The altar within the mysterious ring was currently glowing with a blinding light. A peculiar energy was being emitted by the altar, which was leaking out of the ring. Even the barrier created by Xukong could not stop it. The energy was so strong that it had spread out in an area of hundred kilometers.
Xukong, who was inside the ring and also the closest to the altar, was bearing the full brunt of the impact. The feeling of terror filled every speck of his body and paralyzed him. Especially since his current body was only an avatar and did not have the cultivation base of the main body, he felt much worse than normal.
'What is this aura? Even those old monsters would not come close to this level.' Xukong thought.
A minute later, the aura changed from being cold and overwhelming to sharp and deadly. Xukong now felt as if he was in the presence of a peerless sword immortal. He had to use every bit of his will to resist the sharp aura, otherwise he felt as if his soul would be severed in an instant.
In the Northern town, there was a large courtyard that was hidden from the eyes of mortals. Within this courtyard, a manor existed, in the front of which a beautiful garden full of fragrant spirit flowers was spread. In this garden, two people were currently sitting inside a pergola.
These two were none other than the pair of grandfather and granddaughter, Jing Wei and Duan Ke. Jing Wei was drinking a cup of aromatic tea while Duan Ke was reading a jade scroll. Suddenly both of them felt as if freezing water was poured over them and they dropped the items in their hands. The elegant cup fell from Jing Wei's hand and shattered, while the jade scroll dropped on the table and made a clinking sound.
Once the freezing feeling passed, it morphed into a sharp and deadly aura. They felt as if thousands of swords were pointed at them and would be cutting them into a million pieces in the next instant. This overwhelming feeling lasted for a minute, after which it disappeared.
Duan Ke collapsed on the ground and was left breathless. Blood could be seen dripping out of the edge of her lips. Jing Wei was no good either. He was able to hold on to the table and plopped down onto a chair.
"Grand… father… what… was… that?" Duan Ke uttered between her breaths.
Jing Wei stayed silent for five minutes before he was able to gather his wits. He let out a breath of foul qi and spoke,
"That was sword intent. A hidden cultivator ascended two days ago, and now this; I don't even know what to make of this anymore."
"That was sword intent! Is there even a single expert in any of the top sects that can have such an overbearing sword intent?" Duan Ke exclaimed out loud.
"No, I'm afraid not. Even the sword intent of the previous ancestor of the Centennial Sword sect cannot compare to this." Jing Wei said.
In Wu Lim city, a shocking phenomenon could be witnessed. The commoners saw one cultivator after another collapsing on the ground. Some could even be seen bleeding from the seven orifices.
Inside the mayor's mansion, Wu Xun was also struggling to stand. He could not understand what was happening right now either.
After the overwhelming aura vanished, he immediately popped a pill into his mouth and rushed through a hidden entrance. He later appeared inside a cave deep underground. Wu Xun walked into the cave with the blood pool and saw that the inscriptions carved into the roof and the walls had crumbled into dust.
Wu Xun walked over to the blood pool with an anxious expression and saw his elder brother sitting there safely. Seeing that his elder brother was fine, he let out a breath of relief.
"If you are fine, then everything will be fine." Wu Xun muttered.
This day would later be called as the day of the fallen.
Back at the hunting shack, Lin Mu was still sitting on the ground cross-legged. A tranquil expression could be seen on his face, completely unaware of the phenomenon that had happened. The day had turned into night when Lin Mu finally woke up.
"So there's more to Severing heart sutra than just enhanced spirit qi control." Lin Mu muttered.
"You're finally awake." Xukong spoke.
"How long was I out for?" Lin Mu asked.
"Look around. You've been in a state of enlightenment for the past twelve hours." Xukong informed.
Lin Mu looked at the sky and found that it was indeed late. He had not expected that time would pass so fast. For him, it was only a few minutes. While for others, hours had gone by.
"What did you gain from your enlightenment?" Xukong curiously asked.
This question had been picking at Xukong's mind ever since the overwhelming aura had disappeared. He wondered what kind of concept could it be, that it would cause such a massive impact. From the aura that he experienced, Xukong could tell that it was similar to sword intent yet different. One thing was sure though, that it was related to the sword path.
Lin Mu thought for a moment and recalled all that he had learned.
"The severing heart sutra, it's not as simple as it appears. It has numerous methods of application, and I've only been using one. It also has different stages of comprehension from what I understood." Lin Mu answered.
'Hmm, so that aura was from Lin Mu gaining enlightenment about the severing heart sutra. I already knew that it was related to the sword path, but now I'm sure it's some kind of immortal inheritance.' Xukong thought.
"So, what are these different stages of comprehension that you've understood?" Xukong questioned.
"The stage I'm in right now is the second stage of external comprehension. But this is for the severing heart sutra only. For the calming heart sutra, I'm still in the first stage of external comprehension." Lin Mu answered.
"In the first stage of external comprehension, I'm only able to use the nine divine heart sutras on myself. While in the second stage of external comprehension, I'm able to use it on others as well. As for the stages beyond this, I will only know them when I progress further." Lin Mu further explained.
Seeing that senior Xukong was not speaking anymore, Lin Mu just decided to continue training. He estimated it to be midnight, thus he first cooked some dinner and ate it. Then he cultivated for a while and then decided to sleep.
Lin Mu appeared in the Sleepscape in front of the spirit apple tree. He saw that there wasn't only one spirit apple on the tree, but rather three of them. Two of those apples were ripe and one was still growing.
"Wait, two spirit apples? Oh no! I think I spent much longer in the Grand Void than I thought." Lin Mu exclaimed.
"Well, I've already paid for the room in advance, so it shouldn't cause much of a problem for me." Lin Mu thought out loud.
Lin Mu then plucked the two spirit apples and stored them in the ring.
'Can I bring out senior Xukong in the Sleepscape?' Lin Mu wondered.
When he was in the real world, senior Xukong had informed him that he will not be able to come out of the ring, as the world's restrictions would not allow him to exist there. To test this out, Lin Mu actually tried it and indeed found it to be true. No matter how much effort he put, he could not pull out senior Xukong from the ring.
To satisfy his curiosity Lin Mu willed it and the tiny body of senior Xukong appeared on his hand.
Xukong seemed dumbstruck when he suddenly found himself in a different place. He saw that he was on Lin Mu's hand, and the place that they were in seemed unnatural. He did not speak and looked around for a bit before speaking.
"Where are we?" Xukong asked.
"In my Sleepscape, Senior." Lin Mu informed.
"Your Sleepscape?" Xukong muttered.
Lin Mu then realized that in all that happened, he had completely forgotten to tell senior Xukong about the Sleepscape. Even yesterday because he was extremely tired, he did not enter the Sleepscape. Thus he did not get the chance to speak about it beforehand.
Seeing that Senior Xukong was waiting for his explanation, Lin Mu described the circumstances behind the Sleepscape and what its characteristics were. He told him how it was originally a dark and gloomy place and how it later turned into this. He told him about the spirit apple tree and the size of the entire location.
Xukong digested the entire information and searched his own memories, as well as his bloodline memories for an answer to this enigma of a place. After a few minutes of searching, he was able to reach a conclusion.
'For a place that exists within a person, can accommodate my avatar and seems to be able to support some rudimentary laws, there's only one answer that comes to my mind.' Xukong concluded.
"A Garden Of Karma." Xukong uttered.