Tainted will

Swoosh!

Bai Ming watched Teng Zhe leave, then his gaze fell on his dwelling which was in ruins due to the prior battle.

"Hmm, now that I have replenished my sect points I'll pay a visit to the Secret land of Heaven and Earth." Bai Ming straight away flew toward the location of the secret land.

A few minutes later, Bai Ming hovered outside an exquisite palace made up of snow-white marble. This palace was the Secret Land of Heaven and Earth, one of the Red lotus sect's highly reputed treasures.

Secret Land of Heaven and Earth is special and beneficial for comprehending the myriad essence of Heaven and Earth, if one wishes to enter the Secret Land of Heaven and Earth, they need to pay 10,000 sect points to access the palace, and they can only stay inside for four hours each time.

'So this the secret land, let's see what's so great about it.' Bai Ming thought as he stepped towards the Secret Land of Heaven and Earth.

The two Golden-armored warriors walked forward to stop Bai Ming, they only let Bai Ming enter after he paid the entry fees. Bai Ming directly paid fifty thousand sect points in exchange for 20 hours time slot.

"What on earth is stored in the Secret Land of Heaven and Earth?"

Bai Ming strode into the Secret Land of Heaven and Earth with a flicker of curiosity in his eyes.

As soon as he entered, Bai Ming immediately felt besieged by vast darkness. There was only a glimmer of enchanting light ahead in the endless darkness.

Bai Ming could not help but look at the captivating light.

He was totally immersed in it. The glimmer of light unexpectedly transformed into a sword, which contained intangible sword energy, Sword Qi!

Bai Ming was stunned, he knew that everyone could acquire high attainment levels as long one had enough time and diligence, but developing Qi's and hearts were unfathomable, although he had supreme grandmaster attainment in the sword Dao, Bai Ming had yet to attain sword Qi.

Since ancient times, qi was a rare form of mystical energy that was birthed from one's intent, unlike the world's essence. As it was birthed from intent it was an arcane concept, to cultivate or gather it normally was unheard of.

It would only form from the natural environment or consistent exposure to certain events, such as from battles, life and death experiences, or one's thoughts and beliefs or during the enlightenment phases, etc.

"Hehe, I wanted to use this place to finish learning soul path skills quickly. But, that can wait for the time being."

Bai Ming drew out the high-grade treasure sword on his waist, the sword light started to drift…

One after another, the ethereal sword lights moved flexibly.

Bai Ming then started to perform sportsmanship according to his instincts.

He performed one move after another. His sword moved naturally and flawlessly like the unrestrained dance of a butterfly.

Swish!

The sword light flashed and then disappeared with the wind.

As Bai Ming proceeded to wield his treasure Sword, the sword light became grander and more massive.

Every beam of the sword light contained an otherworldly essence, there wasn't an ounce of spiritual energy in his sword but it was the birthing of transcendent essence.

In other words, Bai Ming had commenced the forming of Sword Qi.

One strike after another, the ethereal essence only got firmer and more realistic.

Bai Ming was completely absorbed in his sword, his crimson eyes shone with myriad illusions as swung his sword in a trance.

Suddenly, the momentum of Bai Ming's sword became surprisingly fast, so much so that one could only see the flickering sword light.

But, at this moment he suddenly became motionless…

After a short while, the air around Bai Ming started to slightly ripple and his sword began to vibrate.

Bai Ming very clearly sensed the power of the surroundings, as well as the attraction of the sword… Gradually, a trace of enlightenment grew in his heart as the speed of his sword rose once again.

"The sword is the mind and the mind becomes the sword."

"The sword is the heart and the heart becomes the sword"

"The sword is the heaven and the earth its sheath!"

Bai Ming muttered and the double-edged sword in his hand began to sweep upwards.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh...

The transcendent energy wrapping the sword suddenly became incredibly condensed.

Bai Ming raised the sword above his shoulders and slashed it downwards.

A fleeting sword light quicker than lighting itself followed behind the gliding sword and a gust of wind roared along with it. A satisfied smile spread across Bai Ming's cold face.

"I have at last formed Sword Qi! Too good, this secret land is truly deserving of its glorious reputation." Bai Ming was full of praises and having formed sword qi was a great boost to his swordsmanship. It instantly granted him another 3× power overall boost to his swordsmanship, if one were to add it together with his attainment and battle qi, Bai Ming had a total of 16× power increase with a sword. And if he could acquire an ancient sword soul then his strength with a sword will be further amplified depending on the sword soul's age.

He had merely spent an hour inside the Secret Land of Heaven and Earth but already yielded remarkable benefits on the path of the sword.

'Good, now I know exactly what to do next. First, I'll quickly comprehend the soul path skills with the help of this magical place and then I'll pay a visit to the fire temple and take lessons from the temple masters present there to improve my fire path attainment. After I achieve that I'll return to this place and combine my nine-hundred-year-old flame essence into the self-sword formation and also enhance the first layer of self-sword art and try to create the 2nd layer.' Bai Ming pondered, and after a few dozen breaths he initiated his soul path training.

.....

At a mountaintop, a middle-aged man in crimson robes stood up with a dark expression. Purple lighting flickered in his eyes as he muttered to himself, "It seems you have also found a worthy disciple, he was not only able to survive the assassination of four yang realm cultivators but also managed to injure one of them."

The man's menacing gaze then landed on the black-clothed figures kneeling before him.

These four figures were the same assassins who had previously tried to kill Bai Ming, but now they were kneeling on the ground with fear evident in their eyes.

Under Elder Zhou Yi's terrifying gaze, their hearts throbbed wildly and beads of cold sweat dropped from their foreheads.

But fortunately for them, Zhou Yi's gaze quickly shifted from them, it seemed like he had already expected this outcome.

Zhou Yi slightly closed his eyes and spoke slowly, "You have failed to accomplish the first objective, which is laughable. But I shall forgive you considering that our target this time was Teng Zhe's disciple, but now answer me have you at least accomplished the second objective."

"Esteemed elder, during the fight I had managed to get close to that hateful brat and deliver a palm strike at his chest which made him cough out blood, I swiftly collected it without wasting a single drop." One of the assassins quickly replied in a respectful tone, while quickly taking out a hand-sized jade bottle and respectfully handing it over to the elder.

Zhou Yi expressionlessly received the jade bottle, he took one look at it before storing it in his storage ring.

'This should be enough..' Zhou Yi thought internally, but his gaze once again turned stern as glared back at the yang realm cultivators kneeling before him.

His tone apathetic, "A bunch of trash, how can you be this incompetent? After all the efforts I have put into nurturing you morons, you're still this useless. Unbelievable!"

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

"Elder, please be magnanimous and forgive our incompetence, we will surely prove our worth from henceforth. Only this time we ask for your forgiveness there won't be a second time in the future, this we promise on our lives." The four cultivators repeatedly slammed their heads against the hard floor and started desperately apologizing till their foreheads bleed crimson blood.

Zhou Yi smiled internally, but on the surface, his face showed a helpless expression. With a deep sigh, he spoke; "Stop dirtying the floor, I'll overlook your incompetence once again.."

The assassins immediately felt a huge weight lift off their chests, they were about to thank Zhou Yi but stopped abruptly.

"But, you still have to fulfill a small task." Zhou Yi smiled as he saw their alert gazes and spoke nonchalantly, "The task is simple, even a three-year-old could do it. Three days before the opening of the Ancestors land you merely have to collect 200 Yin-Yang corpses and at least two thousand spirit realm cultivators alive. If you fail, I will not only kill you but also refine all of your family members into mindless puppets."