Swiftly, he engaged in battle, his technique's flying out in an unending stream as his Sword Aura revealed flaw after flaw the more he used it.
Because of the constant destruction of the Undying* Soldiers his Qi did not deplete, only growing in purity as all of the weaker strands were directly used by him to attack and destroy more.
Those pure strands of Qi were left to accumulate within the Law.
In this way, his techniques were made stronger and his Qi rose, yet his mind began to shake.
The torrent of Undying Soldiers did not simply carry potential for Qi, but also battered his heart and mind with their immensely powerful emotions which had managed to keep them stuck in this land for so long.
Shou Xin grit his teeth to stave off the corruption.
—
Time passed so slowly, one would guess that it had stopped at times or perhaps even begun to move backwards when left unchecked.
To the youth sitting alone in the midst of the unfathomably large battlefield, a cloud of crimson steam all around him, it seemed as such in any case.
For he who trained ceaselessly, time had become irrelevant.
Immense strength rippled through his Inner Sea causing phenomenon to arise around around him.
Slowly, his shimmering hair parted and his shivering figure came to a grinding halt, an unprecedented stillness fell over the area as even the crimson steam was slowed to a near halt at his feet.
His eyes opened, revealing a shatteringly clear white gaze speckled with stars in the depths of the cracks lining his pupils.
A flood dragon's cry raised itself as his sword escaped it's sheath without making a single sound, the control over it nearly perfect.
The surroundings rose with a sharp sensation.
The Great Path of the world looked to him and a cloud of lightning descended from above, seeking to crush him.
It did not delay in letting loose a horrifying lightning strike which fell like a flood dragon.
The youth's gaze however, was focused on a stone far away, his pupils shrinking as his sword seemed to move in slow motion.
Running along the Shinje-Ji, a flood dragon seemed to crawl through the reflection of the sword letting out a terrifying noise!
Shiiiiing!
It rang out!
The lightning bolt struck his body just as the sword finished it's move!
Horrifying energies collided together in an instant, creating a symphony of synergies which sang out their screams as they endured the strike together!
His Sword Aura surged and broke through precisely as the strike had finished, the stone over ten meters away was cleanly cut.
The youth who had withstood the lightning strike returned the sword to it's sheath like and the illusory flood dragon within it's reflected seemed to coil around the sheath as though it had returned to it's home.
The youth flexed his hand and his eyes shone with a powerful light like that of a spotlight.
Third Stage Primeval Body.
Third Stage Sword Aura.
His body synergized, his power increasing proportionately.
If a regular Third Chain has power equal to one thousand, then the youth who had cursed chains had fifteen hundred and with his Law no longer suppressing his physique as well as his Sword Aura no longer needing to fight to keep it's place, there were no more restraints within his body allowing their true strengths to emerge!
His Primeval Body without being suppressed by his Sanguine Sword Law could now show it's full strength of fifteen hundred as well.
The synergies of these two being at truly, the same level, caused his strength to increase greatly as he now carried three times the strength of a regular Third Chain but was still four parts weaker than a Fourth Chain Expert.
"Finally," The youth let out a long breath, "I put off my other breakthroughs for this, and it was worth it."
Indeed.
With the power of the Hidden Heart Array, he could have directly chosen to challenge his chains and with the strength gained from the Undying who perished on his Sword Mound, he could overpower the Flood Dragon Chain, however…
His Third Stage Primeval Body which was gained through use of pills would fall so far behind it would likely cause him great problems rather than help, not to mention the Sword Aura which was already struggling to keep it's current strength whilst being suffocated by the other energies in his body.
Only through balance, could he advance forward, especially so when his soul was as weak as it was unable to withstand any kind of unforeseen challenges.
Sensing his newfound strength he smiled emptily.
Letting down the Hidden Heart Array, he felt a sharp pain rise across his entire body!
The winds of the ancient battlefield cut him up, but his body fixed him just as fast, using this to train his flesh, he began to cultivate once more without the protection of the Hidden Heart Array, which he no longer needed after filling out his Inner Sea.
His cultivation speed, with the synergies now in place, sped up by a few times allowing his physical body to reach the breaking point within a few days within this place with extremely abundant resource but also equally harsh conditions.
As he reached the peak of the Physical and Inner Third Stage, he slowly began the most arduous to practice of the energies within his body.
Sword Aura.
There was no increased learning speed from synergies.
There was no special methods nor increased power.
There was only two factors for sword aura.
Hardwork, and Talent.
Of these two, talent factored higher and he could tell by simply the sensation he felt whenever he practiced using it.
Due to the constant battle within his Inner Sea over a long period of time within one of the ancient battlefields of the Demon Realm, his techniques had grown to a place where his Sword Aura could no longer help him see through his own flaws as though a wall had risen.
However, his Sword Aura had grown equally to his techniques, the fewer the flaws, the greater it became as he got a deeper understanding of his own movements.
The last time his Sword Aura had broken the stage gap, it was after a life or death situation wherein there was no mercy, well, that was the spark.
He truly broke through later, within the Ancient Battlefield.
Yet now, as he grasped his movements and cleared their flaws which he could see, he wasn't certain of what he needed to do in order to improve.
He studied the surroundings.
His gut instinct told him that to go further into the battlefield was to seek out death, but another part of him knew that death was simply the precursor to opportunity.
"Only four months left." He remarked with a heavy tone as he marched forward.
At first, it was simple, he put one foot in front of the other, walking.
However after a hundred steps, he began to sweat.
His mind which had been fighting off the corruption of the Hidden Heart Array was stronger now, but also able to feel less, yet this was clearly penetrating his mind!
He scanned the area and his pupils turned to pinheads.
"Third Chain Demons?" He uttered quietly as he minimized his presence, surrounding himself with killing intent to blend away his strength within the heavy fog.
Before him were Bull Demons each with arms as thick as tree trunks and horns to match but they were strange.
They seemed lost.
Their body parts would fall off at random, but then regenerate before falling off again like a faraway whisper echoing, some parts didn't make it whole.
As he took a closer look, he found engravings upon their bodies, markings of old which he could not understand at all, but his gut instinct told him it was what kept them here.
Fukkatsu suddenly began to ring!
"Hey!" Shou Xin gripped the handle but it was too late, those Bull Demons had been alerted.
"Guooo!!!"
"Shit."
Swiftly breaking out from his killing intent cover, he retracted his power within, building it up for the first strike.
Sword Steps!
His eyes deepend like an endless sky as the countless specks of light shown at the same time causing his gaze to become like a lighthouse!
"Guoo!"
The Bull Demons rushed forward however they only hit his after images as he seemed to slowly, yet quickly rush past the charging bull demons.
Fukkatsu cut into their bodies severely wounding them, if not for Shou Xin's physical strength however, it may have gotten stuck in their surprisingly sturdy bodies.
The powerful Sword Sight washed over them as he turned his head back!
"Not allowed." Steam fell from his mouth as he swiftly rushed forward.
"Guo!"
The Bull Demon's began to gather their Qi together into a chain in all directions! The strength of a single Bull Demon increased by several times in an instant rushing into the Fifth Chain!
Shou Xin's pupils shrank and the lighthouse-like sight depend even further, becoming insurmountably vast!
"Fukkatsu!"