“Attack!”

Nangong Huang roared as a horrifying sword ray emerged from the Deep Pool Rainbow Sword in his grasp. It was vast like an endless river.

The sword ray locked onto the sword qi clone, making it impossible for it to escape!

Murong Xuan, Jun Yi, Qin Wushuang, and the others all deployed their ultimate technique too, and several different sword Daos erupted all at once!

Under the barrage of attacks, even the mighty sword qi clone was eventually reduced into a burst of sword qi that dispersed.

“We did it!”

Nangong Huang, Murong Xuan, and the others were overjoyed.

“Great, after nearly a month of fighting it, we've finally managed to defeat that sword qi clone. D*mn, I'm completely exhausted,” Zhuo Han said as he laid on the ground.

The others were as relieved as well.

At that moment, Chu Kuangren approached them from a short distance away.

Everyone hurriedly bowed to him.

“Greetings, Sect Leader.”

“There's no need for them.”

Chu Kuangren slightly nodded and then told everyone. “Twenty-nine days. You guys took twenty-nine days to defeat this sword qi clone. Do you guys have anything to say about this?”

“Although I did give all of you one month to deal with the sword qi clone, I didn't expect you guys nearly to really take one month to do so.”

Everyone was slightly ashamed at his words.

“Alright, alright, I guess you guys have pa.s.sed. Now that this training phase has ended, let's proceed to the next one.”

Chu Kuangren chuckled.

Everyone then looked at each other.

'There's more?'

Just when everyone was puzzled, Chu Kuangren snapped his fingers.

In a second, nine sword qi clones appeared.

Everyone could guess what it was the moment they saw the sword qi clones and they gulped in disbelief.

“In the next phase, I'll have every one of you guys deal with a sword qi clone alone.”

Chu Kuangren explained.

Everyone gasped in horror.

'No way. It really did end up that way!'

It took them nearly a month to defeat a single sword qi clone with everyone's combined strength, and now they had to face off against one alone?

'F*ck me.'

'We're going to end up fighting it for years!'

“That's not fair, Sect Leader.”

Nangong Huang smiled bitterly.

“What's not fair? Do you have anything to say?”

Chu Kuangren glanced at him.

“No, nothing.”

Nangong Huang gulped and quickly shook his head. Even if he had some opinions, it would be better if he kept those to himself. His days would not end well if he were to offend the Sect Leader.

“Then let's begin.”

Chu Kuangren simply raised his hand to cast the Spring Breeze Healing Technique and fixed everyone's injuries. With that, they could deal with the clones.

The nine Daoists left one after another.

Only Shang Qingxue was left behind. A little lost, she asked Chu Kuangren, “Sect Leader, what should I do next?”

Each Daoist was given one sword qi clone to fight, but only she had none.

She could not help but feel slightly nervous. As the weakest among the group, she contributed the least against fighting the sword qi clone during the past month.

Was Chu Kuangren going to abandon her like that?

“As for you, I have something else arranged elsewhere. Follow me.”

Shang Qingxue followed Chu Kuangren and arrived at an empty piece of land. All Chu Kuangren did then was lift his hand and a red barrier appeared in the air, enveloping Shang Qingxue within it like an enchanted boundary.

“What's this?”

“Something that I've picked up recently.”

Chu Kuangren replied.

Throughout that time training Nangong Huang and the others, he did not allow himself to fall behind on his cultivation progress. Having refined and sorted through all the techniques he learned, Chu Kuangren then a.s.similated all of them into his Transcendent Coalescence Daoist Physique.

During that process, he had obtained a lot of understanding and had since developed some new techniques from the ones that he knew.

This red barrier was one of them.

“I shall call this barrier the Scorching Inferno!”

“This barrier will continuously emit a high temperature to burn anyone who's trapped inside to death. So you'll need to stay in there and use your Deep Freeze Physique to withstand the searing heat.”

Chu Kuangren had specially devised that method of training for Shang Qingxue.

The intention was to utilize the high temperature to facilitate the growth of her Deep Freeze Physique.

Inside the red barrier.

As the temperature rapidly increased, its scorching heat turned the air within the barrier into heat waves, distorting the sunlight. Even the surrounding flowers and trees on the ground were instantly burned to ashes.

Shang Qingxue proceeded to resist the heat by channeling the cold waves within her body.

“Oh, I almost forgot to mention, the temperature within the Scorching Inferno will double every two hours. After the twelve-hour mark, I'm afraid even an Honorable will be instantly reduced to ashes in there.” Chu Kuangren chuckled.

At that, Shang Qingxue could not help but feel a chill down her spine. “Even an Honorable will die here? Sect Leader, I-I'm just a Nascent Soul cultivator…”

Although her progress these days had been impressive, having reached the Nascent Soul Realm from the Golden Core Realm, her strength was still worlds apart from an Honorable's.

“Don't worry, the amount of spiritual power I left within the Scorching Inferno will only last around six hours. It won't kill you, but I believe it'll be quite a challenge for you to withstand six hours.”

“Alright, enjoy yourself.”

Chu Kuangren chuckled before he turned around and left.

Shang Qingxue watched Chu Kuangren's receding silhouette, extremely helpless.

After two hours, the temperature within the Scorching Inferno doubled. Shang Qingxue's face was already red from the heat and her breathing was heavy. However, there was no sweat on her body as it evaporated the moment it came out.

After four hours, the ground beneath her had begun to dry up and crack. Shang Qingxue continued to squeeze whatever little spiritual power that was left in her body to keep the Deep Freeze Physique activated.

After five hours, although Shang Qingxue had already run out of spiritual power, her Deep Freeze Physique continued to release cold waves due to the stimulation from the high temperature surrounding her. Even so, that process was incredibly slow, it was akin to milking a cow.

When it was close to six hours, Shang Qingxue was already lying on the ground. Almost all the clothes on her body had been completely burnt away, only a few pieces that covered her private parts remained.

Meanwhile, her back, arm, and thighs had suffered severe burns and were scorched black. She laid there like she was on the brink of death.

After six hours, the Scorching Inferno disappeared and a gentle soothing breeze swept past Shang Qingxue, rapidly healing her injuries.

Having almost fainted, Shang Qingxue gradually regained her consciousness and she looked around. “I'm still alive…”

When she was inside the Scorching Inferno, she was almost certain that she would die there. It was a terrible feeling.

“That's right, you're still alive. So do you still want to partic.i.p.ate in the training? If you tap out now, you won't need to face this suffering anymore.”

Chu Kuangren's voice rang beside her ears like the whispers of the devil, tempting her to give up.

'Just leave. You'll be free from all this hards.h.i.+p and suffering if you just give up now.'

She had all the time in the world to continue her cultivation slowly. There was no need for her to endure all this inhuman training here and suffer the pain.

“Qingxue, you must remember one thing. In this world, if you wish to be the master of your fate, you'll need to improve and get stronger.”

“Put aside the so-called glory that I'm in right now. Although I'm the Shang Clan Leader, that t.i.tle was merely given to me by Sect Leader Chu, so there are still people in the branch clan who still look down on me. It's only because of Sect Leader Chu's actions that they dare not lay a finger on me. ”

“Qingxue, I want you to go to the Black Heaven Sect.”

“Over there, you may be able to use your Deep Freeze Physique to its fullest. Only once you've stronger would I be able to stand firm in the Shang clan, and no one will dare to look down upon you then… ”

In her daze, Shang Qingxue recalled what her father had said to her before she came to the Black Heaven Sect. A determined then look flashed across her eyes.

“I won't give up!”

“I want to become stronger, so much stronger that no one dares to look down on my parents; so strong that I can control the fate of my life. I won't back down!”

Chu Kuangren grinned. “Very well, I admire your guts. Let's add another hour to the training tomorrow then.”

Shang Qingxue remained quiet.

She finally understood that Chu Kuangren only had one principle when he trained all of them… As long as they were alive, they would train until their deaths!

'That devil!'

'Our Sect Leader is definitely the devil incarnate!'