Ling Tian began swimming up and Lian Qiu followed instantly. The ghosts who were above him dashed towards him to attack, he saw them and slashed several times with his sword. His hand moved naturally as blue Qi waves moved with extreme towards the incoming ghosts and inflicted injuries on them which caused them to scream and open a way for him.
He used all his physical power and shot upwards towards the surface, The ghosts behind him all joined the main group of hundreds and began chasing. Lian Qiu saw the situation was not good so he waved his hand and a golden ripple was released that hit the Ghosts behind them and slowed them down.
A moment later and Ling Tian shot out of the water like a little missile and only stopped when he was a dozen meters above the lake, he looked down and saw a black cloud of ghosts underwater coming up.
'What the hell? Is it a hornet's nest or a ghost den?'
Lian Qiu joined him a moment after as he began to slowly fall down again, however, Lian Qiu was different as the fan in his hand floated away and grew large a then hovered below his feet, making him stand on it and thus levitate on air.
Before Ling Tian could open his mouth and curse the man, all the ghosts left the water and flew toward them with murderous faces. The sight was horrifying and since Ling Tian was falling toward them, it was all the scarier as if he was falling into a Demon's jaw.
As he readied his sword for the coming impact, he felt a hand grasp his robe and lift him up. He turned and saw Lian Qiu, "Brother Ling, let's retreat! Even a peak Inner Heaven cultivator will perish if faced with so many ghosts!"
Ling Tian hurriedly nodded, "Then what are you waiting for? GO!"
He realized the man was a genuinely good person because he could have left him to die there. Lian Qiu began accelerating leaving behind the ghosts. But the ghosts were persistent and chased them.
Ling Tian slashed the air several times and blue sword Qi attacks were unleashed at the ghosts, the attacks were much faster compared to the time he used them in water.
A while passed and they had yet to get rid of the ghosts. Lian Qiu's face was covered in sweat. "How much longer can you fly?"
Lian Qiu answered grimly, "At most a few minutes... I am only at the early stage and my breakthrough happened a few days ago..."
Ling Tian sighed, "You are so useless..."
He looked at the lake that was several miles wide and realized they wouldn't make it to the land. They had been in the middle of the lake, dozens of meters deep in water when the ghosts had attacked them.
Lian Qiu became embarrassed and remained silent, Ling Tian opened the system and saw something interesting in the Log.
[Sword Art: Water Emperor (Basic form) acquired.]
He hurriedly added the rest of his points to it without care.
[Sword Art: Water Emperor (Basic form) learned. (-100 EP)
Sword Art: Water Emperor (Basic form) has been mastered to level 2. (-200 EP)
Sword Art: Water Emperor (Basic form) has been mastered to level 3. (-300 EP)
Sword Art: Water Emperor (Basic form) has been mastered to level 4. (-400 EP)
Sword Art: Water Emperor (Basic form) has been mastered to level 5. (-800 EP)
Sword Art: Water Emperor (Basic form) has been mastered to level 6. (-1400 EP)
Sword Art: Water Emperor (Basic form) to level 7. ( 30/3000 EP)]
His head hurt for a moment and suddenly an entirely new world opened in front of him.
'I was so stupid! I was just randomly swinging a piece of metal around, there are so many details and intricate ways to use the sword! This sword art is more magical than physical though...'
When he looked at the water below him, he knew exactly what to do.
"Let go of me, I will deal with this mess."
Lian Qiu shook his head, his eyes seemed moved due to Ling Tian's words, "You are truly a great righteous cultivator, to think of my survival in this situation. I am ashamed of myself... I will distract them, you save yourself!"
'What is this idiot sprouting?' He forcefully separated himself from Lian Qiu and kicked him in the butts to gain momentum and fell towards the Lake.
"That is for dragging me into this mess, you fool!" Lian Qiu's face froze in disbelief.
The Ghosts all dived in the lake, chasing after Ling Tian. The youth had a grin as he brandished his sword.
'Let's see if they give points or not.'
His Qi began moving in snake-like patterns around him as the snake-like halos of blue Qi fused with his sword at the end of their pattern.
'Water moves in the path of least resistance and so should the sword. Water flows like a river that can be separated into a hundred smaller ones, so can a sword strike with Qi.'
He brought up his leg and suddenly kicked behind him with massive force. The force propelled him towards the Swarm of ghosts coming his way.
He swiped his sword and stopped its movement in front of himself. Actively thrusting and slashing at the same time. The sword became the spearpoint of his attack. The snake-like shining Qi strings expanded as he moved his sword and took an Umbrella shape.
'Each smaller river carries less force but a sword can focus the force into a thin line so the cutting power remains the same.'
The Strings grew incredibly thin just before he and his attack collided with the Ghosts. Screams of Agony rose as Ling Tian emerged on the other side of the Ghost group, several claw marks could be seen on his body but he was fine otherwise. On the other hand, Dozens of ghosts were cut into dozens of pieces and they began fading.
[+1000 EP for killing an Early-XianTian level Ghost.
+1500EP for killing a Mid-XianTian level Ghost.
...]
The number of dead ghosts barely made a dent in the huge numbers. His actions made them go crazy as they dashed towards him again.
'Oh, Cr*p! I need to add all the points to the Sword Art ASAP!'
He did so as he kicked again and thanks to his sudden use of force, dashed away. When one uses an immense amount of force to kick nothing in the water, he will move in the opposite direction like a missile especially with as much force as Ling Tian used. He added all his points without even looking at how much he had.
[...
Sword Art: Water Emperor (Basic form) to level 10. ( -13000 EP)
Sword Art: Water Emperor evolved into its true form. Heaven-Grade Sword Art identified.
Sword Art: Water Emperor (True form) to level 1. ( 8500/30000 EP)]
His eyes nearly popped out due to the shock of the amount of information entering his head. Thankfully he didn't need to do anything to continue moving in the lake as his momentum was still strong.
'The way of the sword is so complex! The possibilities are endless...'
He firmly held onto his sword as he moved it between his fingers expertly and suddenly spun around expertly using his other hand to guide his momentum. He changed directions towards the ghosts. Tendrils of Qi like before extended from his sword but this time, there were several times as many. The tendrils also didn't hover close to him, they spread like whips around him in all directions. Each was incredibly thin and shone with a sharp azure light.
'The river can be split into as many numbers as possible as long as it can flow in a line. The Sword Qi can also be split as many times as possible as long as it is compressed into a thin line.'
He brought the sword above his head as he headed toward the ghosts.
'I will use my skill, Qi wave slash on all the tendrils which I will call Sword rivers from now on...'
He brought it down with force and felt extreme exhaustion hit him as his Qi reserves emptied out almost completely. The dark depth of the lake lit up like day as hundreds of deadly sharp Qi waves were fired towards the ghost with the sudden movements of the Sword rivers that whipped towards the ghosts.
Horrible shrieks filled the lake as all the ghosts were cut into dozens of pieces and slowly vanished. He saw his EP increasing to ridiculous levels and felt very good.
[+1000 EP
...
Overall Gain: 174,500 EP.]
He weekly swam up and greedily filled his lungs with air, then he laughed loudly, "That was the most terrifying and exhilarating thing that I have experienced till now. HAHAHA!"
Despite the odds being against him, he emerged victories and a strange feeling of accomplishment filled his heart. He felt on top of the world.
Suddenly, a claw grasped his shoulder. He shuddered due to the extreme coldness and shut up as he slowly turned around to see the same ghost with his fishing rod grinning at him and attacking with its claw. The terrible stench and coldness of the ghost in such close proximity stunned him.
As he was frozen, the claw of the ghost grew closer and closer, and just as it was going to claw his head off. A dazzling orb of light hit it in the back and vanquished the ghost. The fishing rod that the ghost held in its mouth fell on top of Ling Tian's head and woke him up.
He shuddered as he felt Death's hand brush against him. He gulped as a voice reached him, "Brother Ling, Who is the fool now?"
Lian Qiu stood with a smirk on his fan, levitating on the air.
Ling Tian sighed as he ignored him and swam towards the shore. Lian Qiu chased after him, "Hey wait for me!"
At the bottom of the Lake, a baby crocodile was crying tears of sorrow as various cut marks were visible on its transparent body.