Han Jianqiu was perplexed.
The difficulty of the maneuvers increased progressively as one advanced from one maneuver to the next. While he was cultivating the technique himself, he didn’t feel awkwardness in the flow of his zhenqi or any discomfort either. More importantly, his cultivation and comprehension of swordsmanship swiftly surged when he cultivated in such a manner too.
Given so, how could the sequence be wrong?
“If you were to swap the first maneuver with the seventh maneuver, the rate which you are able to refine your zhenqi at will be much swifter. If you swap the eighth maneuver with the eleventh maneuver, you will be able to enhance the prowess of your Sword Intent. If you swap the sixth maneuver with the third maneuver, you will be able to sharpen your concentration to unprecedented levels…” Zhang Xuan said as he casually pointed his finger around.
Perplexed, Han Jianqiu quickly cultivated in accordance with the sequencing that Zhang Xuan mentioned.
Boom!
His zhenqi surged forth like a torrential river, swiftly pouring his energy into areas where he was unable to cultivate previously. At the same time, he could feel his conceptualization of swordsmanship deepening significantly with each move, causing his Sword Intent to be far sharper than before. He felt like he could sever the surrounding space with a simple slash of his sword.
“You’re right…” Han Jianqiu was stunned.
It had been eighty years since he started cultivating this technique, but not once had it crossed his mind that the sequencing could have been wrong. What was even more unimaginable to him was that the technique could actually be so much more powerful just by swapping a few of the sequences…
His mastery of swordsmanship, which had stagnated for quite some time now, had finally begun to advance once more.
The advancement was still very minor at the moment, but with time, it would snowball and gather greater momentum. One day, he might even comprehend the Gods’ Sword Intent, just like the young man before him!
As he slowly recovered from his shock and excitement, he couldn’t stop himself from gazing upon Zhang Xuan with an incredulous look.
He had spent fifteen years to master the twelve maneuvers, but the other party achieved the same within just fifteen breaths… And if that wasn’t enough, the other party even managed to discern the flaws in the cultivation technique and listed out some practical steps for further improvement…
Whatever the thing standing before him was, there was no doubt that he wasn’t human!
He was still thinking that luck played a huge part in the young man comprehending the Gods’ Sword Intent, but given the current evidence laid out before him, the difference between them lay not in their luck but their talents. The young man simply possessed an inconceivably immense talent for swordsmanship!
In fact… there was no saying that the young man might even be able to rival the master of the Ethereal Hall!
Several thousand years ago, the master of the Ethereal Hall appeared out of nowhere. Within several short months, he had already swept across the entire Forsaken Continent and become an undefeatable existence. After which, he even barged into the Hall of Gods all alone and snatched the ‘神 (God)’ character from it, thus establishing the Ethereal Hall…
Over the past several thousand years, there had been no one who was able to match the accomplishments of the master of the Ethereal Hall… However, it seemed like that was just about to change!
At this rate, by the time the Azure Bridge opens once more and the geniuses of the Six Sects gather, our Ascendant Cloud Sword Pavilion would surely be able to acquire the best positions… Han Jianqiu thought as excitement flickered in his eyes.
In the past, even though their Ascendant Cloud Sword Pavilion had acquired half a ‘神 (God)’ character in the past, they were still unable to unite the Six Sects together due to their limited prowess. However, with Zhang Xuan on their side, they would surely be able to convince the remaining Six Sects to follow their lead!
He excitedly turned to look at Zhang Xuan, only to see the latter standing quietly on the spot, as if he had just received an epiphany.
Knowing that such epiphanies didn’t come easily, Han Jianqiu quietly left the private chamber.
…
Just as Han Jianqiu had guessed, Zhang Xuan had indeed received an epiphany.
It was regrettable that the Ascendant Cloud Sword God Formula wasn’t of much use to him in pushing for a breakthrough to High Immortal realm, but it did allow him to better control his Gods’ Sword Intent.
He had used the golden page he had received from accepting Dan Xiaotian was his direct disciple to seal the Gods’ Sword Intent that had rushed toward him back them. He had already managed to comprehend the entirety of the Gods’ Sword Intent thus far, but due to the limitations of his cultivation and soul, he was still unable to bring out the full prowess of it.
However, when he practiced the twelve maneuvers he had just learned, he found that the Gods’ Sword Intent was fusing together with his body.
In other words, the Gods’ Sword Intent had truly become a part of him, and he could execute it as and when he liked. It was no longer limited by the strength of his body anymore.
That would explain why Han Jianqiu has mentioned that this cultivation technique is the key to comprehending the Gods’ Sword Intent…
Feeling the changes in his body, Zhang Xuan thought.
If he could execute the full prowess of the Gods’ Sword Intent when he faced the black-robed figures back then, he would have been able to defeat the Three Heavenly True Immortals even if he hadn’t achieved a breakthrough to True Immortal!
That was just how powerful the complete Gods’ Sword Intent was!
Gugugugugu!
As the Gods’ Sword Intent flowed through his body smoothly, Zhang Xuan could feel his presence becoming sharper and sharper. It felt like his Sword Intent could pierce through the heavens at his will.
Hu!
As Sword Intent flowed relentlessly through Zhang Xuan’s body, he felt his zhenqi morphing into a sword, and slowly, his body began to rise into the air.
“This is… flight!” Zhang Xuan’s eyes gleamed in agitation.
Due to the increased spatial pressure in the Azure as compared to the Master Teacher Continent, only those who had reached High Immortals were capable of flight.
Zhang Xuan’s cultivation was still only at Heavenly True Immortal at the moment, but through the Gods’ Sword Intent in his body, he was able to morph his zhenqi into a sword and rise into the air. In terms of speed, he should be able to move even faster than Elder Chou Huo!
With my current means, I should be able to put up a fight against Heavenly High Immortals now! Even if I were to be faced with the black-robed Heavenly High Immortal expert from the Hall of Gods once more, I wouldn’t as helpless as I was anymore…
Feeling the changes in his body, Zhang Xuan heaved a sigh of relief.
While he lamented the fact that he hadn’t been able to find any High Immortal realm cultivation technique manuals to compile his Heaven’s Path Divine Art, nevertheless, these twelve maneuvers granted him a much deeper understanding of the Gods’ Sword Intent.
With this, his fighting prowess was pushed to a much greater height!
Given his current fighting prowess, he figured that even Elder Bai Ye wouldn’t be a match for him anymore.
Pulling his thoughts away from his cultivation, Zhang Xuan turned to his dantian and asked, “Dongxu Gourd, where are the swords you have swallowed? Did you leave one for me?”
He had this fellow devour his opponents’ swords during the battle against the assassins from the Hall of Gods back then, and that had relieved him from much pressure back then… Well, it would have been much better if it hadn’t devoured Elder Chou Huo’s sword too.
Due to how urgent things were earlier, he didn’t have time to enquire about its condition. Since he had some time on his hand now, it would be good to show some care and concern to the new ‘legendary beast’ he had just tamed.
Upon hearing Zhang Xuan’s question, the Dongxu Gourd immediately backed away warily, “Hold it right there. Didn’t you promise that you wouldn’t make me spit out those swords? No backsies!”
“Of course, do I look like such a dishonorable person to you? I am just worried that you are going to get a tummyache after stuffing yourself so much,” Zhang Xuan replied with a perfectly calm smile.
“Oh, that’s nothing at all. I’m already done digesting all those swords,” the Dongxu Gourd shook its bottom gleefully.
“You are already done digesting those swords?” Zhang Xuan’s eyebrows shot up.
He quickly took a closer look at the Dongxu Gourd, and the latter was lazing around his dantian, as per usual. It displayed no signs of discomfort, as if assimilating the tremendous amount of energy from four High Immortal-tier swords was nothing to it at all.
“Forget it!”
Knowing that it was impossible for him to take back the swords the Dongxu Gourd had digested, Zhang Xuan sighed deeply as he flicked his wrist and took out the Tongshang Sword and several corpses.
They were the Heavenly High Immortal and three Heavenly True Immortals whom he had defeated earlier.
Weng!
As soon as the corpses appeared, a sword suddenly rushed right toward Zhang Xuan’s glabella.
It was the sword of the black-robed Heavenly High Immortal was using back then. It was too shocked by the sight of a book crushing its master to death that it failed to react even while it was being kept into a storage ring. Upon seeing its enemy once more, it immediately made its move to avenge its master.
Hu!
Zhang Xuan calmly raised his hand and pinched his fingers together. With perfect precision, the sword was pincered right in between his fingers.
He might be helpless against a High Immortal-tier sword back when he was still at Pseudo Immortal realm, but now that he had raised his cultivation to Heavenly True Immortal and completely comprehended the Gods’ Sword Intent, not even Heavenly High Immortals would necessarily be a match for him. Naturally, dealing with a mere sword was well within his means.
“Y-you…”
The sword could hardly believe what was happening.
It had only been an hour… How did this fellow become so powerful all of a sudden?
Zhang Xuan couldn’t be bothered to waste its time with the sword. While grabbing the sword with a hand, he swiftly flicked several points of the sword with his other hand.
Sou sou!
As Sword Intent struck several points of the sword, the sword spirit could barely release a pitiful wail before dissipating into nothing.
Zhang Xuan could tell that the sword spirit was loyal to the Heavenly High Immortal, such that even if he were to tame it, there was a good chance that it might still betray him. He didn’t want to be in a position where he would have to guard against his own sword turning against him while being in the midst of an intense battle with others.
In order to avoid trouble, he decided to wipe away the spirit existing within the sword with his Gods’ Sword Intent.
“You… That’s no different from crippling that sword!” Seeing his actions, the Tongshang Sword shuddered in shock.
Its strength was at the same level as the other sword, but its master was able to dissipate the spirit of the other sword within moments. Didn’t this mean that its master wielded the ability to destroy it too?
It could understand why its master would want to destroy the other sword, but a High Immortal-tier sword without a spirit would have its prowess significantly diminished. It would be nothing but a slightly more resilient weapon.
“Don’t worry, it isn’t crippled for good,” Zhang Xuan chuckled softly and he tapped his finger lightly on the sword.
Two breaths later, a crisp buzz reminiscent of the melodious singing of birds sounded from the sword. It sounded like the celebration of a new life.
“The sword has gained another spirit?”
Upon seeing this sight, the Tongshang Sword nearly plummeted from the sky.
It would have usually taken many years of nurturing for a sword to gain spirit. Yet, the young man was able to destroy a spirit with a flick of his finger and reconstruct a new one with another flick…
The Tongshang Sword couldn’t help but tremble in fear as it recalled what it had done in the past.
The reason why it dared to act haughtily was because it knew that the sword would be ruined once it was gone. There was no sword practitioner who would willingly destroy their own sword.
But when it saw what Zhang Xuan did, it realized that it was actually expendable…
The heck, this fellow really couldn’t be gauged by normal means. He was actually capable of bestowing spirits upon weapons!
In other words, its pride meant nothing at all before the other party. It seemed like it would have to make sure to lie low in the future, or else it wouldn’t even know how it died.
At this moment, the Tongshang Sword had really submitted to Zhang Xuan in both body and soul. It dared not to harbor any thoughts of opposing the latter anymore.
“From now on, I shall call you… The Sword!”
Taming the weapon he had just enchanted with ease, Zhang Xuan looked at the weapon in his hand contentedly.
Just like the Tongshang Sword, it was another Heavenly High Immortal-tier weapon.
“The Sword?”
The newly enchanted sword nearly plummeted from the sky upon hearing that.
Wasn’t this name a little too flippant?
No matter what, it was still a High Immortal-tier sword, one of the strongest existence on the Forsaken Continent… How could it live with such a frivolous name?”
Unable to accept this, the sword protested, “Master, can I… request for another name? I think that the name you have come up with… is a little too casual!”
“Casual? This…” Zhang Xuan frowned a little. “Well, shall I call you Little Swordie instead?”
Putong!
The sword collapsed to the ground in despair and began wailing.
The heck! If this is going to be it, I might as well have just gone with the first name…
But this also made it realize that its master was horrible at picking names, and it would be futile no matter what it said. Thus, it could only swallow its tears and accept this painful reality.
Let me see what other treasures there are in their storage rings… Zhang Xuan thought as he turned his gaze to the four corpses.
They were the experts of the Hall of Gods, so their storage rings should have plenty of treasures, right?
With a wave of his finger, the four storage rings they were wearing immediately flew over to his palm.
