In the Ethereal Realm, starting from the tenth rank, the mental effort required for each battle nearly doubles with every step up.
Jiang Chen could no longer sustain continuous fighting. After each duel at the Sword Dueling Platform, he had to withdraw and rest for a long while.
He used this "rest" time to tend to his Heavenly Lone Island, familiarize himself with dismantling Dao arts, and nurture his sword techniques.
Once his energy recovered, he would re-enter the Ethereal Realm.
Not a moment of idleness remained.
During the Heaven-Piercing realm, he had once stopped at the ninth rank, unable to explore the limits of that realm like Wang Yuan had. That remained an irredeemable regret.
So now, at the Soaring Dragon realm, he had to advance at least one step further.
Ninth, eighth, seventh.
Climbing upward with painstaking effort...
This time, his opponent was a young man clad in magnificent robes.
Many people in the Ethereal Realm habitually concealed their faces, so here, Jiang Chen judged others only by their eyes.
These were eyes that mingled arrogance with stubbornness.
On the Sword Dueling Platform, everything was about claiming victory. Neither the opponent wished for idle talk, nor did Jiang Chen.
From the Roaming Meridian realm onward, when he first participated in the Ethereal Realm's dueling matches, Jiang Chen had harbored a vague ambition toward the championship.
He was not a flamboyant person, but he never felt he should necessarily be beneath anyone.
Yet from Roaming Meridian to Cycle realm to Heaven-Piercing realm, he had never once achieved his wish.
Now, at seventh in the Soaring Dragon realm, it was already his best record to date.
For Jiang Chen, he absolutely refused to accept this as his endpoint.
Forced to break through his realm outside the town of Green Goat was, of course, a regret. But it also reminded him—you are not strong enough, far from it!
Jiang Chen never underestimated his opponents, and at this rank, he was especially cautious.
Almost the moment the dueling ground unfolded and he saw his opponent, he unleashed a Five-Qi Tiger Bind.
Then he swiftly formed hand seals, the Thorn Crown above his head flashing and vanishing in an instant. With that augmentation, he spread open the sea of Flamebloom.
But.
The first Flamebloom had just bloomed, the second was still spreading.
In a flash, nine Water Dragons roared toward him.
Each had its own posture—some pouncing, some biting—vivid and lifelike, bearing no resemblance to the product of a Dao art, but as if born of heaven and earth itself.
A Dao art of the caliber of Water Dragon Wave, Jiang Chen had long since witnessed.
Back during the Three-City Trial at Maple City, Lin Zhengren, who had broken through the Heavenly Gate mid-battle, had wielded a single...