Hou Niao gave a light smile; he knew it would turn out like this. It's his first encounter with a Golden Core of a major Daoist Sect, and he's quite looking forward to it.

"I hope to give you a surprise!"

The Sword River erupted, endless, hundreds of sword lights made him suddenly resemble a hedgehog. With the next moment's Sword Light Division, directly dividing into thousands of swords, chaotic and unreasonable.

This was his greatest gain in the Altar Cave Heaven, with his spiritual power explosively growing six to seven-fold. The ability to divide sword light also directly broke through a thousand paths, a bottleneck that had troubled him for many years was suddenly opened, extremely comfortable.

There's no particularly special method, as Sister Yue Duo would say, just Burst Sword.

The old Master was trapped. All his methods were shattered by this unreasonable Burst Sword, endlessly, continuously, all-encompassingly frenzied stabbing, something no Sword Cultivator on the Jinxiu Continent had achieved in hundreds of years.

He hadn't faced Sword Cultivators before, but a hundred sword lights and a thousand sword lights have an essential difference, completely crushing.

A few moments later, the Heartless Water was scattered; ten moments later, the Heartless Ring and Heartless Chain crumbled; a few dozen moments later, the first puppet was killed, then the frantic tossing of treasures to barely survive...

In less than a hundred moments, all his treasures and talismans were exhausted, all his techniques were torn apart by the incessant flying swords, ultimately becoming a corpse in the void, with not a single intact piece on his body.

Hou Niao stood with his sword retracted, his heart surging. This is the true swordsmanship of Qingkong Sword Vein; looking at it this way, it's actually on par with the Body Sword Skill, depending on the depth of immersion in each direction.

Through this battle, he thoroughly understood why those Upper Realm visitors could master various Daoist traditions so quickly. He thought that the native Golden Core Masters of Jinxiu must have felt equally helpless against these outsiders; amid the power gap, what reason was there to linger?

In the Fifth Level Altar Space, it's already possible to mobilize seventy percent of a cultivator's spiritual power. These spiritual powers reflect and refract countless times within the Altar, feeding back, forming an extremely complex spiritual power exchange field. What he needs to do is maintain balance in such an environment.

He considered these strands of spiritual power as flying swords, and himself as the one wielding them, and years of experience in Sword Light Division gave him immense confidence. There's no place more suited for a Sword Cultivator than this.

The Lian Sect and Wu Sect cultivators participating in this trial mostly stopped at the Fourth Level Space, only a few lucky ones entered the Fifth Level Space, but couldn't elevate their spiritual power under such conditions. For ordinary Golden Cores, this was their ceiling.

Only two people continued onward.

Hou Niao and Jue Mingzi.

A month later, Hou Niao completed the spiritual power expansion in the Fifth Level Space, successfully increasing his spiritual power by seventy percent compared to before entering. Just this gain alone made the trip to the Altar Space worthwhile.

Moving upward, there were Golden Core Masters from Lian and Wu Sect, possibly Jue Mingzi or Lao Du, but regardless of who, none could stop his determination to ascend.

He was already vaguely aware that the benefits of clearing the final level might not just be a doubling of spiritual power, or might there be something more?

Jue Mingzi smoothly passed the test of the Fifth Level Space; among the three Golden Core Masters, two were from Lian Sect and one from Wu Sect. His luck was good; he happened to encounter the Golden Core Master from his own Wu Sect, and when the two met, the Wu Sect Master had to retreat.

Breaking through the Fifth Level Space had been impossible for years, this time was no different. Instead of making futile efforts here, it was better to give the chance to the stronger Jue Mingzi.

Just like Hou Niao easily defeating the Golden Core Master of Lian Sect, this was the same as these Wu Sect Masters being unable to gain the upper hand against Jue Mingzi, even when Jue Mingzi had already given them face.

He entered the Altar Cave Heaven earlier than Hou Niao, progressing rapidly, or perhaps his fellow Sect members stood aside, so his speed upward was even faster than Hou Niao's. The Three Pure Ones' inheritance regarding spiritual power application naturally had a lofty method, far surpassing the Jinxiu cultivators. Training in spiritual power even began during Foundation Establishment. He was chosen for the task with remarkable achievements in every aspect, and exceptional adaptability to such grotto heavens.

After passing the Altar, he arrived at the Sixth Level Space, but didn't expect to see another familiar face, Wu Sect's Tu Master, who seemed quite disappointed.

Tu Master consoled him, saying, "You needn't be concerned, whether three chosen two or three chosen one, the probability is actually quite high. Whether to kill one or two Golden Core Masters from Lian Sect isn't so important; rather it's better to adjust state and save energy for the final level. I estimate that Lao Du might be in the Seventh Level Space, a tough battle awaits."

Jue Mingzi shook his head disdainfully, "Tough battle? You overestimate the Heartless Dao; they are essentially nothing in the cosmic cultivation order, not even Innate Great Dao, so what Upper Realm? Mere self-deception, self-aggrandizement."

These words aren't mere boasting; be it history, foundation, inheritance, or backing, Heartless Dao barely ranks as second-rate in the cosmic Daoist tradition hierarchy.

His real fear was the giants in the Daoist Sect, Taiching, Shangqing, Supreme, etc., naturally including a particularly noteworthy existence, the Sword Sect.

If Yue Duo were present, none of these Daoists would be at ease, but even now with Yue Duo not here, Hou Niao appears and makes him concerned, far more so than Lao Du; these truths aren't clear to Jinxiu cultivators, but the visitors from the Upper Realm understand them well.

Tu Master still had some worries, "How to take the Cave Heaven back, I'm not confident within, you see…"

Jue Mingzi laughed internally at his lack of insight, but spoke courteously, "No worries, if it's an uninhabited Cave Heaven, we can naturally guide it with space artifacts; as it's inhabited, the Cave Spirit's attitude matters significantly. Treasures like these Acquired Spirit Treasures value rules and principles above all and won't easily violate them."

He pointed upwards, "Cave Spirits won't place us in Lotus Mountain; any causality with damage would implicate it. This differs from deaths and wounds according to rules within the Cave Heaven; similarly, it won't place Lian Sect cultivators in Langya Mountain to avoid causal entanglement.

Thus, our real concern is whether the Altar Cave Spirit will place Lian Sect cultivators finally in Langya Mountain, or first visit Langya Mountain then return to Lotus Mountain?

Our Wu Sect has owned the Altar Cave Heaven far longer than Lian Sect, hence we have the advantage. But for extra caution, I would go further and strive to make contact with the Cave Spirit."

He smiled, "That's why I say not to mind Lao Du. If he could pass the Seventh Level Space, he would have already communicated with the Cave Spirit; what would be left for us to do? Might not even be able to get in.

Since we can still enter, it shows the Cave Spirit hasn't been swayed by him; this guy stuck in the Seventh Level Space, not moving up or down, amounts to his limited capability.

Let me kill him, then pass the Seventh Level Space, and success will follow naturally."

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