"I wonder if that young man is still there…" Lan Yingying mumbled to herself as she approached the unnamed temple shortly after sunrise.

While she normally visits the temple once a week to clean the stone tablet, she has been experiencing a weird sensation in her chest ever since she met the masked man two days ago, almost like her guts was telling her to return to the temple.

About half an hour of walking later, Lan Yingying arrived at the temple, and she could already feel something different in the air before she even stepped onto the staircase to the temple.

"This aura… It can't be…" Lan Yingying quickly ascended the staircase when she realized the type of aura she was experiencing.

A few moments later, she stood at the entrance of the temple and looked inside, and to her surprise, the masked person was still there. Furthermore, there was even a subtle amount of Sword Aura emitting from his body!

Of course, the most shocking part about all of this was his cultivation base which had increased exponentially since their last meeting only two days ago!

'My lord! He was a first level Spirit Warrior just two days ago! Now, he's a fifth level Spirit Warrior?! How can anyone cultivate so fast?!' Lan Yingying covered her mouth in shock when she realized Yuan's immense growth.

She has seen many geniuses in her lifetime, but she has never seen someone with as much talent as this masked individual, who'd managed to learn Sword Aura as a Spirit Warrior.

No… There is one person she can think of who could possibly rival this person in terms of talent— the 'Lord' her family used to serve who was known to have unrivaled talents and a legendary swordmaster.

Lan Yingying didn't want to disturb Yuan, so she quietly turned around and prepared to leave.

However, just as she turned around, she noticed a change on the stone tablet that she has cleaned ever since she could walk.

'T-The sword marks! They're reacting to that individual's Sword Aura?! Impossible!' Lan Yingying nearly cried out loud after seeing the Sword Aura that was left behind by the person who made the sword marks reacting for the first time in her life.

'W-Who is this person?!' Lan Yingying wondered with a serious look on her face, and she decided to stay around to witness the situation for a little bit longer.

Meanwhile, inside Yuan's head, he struck the stone tablet for the thousandth time, creating a small cut on the stone tablet, and the sword in his grasp was emitting weak Sword Aura.

'This… This is the feeling I was looking for!'

Yuan's eyes flickered with profoundness, and he continued to strike the stone tablet.

The more he practiced his Sword Aura, the deeper and cleaner the cuts got.

Two thousand… five thousand… ten thousand…

Yuan struck the stone tablet over ten thousand times without stopping, his understanding of Sword Aura increasing with every strike.

Meanwhile, the training inside his mind also reflected in the real world, as his Sword Aura grew increasingly stronger and sharper. If one were to drop a piece of paper on top of Yuan right now, it would definitely be torn to shred the moment it touches the Sword Aura surrounding him.

Lan Yingying watched as Yuan improved his Sword Aura at a frightening rate.

Suddenly, she noticed that the Sword Aura in the sword marks was actually leaving the stone tablet and being absorbed by Yuan's Sword Aura!

'What?! He's absorbing my Lord's Sword Aura?! No— My Lord's Sword Aura is attracted to him! It's going towards him on its own will!' Lan Yingying was shocked to the core when she realized what was happening.

It took a couple of hours, but eventually, Yuan absorbed all of the Sword Aura on the stone tablet.

WHOOs.h.!.+

A powerful gust of wind swept the place when Yuan absorbed the last bit of Sword Aura from the stone tablet.

Lan Yingying, who was standing all the way at the entrance, noticed small tears on her clothes when the Sword Aura touched her despite standing so far away from Yuan.

'What intense Sword Aura!' Lan Yingying didn't care about her clothes being destroyed by Yuan's Sword Aura— or more precisely, she was too focused on him to care about such a minor thing.

The Sword Aura around Yuan subdued a few moments later, and he opened his eyes, taking a deep breath afterward.

[Your mastery with the sword has improved significantly]

[Your understanding of swords has reached a new level]

[Your 'Novice Sword Mastery' has developed into 'Advanced Sword Mastery']

[You have understood the basics of Sword Aura]

[You have learned Sword Aura]

[Congratulations! You have been awarded the t.i.tle 'Swordmaster']

[Advanced Sword Mastery]

[Description: Greatly improves your control with the sword by 30% and increases all damage dealt with swords by 50%. Your enemies will feel more pain from your sword attacks as your damage increases. Your sword techniques will also have more impact. Requires no activation.]

[Sword Aura]

[Mastery Level: 1]

[Description: Allows you to convert your spiritual energy into Sword Aura and treat it as though it's a real sword. Increases sword damage and sharpness. The effects increase with Mastery Level.]

"So this is Sword Aura, huh? I feel like I am surrounded by invisible swords…" Yuan looked at his hand that was protected by Sword Aura.

"Hmm? Isn't this kind of like Qi Manifestation?" He mumbled in a pondering voice.

"Who's there?" Yuan suddenly noticed a presence behind him and turned around.

"Eh? You're… Miss Lan?" Yuan immediately recognized her pretty face and unique azure-colored eyes.

However, there was something different about her this time. More precisely, her appearance— her clothes. They were ragged, almost like someone had used a knife and slashed her clothes a dozen times until it turned into this sad state, and a lot of her skin was exposed by the holes in her clothes.

"Umm… Are you okay?" Yuan pointed at her shredded clothes, completely oblivious that he was the culprit.

Lan Yingying looked down with a nonchalant expression before speaking, "Never mind that. I want you to meet my family. Can you come with me now?"