"How gruesome…" Tian Yanyu mumbled in a low voice after seeing what had happened to the man on the platform.
"Do you have any experience at this place, Senior?" Yuan suddenly asked.
"Does it look like I have a death wish? This place has one of the highest death rates in the outer area. No matter how good the reward is, it's simply too risky for me."
"Let's get a closer look." Yuan approached the crowd.
"I told him that he was biting more than he could chew. He should've stopped after enduring the third strike."
Yuan listened to the conversations being held by the people there.
"What a waste of talent."
"He was a disciple from the Thousand Saber Manor, right?"
"Yeah, he was one of their top 10 disciples, too."
"What a pity."
"A pity indeed."
By the time Yuan arrived at the platform, another individual was already on the platform and preparing for the trial.
"There will be a total of nine strikes."
A familiar voice suddenly resounded in the area.
Yuan turned to look at the statue, where the voice was echoing from.
"The more strikes you survive, the better the rewards. Once the sword appears, it will not disappear until it strikes the platform. You may step out of the platform at any time."
"The first sword will descend in five… four… three…"
When the voice counted down to zero, a massive sword appeared in front of the statue and slashed at the individual on the platform.
This sword bore immense pressure that could split even a mountain.
The man on the platform was at the 5th level of Spirit King, yet he could barely keep his eyes open before the pressure.
BOOM!
The ground shook once again as the massive sword struck the platform.
Once the dust settled, the people could see that the man had survived the strike, but his arms were already bleeding.
"The second sword will descend within five…"
Five seconds later, another sword appeared, and it was clearly a size larger than the previous.
"The second strike is about 1.5 times stronger than the first." Tian Suyin mumbled as the sword descended on the man for the second time.
BOOM!
The ground shook slightly harder this time.
When the spectators could see the man again, it was clear to them that he was already at his limit, as both of his arms were broken with the bones sticking out and all.
"The third sword will descend within—"
Before the voice could even finish his sentence, the man jumped off the stage.
The following moment, orbs of light would emerge from the statue, entering the man who had just endured two strikes.
The man's aura immediately spiked as his cultivation rapidly strengthened, reaching the 7th level Spirit King in the time it took to take a deep breath. Furthermore, his injuries were completely healed.
"Heavens… his cultivation increased by two levels just like that? Since when did cultivation become so easy?" Tian Yanyu mumbled in a dazed voice.
"If you think it's so easy, why don't you get on the stage and try it yourself?" Tian Suyin sneered at her ignorant remarks.
"I-I will watch for a little longer…" She quickly responded.
Yuan agreed with her and proceeded to watch several more people challenge the Nine Swords Trial.
"So the strength of each strike differs from person to person… As expected, this place tests one's potential, not their achievements." He mumbled in a low voice.
In the end, out of 15 participants, two people had managed to endure 2 strikes, four people endured 1 strike, and the other nine people died from the first strike.
"Are you going to participate?" Yuan turned to look at Tian Yanyu.
"Can you guarantee that I won't die?" She asked in response.
"I can't." Yuan answered without hesitation.
"Then I won't. As enticing as the reward is, this is a little too risky even for me, especially when the trial is different for everyone. What about you? You're going to participate, right?"
He nodded, "Yes, I am going to participate."
"Good luck." Tian Yanyu didn't bother saying any unnecessary words since she knew that it would only be a waste of breath.
She trusted Yuan and his strength and that was all it mattered.
After waiting for several more people to go, Yuan finally decided to enter the stage.
'Even though my cultivation won't increase from this, my instincts tell me that there's something more important than that here.'
Yuan took a deep breath before retrieving the Empyrean Overlord.
"The first sword will descend in five… four… three…"
"Two… one…"
A sword appeared before Yuan, but there was something different about this sword.
Compared to the swords that appeared previously, this sword was not semi-transparent and was completely solid, just like a real sword.
Moreover, the size of this sword was shockingly large— so massive that it was several times bigger than the statue itself.
"Heavens! What's with the size of that sword?! It's just his first strike, yet it's already bigger than the fourth strike for that Thousand Saber Manor's disciple!"
"Is there something wrong with the trial, or is there something special about that young man?!"
"I have witnessed every trial here for the last 100 years, but I have never seen anything like this before!"
"R-Run! Heaven knows how destructive it will be! We'll all get caught up in it at this rate!" Someone there suddenly shouted.
Upon hearing such words, everyone there immediately began scrambling away, running as far away as they could before the sword descended.
Meanwhile, Yuan stood as still as a statue on the platform with a resolute expression on his face.
The sword began descending towards Yuan the following second, creating a force so powerful that it split all of the nearby clouds halfway before impact, creating a clear blue sky in an instant.
Despite the immense pressure bearing down on him, Yuan swung the Empyrean Overlord at the sword in the sky with seemingly no effort at all, and there was even a slight smile on his face.