Ch 128: The Emerging Warrior
Qinchhh! Qinchhh!
"Tch!"
Su Wen clicked his tongue as the horn of an Early Grade 2 Ice Horn Rabbit grazed his left arm, leaving a shallow cut.
These monster rabbits were deceptively troublesome. Their powerful hind legs allowed them to launch themselves with explosive speed, transforming into furry white blurs and horned missiles.
Fighting them while blindfolded was even more challenging as they would dart in from unpredictable directions before retreating just as quickly, making it difficult for him to determine their exact positions, let alone launch a counterattack.
However, these elusive creatures were exactly the kind of training partners Su Wen needed.
Every exchange refined his battlefield awareness.
Qinchhh!
The sharp whistle of something tearing through the air came from behind his left shoulder. A horned rabbit had leapt from a rocky ledge, aiming its razor-sharp horn directly at his back.
But this time, something clicked within Su Wen's mind before the sound even reached his ears.
He perceived the killing intent directed at him.
Instinctively, he sidestepped, twisted his waist, and brought his sword down in one smooth motion.
Thwack.
The blade severed the rabbit's head in mid-air and its body crashed onto the frost-covered ground.
Su Wen let out a long breath.
That was the fifty-eighth monster he had killed since putting on the blindfold.
Individually, none of them posed a serious threat, but every battle demanded his full concentration. A single lapse in focus would earn him another bruise.
Not far behind him, Du Yue quietly watched.
Her aura was perfectly concealed, and she didn't make the slightest sound, afraid of disrupting his intense concentration.
Instead, she leisurely munched on melon seeds, thoroughly enjoying the sight of her serious husband.
Sometimes he would frown.
Sometimes he would struggle.
And occasionally, he would freeze entirely, standing perfectly still as he sensed the source of the incoming threat.
To Du Yue, Su Wen looked especially handsome whenever he focused so completely on his training.
'Handsome… and mine.' Her eyes lingered on him, a greedy light flickering deep within their depths.
Meanwhile, Su Wen, who was in a state of hyper-vigilance, would occasionally feel an inexplicable sensation...
As though some terrifying devil was staring directly at him.
The danger instincts he was painstakingly cultivating would flare without warning.
Shivers ran down his spine, and to be safe, he would occasionally try to appease the source of his unease.
"Wife, you're still there, right?" Su Wen called out cautiously.
After a brief pause, he continued with a smile.
"You know, you're as beautiful as ever. Even with this blindfold on, I can still feel your eyes following me. You're always like a light in the darkness, illuminating my world. With you beside me, I don't have to fear anything in this cold dungeon."
Du Yue's lips curled upwards, and even the tips of her ears turned slightly pink.
"Husband..."
"I'm here."
"You just focus on your training. If there's any danger, this wife will protect you."
Her voice was soft, but her tone carried a trace of smug satisfaction. Knowing that her husband thought of her even while training filled her heart with joy.
She happily tossed another melon seed into her mouth, her beautiful eyes never leaving his figure.
Meanwhile, Su Wen finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although he remained alert for any incoming monster attacks, the tension in his body eased.
The terrifying sensation that had been keeping him constantly on edge suddenly vanished.
It seemed that the mysterious devil lurking behind him had calmed down once again.
As for how long that peace would last...
Su Wen wasn't entirely sure.
After walking for some time, they finally reached the end of the canyon, where a flight of stairs descended to the third floor.
As they slowly made their way down, the temperature dropped even further. A biting chill filled the air, though Su Wen still found it manageable with his current body cultivation.
The third floor was a vast open expanse blanketed in snow. However, the most striking feature was the icy white ceiling overhead, covered with countless jagged icicles hanging like spears ready to impale anything below.
The icicles stretched across the entire ceiling. On closer inspection, they appeared surprisingly unstable, as though even the slightest disturbance could send them crashing down.
Blindfolded, Su Wen stepped onto the snowy ground. His footsteps sank into the snow, producing faint crunching sounds with each step.
Behind him, Du Yue's gaze remained fixed on his back, overflowing with warmth and affection. Unlike Su Wen, her feet never touched the snow as she silently floated along behind him.
After several minutes of walking, a faint screech echoed through the frozen expanse, putting Su Wen on guard.
Six Ice Goblins emerged from the endless white expanse, each wielding a sharpened icicle and emitting eerie, grating cries.
Rather than waiting for them to come to him, Su Wen strode forward, intending to intercept them.
Four Mid Grade 2 Ice Goblins rushed him alongside two Peak Grade 2 Ice Goblins. Facing these Grade 2 monsters while blindfolded put Su Wen under pressure.
The first Mid Grade 2 Ice Goblin slashed towards his right shoulder.
Relying solely on instinct, Su Wen shifted left and narrowly avoided the attack.
Almost at the same moment, another Mid Grade 2 Ice Goblin thrust its icicle towards his chest.
Su Wen raised his sword and met the attack head-on.
Clang!
A sharp metallic sound rang out as a shockwave swept across the battlefield, scattering snow in all directions.
The goblin was forced back more than ten steps, blood spraying from the hand gripping its icicle weapon.
One of the Peak Grade 2 Ice Goblins attacked from Su Wen's blind side, its icicle aimed directly at his head.
Su Wen sensed the incoming strike and was about to counter when a sudden sense of danger surged through him.
Without hesitation, he activated Celestial Void Steps and vanished from his position, reappearing ten metres away.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The spot where he had stood moments earlier was instantly riddled with falling icicles.
Had he reacted even a fraction slower, he would have been skewered like a porcupine.
This was the awareness that truly mattered. In a life-and-death battle, a single instant of judgement could determine victory or defeat.
From behind, Du Yue silently observed the battle and nodded in satisfaction.
When a cultivator attacks, there is always intent behind the strike. Even when concealed, traces of that intent can still be detected.
The falling icicles, however, were different.
They had been dislodged by the shockwaves of battle and happened to fall directly towards Su Wen. There was no killing intent behind them, no hostile will for him to sense.
Yet they were every bit as deadly.
Had he failed to notice the danger, he would have suffered serious injury or even death.
The fact that he had identified the threat and evaded it entirely through intuition alone was exactly what Du Yue had been hoping to cultivate.
Only by learning to sense dangers that carried no intent could Su Wen truly elevate his battlefield perception.
The icicles continued to rain down from the ceiling, but not a single one struck the Ice Goblins. An invisible force, seemingly originating from the dungeon itself, diverted the falling icicles away from the monsters.
After confirming that no more icicles were falling nearby, Su Wen advanced once again.
This time, he deliberately refrained from using Celestial Void Steps. He wanted to rely solely on his swordsmanship and intuition to sharpen his combat awareness.
The two Peak Grade 2 Ice Goblins attacked simultaneously.
Compared to experienced human cultivators of the same realm, monsters lacked combat intelligence and adaptability, making them far easier to deal with.
However, monsters possessed a trait that many cultivators lacked.
They had no fear.
Killing and destruction were etched into the very core of their existence. To achieve that, they would gladly throw away their lives without the slightest hesitation.
While human cultivators would cautiously probe their opponents and preserve their strength, monsters would charge headlong into battle, caring little for injuries or even death itself.
Because of this, their attacks were savage and relentless.
In this battle, Su Wen did not employ any named sword techniques.
Instead, he relied entirely on basic sword strikes and precise movements, using the real combat as training.
The first Peak Grade 2 Ice Goblin lunged forward with a savage roar.
Su Wen tilted his head and avoided the thrust by a hair's breadth. His sword flashed.
Puchi!
The goblin collapsed before its attack had fully extended.
A second white flash followed.
Slash!
Another goblin dropped lifelessly.
With the two strongest opponents eliminated, the remaining Mid Grade 2 Ice Goblins posed little threat.
Su Wen swiftly cut them down one after another.
The commotion of battle caused additional icicles to break free from the ceiling.
Some plunged towards him without warning.
Trusting only his sharpened perception, Su Wen either sidestepped them or deflected them with his sword before they could reach him.
As the battles continued, his combat awareness steadily improved.
Although he occasionally suffered minor cuts and bruises, his movements grew increasingly fluid. His reactions became faster, his attacks more precise, and his perception grew far sharper than when he had first stepped onto the third floor.
With every battle, the blindfold felt less like a handicap and more like a whetstone tempering his senses.
Su Wen flicked the blood from his sword and relaxed his shoulders slightly.
"Wife, only collect the Peak Grade 2 corpses," he said calmly. "Leave the others. They're not worth much."
"Mn." Du Yue nodded lightly and waved her hand, storing the two Peak Grade 2 Ice Goblin corpses inside her spatial ring.
For the next few hours, they continued venturing deeper into the third floor.
Along the way, Su Wen encountered every type of monster he had fought on the previous floors, but this time they were all Mid Grade 2 or Peak Grade 2, pushing him to his limits.
After countless battles and several hours of relentless training, they finally reached the end of the chamber. There, a flight of stairs descended to the fourth floor and beside the entrance hung a weathered wooden sign, stained with blood and partially encased in ice. Several crude words had been carved into it:
Warning: Grade 3 Monsters Ahead.
Blindfolded, Su Wen naturally ignored the warning, while Du Yue merely glanced at it before looking away, completely unconcerned.
The fourth floor was vastly different from the first three.
Dense mist drifted through the area, blanketing the snow-covered landscape until earth and sky became one endless white expanse.
Although Su Wen's eyes were already covered, the strange mist also seemed to muffle sound itself, causing the surroundings to become eerily silent.
Moreover, the temperature had dropped several times lower than before, causing even Su Wen to feel a biting chill throughout his body.
Circulating his Blood Qi, he accelerated its flow slightly, allowing warmth to spread through his limbs and ward off the cold.
Du Yue's expression remained unchanged. Such cold was nothing to her. She quietly floated behind Su Wen, her footsteps leaving no trace as she followed him like a silent guardian.
~Squeech! Squeech! Squeech!~
The familiar screeches echoed through the mist.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
His sword flashed repeatedly, unleashing several slashes in quick succession.
Multiple red-eyed rats lunged at him from different directions. With the dense white mist obscuring everything, Su Wen could only sense them when they had already entered his sensing range.
These were no longer Grade 1 monsters.
Every single one was a Peak Grade 2 Red-Eyed Monster Rat.
Clang! Clang!
Each collision generated powerful shockwaves, scattering snow across the ground.
Yet strangely, the surrounding white mist remained completely undisturbed, as though some mysterious force held it firmly in place.
Tiny snowflakes drifted through the air and landed on Su Wen's exposed wrist, sending a faint chill through his skin.
Fighting the stronger monster rats demanded far more concentration. Their increased grade brought a corresponding rise in speed and strength, making their attacks far more difficult to handle.
Nevertheless, Su Wen steadily adapted.
His footwork grew smoother, his dodges sharper, and his attacks increasingly lethal.
Swish! Swish!
His sword moved like the wind itself, growing sharper and faster with every exchange.
A few minutes later, the shrill cries finally ceased.
The bloodstained snow was littered with the corpses, and Su Wen stood calmly amidst the carnage, his breathing steady and unhurried.
Not far behind him, Du Yue silently watched with gentle eyes. Without uttering a word, she floated over and casually waved her hand, collecting the corpses one by one and storing them inside her spatial ring.
They ventured deeper into the fourth floor, facing countless Peak Grade 2 monsters along the way. With every battle, his instincts became sharper and his movements more refined.
This was the first time he had been forced to fight for such an extended period.
Although he had devoted countless hours to swordsmanship and had already comprehended Grade 3 Sword Intent, he had rarely experienced true life-and-death battles where every mistake could cost him his life.
Being blindfolded and constantly fighting under such conditions would become the true foundation of his combat awareness.
Clang!
A terrifying force descended towards his neck from above.
A sudden instinctual alarm screamed in his mind, forcing him to bring up his sword to meet the attack head-on.
Bang!
The impact was like being struck by a giant hammer. His hands trembled violently, and the shockwave travelled through his bones and organs, causing his blood to churn.
For the first time since entering the dungeon, he was the one being suppressed. The sheer force of the collision sent him sliding backwards several metres.
Que~ Que~ Que~
A sinister laugh echoed across the snowy plain, sending chills down Su Wen's spine.
Standing before him was an Early Grade 3 Ice Goblin.
Its crimson eyes glowed maliciously as it held a thick icicle spear in its hand. Behind it stood several Peak Grade 2 Ice Goblins, all gripping icicles noticeably thinner and weaker than the Grade 3 Goblin, which was clearly the leader of the group.
"An Early Grade 3 monster…"
Su Wen's expression grew solemn as he carefully sensed his new opponent.
'The difference between Grade 2 and Grade 3 is truly enormous. A casual strike nearly injured me...'
The gap between Grade 2 and Grade 3 was enormous. While exceptional geniuses could occasionally challenge opponents above their realm, such victories were exceedingly rare and usually required overwhelming advantages elsewhere.
Yet Du Yue remained silent.
Whether it was because monsters lacked the combat instincts of cultivators or because she had complete faith in his strength, she made no move to intervene.
But Su Wen had no time to dwell on such thoughts.
Boom!
The Grade 3 Ice Goblin burst forward.
Its feet crushed the snow beneath it as it shot towards Su Wen with terrifying speed, raising its icicle spear and slashing down viciously.
Every fibre of Su Wen's being warned him.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
He blocked attack after attack.
Every collision shook his body from the inside out and forced him backwards. Before long, he could already taste a faint trace of iron in his mouth.
Worse still, the goblin's speed was so overwhelming that it barely gave him any chance to breathe.
The surrounding Peak Grade 2 Ice Goblins also attacked from every direction, leaving him no room to retreat.
Using the momentum from blocking the Grade 3 Goblin's strike, Su Wen twisted his waist and unleashed a sweeping slash.
Swish!
The nearest Grade 2 Ice Goblin was decapitated.
Without pausing, he raised his sword behind him just in time to block another strike from the Grade 3 Ice Goblin.
Clang!
Borrowing the rebound force, Su Wen spun around and pierced the throat of another Grade 2 Ice Goblin.
Seeing two of its subordinates killed in quick succession, the leader goblin flew into a rage.
Queeeee!
Roaring furiously, it lunged forward with its icicle spear, aiming directly for Su Wen's heart.
A sense of mortal danger erupted within him, and he twisted his body at the very last moment, narrowly avoiding the deadly thrust.
The icicle spear brushed past his left side.
Seizing the fleeting opening, Su Wen stepped into the goblin's reach and swung his sword.
Slash!
The Grade 3 Ice Goblin's left arm was severed. Dark blood spurted from the wound and splashed onto the snow.
Squuuch!
The monster let out a shrill cry as blood gushed from the wound.
Su Wen gave it no opportunity to recover, driving his sword forward like a spear.
Puchi!
The blade pierced straight through the goblin's heart.
The Grade 3 Ice Goblin froze, its crimson eyes widening in disbelief before the light within them gradually faded.
Thud!
Its body crashed onto the snow.
The surrounding Peak Grade 2 Ice Goblins froze where they stood.
Standing amidst the falling snow, his eyes still covered by a blindfold, Su Wen slowly withdrew his bloodstained sword.
At that moment, his aura had grown noticeably sharper and no longer resembled that of a refined scholar.
Instead, the bearing of a true warrior had begun to emerge.