The entrance to the Sword Inquiry Stone was a narrow crevice, just wide enough for one person to pass. Lin Yan squeezed through sideways. The light suddenly dimmed, but after he passed through the crevice, the space opened up, and the brightness returned.
He stood inside a vast, hollow chamber.
The ceiling formed a dome roughly fifty feet high. The stone walls were embedded with unknown minerals that cast a cold, faint glow, illuminating the entire chamber like a moonlit night.
Directly ahead, three Sword Steles stood in a line, arranged from shortest to tallest, nearest to farthest.
The first, a yellow Sword Stele, stood about ten feet tall. Its body was grayish-white and its smooth surface was covered in a dense, barely-visible web of sword marks of varying depths.
This was the Rank C Sword Stele. Those who could leave a sword mark on it were considered to have Rank C Talent.
The deeper the sword mark, the higher the grade within the rank; Lower, Middle, and Upper Rank C were all determined by the depth.
The second Sword Stele stood thirty feet beyond the first. It was taller, its surface was silver, and it had noticeably fewer sword marks—only six in total.
Of the six marks, one was deep, one was of medium depth, and four were shallow.
This was the Rank B Sword Stele. Anyone who could leave a mark on it was, without exception, a Sword Dao genius—the kind as rare as a phoenix feather in an entire province.
The third Sword Stele stood the farthest away, another thirty feet beyond the second.
It was pitch-black, its surface as smooth as a mirror, bearing only a single sword mark.
This was the Rank A Sword Stele. In all of Shandong Dao, the number of people who could leave a mark upon it could be counted on one hand.
On the way to Tai Mountain, Lin Yan had learned from Senior He Qiaosheng that the sword marks on these three steles could last for one year at most, after which they would automatically vanish.
’So, only one person has achieved Rank A Talent this year. Could it be that Shen Guyun?’
Lin Yan stared at the sword mark. According to his master, Shen Guyun had previously been rated Lower Rank A. Before leaving for the North Sea Lineage, he would surely have returned to the Tai Mountain Sword Inquiry Stone to test himself again, hoping to reach Middle Rank A.
’Judging by the depth of this mark, though, if it really was Shen Guyun, it looks like he failed to achieve his goal. It’s still just Lower Rank A.’
Lin Yan did not hurry toward the Sword Steles. Instead, he looked around to confirm there was no one else in the chamber. The Sword Inquiry Stone only allowed one person to enter at a time; that was the rule.
But a rule was just a rule, and he still had to check. After confirming he was truly alone, he took his place before the first Sword Stele.
He appeared to be centering himself, but his mind had already turned to the Martial Arts Tree in his head.
’Infuse!’
In his mind, one by one, Martial Arts Fruits silently shattered.
The scene before him changed abruptly. Lin Yan found himself standing in a vast, open field.
The night was ink-black. In the distance, there was only a single pinprick of light from a firefly, so faint it seemed it might go out at any moment.
When he focused his gaze on the firefly, it would suddenly vanish, only to reappear in a different spot.
Whenever he looked at it, the firefly would vanish.
Flickering in and out, zipping left and right, it was as if the light was deliberately teasing him.
He drew his sword. As its light flashed past, the single firefly scattered, transforming into a sky full of them.
Each firefly carried a faint glow, its trajectory erratic and unpredictable.
Lin Yan narrowed his eyes. He didn’t strike again, but simply stared at the fireflies.
A day, a month, a year...
In the end, he stopped trying to track the fireflies, stopped trying to capture that tiny point of light. Instead, he let himself become a firefly. He became the light.
’Fireflies Illuminating the Night... it’s not about capturing the light, but becoming the light.’
Time slipped by as he delved into this epiphany...
Fireflies Illuminating the Night wasn’t about capturing the light; it was about becoming the light.
The sword strikes like a firefly, flickering alone in the night. Your opponent can’t see your blade, can’t even sense your killing intent. By the time the faint glow draws near, the sword has already struck.
After an unknown amount of time, Lin Yan performed his Martial Arts Tree Introspection. The leaf representing the Fireflies Illuminating the Night swordsmanship was now also glowing white, and its branch began to connect with those of the Shadowless Swordsmanship, the Jinghong Sword Technique, and the Spirit Snake Swordsmanship.
The white light flowed between the four leaves, slowly starting to converge.
Lin Yan looked within his Dantian. Beside the original Sword Pill, a second one was slowly taking form.
The two Sword Pills rotated slowly in his Dantian. They didn’t interfere with each other, yet maintained a faint, subtle balance.
With the appearance of the second Sword Pill, Lin Yan felt his Divine Soul tremble for an instant, as if some internal barrier had been shattered.
But when he tried to grasp the nature of this change, he found no trace of it.
’Master said the Sword Heart is connected to the Divine Soul, and so is Sword Intent. Does having two Sword Pills mean my Divine Soul has grown stronger?’
Lin Yan mused to himself. Unfortunately, the Divine Soul was an ethereal concept, far beyond what he could perceive at his current Realm. He would have to set that question aside for later. First, he needed to test the power of his two Sword Pills.
He placed his right hand on the hilt of the Abyssal Sword. With a thought, he activated the Four-Phase Condensing Gang Sword.
The two Sword Pills trembled in unison. Stimulated by them, eight streams of Sword Intent instantly surged through his arm and into the body of the Abyssal Sword.
For the first time, the jet-black body of the Abyssal Sword was flooded with light. This time, the sword was unable to absorb the Sword Gang.
Lin Yan drew his sword, swinging it at the first yellow Sword Stele.
A bolt of Sword Gang struck the yellow Sword Stele, instantly carving a gash three feet deep.
The yellow Sword Stele trembled. A soft yellow light then washed over its face, slowly smoothing over the gash Lin Yan had left. At the same time, it wiped away all the other marks on the stele, restoring its surface to its original pristine smoothness.

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