Yin Long stopped in front of the stormy forest for a second, the torrential rain stopping only a few centimetres in front of him. The strange and slightly uncomfortable sensation he was feeling had only grown stronger as he approached the forest, the dissonance caused by observing an altered flow of time causing his stomach to churn a little.

He sucked in a quick breath and then stepped forward, moving into the forest as the torrential rain and howling wind bore down on him. His stomach tossed and turned as he stepped forward, practically inverting itself when half his body was in the forest. He finished stepping into the forest and immediately bent forward, expelling the contents of his stomach and splattering them on the earth.

He had never interacted with an altered flow of time before, so that one moment where the two halves of his body were experiencing a different flow of time could only be called sickening. He continued to retch for a few seconds thanks to the discomfort of his body being accustomed to the normal flow of time, but that discomfort quickly faded as he got used to the increased flow of time.

"Geh, is this how people usually feel when they first use spatial arrays?"

He wiped his mouth as he finished retching, spitting a few times to get rid of the taste. He had never personally experienced any discomfort when he used spatial arrays, but he had heard on more than a few occasions that it would be quite uncomfortable and sickening to people who weren't used to it. He washed his mouth with some water and then swept the area with a quick gaze, taking in the surroundings.

There was a fair bit of room between each tree, even Demonic beasts would be able to move around and fight without problem here. But the sheer intensity of the rain and the wind drastically reduced the visibility, just seeing a few metres in front of you was tough. The Qi here was also rather special, it was so dense that it actually formed a fine mist that meandered around along the ground and between the trees, which coincidentally served to further reduce visibility somewhat.

Yin Long drew in a deep breath and sucked in some of the mist, which immediately flowed into his soulsea and joined up with the ocean of Qi he had there. Qi as dense as this meant that cultivation would be many magnitudes easier, but it also meant that any beast or plant living here would be many times stronger than normal, it also wouldn't be strange for several elementals to have been born here.

But this knowledge only caused the corners of Yin Long's lips to curve up. The stronger the enemies were the better they would be for winding weak points in his techniques, they would be a great help when it came to digesting anything he read in the various martial libraries. And of course, there would definitely be a great number of excellent resources present in an environment like this, the only question would be if he was skilled enough to acquire them.

He spread out his senses and started to walk forward, the downpour of rain and wind unable to prevent his senses from providing him with a map of the surrounding. But that was only to be expected, his senses were merged with the surrounding space so it would take more than just some rain and wind to block them.

Yin Long didn't move at a terribly fast pace, each step measured yet calm as he kept a close eye on his surroundings. He knew that he had to pass tests if he wanted to enter the various martial libraries and resource depots, but he didn't know whether or not those tests would take place by the building or if the tests would be scattered about.

And it didn't take long for an answer to come to him. A tree and the earth a few metres behind him started to twist and turn, rapidly forming two humanoid puppets that charged silently at Yin Long. One puppet wielded a long spear while the other wielded a large axe, both weapons so sharp that they gleamed slightly. Thousand Blades Hall only wanted to nurture strong cultivators, and the danger of death was one of the greatest motivators so why would they hold back?

The two puppets moved quietly enough, but there was no way they could elude Yin Long's senses so he noticed them the moment they were formed. He took half a step to the side and bent forward just as the two puppets unleashed their attack, the stabbing spear and sweeping axe just barely missing him. A wavy blue sword formed from water appeared in his grasp as he spun around and slashed upwards in a diagonal manner, impacting the elbow of the axe-wielding puppet.

The arm was severed and the axe it was holding started to fall, Yin Long twisting his body slightly to avoid the falling weapon. His feet kicked off the ground the moment he finished the attack, his knees bending as he tucked his legs up against his body so that the now sweeping spear missed him.

The wavy blue sword slashed down, gathering the surrounding rain and greatly enlarging the blade into a thick greatsword that smashed into the shoulder of the spear-wielding puppet. The wood was smashed and torn, the greatsword tearing deeply into the chest of the puppet and smashing it to the ground.

Yin Long used the weapon stuck in the puppet as support and pulled himself forward, vaulting over the puppet so that the axe swinging at him failed to hit its mark. The axe that had fallen to the ground hadn't vanished so he guessed that each puppet probably stored multiple weapons inside them, or that the weapons may just have been made by some array.

He turned his body in the air so that he landed on his feet, only half a step to the side and behind of the axe-wielding puppet. He pulled out his wavy greatsword and swung it sideways, the axe-wielding puppet materializing a new axe in its other arm to block his attack. It was pushed back a bit, but it seemed to have grown a bit sturdier so it didn't collapse and instead retaliated with the other axe it was holding.

A curved cyan sword appeared in Yin Long's other hand, deflecting the axe and causing it to collide with the spear of the wooden puppet that had repaired itself. One hand wielded the water-formed greatsword, each stroke moving into the next one to retain as much momentum as possible, and the other hand wielded the wind-formed sword and deflected the incoming attacks, his wrist flicking unceasingly to launch quick counterattacks when he had the chance.

When he failed to deflect some attacks he would rely on the leaves that had formed around him to block them, stacking the leaves upon each other to gather the necessary power. The puppets were tenacious, their movements sharp and calculated. But if they were to be based on human strength then they only had strength equal to someone at the 3rd Immortal Door, it only took Yin Long a minute to cut them down enough times that they didn't rise up again.

But while they were weaker than him, he still learned a few things from them. The spear-wielding puppet used a strange technique that he felt might be useable if he wielded a rapier, and the axe-wielding puppets moves were quite useful to his greatsword training, both could be integrated. But sadly, they both collapsed far too quickly for his liking so he didn't get to see more of their skills.

The weapons of the two puppets vanished into several motes of lights as the puppets collapsed, but the puppets themselves didn't immediately fade. A soft light was released by the chests of the two puppets, floating out of their bodies and turning into a grey G-1 that hovered in front of Yin Long. The glowing emblem sank into his chest, a stilted and somewhat mechanic voice echoing in his head.

"Bits and pieces of Zhaonge Meiyu's Buddha dances in the rain, Lang Sheshi's Earthen Pulse Sword, Fang Houye's Twin Blades of Supremacy, and very faint traces of Puppet #524's axe-play detected. Slightly merged but ultimately derivative, access to martial library G Floor 1 granted."

Yin Long felt his lips tremble fiercely as the voice echoed out in his head. The battle hadn't lasted all that long, yet all the sword styles he had used had been identified and even traced back to the person who came up with them. They even had knowledge of Meiyu's Buddha dances in the rain, which Yin Long was the sole inheritor of.

Thousand Blades Hall hadn't gotten their reputation for nothing, they truly knew an uncountable number of sword styles. As for its final statement, Yin Long knew it better than anyone else, he didn't need some formation or puppet to tell him about it. He had been lauded as someone truly talented with the sword, but he knew that the only thing he had really done so far was to copy what others did.

He copied their styles and their skills and took them for himself, mimicking them and pulling them out when he needed them. It was indeed a skill that could be considered quite terrifying, but in the end, it would be nothing more than mimicry, it wouldn't be something that truly belonged to him.

"I really ought to come up with a sword manual for myself, but that really is easier said than done."

Yin Long couldn't help but rub the back of his head while sighing, if it was that easy to come up with a sword technique for yourself then everyone in the world would do it. But it was still something he needed to do if he wanted to hone his sword to its peak, otherwise, it wouldn't be his peak but someone else's. Of course, he did have a process in mind when it came to the act of making his own sword technique, he wasn't entirely fumbling around in the dark.

Copying countless skills and techniques might be mere mimicry, but what if he could merge all those things together into a seamless whole while removing flaws or unnecessary parts? Merging one or two copied styles might not produce a great result, but what if he copied several hundred styles and slowly merged them all with his own ideas and comprehension? One pebble didn't amount to much, but countless pebbles stacked upon each other would eventually form a grand mountain as they merged together.

It could be considered an extremely grandiose ambition, but Yin Long had never been one to shy away from extreme ambitions. After all, his first thought when he learned about his parasitic soul was to wonder if he could one day turn an entire universe into a sword. He had already gathered a few of the pebbles for his mountain, and as he touched upon the grey emblem on his chest, he knew that he had opened the door to many more pebbles.

The emblem released a bright light when he touched upon it, a faint fluctuation running through space and blinding him for a quick second. When the light faded, a building that was five-kilometres wide and long had appeared in front of him, the surrounding trees piercing through it as if the building existed in a separate dimension. The building seemed to be missing a few sections on the top, Yin Long guessing that they would appear if he passed the trial to enter those floors.

He walked forward and stepped through the open door, clicking his tongue when he saw that he could just barely make out the shimmering outline of the trees that had pierced through the building. Whoever had made this was clearly extremely skilled in the law of space, creating another smaller separate space here that didn't interact with the surrounding world.

As for the inside of the building, it only contained rows upon rows of shelves that were stacked with books, jade slips, leather scrolls, even carved bits of wood and stone. There were so many that just trying to look at it almost made Yin Long's eyes swim slightly, this truly was a haven for sword wielders.

But the sheer amount of books also presented a challenge, just how was he supposed to read all these books while also training his skills? It wasn't like he had infinite time here, he was limited in how long he could stay here. His brows furrowed for a few seconds as he rubbed his chin, eventually muttering to himself.

"They'd call it a damn waste, wouldn't they? Well, good thing I don't really care."

Yin Long opened his palm after he finished muttering, his curved cyan sword appearing in his grasp as translucent cyan leaves covered in scales manifested around him. He closed his eyes and focused fully on his senses, sending out some of the cyan leaves to latch onto a few of the books.

The books were lifted up and clumsily opened by the leaves, six of the eight books falling to the floor since his control over the leaves was lacking. But the remaining two books were properly opened, the words written in them getting reflected in the three-dimensional map that Yin Long's senses formed. He scanned through the words, the corners of his lips curving up when he realized that he could indeed read them properly.

His eyes remained closed as he controlled the leaves to pick up the fallen books, sitting down on the ground with crossed legs. His right hand held his sword and his left hand swiped his interspatial ring, bringing out the vial of pills that Emperor Starblood had sent to him. He opened the lid and pulled out one of the amber pills, popping it into his mouth and swallowing it before putting away the rest of the pills.

A bloody taste and scent flooded his mouth and nose as the pill disintegrated, a dense stream of energy rushing into his soulsea from his stomach. The crimson energy spread through his soulsea, most of it settling around his soul. The speed at which he thought and read drastically increased as the borderline divine pills started to nourish his soul, cultivating in this state would definitely produce magnificent results.

But Yin Long didn't start cultivating despite the temporary enhancement, he instead put his full attention on the various books around him. He only used the pill for the soul-enhancing ability, drastically speeding up how fast it acted and how it perceived time. Like this, he could read even more books in a shorter span of time, it truly was an act that could be considered a waste of an extraordinary resource.

But Yin Long didn't care and simply engrossed himself in his reading, tearing through book after book as his soul and soulsea were being quietly nourished, slowly growing smaller without his notice.

--

While Yin Long was focusing on his reading, two men were quietly facing each other in a room within Thousand Blades Hall, sitting on opposite sides of a wooden table. One of the men looked like he was in his late fifties and had a head full of white hair that looked far older than him, his brown eyes feeling as deep as the ocean. But sitting opposite of the man was someone that Yin Long would recognize, it was the three-metre tall Emperor Starblood, his dark silver hair tied into a simple bun as his light red eyes locked with the eyes of the other man.

"You've never been one for formalities, Starblood, just move on to the main topic so that we can stop wasting time here."

The white-haired man didn't show a shred of respect as he spoke despite the fact that he was facing the Province Emperor, an act that would cause most people's hearts to clench. But Emperor Starblood didn't care about his attitude, a jade box appearing in his hand with a flourish.

"I want you to help me hand this over to one of the youths that has just come here for training. More specifically, I want you to hand it to the Yin Long that is currently training in your Thousand-Year Storm Abode. At the same time, I want you to mess around with the time-altering array there and prevent anyone from contacting him. There is no need for him to participate any further in this Three-Fold Territory Clash, just let him cultivate until it's over."

The white-haired man raised an eyebrow in the face of Starblood's request, raising his arm and causing the jade box to appear in his palm. He pushed open the box and was immediately hit by a faint bloody scent, his eyebrow raising further when he saw the watermelon-sized heart lying within the box.

"The heart of a Cloud-Shredding Eagle? And it seems like you've even refined the blood of multiple such beasts into the heart to give it an exceptional purity. You're trying to give him a bloodline? Then what's the point in giving him such a weak one, wouldn't it be better to just hand over a stronger one?"

A cloud-Shredding Eagle wasn't a terribly strong Demonic beast, it would only ever be strong enough to reach the 1st Immortal Door. Only by evolving would it be able to move further, but the number of Demonic beasts that could successfully evolve to the next stage was so few that most Demonic beasts despaired at the thought. It really was a very weak bloodline, so weak that most cultivators would disdain from having it. But Starblood simply smiled softly and gave a light shrug of his shoulder.

"Not quite. This bloodline will give him a starting ground, but its main purpose is to slowly strengthen his body so that it will be ready to awaken his true bloodline in the future. He's not suited to any normal body cultivation manuals thanks to his special physique so I intend to have him train the God's Song universe's blood refining cultivation system until his body becomes strong enough. I'll give you two stalks of Stargrass in return."

The eyebrow of the white-haired man, which had only just lowered, raised once more when Starblood explained and made his offer. Stargrass was something that only three people in this entire universe could make, it was a truly divine plant that could only be grown in the core of a collapsing galaxy. For Starblood to offer something like this, it truly made it clear how highly he valued this deal. The white-haired man closed the jade box and weighed it a few times, quietly rubbing his chin for a second before he spoke up.

"Hmm, the eagle is a pathetically weak Demonic beast, but a beast none the less. But with purity of this level even an infant's body should be able to absorb it without much problem. And the purity also makes it very suited for future upgrading and refining, it seems like you've put quite a bit of thought into this. Wings of the Divine Soul, my second-greatest training ground, and even a stepping stone for bloodline cultivation, aren't you treating this youth a bit too well?"

Yin Long thought it was because they valued his potential, but the true reason he could train inside a place as exceptional as the Thousand-Year Storm Abode was that Emperor Starblood had requested it. Starblood didn't give a straight response to the white-haired man's question, smiling mystifyingly.

"Do you remember 25 years ago, when my seventh wife went missing?"

The white-haired man's pupils shrank sharply in the face of Starblood's smile. The ambush and subsequent disappearance of Starblood's seventh wife was a fact that was known only to the highest-ranked members of the province, and there was a very good reason behind it.

"It's him?"

Emperor Starblood had truly gone all out for Yin Long, it was quite different from how he normally acted so it shocked the white-haired man a fair bit. But if Yin Long really was who it seemed then it would all make sense. And in the end, Starblood nodded his head with a smile, affirming the old man's guess.

"Indeed. She carried him for quite a while but eventually gave birth to him in the Snow Muse Province, but she died in the process. You know how sickly she was, he inherited a bit of that so his bloodline turned dormant and gave him a strange physique. He only managed to return to this province thanks to a stroke of luck, but the proximity to me has slowly made his bloodline awaken. If it awakens while he is in this state then death is the only outcome, so I was forced to seal it for the moment. He also doesn't yet know the truth, so you'd best not go running your mouth and ruin things for me."

The white-haired man weighed the jade box for a few more seconds, a somewhat complex expression appearing on his face. No wonder Starblood would treat him so well, the son that should have died several years ago had returned home. This knowledge also made him want to click his tongue, the law of space and a strange ability to create swords, Starblood's genes seemed to be exceptionally good.

"Alright, I'll let you have your moment of joy when you reveal the truth. I'll also take care of the rest, but you already knew that I wouldn't reject your Stargrass. Congratulations on reuniting with your son."

The white-haired man eventually but away the box with a nod of his head. Just passing over this item while also messing with the time-altering array so that Yin Long missed the remaining Three-Fold Territory Clash was nothing big, he would certainly do it for two stalks of Stargrass. Emperor Starblood had expected this answer and responded with a calm smile that didn't reveal any of his emotions or thoughts.