Invincible Divine Sword

Chapter 33: Sword Slaying Four Directions

Translator: 549690339

After leaving, Yang Xiaotian went to the Academy’s Book Pavilion.

Since only one secret tome could be borrowed at a time, Yang Xiaotian chose the “Phantom Sword Technique” this time.

Although the Phantom Sword Technique was Acquired Swordsmanship, it was far more powerful than Sword Thirteen. If perfected, it could compare with Innate Martial Arts.

Previously, Chen Bingyao had used the Phantom Sword Technique for his second challenge against Yang Xiaotian.

Seeing Yang Xiaotian taking the Phantom Sword Technique and leaving, Hu Xing’s face darkened.

“I didn’t expect Yang Xiaotian to actually cultivate Sword Thirteen to the Perfection Realm,” Cheng Beibei said with a furrowed brow, watching Yang Xiaotian’s retreating figure.

“Sword Thirteen is just an Acquired Martial Technique. So what if he has perfected it?” Hu Xing scoffed with a sneer. “In a year, if he doesn’t break through to the seventh rank, he will have to pack up and leave just the same.”

While carrying the Phantom Sword Technique, Yang Xiaotian flipped through it as he walked home. By the time he was close to his house, he had completely memorized it.

The Phantom Sword Technique didn’t consist of many moves—just eighteen—but it was known for its speed as one of the top Acquired Sword Techniques.

Meanwhile, Yang Chao and Huang Ying received the money that Yang Xiaotian had sent through the merchant association.

Although it was only 1,100 gold coins, it was a substantial amount for Yang Chao and Huang Ying, who wept tears of joy upon receiving it.

As for Yang Hai, he also learned that Yang Xiaotian could stay at Divine Sword Academy for the time being.

Yang Hai was so angry that he wanted to flip the table.

“The Great Manor Lord need not worry,” assured a guard under Yang Hai’s command. “Young Master Yang Zhong said in his letter that if Yang Xiaotian cannot break through to the seventh rank in a year, he will still have to leave Divine Sword Academy. With second tier Martial Soul, it’s impossible for him to make that breakthrough in a year.”

Then he added, “Besides, Yang Xiaotian has offended Lord Hu Xing, he’s sure not to have an easy time at Divine Sword Academy this year.”

Yang Hai’s expression finally softened.

After returning to his house, Yang Xiaotian saw that the Half-Beast People, Ate and Ali, were practicing the Soul Severing Blade Technique, but he did not disturb them and began practicing the Phantom Sword Technique instead.

Yang Xiaotian didn’t use the Heaven-Penetrating Divine Sword, but practiced with an ordinary long sword instead. As he swung his sword, shadows stacked upon shadows appeared until there were eight layers!

One more layer than Chen Bingyao had accomplished previously.

The Phantom Sword Technique was known for its speed. Reaching seven layers of sword shadows with each move was considered the realm of initial success.

And now, Yang Xiaotian had reached eight layers of sword shadows.

Reaching nine layers would signify the realm of great accomplishment.

Soon after, Yang Xiaotian had executed all eighteen moves of the Phantom Sword Technique.

After a brief pause, Yang Xiaotian swung his sword again.

This time the sword was even faster.

Previously, one could still see the blade, but now the sword was no longer visible.

As the sword shadows reached the eighth layer, another layer emerged beyond the eighth.

Nine lavers!

And Yang Xiaotian’s figure had become astonishingly quick.

With the Phantom Sword Technique in the realm of initial success, the sword shadows were a mix of illusion and reality with only one true shadow, but after stepping into the realm of great accomplishment, every single one of Yang Xiaotian’s sword shadows was a true strike.

Immersed in the Phantom Sword Technique, Yang Xiaotian became faster and faster. After several hours, only sword shadows could be seen, not his form, as he had entirely blended into the layer upon layer of sword shadows.

This was the Perfection Realm!

And the sword shadows had reached ten layers!

After cultivating the Phantom Sword Technique to the Perfection Realm, Yang Xiaotian practiced a little more but could not reach the realm of summit mastery and had to stop. He then began practicing the Heaven-Penetrating Sword Technique.

“One Sword Yin Yang.” “Sword Falls from the Nine Heavens.”

“One Sword Instance.”

After practicing the Spirit Snake Sword Technique, Sword Thirteen, Four Seasons Sword Technique, and Phantom Sword Technique, Yang Xiaotian could more profoundly appreciate the unfathomable power of the Heaven-Penetrating Sword Technique.

After executing One Sword Instance, Yang Xiaotian suddenly rose into the air, the Heaven -Penetrating Divine Sword in his hand striking out in a spinning fashion.

By the time Yang Xiaotian had completed a full rotation, he had already thrust his sword in sixteen directions both front and back, left and right, for a total of sixteen times!

Those sixteen sword strikes, completed nearly in one breath, didn’t pause for even a moment.

This move allowed one sword strike to simultaneously target sixteen enemies in every direction around the body.

This was precisely the fourth move of the Heaven-Penetrating Sword

Technique, “Sword Slaying Four Directions.”

Once the sword was released, there were almost no dead angles.

However, after executing it for the first time, Yang Xiaotian felt his speed was still too slow. Although his sword strikes were already extremely fast, there was more than a breath’s time between the first and the sixteenth strike.

In a real fight, by the time he reached the sixteenth person, the enemy would have likely already reacted and dodged away.

Yang Xiaotian stopped to carefully contemplate the sixteen variations of this sword strike. After a while, the Heaven-Penetrating Divine Sword in his hand pierced out again.

Sixteen sword strikes, all in one go.

This time it was a bit faster than before.

But Yang Xiaotian was still not satisfied; after a while, he struck again. By the time Yang Xiaotian was satisfied and stopped, he realized that the sky had already darkened.

Instead of continuing to practice swordsmanship, Yang Xiaotian took out the beginner’s Artifact Refining Secret Tome that he had obtained from Lin Chengxin, the head guard of Xingyue City’s City Lord’s Mansion.

In these days, he had been busy with cultivation and hadn’t yet looked at this artifact refining tome.

While the status of an artifact refiner was far from that of an alchemist, mastering one more skill wasn’t a bad thing.

The artifact refining tome wasn’t thick, having just over a hundred pages, and it introduced some fundamental knowledge about artifact refining.

Alchemy required the Heaven and Earth Fire, but artifact refining didn’t always need that particular flame, and also the process of refining artifacts didn’t require a very strong spiritual sense, making it a lot easier to become an artifact refiner.

Of course, to become an artifact refiner, one needed to understand the functions of various artifact refining materials and master certain artifact refining techniques.

However, the techniques used in alchemy could generally be applied to artifact refining as well, as the two had certain similarities.

Soon, Yang Xiaotian finished reading the artifact refining tome, feeling like there was still much to learn, planning to go to the Divine Sword Academy’s Repository tomorrow to look through more books about artifact refining.

At night, Yang Xiaotian sat cross-legged on the Cold Jade Bed in his room, cultivating the Primordial Dragon Art.

The Black Tortoise Martial Soul and the Black Snake Martial Spirit emerged.

A few more patterns had appeared on the shell of the giant Black Tortoise, shining even more brilliantly, and the Black Snake Martial Spirit had also grown in size. Previously, the Black Snake Martial Spirit usually coiled on top of the shell of the Black Tortoise, but now, it would leave the shell when devouring nature’s spiritual energy, completely separating from the Black Tortoise.

However, during tonight’s cultivation, Yang Xiaotian felt somewhat restless, with all sorts of ferocious demons constantly emerging in his mind.

He even had the sensation of being in a sea of blood.

Just as Yang Xiaotian was about to lose himself to the demonic illusions, suddenly, a burst of cold air from the Cold Jade Bed snapped him awake.

Yang Xiaotian, sitting cross-legged on the Cold Jade Bed, opened his eyes and touched his forehead, which was covered in cold sweat.

What’s going on here?

Yang Xiaotian wondered, perplexed. He had never encountered this kind of situation during his past cultivations..