The Human Emperor
The Human Emperor - Chapter 232: Sword Qi of Slaughter

Everything was on the right track.

Wang Chong didn’t need to worry too much about them anymore. Once the snowball gained sufficient momentum, nothing would be able to stop it.

While the snowball hadn't really grown large enough for Wang Chong, at the very least it was already starting to move!

Thus, after meeting with Zhao Jingdian and Wei Hao a few more times, Wang Chong returned to his training.

Days passed one after another, and Wang Chong's martial arts progressed steadily.

Eight days later...

Chi!

In a dark chamber, a burst of radiance suddenly shot forth from Wang Chong's dull sword.

That radiance was as thin as a thread of hair, but it was incomparably glaring, making it extremely difficult to even set one's eyes on it. On top of that, the radiance seemed to be very compact. It didn't fade or dissipate even after traveling a distance of ten zhang.

Only after coming into contact with the wall around twelve zhang away did it swiftly dissipate into nothingness.

"This... Sword qi! Great!" Wang Chong stared at the surge of light excitedly

After ten days of experimentation and comprehension, he had finally compressed the Origin Energy in his body to the maximum, thus forging this string-like surge of sharp sword qi.

It might be as thin as a strand of hair, but it was the result of compressing an immense quantity of Origin Energy into a line.

After so many days of effort, I've finally succeeded in cultivating sword qi!,Wang Chong thought excitedly.

In truth, sword qi was actually Origin Energy compressed to its maximum. It was due to this that expert swordsmen possess unbelievable might in their attacks.

In that instant, Wang Chong suddenly felt that all of the effort he had devoted to his training had paid off.

"Hm?" While Wang Chong's heart was beating so excitedly, he suddenly noticed a bizarre ray of light spilling into the chamber. It didn't originate from the entrance, but the wall right in front of him.

The location he was in should have been a dark training chamber, a place completely devoid of light. He had chosen this place to grow to train his hearing and temper his instincts. Thus, the ray of light was truly out-of-place.

"There shouldn't be any light here...?" Wang Chong walked toward the light, finding a narrow slit on the wall a meter above the ground. That bizarre light shone in right from this slit.

Initially, Wang Chong was completely baffled by this small slit. He even raised his finger to touch and analyze it. But soon, he realized something—wasn't this slit at the spot where the sword qi he launched had struck?

What's going on? Could it be that my sword qi has even penetrated the wall of this training chamber? Wang Chong was stunned.

The training chamber he was in was made of steel. It was precisely due to the difficulty of building such steel chambers that these training chambers could only be found on the main peak.

In fact, Wang Chong even chose one of the sturdier training chambers, prepared specifically for martial artists with a cultivation realm of Origin Energy Tier 7 and above. When he checked the wall, he had ascertained it to be at least a chi thick.

Even the Wootz steel sword would have trouble cutting such a thick layer of sturdy steel.

And yet, he actually left such a narrow slit on the wall with his sword qi?

"The sword qi of the Art of Life Massacre is actually so sharp?" Wang Chong glanced at the dull metal sword with his trembling eyes. Even though he was the one who launched that sword qi, he still found the situation a little too unbelievable.

Chi!

Suddenly, a thought suddenly struck Wang Chong and he abruptly lifted his head. Without much thought, he turned around, swung his sword, and chi, another glaring radiance shot out and disappeared into the thick steel wall.

Wang Chong waited for a moment, but other than the thin ray of light, the room remained completely dark.

"This... Am I mistaken? Was that slit not caused by my sword qi?" Stunned, Wang Chong was unsure of himself.

Was this all a coincidence?

Weng!

While Wang Chong was contemplating, a small ray of light suddenly penetrated the wall and shone into the chamber.

Two small rays of light, one on his left and one on his right, crossed each other, creating a particularly conspicuous sight.

Indeed! It was the result of the sword qi of the Art of Life Massacre!,Wang Chong thought as he gazed at the two small rays of light on the walls. In truth, even though he had already verified his conjecture, this matter was still a little too inconceivable for him to accept at this moment.

To think that the sword qi from Elder Su's Art of Life Massacre would be so sharp! I have barely cultivated the most basic level of sword qi and yet, I am already capable of cutting through steel a chi thick. If I were to master this foundation formula, it would be unimaginable how fearsome my sword qi would be. It is no wonder why Elder Su was able to slay innumerable foreign steel cavalry with his individual strength in the capital back then.

Wang Chong took in a deep breath as awe for Su Zhengchen sprouted in his heart.

This was his first time witnessing the might of the 《Art of God and Demon Obliteration》, and furthermore, rather than just a description from Su Zhengchen, he was experiencing it personally.

In an instant, many thoughts flashed across Wang Chong's mind as he recalled the incidents that occurred in his previous life.

The foreign cavalry that appeared back then wasn't only strong, their defensive capability had also reached a monstrous level.

Their bodies were compact, powerful, and resilient, and they seemed to possess no weaknesses whatsoever. Seemingly fatal attacks were completely ineffective against them.

The conventions that governed battle didn't seem to apply to them. Even with a sword impaled through them, they were still able to move without trouble.

They could even survive destructive martial arts that could kill a human several times over. The defenses and resilience of both parties simply weren't on the same level.

Due to this, humans suffered catastrophic losses, and many famous experts in both Great Tang and other nations perished in the face of them.

Fresh blood and death soon forged the names of these invaders, but even their fearsome reputation failed to match up to their true prowess. Humans truly had no way of standing against them.

Wang Chong had once witnessed the sight of a thousand foreign cavalry annihilating a human army of ten thousand people.

Even the army that Wang Chong trained only managed to fight squarely with them through vastly improving cooperation among troops and collaborative brainstorming to maximize their fighting prowess.

Teamwork. That was probably the greatest edge that humans had over them.

But under such circumstances, Su Zhengchen actually managed to kill almost ten thousand foreign cavalry with just his individual might.

When Wang Chong first heard of this matter, all he thought was that Su Zhengchen was incredible. To what extent the other party's real strength was had remained unfathomable to him.

In the past three months with Su Zhengchen, Wang Chong learned much of the other party. He was a stubborn and determined person who stuck firmly to his values. He valued kinship, and this left him drowning in the sorrows of the past, thus playing a part in his eventual seclusion from the world. All in all, he was an unhappy old man.

However, one thing he never learned from Su Zhengchen was exactly how strong the other party was. Even at the moment when the both of them parted, the latter had only demonstrated an insignificant “Void Crushing Palm”.

Thus, this was the first time Wang Chong had a peek into the true Su Zhengchen, as well as what lay beneath the glacier known as the Art of God and Demon Obliteration.

Those foreign cavalry that fell in the capital then must have surely died tragically, Wang Chong thought.

Given the might of the Art of God and Demon Obliteration, Wang Chong was certain that the foreign cavalry must have ended up with innumerable holes in their bodies. Under such circumstances, no matter how resilient and compact their bodies were, the only fate that awaited them was death.

"The Art of God and Demon Obliteration... As expected of the strongest sword art in the Central Plains. Even when facing a True Martial realm expert, I am confident that I could shatter the layer of qi protection around them to inflict wounds on them!"

Wang Chong suddenly became very certain that the Art of Life Massacre that Su Zhengchen gave him was the fundamental sutra to the Art of God and Demon Obliteration.

The might of this ultimate art exceeded Wang Chong's imagination. With this, he was confident in carrying out his plans.

Thus, in the next few days, Wang Chong did nothing at all. He spent his time behind the walls of the dark chambers nourishing his sword qi.

The cultivation method to the Art of Life Massacre was very different from conventional martial arts.

The first thing he had to do was to drive his Origin Energy through his meridians via the method in the sutra and compress it relentlessly, making it concentrated, compact, and sturdy.

When he finally compressed it to the very maximum, when only a sliver of it remained, his Origin Energy would break through and become sword qi.

This was an extraordinarily tiring and difficult process!

But what that followed after that was even more important. When the Origin Energy was finally compressed to the very maximum and turned into sword qi, what he would have to do next was to nourish that sliver of sword qi and sword intent, and slowly strengthen and enlarge it.

This process was even more difficult than the previous one. During the nourishment of sword qi or sword intent, your attention could not be allowed to wander in the slightest.

Time slowly passed, and Wang Chong's cultivation of his sword intent was making progress every day. The initial sliver had doubled, and it was still growing steadily.

Even though the cultivation of sword qi was separate from the cultivation of internal energy, Wang Chong could still clearly sense his cultivation progressing with each passing day.

When Wang Chong's Sword Qi of Massacre finally reached the size of a chopstick, he could felt his progress gradually slowing down.

This sensation wasn't foreign to him; it was a bottleneck.

“It seems like I can only go this far in my Sword Qi of Massacre with my cultivation realm of Origin Energy Tier 7. If I wish to make further progress, I have to reach Origin Energy Tier 8 first.

In the dark chamber, a surge of sword qi slowly traveled from Wang Chong's finger to envelop the blade of the sword in his hand. The sword qi was so bright that even the radiance of the sun seemed to pale in comparison

Probably only Wang Chong using the Sword Qi of Massacre was capable of possessing such powerful sword qi while only having cultivation at the Origin Energy realm.

Chi!

Wang Chong swung his sword along the wall, and a layer of metal immediately peeled off the wall as though he were slicing tofu. The entire process was so easy that it was difficult to believe that this could be true!

Since I'm done with my cultivation, I should head out now.

After staying in the dark chamber for two more days, Wang Chong finally left the premises. And it was exactly then that a guest came to visit Wang Chong.

After waiting for twenty days or so, Yang Zhao finally couldn't sit still any longer. But instead of looking for Big Uncle Wang Gen, he came straight to the Kunwu Training Camp to look for Wang Chong.

Kunwu Training Camp was a place governed by strict rules, and even Wang Chong's Big Uncle had to send a letter to Wang Chong to get him sneak out just to meet.

But Yang Zhao was different.

Taking the token that Consort Taizhen had requested from the Sage Emperor, and using the front of paying respects to the fallen troops on behalf of the Sage Emperor, he walked brazenly into Kunwu Training Camp looking for Wang Chong.