The undead have descended upon the world? I possess a sword that can cleave the heavens once more!

Level: 10 (Conditions met. You can consume 60 million experience points to directly upgrade your level to [11]. Upgrade?)

Looking at this line of text on the Sword Manual panel, even though Wu You already knew how powerful the Sword Manual was, he couldn't help but sigh in amazement:

"You jumped three ranks in a month! It has to be you, Sword Codex!"

Then, Wu You no longer hesitated, and with a firm thought, chose to upgrade.

Allocable experience points: 8201.3w → 2201.3w

The significant reduction in available experience points results in a leap in level!

Level: 10 → Level: 11!

Just as the numbers on the Sword Manual panel were changing, a tremendous power surged out from the depths of Wu You's body!

With the infusion of this power, his body suddenly began to boil!

Yes, it's literally boiling over—

His blood flow suddenly accelerated, his pulse became heavy and rapid, and an intense burning sensation spread from his dantian, climbing up his meridians, expanding to his limbs, and seeping into every crevice of his skin and flesh, as if a mass of magma was slowly flowing in his blood vessels.

Along with the burning sensation came a throbbing pain, as if the muscles and bones were being simultaneously inflated and compressed inside, with each bone making a faint, cracking sound.

But along the way, Wu You is no longer the naive and innocent boy he once was.

He remained expressionless, even carefully experiencing the strange pain.

At the same time, as Wu You was carefully experiencing the pain, a cool sensation also flowed into his heart.

With the aid of this cool sensation, he could clearly feel the various forces within his body rapidly expanding: muscle fibers were tearing and then re-weaving, bone texture was being shattered and then rearranged, blood vessel walls were thickening and their cavities were widening. Every tendon was tightening and then relaxing, and every inch of skin was slightly warming before returning to normal.

Every single one of these things is proof of becoming stronger!

The intense, mixed pain and the refreshing coolness came and went quickly, dissipating completely in just a dozen breaths.

Wu You exhaled a long breath of stale air, which dissipated into a cloud of white mist in the air of the deep dark domain, and the mist seemed to carry a faint smell of rust.

He slightly raised his right leg, bent his knee, and clenched his fist, feeling the smooth and powerful sensation travel from his limbs all the way back to his chest.

A hint of barely concealed joy appeared in his eyes.

Besides becoming physically stronger, Wu You, who had advanced to the eleventh level, could also feel that something else within his body had changed.

That's state of mind!

A clear mind can see all living beings outward and illuminate itself inward.

External evils are hard to disturb, and distracting thoughts do not arise.

With a pure and clear mind, stay close to the source!

By holding the light outward, one can observe the myriad aspects of human life, discern the truth and falsehood of external objects, and prevent all kinds of evil spirits, bewitching illusions, and deceptions from getting close to oneself.

Introspection allows us to examine the root of our obsessions, eliminate chaotic thoughts, and prevent our true nature from being trapped by past entanglements and worldly ups and downs.

Do not deliberately isolate yourself from heaven and earth, nor be indifferent to or detached from the world.

With a mind free from obstructions, clear and transparent, one can truly reflect all things with a pure and bright spirit, naturally merging with the seasons and the order of heaven and earth!

Wu You's Clear Sword Heart is to instantly extinguish any distracting thoughts as soon as they arise, in order to maintain the purity of his mind.

However, a clear and lucid mind has a fundamental inhibitory effect on the birth of distracting thoughts.

If Wu You had already reached the Tongming Realm, the impact of the so-called Seven Evils and Six Evils Domain on him would probably have been greatly reduced.

Moreover, the effects of Clarity of Mind and Clarity of Sword Heart can be stacked!

With the two combined, it's estimated that Wu You could simply withstand the invasion of those gray-white dust and stroll through the Seven Evils and Six Evils Domains without being affected in any way.

Leaving aside whether those seven emotions and distracting thoughts can be born in the Clear Mind State, even if a few extremely strong thoughts could be born, they would probably be annihilated by the Clear Mind Sword Heart with a single sword strike!

Furthermore, Wu You not only fully understood why the eleventh level was called the Enlightenment Realm, but also understood the true meaning behind the Fifth Lord Li's earlier statement that this step would trap many geniuses.

To reach this level, not only must the cultivator possess an extremely high state of mind, rich experience, and unwavering faith, but they must also use their own heart to reflect upon and comprehend the will of Heaven!

Of course, the "Heavenly Heart" here is not some mysterious thing, but refers to the connections, changes, or laws in all things in the world, such as the blooming and withering of flowers, the changing of the seasons, wind, rain, thunder, and lightning!

This connection, change, and pattern has another name: 'rules'!

Although Wu You had previously mastered various sword intents containing rules, it was only when he comprehended this point that he fully understood the root and origin of the power of rules!

He recalled the words about rules that the Fifth Lord had once told him, and murmured, "The rhythm of the world's breath, the grammar of existence's continuation, the script of the evolution of all things..."

"I see!"

Then, as if struck by a sudden thought, he stroked his chin and said, "Isn't this what I often heard in my past life as 'the Way follows nature'?"

After truly reaching the Enlightenment Realm, Wu You could also feel that his mastery of the sword intents of rules such as the Pivot Tribulation Sword Intent and the Cyclone Lock Sword Intent was more satisfactory and seamless!

Then, Wu You slightly raised his right hand, and strands of dark energy swirled and intertwined between his fingers. After a moment, a tiny, completely black sword quietly floated above Wu You's palm.

The Pivot Sword is complete!

At this moment, Wu You fully understood why the previous Talisman-Slaying Sword Technique could not form the Pivot Tribulation Talisman Sword!

Indeed, it is because the level of the Talisman Sword Technique is too low. The talisman sword formed according to its method is simply unable to contain a complete Pivotal Tribulation Sword Intent!

However, a complete Pivot Tribulation Sword Intent cannot be contained and then formed into a corresponding Rune Sword. But what if there is only a trace of Pivot Tribulation Sword Intent?

Before Wu You reached the Tongming Realm, his understanding of the rules was insufficient, so he could not control the release of various sword intents very precisely. He could only contain one or more complete sword intents in one sword strike.

But now, there's no longer that worry about only being able to unleash a few sword strikes.

As his understanding of the rules deepened, Wu You was able to break down a complete sword intent into dozens, hundreds, or even thousands or tens of thousands of subtle sword intents!

Countless swords could be unleashed! Each sword would carry the essence of swordsmanship!

It was precisely because of this that the Pivot Tribulation Rune Sword, which contained only one percent of the Pivot Tribulation Sword Intent, was formed!

Even if it only contains one percent of the complete Pivot Tribulation Sword Intent, the Pivot Tribulation Rune Sword can still instantly kill most tenth-tier opponents!

Unless one has mastered the rules or other special methods such as divine runes and rituals, there is no possibility of survival under the Blade of Tribulation!

Looking at the jet-black, obscurely aura-filled Pivot Blade that appeared in his palm, Wu You nodded, his thoughts beginning to wander:

"After this is over, I need to send some money home, a few to Wang Qi and the others, and some to Uncle Hu, Old Wei, and Director Ye as well."

"Well, let's give Hua Linlin some protection too, and also ask her to look after the house more..."

At the same time, Wu You, whose mind was clear, pure and lucid, and who had fully realized his true self, also understood that his previous thoughts of "being afraid that they would worry" and "being afraid that they would live in worry" were essentially just a form of escapism.

He secretly decided that, regardless of whether his appearance could be restored, he would go home as soon as this mission was over.

Under the identity of "Wu You".

Pulling himself back to reality, he looked again at the last remaining corpses on the battlefield.

These are all experience points, and we can't waste them.