Chapter 2589: Third Rank
The ten conditions—the Primordial Divine Illumination Lotus, the Origin Esoterica Light Cloud, the Sword Dao Esoterica, the Sword Ancestor's Sword Soul, the Heavenly Sword Soul, the ultimate Sword Dao rules, the Emperor Grade Sacred Intent Pill, the sixty-eighth level of Spiritual Power, the Six Divine Swords, and the perfection of the Sword Dao at the Saint King realm—were such that if any other Hundred Shackles realm Great Saint possessed even one or two of them, they could condense a top-tier fourth-rank Sword Dao Sacred Intent.
Zhang Ruochen possessed all ten, and even then, he could only strive for a sliver of a chance to condense a third-rank Sword Dao Esoterica.
Sacred Intent was separated by a single rank, and the difference was as vast as heaven and earth.
Since ancient times, only he could achieve this level at the Hundred Shackles realm, possessing such favorable timing, location, human harmony, and external aids.
Zhang Ruochen remained still for an unknown period, deeming himself to have reached his optimal state. With a thought, he murmured, "Merge!"
Countless Sword Dao rules converged together.
At the center of the rules, a gaseous sword slowly took shape.
This sword was flawless in its perfection. The proportions between the blade, edge, tip, and hilt were all at their optimal level, as if it were the most perfect work of art created by the Creator himself.
Every line of the sword resonated with the Heavenly Dao, seeming capable of escaping space or merging into time.
Sacred Intent was profoundly mysterious, representing a cultivator's insights into a particular path. It could be formless and invisible, or it could manifest concretely.
At this moment, the Sword Dao Sacred Intent Zhang Ruochen condensed took the form of a sword, radiating an aura of "invincibility under heaven, unrivaled supremacy."
The Six Divine Swords all sensed that an ultimate Sword Dao Sacred Intent was about to take shape, and their sword bodies trembled uncontrollably.
"Such powerful Sword Dao Sacred Intent! Just the power of heaven and earth it draws can shake my body. And I'm as heavy as a star, very heavy."
"He is truly extraordinary. Look, this space is manifesting the phenomenon of ten thousand swords paying homage."
...
Beneath the blood moon, in the dark red space, thousands of sword-shaped sword Qis automatically condensed, turning the entire space into a sea of swords.
Bai Qinger watched this anomaly and heard the rising and falling sounds of sword Qis breaking through the air. Her delicate face tightened slightly. "Could he really be about to succeed?"
Once Zhang Ruochen successfully condensed a third-rank Sword Dao Sacred Intent and took control of the Six Divine Swords, the first thing he would likely do was manipulate the swords to strike her down.
At that point, she might truly have no choice but to use the favor Zhang Ruochen owed her, begging him to spare her life.
But Bai Qinger was not one to humble herself so easily, nor would she sit idly by and wait for death. For her to lower her head and beg Zhang Ruochen for mercy was harder than killing her.
The sword-shaped Sword Dao Sacred Intent grew increasingly solid, its radiance brighter and brighter. Yet Zhang Ruochen sighed and dispersed it.
It was imperfect, missing a thread.
That missing thread could not be made up, so he had to let it go.
This method had failed.
The phenomenon of ten thousand swords paying homage collapsed along with it.
Bai Qinger breathed a slight sigh of relief, a smile appearing on her ethereal, immortal-like face. As long as Zhang Ruochen failed to condense a third-rank Sacred Intent, then no matter how unwilling he was, he would have no choice but to cooperate with her.
She would give him her blood to help heal his wounds and break through his realm.
Zhang Ruochen's state of mind gradually recovered, returning to a state of emptiness.
"What is the strongest Sword Dao?"
"What is the perfect Sword Dao Sacred Intent?"
"What is the meaning of the sword?"
...
He questioned himself repeatedly in his heart.
Unconsciously, the Sword Dao Sacred Intent automatically condensed, growing out from within him, becoming larger and larger.
It took on a human form.
At this moment, not only did phenomena appear within the space inside the altar, but throughout the entire Origin Divine Temple ruins and the entire Sword South Realm, strands of strange and peculiar power converged toward Zhang Ruochen within the altar, merging into the human-shaped Sword Dao Sacred Intent, which was over ten miles tall.
The appearance of the human-shaped Sword Dao Sacred Intent gradually became clear, and it was identical to the Sword Ancestor Zhang Ruochen had seen in the Sword Mountain Ancient Well.
It was as if the Sword Ancestor had been reborn, radiating an overwhelming, world-dominating aura.
The Six Divine Swords all felt a strong sense of familiarity, eager to fly into the hands of that massive figure, to fight alongside him, slaying all enemies.
"This is the ultimate Sword Dao aura!"
"The strongest Sword Dao Sacred Intent in the world has emerged!"
"With such Sacred Intent manifesting, how could we not acknowledge it as our master?"
...
The Six Divine Swords were all extremely excited, having completely forgotten the minimum standards they had once set.
However, the Sword Ancestor-shaped Sword Dao Sacred Intent suddenly collapsed, scattering into chaotic Sword Dao rules.
All phenomena vanished once again.
"What happened? Did it fail?"
"That's not right. I clearly felt it was about to take shape, having absorbed the residual Sword Dao aura left by the Sword Ancestor of old. Why did it suddenly fail?"
Zhang Ruochen, seated cross-legged at the center of the Primordial Divine Illumination Lotus, gently shook his head. "Still imperfect. Such a Sword Dao Sacred Intent would merely be walking the path the Sword Ancestor once trod. My Sword Dao attainment would never surpass the Sword Ancestor's."
Within the special environment of the Emperor Grade Sacred Intent Pill, the Primordial Divine Illumination Lotus, and the Origin Esoterica Light Cloud, Zhang Ruochen's thoughts were clearer than ever before.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up as he grasped a key point. He muttered to himself, "The Sword Ancestor represents a peak of the Sword Dao, but by no means its endpoint."
"The sword is always just a tool, not the Dao itself."
"And condensing Sacred Intent is not about cultivating the ultimate fruit of the Sword Dao."
"Yes, that's the misconception."
"All sword cultivators under heaven treat condensing Sword Dao Sacred Intent as a result, believing it determines the future of the Sword Dao."
"But in reality, even after condensing Sword Dao Sacred Intent, the road ahead remains long. Ahead lies the peak of the Sword God, and even the towering peak of the Sword Ancestor."
"That's it. I am not pursuing the result of the Sword Dao now; I am still on the long, arduous path of seeking."
"Sword Dao Sacred Intent should be a beginning, not a final form."
...
Muttering to himself, Zhang Ruochen stood up and walked out of the Primordial Divine Illumination Lotus.
Sword Dao rules automatically formed a path beneath his feet.
A straight path.
This path stretched infinitely long, leading to boundless space and eternal time, as if it would never reach an end.
The Primordial Divine Illumination Lotus transformed into Ji Fanxin's crystalline, snow-white delicate body, standing amidst the chaotic origin energy, watching Zhang Ruochen walking along a straight, long path. He seemed to be right beside her, yet also billions of miles away, thousands of years in the future.
After an unknown amount of time, Zhang Ruochen lowered his head to look at the path beneath him.
When he didn't look at it, it was a path that would never end.
But when he looked at it, he found it was a pillar of light standing before him, and he seemed unable to climb to its top.
If he didn't look, it was a path; if he looked, it was a pillar.
Horizontal or vertical?
Was it a path or a pillar?
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen let out a long laugh. "Today, I achieve the third-rank Sword Dao Sacred Intent, named 'One.'"
The hardest thing in the world was "One," representing both flawless perfection and the beginning of all things.
It represented the true self, purity, and the unyielding, uncorrupted nature of the Sword Dao.
It represented both unwavering determination and uniqueness.
It represented the endless Sword Dao path he would never finish walking, and the peak of the Sword Dao he would spend his life climbing.
Horizontal was one, vertical was also one.
Every sword strike was one.
"Boom!"
At the center of the Six Divine Swords, within the Origin Esoterica Light Cloud, Zhang Ruochen, who had turned into a point of light, suddenly manifested his true body, standing upright and naked, his long hair flying.
A pillar of light burst forth from within him, shooting out from the top of his head and the soles of his feet.
The pillar shooting from his head struck the center of the blood moon.
With a bang, the blood moon shattered, and the blood mist entangling the Six Divine Swords disappeared. The Six Divine Swords rejoiced greatly, severing the black Qi surging up from below and regaining their freedom.
"Swish, swish."
The six swords flew and danced through the space, trailing six streaks of fiery light, their breaking sounds as thunderous as thunderclaps.
"He succeeded! He condensed a third-rank Sword Dao Esoterica."
"I knew it all along. He could do it. From the first moment I saw him, I could tell he was extraordinary."
...
Just then, a change occurred.
The Origin Esoterica within the light cloud, which had never accepted Zhang Ruochen before, now surged into his body wildly and continuously.
At first, Zhang Ruochen was overjoyed, thinking he had gained the recognition of the Origin Esoterica.
But as more and more Origin Esoterica merged into his body, he began to be unable to bear it.
Esoterica was power that only gods should wield.
Saint realm cultivators could wield it, but if there was too much, they would be overwhelmed.
The Origin Esoterica had no intelligence; it didn't know Zhang Ruochen couldn't handle too much of it. It just kept rushing into his body, and he couldn't refuse even if he wanted to.
When he had collected the Heart of Truth back then, the Lord of the Truth Divine Temple had told him that without the Heart of Truth, no matter how strong a cultivator was, they could only master one-tenth of the Truth Esoterica.
The same applied to the Eternal Dao. There must be a limit to how much Origin Esoterica a cultivator could bear. Although he didn't know if it was one-tenth, Zhang Ruochen was now on the verge of collapse. His Sacred Soul seemed about to explode, his physical body seemed about to burst, and his Spiritual Power seemed about to scatter.
Too miserable.
Joy turned to sorrow.
He had just condensed a third-rank Sword Dao Sacred Intent, and now he was about to be overwhelmed by the Origin Esoterica?
Dying like this made Zhang Ruochen extremely unwilling.
Ji Fanxin transformed back into the Primordial Divine Illumination Lotus and appeared beneath his feet, transmitting her voice: "Give it to me."
"Alright!"
Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged, doing his utmost to channel the Origin Esoterica within him, continuously passing it to the Primordial Divine Illumination Lotus.
Fortunately, the Primordial Divine Illumination Lotus was born from the origin, and it slowly absorbed the Origin Esoterica from Zhang Ruochen's body. But the speed was too slow, and more Origin Esoterica was flooding into Zhang Ruochen.
"The opportunity has come!"
Bai Qinger's beautiful eyes shimmered with light. The moment she had been waiting for had finally arrived.
"Whoosh—"
She turned into a streak of light, flying toward the Primordial Divine Illumination Lotus.
A divine sword descended from the sky, cutting off her path, the sword light mere inches away from her.
"Do not approach the master!"
The other five divine swords flew over one after another, surrounding Bai Qinger.
Six divine mights pressed down on her simultaneously, but Bai Qinger remained unfazed. "Can't you see that your master is about to be overwhelmed by the Origin Esoterica? Only I can save him."
"Why should we trust you?" one of the swords said in a deep voice.
From the distant Primordial Divine Illumination Lotus came Zhang Ruochen's long roar, as if he were enduring inhuman pain.
Bai Qinger said, "You have no choice. You have to trust me."
The best-preserved Big Brother Sword said, "Let her pass. If the master falls here, we'll kill her to accompany him."
The Six Divine Swords withdrew, and Bai Qinger's graceful figure, like a goddess walking on water, flew into the Primordial Divine Illumination Lotus. She sneered inwardly, "These mere sword spirits are still toyed with in the palm of my hand. Zhang Ruochen, I want both your blood and the Origin Esoterica!"
Bai Qinger was determined that once she absorbed Zhang Ruochen's blood and recovered to a certain extent, she would break through to become a god.
Once she became a god, as the Origin Controller, she could bear any amount of Origin Esoterica. Then she would suppress the Earth Demon Sparrow's artifact spirit, take it away, and become the biggest winner of this trip to the Origin Divine Temple.
However, just as she approached Zhang Ruochen and raised her hand to cut the blood vessels on his wrist, she found her body suddenly unable to move, as if thousands of threads were binding and entangling her.
"What is this power..."
Bai Qinger's face changed color as she realized something was wrong.
"No need to guess. It's the power of the Origin Esoterica," Zhang Ruochen said.
A large amount of Origin Esoterica was within Zhang Ruochen's body, so of course he could mobilize its power to suppress Bai Qinger.
It should be known that a Saint realm cultivator with one percent of the Truth Esoterica was a Truth Envoy, capable of using it to fight against gods.
The Origin Esoterica within Zhang Ruochen now was far more than one percent.
At this critical moment of life and death, Zhang Ruochen didn't care about anything else. He pulled Bai Qinger over and flipped her beneath him.
At this moment, Bai Qinger's entire body was immobilized, like a cat pinned down by a hunting dog.
Zhang Ruochen's tiger-like eyes stared closely into her almond-shaped eyes from close range. "Do you want it?"
Bai Qinger's gaze showed no sign of submission. She stared coldly at him, extremely calm. "Why so much talk? Give it to me! I mean the Origin Esoterica."
"Whoosh!"
Zhang Ruochen pressed his palm down, striking her between the eyebrows, continuously channeling the Origin Esoterica from within him into her.
"Too slow! I'm afraid you'll be overwhelmed before you finish passing the Origin Esoterica to me. Actually, Yin-Yang transformation is the fastest method. Why don't you use it?" Bai Qinger said.
Zhang Ruochen was stunned. "How do you do Yin-Yang transformation?"
"You've pressed me beneath you, yet you ask me how to do Yin-Yang transformation? Could it be that you, the notorious great traitor, are more innocent than me, a newcomer?" Bai Qinger remained calm throughout, her tone cold.
Zhang Ruochen never expected that this extremely proud and aloof woman beneath him would say such a thing.
Bai Qinger, of course, had her own considerations. If she failed to break through to become a god and Zhang Ruochen was overwhelmed by the Origin Esoterica, then even if the Six Divine Swords spared her life, she would leave today without taking a single strand of Origin Esoterica.
In that instant just now, her state of mind had become clear.
Since she had lost the bet, what did it matter if she married Zhang Ruochen?
It would bring her state of mind to perfection.
Since she had decided to marry Zhang Ruochen, anything that happened between them now seemed acceptable.
Moreover, Zhang Ruochen had actually condensed a third-rank Sword Dao Sacred Intent, which truly made Bai Qinger look at him with new eyes.
Seeing that Zhang Ruochen did not respond for a long time, Bai Qinger closed her beautiful eyes, her long, curved eyelashes trembling. She took a deep breath, straightened her slender waist, and said, "Fine, I'll go first."
Just as she was about to rise, Zhang Ruochen pressed her back down.
"Stay down there obediently. Since it's to be Yin-Yang transformation, don't regret it later."
"I never regret anything! Remember to let the one below also take human form, so we can do Yin-Yang transformation together... Ah... Mm..."
...
(Ten thousand words omitted here.)
Two consecutive chapters with a hundred thousand words burst forth. Where are the monthly tickets?