Lu Ding raised his hand.
The long blade flew into his palm on its own.
Blood-red blade aura roared out, slashing forward for over a kilometer before a hill exploded in the distance.
A deep, bottomless scar tore into the earth.
A flash of a grin appeared on Lu Ding’s face.
Using the Path of Jinche with this long blade—smooth beyond belief.
Whether in color or form—
It fit right into Lu Ding’s heart.
The red ribbon wrapped around the skull on the hilt’s neck—
The long blade dropped—
He grabbed the ribbon instead, spinning the blade with a twist of his wrist.
A gust of wind surged.
The slashing aura zigzagged out in wild arcs, tearing up everything around.
It was so intense that no other trainees dared come near.
Combined with the faint black mist outlining his figure, and the blood-red blade aura—
Though he didn’t laugh aloud,
This eerie, oppressive aura—
Made everyone mentally conjure the same scene:
A scorched battlefield, scattered limbs, rivers of blood, corpses piled high, black clouds pressing down on the city—Taishui spinning his blade.
Red blade aura sweeping out, shattering wave after wave of incoming Cultivators of Qi.
Blood splattered on his face,
His presence overwhelming, smile wild and mad.
Made the trainees think—
Soon, maybe the entire world would try to stop them.
And Lu Ding would crush them all, right there on the spot.
Wasn’t that exactly what the Monster Room would be like?
Great Han’s prodigies…
Against all the others.
Zhu Yixuan looked at Lu Ding.
There was no need to ask whether he was satisfied.
At the very least, the reputation of the Borrowed Blade Heir was safe.
He was in such a good mood that even the normally stoic Zhu Yixuan cracked a smile.
Lu Ding floated down on the wind.
He asked the one question on his mind:
“Is the handle made of human bone?”
Zhu Yixuan grinned, “That’s my great-grandfather.”
Lu Ding: “...Huh?????”
“Hahaha, just messing with you. We only forged and blended the materials—this is how it came out naturally.”
Lu Ding jumped a bit.
Gripping someone’s great-grandpa?
That was… a weird thought.
Even this straight-laced guy knew how to crack a hellish joke now.
Lu Ding looked at him:
“Too bad. I was gonna help bring fame to your Zhu family.”
Zhu Yixuan instantly perked up:
Lu Ding held the blade:
“It doesn’t have a name yet, right?”
Zhu Yixuan shook his head.
“It’s your blade. You name it.”
Lu Ding: “What’s your grandpa’s name?”
Zhu Yixuan immediately caught on.
A smile never disappears; it just moves to someone else’s face.
In this case, Lu Ding’s.
“Just kidding. What do you think of the name Bloodfrost?”
Zhu Yixuan looked at the blade in Lu Ding’s hand.
But it didn’t sound ruthless enough—
Didn’t match Lu Ding’s usual brutality.
But he misunderstood.
“Because after killing someone—or a demon or monster—
When I twirl the blade, and the blood sprays out, staining the earth and the plants…
It’s like everything’s covered in a layer of crimson frost.”
That image made Zhu Yixuan’s eyes light up.
“That’s a great name!”
Zhu Yixuan had already imagined the whole scene in his head.
Huangfu Lingyun’s voice rang out:
“Bai Hemen, are you insane!?”
“Why are you messing with me!?”
“I just wanted to see if you were faking it.”
“Well now you’ve seen it! Happy now? You’re absolutely insane!!”
“You’re yelling at me? Cursing? Come on then! Step outside with me!”
“I’m not going!!! Let go of me!! What is wrong with you!?”
Huangfu Lingyun shouted loudly.
Since breaking through to the Divine Palace Realm, his Dragon Qi had grown more prominent.
When Bai Hemen came close just now, their Dragon Qi and Corpse Qi clashed strongly.
Made Huangfu Lingyun realize:
Bai Hemen is way stronger than me.
So stepping outside would just mean getting beaten up.
No way he’s going out!
Lu Ding turned his head.
Huangfu Lingyun hugging a tree again.
Bai Hemen tugging on him, stretching him like taffy.
Chief Instructor Li Chenglong, who had just received a report from a mole, came outside.
Seeing this sight, he was very pleased.
Even though there had been more fights than usual this year…
And even instructors had taken hits…
The atmosphere and cultivation results of this batch—
Were the best in years!
His gaze fell on Lu Ding.
He called out: “Lu Ding.”
Lu Ding sheathed Bloodfrost into the Coffin Woman’s Offering and walked over.
Li Chenglong nodded and handed him a folder.
“This intel came from our people embedded in Zhenla.”
Spies had always been incredibly useful.
Lu Ding opened the folder and skimmed through:
Jin Zhifeng: Weigao Nation’s prodigy, Linghai ninth layer, one-step entry to Divine Palace Realm. Carries White Eagle stimulant. Will enter Monster Room and break through.
Quan Xingle: Weigao Nation’s prodigy, Linghai ninth layer…
Cui Jun: Weigao Nation’s prodigy, Linghai ninth layer…
Lu Ding finished reading and closed the file.
Li Chenglong asked, “What do you think?”
Lu Ding flicked the file in his hand:
“Trash is still trash.
If they had anything better, they’d have brought it out already.”
“Zhenla’s pissed, Weigao wants to cause trouble—fine.
At most, it’s just a few more corpses to stack.”
If they’d sent a few Divine Palace cultivators,
Lu Ding might have looked at them twice.
Still need to break through once inside.
So careful, so sneaky.
You’d think they were aiming to hit Si Ming level.
Pretend to be low-level, then take drugs to power up?
Even online NovelHubs in Great Han don’t use that trope anymore.
People raised in those puny little nations…
Not even half a brain among them.
Li Chenglong’s signature awkward smile crept across his face.
“And you? Got a plan?”
Lu Ding shook his head.
He raised his hand and used spiritual energy to draw a rectangle in the sand.
Pointing at one side of the rectangle:
“If this is the Monster Room—
Then I’ll start from here.”
He began wiping the sand smooth from one side to the other.
“I will perform equal-opportunity slaughter on everything I see.
“A full sweep. Speedrun the Monster Room.”
“Then come out and start the second round.”
Because in the face of absolute power—
All schemes are worthless.
Now that they’d let Weigao enter,
Without even bothering to notify Great Han first—
That was basically firing the first shot.
And with Great Han’s temper—
Fine. Then let’s get to it.