, she walked slowly to the French window.
The evening wind was gentle, carrying a bit of coolness.
In the distance were the bright lights of the city, vehicles coming and going, and from time to time, streaks of light from fleeing cultivators flashed across the sky.
It was a scene of prosperity, and the cruelty of life-and-death slaughter was completely out of place with everything before her eyes.
She stood by the window for a long time, until she had finished the remaining half-glass of juice, and then she suddenly smiled.
Even the owner of that noodle shop downstairs was at the peak of Foundation Establishment, and she was far from being his match, so what was she doing acting all melancholy here?
Putting down the glass, she prepared to return to her bedroom to continue sleeping, but before she had walked more than a few steps, she stopped.
She felt as if something was missing...
Looking toward her surroundings and scanning the area for a bit, her gaze finally stopped on that longsword leaning against the wall.
It was this!
She stepped forward and grabbed the scabbard, and at the moment her right hand gripped the sword hilt, her heart became incomparably peaceful.
"Sigh~"
The state she was in now was probably a little bit off.
Sring!
The longsword left its scabbard, the blade reflecting her eyes.
The edge of the sword glinted with a cold light, but this was only a common sword, otherwise it would not have been left by her to lean against the wall.
Right at this moment, a rustling sound came from outside the door.
Eh?!
The door was soon opened, and after seeing clearly who had arrived, Zhang Yunlu finally relaxed her vigilance and revealed a brilliant smile.
"Brother, you’re back."
However, as Zhang Xiu looked at her smile at the doorway, especially seeing that she was still holding a sword in her hand, he felt a bit of a prickling sensation in his heart.
Sister, how about we stop being this sword cultivator and switch to being a body cultivator instead!