2026-09-12 23:44:37
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The Sword Puppet gave no time to recover. A second thrust came with a speed that defied reason for a creature of that weight. Gu Chen was forced to drop and roll to the side. The stone sword slammed into the ground with force, creating a long crack that stretched right to Zhao Ming’s feet.Seeing his companion hard-pressed, Lin Hao immediately took the initiative to attack. His sword swung fiercely, slashing straight toward the Sword Puppet’s shoulder.Trang!The sharp clash of metal rang out. Lin Hao’s sword was forcefully deflected, unable to leave even a thin scratch on the creature’s stone surface.“This stone body… is too hard!” Lin Hao exclaimed, eyes wide.Zhao Ming charged forward with overflowing fury. The aura of Earth Realm Level Five exploded from his body, pressing the surrounding air. “Get out of the way!”His large sword swung with full power to cleave the puppet’s head.BOOOOM!The solid impact forced the Sword Puppet to take one step backward.Only one step.Zhao Ming
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The mist among the black rocks drifted slowly, carrying a suffocating silence. The sound of footsteps echoed closer, breaking the stillness of a valley that had slept for thousands of years.Tap… Tap… Tap…Qing Zilong stood behind a boulder that rose as high as two men. His gaze calmly pierced the dense fog, while his breathing had almost completely merged with the wind. Not a single trace of cultivation aura leaked from his body; he was like a part of nature itself.Behind the curtain of mist, Zhao Ming crouched on the ground. His fingers touched footprints still clearly imprinted on the damp sand, proving that someone had just passed through.The smile on Zhao Ming’s face widened. “Still warm.”Gu Chen approached with cautious steps. “Is he really here?”“These tracks were made not long ago.” Zhao Ming rose slowly with a sharp grin. “Qing Zilong can’t be far.”Lin Hao stroked the hilt of his sword, his eyes radiating impatience. “Finally, this game of hide-and-seek is over.”Without
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In the middle of the stone debris, a bronze token fell to the ground. Tang.Zilong picked it up. The second token. The moment the token touched his palm, a thin light appeared for an instant before vanishing.“Master!” Tianyi’s voice was full of excitement. “Two tokens!”“Not yet.”“Not yet.” That flat answer immediately made Tianyi snort. “Master can never just be happy.”“We haven’t even met other participants yet.”“Oh… that’s true.”Zilong stored the token in his spatial ring. He had just been about to walk when Tianyi suddenly stopped speaking. The silence felt strange.“Tianyi?”Several breaths passed. Then Tianyi’s voice came very quietly. “There are humans.”Zilong’s gaze instantly sharpened. “How many?”“Three. About two hundred paces away. They’re walking together.”Without wasting time, Zilong suppressed his aura until it nearly vanished. He leapt lightly onto a large moss-covered rock, his body blending into the shadows of the mist.A few seconds later, three figures appea
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White mist still danced among the thousands of swords thrust into the earth. A mountain wind blew gently, yet every gust carried the nearly inaudible sound of metal, as if countless blades were clashing deep within the valley.Qing Zilong did not step forward immediately. He stood upright in the middle of the stone path, allowing all his senses to adjust to this foreign place. Silent. Yet it was not a peaceful silence it was a silence filled with pressure.His gaze slowly swept across the valley. Every sword that stood in the ground pointed in a different direction, as if thousands of swordsmen had once stood here and fallen without ever drawing their weapons free again. Zilong crouched slowly. His fingertips touched a long crack on the surface of the freezing stone.In an instant, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Not from fear, but because an understanding suddenly formed in his mind.“This crack… was not made by an ordinary cultivator.”The sword mark still retained s
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The creature vanished with startling speed. The stone sword appeared right in front of Zilong’s face.CLANG!Zilong tilted his body half a step. The slash merely grazed the tip of his hair, while the sword wind struck the rock behind him and split it cleanly in two.The Sword Puppet gave him no chance. It spun, and the stone sword came again from the side. Zilong stepped back one pace. The second attack passed, the third followed, then the fourth and fifth. Slash after slash cleaved the air without pause. Yet every time the blade was about to strike his body, Zilong was already no longer in the same place. His steps were extremely small, extremely economical, as if he already knew the direction of every slash even before the Sword Puppet moved.“Master!” Tianyi sounded anxious. “Why aren’t you attacking?”“Because I’m not finished watching.”“Watching what?”Zilong dodged another thrust as the stone sword slammed into the ground. “The pattern.” He turned lightly. “Look at its left foo
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White light swallowed Qing Zilong’s entire field of vision. There was no sound, no sensation of falling only silence that lasted a few seconds, until finally…Tap.The sole of his foot touched the ground. A cold wind immediately swept across his face, carrying a faint scent of iron mixed with damp earth. Zilong slowly opened his eyes. White mist hung low, covering most of the valley until visibility was limited to only a few dozen paces.He did not move. His gaze swept the surroundings first.The ground beneath his feet was no ordinary earth; its surface was covered in straight cracks like the marks of a thousand sword strikes, while the large rocks in the distance were split cleanly, as if once severed by a single, extremely sharp slash.The wind blew again.Shiiing… The faint sound of metal scraping against metal echoed, even though no one was nearby.“Sword aura,” Zilong thought. “Still lingering even after so many years.”Zilong raised his eyes. The mist drifted slowly, revealing
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