Su Mo flew the entire way to the north and reached Wuning Country in just a few days.
He had to pass by there to arrive at the North of the Yan River in the Hong Domain.
There were 36 countries located in the North of the Yan River, which was the center of the Hong Domain.
The South of the Yan River was only one percent of the size of the entire Hong Domain, with only one big country and six small ones.
"That's right! Gale Prairie is the perfect place for me to enlighten the Wind Sword Will. I'll try it!" Su Mo suddenly thought as he got closer to Gale Prairie.
Ever since he had enlightened Sword Will, he basically had not improved much, so now he could make time to be inspired.
He flew directly toward Gale Prairie.
Gale Prairie was huge, stretching 3,000 to 3,500 kilometers. This time around, Su Mo flew directly into the deep prairie.
When he passed by the entrance of the Ethereal Territory again, Su Mo found that it was in a great mess. The ground was all cracked and the hills had been shaken to pieces, which indicated that a fierce fight had taken place there.
"Could it have been a conflict among superpowers?" Su Mo thought, then he left that place without delay.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The wind became stronger, roaring with a shrill sound that was ear-piercing as he went deeper into Gale Prairie.
When Su Mo had gone more than 1,000 kilometers, the overwhelming wind was powerful enough to blow away a martial artist at Lv 9 Spiritual Martial Realm, and sometimes, it became a hurricane, sweeping across the area with the power to effortlessly kill all the martial artists below the True Spirit Realm.
Shortly afterward, Su Mo landed at a flat area where the ground was tenfold harder than rock.
Years of erosion by the wind had made the place lifeless, without grass or soil covering the ground. All that could be seen was the bare rocky ground.
Su Mo sat cross-legged, integrating his mind into the wind and quietly being inspired by the transformation of the wind and its path.
Two days quickly passed. He sat there motionless, like a stone.
"What is wind?" he kept asking in his mind.
"Wind is formless and unpredictable. It can be sharp, fierce, or soft…
"What's a sword?
"The sword is the leader of all weapons. A swordsman must practice Sword Will!
"What is Sword Will?
"Sword Will refers to a swordman's determination, sharpness, fearlessness, and courage. Swordsmen are able to reach the peak of swordsmanship…"
Two days later, Su Mo suddenly got up and his eyes flashed with enlightenment.
He gently closed his eyes, emitting Sword Will. With surging Sword Qi, Su Mo unsheathed his Spirit-slayer Sword and began to practice swordsmanship.
That's right. He did not practice any profound swordsmanship move but just normal moves.
As time passed by, Su Mo's sword momentum became illusory and unpredictable like the wind, yet it contained extremely sharp force.
Su Mo displayed his sword faster and faster, so that his long sword disappeared with only sword radiance remaining, like the wind.
Then, he suddenly switched his swordsmanship to Divine Wind Swordplay, intensifying the wind on his body.
As he continuously practiced, his swordplay became more and more powerful, and eventually, his Sword Will formed into countless blades of wind, leaving streaks of sword paths in the virtual realm.
He had never felt more carefree practicing his swordplay than he did now, hence, he practiced for three days and three nights.
Three days later, Su Mo stopped and opened his eyes, where a virtual sword flashed passed by.
After a while, Su Mo smiled.
"The Wind Sword Will should have reached the Late Stage of Rank 1!" he muttered.
After practicing for five days, Su Mo had upgraded his Wind Sword Will by two levels, from the Early Stage to the Late Stage of Rank 1. The power of his Sword Will had more than doubled, further improving his overall strength.
Also worth mentioning was that his Divine Wind Swordplay finally reached the Completion and became more powerful due to his deeper understanding of the wind.
"It took me five days to achieve the Wind Sword Will at the Late Stage of Rank 1, so I suppose I need over half a month to achieve the Grand Completion of the 1st stage." Su Mo sighed. He stopped practicing because his progress had been slow ever since he reached the Late Stage of Rank 1.
"Forget it! I'll wait until I have the time to upgrade my Sword Will! The Top-100-talent Competition is coming!"
Then, he rose up into the sky and flew toward the north.
Su Mo was cultivating diligently. Even during his journey, he was refining his Genuine Vitality to reach Lv 3 True Spirit Realm as soon as he possibly could.
Wuning Country was several times bigger than Skymoon Country. And after flying for another three days, Su Mo finally reached its boundary.
A 25-kilometer-wide river was seen ahead that connected the east and the west. It was the Yan River, dividing the Hong Domain into two parts.
After crossing the river, one would reach the North of the Yan River, where the core of the Hong Domain was.
There were many ferry boats there to carry the martial artists below the True Spirit Realm to go toward the North of the Yan River.
Su Mo flew across the river without stopping.
"Look, it's a True Spirit Realm martial artist!" someone shouted as he saw Su Mo.
Beyond the Yan River was another country, named Topsun Country, which was one of the six big countries of the Hong Domain as well.
After Su Mo arrived in Topsun Country, he continued flying toward the north. After half a day's journey, he encountered a huge mountain.
There were beasts roaring that shook the sky, giving off an intense demonic Qi, which darkened the clouds.
"Are these the Devilcloud Mountains?" Su Mo said with a shock, for he had once scanned through the map of the Hong Domain, which had this place marked.
Rumor had it that these mountains were full of demonic beasts with countless Lv 3 Demonic Beasts. If you explored deeper, Lv 4 Demonic Beast could be found there as well.
"Let's kill some demonic beasts here!"
Su Mo decided to experience the Devilcloud Mountains for a few days because the best way to cultivate was to hunt for demonic beasts. Not only could he practice his infinite swordsmanship but he could also devour Beast Souls and the blood essence of the demonic beasts.
Swoosh!
Su Mo lowered his body down and dashed straight into the Devilcloud Mountains.
Swish!
A Class 1 Lv 3 spider was chopped in two with one strike of his sword.
Buzz! Buzz!
Su Mo then activated his Devouring Martial Soul to devour the huge spider's Beast Soul, blood essence, and even its demonic power.
The demonic power was a kind of Spiritual Qi in nature from heaven and earth and, after refining the demonic Qi, it could be converted into spiritual power and be used by him.
Su Mo used the blood essence and the demonic power not to enhance his cultivation, but to refine his Genuine Vitality to solidify his foundation. After all, his cultivation had achieved the Peak Lv 2 True Spirit Realm.
Once his foundation was solid enough, he would pursue a higher realm without using these demonic powers and blood essences.
Su Mo used all the demonic power and blood essence to strengthen his physical body. Although his physical body had far surpassed his cultivation, he could still improve it further without affecting his Genuine Vitality.
"Infinite swordsmanship—Infinite Universe!"
Sword radiance shone brightly as his sword was unsheathed, which cut the head off of a Class 2 Lv 3 demonic beast.
Su Mo displayed his lowly infinite swordsmanship and insanely slaughtered all the beasts on the mountain—not even the Lv 2 demonic beasts were spared.
Soon afterward, he went deep into the mountain and killed hundreds of demonic beasts.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
At that moment, a great sound of an explosion that quaked the earth could be heard from afar.
"What happened?" Su Mo muttered in confusion and flew toward the source of that sound.