42: Sevenfold sword intent! Preparing to break through!

"I'll do it!"

"Me too!"

The responding voices rose and fell, and there were actually many more than yesterday!

Zhang Yang's gaze swept across; there were as many as ten challengers!

Looking at their appearances, most were between forty to sixty years old, and their cultivation levels were uniformly Spirit Aperture Realm Ninth Level.

Zhang Yang's heart suddenly leaped with joy! Ten people! That meant a full eight thousand Purple Sun Pills!

Could it be that he would strike it rich today?

"Good!" Zhang Yang laughed heartily, as if seeing a massive amount of Medicinal Pills waving at him, feeling incomparably cheerful.

"Who's first? Or... come at me all at once?" His words were filled with heroic spirit.

"No need! Naturally, we'll come one by one!" the leader said in a deep voice.

"Good!"

Elder Wang appeared again to preside over the challenges.

The first challenge began immediately.

At first, Zhang Yang did not use his full strength, but deliberately restrained his power to carefully savor and deconstruct the combat experience and techniques his opponent had accumulated over decades in the martial path.

His combat instincts and adaptability grew rapidly under the tempering of actual combat.

However, although these challengers were older than Zhang Yang and had cultivated longer, the seasoned nature of their combat experience and the refinement of their Moves were ultimately far inferior to Cang Lingchuan from yesterday.

After dozens of rounds, Zhang Yang felt his gains were meager, and it was difficult to find any new inspiration.

Zhang Yang's eyes narrowed, and he no longer held back. His figure moved like a lightning flash, and a peerlessly fierce straight punch, wrapped in sharp fist-gang, tore through the air and accurately blasted the weak point in his opponent's transition between Moves!

Bang!

The challenger only felt a surge of immense force, and his entire body flew backward like a broken kite, falling at the edge of the stage. Defeated!

The subsequent challenges became even simpler.

Seeing that it was difficult to absorb more nourishment from his opponents, Zhang Yang simply stopped delaying.

No matter what Move the opponent used, he would use strength to break skill or speed to beat slowness.

Sometimes it was a single punch of incomparable force, breaking all laws!

Sometimes it was a single finger, with finger-force as refined as a blade, piercing through the vital points of their Qi!

His Moves were simple and sharp, yet contained terrifying power.

Every strike was accompanied by a muffled thud and a figure flying backward.

In an instant, six challengers had been defeated in succession, and not a single one could force out Zhang Yang's second Move!

Looking at Zhang Yang's steady and matchless figure on the stage,

the remaining four challengers below, who were originally eager to try, looked at each other, and not one dared to step forward again!

Seeing them retreat, Zhang Yang couldn't help but shake his head inwardly, feeling quite a pity.

That was a loss of three thousand two hundred Purple Sun Pills!

However, it didn't matter; this many Purple Sun Pills were already enough for Zhang Yang's use.

In the end, he collected six jade boxes filled with Purple Sun Pills, totaling four thousand eight hundred!

Under the watch of countless gazes, Zhang Yang's figure drifted away, returning once more to the meditation chamber.

After putting away these Purple Sun Pills, Zhang Yang went to the third floor of the Xuan Dan Pavilion.

He continued to observe the insights of past Geniuses regarding High Grade Profound Cores while also comprehending Saber Intent.

Zhang Yang had a premonition that the time for him to break through to the seventh-level Saber Intent was not far off.

For the following eight days, Zhang Yang's life was very disciplined, moving in a three-point line between the Jia-rank Meditation Chamber, the third floor of the Xuan Dan Pavilion, and the Martial Arts Stage, with no distractions.

Only, from the third day onwards, no one took the initiative to step onto the Martial Arts Stage anymore.

Seeing this, Zhang Yang simply removed the restriction on challenge materials, staying for one hour every day and accepting all comers.

He deliberately suppressed his own strength to spar with and learn from many Inner Sect Disciples, polishing his combat instincts.

This Move by Zhang Yang attracted several true experts of the Spirit Aperture Realm over the following days.

They were all veteran Disciples who had been immersed in the Spirit Aperture Realm Ninth Level for over a hundred years, and their combat skills were already perfected.

Clashing with them yielded many gains for Zhang Yang, and his combat experience grew at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Zhang Yang's heart was as clear as a mirror; these veteran Disciples were also using him as a whetstone to temper themselves!

On the eighth day, Cang Lingchuan stepped onto the Martial Arts Stage once again.

This time he didn't come with a mission, but with goodwill, to repay Zhang Yang for showing mercy before.

Zhang Yang still suppressed his strength. Their Qi drew each other in, saber light flashed like lightning, and the battle surged like a tide.

In an hour of fierce fighting, Cang Lingchuan's combat wisdom, accumulated over two hundred years, was entirely absorbed and integrated by Zhang Yang.

After the sparring, Zhang Yang announced to the Disciples below that the battles on the Martial Arts Stage would be suspended at noon.

With the Inner Sect Grand Competition approaching, he would prepare with all his might!

Eight days of accumulation had already given Zhang Yang a clear understanding of the various key points for breaking through to the Profound Core Realm.

Now, he was only missing that final step—the complete Perfection of the seventh-level Saber Intent!

Inside the Jia-rank Meditation Chamber, isolated from the bustle of the world,

Zhang Yang flipped through Senior Jiang Dao's insights on Saber Intent while simultaneously visualizing a precious saber in his mind to comprehend its intent.

The moon reached the middle of the sky.

Zhang Yang slowly closed the book of insights, then closed his eyes, his mind and spirit sinking completely into the Saber Intent.

The moment he closed his eyes, an indescribable and profound rhythm quietly spread from within his body.

In the meditation chamber, it was as if countless invisible and sharp auras were silently roaming, colliding, and condensing in the void!

As time ticked by, the Saber Intent surrounding Zhang Yang became increasingly solid and brilliant!

That aura was no longer ethereal, but like a physical prototype of saber-gang, containing a sharpness that could cut rivers, split mountains, and even tear through the firmament!

One hour later!

Zhang Yang, who had been sitting as still as a mountain, suddenly snapped his eyes open!

"Buzz—!"

A terrifying Saber Intent that was impossible to resist erupted like a volcano that had been suppressed for ten thousand years!

A tangible torrent of Saber Qi instantly filled the entire meditation chamber, violently battering the four walls!

The light of the Formation guarding the meditation chamber flickered wildly, and the Formation patterns flowed rapidly, trying to neutralize this heaven-toppling Saber Intent.

However, this seventh-level Saber Intent was too overbearing and too pure!

The Formation's light curtain wavered, seemingly unable to keep up.

Only the continuous sharp sound of "chi chi" could be heard as the walls and floor of the meditation chamber were carved with various deep and shallow gashes by the rampaging Saber Intent!

"Hoo—!"

A breath of turbid air was slowly exhaled from Zhang Yang's mouth.

The sky-filling Saber Intent ravaging the meditation chamber seemed to be drawn in, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, instantly sweeping back and being completely withdrawn into his body.

"Seventh-level Saber Intent... it's finally achieved!"

A smile curled at the corner of Zhang Yang's mouth.

During these eight days, his mind and spirit had been visualizing the precious saber and comprehending the Saber Intent at every moment. Now, it had come naturally!

As his gaze swept across the shocking saber marks on the walls of the meditation chamber, Zhang Yang's heart also shuddered.

The power of this seventh-level Saber Intent had actually reached such a level?

This place was a Jia-rank Meditation Chamber, claimed to be able to withstand the cultivation fluctuations of a Great Expert of the Infant Transformation Realm!

In the next instant, the meditation chamber's Formation shone brightly again, and Dao patterns intertwined and flowed over the gashes like living things.

The deep saber marks were seen slowly closing and smoothing over at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Within a few breaths, the meditation chamber had been restored to its original state, smooth and new, as if the world-destroying rampage of Saber Intent just now had only been an illusion.

Seeing this, Zhang Yang nodded slightly; it was indeed worthy of being a Jia-rank Meditation Chamber, it even had a self-repair function!

"The time has come. Why not take this momentum to condense the Profound Core?"

The thought of breaking through flashed through Zhang Yang's mind, but he immediately suppressed it.

"No, although ordinary condensation of a Profound Core won't cause too much of a phenomenon, what I seek is that legendary dao rhyme golden core... there's no guarantee it won't trigger unpredictable changes."

"It's better to be steady!"

There were still five days left before the Inner Sect Grand Competition; there was enough time!

The next day, as the morning sun first rose, ten thousand rays of rosy light appeared.

Zhang Yang stood up and left the Clear Wind Sect, heading straight for the place where he had previously experimented with the Sovereign Extreme Heaven Severing.

This place was still desolate and dead, with few signs of human activity.

Only the half-barren mountain, neatly split down the middle by the matchless saber-gang with its exposed cross-section, spoke of the lingering power of that world-shaking strike from that day.

"This is the place!"

Zhang Yang reached the summit of the barren mountain.

With a casual flick of his finger, a strand of Saber Qi as refined as silk shot out, silently carving a platform as smooth as a mirror out of a giant rock on the mountain Peak.

He landed on the stone platform and sat cross-legged.

At noon, with the fierce sun high in the sky, the blazing sunlight seemed to contain the power of extreme Yang, illuminating the mountain Peak with a brilliant glow.

The aura around Zhang Yang had reached an unprecedented Peak.

At this very moment, it was time to break through to the Profound Core Realm!