The shattered silence of the Shadow Realm stretched endlessly around Yan Xuanlanbin. Broken stones, cracked earth, and swirling mists whispered stories of the fierce battle that had just taken place. His body trembled, muscles screaming with exhaustion and pain, but beneath that physical weariness, a deeper storm raged inside him. Something restless. Something powerful.
The Supreme Sword in his hand pulsed like a heartbeat, the golden flames licking along its blade, casting flickering light on his sweat-streaked face. It was more than a weapon — it was a symbol, a weight, a challenge. It had chosen him as its bearer, but wielding such a legendary weapon meant growth beyond the ordinary. It demanded evolution.
Yan knelt slowly, dropping to one knee in the dust. His heavy breaths mixed with the cool air, steadying his racing heart. Around him, the Shadow Realm's darkness churned, but Yan's mind turned inward. His gaze closed, shutting out the external world as he focused deeply on the currents of spiritual energy flowing through his body.
Cultivation was never about shortcuts or luck. It was a fight — a struggle against the limits imposed by both the world and oneself. Every cultivator knew the invisible walls called meridian barriers that blocked spiritual energy, holding them back from reaching their true potential.
Yan was no exception. He had broken through the First and Second Meridian Barriers to reach the Spirit Initiate stage, but the hardest challenge yet stood before him: the Third Meridian Barrier, the key to ascending into the Spirit Ascendant level.
His body tensed as he summoned every ounce of his will. He opened his palms, letting the spiritual energy from the realm flow into him like a river breaking through a dam. Light and shadow danced around him, swirling in chaotic harmony as they converged into his being.
He directed the energy toward his left shoulder, where the third barrier awaited like a stubborn fortress. The area there began to glow faintly as energy spiraled around the knot—tight, resistant, alive.
The Supreme Sword at his side suddenly flared with golden light, as if sensing the monumental moment. It hummed softly, resonating with Yan's rising power.
Pain exploded through Yan's body. The barrier fought back, twisting like a living serpent, squeezing and snarling as it refused to be broken.
Sweat poured down his face and back, but Yan did not waver. His breath remained steady, his mind calm. This was the crucial battle—not against an enemy of flesh and blood, but the battle within.
The clash inside him was violent, like thunder crashing inside a cave. Spiritual energy surged, hit, recoiled, and surged again. His vision blurred, but in his mind, a golden dragon coiled around the stubborn knot, roaring with raw power.
"Break!" Yan whispered, the word a command and a prayer.
Suddenly, light exploded from his left shoulder in a brilliant flash, shattering the barrier into millions of tiny shards that glittered like stars before dissolving into his glowing veins.
His entire body shook violently as a torrent of spiritual energy flooded the once-blocked meridian, unsealing the pathways that had been closed for so long.
A rush of power flooded his limbs, igniting every nerve and cell. He felt faster. Stronger. Alive in a way he had never known.
The Supreme Sword responded instantly. Its blade blazed brighter, golden flames swirling with icy frost and crackling lightning, a storm of elements singing in perfect harmony.
Yan opened his eyes, now burning with the fierce light of breakthrough. His voice was rough but filled with clarity.
"I have shattered the Third Meridian Barrier. I am closer to becoming the Spirit Ascendant."
But the breakthrough did not end there.
The Ninefold Meridian Path deep inside him shimmered and pulsed, layers of spiritual energy weaving together in perfect balance. The golden veins on his arms and chest blazed, glowing like rivers of molten gold and ice.
His cultivation aura erupted outward in a tempest of elemental fury. Fire, frost, lightning, and spirit energy swirled around him, a living storm of power bending the Shadow Realm's dark mists to his will.
The ground beneath his feet cracked and groaned from the force of his aura, stones levitating as spiritual energy danced above them.
Yan raised his arms wide, the Supreme Sword gleaming fiercely in his grip. His voice roared into the empty air—a sound full of power, triumph, and unyielding resolve.
"The path to the Supreme Sword is not just strength… It is mastery of self!"
In that instant, the Supreme Sword burst into the form of a Celestial Dragon — a majestic golden dragon of radiant light, coiling around the blade with a fierce roar. Its eyes gleamed with divine fury as it breathed streams of fire and frost.
Yan slashed the air with the sword, sending arcs of blazing light slicing through the darkness. Each movement was sharp, precise, and unstoppable.
The breakthrough had unlocked new skills and power. His senses sharpened dramatically—he could hear the faint rustle of distant leaves, sense the subtlest fluctuations in the realm's energy.
He tested his newfound strength with the Dragon Tempest Vortex, spinning the Supreme Sword in a furious storm that blended flame, ice, lightning, and spirit into a single devastating force.
The elemental storm roared around him, shredding the air with its power.
Every strike was faster, stronger, sharper than before.
But the breakthrough was not just about power—it was a new clarity. Yan saw the battlefield differently. He could predict moves before they happened, feel energy shifts like ripples on water.
Yet, deep in his mind, he knew the journey was far from over.
Zhao Ling's shadow still loomed as a dark reminder. Rivals, enemies, and unknown dangers awaited him in the nine realms.
Yan steadied his breath, feeling the weight and responsibility of the Supreme Sword in his hand. This was no longer a game. It was life, death, and destiny intertwined.
He would need to keep breaking through, keep mastering his power and himself.
But for now, he allowed himself a moment of quiet pride.
He was no longer a boy holding a sword.
He was becoming a legend.
The true Bearer of the Supreme Sword.