Chapter 265 - 163: Conferment Ceremony, Mu Wanli’s Gaze from Afar

Chapter 265: Chapter 163: Conferment Ceremony, Mu Wanli’s Gaze from Afar

After finalizing their plans for the Sword Dao Secret Realm, Mu Yunshang and Jun Yichen left Great Ming Peak. However, Jiang Hao had gleaned quite a bit of information from their discussion.

"It seems walking out of the Sword Dao Secret Realm alive won’t be an easy feat," he mused.

According to their accounts, the battles within the secret realm would be exceptionally fierce. At the very least, Jiang Hao had obtained a few names to watch out for.

"Sword Fool of the Divine Sword Sect, Sword Demon of the Spirit Sword Sect, Tianxingzi of the Celestial Star Sect..."

Looking at the list of peerless Sword Cultivators of his generation across Thousand Sects Island, even Jiang Hao couldn’t help but furrow his brow. These individuals would be their greatest obstacles in the Sword Dao Secret Realm. Once inside, everyone in sight would be an enemy. It would be a true kill-or-be-killed scenario. This was the cruelty of the Cultivation Realm.

"This great era is forcing me to move forward. You all cannot blame me, Jiang Hao. If I fall inside, I will not blame you either," he murmured to himself. "Everyone will just have to look out for themselves."

After this brief soliloquy, Jiang Hao decided to hold off on advancing his cultivation base and turned toward the adjacent Martial Arts Cultivation Chamber.

Due to the unexpected anomaly in the Pill Technique Pavilion that day, Jiang Hao had only walked away with one Celestial Ninth-level Secret Technique: Flame Prison Space. To survive in the Sword Dao Secret Realm, this Alchemist Secret Technique might just play a crucial role. At the very least, it would exponentially increase his area-of-effect combat power.

"Besides the Alchemist Secret Technique, I still need to practice another Sword Technique," he thought. As the saying goes, having many skills is never a burden. An extra martial art meant an extra means of survival.

Left with no other choice, Jiang Hao could only select one of the Celestial Tier martial arts he had previously picked out to serve as a supplementary Sword Technique. It was named the Shattered Star Sword Technique. This Celestial Tier Ten martial art was one of the countless Sword Techniques he had scavenged from the ruins of the Ancient Emperor Sect.

"Celestial Tier Ten should be enough for now. Although I am nearly invincible among my peers, practicing a martial art of too high a level will only do more harm than good," he reasoned.

Practicing a martial art that didn’t match his current realm might mean he couldn’t even execute it, and if he carelessly suffered from qi deviation, the regret would come too late. Having made up his mind, Jiang Hao quickly entered a state of intense cultivation.

Almost immediately, the temperature within the entire Cultivation Chamber spiked to an incredibly terrifying degree.

For the first half of the night, Jiang Hao focused entirely on practicing Flame Prison Space, finally making some progress by the second half. However, practicing an Alchemist Secret Technique consumed an enormous amount of mental energy and Soul Power. His mental energy, in particular, was severely drained as it required prolonged control over the surrounding Fire of Heaven and Earth. Even Jiang Hao felt overwhelmed after just half a night.

Therefore, for the remainder of the night, he decided to switch entirely to practicing the Shattered Star Sword Technique. Despite the technique’s unassuming name, its edge was incomparably sharp, capable of unleashing an unimaginably terrifying sword might. Even more fearsomely, the "Shattered Star" didn’t refer to slashing astral debris. Rather, once executed, the blade’s form flickered between illusion and reality. The Sword Qi it produced was majestic, blotting out the sky and covering the earth. It resembled a star detonating into endless fragments—a quantity so vast it would make one’s scalp tingle.

What was truly astounding was that when cultivated to the stage of major achievement, this technique could merge thousands of streams of Sword Qi into one. In a maneuver akin to Myriad Swords Return to the Source, it could unleash the most terrifying strike a Sword Cultivator could muster. However, the Power of Transcendence required to execute this strike was unimaginably massive for an ordinary person.

The night passed in silence.

The next morning.

"Shattered Star Sword Technique—Myriad Swords Return to the Source!"

BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!

Drenched in sweat, Jiang Hao slashed out with his sword. Countless streams of Sword Qi frantically converged, but ultimately dispersed at the very last moment.

"Celestial Tier martial arts are even harder to cultivate than I imagined. Still, three months should be enough time to reach the Minor Achievement Realm," he concluded. "By then, executing Myriad Swords Return to the Source won’t be entirely impossible, though its power likely won’t reach the absolute limit of this Sword Technique."

With over ten years of foundational Sword Dao accumulation, Jiang Hao’s current speed in cultivating Sword Techniques was countless times faster than before. If anyone knew he could potentially cultivate a Celestial Tier Ten Sword Technique to the Minor Achievement Realm in just three months, they would be shocked beyond belief.

However, having no real concept of standard progression rates, Jiang Hao actually felt that spending three months on a Celestial Tier martial art was somewhat slow. He had no idea where this speed ranked among other Sword Cultivators.

After practicing the Shattered Star Sword Technique hundreds of times, Jiang Hao executed the Heavenly Spirit 72 Swords and the Heaven-Breaking Strike a few times. As his cultivation level increased, the terrifying power of these two Sword Techniques had evolved to an entirely new level. This was especially true for the Heaven-Breaking Strike. The more Jiang Hao practiced and analyzed this Sword Technique, the more astounded he became.

Fortunately, he was in the Cultivation Chamber of the Beardless Sect’s Senior Brother’s Mansion, which was equipped with restriction arrays to absorb the sword might. Otherwise, a single strike of this caliber would likely shake the entire Beardless Sect.

After rehearsing the several Sword Techniques he could currently utilize, Jiang Hao originally wanted to continue by practicing the Eighteen Heavenly Hand Stances. However, Jiang Huaiyu’s voice suddenly echoed from outside the bedchambers.

"Senior Brother, the Sect Leader asked me to pass on a message. Today is the investiture ceremony. Please prepare yourself to immediately accompany the entire sect to the Thousand Sects Holy Ladder Altar for the ceremony."

A short while later, the door to the Cultivation Chamber slowly opened. When the young man reappeared before Jiang Huaiyu, he had already changed into a set of clean, crisp white robes.

"The investiture ceremony isn’t being held at the Beardless Sect?" Jiang Hao asked, his face full of questions.

Jiang Huaiyu smiled bitterly. "You didn’t know, Senior Brother? Whenever Thousand Sects Island formally inaugurates a Senior Brother, regardless of which sect it is, the ceremony is always held at the Thousand Sects Holy Ladder Altar. That is because it is the only place with a Holy Ladder, and the investiture ceremony requires climbing the Holy Ladder. Representatives from countless sects will come to observe the ceremony."