26 The Echo

That ominous air in the sword was like a ferocious ancient monster, and its power kept sweeping back and forth within Yun Shu's control.

At first, Yun Shu had a slight edge over it with his aggressive Spirit Qi. However, as time went by, he started feeling tired, his control turning lax.

His Spirit Qi had been consumed much faster than he thought. Thus, Yun Shu hurriedly pulled out a turnip and stuffed it in his mouth.

This had turned into a tug of war. And neither side admitted defeat until early morning the next day. Finally, the ominous air settled down under continuous suppression.

Yun Shu released a long sigh of relief, his taut nerves relaxing.

"Let me see how powerful you are!" Yun Shu said to the sword as he picked it up and wielded it.

Yun Shu didn't infuse any Spirit Qi into the sword and not even used his full strength. It was just a casual swing. However, the moment the sword was picked up, violent killing intent surged like a sea.

Snap!

A deep cut was left in the stone wall of the shelter, leaving Yun Shu slightly astonished. The wall was made of Steel Stone and was extremely hard!

Even the killing wind never left it with such a deep cut. But Yun Shu's one casual swing did!

That was incredible!

The sword truly turned out to be a treasure! Yun Shu held the black sword in his hand, and his heart was full of excitement.

Carrying the sword on his back, Yun Shu first went back to the world behind the stone gate to feed the little chick and then headed for the stele square.

Su Lingwen had been sitting in front of the steles for the whole night, waiting for Yun Shu. She was slightly pissed now. However, when she saw him again, she instantly noticed the difference.

"You made a breakthrough again?" Su Lingwen asked, her eyes wide like saucers.

Was Yun Shu a monster obsessed with cultivation?

"I got some new ideas last night…" Yun Shu grinned cheekily.

Su Lingwen was speechless. A moment later, she decided to switch the topic. "Come and sit down to study the steles."

Yun Shu nodded and did as she instructed. Besides, it really had been a while since he last studied the steles.

In his plan, the steles were a vital part. After all, according to the sect's rules, understanding the steles was the only way for Yun Shu to leave this place. He did not want to waste his whole life here, and thus, he had to treat this as seriously as he could.

After cementing his conviction once again, he used his golden pupils. Instantly, the messy streaks on the steles turned into sword shadows in Yun Shu's eyes.

Yun Shu tried his best to identify the pattern hiding in it. Slowly, he started to have some clues. He reached out his hand, trying to copy one of the structures. However, as soon as he decided to study the movement, the streaks of sword shadows started moving around and changing fast.

Yun Shu dared not move as his eyes kept tracking the transformations. After he identified the new pattern, he wielded his sword again.

And the streaks of sword shadows changed once more.

This kept happening as the sword shadows kept changing their patterns. Yun Shu tried to combine the movements he had copied together but discovered that they were not coherent at all.

Yun Shu believed that his comprehension must be wrong. He closed his eyes and started recalling what he saw.

At this time, Old Du and He were observing Yun Shu and Su Lingwen from some distance away. Their eyes were extremely sharp, so they could see everything clearly.

"He's here. As I expected," Old Du twirled his long beard and said.

Old He snorted. "So what? You ask me to come here just for this? The steles have been standing there for more than a thousand years. No one can understand them. Even if that boy can figure them out, it will be decades later."

Old Du nodded. "You're right. Even if he's extremely talented, it's impossible for him to make great progress in a single day. I gotta be patient. Let's go."

Just as they turned around and were about to leave, they heard a buzzing sound coming from that stele square. The noise wasn't loud, but the two seniors heard it clearly, as if it was right next to their ears.

They turned around at the same time and saw a faint beam of pale blue light in the air. Sitting in front of the stele, Yun Shu had entered a special state of meditation.

"He, did you see?" Old Du was excited, almost jumping up and down.

"I'm not blind!" Old He responded, his eyes focusing on Yun Shu.

"The boy… The boy's going to…" Old Du's voice was slightly trembling.

"He has found the echo with the stele. And it's even stronger than the echo that Lingwen had," said Old He, word by word.

Old Du kept nodding like a chicken. Meanwhile, on the side, Su Lingwen couldn't believe her own eyes. It was only Yun Shu's third time reading the steles. Yet, he was making progress so fast!

If this kept happening, soon, he would catch up with her, or even surpass her record!

At this time, the blue light disappeared as the echo between Yun Shu and stele finally stopped.

"It's so hard to understand the sword intent." Yun Shu opened his eyes and sighed.

Su Lingwen found this remark a bit offensive.

Hard?

Just hard?

Yet, Yun Shu could easily piss her off further.

"I thought I could finish reading the stele in one go, but I felt there was something missing, so I decided to stop first." Yun Shu murmured.

It was Yun Shu himself who had stopped the process!

Su Lingwen had to try her best not to roll her eyes.

"You, stand up!" said Su Lingwen, grinding her teeth.

"What?" Yun Shu was a bit surprised.

"I'll tell you what's missing," said Su Lingwen with gritted teeth.