Chapter 45: Void Light Chasing Shadow Sword Art

"Finally, we've shaken them off!"

Deep within a misty swamp in the assessment grounds, a girl dressed in white let out a relieved sigh and murmured.

In her hand, she held a miniature version of herself. Beside the two of them stood a dozen or so young men and women.

"We have that woman in black to thank for this. Otherwise, it would have probably taken us quite a while to evade the surveillance with a group this large."

The young man in black standing near the girls nodded, his gaze sweeping toward the direction they had come from, a trace of lingering emotion flashing in his eyes.

Good people, after all, do reap good rewards.

Even though his original intention was merely to make it easier for himself to obtain treasures, rather than out of any genuine desire to help others.

"This swamp is shrouded in thick fog, making it difficult to find our bearings. I suggest we rest here for half a month."

Hearing Gu Ningyun's proposal, the others nodded in agreement.

After all, Gu Ningxiang and the others in the team had just extricated themselves from a life-and-death battle, and both their bodies and minds were exhausted, needing time to recover and readjust.

As for the rest, after their journey through the ruins, they had all realized their own inadequacy in strength and wished to use this period to refine their personal cultivation.

Lin Fan nodded at Gu Ningyun. He knew that the latter not only wanted to give the team a chance to rest, but also intended to give him time to study the newly acquired spirit art.

After some searching, the group finally found a relatively secluded spot. The fog here was much lighter than in the depths, and there were numerous caves with interconnected passages, making it ideal for martial artists to undergo closed-door cultivation.

Inside the quiet cave, a single candle flickered. The youth took out the black scroll from his robe. Ever since acquiring this spirit art scroll, this was the first time he was opening it.

Void Light Shadow-Chasing Sword Art!

This was the name of the spirit art.

However, the scroll did not indicate the specific tier of the art.

Unlike mortal-tier spirit arts, spirit arts of the Profound Tier and above could not be mastered simply by rote memorization of chants.

Scrolls containing Profound-tier spirit arts were unique.

Only by activating the characters on the scroll with spiritual energy could one cause them to melt into one's mind one by one, becoming a part of one's soul. Once the characters were completely integrated into the practitioner, the scroll would lose its reason for existence, turning into flying ash and dissipating into the world.

He took a deep breath and began to gather the spiritual energy within his body.

With the cycle of his breathing, he could feel a warm current rising from his dantian, circulating through his meridians to his entire body.

When his spiritual energy had accumulated to a certain level, Lin Fan gently placed his hand on the scroll, lightly touching the ancient characters and diagrams.

Instantly, a chilling aura surged from the scroll, meeting the spiritual energy inside Lin Fan's body.

It was a bizarre sensation, as if countless tiny needlepoints were lightly pricking his skin.

Following that, the characters began to glow. Imbued with a sudden vitality, they rose from the scroll one after another, drifting toward the center of Lin Fan's brows.

Lin Fan closed his eyes, feeling his consciousness grow increasingly clear.

Those characters continuously rearranged and combined within his mind, forming complete chants and action diagrams.

Every single word and sentence felt like an imprint deeply carved into the depths of his soul, causing his comprehension of the Void Light Shadow-Chasing Sword Art to grow ever more profound.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment. Lin Fan was completely immersed in the cultivation of this spirit art, and nothing from the outside world could disturb him.

His consciousness wandered between each word and phrase, and every breath seemed to stir the connections between the characters, pushing his understanding of this sword technique layer by layer into deeper realms.

It was unknown how much time had passed when the last wisps of characters integrated into his consciousness, and Lin Fan opened his eyes.

The cultivation chants of the Void Light Shadow-Chasing Sword Art had been completely imprinted into his mind. He could recall this information at any time, and the scroll in his hand had, as rumored, vanished into thin air.

It turned out to be an Upper Profound-tier spirit art!

A flash of ecstatic joy crossed Lin Fan's eyes. He truly had not chosen wrong.

The value of an Upper Profound-tier spirit art to him completely surpassed that of spiritual energy essences.

One had to know that even for the Lin family of the Tianfeng Empire, their founding ancestral spirit art was merely a Lower Profound-tier one.

It was rumored that the imperial family's ultimate spirit art had failed to even touch the threshold of the Upper Profound tier.

And yet, he, through a chance encounter, had obtained a spirit art superior to the ultimate spirit art of the Tuoba Imperial Family.

How could he not be thrilled?

*Pity that with my current strength, I cannot duplicate it at all. Otherwise, I could have designated this art as the founding ancestral spirit art of the Lin family.*

Lin Fan shook his head with a trace of disappointment and softly murmured.

Profound-tier spirit arts could naturally be duplicated, but the process was both costly and mentally draining. It required a blank scroll capable of bearing the might of a Profound-tier spirit art—an item of exorbitant price. Even the Lin family would only dare to purchase one, and that was merely a scroll for duplicating a Lower Profound-tier spirit art. The higher the grade, the greater the value.

In addition, the replicator needed to expend immense mental effort and massive amounts of spiritual energy.

Generally speaking, a master at the Origin Realm would need to expend energy equivalent to at least half a year of hard work, even with the assistance of medicinal herbs for recovery, just to engrave a Lower Profound-tier spirit art.

As for an Upper Profound-tier spirit art, only powerhouses at the peak of the Spirit Soul Realm would likely be qualified to engrave it...

Lin Fan knew very well that this was only the first step, and the real challenge was just beginning.

The Void Light Shadow-Chasing Sword Art was divided into three stances: Sword Shadow Splitting Light, Sword Slicing Tidal Waves, and Thousandfold Sword Curtain.

And right now, he needed to cultivate the first stance: Sword Shadow Splitting Light!

This stance transformed sword Qi into numerous light shadows, flickering erratically like splitting light, making it difficult for enemies to trace the trajectory of the sword momentum.

To quickly comprehend this stance, Lin Fan decided to make use of the sword token within his body.

This sword token was the key factor behind his recent explosive growth in swordsmanship.

Lin Fan closed his eyes and immersed his mind in the sword token.

He felt the faint sword intent emitted by the sword token, as if an invisible force was guiding his thoughts.

Over and over again, he read the scriptures in his mind, repeatedly simulating the sword techniques described within them.

Each time, he tried to run his internal energy more smoothly and express the sword art more clearly.

However, even with the assistance of the sword token, cultivating the sword art could not be accomplished overnight.

Especially for someone like him who was still at the Divine Dan Realm, such a profound sword art required a vast amount of time to study and practice...

Day after day, Lin Fan persisted in his cultivation like an ascetic monk.

At sunrise, he engaged in routine sword-swishing training, and when night fell and the shadows in the cave grew deeper, he would use those moments to practice his swordsmanship, because darkness and silence were the best ways to train his perception and sword intent.

On a certain sleepless night, Lin Fan finally achieved a breakthrough.

During the process of swinging his sword, he suddenly sensed an unprecedented rhythm—a rhythm that seemed to originate from the natural world, and also the most elusive part of swordsmanship.

The tip of his sword trembled slightly, and streaks of sword Qi began to trace paths in the air. They were no longer simple straight lines or curves, but had become agile and unpredictable.

Sword Shadow Splitting Light had finally achieved its initial success.

A surge of joy welled up in Lin Fan's heart, but he did not let down his guard. He knew this was only the beginning; the real challenge was yet to come.

He needed to practice continuously until this stance could be executed at will, until it became a part of his body and an instinct in battle.

Thus, Lin Fan continued to immerse himself in solitary cultivation, his figure intertwining with the shadows of the sword as if he had transformed into a true swordsman.

He forgot the passage of time and the hustle and bustle of the outside world; there was only a continuous dialogue, collision, and sublimation between his swordsmanship and his will.

When he executed this stance once more, the light and shadows within the cave became exceptionally psychedelic, and the radiance transformed from the sword Qi seemed to genuinely split the surrounding shadows in two, leaving no trace to be followed.

After countless failures and attempts, Lin Fan truly mastered the first stance of the Void Light Shadow-Chasing Sword Art—Sword Shadow Splitting Light.

"With just this stance alone, if I were to encounter Zhao Wuyuan again, I would no longer be completely without the power to fight back."

Lin Fan nodded in satisfaction. Though his cultivation had not advanced much over half a month of practice, his actual combat strength had exploded manifold.

"It's a pity that I still haven't found the whereabouts of a beast flame. If I could refine a beast flame, I would qualify to stand shoulder to shoulder with those top-tier prodigies in the assessment grounds."

"Lin Fan, come out quickly and take a look..."