Shen Bao looked perplexed at first because he had no idea what the Sword Intent was, since he never experiences the true capabilities of mastering sword arts he had no idea how to face someone who could literally summon sword slashes by sheer will.
The apparition-like cultivator swung his sword twice sending a cross-like sword wave at Shen Bao, the latter dodged to the side and was barely able to evade serious injury as even with his evasive maneuver, Shen Bao still received a cut on his left arm.
Cursing, Shen Bao pulled a pill from his pouch and swallowed it, the effect was immediate as dark green smoke rose from his open wound and his arm was immediately healed.
With being limited to not use poison, nor summon his puppets in case the Three-Legged Raven Sect were to know of his identity, Shen Bao was forced to battle this apparition using his own sword. And so he did. Charging headlong into the fray.
"Come! Show me what you have!" the apparition spoke as it clashed against Shen Bao in a shower of sparks from the contact of their swords.
For any other cultivator, this apparition would be a good practice session, but nothing too difficult, because this trial is aimed at the Nascent Soul cultivator, and most Nascent Soul cultivators would at least have some sort of minor success in achieving sword intent.
Shen Bao was leagues behind the people who could challenge this trial, and even if this character in front of him was one of the weakest on this mountain, the apparition was still enough to kill Shen Bao if he wasn't careful, and that was only because he was limited.
This situation didn't discourage Shen Bao in the least, he smiled as he fought back, he didn't think that he was weaker than the people who watched him, nor did he think little of himself, but he thought that this very incident was a source of learning and could teach him and make him adapt to situations where he could be disadvantaged and unable to use his full power.
This was a learning practice for him, and he was going to use it to the fullest.
Finding others to spar with him and hone his sword skills was impossible, especially with all of the stuff that was happening to Shen Bao. He was stuck in the Demon World for a long time, he was forced to learn and practice restrictions to save himself from the Sliver Back Ape, and immediately was thrown into a war against another demon king, not to mention being chased the moment he left, and then plotted against by the very alchemist that invited him to the Seventh Mountain Peak.
In all of his time, Shen Bao was running, moving from place to place, being led down Fate's unknown and perilous road without any choice in the matter, though this gave him many good opportunities, he knew deep down that he was progressing too fast, and this wasn't good. Unless he cemented his understandings, his knowledge, and his newfound abilities with practice, learning, and application, he would end up with an unstable foundation the moment he climbed the next stage.
The apparition's sword shone brightly as it came down on Shen Bao, here, though the sword wasn't as heavy as Yu Bai's greatsword, Shen Bao knew that this very sword was more than capable of cutting him in half especially with that aura surrounding it.
Shen Bao used the same deflecting method, by rapidly colliding with the downward cut and tilting his Creeping Demise sideways, this caused the incoming sword to slide down and away from She Bao, who took the opportunity when the apparition was destabilized to add a repost to his parry.
He flicked away the apparition's sword with minimal movement since it was destabilized, then followed with a thrust to the chest, immediately causing the apparition to dissipate.
Taking a deep breath, Shen Bao felt satisfied with his progress, but not a second later, another apparition, much clearer and more vibrant than the first manifested from an embedded broad sword on the mountain full of swords.
This one didn't speak any words and immediately came at Shen Bao.
She Bao had yet to rest and recuperate, but in a death and life situation, he knew that he didn't have the luxury to rest, so he charged ahead and struck using his improvised skill, Tiger Stinger, a derived sword skill from the combination of the Sanguine Thrust, and Tiger Claw.
Shen Bao's sword moved forward like a spear leading a charge and came in contact with the apparition's aura sword, the clash was not favoring Shen Bao due to the difference in strength. But the second effect of Shen Bao's Tiger Stinger was the secondary side effect of the follow-up blow. Since the second blow has a controllable lag, Shen Bao made sure to resist the apparition's blow with his mere strength, and when the apparition let his guard down since it easily overpowered Shen Bao, the second blow came in, staggering the apparition and sending it flying as a wave of green energy shot forward.
Here, Shen Bao was thankful for one thing, the apparition wasn't a living thing and didn't suffer poisoning from the second effect of the blow, so even if someone was watching they'll have a hard time understanding that this is Poison Qi and not regular Qi. Unless someone is in direct contact with Shen Bao's Poison Qi, they'll have no way to analyze it, for even if it was Qi, it was not Natural World Qi, and for the onlooker, it will only look like a green aura emitted from Shen Bao's sword.
The Apparition tried to regain its bearing but Shen Bao was already up and ahead and immediately stabbed down on the apparition's chest.
Honor? Valor, that's meaningless, especially since this is life and death, if it were a living being, perhaps Shen Bao wouldn't have been this cruel, but he was literally fighting for his life while others were watching, he didn't need to appear like some honorable swordsman, that'll only get him killed. Decisive and cruel, that's how one should act when their lives were on the line, and She Bao was not going to act like a monkey for the people that were watching him and give them a good show. He needed to clear this test and move forward, by any means and any methods, and if anyone complains, they can come here and do this very test while limited to Core Cultivation.
"Master Behind You!" Shen Bao heard Y's voice but it was too late to even act as he felt sword Qi that was far too close to his neck to comfort.
Yet before Shen Bao could even act, another more impressive, and more majestic sword Qi shot out and broke the sword Qi that was about to decapitate Shen Bao.
"Damn, Y, you just revealed your presence!" She Bao berated.
"You would have died master, but worry not, my sword swing was faster than what mere Soul Formation could even perceive. They would mostly think you had a defensive treasure."
"Oh, good, say, you know sword arts?" She Bao asked.
"Yes, I have the best Wind Celestial Sword Arts imprinted within my memory."
"Oh that's good, as you can clearly see, I'm really bad with swords."
"You have never been taught swordsmanship, and this is clear, I could impart you with the Celestial Sword Arts but you can't learn them right now, you could probably learn the first level, the Man tier, as for above, you'll need stronger cultivation to manifest the Wind Celestial Sword Arts."
"I have yet to fully understand the Sanguine Blade Arts." She Bao replied shaking his head, "I can't add more to my plate."
"The Celestial Sword Arts aren't battle oriented, they're designed to improve upon all other sword arts and increase the user's understanding of Sword Intent, many even use it to make their own Sword Domain, it will not conflict with any sword arts you learn, it will only improve upon them."
"Good, then, once I'm out of this place, you'll have to teach me, but for now, it seems that we'll be facing one annoying bastard," Shen Bao said as he looked forward, on the second level of the Sword Intent Mountain stood a man with crossed arm as he looked down on Shen Bao, he didn't even deign Shen Bao worth his time as he had his eyes closed and nine swords were flying behind him.
The attack from before was from this person and he seemed far more proficient in using his swords.
An annoying opponent had shown up.
"Master, this person is far stronger than you," Y tactlessly spoke.
"I know, I'll probably need to use some sort of trick, I don't think I can win this fight."
"You can if you can trust me on this one," Y said.
"What do you have in mind?" Shen Bao asked.
"Charge him as fast as you can, and swing down with your sword using as much Qi as you can." Y said.
Looking ahead, Shen Bao knew that even all of his Qi would not even be a hindrance to this apparition, as it appeared he was a Nascent Soul of at least a sixth realm.
"Right then, I'll trust you on this Y," Shen Bao said and charged forward towards the cultivator.
"Foolish mortal, you dare defy my will with your meager strength!" the man said as his nine swords shone bright and came towards Shen Bao.
"Now! Slice down!" She Bao heard.
Shen Bao immediately raised his sword and infused it with as much Qi as he could, and with this, a blinding light manifested as Shen Bao swung down.
Almost immediately after, a loud explosion sounded in front of Shen Bao and all he could see was a massive crater that split through a section of the mountain in front of him. The cultivator looked shocked as he began slowly disappearing from in front of Shen Bao unbelieving how a Core realm cultivator could beat a Nascent Soul cultivator so easily.
Shen Bao knew perfectly well that this was not the result of his attack, but rather it was Y. Y had asked Shen Bao to infuse his sword with as much Qi as he could and strike down, this wouldn't have even grazed the Nascent Soul cultivator, but at the same time the abundance of the Qi released managed to camouflage Y, who emerged his arm from within the poison god's book and swung down in a joint attack with Shen Bao, hidden by the green light of his blade, the blow cut down the enemy.
Immediately, a new door opened to Shen Bao to proceed forward, while outside the mirror world, a great commotion was brewing.