Chapter 2024 — True Enhanced Sword Aura

"Are you satisfied now?" Yuan asked the Sword Empress once it was clear whose Enhanced Sword Aura was stronger.

The Sword Empress withdrew her sword aura, but she remained silent, seemingly trying to comprehend the situation.

How can a mere mortal have a deeper understanding of sword aura than a Sword Emperor, someone who has hundreds of thousands of years of experience? It just didn’t make sense no matter how she thought about it.

’No... what if he’s a reincarnator who was a Sword Emperor in his past life?’

The Sword Empress thought of this possibility, which made the most sense.

After clicking her tongue, the Sword Empress spoke in a defeated tone, "Fine, you win."

"Then I’ll be entering the Holy Sword Temple now." Yuan turned toward the entrance and immediately began walking to it.

"Wait!" The Sword Empress suddenly stopped him.

"What is it now?" Yuan sighed.

Now that she had witnessed Yuan’s talent firsthand, she agreed with the Sixth Elder that letting someone like him throw his life away would be a waste.

"Why are you so desperate? To the point of throwing your life away?" she asked.

"..."

Of course, Yuan had no intention of throwing his life away. He was certain that the Holy Sword Temple’s unusual behavior was connected to him. But it wasn’t something he could reveal—and even if he tried, they wouldn’t believe him.

"I won’t die," he said.

"What makes you sound so sure?"

"Just a feeling," he shrugged.

And before they could say anything else, Yuan suddenly sped into the temple, disappearing before their eyes.

"That fool..." The Sword Empress shook her head.

Moments passed, but Yuan wasn’t ejected from the Holy Sword Temple. Seeing this, they believed that Yuan had been killed inside.

"That idiot just wouldn’t listen..." The Sword Empress sighed.

"We can’t be sure he’s dead since there’s no corpse," said the Sixth Elder.

"The Sword Descending Pavilion’s Sect Leader emerged with just his soul, so the Holy Sword Temple had likely destroyed his physical body. Since Yuan is just a mortal, he wouldn’t be able to survive without his body. It’s a pity that we lost such a talented individual, but there’s nothing we can do. Countless geniuses die every day."

However, just as the Sword Empress turned around and began walking away, the Sixth Elder suddenly shouted, "Look! The temple’s door has closed!"

"What?"

The Sword Empress halted in her tracks and turned around. And sure enough, the entrance to the Holy Sword Temple had been sealed—an occurrence that only took place when the trial had officially begun.

"No way... he actually managed to make it inside? Then why the hell did it force the Sect Leader and me out?" she muttered in a confused daze.

The Sixth Elder had no response and could only stare at the closed door with a dumbfounded face.

Meanwhile, inside the Holy Sword Temple, Yuan found himself standing in a vast room that had the aesthetic of an ancient temple. However, he wasn’t alone.

At the far end of the room stood another figure—tall and imposing, clad in white and silver robes, with a faceless mask concealing his identity.

"Tian Xin..." Yuan instantly recognized himself.

He had expected some sort of exchange, but without a word, Tian Xin suddenly raised his arm, summoning thousands of blades into the air, each forged from pure Enhanced Sword Aura.

"What the—"

With a swift motion, Tian Xin swung his arm downward, sending the countless blades hurtling toward him like a deadly rain of arrows.

Yuan instantly enveloped himself in Enhanced Sword Aura. Since his sword aura matched Tian Xin’s in strength, the incoming blades wouldn’t slice through him outright, but they would gradually wear down his defense, chipping away at the sword aura protecting his body.

"I see... so the training has already begun."

Quickly realizing this, Yuan stopped thinking about anything else and immediately began fighting back.

Mirroring Tian Xin’s move, Yuan conjured thousands of blades formed from Enhanced Sword Aura, intercepting the incoming assault. With the barrage deflected, he surged forward, gripping Number One Under Heaven tightly in his hand.

To Yuan’s surprise, Tian Xin drew a sword of his own, and it was also Number One Under Heaven.

With every clash, their Enhanced Sword Auras erupted violently, scattering in all directions like sparks.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, nearly two weeks had passed since Yuan’s battle with Tian Xin began. And yet, neither had managed to gain the upper hand—it was as if they were locked in a perfect stalemate.

This didn’t surprise Yuan, since they were essentially the same person.

However, after another two weeks, at the beginning of their second month fighting, Tian Xin suddenly spoke in a somewhat mocking tone, "You are supposed to grow stronger with every reincarnation, yet you don’t seem any stronger than me. If you want to defeat me, you’ll have to become stronger than all of your incarnations!"

Hearing this, Yuan felt something click inside his head.

’He’s right... I have stopped seriously trying to improve myself after I began regaining my memories..."

He realized that he’d only been recovering his original strength, but he hadn’t been trying to become stronger than that.

Upon realizing this, Yuan stopped fighting with the intention to defeat Tian Xin, but to improve himself.

With tens of millions of years of experience under his belt, Yuan’s level of comprehension was unfathomable.

Soon, Yuan slipped into a trance mid-battle. Though his consciousness went elsewhere, his body moved instinctively, as if it were on autopilot.

As time continued to flow, Yuan’s Enhanced Sword Aura started growing stronger despite having reached the realm of perfection.

Tian Xin smiled behind his mask after seeing this.

After spending an entire year inside the Holy Sword Temple and fighting with Tian Xin nonstop, Yuan’s sword aura had reached a new level. While it wasn’t Supreme Sword Aura, it surpassed all Enhanced Sword Aura and came extremely close to Supreme Sword Aura.

"Let’s just call this... True Enhanced Sword Aura." Yuan muttered with a satisfied smile on his face.