The four subordinates of the scarred man moved instantly, their figures blurring as they unleashed a coordinated assault, swords fshing and Spiritual Qi crag through the air.

  Yang Lie stood motionless, his eyes narrowing as a calm, deadly focus settled over him. "So predictable," he murmured.

  With fluid grace, Yang Lie drew his sword in a single, seamless motion. The Sword hummed as he deftly blocked each attack, his movements flowing like a river in full trol of its course.

  Parrying strike after strike with effortless precision, he moved as if dang between raindrops, dodging deadly sshes with uny agility.

  In an instant, he distanced himself from his attackers, his eyes calm but alert as he prepared to ter.

  Just then, his senses fred. His Physique instinctively recoiled, sensing the deadly danger. A surge of violent Spiritual Qi roared toward him from behind—Yellow Aura entwined with Sword aimed straight for his neck.

  "Eat my Refi-Stage Sword Aura, bastard!" the scarred man bellowed, his voice brimming with triumph.

  Yang Lie spun at the st possible moment, his reflexes a razor-thin margin from disaster.

  The sword aura grazed his cheek, drawing a crimson line as the burning energy seared the air around him. Blood trickled down his fa a thin stream, warm against his skin.

  The ground behind him, several meters wide, shattered into a jagged crater uhe devastating pressure of the scarred man's strike, dust and splinters flying as though a storm had been unleashed.

  "Damn it!" Yang Lie's thoughts raced, his heart pounding. "When did that bastard ma his Sword Aura? If I'd been a sed slower... my head would've been on the ground."

  "Ha! You survived my strike imbued with Sword Aura!" the scarred man sriumph twisting his expression into a mask of pt.

  "But the strike will split you in half!" He raised a hand and gave a sharp signal. Fures surrounding Yang Lie moved with deadly precision, cirg to attack from behind.

  Yang Lie exhaled slowly, his grip tightening around his sword. His eyes fshed with cold resolve. "You're right... I uimated you. You're not an Inner Sect disciple for nothing. But..."

  His lips curled into a dangerous smirk. "I think it's time I get serious."

  In a single heartbeat, a torrent of pure Spiritual Qi surged from his Initial Dantialed within his lower abdomen.

  "What are you fools waiting for? That bastard's up to something—attack him now!" the scarred man roared, desperation g his and.

  But it was already too te.

  Spiritual Qi erupted from Yang Lie in a thunderous wave, swirling around him like a raging tempest before transf into a radiant Golden Aura that began to coil gracefully around his sword.

  A radiant glow enveloped his body as he activated the Physique he had awakened just days earlier within the Mystic Evergreen Forest.

  His skin and bohrummed with Spiritual energy—the legendary Peerless Sword Body. The very air around him crackled and quaked.

  Golden threads of energy spiraled from his sword, transf into a blinding aura of pure cutting polden Sword Aura.

  "HAT!?" The scarred man's mog grin faltered, his eyes widening in disbelief. His voice, once filled with s, now trembled with terror.

  "P-P-Peerless Sword Body... and... G-G-Golden Sword Aura!?" His thoughts spiraled into chaos, terrripping his heart.

  Behind Yang Lie, the four disciples froze mid-attack, their fidence shredded by fear. Murmurs of panic rippled through them as they exged frantices, their ce dissipating like mist under a rising sun.

  From a distance, a shadowed figure cealed among the t branches of the trees gasped, his eyes narrowing with intense focus.

  In his hand, a Shadow Rec Stone pulsed faintly, capturing every moment of the unfolding battle.

  "Terrifying… Truly terrifying.," he whispered, a chill running down his spine. "No wonder he's drawn so much attention within the sect. Even at the Sect Disciple Sele Ceremony, there were whispers among the Elders—some, even the Great Elders, eaihoughts of making him their personal Direct Disciple."

  He paused, his grip tightening around the stohough tradition forbids it until one officially bees an Inner Sect disciple, their eagerness speaks volumes."

  His gaze sharpened further as Yang Lie's golden radiance illumihe grove. "So, it's true… he possesses the Peerless Sword Body," the figure murmured in awe.

  "A Heavenly Physique that appears once every ten thousand years, the very same as that of the Supreme Dao Sect's founder—crafted for those destio master the sword. It is a rare gift that amplifies one's affinity with the sword a hundredfold, or perhaps even more, depending on the individual. And that... Golden Sword Aura…" His throat went dry as he drew a deep, measured breath to steady himself.

  "In the long history of the Supreme Dao Sect, spanning hundreds of thousands of years, only two individuals have ever awakehe Golden Sword Aura. Three others have wielded the Golden Saber Aura, and only a single person —the Sect Master's own daughter in the current geion—has awakehe Golden Spear Aura. Now, Yang Lie stands as the third to mahe legendary Golden Sword Aura."