Chapter 501: Time Sword, Instant Without Trace
“The Tree Ancestor will definitely keep guarding the blood pool. With my current martial cultivation, even if I rush out, I wouldn’t be its match.”
“In that case, I’ll cultivate first and increase my strength. Once my spiritual power reaches the forty-second rank, it won’t be too late to leave.”
Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged at the bottom of the blood pool, a layer of space barrier pushing the blood aside, forming a spherical small space.
Placing the Cosmic Divine Wood Map on the ground, Zhang Ruochen extended both hands and slowly unrolled the scroll.
The world depicted on the scroll was vast and majestic, with steep mountains, rushing rivers, and every flower and grass seemingly imbued with infinite spirituality.
Especially that Sky-Connecting Divine Tree, drawn so vividly, with graceful strokes, both grand and imposing, yet evoking an ancient, timeless artistic conception.
Zhang Ruochen extended one palm and pressed it onto the scroll, continuously pouring the true qi within his body into it.
“Whoosh——”
Gradually, some of the brush strokes on the scroll were activated by the true qi, emitting dazzling light.
Those rays of light stabbed Zhang Ruochen’s eyes with pain, like countless light swords flying up to pierce his eyeballs.
Forced to, Zhang Ruochen had to temporarily close his eyes.
When he opened them again, he found that the surrounding scene had undergone earth-shattering changes.
Now, he stood at the base of a steep, pitch-black mountain peak. Compared to that mountain, his body seemed incredibly tiny, like a speck of dust.
No, that wasn’t a black mountain.
It was a... massive ancient tree trunk.
The ancient tree was so thick that at first glance, it looked like a mountain, completely blocking one’s view.
Zhang Ruochen looked up.
The ancient tree was immeasurably tall; its trunk pierced through the clouds, with only some thick branches and enormous leaves visible above the cloud layer.
A single leaf was like a green boat floating in the sky; if it fell, it could probably cover a small hill.
The entire world was filled with dense spiritual qi.
“Could this... could this be the legendary Sky-Connecting Divine Tree?” Zhang Ruochen said.
Suddenly, a wave of drowsiness hit him. Zhang Ruochen felt his eyelids grow heavier and heavier. His body went limp, and he sat down beneath the tree, leaning half his body against the trunk, falling asleep.
In his dream, Zhang Ruochen heard an aged voice: “Heaven and earth unite, thus all things are born... Yin and Yang connect, thus the four seasons change... Sun and moon intersect, thus the cycle of heavens revolves...”
“Who is speaking?”
Zhang Ruochen struggled to open his eyes, and his vision gradually cleared. Not far away, an old man was practicing sword techniques.
His mouth was murmuring something.
However, Zhang Ruochen couldn’t see the old man’s true form clearly.
The old man’s body was like a phantom, sometimes solidifying, sometimes dissipating. Even his voice was intermittent, making it hard to understand what he was saying.
After a full day of observation, Zhang Ruochen realized that the old man’s body movements and sword techniques were incredibly profound, as if he were using the sword to explain some great principle of heaven and earth.
That principle was related to “time,” likely describing the origin of time.
An instant, a ke, a shi, a day, a month, a season, a year, a jiazi, an eon.
Just like the origin of space: Wuji gives birth to Taiji, Taiji gives birth to Two Forms, Two Forms give birth to Four Symbols, Four Symbols give birth to Eight Trigrams.
The origin of time also goes from nothing to something: An instant gives birth to eight ke, eight ke give birth to twelve shi, twelve shi give birth to three hundred and sixty-five cycles, then give birth to twelve months, four seasons, flowing years, jiazi, and eons.
The nine scales of time: instant, ke, shi, day, month, season, year, jiazi, eon.
At this moment, the sword technique the old man was practicing seemed to be the process of time’s birth. Every move, every stance was full of mystery, giving a feeling of profound depth and infinite vastness.
“To cultivate the Time Sword, one must first capture time imprints. One imprint is one instant.”
The old man chanted while stepping in a footwork pattern and swinging his sword.
But his sword had no shadow, like a beam of light, terrifyingly fast.
“Time Sword, First Sword: Instant Without Trace.”
“Time Sword, Second Sword: Scale Eight Changes.”
...
“Time Sword, Fourth Sword: Cycle of Heavens.”
...
“Time Sword, Sixth Sword: Alternation of Four Seasons.”
“Time Sword, Seventh Sword: Light of Flowing Years.”
Zhang Ruochen strained his eyes wide, but he could only see the first sword of the Time Sword Art, “Instant Without Trace.” Though seemingly traceless, he could still discern some clues.
The subsequent sword techniques were utterly unpredictable, containing countless heavenly dao rules. They made Zhang Ruochen’s scalp tingle, yet he could discern nothing.
Those sword techniques were too profound. If Zhang Ruochen forced himself to study them, his spiritual power would likely collapse.
In the end, it was because Zhang Ruochen’s spiritual power was too weak.
Since that was the case, he would first cultivate the first sword of the Time Sword Art, Instant Without Trace.
Zhang Ruochen wanted to summon the Abyssal Ancient Sword, but found his hands empty. Not only the Abyssal Ancient Sword, but even his storage ring was gone.
Since he had no sword in hand, he would use his hand as a sword.
Zhang Ruochen pressed his index and middle fingers together, straightened his arm, and following the old man’s technique, stepped in footwork while executing the sword technique.
After practicing for nine full days, Zhang Ruochen had performed the sword countless times and rehearsed it over and over, learning the old man’s steps and sword moves to a lifelike level.
He felt that his realm in the Sword Dao had improved significantly. Yet, he still hadn’t unleashed the essence of “Instant Without Trace”; he had only learned the superficial sword moves.
Because when he struck with a sword, there was still a trace, failing to reach the traceless state.
“With my current Sword Dao realm, I’ve probably reached the mid-level of Sword Heart Illumination, yet I can’t learn a single sword technique?”
Zhang Ruochen stopped, feeling quite frustrated and a hint of confusion.
Just then, the old man’s voice sounded again: “To cultivate the Time Sword, one must first capture time imprints. One imprint is one instant.”
“One imprint is one instant.”
Zhang Ruochen muttered to himself, then suddenly his eyes lit up, as if he had grasped something.
According to the records in the Space-Time Secret Scripture, space has space inscriptions, and time has time imprints.
Countless space inscriptions can stack into an independent space world.
Countless time imprints can converge into a long river of time.
“I understand! The first sword of the Time Sword Art, Instant Without Trace, refers to comprehending the ‘instant’ within the scale of time.”
“What is an instant? One time imprint is one instant.”
“Only by capturing a time imprint and integrating it into the sword technique can one truly unleash Instant Without Trace.”
Where are time imprints?
Time imprints are everywhere; the key is whether one can control them and use them for oneself.
Zhang Ruochen stopped, closed his eyes, and began recalling the explanation of “time imprints” in the Space-Time Secret Scripture.
...
If someone had sneaked to the bottom of the blood pool at this moment, they would have seen Zhang Ruochen sitting cross-legged within a circular qi barrier, eyes closed, one hand pressing on a scroll, the other forming a sword seal, continuously gesturing.
His brow sometimes relaxed, sometimes furrowed.
As he comprehended the sword technique, a martial soul rushed out from the top of his head, suspended in the blood water.
That martial soul appeared extremely sacred, like a divine shadow, actually absorbing the sacrificial power in the blood pool.
It was the “False God Body” that Zhang Ruochen had long cultivated successfully.
The False God Body allowed the martial soul to transform into a false god, absorbing sacrificial power and converting it into one’s own cultivation.
However, at this moment, Zhang Ruochen was entirely focused on comprehending the sword moves and didn’t know that the martial soul, sensing the sacrificial power, had automatically flown out of his body to absorb that power.
The sacrificial force entered the martial soul, then transferred from the martial soul into his body, turning into a vast amount of true qi that rapidly circulated through his meridians.
“Boom!”
Driven by the sacrificial power, Zhang Ruochen’s martial realm quickly advanced, soon breaking through to the Great Perfection of the Heavenly Extreme Realm.