Enlightenment: Beginning as a Disposable Warrior

Purple Shirt felt that her sword just now was as if stabbed into a mountain—on the surface, a sword that shaved boulders and sent rocks rolling, but in truth, it only scratched the skin; let alone injuring tendons or bones, it barely even harmed the flesh.

"Crack! Crack!"

Amidst the cheering, a sudden sharp explosive sound rang out, and the joy on the faces of the Black Mountain Army froze instantly, their expressions changed dramatically, only to see the swaying back of the blood-drenched ’Taiping Dao Envoy’.

"Sss!"

In the next moment, centered on the blood-soaked figure, horrifying high temperatures and streams of scorching heat burst forth, warping the air around and sending waves crashing outward.

A strand of crimson flame rose from the blood man’s brow, swirling through his whole body in an instant, then a line of golden light flowed, and in the next instant, a terrifying sight appeared.

The blood was washed away; every inch of skin and flesh was spotless, and those sword wounds that seemed chiseled into the bright, sculpted body were sealing at a speed visible to the naked eye, then, under the intense heat, healing rapidly.

This sword indeed hurt Su Mu, but the injury was far less severe than what everyone imagined—not a heavy strike, and certainly not mortal, just some minor flesh wounds.

"Such a fast sword—no wonder Sect Leader Gongsun died at your Black Mountain Army’s hands... But if that’s the extent of your skill, you still won’t be able to kill me, Sun Li."

Su Mu’s eyes flickered, his face remained calmly composed as he continued to play the part of ’Taiping Dao Envoy’, and kept framing the Black Mountain Army, attempting to provoke the person in front of him.

"My sword is not just fast... As to killing, how would you know if you don’t try it yourself?"

Purple Shirt gave a soft laugh, seemingly innocent on the face yet deeply chilling, and in the next instant, she took a light breath, stirring the power within her body.

"Sss!"

A wave of Spiritual Power locked onto Su Mu; Purple Shirt shook in place, instantly dragging out several afterimages, thrusting her sword once more.

Just as Su Mu’s eyes narrowed slightly, the Dragon of Spiritual Power at his brow surged and his Inference Talent activated.

The same move was useless against him.

Purple Shirt’s sword, in Su Mu’s eyes, was slowed down by a dozen, dozens of times, then analyzed under the terrifying Dragon-and-Phoenix Level Enlightenment.

That sword, gentle as a spring breeze on the surface, was not just supreme mastery in swordsmanship, but also contained Power of Attributes circulating and mutually generating that no one else present could glimpse.

"What astonishing Swordsmanship—Purple Shirt is no weaker than Gongsun Xin!"

Purple Shirt first caused resonance and vibration within her already-refined Five Viscera, a concentrated power starting from the heart, passing through the spleen, then reaching both lungs, finally transforming into even greater Gold Attribute Power.

The heart corresponds to Five Elements of Fire, spleen to Five Elements of Earth, lungs to Five Elements of Metal—thus, Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Metal: this is the Five Viscera internal cycle.

Then, working with the Breathing Technique to connect with heaven and earth’s Metal Spiritual Qi, the combination made this sword strike even more powerful.

In the Five Extremes Realm, a Martial Artist must use the Power of the Five Elements to complete tempering of the Five Viscera, stepping from Body Tempering in the Lower Three Grades into Inner Strengthening and Blood Exchange Realm: the first stage of the Martial Arts Middle Third Grade Realm.

During this stage, Martial Artists can master Five Elements Power, but human energy and time are limited—furthermore, the Five Elements mutually generate and also mutually restrain each other.

Therefore, even if a Sixth-Grade Martial Artist can cultivate all five attribute powers, they will only choose one attribute power to specialize in.

This choice has enormous benefits: a specialized attribute power will, over the years and quietly, continuously nourish and transform the Martial Artist’s body, allowing them to better unleash that attribute’s power, and enhancing its might still further.

Refining any one of the Five Viscera marks a true step into the Sixth Grade Realm, at which point the Martial Artist enters the condensing blood and blood exchange phase as each organ is tempered, Qi and Blood Power improves significantly—Tempering one organ is Early-Sixth Grade.

Refining two of the Five Viscera builds the first bridge connecting the organs, achieving one of the Five Elements Mutual Generation, such as the bridge of power between spleen and heart, completing Wood Generating Fire, which is Mid-Sixth Grade.

Tempering three of the Five Viscera, with bridges built connecting the corresponding organs, means stepping into Late-Sixth Grade.

Fully tempering all Five Viscera and building all five organ-bridges, creating Five Viscera internal cycles and completing total blood exchange is the peak of Sixth Grade; thereafter, one can begin striving for Fifth Grade.

Purple Shirt is a Five Extremes Realm specialist in Gold Attribute Power. The other Four Protectors of the Black Mountain Army—Yuan Wuming, Gao Feng, and so on—have only managed to refine one of the Five Viscera with outside help, reaching just Early-Sixth Grade.

The Purple Shirt before him had already refined heart, spleen, and lungs—Three of the Five Viscera have been Tempered, which is Late-Sixth Grade: the gap in strength was truly vast.

This sword, after circulating through the Five Elements Mutual Generation within Purple Shirt’s body, was unleashed with razor-sharp Gold Attribute Power, then merged with the woman’s terrifying swordsmanship skills: one sword split into three, three into six.

All this happened in a breath.

"Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Metal, the Five Elements Mutual Generation... So this is the mystery of the Five Extremes Realm at Sixth Grade—I see."

Su Mu’s mind raced and was suddenly enlightened. With a staggering one hundred and sixteen points of Comprehension, he gleaned the mysteries of the Five Extremes Realm from a single sword strike.

An instant of insight became a flood of inspiration—Su Mu completely saw through the sword, and yet for that very reason, he was startled inside.

"There’s always someone better out there!"

Su Mu’s heart tightened, eyes glowing; his main weapon may be the Great Spear, but his Blazing Fire Saber Technique and Qingfeng Swordsmanship had long since reached Perfection, and yet this was the first time he saw someone reach such an apex in pure swordsmanship.

As it stood, Su Mu felt inferior, knowing if he used pure Spear Technique, this sword would be hard to break.