Chapter 494 The Secret of the Cushion
Fatty Song was indeed worthy friend.
Ding Hao used to say that if Fatty Song was interested in something in the Heaven Sabre – Peerless Sword Tower, he could go in and have a look by himself. However, this fat man was really a wonderful person. He didn’t seem to be curious about the building at all, saying that he didn’t practice either saber techniques or swordsmanship; he had his own way of being a martial artist, so he turned down Ding Hao’s offer.
As Ding Hao slowly walked into the gate of the Heaven Sabre – Peerless Sword Tower, he couldn’t help but shake again. He felt as if there were countless fine steel needles flying into his body, then sharp pains as if his bones were being scraped by a steel saber.
“Brother Hao…” Li Yiruo rushed out and steadied Ding Hao.
“It’s okay, don’t worry, little girl.” Ding Hao smiled and gently tucked the beautiful girl’s long black hair behind her shoulders.
Li Yiruo didn’t say much. She just gently steadied Ding Hao and slowly helped him upstairs.
Staring at the two people’s backs, Tian Neng, Li Ting and the others also looked worried. Ding Hao’s face was pale and his breath was in disorder, while his body kept shaking. Anyone could sense that he was seriously injured. The incident that happened in the Fifth Heaven had not been reported yet. They didn’t know what had happened and thought that Ding Hao had suffered a loss in the battle!
After a while, footsteps were approaching from outside.
Zhang Fan and Ai Qing had returned. They were both covered in blood, as if they had just emerged from a sea of blood; it was actually dripping from their hair. They left bloody footprints on the road they passed, painting a ghastly sight…
“Where is Senior Martial Brother Ding?” Zhang Fan was the first to ask.
Tian Neng hurriedly said, “Miss Li helped him upstairs.”
Without saying anything, Zhang Fan went straight to the second floor.
Tian Neng and the others immediately focused on Ai Qing and asked anxiously, “Old Ai, what happened? Brother Hao seems to be unwell. Did he lose the battle of the Fifth Heaven…”
There were many injuries on Ai Qing’s body, but fortunately, they were not fatal. He looked happy and laughed while looking up. “How could it be possible? How could my master lose? Haha, don’t worry. This time, we are going to be famous. I’m not afraid of scaring you to death. First, my master singlehandedly defeated a top master of the Demon Valley, and then he killed Pan Yixin, Yuchi Jin, and Ling Shixiong, three masters at the Martial Royal Realm. He defeated many heroes with his own strength and no one dared to stop him. After proving that he’s invincible in the Highest Heaven, no one would dare to complain anymore!”
“What?”
“He defeated the strongest master in the Demon Valley?”
“He killed three Martial Royal Realm masters?”
Li Ting, Tian Neng and the others were stunned.
Although they had always had the impression that Ding Hao was unfathomable, such a battle record was too amazing, wasn’t it? It was too amazing. Was Ai Qing deliberately exaggerating? Anyway, the guy wasn’t quite reliable…
At that moment—
“Hahaha, it’s more than being famous. Brother Ding’s fight is destined to shake the entire Northern Region. The news have yet to spread. When people leave the Sage Battlefield, brother Ding will become famous all over the world. I’m afraid that even the high and mighty in the Holy Palace of Mysterious Frost will have to respond and praise Brother Ding specially. The position as the chief of Mysterious Frost Holy Guard is not so high. If he manages it well, he can even become an inspector of one province, or even the master of the Divine Hall!”
Shen Buhui strode into the tower and was equally excited.
“To become an Inspector?”
“The lord of the Divine Hall?”
“What on earth did Brother Hao do today?”
Tian Neng, Li Ting, and others were all stunned.
Ding Hao slowly checked the injuries in his body and took some healing elixirs that he had refined. Then, he breathed a sigh of relief.
“The day’s battle was bound to happen, but it wasn’t as dangerous as it seemed.”
At first, he defeated the top masters of the Demon Valley without much effort. He just killed Pan Yixin and Yuchi Jin in the small world formation. In order to end the battle as soon as possible, Ding Hao didn’t hesitate to kill them while allowing to be hurt badly. He was indeed injured. He was stabbed in the abdomen by Pan Yixin’s spear, and then Yuchi Jin’s Judge’s Pen pointed at the two acupoints on his back. The heterogeneous Qi burst into his body. Even when Ding Hao fought with Ling Shixiong, his body was still being destroyed.
In the battle with Ling Shixiong, Ding Hao won by using a shortcut.
When Ling Shixiong used the skill of the Dark Devil Devourmen for the first time, Ding Hao had already captured its flaws with his Divine Sense and intuition at the sixth level of A World inside the Body in the Mind Essential. Therefore, when Ding Hao got out of the small mist world, he deliberately attacked Ling Shixiong with his saber and sword. As expected, Ding Hao tempted Ling Shixiong into using the skill a second time. Ding Hao, who was well-prepared, succeeded in killing him with one strike!
Ding Hao won the battle through his scheming and planning.
Otherwise, in Ding Hao’s state at that time, although the surface wounds had been healed, the heterogeneous Qi in his body running amok, hurting the Qi channels and apertures. If he fought hard against Ling Shixiong, he would inevitably fall into a disadvantageous position. A defeat would have been inevitable. After all, Ling Shixiong was a leading figure of the younger generation of the Black Evil Sect, one which had a super sect status. Whether in strength or foundation, he should not be looked down!
“I’m fine now. Don’t worry. I’ll recover completely in two days at most!” Ding Hao said with a smile, as he looked at Li Yiruo and Zhang Fan’s worried eyes.
It was only then that the two of them felt a little more relieved.
After a pause, Ding Hao said again, “I have an injury in my body. Xiaofan, you are also injured. This bloody aura contains a murderous and evil power… it’s harmful to Martial Senior Sister Ximen’s body. I will go to the third floor of the Sword Tower. Xiaofan, you don’t need to stay here. Go to the Saber Tower and continue your practice. I believe that you have gained a lot after this battle. Be prepared. We will leave the Highest Heavens in three or four days at the latest.”
Zhang Fan nodded and left.
Ding Hao told Li Yiruo some other things. Then he got up and went to the third floor of the Sword Tower with the beautiful girl’s help.
There was nothing in the spacious hall on the third floor.
There was only a shabby rush cushion at the center of the hall.
Li Yiruo turned around and left after she helped Ding Hao up the stairs. She knew that Ding Hao was going to use his Qi to heal the wound, so she should not disturb him.
Exhaling gently, Ding Hao slowly walked toward the rush cushion. After thinking for a while, he simply sat down. On the third floor, that was the only place for him to sit down. He could only make do with it. That was the first time that he had sat on that shabby cushion.
However, as soon as he sat down, the scenery before him suddenly changed.
The original white stone walls and the red star lamp outside the window disappeared without a warning in an instant.
Instead, it was replaced by a deep and endless void.
Everything in front of him seemed to be the dark space of the vast universe. There was no difference between up, down, left, right, or heaven and earth. The far-off stars shined brightly with starlight. The cold and infinite darkness made Ding Hao involuntarily feel lonely!
“What’s going on?”
Ding Hao did not expect that such a thing could happen.
Before he could react, a strange change occurred—
Suddenly, in the dark space before him, the boundless stars in the distance began to quietly change. Wisps of starlight were destroyed and reborn. The process of change, which would normally be so long that it should have been completed after countless eras, took place in an instant. The replacement and rebirth of the stars all happened in Ding Hao’s eyes!
An indescribable sensation filled Ding Hao’s mind.
He seemed to have caught something.
But he didn’t have the faintest clue.
Just then, the change occurred again.
Suddenly, a star in the distance approached Ding Hao like lightning.
In a flash, the star had arrived in front of Ding Hao. A small spot of light covered everything in sight, giving the illusion that you would be crushed in an instant. When Ding Hao came to his senses, he was surprised to find that he had entered another space inside the endless dark space.
It was a strange environment where the wind was gentle and the sun was beautiful, while the green grass was swinging like waves.
The breeze caressed Ding Hao’s cheeks, and the scent of the grass was extremely sweet.
That was the aura of spring.
Everything was full of vitality. Ding Hao was wrapped around a moist and pleasantly warm aura, and everything was flourishing.
Ding Hao’s mood inexplicably became better. He was about to lean over and touch the tender grass on the ground, but right then, everything in front of him gradually began to lose its color, rapidly fading away like a picture scroll. The grass before his eyes was turning yellow and dark, to finally become completely silver-gray like metal!
“Is this… a sword?”
Ding Hao was stunned to find that every blade of grass that had previously formed the endless grassland was actually an extremely delicate and small sword. They were put together densely, becoming a fake grassland and with the tender green color and the endless vitality.
“What kind of world is this?”
While Ding Hao was exclaiming, he saw that the small swords began to enlarge slowly, completely exceeding his height eventually. They turned into giant swords, hundreds of meters long, drowning him entirely like a sword forest. Looking up, he could only see silver-gray long swords with his naked eyes. His position was at a gap between swords!
“An Illusionary Formation!”
“I must have entered some illusionary formation!”
Ding Hao instantly made this assessment.
Everything was probably caused by that worn-out cushion!
Could that cushion contain some kind of power that he had never discovered before?
He thought that it might be true. Although he had studied that worn-out cushion many times, he had never really sat on it and operated his magic skills. At the moment, he had only sat there to improve his aura because of his injury. Unexpectedly, he encountered such a strange thing…
“Don’t think too much. Watch the forest of swords carefully!”
The trembling voice of the Sword Master rang in Ding Hao’s ears.
Ding Hao was shocked and subconsciously placed all his efforts to look at it. The hundreds of giant swords closest to him trembled slightly, and a strange breath came out of the swords. Suddenly, the tender green color reappeared in the swords, and a strange ripple was spread out. Ding Hao only felt that his eyes were blurred, and the forest of swords in front of him turned into green grass in an instant.
He felt as if he had suddenly shrunk countless times and was again standing in a patch of grass.
However, that time Ding Hao had no time to think about other things.
Because he had already discovered the reason behind all the changes.
It was a power that was familiar yet foreign to him.
“Sword intent!”
The strange sword intent was constantly evolving and changing all his surroundings.
The reason why it was familiar was because Ding Hao felt that he had already mastered the sword intent.
However, it was strange because Ding Hao had never realized that sword intent could even go beyond simply improving attacks. It had a power that was almost comparable to the conceptions of the Creator.