Chapter 10: The Emergence of Blade Gale

About a quarter later, Titus and Raelyn didn’t meet Malcolm as expected, but were instead greeted by an elder in a green robe, a senior steward of the sect. “Miss Yates, the hall master had urgent matters to attend to outside and sent me to convey his message. Though Titus is a Blade Cultivation practitioner, his Sea of Qi is too severely damaged for recovery. Given the limited resources of the Heavenly Ultimate Hall, we are unable to fully support his cultivation at this moment. The hall master’s decision is to let Titus stay in the Heavenly Ultimate Hall for now. If he shows growth in the future, he will certainly be heavily utilized,” the elder in the green robe said slowly. “Why!” Raelyn was stunned, her eyes brimming with tears. She had been overjoyed earlier, thinking that Titus would be valued and have a bright future. But in just a quarter of an hour, everything changed. “It’s the hall master’s decision,” the green-robed elder stated. “I want to see Uncle Malcolm,” Raelyn said, biting her lip. “The hall master has already left and won’t be returning soon. It’s best to wait for his return. I’m merely conveying his words, Miss Yates, please don’t make it difficult for me,” the elder spoke indifferently. “Yates, let’s just leave it,” Titus stopped Raelyn, who was about to forcibly enter the inner court. After experiencing life and death twice, he had come to understand the complex human relationships. “But...” Raelyn bit her lower lip, her eyes red with unshed tears. “No more buts, let’s go,” said Titus. Raelyn nodded helplessly. She knew that making a scene here was pointless. If Malcolm didn’t wish to see her, she wouldn’t be able to meet him even if she forced her way in. Yatest, Raelyn still felt the injustice. Titus possessed such strength, so why wouldn’t the master of the Heavenly Ultimate Hall want to support him? Uncovering and nurturing outstanding disciples was one of the primary tasks of the eight halls of Skynet Sect. If a disciple showed promise, it was a rule of the sect that the hall masters must support them. Raelyn couldn’t understand why Malcolm suddenly changed his mind. She suspected something must have happened in the interim to cause such a drastic shift in his attitude. Unfortunately, she couldn’t ask Malcolm now and would have to wait for a later opportunity to uncover the truth. The elder in the green robe escorted Titus and Raelyn out of the main residence. Just as he was about to return, a young man dressed in Inner Sect disciple robes approached with a group. “Uncle Felix, why are you personally escorting people out?” the young man asked. “Young Master, you’re back,” the elder expressed surprise. “I just finished my training outside and happened to be near the Heavenly Ultimate Hall. I haven’t seen my father for a long time, so I came to visit him. I’ll be heading back to the Inner Sect in a couple of days.” Palmer Yarbrough suddenly pointed to Raelyn in the distance and asked the elder, “Isn’t that the girl Raelyn?” “It is,” the elder nodded. “My father, he’s too nostalgic. If she had great talent, it would be fine to allow her to visit the main residence, but with such low talent, it’s a joke to have her around,” Palmer said with a look of disgust. “The hall master cherishes old connections, and Miss Yates’s father once saved his life,” the elder replied. “Cherishing old connections... What’s there to cherish? Those without value are useless. Even if they saved my father, it’s ancient history. By the way, who’s that man with her? He looks familiar,” Palmer frowned. “Oh, his name is Titus Xenos. He used to be a disciple of the Heavenly Ultimate Hall who rose to the Inner Sect but was crippled and sent back here,” the elder hastily explained. “Crippled and still in the Heavenly Ultimate Hall?” Palmer looked surprised. In his view, those who were crippled had only one path – to be sent back to their original homes. How could they still be in the Heavenly Ultimate Hall? “Young Master may not know, but this Titus Xenos is a Blade Cultivation practitioner,” the elder added. “Blade Cultivation...” Palmer looked at the retreating figure of Titus, his eyes filled with jealousy. "A crippled man, yet a Blade Cultivation practitioner? The heavens are truly blind. Why couldn’t I have been a Blade Cultivation? If I were, I could have been the top disciple in the Inner Sect, even reaching the status of a core disciple." “Even if he’s a Blade Cultivation, it’s useless. His Sea of Qi is only at thirty percent capacity, practically a cripple. Even if he manages to enter the Inner Sect in the future, he won’t survive long,” the elder stated indifferently. “Uncle Felix, what do you mean by that?” Palmer’s curiosity was piqued. “That Titus was crippled by Chloe. Somehow, he managed to break through and become a Blade Cultivation after that. But with such damaged Sea of Qi, his potential is limited,” the elder said offhandedly. “Crippled by Chloe...” Palmer’s expression became complicated. No wonder Titus looked familiar. He was one of Chloe’s ‘preys’ from a few days ago. Others might not know what this ‘prey’ meant, but Palmer did, as he was one of the participants, helping Chloe to cripple several others and seize their Martial Spirit seeds. These ‘preys’ were mostly Inner Sect disciples from commoner or small country backgrounds with high talent but no significant backing. The higher-ups of Skynet Sect were aware of their hunting, but since they were top disciples of the Inner Sect, and Chloe was a core disciple, they turned a blind eye. “No wonder he looked familiar, he was one of the ‘preys’ from a few days ago.” Palmer’s eyes narrowed. Although he hadn’t participated directly, he had planned the hunt, so he recognized Titus. The usual fate of these ‘preys’ was to be sent back to their origins after being crippled. Palmer and his companions were not worried about their ‘prey’ fighting back, as they had already been disabled, and even if they spoke out, no one would believe them. As for reporting... Would it be useful? Would the higher-ups of the Skynet Sect believe the words of a core disciple, or would they believe someone who has been rendered useless? What Palmer didn’t expect was that one of their ‘prey’ would escape and even regrow their claws. Although this individual’s Sea of Qi had been destroyed, he was a Blade Cultivator. Licking his dry lips, Palmer narrowed his eyes. Such threats must not be allowed to grow; they had to be nipped in the bud. ... After sending the sullen Raelyn home, Titus returned to his residence. The surrounding courtyard was empty, quiet, and serene. At this moment, Titus found the place to be quite satisfactory. There was no one else within five miles, making it convenient for anything he wished to do. Without delay, Titus took out the Spirit Gathering Fruit, the remaining tenth of its spiritual energy was exactly what he needed most at the moment. The perfect foundation of Blade Cultivation, as attempted by the Venerable Clowde for hundreds of years, required a complete transformation from the outside to the inside. Forging the Blade Vein and blade bones constituted the external forging. After completing the external forging, the internal forging of the blade soul began. Once all three aspects were formed, one could achieve the true perfection of Blade Cultivation. At that stage, with the unity of Blade Vein, blade bones, and blade soul, from the outside to the inside and then from the inside to the outside, that would be the strongest and most perfect state of Blade Cultivation. Crushing the Spirit Gathering Fruit, Titus saw strands of its essence seep out. He quickly guided these essences and infused them into the ground, drawing ancient and mysterious Spirit Gathering runes. With the essence of spiritual energy, the runes emitted an ancient aura. The scattered spiritual energy in the world began to converge at the runes, continuously merging into them, making the spiritual energy within them increasingly dense. Half a quarter later, the final rune was drawn, and the power of the Spirit Gathering Fruit was completely depleted. The moment the Spirit Gathering Array was formed, the surrounding spiritual energy surged like a tide. Transform into blades! Titus formed a unique hand gesture. The spiritual energy gathered within the Spirit Gathering Array condensed into the shape of small knives, hundreds of them. They emitted a terrifying sharpness that made one's heart tremble. Titus took a deep breath, formed a hand seal, and the hundreds of spiritual energy-formed knives pierced his body. As if hundreds of real knives were penetrating his body, Titus was in excruciating pain, and this was only the beginning as the small knives continued to penetrate his body. When the small knives reached his bones, the moment they began to cut through the bones, the real agony began, penetrating his marrow. Titus gritted his teeth and endured the pain in silence, knowing that this was a necessary process. The small knives of spiritual energy continued to cut through the bones, gradually integrating into the bone structure. With the continuous integration of these spiritual energy knives, Titus's entire skeletal structure underwent a rapid transformation. It felt as if several years had passed. Titus felt as if it had been years. When the pain finally subsided, a clear sound of knives rang out from his body, and this sound resonated from every bone. All 206 pieces of his bones emitted a crisp sound of knives. His cultivation had also advanced by two levels, from the original Seventh Level of Qi Refinement to the Ninth Level of Qi Refinement Stage. Titus opened his eyes, and they shimmered with astonishing sharpness. The blade aura that had surrounded him before was now replaced by an even more powerful Blade Gale. Swoosh! The Blade Gale surged through his body and shot into the sky.