Chapter 436: The Shadow Materializes, the Death-Bringing Messenger

Wangchuan’s eyes lit up.

《Water-Moon Sword Art》 had apparently reached the realm of Perfect Mastery. The longsword in his hand became even more agile, his movements more nimble, and both his footwork and strikes grew faster.

A fourth-rank sword art, at Perfect Mastery.

At that moment, Wangchuan forcibly suppressed the joy surging in his heart, switched to 《Raging Tide Sword Art》, and continued his fierce assault.

Yan Tiannan sensed the shift in sword style and also noticed that the sword force and sharpness of this new sword art had weakened somewhat. Understanding at once, he began treating the exchange seriously again.

A cry like wind and crashing waves rolled across the training grounds.

Layer after layer of sword-waves swept toward Yan Tiannan!

A fifth-rank sword art consumed much more internal energy.

Wangchuan soon sat down cross-legged once more to circulate his energy.

Lin Jiahe and Wang Yuehui watched with utmost concentration.

In their eyes, their boss’s swordsmanship was exceptionally fierce. Every move came like a torrential storm, carrying a ceaseless and overwhelming momentum.

And yet!

Before Yan Tiannan, every strand of sword edge was utterly barred.

He was terrifyingly strong.

Beyond the whirlpool of internal energy, there seemed to be yet another wall of internal force around his body. No matter how the sword edge landed on him, it could not inflict the slightest harm.

Whenever Wangchuan sat down to cultivate and recover, Yan Tiannan was also circulating his energy. With every breath he drew, the entire training grounds could feel the force of his breathing. It was astonishingly intense.

The two of them grew even more horrified:

A fifth-rank martial artist of this level had actually been killed in a single strike by a Crimson Pavilion Gold-Ranked Assassin!

As expected, many hidden experts and dangers lurked within 《spirit realm》!

Another two hours passed...

Wangchuan’s 《Raging Tide Sword Art》 also began to change.

Its sharpness suddenly grew much stronger.

The signs of a breakthrough were unmistakable.

Wangchuan found a moment to enter 《spirit realm》.

The instant he went in, the system prompts rang out one after another:

“Ding!”

“《Water-Moon Sword Art》 has risen from ‘Integration’ to ‘Perfect Mastery.’ Reward: +4 Agility, +1 Spirit.”

“Ding!”

“《Raging Tide Sword Art》 has risen from ‘Entry-Level Mastery’ to ‘Integration.’ Reward: +4 Agility.”

His Agility had reached 139, and his Spirit had risen to 48.

A look of wild joy burst across Wangchuan’s face inside the room, and then he immediately logged off again.

Continue!

Such an opportunity was hard to come by. He had to seize every second of it.

After more than five hours of sparring, Yan Tiannan had begun to show a trace of fatigue.

But every time Wangchuan lunged at him, Yan Tiannan instantly entered a fighting state once more.

And every time he rested, a mass of black qi would gather at his forehead, growing a little stronger each time...

An hour passed.

Yan Tiannan frowned slightly, as though some discomfort had begun to appear in his body.

He said nothing. He merely looked at Wangchuan and persisted, speaking as he held on:

“Wangchuan, you should know that there are certain shortcuts in cultivating body-protection techniques... Once they reach ‘Practice Makes Perfect,’ sparring with first-rank and second-rank martial artists can generally push them to ‘Entry-Level Mastery.’”

“I know.”

“Your internal energy foundation is quite strong. In fact, as long as you arrange suitable third-rank martial artists to spar with you, there is a chance to rapidly push a body-protection technique to the realm of ‘Integration.’”

“...”

Wangchuan was stunned.

Yan Tiannan explained,

“It’s true. Once a third-rank martial art breaks through to Integration, it can basically trigger the training effect for body-protection techniques.”

Shock rose in Wangchuan’s eyes.

His fourth-rank body-protection technique, 《Iron Python Body-Protection Qigong》, had stopped at Practice Makes Perfect, after which he had started preparing to switch over to cultivating 《Golden Bell Shield》. He had truly never expected that third-rank martial arts at the Integration realm could still continue to produce a training effect.

“When you go back, you can try it.”

Yan Tiannan revealed one of the secrets he had kept to himself.

Wangchuan nodded forcefully.

“Alright!”

“Many thanks for the guidance, Boss Yan.”

Lin Jiahe and Wang Yuehui had heard it as well.

The two exchanged glances and saw the wild delight in each other’s eyes.

Another hour passed...

Yan Tiannan’s complexion had clearly grown much uglier. His forehead had turned black, and faint, nearly intangible wisps of black qi were beginning to seep from his limbs and body.

His movements had also started to slow, and his blocks had become somewhat strained.

The moment Wangchuan stopped, Yan Tiannan let out a low roar:

“Continue!”

“I can still hold on!”

“Try to push 《Raging Tide Sword Art》 to ‘Perfect Mastery.’”

Yan Tiannan did not want this to end yet.

He still had one lingering obsession.

If Wangchuan’s fifth-rank sword art, 《Raging Tide Sword Art》, could break through to Perfect Mastery, then even against those ordinary fifth-rank martial artists of Jianghu, he would hold a certain advantage.

The stronger Wangchuan became, the safer his family’s future would be by one more degree.

Wangchuan gritted his teeth and continued...

Fine black lines and tiny cracks had begun to appear on Yan Tiannan’s forehead.

But Yan Tiannan circulated his energy and forced himself to remain as steady as possible.

Wangchuan attacked again and again.

Wounds had already begun appearing on Yan Tiannan’s body.

Lin Jiahe and Wang Yuehui could not hide the pain in their eyes.

Yan Tiannan roared:

“Remember this!”

“The first-tier players rely on power!”

“The second-tier players rely on connections!”

“We third-tier players rely on people like you!”

“Wangchuan, you must give it everything you have to push into the Fifth Rank and Sixth Rank, master an Ultimate Art, and fight your way into the second-tier player sequence.”

“Only by obtaining the permissions and intelligence of the second-tier players will you slowly come into contact with the truth of this world. Only then can you protect yourself better and survive better!”

As soon as he finished speaking, a shadow had already appeared behind him.

It was a figure radiating an even more oppressive presence.

Instinctively, Wangchuan tightened his grip on his sword and stared at it in full vigilance.

“The Soul Withering is accelerating.”

Yan Tiannan also noticed the shadow behind him. A bone-piercing chill washed over him, as though a messenger from the underworld had arrived.

“Continue!”

“While it still hasn’t made a move!”

Yan Tiannan fixed his eyes on Wangchuan and roared:

“Now!”

Wangchuan clenched his jaw and charged forward again.

Using 《Raging Tide Sword Art》, he launched the fastest assault he could.

Yan Tiannan roused himself, and his movements actually quickened, gaining several degrees of imposing force.

In one breath, Wangchuan poured out more than two hundred moves.

Then he sat down again to circulate his energy.

The shadow behind Yan Tiannan grew ever more solid...

Wangchuan attacked again.

One round!

Two rounds!

He no longer knew how many times he had attacked.

Then, suddenly—

The sword move in his hand accelerated all at once. From the flat ground rose a gust of wind and surging waves. The roar of the rising tide whipped up Yan Tiannan’s sleeves, smashed straight through the whirlpool of internal energy he had condensed around himself, and slammed solidly into his wall of inner force, blasting a hole through it and tearing a streak of blood from his body.

Yan Tiannan was injured!

“Hahahahaha...”

Instead of shock, Yan Tiannan was overjoyed, bursting into loud laughter.

“You did it!”

“Hahahahaha!”

“《Raging Tide Sword Art》 has broken through!”

“You truly did not disappoint me!”

“Now Yan can die without regret!”

“Wangchuan, remember your promise. Take good care of my family!” Yan Tiannan roared. Then, all of a sudden, he twisted around and lashed out with one claw, fiercely grabbing toward the shadow behind him, whose form had already solidified into clear outline.

However...

That movement seemed to trigger some forbidden law.

The shadow suddenly lifted a hand.

A thread of black sharpness instantly pierced through Yan Tiannan’s body. Like black lightning punching through his chest, it blasted a horrifyingly gruesome hole clean through him!

Pfft!

A flower of blood burst from Yan Tiannan’s heart. His entire body froze stiff in place, his pupils violently trembling. Then his body slowly curled up, as though twisted by a knife, before collapsing toward the ground.

Thud!

Yan Tiannan’s eyes remained wide open as his soul perished.

The boss of Warring States Game Studio had ultimately died within his own Warring States Building, right in front of Wangchuan.