“Lin Yun, why are you daydreaming?” The black mist figure’s words jolted Lin Yun from his thoughts.
“Uh, it’s nothing.” Lin Yun snapped back to reality.
“Listen, kid, I’ll be straight with you. I have no intention of harming you. The reason is simple: someone needs to pass the ultimate test and gain the Heavenly Fire Temple’s approval so I can leave with you. My interests align with yours,” the black mist figure said.
After a pause, the black mist figure continued, “Of course, I’m not sure if your methods are the same as theirs. Let’s just say I might have misjudged.”
“Captain, can I now claim the reward for passing the intermediate test?” Lin Yun asked.
Though failing the advanced test left Lin Yun somewhat frustrated, he had no choice but to collect the intermediate test reward for now.
“Of course. For passing the intermediate test, you get fifty thousand Bright Moon Crystals as a reward, plus access to the Thousand Mechanism Chamber for cultivation. Your salary will also be raised to the level of a Heavenly Fire Guard, no longer just a provisional guard,” the black mist figure said.
This time, the fifty thousand Bright Moon Crystals reward was the same in quantity as before, but the context was entirely different.
Last time, he had to choose one reward among several, including the Bright Moon Crystals, meaning he couldn’t select others if he chose them.
This time, there were two rewards, with the Bright Moon Crystals being just one, essentially a bonus.
“Oh? What’s the Thousand Mechanism Chamber?” Lin Yun asked curiously.
“It’s a special place in this divine palace for comprehension and cultivation. For you, it’s definitely an opportunity,” the black mist figure said.
“An opportunity? Is there anything in there that could help break through to the next realm, like comprehending the Sovereign Realm?” Lin Yun asked, his voice tinged with anticipation.
For Lin Yun now, breaking through to the Sovereign Realm was his top priority.
“What are you thinking? Breaking through to a major realm like the Sovereign Realm isn’t that easy,” the black mist figure said, chuckling and shaking its head.
The black mist figure continued, “Of course, if you can pass the advanced test, the subsequent opportunities might help with your breakthrough to some extent. But it’s only assistance; the rest depends on you.”
“Is that so? Then I’m looking forward to it,” Lin Yun said, his eyes gleaming with anticipation.
Even if it only aided his breakthrough, that was enough to excite Lin Yun.
“But you still need to pass the advanced test. Otherwise, it’s all just talk, and passing the advanced test won’t be easy for you,” the black mist figure said.
It continued, “For now, head to the Thousand Mechanism Chamber and make use of the opportunity at hand.”
With that, the black mist figure waved its hand, producing fifty thousand Bright Moon Crystals and handing them to Lin Yun.
“Fourth, take Lin Yun to the Thousand Mechanism Chamber,” the black mist figure instructed.
“Yes.”
The silver-armoured stone statue nearby responded and turned to Lin Yun, “Lin Yun, follow me.”
After Lin Yun collected the fifty thousand Bright Moon Crystals, he followed the silver-armoured statue through the grand hall to a stone door.
The statue pushed open the door, revealing the Thousand Mechanism Chamber.
Inside the chamber were numerous partitioned rooms.
“This Thousand Mechanism Chamber offers opportunities for mastering various weapons. Since you use a sword, enter this room. The Thousand Mechanism Chamber is quite famous in our Heavenly Fire Temple,” the statue said.
It stopped before a door to one of the partitioned rooms.
The door bore an engraving of a sword and the words “Sword Chamber,” clearly one of many such rooms in the Thousand Mechanism Chamber.
“Alright, thank you.”
Lin Yun pushed open the stone door to the partitioned room, revealing a swirling vortex of a barrier gate.
He stepped forward into it.
Boom!
As soon as Lin Yun entered, the surroundings transformed instantly.
He found himself in a small barrier space, about the size of two football fields. It was clearly a miniature space carved out, surrounded by a vast whiteness.
Lin Yun focused and saw at least a thousand stone pillars in the barrier space, each carved with a small figure wielding a sword, all in different poses.
He approached the first stone pillar and examined it closely.
“Doesn’t seem like anything special,” Lin Yun muttered, looking at the small figure on the pillar.
Then he reached out and touched the figure on the pillar.
Boom!
The moment his hand made contact, a flood of images surged into his mind.
In the images, a person wielded a sword, moving through a series of motions.
Lin Yun immediately focused, watching intently.
About an hour later, he opened his eyes.
“This sword technique is quite interesting,” Lin Yun said with a smile.
Still intrigued, he placed his hand on the pillar again, and the same images reappeared in his mind.
He watched with relish once more.
Another hour passed, and when the images ended, Lin Yun moved to the next pillar.
Following the same process, he touched the next pillar, and as expected, new images appeared, showing another sword-wielding figure, completely different from the previous one.
Each pillar contained a unique sword technique demonstration.
Swordsmanship is a broad category with many approaches. While different practitioners share some similarities, their methods also vary greatly.
When Lin Yun first joined Emperor Fire Cloud’s sect, he had bought numerous sword technique manuals from the empire’s treasury. Though those manuals weren’t of high rank, studying so many different techniques had inspired him and introduced him to new ways of wielding a sword.
This time was different.
Unlike studying manuals, these were vivid demonstrations of sword techniques, allowing Lin Yun to clearly see the details and methods of their execution, rather than interpreting them from books.
Moreover, the sword techniques in these pillars were executed with exquisite precision, far surpassing the quality of the manuals he had studied before.
After finishing the second pillar, Lin Yun moved on to the next.
This was a time-consuming task. Even if he watched tirelessly, he could only cover about twenty pillars in a day, and there were a thousand here.
Occasionally, when inspiration struck, Lin Yun would draw his sword and practice, or pause to ponder, which took even more time, as some techniques left him deeply puzzled.
