Chapter 122: The Guidance of the Dao

Lin Fan issued a strict order to the system: as long as it was not a Life Essence Pill, the draws were not to stop.

With this, Lin Fan ruthlessly spent over thirteen million negative emotion points. By the three-million-point mark, he had drawn his first Life Essence Pill.

At five million points, the second!

When he reached nine point six million points, he drew the third, fourth, and fifth pills.

At eleven million points, he drew the seventh.

By this time, he had drawn the Life Essence Pill ten times in total, causing it to appear in the shop interface for two million points each—a realization that left him grinning from ear to ear. From now on, as long as he had negative emotion points, he would no longer fear grave injuries; he could fight with his life on the line without a shred of hesitation.

Although spending over eleven million points made his heart ache, he knew that these points would always be replenished, whereas obtaining the Life Essence Pill was a different matter entirely—its significance was far too great. As for the points themselves, by the time he had spent eleven million, he had already gained over five million more, all contributed by the people he had eliminated. Thus, they were not worth lamenting.

After securing the pills, he took one for himself and gave eight to Xiao Shuihan and Lin Hongyi’s group. Since he had only drawn seven, he spent another four million points to purchase two more, ensuring everyone’s injuries were fully recovered.

At this point, the terrifying bounty of items he had gathered from spending over eleven million points finally came into play: over seven hundred body-tempering fruits, over four hundred origin-energy fruits, over forty lightning origin crystals, and a variety of delicacies. In addition, there were two longswords and a bottle of beast bloodline essence.

Lin Fan intended to save the body-tempering fruits for his family. He could not bring out the lightning origin crystals either; he had already gone too far by destroying the dam, and he expected the academy to settle scores with him later.

The two longswords were reserved for Xiao Shuihan and Shangguan Feihong. In his view, Li Ji was not suited for the sword. Despite his long-term guidance, though Li Ji’s swordsmanship had improved, his inner path did not lie there. Li Ji himself had not realized it, but he had taken up the sword simply because he felt it was romantic and dashing; he harbored a subconscious belief that using a sword was more elegant, but in truth, it was not his path.

The beast bloodline essence was for Xiao Jin back home.

As for the four hundred-plus origin-energy fruits, Lin Hongyi was still at the early stage of the Qi-Induction Realm. Because of the power of the Heavenly Poison Heart Sutra, she required origin energy of a purity similar to his own. He gave her over two hundred fruits. These two hundred fruits only increased the number of origin-energy threads within her by two thousand, pushing her cultivation to the late stage of the Qi-Induction Realm, but the surge in her combat prowess was absolutely terrifying.

The remaining two hundred and thirty fruits were distributed among the other seven, with thirty-something for each. Because their cultivation techniques were weaker, even with perfect body tempering, the purity and length of their origin energy remained inferior to Lin Fan’s and Hongyi’s. Each fruit was enough to increase their origin-energy threads by thirty. With thirty-something fruits, they added over a thousand threads each. Since they were already at the peak of the Qi-Induction Realm, they all broke through to the Qi-Pulse Realm.

Having already been at the peak of the Qi-Induction Realm and relying on mastery-level martial arts, they were already no weaker than those at the middle stage of the Qi-Pulse Realm. Now that they were at the early stage of the Qi-Pulse Realm, their combat power was rapidly approaching the late stage.

With Lin Fan’s combat power fully restored, few in the Pulse-Connection Realm would dare challenge him. Combined with Hongyi, Xiao Shuihan, and the others, they had become the strongest team in the entire trial space, though no one else knew it yet.

It was well known that the Qi-Pulse Realm involved one hundred and seven acupuncture points: sixteen in the early stage, thirty-eight in the middle, and fifty-three in the late. The increase in combat power between these stages was astonishing. The reason Xiao Shuihan and the others could compete was twofold: first, they were perfect body-tempering practitioners with bodies stronger than average cultivators; second, they wielded mastery-level martial arts, whereas the strongest martial arts among the other trial-goers were only at the initial-success level. Once those youths also achieved perfect body tempering and refined their martial arts, Xiao Shuihan’s group would naturally lose their advantage.

Two days had passed, and Lin Fan’s negative emotion points had climbed back to over eight million. He was tempted to spend them all on origin-energy fruits to boost his cultivation, but he decided against it. His current combat power was sufficient for the trial space. He would wait until his techniques were perfected before consuming the fruits; constantly using them to breakthrough made him uneasy, as he feared leaving behind some hidden flaw.

On a steep cliff, Lin Fan looked out into the distance where clouds and mist congealed into a sea. Hongyi stood by his side, with Xiao Shuihan and the others behind him.

"Watch closely. Perhaps from this single strike, you can define your own path!"

After a long silence, Lin Fan suddenly spoke, causing Xiao Shuihan and the others to narrow their eyes, not daring to miss a single detail. In that instant, endless blade light erupted from his body as if it were about to cleave the heavens and the earth. It was tyrannical, forceful, and peerlessly sharp. Lin Fan pointed his fingers like a blade and sliced through the void before him.

*Puff!*

The entire mist of the void parted like a curtain, and a gap of unknown length appeared. The sea of clouds roiled but could not resist the blade aura that surged across the sky for ten thousand miles.

It felt like a moment had passed, or perhaps an hour. Xiao Shuihan and the others were dazed, unable to snap out of it. This strike was too stunning; each of them was submerged within it, searching for something that belonged to them. Their minds were entirely drawn in, and they seemed to catch a glimpse of a faint light, yet they could not grasp it, only pursue it with all their might.

*Cough, cough!*

Blood trickled from the corner of Lin Fan’s mouth. At that very moment, the mist churned, the clouds scattered and gathered, and the gap was covered, vanishing from sight.

"It is still too difficult to manifest the 'Path Guidance' now," Lin Fan thought to himself. This was a technique he had mastered in his past life, capable of condensing the Dao one had realized into a single strike. It did not require the Dao to be deeply understood, nor did it require the user to perform a specific blade, sword, or fist technique. As long as the strike contained the essence of the user’s Dao, and it was displayed before a disciple of extraordinary talent, they could find their own path within it.

This was a method used by supreme beings in his past life to guide their disciples in finding their goals. Of course, if one’s cultivation was insufficient, or one’s understanding of the Dao was too singular, or if the disciple was dull, they would grasp nothing. But Lin Fan was the "Blade God" of his past life, someone who had stepped into the peak of the True God Realm. Even if he wasn't proficient in every Dao, he understood the underlying principles of many, so this strike contained a vast array of paths.

However, his current cultivation was too weak; the strike was not as clear as it would have been in his previous life. Back then, one could even see the manifestation of the Rules—gold, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, lightning, ice, speed, rhythm, soul, space, and time. Now, there was only that single rift. Even so, he had been shaken and injured by exerting power beyond his current capacity.

It was not clear enough, and Xiao Shuihan and the others had certainly not seen any rules or defined their own paths. But he was still by their side. As long as they had seen something, he could determine their true paths based on their reflections.

Lin Fan turned around and looked at them. "What did you see?"

The question jolted them awake, their eyes filled with profound shock. Never in their lives had they seen such a stunning technique. Even the martial arts displayed by their elders or other powerful figures had never shaken them to this extent. They could find no words to describe it—it was simply too astonishing.

"What did you see?!" Lin Fan asked again, gently. He was not in a hurry; he understood the allure of the Dao to them, like a gambler seeing a casino or a lecher seeing a peerless beauty.

Hearing his question again, Xiao Shuihan and the others realized what they had to do and closed their eyes to contemplate the strike.

A moment later, Shangguan Feihong was the first to lift his head. "Brother Fan, what I saw was speed—speed to the extreme. Taking a head before the enemy can react. In one strike, it is either he dies or I do; it is life or death."

Lin Fan’s eyes brightened, and he nodded at Shangguan Feihong. It was no surprise that he was the first to grasp it; during the battle at the Sihai Restaurant, he had already touched the edge of his path.

Then, Qian Jin’s voice rang out. "Brother Fan, I also saw speed, very much like Feihong’s, yet different. My speed is like a shooting star, like lightning—taking a life in a flash. It is very similar, but I cannot say what makes it different."

"Oh?" Qian Jin’s answer was somewhat unexpected. Lin Fan had not realized that this perpetually smiling, chubby youth was also pursuing a path of the extreme. No wonder he had always felt his blade was not fast enough despite his training; it was because the longsword simply didn't suit him.

"Tyrannical enough to crush everything! Let the shackles bind me, let the calamities descend, I will shatter the shackles with a single punch and break through the disasters! At the end of the road, one punch is enough to shatter the ancient heavens!" Ou Hu opened his tiger-like eyes and roared. He threw a punch toward Lin Fan, and at that moment, boundless confidence surged within him, wild and domineering. He looked truly like a fierce tiger in the flesh—roaring in the mountains, immensely tyrannical!