The Supreme God of Martial Arts

About twenty miles north of the Violet Orchid Empire's imperial capital city, there was a tranquil valley. Austin had chere to prepare the elixir potion needed for upgrading his Overlord Body-refining Formula.

Before he jumped into the huge iron basket filled with the elixir potion, he scanned the entire valley with his spiritual sense to ensure that he would not be disturbed by anyone and instructed Violet to guard him during the critical process.

Then, he stripped all his clothes off and leaped into the basket with a big splash.

The potion in the basket was bubbling like it was boiling, but to his surprise, the potion felt warm instead of scorching hot on his skin. In fact, he felt like he was in a hot spring.

But Austin was well aware that this was only the start. Once he started to use his Overlord Body-refining Formula, the potion would cause him deathly pain.

In spite of that, he didn't hesitate at all. He quickly assumed the cultivation posture of stage four of the Overlord Body-refining Formula. This activated the cultivation mode inside his body as well.

The potion, which was worth 5 million, immediately started to swirl around and into Austin, as if attracted to something inside his body.

Every trace of the precious elixir surged into every cell, every muscle, and every organ in his body.

"Ahhh!" Austin couldn't help but scream out in pain.

He felt like he was being stabbed by a million tiny knives.

Every inch of his body, every blood vessel and every tissue, was destructed by the liquid.

However, it seemed that the potion did more than mere destruction. The essence of the potion was separated into two parts—one would destroy, tear apart, and demolish, while the other would repair, refine, construct, and rebuild! These two vastly different essences were having a war on the battlefield that was Austin's body. They were fighting and trying to kill each other. At this moment, they were evenly matched, neither of them managing to overpower the other.

The only thing that Austin could feel was pain, endless and tormenting pain. He could feel it deep in his soul and he had no way to alleviate it. Even shouting and screaming didn't help.

"Just give up, Austin. Give up and you'll be freed from this torture. Why do you choose to suffer like this? Why not just relax? You don't have to bear this! It's killing you!" he told himself.

With every second that ticked by, his heartbeat rang louder and louder in his ears. He was persuading himself to end the torture.

"Wait! Is this the so-called Internal Demon?" Austin realized. During cultivation, different types of Internal Demons might attack the cultivators to hinder their progress. For instance, if Austin heeded the advice of his Internal Demon to take a rest, he would fail to make his breakthrough.

But Austin had been maintaining a clear mind, so the moment he realized that the voice he was hearing was coming from an Internal Demon, he becalert and mustered all his mental power to counter attack it.

'No pain, no gain. Nothing comes easy in this world. | might suffer for this moment but I believe that I'll reap what | sow once I'm done. Let my pain witness the process ofbecoming stronger!" Austin thought with determination.

Engulfed by a pain that was virtually tearing his body apart again and again, Austin found that his mental awareness was heightened. He could almost feel every detail inside his body.

The more pain that struck him, the more sensitive he becto his body, because amidst this inhumane torture, he felt as if thad stopped elapsing and his surroundings had been frozen. Every minute, every second felt like a century. He desperately wished that this process would speed up. It was just too much to bear! But on the bright side, the pain was like a magnifier that magnified his mental power.

It was actually a perfect chance for him to gain sinsight about sword intent because sword intent was, by nature, a mental power. It was gained by the soul and was an indication of the level of understanding a cultivator had about the martial art of the sword.

With his heightened sensitivity, it was much easier for Austin to gain sinsight about sword intent.

Once he realized this, he connected to the level four sword intent in his soul in no time.

Four shining sword lights emerged in his Soul Sea, revolving around his soul in a certain mystical pattern.

Sword intent permeated his entire Soul Sea. The four traces of sword intent flashed back and forth with a twinkling light.

All of a sudden, the four traces of sword intent which were circulating his spiritual soul merged with one another —four merging into two, and two merging into one. Finally, with the clear sound of metal clashing, a single sword was formed and was grabbed by Austin's spiritual soul.

In no time, he started to utilize this chance to cultivate Cloud Swordsmanship and Illusory Swordsmanship, two skills that he had already acquired. Every move was practiced by his spiritual soul. To be precise, it wasn't only about how the sword moved in space, but also about his emotions and his connection with the sword itself.

Gradually, the sword intent was honed, refined, and improved.

During the process, Austin was completely absorbed in the cultivation of his swordsmanship.

All his attention was on the various movements of the sword. The world had been shrunken into the sword, the sword intent, and the swordsmanship... Strangely, the piercing pain could no longer be felt after he began to indulge himself in the world of the sword. . . . ..

Violet had been keeping an eye on Austin. When Austin first stepped into the elixir, she could clearly hear him howling in pain.

However, about a few minutes later, the terrifying screams suddenly ceased. The entire valley returned to its tranquil state, forming a stark contrast to Austin's loud screams.

Violet silently released her spiritual sense to feel Austin. She could "see" Austin in his cultivation posture for stage 4 of the Overlord Body-refining Formula. There was nothing that she could make out from his face, which was calm and composed. It seemed that he was in a state of meditation—he was gaining insight into something.