Chapter 2559: Heavenly Sword Soul
In the dim underwater world, a vast and ancient tomb forest stretched out.
A towering, massive sword mountain stood at the center of the tomb forest. Countless swords, some already rusted and stripped of their spiritual energy, flew around it in an eternal orbit, as if unchanged by time.
Perhaps swords, too, held obsessions.
As long as the obsession remained, the sword would not return to its sheath.
A Le, the Cairo Earth Master, and the Blood Wolf watched as Zhang Ruochen charged forward, fighting his way through the Sword Dao Tomb Forest and ascending to the peak of the sword mountain. Finally, Zhang Ruochen leaped into the ancient well at the summit.
It was at that moment that A Le vaguely spotted a woman in white robes in the distance, standing beneath a towering tombstone.
That tombstone was very close to where Zhang Ruochen had been struck by ten thousand swords.
She held a blood-red sword in her hand, and a veil covered her face, obscuring her true features.
A Le blinked, and when he looked again, the white-robed female figure had vanished, as if it had all been an illusion.
Right, it must have been an illusion.
How could any cultivator possibly pass through the Sword Dao Tomb Forest undetected and reach the tenth segment of the path?
It couldn't be a ghost from the tomb, could it?
After so many years, even ghosts would have dissipated.
Suddenly, A Le's eyes narrowed again. He saw the white-robed, black-haired woman once more. She appeared at the base of the sword mountain, her fingers touching the cliff face as she looked upward, walking slowly while seemingly reading something.
In an instant, she vanished again.
"Did you see a woman at the foot of the sword mountain?" A Le asked.
The Cairo Earth Master was startled. He looked toward the distant sword mountain and shook his head.
The Blood Wolf beside him also shook its massive head.
A Le said, "Ever since we arrived at the seabed, I've felt like someone was following us. But when I probed with my spiritual power, I found nothing. Your spiritual power is strong—did you sense nothing at all?"
The Cairo Earth Master let out a cold laugh. "You're an assassin, different from other cultivators. You're always thinking about whether another assassin might be hiding in the shadows, waiting to kill you."
"Are you saying I'm just being overly vigilant, imagining things?" A Le asked.
The Cairo Earth Master replied, "As a World Hand with sixty-ninth-level spiritual power, my perception of the surrounding world surpasses even that of some gods. If I sensed nothing, how could someone of your cultivation level possibly detect anything?"
"I hope it really was just an illusion."
A Le thought of something. The Dragon Lord had mentioned that a new god from the Kunlun Realm would secretly assist Zhang Ruochen, but that new god had yet to appear.
Perhaps his perception wasn't wrong, and what he saw wasn't an illusion.
...
A person has three souls and seven spirits.
The souls are divided into the Heavenly Soul, Earthly Soul, and Human Soul.
The Heavenly Soul and Earthly Soul are not within the body.
The Earthly Soul is the shadow beneath one's feet.
The Heavenly Soul is part of the Heavenly Dao, imperceptible to ordinary cultivators.
A cultivator's Sacred Soul is formed by nurturing the Human Soul into a Martial Soul, which then develops into the Sacred Soul.
As for the seven spirits, very few cultivators train them. At least in the paths Zhang Ruochen had encountered, there was no method for cultivating the seven spirits.
The Sword Spirit was something he had never even heard of.
Jumping into the ancient well, Zhang Ruochen felt as if he had plunged into a pitch-black, boundless divine sea. Icy seawater surged from all directions, nearly freezing his physical body solid.
Before his eyes, scene after scene appeared. There was the glorious and magnificent sight of a Sword Dao civilization, the ethereal image of ten thousand swords flying out from a sacred mountain, and the beautiful picture of a man and woman practicing sword techniques by the seaside at sunset...
Suddenly, fireballs streaked across the sky.
Each fireball was a dying star, crashing down into this Sword Dao civilization. The earth trembled, volcanoes erupted, and tsunamis reached the heavens.
Even the sun hanging high in the sky shattered.
Then, black clouds rolled in, blotting out the sky and covering the sun.
From the mountains, sword palaces, deep valleys, and dangerous ravines, divine swords flew out, shooting straight into the sky. Majestic, sacred figures stood atop each divine sword, charging into the rolling black clouds.
From within the black clouds, an enormous hand reached out.
Instantly, those sacred figures exploded into pieces, crumbling in the air like sand sculptures. Only the swords fell back to the ground, stained with blood.
...
The scenes before him were filled with a destructive aura. All the beauty of the world was being obliterated, evoking sorrow and grief.
That enormous hand from beyond the sky gave a suffocating feeling, inspiring despair and helplessness, as if it were the hand of the Heavenly Dao. Anyone it sought to destroy would surely die.
Zhang Ruochen knew that these scenes were most likely events that had actually occurred.
A blurry silhouette appeared in the water—an old man with white hair and a white beard. His tone was distant and sorrowful. "The Sword Realm has been destroyed! There is an invisible hand in the universe that sets its own rules. Once a civilization grows too powerful, it must be destroyed."
"Because it posed a threat?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
The silhouette did not answer his question. "You came bearing the 'Wordless Sword Manual,' which means you are fated to meet me. You carry the Sword Seal, marking you as the guardian of the Sword Realm's new civilization. You possess a fearless spirit and the utmost loyalty and righteousness. Unafraid of death, you seek to save your friends, earning the recognition of all the spirits of the Sword Realm. Therefore, you are worthy of inheriting my Sword Spirit."
"The Sword Spirit is the spirit of the sword."
"A sword has two sides: one to slay all evil in the world, and one to save and protect the good. The tip of the sword represents unwavering determination, unyielding self-improvement, and the courage to pierce the clouds. Even when oppressed from above, it never bends. The sword should be equal, free, unrestrained... and most beautiful..."
"Hua—"
The silhouette shattered, turning into a rain of light.
The rain of light swirled around Zhang Ruochen and surged into his body.
Zhang Ruochen felt his body expanding infinitely. The Sword Spirit that entered him was somewhat similar to the power left behind by the ten thousand swords earlier, but it was purer and stronger.
It was so powerful that Zhang Ruochen could barely contain it.
His Qi Sea, internal organs, meridians, bones, blood... every part of his body absorbed that power, including his Sacred Soul. His Sacred Soul grew rapidly.
Soul! Spirit!
Soul cannot be separated from spirit, and spirit cannot be separated from soul.
"Ah!"
Zhang Ruochen let out a long roar and flew back toward the well's mouth.
From the ancient well at the top of the sword mountain, a brilliant pillar of light shot upward.
Zhang Ruochen's body floated within the pillar of light. The swords that had been orbiting the sword mountain all rushed toward the pillar, circling around him. At that moment, he seemed to have become the master of the Sword Realm, a young Sword God.
"Such powerful Sword Dao power! What kind of opportunity has Zhang Ruochen obtained?" The Cairo Earth Master's eyes burned with jealousy. He was tempted to kill A Le and the Blood Wolf, rush up the sword mountain, and seize the opportunity.
A Le sensed the killing intent radiating from him and fixed his gaze on him.
"Ao!"
The Blood Wolf let out a long howl. The Cairo Earth Master clutched his head as his Sacred Soul felt as if it were being devoured by a pack of wolves. He writhed in pain on the ground, letting out pleas for mercy. Finally, he knelt before the Blood Wolf.
"The Sword Dao rules of heaven and earth are flowing... Has he succeeded?"
A Le's gaze returned to the top of the sword mountain.
The Sword Dao rules of this realm converged above Zhang Ruochen's head, forming a faint soul shadow.
"He has successfully condensed the Heavenly Sword Soul at the Hundred Shackles Realm." A smile appeared at the corner of A Le's mouth.
As the Heavenly Sword Soul took shape, all the swords buried in the tombs burst out of the ground, soaring into the sky. They formed countless rivers of ten thousand swords, flying around Zhang Ruochen.
The power of the Sword Ancestor's Sword Spirit was too immense for Zhang Ruochen's current cultivation to bear.
Parts of his skin began to burst, turning into wisps of blood mist.
Just as Zhang Ruochen thought he would be torn apart by the Sword Spirit's power, the Time-Space Divine Martial Mark on his brow began to spin rapidly, absorbing the vast, boundless Sword Spirit power entirely.
Zhang Ruochen felt a lightness throughout his body and landed back on the summit of the sword mountain.
His body radiated a brilliant white light. Every strand of light was a sword qi, sharp and unstoppable.
"What a formidable Sword Spirit! Only a tiny fraction was absorbed by my seven spirits. The rest is stored in my Qi Sea, internal organs, meridians, bones, and blood. An even larger portion was absorbed by the Time-Space Divine Martial Mark."
Zhang Ruochen touched his brow, deciding to set aside the part of the Sword Spirit absorbed by the Time-Space Divine Martial Mark for now. His priority was to control the portion within his body.
Otherwise, if he walked out in his current state, he would be no different from a porcupine.
Whether friend or foe, anyone struck by the light radiating from his body would be injured. No one could get close to him.
"But how can I control the Sword Spirit?"
Just as doubt arose in Zhang Ruochen's mind, the stone sword form of the "Wordless Sword Manual" flew out of the ancient well and landed before him. Golden characters appeared on the stone sword.
The golden characters transformed into tiny golden figures, each striking different poses.
"So that's how it is."
Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged and, following the characters and poses presented in the "Wordless Sword Manual," formed one sword seal after another with his hands.
As for why the "Wordless Sword Manual" now displayed the methods for cultivating and controlling the Sword Spirit, it was likely related to its flight into the ancient well.
Time flew by.
Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged on the summit of the sword mountain for a full half month. The light on his body gradually dimmed, retracting inward as he refined it into his seven spirits.
All seven spirits became tangible, transforming into seven brilliantly bright swords suspended above the Heavenly River in his Qi Sea.
"It's done!"
Zhang Ruochen stood up, his figure upright and refined, his long hair drifting in the water. Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he summoned the Abyssal Ancient Sword, which had been roaming with the ten thousand swords, back into his hand.
"Shua, shua."
On the stone tablet beside the ancient well, he carved several lines:
"Today, I have obtained the Sword Ancestor's Sword Spirit. In the future, I will surely reach the pinnacle of the Sword Dao, spreading its glory so that the spirit of the sword shall never be extinguished."
"If darkness descends again, I will be the one charging at the forefront."
Zhang Ruochen sheathed his sword and stood proudly.
Flying through the water, countless swords seemed to sense the will radiating from him. They flew over and embedded themselves into the sword mountain. Some of the swords emitted divine radiance. Even after endless ages, the divinity on those swords had not been worn away.
Zhang Ruochen looked down at the rows of tombstones below and pondered. An incomplete Sword Dao could already be listed among the seventy-two supreme sacred paths. If the complete Sword Dao were to emerge, would it be worthy of standing alongside the nine eternal paths?
At the very least, in terms of combat methods, it could stand alongside them.
...
(Staying up late for too long has taken a toll on my body. I've been trying to adjust my sleep schedule over the past couple of days, hoping to update earlier. I just hope I can get it right—I'm afraid that if I sleep too early, I'll end up with insomnia instead.)