My Celestial Ascension

After staring at the masked figure repeating the same process again and again, Yuan stood exactly where the masked figure had once stood, holding the same sword in his grasp—the Empyreal Oblivion.

Yuan took a deep breath as if preparing to do something, and then he began to replicate the masked figure's sword movements, almost as if he had become the masked figure, and the masked figure had become him.

One… Two… Three… Four…

Yuan struck the stone tablet with his sword four times, but no marks appeared on the tablet, as though his sword hadn't reached it and he had only struck the air.

However, Yuan did not give up, even after seeing this. He continued to strike the stone tablet, mirroring the exact movements of the masked figure, as if he were the masked figure himself.

One hundred… Five hundred… One thousand strikes.

After striking the stone tablet relentlessly thousands of times in his mind, a profound aura resembling Sword Aura began to appear around Yuan's body, completely unbeknownst to him.

He was utterly unaware of this phenomenon as he was in a state of enlightenment, and with each passing moment, the profound aura grew stronger, and its resemblance to the Sword Aura became clearer.

Shortly after, the aura around Yuan's body solidified, now entirely resembling the Sword Aura that permeated the place, as if the scattered Sword Aura had belonged to him all along.

Unbeknownst to him, changes began to take place on the stone tablet. All the sword marks on it began to react to Yuan's Sword Aura one by one.

Meanwhile, inside Yuan's mind, he continued to strike the stone tablet tens of thousands of times, creating small cuts upon it. The sword in his grasp began to emit a weaker version of the Sword Aura—resembling that of the stone tablet but significantly fainter.

'This… this feeling and sensation coursing through my body… It seems like I'm getting closer…' Yuan mumbled to himself, a wide grin spreading across his face.

With a sense of excitement and anticipation, Yuan continued to strike the stone tablet relentlessly.

The more he practiced, the deeper and cleaner the cuts became. Moreover, the faint Sword Aura emanating from his sword grew slightly stronger.

Two thousand… five thousand… ten thousand… twenty thousand strikes.

Yuan struck the stone tablet tens of thousands of times without stopping for even a short break, and with every strike, his understanding of the Sword Aura deepened.

—

"I wonder if that handsome young man is still at the Lord's training ground…" Fang Xiaoyan mumbled to herself as she approached the ancient house. It was quite early in the morning.

She had to clean the place as soon as possible, or her grandfather would be furious with her for neglecting her duty. Moreover, she wanted to avoid her grandmother's nagging.

Even worse, her father and mother supported every decision her grandparents made for her. And if her grandfather became angry about something, even her parents couldn't save her.

To make matters more troublesome, her grandparents had started searching for a husband for her, saying they were getting rather old and wanted to see their great-grandchild as soon as possible.

Her parents shared her grandparents' wishes, making it all the more difficult for her to deal with them. Thus, she preferred to spend most of her time either cultivating or relaxing near the Lord's stone tablet.

Last night, she couldn't get Yuan's handsome face out of her mind, and she had felt a strange sensation in her chest ever since she saw his face three days ago.

After about twenty minutes of walking, Fang Xiaoyan arrived at the ancient house built by the Lord of this realm, and she could already sense the different atmosphere surrounding the place, even before entering the formation inside the house.

"This aura… What is happening inside?" Fang Xiaoyan quickly stepped into the ancient house and entered the formation.

Suddenly, her vision twisted, and in the next second, she found herself standing in front of the stone tablet. To her surprise, Yuan was still there, sitting in front of the stone tablet with his eyes closed, seemingly in a daze.

'This is… He is experiencing enlightenment?!' she almost cried out inwardly, shocked.

Experiencing enlightenment is something even the most talented geniuses rarely have the privilege of experiencing; only the fated can undergo this rare and mystic phenomenon.

Furthermore, Yuan was experiencing enlightenment related to the Sword Aura—she could feel the subtle Sword Aura emitting from his body.

'It is weak, but it's definitely Sword Aura… Deah Heaven! This is incredible! A few days ago, he knew nothing about Sword Aura, and now he's even started to emit it from his body. Though weak, it's genuine Sword Aura!' Fang Xiaoyan covered her mouth in shock when she realized Yuan's immense growth and his heaven-defying talent.

She had seen many geniuses in her lifetime, and many of them had even proposed marriage to her, but she had never seen a genius like this handsome young man who managed to learn Sword Aura in such a short amount of time.

Fang Xiaoyan didn't want to disturb Yuan, knowing he was in a state of enlightenment. It was a taboo for a cultivator to disrupt another cultivator experiencing enlightenment.

Thus, she quietly prepared to leave and let him finish his enlightenment in peace; she didn't want to disturb him at any cost, knowing even a small sound could distract him.

However, just as she was about to leave, her eyes fell on the stone tablet, and she immediately noticed the changes occurring on its surface.

'How can the sword marks be reacting to this young man's Sword Aura?! How is this even possible?!' Fang Xiaoyan almost cried out in disbelief after seeing the Sword Aura left by the Lord of this Secret Realm reacting for the first time in her life.

She had cleaned this place countless times, but this was the first time she had seen something like this. Even when her parents and grandparents had cleaned this place in the past, they had never encountered such a phenomenon.

The scene in front of her shocked her to the core, leaving her almost dumbfounded. Her eyes were wide open as she looked at Yuan, seemingly in disbelief.

'Unbelievable… the sword marks are indeed reacting to this young man's Sword Aura… This is impossible!' Fang Xiaoyan mumbled inwardly with a dazed look, then fixed her gaze on him.

'Just who is this young man? And what's his origin? How could the Lord's Sword Aura react to him?' Fang Xiaoyan wondered with a serious expression and decided to stay and observe Yuan.

She had a hunch that if she left him alone here, she might miss something very important in her life. Thus, she decided to stay and watch.

'But why am I having such thoughts right now? This is very strange… Could it be that this person is somehow related to the Lord? That might indeed be possible,' she thought to herself.

Meanwhile, inside Yuan's mind, he continued to strike the stone tablet with his sword relentlessly, without taking any breaks.

Fifty thousand… seventy thousand… one hundred thousand…

Yuan struck the stone tablet over one hundred thousand times without a break, and his understanding of the sword skyrocketed.

The training he was doing inside his mind while experiencing enlightenment was reflected in his physical body as well. His Sword Aura grew much stronger and sharper than before.

Fang Xiaoyan couldn't help but watch as Yuan improved his Sword Aura at a frightening rate, her expression one of shock and disbelief.

Suddenly, another shocking event took place. She noticed the Sword Aura in the sword marks on the stone tablet was leaving the tablet and being absorbed into Yuan's Sword Aura.

'Unbelievable! How can he absorb the Lord's Sword Aura?! That can't be true— It looks like the Sword Aura is merging with his Sword Aura on its own! This is impossible!'

Fang Xiaoyan was shocked to her core, looking as if she had seen a ghost when she realized what was happening before her eyes.

After a couple of hours, Yuan had absorbed all the Sword Aura from the stone tablet, merging it with his own.

WHOOSH!

A powerful gust of wind swept through the place when Yuan finished absorbing and merging every last bit of Sword Aura from the stone tablet with his own.

Fang Xiaoyan, who was standing near the exit, noticed leaves and fallen branches getting cut as the Sword Aura touched them. She immediately defended herself using Qi manifestation, creating a shield with her Qi.

Although the Qi shield was powerful and had a high defense against enemy attacks, in front of Yuan's Sword Aura, cracks began to appear all over the shield until it eventually shattered like glass.

'What a powerful Sword Aura! This young man—Yuan is a genius and a sword prodigy!' Fang Xiaoyan didn't care that the shield she had created was destroyed or that his Sword Aura was starting to damage her clothes.

She was more focused on the handsome young prodigy before her—Yuan. The more she looked at him, the faster her heart began to pound, as if she were fascinated by his striking appearance.

Soon, the powerful Sword Aura around Yuan's body began to fade, and a second later, Yuan slowly opened his eyes and took a deep breath, a proud grin appearing on his face.

«Your understanding of the sword has increased significantly.»

«Your understanding of the sword has reached a new level.»

«You have understood the basics of Sword Aura.»

«Congratulations! You have learned 'Sword Aura.'»

«Congratulations! You've been awarded the title 'Sword Master.'»