Chapter 213: Engrossed in an Illusion
However, the more he dodged, the more sabers that flew at him from the sky. In the end, it became extremely taxing. There were various wounds appearing on his body—blood dripped down continuously.
“How do I defend here? Liu Suifeng! Elder Sister Ruyue! Do you hear me?” Xiao Chen shouted anxiously. However, aside from the sounds of the sabers flashing by, there was no sound in this space.
Quickly! Quickly! Find your saber! Find your saber! That anxious voice rang out in Xiao Chen’s mind again. Go full speed ahead! Rush! Rush! Rush!
Xiao Chen looked around the surroundings. It was saber light after saber light, where were the other sabers? He attempted a few times but the Universe Ring would not open. His saber was simply not here.
Damn it! What is this place? Xiao Chen roared loudly. No more hiding! He circulated the Dragon and Tiger Body Sculpting Art and the bones in his body gave off ‘pi li pa la’ sounds. The Great Dragon Tiger Fist punched out continuously.
The saber lights which kept flying at him were crushed by 6,000 kilograms of force. They shattered and turned into sparks, disappearing into the boundless darkness.
However, the saber lights were endless; they were uncountable, overwhelming. No matter how many were crushed, there would still be thousands of saber lights flying at him.
Back at the dueling grounds of Qingyun Peak, the ground was trembling. Xiao Chen was seated on the ground, frowning tightly, his forehead filled with sweat. His eyes were tightly shut, and he revealed a pained expression, as though he was having a nightmare.
Liu Ruyue’s expression turned heavy. She muttered, “Was I too anxious? Ye Chen, can you do it? Find your saber and you can come out. You can definitely do it!”
Her fingers were intertwined, her hands clasped tightly. Unknowingly, her hands had turned purple, but she could not feel it. It was clear she was extremely anxious.
“Sis! What happened?!” The activity in the dueling ground was too great. When Liu Suifeng—who was chased out by Xiao Bai—saw the situation, he quickly rushed back.
Xiao Bai, who was chasing after Liu Suifeng, saw the pained expression on Xiao Chen’s face. It was as though it could sense the anxiousness in Xiao Chen’s heart. Its drunken state disappeared immediately.
It growled softly and turned into a white phantom as it leaped towards Xiao Chen. However, just as it leaped over, the 500 ancient treasured sabers surrounding gave off a horrifying shockwave, causing Xiao Bai to fly back. It was thrown far away and landed heavily.
“Ao!”
Suddenly, a fierce expression was revealed on Xiao Bai’s face. Its black eyes turned bloodshot. It roared loudly and a surging aura erupted out from its tiny body.
Liu Ruyue pushed her feet off the ground and moved instantly. She appeared behind Xiao Bai and chopped at its neck with her hand, causing it to faint before it went berserk.
“Rumble…!”
A squall blew in the wide dueling grounds. The bright space turned dark. The trembling of the ground turned even more intense. They were all making a lot of noise as they flickered non-stop; the clanging sound reverberated continuously in the dueling hall.
Liu Suifeng did not understand what was going on. He became anxious as he said, “Sis, what exactly is going on? What’s happening?”
Liu Ruyue carried the unconscious Xiao Bai into her embrace and said, “I used these 500 sabers as well as the Demonic Crystal Stones under the dueling ground to turn the ancient Saber Intent into a miniature Ancient Absolute Saber Formation.”
Liu Suifeng was startled and turned pale, “Ancient Absolute Saber Formation! Ye Chen is in the center of the formation! Will there be any problems?!”
Liu Ruyue’s charming face revealed a calm expression, “It is much weaker when compared to the real Ancient Absolute Saber Formation. It is impossible to forcefully enter the state of Listening to the Sword and Communicating With It without taking some risks.”
“Still, you should have told him about it first. He has no way to make any mental preparations at all. I’m afraid that he will not be able to get out.”
Liu Ruyue said pensively, “There are some things that would be rendered useless if you know in advance. As long as he can find his own saber, the Ancient Absolute Saber Formation will collapse on its own.
“At that point in time, maybe he would be able to forcibly comprehend the first state—Listening to the Sword!”
Countless saber lights fired at Xiao Chen in the pitch-dark space. Xiao Chen merged the tiger and dragon into his body, and he relied on his extremely strong physical body to smash apart the saber lights flying at him.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
The explosion sounds rang continuously, reverberating in this boundless darkness. Although Xiao Chen would be fine for now, he was getting more and more anxious. No matter how strong he was, there would still be a moment that he ran dry on energy.
At that time, when thousands of sabers pierced through his heart, he would have no way of staying alive.
Faster! Faster! Draw your saber! Draw your saber!
The anxious voice rang out once again, lingering in Xiao Chen’s ears. Bastard! You only know how to call out. My hands are empty, where is the saber to draw?
“The Universe Ring is not reacting. Even if you call ten thousand times, the saber will not show up.” Xiao Chen could not help but curse out. However, no one answered his questions. The anxious voice kept calling out continuously like it did before.
Calm down… Calm down… Xiao Chen did his best to calm his emotions down. In this life-and-death situation, his mind started to turn clear.
Ever since he had entered into this world, it felt like he had been in an anxious state. This had disrupted his normal thought process. Xiao Chen was not normally so irritable.
There could only be one reason—the voice calling out continuously in his heart. That anxious voice calling out non-stop was making Xiao Chen extremely anxious, disrupting his thought process.
There was only one way to resolve this dangerous situation and leave this place. That was to find out where the voice was coming from and drawing the saber that it was talking about.
Quickly! Quickly! Draw your saber…
The anxious voice called out again, like a demonic voice. Xiao Chen focused and kept his breath regular, and did his best to keep his mind clear so that he would not be infected by the voice’s anxiousness and become irritable.
So that was how it is! After a while, Xiao Chen was enlightened. He revealed a tranquil and calm smile. The voice is where the saber is.
The voice is where the saber is. In other words, the saber was where the voice is.
A determined look appeared on Xiao Chen’s face. Where was the voice? Wasn’t the voice coming from his heart?
“Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon!”
Xiao Chen shouted and took the stance of the tiger and dragon. When he crossed his arms, the tiger and dragon merged into him. Instantly, he became capable of defending against a great amount of force, fearing neither the mountain nor the river.
“Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang…”
The saber lights flying over were blocked by a barrier of light, the saber lights were vibrating continuously. Xiao Chen pushed forward with his arms and pushed all these saber lights back.
“Pu Ci!”
Xiao Chen took advantage of the time where they were unable to attack him to stick his five fingers into his chest, as if they were sharp knifes. Blood spurted out like a fountain, flowing continuously.
Since that anxious voice came from his heart, the saber was naturally in his heart as well. This space was not likely to be an ordinary space. It should be some kind of mental illusion.
However, even if it was a mental illusion, if one died in there, there was a great possibility of their physical body dying as well. Even so, Xiao Chen had no other choice, and he could only risk everything on this attempt.
“Hu!”
Suddenly a resplendent light lit up in the position of his heart. Xiao Chen’s pained expression was significantly alleviated as he pulled his right hand out slowly.
A girl made out of light came out slowly together with Xiao Chen’s right hand. When the girl came out completely, the wound on his chest healed rapidly.
“Is this the saber that is hidden in my heart?” Xiao Chen muttered. He looked at the girl’s appearance with an astonished expression.
Qingyun Peak, Dueling Grounds, Within the Saber Formation:
The Lunar Shadow Saber at Xiao Chen’s side suddenly began vibrating continuously. It drew itself out of the scabbard with a ‘huang dang’ sound and danced in the air without stopping.
The instant the Lunar Shadow Saber came out of the scabbard, the entire miniature Ancient Absolute Saber Formation stopped trembling.
“Shua!”
Suddenly, Xiao Chen opened his eyes and pushed his feet off the ground. He leaped into the air and grabbed the dancing Lunar Shadow Saber.
Xiao Chen had a serene expression as he grasped the saber hilt with his right hand. His index finger and middle finger of his left hand slid across the blade from the bottom to the top.
As Xiao Chen’s fingers slid across the blade, the blade lit up with a resplendent glow. By the time his fingers reached the tip, the entire blade was glowing, it was extremely dazzling.
After the glow faded, the blade of the Lunar Shadow Saber turned completely white. The blade flickered with a cold gleam; it was even sharper than it had been before.
When Xiao Chen felt the energy in the Lunar Shadow Saber, he revealed a faint smile. He said, “The seal has been released a little. The Lunar Shadow Saber went from being a Superior Grade Profound Ranked Spirit Weapon to being an Inferior Grade Earth Rank Weapon.”
When Liu Ruyue, who was at the side, saw the successful transformation of the Lunar Shadow Saber, her anxious face finally relaxed. She placed Xiao Bai down gently from her embrace.
“Weng! Weng! Weng!”
The crazy trembling of the dueling grounds finally stopped. The 500 ancient sabers contain Daos all left the ground in an orderly fashion and returned to their scabbards.
Xiao Chen slowly landed on the ground. He stretched out his hand and the scabbard flew over. He revealed a faint smile as he sheathed his saber and walked over to Liu Ruyue.
“Did you find your saber? Could you feel the breath and pulse of the saber?” Liu Ruyue asked Xiao Chen gently.
Xiao Chen shook his head helplessly and said, “I did find it but I did not feel anything special. The Lunar Shadow Saber is different from how I imagined it to be.”
When Xiao Chen had wanted to take a clearer look at the girl’s appearance in the dark space, the girl suddenly turned into countless streaks of lights before vanishing. He then returned to reality at the same time.
Liu Ruyue revealed an expression clearly full of doubts; she could not figure it out. She said, “You clearly found your saber in that space but why did you not enter into the state of Listening to the Sword and Communicating With It?.
Xiao Chen thought for a while and said, “Maybe the method was wrong. We can try another method tomorrow.”
“That’s all we can do.” Liu Ruyue nodded before continuing to say, “That’s right. The core disciple exam is starting in half a month. You should go make some preparations. Use your contribution points to obtain some Martial Techniques in Qingyun Peak’s library.”
“I’ll get Suifeng to bring you to the library tomorrow. You should go back and rest first. At the same time, think about what kind of Martial Technique you want to obtain.”