Sword qi—thousands of streams—crisscrossed and clashed, forming a wild torrent of force. The pressure was so intense, every blade of grass got flattened instantly.
Evan Lin tilted his head up just a little. A stray sword qi snipped off a lock of black hair at his temple, but he didn’t even blink—just opened his mouth wide and sucked in a deep breath.
A wild wind whipped through. In that instant, all that sword qi got locked down by some crazy force and just froze in midair for a whole second.
One second later, the sky-high sword qi got swept up by the wild wind, sucked in, and blasted straight for Evan Lin’s open mouth.
One gulp—ten thousand swords down the hatch!
Evan Lin looked just like a blue whale sucking up water—his belly puffed out, and all that sword qi in the sky got slurped right into his mouth.
But in the blink of an eye, it was like all the air nearby just got vacuumed clean.
But before anyone could react, even more sword qi started building up in front of those twelve trees, wave after wave, surging right at Evan Lin again.
Evan Lin just opened his mouth and spat out a sword qi beam—over a foot long, sharp and deadly.
He reached out, grabbed the sword qi, and held it like a real blade. The sword qi spun, and he planted its tip right into the ground at his feet.
The wild, roaring sword qi, upon hitting the ground with Evan Lin at its center, shattered and seeped into the earth, transforming into countless even finer sword qis. Some sword qi erupted from the ground, mingling with the sword qi in the sky, while others shot out like vipers from underground, charging straight toward the twelve bare trees.
Above Evan Lin's head, countless sword qi clashed and tangled, while the surrounding trees were sliced into tiny fragments—yet not a single piece landed on his shirt.
Meanwhile, the sword qi that slammed into the twelve tree trunks began at the roots, grinding the trunks into dust.
As the twelve tree trunks collapsed, they revealed twelve ancient longswords hidden within. Each sword looked old and worn, its blade carved with mysterious patterns that shimmered faintly with light.
Evan Lin glanced at them, his eyes calm and indifferent.
A second later, the twelve longswords anchoring the formation began to crumble from the tip down, breaking apart inch by inch into a rain of iron filings that fell to the ground.
"Just a little sword array, huh? Not bad."
Evan Lin shook his head, put his hands behind his back, and continued walking deeper inside.
The two rows of twelve trees that had just barely survived were now completely destroyed, leaving behind nothing but a mess of splinters.
Outside the woods, everyone was staring in that direction, waiting for what would happen next.
Fifteen minutes had already passed.
Just now, a huge crash echoed from the woods, making quite a few people’s faces change.
"It’s been fifteen minutes. That sound just now must’ve been him hitting something—so why hasn’t he come out yet? Don’t tell me he died in there?"
Warren Wang muttered to himself, mumbling under his breath.
Those twelve trees, lined up in formation—the further you went, the stronger the sword qi became.
Warren had only made it past three trees before he couldn’t take it anymore and bailed immediately.
"Maybe he actually made it through?"
Zane Wang asked curiously.
Warren didn’t answer this time.
Bella Xiao looked thoughtful.
Bob Moore’s face was tense. He glanced at Drake Yu, who was calmly resting with his eyes closed, showing zero impatience. Bob decided to wait a bit longer and see what happened.
Melissa Mu clenched her little fists, looking worried.
...
Evan Lin kept walking forward. After passing the simple sword array, he soon came to a crossroads.
He picked a path and kept going, but before long, he ran into another identical crossroads. The woods around him looked exactly the same as before.
Evan paused to think, chose a different path, and kept moving. But after a while, he ended up right back where he started.
"I thought it was another illusion array, but I don’t sense any formation here. Looks like this is just a clever mechanism."
Thinking of this, Evan didn’t get annoyed—instead, he just smiled.
"Heard about these things before, but never actually saw one back on the Immortal Martial Continent. Didn’t expect to run into one here. If it were any other day, I might take my time and study it, but today? Nah."
Evan shook his head, waved his hand, and sent out a burst of force. It swept forward like autumn wind through fallen leaves, slicing clean through two acres of woods and chopping every tree clean in half!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Row after row of trees toppled over, crashing to the ground with thunderous noise.
Soon, the area in front of Evan was a total mess. The branches that had blocked out the sky all fell to the ground, revealing a bright blue sky overhead.
A few white clouds drifted overhead. A gentle breeze blew, ruffling Evan’s bangs.
He strolled forward as if it were flat ground, completely unfazed.
Outside the woods, after those thunderous crashes, everyone waited in tense silence. Bob Moore was just about to send Drake Yu in when, out of nowhere, a whole row of trees in the middle of the forest crashed down, making everyone’s face change.
"Huh?"
Drake Yu, who’d been resting with his eyes closed, opened them at the sound. His sharp, delicate face turned to look at the fallen trees. Where there’d been thick branches, now it was all empty space. He raised an eyebrow, a bit surprised, but quickly returned to his usual calm.
"Did he… just walk straight through the sword array?"
Bob Moore was stunned. No one knew better than him how deadly that leftover sword array was. His eyelid twitched; he could hardly believe it.
"He really made it through."
Zane Wang murmured, glancing at Bella Xiao. Bella was looking at her camera; the display showed the photo she’d snapped of Evan as he entered the forest.
Bella sighed and shook her head, her pretty face thoughtful.
Warren Wang didn’t bother hiding his admiration—he’d felt that sword array’s power firsthand.
Victor Moore’s face looked awful. Uncle Li glanced at Melissa, a sigh in his eyes.
Everyone had their own thoughts. Those who’d been hoping Drake Yu would enter the forest soon calmed down, now even more curious—would that mysterious kid really succeed?
"Senior Brother Drake, that sword means everything to the Southriver Sword Sect. If that guy actually gets it…"
Hank Yue, standing behind Drake Yu, hesitated as he stepped up and quietly voiced his concern.
"It’s fine. Master always said there are three difficulties in the forest: first the sword array, then the maze, and finally the Sword in the Stele."
"Even if he passes the sword array and the maze, so what? Plenty of our sect’s experts cleared the first two, only to get stuck at the last one. That random nobody has zero chance. In the end, he’s just clearing the way for me and saving me some time, that’s all."
Drake Yu let out a cold, arrogant laugh, his gaze fixed on the woods, not worried at all.