Upon stepping into Ghost Manor, Ling Xiao suddenly felt an extremely powerful aura rush towards him.
Sword intent.
And it was an extremely yin, extremely cold, sinister sword intent.
Exchanging a glance with Shangguan Hong, both of their eyes showed shock.
“That sword intent seems to be coming from the place where my junior sister is trapped.”
After closing his eyes to sense it for a moment, Shangguan Hong said.
“Do you know what is going on?”
Ling Xiao asked.
“I am not sure. When I stayed here before, I never felt anything like this.”
Shangguan Hong shook his head.
“In that case, let us go and take a look first.”
After saying this, Ling Xiao lifted his foot and walked forward.
Unexpectedly, a female warrior in her twenties stopped them.
“What are you doing?”
Shangguan Hong frowned. He was anxious to save his junior sister, so his mood was not very good.
“Please do not misunderstand. I saw that you two were heading towards the source of the sword intent, so I came specially to warn you. That place is very dangerous. Earlier, two Cave Heaven Realm warriors tried to enter it, and both of them died.”
The female warrior might have seen Shangguan Hong’s earlier display, or perhaps because Ling Xiao and Shangguan Hong were both handsome and outstanding young men, so she appeared rather enthusiastic.
She continued, “If you want to comprehend sword intent, there is no need to enter that place. Anywhere within Ghost Manor you can sense it, it is just slightly weaker.
Of course, if you can obtain a sword intent wandering soul, that would be the best.
Unfortunately, sword intent wandering souls can only be captured near the source of the sword intent. That area has already been occupied by the Giant Whale Sect and various experts. We are only able to cultivate here because we paid the Giant Whale Sect a great deal in bribes.”
“Thank you for the reminder, miss. Rest assured, you will definitely obtain a sword intent wandering soul.”
Ling Xiao smiled. He had always believed in repaying kindness many times over, and returning hatred tenfold or a hundredfold.
Being clear about gratitude and grudges was probably his greatest strength.
As he spoke, Ling Xiao walked forward, with Shangguan Hong following closely behind.
“You two are crazy. Did you not understand what I said? That place is occupied by the Giant Whale Sect and experts. One needs at least Third Cave Heaven Realm cultivation to qualify.”
The female warrior cried out in alarm.
Ling Xiao did not reply and continued walking forward.
This sinister sword intent felt extremely special.
With each increase in cultivation level, one could walk a bit further.
The place Shangguan Hong ultimately reached was where Third Cave Heaven Realm warriors were located.
There were sword intent wandering souls here as well, but the number was relatively small.
“Shangguan, stay here and cultivate. Leave your junior sister to me.”
“Be careful.”
Although Shangguan Hong wanted to follow Ling Xiao forward, he knew he did not have that level of strength.
Moreover, these sword intent wandering souls were truly very useful for cultivation. Even non swordsmen could gain benefits from them.
So staying here to cultivate was actually the better choice.
“Yes.”
Ling Xiao nodded, then continued walking forward.
At this moment, the female warrior was completely dumbfounded. She was also a Cave Heaven Realm warrior, but she had only just broken through.
She had thought that Ling Xiao and Shangguan Hong were at a similar level to her. Who would have thought that Shangguan Hong could compare to a Third Cave Heaven Realm warrior.
As for the other one, he was even more terrifying, he could actually continue moving forward.
In the end, Ling Xiao reached a spot closest to the sword intent source.
There were the fewest people here. Including Ling Xiao, there were only five people in total.
Two of them were clearly a married couple, both around fifty or sixty years old.
The other two were middle aged men in their thirties or forties, with cold expressions, giving off an air of keeping strangers at bay.
When they saw Ling Xiao slowly approaching, all of them showed looks of surprise.
After all, Ling Xiao looked far too young, and without Fifth Cave Heaven Realm cultivation, it was impossible to reach this place.
Because one simply could not withstand that terrifying sword intent.
Ling Xiao nodded at them with a smile as a greeting.
Then he continued walking forward.
Only when he felt that he could not go any deeper did he finally sit down.
Everyone knew that the closer one was to the source, the greater the chance of obtaining sword intent wandering souls, and the better the cultivation效果.
“Since arriving at the Divine Phoenix Empire, my sword intent has been stuck at the minor completion stage and unable to improve. This time, I need to improve it properly.”
Sitting there, Ling Xiao could feel the sword intent within his body stirring restlessly.
A swordsman’s battle intent was sword intent.
Everyone had battle intent, but before reaching minor completion, it could only intimidate opponents and could not cause real damage.
Once battle intent reached minor completion, it would produce real damage.
For example, Ling Xiao’s current sword intent was minor completion first level.
At this level, sword intent could increase one tenth of a percent of attack or defence, and also exert mental pressure on opponents.
In other words, when minor completion sword intent was cultivated to the ninth level peak and broke through to one level of major completion sword intent, it could increase attack or defence by ten percent.
Do not underestimate that small increase. If your base attack and defence were high enough, the advantage would become huge.
This was also why Ling Xiao’s sword always appeared stronger than those of his peers.
However, minor completion first level sword intent was clearly still too weak.
Ling Xiao was not satisfied with this.
Previously, he had no opportunity to improve.
Now that he had the chance, he naturally wanted to raise his sword intent as high as possible.
That way, when facing enemies, his advantage would be even greater.
He closed his eyes, sensed the surging sword intent released from the source, and began to comprehend it.
After about an hour, Ling Xiao’s sword intent rose from minor completion first level to minor completion second level.
But he did not show any excitement.
This speed was too slow.
Whether it was sword intent or martial cultivation, the further one went, the slower the progress became, unless one encountered special opportunities. Otherwise, breakthroughs were very difficult.
Ling Xiao’s rapid cultivation speed was precisely because he had gained various benefits through countless adventures.
The sword intent here was powerful, but because it was too scattered and too chaotic, and mixed with some vicious battle intent, it could not compare with sword intent wandering souls at all.
Although it was much faster than outside, it was still far inferior.
So called sword intent wandering souls were actually pure sword intent condensed into something similar to a martial soul.
After obtaining a sword intent wandering soul, there was no need to worry about anything else. One only needed to cultivate, and the speed of improvement would be much faster.
After another full hour passed, Ye Chen finally came out of the state of comprehension.
“This will not do. Everyone says sword intent wandering souls appear here. How exactly are they supposed to appear?”
Ling Xiao was eager to improve his strength, so he was very dissatisfied with the current speed.
With his current level of sword intent, he still could not enter the place where Shangguan Hong’s junior sister was trapped. How could he even talk about rescuing her?
To save her, his sword intent would likely need to reach at least the major completion stage.
Minor completion sword intent had nine levels.
After the ninth level came major completion sword intent.
