Monster Paradise

Lin Huang’s vision blurred for a moment, and he found himself in an environment completely different from before.

In place of the ten-thousand-foot cliff was an expanse of flatland, which stretched as far as the eye could see.

Although neither trees nor grass grew on the dry, fissured ground, swords of varying shapes and sizes were planted upright in the earth.

As Lin Huang was wondering what trials he would face at this level, a push notification appeared before him.

“Second Stage: Demon Sword Tomb.”

“All swords within the Demon Sword Tomb are demon swords that are possessed. Each demon sword craves to be near living beings in order to possess their physical bodies. These possessed beings then become servants to the swords, bringing them out of the Demon Sword Tomb and thus releasing them.”

“Use of all flying and teleportation skills is prohibited at this level. The participant must walk through the Demon Sword Tomb and reach the tomb’s exit in order to pass this level.”

“Note 1: As the participant’s combat skill level is limited, only demon swords that have not achieved Sword Dao true meaning are allowed to challenge the participant.”

“Note 2: The participant will be attacked by demon swords if he steps onto or walks past any territory belonging to said swords. If he steps onto or walks past territory that belongs to more than one demon sword, he will be attacked at the same time by all the demon swords.”

“Note 3: Every demon sword possesses the sword skills of their previous owners; each sword has also inherited the gift and ability of their most powerful owner.”

Lin Huang lifted his eyes and gazed into the distance after reading all the push notifications.

The swords had all been scattered randomly across the ground with no discernible pattern in the way they were situated. The nearest distance between two swords was only about two to three meters while the farthest was about ten to twenty meters. There was no distance greater than that. A bird’s eye view of the area would reveal that the swords were spread densely across the ground.

“These swords are so close to each other. It’s either that the demon swords have a limited sensing range, or they were purposely arranged this way so they could attack participants en masse. From the way the previous participant peed on himself, the latter’s more likely.”

While Lin Huang was observing the demon swords’ scattered placement, another push notification suddenly appeared before him.

“As the participant has stayed three extra days in the previous level, those three days will be deducted one by one in subsequent levels.”

“The total length of time assigned for completion of this level is three days. One day will be deducted from the total. The participant must complete the level within two days, otherwise it will be counted as a failure.”

“If the participant uses less than two days to finish this level, the extra time can be used to offset the extra days used in the previous level.”

“This means that if I only use a day to pass this level, the extra two days can be used to offset the days I owe. That will leave me owing just one day, right? If I finish this level in half a day, does that mean I can use the remaining time to offset two and a half days?” Lin Huang asked hurriedly.

“The time owed will be calculated in hours. The participant owes a total of 72 hours.”

Lin Huang nodded with a smile. “Understood. Let’s begin!”

Lin Huang took the first step forward as soon as he finished speaking.

He did not break into a run; he merely wanted to test how strong these demon swords were.

Lin Huang’s step was reminiscent of him prodding a wasp’s nest. Hundreds of demon swords around him began quivering. Some even flew out of the ground, coming straight toward him.

Lin Huang raised his brows as he sensed the Sword Dao within the demon swords. “You’re only at level-1 Sword Dao and you dare to challenge me. You’re really brash.”

He did not even bother to draw his sword. He glared at the few battle swords flying through the air and a flash of sword gleam appeared in his eyes.

The next moment, the furiously approaching swords swiftly retreated, as if seriously injured by something, and immediately shot back to their original places.

At the same time, these swords that had been forced to retreat each released a tiny glimmer of starlight, all of which flew slowly towards Lin Huang.

“This…is the Sword Dao Inheritance?!”

Lin Huang was rather startled. “So, if I suppress these demon swords, they will return the Sword Dao Inheritance of the participant?”

“This is not a mere suppression, it is the demon swords submitting.”

A push notification appeared again with a line of text.

This was something that had not been previously mentioned in the trial rules.

From the push notification, Lin Huang deduced the corresponding information. “This means that a basic retreat wouldn’t give me such benefits. Obtaining the Sword Dao Inheritance from these demon swords is much harder than completing this level. That was why there were no related hints about this in the trial rules. It’s only after achieving this requirement that I was given a corresponding hint.”

“My biggest weakness right now is the accumulation of sword skills. If I can gather large amounts of Sword Dao Inheritance from this level, it would help me attainment Sword Dao true meaning much faster.”

The more Lin Huang thought about it, the more excited he felt.

He took another step forward and immediately provoked the reactions of more demon swords.

This time, a wave of 23 battle swords attacked at once. Lin Huang still did not use his sword. All he did was fix them all with a single stare. All 23 battle swords trembled almost simultaneously and returned to their places with amazing speed.

23 glimmers of starlight rose from the demon swords that had retreated, slowly floating towards Lin Huang and vanishing into his body.

“Their levels are just so-so…” Lin Huang roughly glanced through the contents of the Inheritances and raised an eyebrow as he gave his critique. Now that he was moving towards Sword Dao true meaning, he was aware that his standards were more exacting than before. Naturally, he was inclined to look down on some Inheritances.

“However, this is only level-1 Sword Dao for now. The levels should get higher the further I go and the Inheritances will be more powerful. At the very least, the Inheritance of a level-6 Sword Dao would be greatly beneficial to me,” Lin Huang consoled himself.

Lin Huang was not in a rush as he had made up his mind to plunder the Inheritances for himself. He took one step at a time and glanced through the field of demon swords.

He retained all the Sword Dao Inheritances along the way.

After a number of steps, he managed to determine that the Demon Sword Tomb distributed the demon swords from the lowest Sword Dao to the strongest. Every time he moved, he would stride a few hundred meters and provoke thousands of demon swords into attacking him.

He would never have done this before integrating his will and his Sword Dao.

These demon swords would not submit as they were doing now were they not faced with the threat of suppression from a powerful will. Some had even attempted to attack continuously and tenaciously, unwilling to give up.

If Lin Huang had followed the common path of a practitioner and repelled these demon swords by the book with Sword Dao every swing he made, he would have exhausted the Divine Power within him.

Now, all he had to do was to stare at them and his will, along with his Sword Dao, would suppress them. The demon swords would then try to make a wild escape, much like how a rat might try to run away from a cat, and would not dare to challenge his authority.

After all the demon swords had returned to their places, without exception, they willingly offered their Sword Dao Inheritances.

In only ten steps or so, Lin Huang had harvested more than a million Sword Dao Inheritances in less than ten seconds.

These Sword Dao Inheritances ranged from level-1 to level-5. None of the demon swords dared to go against his will.

Even Lin Huang was surprised by his collection at this level.

However, Lin Huang soon slowed down. He had sensed that the level-6 demon sword territory was just ahead of him.

Having half-attained Sword Dao true meaning might have massive effects on demon swords lower than level-6, but that might not be true of Level-6 Sword Dao. After all, he had not truly attained Sword Dao true meaning yet.

He took a deep breath to calm himself, gripped the sword hilt at his waist, and stepped forward…