CHAPTER 232: CHAPTER 232: ADVANCEMENT TRIAL, ASHEN SWORD DOMAIN

[Ding, you have entered the stage 6 Sword Immortal class advancement trial. Kill 100,000 stage 6 Sword-Testing Puppets within three hours.]

The prompt messages popped up, and Johnnie’s stage 6 class advancement trial began.

A hundred thousand Sword-Testing Puppets—compared to the stage 5 trial, that’s more than double the last round.

But Johnnie wasn’t fazed at all. His current strength was worlds apart from before.

Whoosh...

Sword-Testing Puppets appeared one after another, all at the peak of stage 6, waving their longswords with flashes of cold light, all charging at Johnnie in unison.

These seemed to be a kind of Mechanical Golem too.

Johnnie noticed something unique about these Sword-Testing Puppets, but didn’t dwell on it. He simply activated his Myriad Sword Technique.

Buzz...

Sword Intent rang out and trembled, gathering nearly ten thousand flying swords.

After merging his attributes, his power had soared once again, and his mental strength had also broken through—he could now control up to ten thousand flying swords at once, with a range of ten thousand meters.

A rain of swords flashed through the air, slashing down on the Sword-Testing Puppets.

Slash, slash...

-27500

-27500

Damage numbers flashed everywhere, and as the flying swords swept past, countless Sword-Testing Puppets were instantly killed.

Twenty-seven thousand five hundred damage per hit—it wasn’t that Johnnie could only deal that much, but rather that stage 6 Sword-Testing Puppets only had that many health points.

Johnnie’s damage now reached tens of millions—he could instantly kill even an average stage 9 monster.

With ten thousand swords flickering, in just a few breaths, all one hundred thousand Sword-Testing Puppets were slaughtered.

The trial space fell completely silent. After a long moment, the system notification finally sounded.

[You have successfully killed 100,000 Sword-Testing Puppets. Time taken: 13 seconds. Trial rating: Unable to evaluate.]

Unable to evaluate? What’s that supposed to mean?

Johnnie was speechless. He just wanted to get the extra rewards from the trial—was being too strong a crime now?

Just then, the system chimed in again.

[Trial reassessed. Temporarily rated as SSS+, the highest rating.]

[You have received extra rewards: Stone of Comprehension of the Way of the Sword x500, stat potion x500, +1 chance to enter Comprehension of the Way of the Sword.]

Johnnie finally breathed a sigh of relief. Looks like in future Sword Immortal advancement trials, he’d better hold back a little.

His strength now was clearly way beyond the system’s standards.

He didn’t care about the trial rating—as long as he got extra rewards and a chance to enter the Comprehension of the Way of the Sword space, that was enough.

If you wanted to level up your Way of the Sword, entering the Comprehension of the Way of the Sword space was hands-down the fastest way.

Johnnie had now advanced to the Sword Spirit Realm.The next stage was the Sword Soul Realm, where condensing the sword soul would make his flying swords even more powerful.

He entered the Comprehension of the Way of the Sword space!

With a thought, he appeared directly in the Comprehension of the Way of the Sword space.

Buzz...

Sword light still flashed everywhere here, filled with powerful Way of the Sword energy.

"Hm?" Johnnie noticed a purple figure off to the side.

It was Nalorin·Sylvia. She had clearly passed the Sword-Testing trial as well and entered the Comprehension of the Way of the Sword space.

"This woman’s speed is actually insane!" Johnnie was surprised.

Nalorin·Sylvia had started her trial early, but all in all, it had only taken about five minutes.

That meant she’d cleared the Sword-Testing assessment in under five minutes.The Sword-Testing Puppets in this assessment were generated according to the challenger’s own strength.

Nalorin·Sylvia must have faced Domain-level Sword-Testing Puppets.Also, the assessment was based on the number of kills, not on a time limit—so how did she pass in five minutes?

Or maybe, the Sword Tomb Secret Realm couldn’t actually create Domain-level Sword-Testing Puppets.

[Ding, you have entered the Comprehension of the Way of the Sword space. You have gained two hours to comprehend the Way of the Sword.]

At that moment, the prompt appeared, and Johnnie let go of his doubts.He sat down cross-legged right away, took out the Stone of Comprehension of the Way of the Sword, and began to comprehend the Way of the Sword.

Not only that, he also carried the Oracle Bell and the Iceheart Jade with him, which increased his perception by ten points.

Plus, back in the Mecha Divine Nation, Johnnie killed Xavier and got a Wisdom Crystal, which gave him another five perception points after refining it.

He could clearly feel himself gaining a much deeper understanding of the Way of the Sword.

After that, Johnnie took out a Stone of Comprehension of the Way of the Sword and carefully attuned himself to the surrounding Way of the Sword, refining it and improving.

Buzz...

A series of hums echoed as countless sword lights swirled around him, slowly revolving around his body.

All of these sword lights were formed from the purest condensed Way of the Sword energy.

"Huh, Sword Spirit Realm?" Nearby, Nalorin·Sylvia, who was immersed in comprehending the Way of the Sword, was startled.

Her beautiful eyes widened as she stared at Johnnie in disbelief.

She had trained in the Way of the Sword for a thousand years, stuck at the peak of the State of Sword Mind, never able to break through.With no other option, she had wanted to come here to try to comprehend the Way of the Sword.

Especially after Johnnie’s breakthrough, she could faintly sense her own Way of the Sword realm was about to advance.

"Looks like I made the right call." Nalorin·Sylvia was delighted and instinctively moved a little closer to Johnnie, holding her breath to focus fully on comprehending the Way of the Sword.

...

Time slipped by, and soon Johnnie had refined all five hundred Stones of Comprehension of the Way of the Sword.

His Way of the Sword realm had improved significantly, but there was still a huge gap before the Sword Soul Realm.

Johnnie was still immersed in the Comprehension of the Way of the Sword, and a faint sense of insight began to take shape in his heart.

Domain!

He sensed a special kind of law power—the Way of the Sword Domain.

When he reached the Sword Spirit Realm before, he had already vaguely felt this.

Plus, the Myriad Sword Technique felt like the prototype of a Sword Domain.

But the Myriad Sword Technique was still too weak, lacking any suppressive force, and was nowhere near the true level of a Domain.

Johnnie stopped overthinking it and fully immersed himself, continuing to comprehend.

Buzz...

The Intent of the Sword vibrated in the air.

At this moment, Nalorin·Sylvia had already broken through to the Sword Spirit Realm, but she knew further comprehension wouldn’t help much right now.

She simply gave up on cultivating. The two hours weren’t up yet, but she wasn’t in a hurry to leave. Instead, she sat quietly, observing Johnnie.

"He’s actually comprehending the Way of the Sword Domain!" Nalorin·Sylvia’s beautiful eyes sparkled with disbelief. "What kind of Sword Dao genius is this guy?"

She was shocked. Johnnie had only been cultivating the Way of the Sword for such a short time, yet he’d not only reached the Sword Spirit Realm, but was already brushing up against the threshold of the Way of the Sword Domain.

But comprehending the Way of the Sword Domain was far harder than just reaching the Sword Spirit Realm.

The Sword Spirit Realm was just the entry point—it was no easy feat to truly form a Domain.

She didn’t believe Johnnie could actually pull it off.

Nalorin·Sylvia rested her chin in her hand and watched Johnnie with curiosity.

This guy was actually pretty handsome.

A faint flush crept under the veil on Nalorin·Sylvia’s delicate face, and she quickly banished such unrealistic thoughts.

She’d already lived over a thousand years—the age gap between her and Johnnie was just too big.

Buzz...

Suddenly, an even stronger Intent of the Sword surged out. Countless flying swords swept toward Johnnie, faintly forming a powerful suppressive force.

"He really did it?" Nalorin·Sylvia was shaken, quickly getting to her feet and instinctively backing away.

She could feel a real sense of threat.

Whoosh!

On top of that, countless flames rose up all around, instantly turning into a sea of fire that swallowed Johnnie’s figure.

"Fire-element law—dual-element Domain? How is this even possible?" Nalorin·Sylvia’s mouth fell open in shock, completely stunned.

It was already incredible that Johnnie could comprehend the Sword Domain, but now it looked like he had actually formed a dual-element Domain.

A dual-element Domain was much harder to achieve than a single Sword Domain—fusing even one law was already extremely difficult.

But everything Johnnie was showing now was clearly a dual Domain, empowered by both the Way of the Sword and Fire-element laws.

Monster.

This guy was absolutely a monster!

[Ding, you have comprehended the Ashen Sword Domain.]

The prompt message popped up, and a powerful aura instantly erupted from Johnnie. Endless flames swept out, scarlet sword light filled the air, and even Nalorin·Sylvia was enveloped within it.

Not good!

Her expression changed slightly.Without any hesitation, she unleashed her divine power, barely managing to block the damage from the flames and sword light.

Johnnie woke up from his Comprehension of the Way of the Sword.

"I actually managed to comprehend a Domain!" he said, his face full of surprise and delight.He could feel the familiar power of the Way of the Sword and Fire-Element laws all around him.

It felt like with just a thought, he could unleash endless killing intent.

This felt even more natural than casting the Myriad Sword Technique.

Johnnie quickly checked his newly comprehended Domain.

[Ashen Sword Domain: Stage 1, Domain. Contains powerful Way of the Sword and Fire-Element laws. Way of the Sword and Fire-Element magic damage increased by 100%. Flames burn the enemy, increasing Sword damage taken by 10% per second. Domain drains 100,000 mana points per second.]

"So powerful!" Johnnie exclaimed in shock.With the Ashen Sword Domain, his fire magic skills and Sword damage were instantly doubled.

And he could stack an extra 10% damage per second.

The only issue was the insane mana cost—one hundred thousand mana points per second.Even with his improved strength, he could only maintain it for thirty seconds at most.

Looks like he’d have to focus on raising his Spirit attribute in the future.

All the abilities he’d just learned needed huge amounts of mana to keep going.

With a thought, Johnnie withdrew the Domain.

The Comprehension of the Way of the Sword was about to end, so he didn’t continue to cultivate.

This time around, his overall Sword Realm hadn’t improved much, but the biggest gain was comprehending the Sword Domain.

"Huh, why are you still here?" At that moment, Johnnie noticed Nalorin·Sylvia.

She was standing not far away, her beautiful eyes wide open, staring at him intently.

Even though her veil covered her face, Johnnie could still sense that Nalorin·Sylvia was completely stunned.

Gulp!

Nalorin·Sylvia swallowed hard, barely calming herself, her voice trembling, "You... you really are just a player..."

Before she could finish her sentence, her figure vanished.

The Comprehension of the Way of the Sword was over, and she was teleported away.

Johnnie’s time was almost up too.He didn’t stay any longer.With a thought, he teleported out of the Comprehension of the Way of the Sword space.

The two of them appeared in a vast, empty hall.

Nalorin·Sylvia looked at him deeply, then said, "Johnnie, I’ve made up my mind. I’m giving up my current class and switching to Sword Immortal!"

She had come here just to improve her Sword Comprehension Realm, but after witnessing Johnnie’s strength, she immediately decided to abandon her current class and change to Sword Immortal.

For her, giving up her current class was basically like starting cultivation all over again, but she didn’t hesitate at all.

Even Johnnie was a little surprised by this woman’s determination.