Each of Liu Wuxie's bones underwent relentless tempering, deepening his unity with heaven and earth with every passing moment.

Above the courtyard, immortal energy gathered in vast quantities and condensed into thick clouds. Moments later, a gentle rain began to descend from the sky.

As Shi Wa stood beneath the falling rain and absorbed its nourishment, his aura surged upward at an astonishing pace. Within a remarkably short span of time, his cultivation leaped from the first-level Heavenly Immortal Realm to the fifth-level Heavenly Immortal Realm.

The immortal energy had been refined through the Desolate Devouring Art, making it hundreds of times purer than ordinary immortal energy. Even the dying gnarled tree tucked away in the corner of the courtyard showed signs of renewed life as fresh vitality flowed through its withered form.

While the Desolate Devouring Art continued circulating, Ye Linghan led Xiang Rulong and the others out of the classroom. They were shocked to witness Shi Wa's breakthrough.

None of them realized that Shi Wa's advancement came from the condensed immortal energy. Instead, they assumed that Liu Wuxie had taught him some heaven-defying cultivation technique.

Envy surfaced on Xiang Rulong's and the others' faces. They had become Ye Linghan's students because of Liu Wuxie's earlier provocation, making their circumstances fundamentally different from Shi Wa's. In a sense, they had joined the class passively and remained only because there was still something to learn. Otherwise, they would have left long ago. Unlike them, Shi Wa, Diao Jiuzhi, and the others possessed a genuine sense of belonging to the class.

However, everything that had happened over the past few days had gradually begun to change their perspective. When they looked at Liu Wuxie now, their eyes already revealed a trace of respect.

"Ren Fanfan, is what you said true? Mentor challenged the life gate in the underground fight club yesterday, winning ten battles in a row and killing several true immortals?!"

During a break while Ye Linghan was absent, Zhang Dashan and the others became curious about why the three of them had returned alongside the two mentors. Ren Fanfan had recounted every detail of what had taken place the previous night.

After hearing the story, Xiang Rulong and the others had instinctively drawn in sharp breaths. They had looked down on Liu Wuxie in the past because they believed their cultivation surpassed his, but only now did they realize how narrow their perspective had been. Compared to him, they were nothing more than frogs at the bottom of a well.

"We have all underestimated Assistant Liu," Xiang Rulong murmured as his gaze settled on Shi Wa.

The assassination art Shi Wa cultivated was unlike anything they had ever seen before. Although it had revealed only a sliver of its true sharpness, that glimpse alone was enough to make Xiang Rulong's heart tighten with unease. From Shi Wa's movements, he could sense a chilling danger lurking beneath the surface.

"Let's train together!" Xiang Rulong said. After recalling the instructions his second uncle had given him, he immediately sat down in the courtyard and immersed himself in cultivation.

Rain continued to fall steadily across the courtyard. Aside from Xiang Rulong, Zhang Dashan and the other new students remained stuck at the ninth-level High Immortal Realm. Diao Jiuzhi, Liang Han, and Ren Fanfan were still struggling in the middle stages of the High Immortal Realm. Xiao Qian, however, advanced at a remarkable pace and had already begun attempting a breakthrough into the High Immortal Realm.

Before long, every student in the courtyard had entered cultivation. For the first time, none of them needed Ye Linghan's urging.

Liu Wuxie spent more than half a day consolidating his breakthrough before his cultivation finally stabilized at the pinnacle of the fourth-level High Immortal Realm. Only then did he slowly exhale and rise to his feet. A refreshing sensation coursed through his body, as though it had thoroughly cleansed every pore. That was one of the greatest benefits of water-attributed energy, which excelled at washing away impurities hidden within the body.

Rather than leaving the room, Liu Wuxie remained inside. He had already entrusted today's lessons to Ye Linghan, as he had matters of his own to attend to. With a gentle motion, he took out the Heavenly Severance Zither and carefully placed it on the table.

He remained convinced that the Heavenly Severance Zither concealed a secret. At the underground fight club, there had been too many eyes watching him, making a proper investigation impossible. After all, it made no sense for the Heavenly Severance Elder to have gone to such lengths merely for an ordinary zither.

Activating Ghost Pupil, Liu Wuxie carefully examined the instrument. The exceedingly rare Longevity Wood, a material resistant to ordinary weapons, formed the body of the zither. Even its strings had been fashioned from dragon tendons, granting them astonishing durability.

Under Ghost Pupil's scrutiny, his vision gradually penetrated the zither's exterior. The Heavenly Severance Zither, which ordinary weapons couldn't even scratch, slowly became transparent before his eyes.

"This is strange. There's nothing in here," Liu Wuxie murmured after thoroughly inspecting the instrument. The interior appeared empty, making him wonder whether someone had already removed whatever the zither had once concealed.

Yet that possibility didn't seem right. The Longevity Wood showed no traces of damage whatsoever. Perhaps the Heavenly Severance Elder hadn't hidden anything inside it to begin with. The interior contained only a hollow oval passage roughly as thick as an infant's arm.

Liu Wuxie examined the Heavenly Severance Zither again and again but discovered nothing. Just as he was beginning to doubt himself, the Heavenly Dao Book suddenly reacted and locked onto something unusual.

"The color inside the zither is different from the outside. Could it be that the interior was tampered with?" Liu Wuxie muttered as a discovery emerged. The exterior of the Heavenly Severance Zither was dark purple, while the interior carried a dark yellow hue.

Without delay, he fetched a basin of water and carefully submerged the Heavenly Severance Zither inside. As water seeped into the hollow interior, an astonishing scene unfolded. The dark yellow sections began to shift, and lines of characters slowly emerged from within.

"There's really something hidden here!" Liu Wuxie exclaimed, a smile appearing on his face.

The Heavenly Severance Elder had actually hidden his entire inheritance within the ancient zither, and only Ghost Pupil could uncover it. At that moment, Liu Wuxie finally understood why the Heavenly Severance Elder's descendants had declined so dramatically that they ended up fighting in an underground arena.

Everything in the world carried both advantages and disadvantages. The Heavenly Severance Elder had concealed his inheritance so perfectly that outsiders could never discover it, yet that same precaution had prevented his own descendants from finding it as well.

Had Liu Wuxie not possessed Ghost Pupil, the Heavenly Severance Zither would have been little more than an ordinary treasure in his hands.

As his gaze moved across the emerging characters, Liu Wuxie was shocked. The more he read, the more astonished he became. The Heavenly Severance Elder had recorded his entire life's inheritance within the zither.

The first half contained the Heavenly Severance Zither Art, the cultivation technique passed down by the Heavenly Severance Elder. When wielded alongside a zither, it could unleash astonishing combat power and dramatically elevate the user's strength.

The second half recorded the Heavenly Crest Divine Blade Art, the very blade technique that had attracted countless covetous gazes during the Heavenly Severance Elder's era. Beyond those, the inheritance also contained a musical composition.

"This is the true Lament of the Nameless!" Liu Wuxie sighed as his gaze lingered on the score. Compared to the version performed by the fighters in the underground fight club, this composition existed on an entirely different level.

"What a fine piece!" Liu Wuxie exclaimed. After reading only a portion of it, he found himself completely immersed in its profound mysteries.

If he played this composition every day, his damaged soul sea would require no more than half a month to recover fully. The Heavenly Severance Zither's greatest value lay in its ability to nourish the primordial spirit, mend the soul sea, and strengthen one's soul energy.

The Heavenly Severance Zither Art held limited value for Liu Wuxie, as he already cultivated the Desolate Devouring Art. However, both the Heavenly Crest Divine Blade Art and the Lament of the Nameless immediately captured his full attention.

"Heavenly Crest Divine Blade Art!"

Liu Wuxie promptly closed his eyes and began deducing the blade art through the Heavenly Dao Book.

The Heavenly Crest Divine Blade Art consisted of eight forms, each more powerful than the one before it. With this inheritance in hand, he wouldn't need to worry about blade techniques before reaching the Profound Immortal Realm.

The first form, Instant Flash, focused entirely on overwhelming speed and explosive drawblade attacks.

The second form, Mountain Blade, carried a crushing blade force as heavy and imposing as a towering mountain.

The third form, Divine Fire Blade, could fill the heavens with blazing flames and evaporate rivers.

The fourth form, Marsh Blade, emphasized softness and fluidity, flowing endlessly like water itself.

The fifth form, Wind Blade, moved with lightning-like speed, arriving and departing without restraint.

The sixth form, Thunderclap Blade, wielded the destructive might of heavenly thunder.

The seventh form, Earthfall Blade, possessed the power to overturn the earth and annihilate all opposition.

The eighth and final form, Heavenly Annihilation Blade, contained the power of heaven, earth, sun, moon, yin, and yang.

The eight forms corresponded perfectly to the eight trigrams. Within this blade, the powers of speed, fire, thunder, wind, water, ground, heaven, and earth existed. Even the Heavenly Severance Elder himself had failed to fully comprehend the complete art during his lifetime. After all, very few cultivators could grasp all eight elements simultaneously.

Yet the Heavenly Crest Divine Blade Art seemed almost tailor-made for Liu Wuxie. The desolate world embraced all things and contained every element. He had even cultivated the Nine Absolute Fist, which encompassed nine elements. Compared to that, mastering eight elements posed no impossible challenge.

When Liu Wuxie finally opened his eyes, he had already comprehended the cultivation method for all eight forms. However, given his current cultivation, mastering even the first form would already be an extraordinary achievement. After all, this was an immortal art that stood at the Immortal Venerable Realm.

After stepping out into the courtyard, Liu Wuxie discovered that Shi Wa had already gone elsewhere to cultivate. He summoned the Bloodthirst Blade into his hand and walked toward the wooden stake standing in the center of the courtyard, the very stake used for practicing martial techniques.

The first form, Instant Flash, revolved entirely around speed. Although Liu Wuxie's current speed was already astonishing, allowing him to unleash dozens of attacks within half a breath, it still fell short of the standard required by this blade technique.

Instant Flash resembled an extremely pure drawblade technique. It contained no elaborate variations, no complicated transformations, and no unnecessary flourishes. Speed alone determined its power. The faster the strike, the more terrifying its might became.

Liu Wuxie remained in the courtyard from afternoon until dusk, tirelessly practicing the technique. Only when the sky began to darken did Ye Linghan return with Xiang Rulong and the other students.

That afternoon, Ye Linghan had taken the students to the spiritual array region to teach them the fundamentals of constructing spiritual arrays. Upon returning to find Liu Wuxie immersed in blade practice, they couldn't help but be curious and gradually gathered around him.

"Mentor Liu, what are you practicing?" Xiang Rulong asked.

To them, the technique looked absurdly simple. It was nothing more than a basic drawblade movement, the sort of exercise usually practiced by junior students just beginning their martial training. As an assistant mentor, Liu Wuxie's practice of such a seemingly low-level technique made little sense.

"The blade," Liu Wuxie replied as he sheathed the Bloodthirst Blade. Raising a hand, he wiped away the sweat gathered on his forehead before sweeping his gaze across the crowd. The confusion on everyone's faces was obvious. Clearly, none of them truly understood what he meant.

Although Xiang Rulong and the others remained silent, they couldn't help feeling dissatisfied inwardly. Of course, they knew he was practicing the blade technique. What they couldn't understand was why he was practicing it in such a manner.

"All of you, attack me together," Liu Wuxie said. After training continuously for half a day, he wanted to test the results of his cultivation.

Shi Wa had also returned by then. He had spent the entire afternoon cultivating inside a small woodland area.

"Since that's the case, be careful then," Xiang Rulong said. He had long wanted to exchange blows with Liu Wuxie.

Although Ren Fanfan and the others had described Liu Wuxie's combat strength countless times, hearing about it and experiencing it personally were entirely different matters. Xiang Rulong wanted to see Liu Wuxie's true strength with his own eyes.

The remaining students immediately drew their weapons as well.

"Don't hold back and give me your all. I won't show any mercy either," Liu Wuxie said.

The moment the words fell, his eyes turned icy cold. An overwhelming wave of blade intent erupted from his body and swept across the courtyard. Even the crimson markings etched along the Bloodthirst Blade began to tremble and hum.

Under the pressure of that blade aura, Xiang Rulong and the others felt their hearts tighten. None of the seventeen hesitated. They launched their attacks simultaneously, unleashing their strongest techniques toward Liu Wuxie.

Ye Linghan remained off to the side, quietly observing the battle. She stood ready to intervene if anyone were to face real danger.

Faced with the barrage of attacks converging from every direction, Liu Wuxie stood motionless and narrowed his eyes into thin slits. He didn't activate Ghost Pupil. None of these students posed even the slightest threat to him. More importantly, he intended to use them as whetstones to test the fruits of his entire afternoon of training.

Among the seventeen students, Xiang Rulong's attack was undoubtedly the fiercest. Having already stepped into the True Immortal Realm, he naturally possessed the strongest combat strength.

Meanwhile, after advancing to the fifth-level Heavenly Immortal Realm and stepping onto the path of assassination, Shi Wa's combat strength had already surpassed most heavenly immortals of the same realm.

"Dragon-Tiger Strike!"

"Unrivaled Sword Art!"

"Spring Dissolving Palm!"

"Meteoric Sword!"

A torrent of attacks surged toward Liu Wuxie from every direction. Each technique possessed enough power to defeat an ordinary ninth-level High Immortal.

Since Xiao Qian had yet to learn any martial techniques, she could only attack with a simple palm strike. Yet even that seemingly casual attack contained astonishing force. Such was the terrifying nature of the Heavenly Sacred Blood. The strength hidden within her right arm far surpassed that of ordinary cultivators.

Just as it seemed Liu Wuxie was about to be overwhelmed by the incoming assault, he finally moved. The Bloodthirst Blade swept across the air in a single horizontal slash, which flashed forth like a streak of light.