Vessel of Worlds

After the second round concluded, there was a one-day pause. Lot-drawing for the third round began on the third day. Two rounds of elimination had weeded out everyone with obviously low cultivation or inferior artifacts. Meanwhile, nearly every high-stage cultivator wielding two or more upper-grade artifacts had advanced without exception—a testament to how much artifacts mattered in combat between Qi Refinement cultivators.

From this round onward, lopsided matches were rare. More than half the bouts dragged on at length, typically decided by whichever combatant's spiritual power lasted longer. When both sides carried upper-grade artifacts, the usual outcome was a stalemate—neither could overpower the other, and the fight devolved into a war of attrition.

Occasionally, one combatant would let their guard down and fall to some clever trick or unexpected angle of attack, but such cases were exceedingly uncommon. In cultivator combat, almost no one fought without a protective barrier active. Once a barrier was up, it provided near-complete coverage, making surprise attacks extremely difficult to pull off.

Andy's luck with the draw had been thoroughly miserable. After facing an evenly matched opponent in the second round, the third round pitted him against Sun Ming—a senior brother at the absolute peak of the thirteenth layer of Qi Refinement. Sun Ming was widely regarded as one of the heavy favorites to win the entire Foundation Establishment Trial. His cultivation stood at the very pinnacle of Qi Refinement, and the massive green sword he wielded was among the finest artifacts any outer-sect disciple possessed. Most people considered his victory in the trial a foregone conclusion.

And Sun Ming had lived up to the hype. In both the first and second rounds, he had needed only a single sword strike to damage his opponent's artifact beyond use, forcing an immediate surrender.

Andy had been planning to keep his true strength hidden, but against an opponent like this, he had no choice but to go all out. And even then, if the man was as formidable as the rumors suggested, Andy wasn't certain he could win even with everything he had.

When the match began, Andy followed his usual routine—a defensive talisman first, then the Gongbu Sword. The sword had sustained minor spiritual damage in his previous match, but a brief session with a mid-grade metal spirit stone in the forging chamber had restored it fully.

His opponent drew the weapon that had made him famous: the green greatsword. It was roughly a zhang long and a chi wide, its surface rippling with green light—a wood-attribute upper-grade artifact.

Both combatants wielded swords, which was hardly unusual. Bladed artifacts outnumbered every other type by a wide margin.

Almost simultaneously, the two sent their blades crashing into each other. A resounding clang, and both swords were knocked back. The first exchange had ended in a dead heat.

Andy felt a small measure of relief. The greatsword didn't seem quite as fearsome as the rumors had suggested.

Sun Ming gave a cold smile. He formed an unusual hand seal and struck the green greatsword with it, simultaneously flooding the blade with a massive surge of spiritual power.

The greatsword began to vibrate with a deep hum. At its cutting edge, a faint, almost ethereal band of pale green light appeared—over a chi in length.

"Sword Light!" A stir rippled through the spectators below, and more than a few recognized what it was immediately. Someone cried the words aloud.

Sword Light—no question about it. He's a Sword Cultivator, and that Sword Light is over a chi long. His strength is the real deal. Andy recalled what he had read about Sword Cultivators in the texts.

Sword Cultivators were practitioners who specialized in bladed artifacts as their primary combat method. Beyond standard Five Element cultivation techniques, they also trained extensively in Sword Command Arts—techniques that amplified the power of bladed artifacts far beyond their normal capacity. At a certain level of mastery, a Sword Cultivator could manifest Sword Light, and the length of that light directly reflected the cultivator's level of attainment. For Sun Ming to produce Sword Light over a chi long meant he had devoted years of dedicated practice to both the greatsword and the Sword Command Arts.

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Before Andy could react further, the green greatsword came sweeping down at him, wreathed in pale green light.

Andy had no choice but to meet it head-on with the Gongbu Sword. The moment the golden blade touched the green light, a sound like a dragon's cry rang out. The Gongbu Sword's golden radiance dimmed sharply, and a notch over a cun long was carved into the blade itself.

A single strike of Sword Light had directly damaged the body of an upper-grade artifact. This was power that ordinary upper-grade artifacts simply couldn't match.

Could the greatsword with Sword Light enhancement actually approach the level of an exceptional-grade artifact? The thought sent a chill through Andy.

With no better option, Andy set aside his damaged Gongbu Sword and sent out a copper ring as well. Under his spiritual power, the ring expanded instantly to a zhang in diameter, encircling him while spinning at high speed and generating a whirling golden halo.

Sun Ming directed the greatsword past the now-diminished golden sword and straight at Andy himself. The blade and its Sword Light slammed into the spinning copper ring.

A rapid-fire series of metallic clangs rang out from the point of contact. Each strike of the greatsword left a cun-deep gouge in the ring. But because the ring was in constant rotation, no two strikes hit the same spot, and though the greatsword clearly held the advantage, the ring held together for the time being.

The ring had bought Andy a precious moment to breathe. He palmed the golden round shield in one hand and readied seven or eight Flame Serpent Talismans in the other. He used the shield to project an additional golden barrier inside the ring's orbit, then murmured the activation incantation and unleashed all the talismans at once.

Seeing this, the spectators below erupted in a fresh wave of noise. Most of them were silently cursing Andy for being a spendthrift. Who burns through several dozen spirit stones' worth of talismans in a single volley? For an outer-sect disciple, that was a full year or two of income.

Andy flung his hand forward, and seven or eight fire serpents streaked toward Sun Ming from every angle, closing the distance in an instant.

Sun Ming didn't dare underestimate this kind of firepower—no mid-grade defensive artifact could withstand it. Without any sign of panic, he raised a blue-yellow token he had already prepared, channeled spiritual power into it rapidly, and a green barrier enclosed him.

After a violent chain of explosions, the unassuming token had completely absorbed the force of all seven or eight fire serpents.

The token was undoubtedly an upper-grade defensive artifact—and a top-tier one at that. Nothing less could have deflected the attack so easily.

Andy found himself caught between two bad options. He still had plenty of Flame Serpent Talismans, and he was confident that sheer volume could overwhelm even an upper-grade defensive artifact. But doing so would put him on display for everyone to see—staying low-profile would become impossible. Using several hundred spirit stones' worth of talismans in a single match would inevitably make people wonder about his wealth. If the wrong person took an interest, the consequences could haunt him indefinitely.

But even without relying on a massive talisman barrage, the situation wasn't completely hopeless. Andy refused to believe that producing Sword Light of that intensity didn't come at an enormous cost in spiritual power. How long could Sun Ming possibly sustain it?

Andy himself had been quietly gripping a mid-grade spirit stone since near the start of the match, steadily replenishing his reserves.

With that thought, Andy decided to take a gamble.

He suddenly sent the copper ring shooting straight up into the air, disengaging it from the greatsword entirely. The greatsword immediately pivoted and struck the golden shield instead. The Sword Light carved furrows into the shield's surface with each blow. Even a dedicated upper-grade defensive artifact couldn't fully withstand the Sword Light's cutting power.

Andy ignored the damage. Under his control, the Gongbu Sword—which had been hovering motionless in the air since being battered—suddenly came alive and shot toward Sun Ming. At the same time, the copper ring soared above Sun Ming's head and plummeted downward.

"He's controlling three artifacts simultaneously!" Someone below spotted it instantly, and the crowd broke into excited chatter. These were all cultivators at the tenth layer or above—they understood perfectly well the difference between controlling two artifacts and three. The spiritual sense required was extraordinary. Among them, almost no one believed they could do the same.

"A pointless trick. Quality over quantity—what good are more artifacts if none of them can match that greatsword and its Sword Light? Using more artifacts just wastes precious spiritual power," one cultivator muttered dismissively.

The cultivator beside him shook his head in disagreement. "Not necessarily. Two fists can't beat four hands. If those artifacts are coordinated properly—attacking from multiple angles simultaneously—the opponent's single weapon gets stretched thin trying to respond. The moment he slips up and shows an opening, that's the end of it."