Chapter 906: Ancestral Master Graveyard
Arriving once again at the towering volcano within the Sword Grave, Zhang Ruochen stepped into the formation and entered the Scroll World of the Cosmic Divine Wood Map.
The Sky-Connecting Divine Tree stood at the center of the entire world, propping up the heavens and earth, releasing an endless stream of heaven and earth spiritual energy.
Zhang Ruochen sat cross-legged beneath the divine tree and began to comprehend the Sword Dao rules contained within the first move of the Nine-Life Sword Art, "Grand Void Light Splitting."
To break a sword, one must first understand the sword.
The cultivation of the Sword Dao is inherently a cycle of offense and defense, understanding and practice, continuous accumulation, and continuous comprehension. Only then can one eventually become a peerless Sword Saint roaming freely in the world.
"The Nine-Life Sword Art contains a total of nine moves. Each move is divided into nine forms, each form has nine variations, and each variation is composed of nine Sword Dao rules arranged together. It appears to be only nine moves, but in reality, it contains countless changes."
The first move, "Grand Void Light Splitting," had a total of eighty-one variations, formed by the arrangement of seven hundred and twenty-nine Sword Dao rules.
"Whoosh—"
A figure holding a sword, with feet apart and right arm drawn back like a bow, executed one of the sword move variations.
Immediately after, the figure dissipated, turning into white smoke.
Before long, another strand of Saint Qi flew out, splitting in two to form two figures, each performing a different sword move.
...
The process of comprehending the sword was extremely arduous and did not go smoothly.
At times, Zhang Ruochen would stop and ponder for a long time before he could fully comprehend the Sword Dao rules of a particular form.
Half a month later, strands of Saint Qi continuously flew out from Zhang Ruochen's body, simultaneously forming dozens of figures standing in various positions, each executing different sword moves.
Some figures dissipated, only to be replaced by new ones that condensed in their place.
This state lasted for a full three days, finally resulting in a scene where eighty-one figures coexisted. Viewed from afar, it was an extremely shocking sight.
Zhang Ruochen suddenly opened his eyes and muttered to himself, "I've just scratched the surface."
"Chi chi."
As Zhang Ruochen stood up, all eighty-one figures dissipated, turning into eighty-one wisps of Saint Qi that flew back to his brow and merged into his Qi Sea.
Zhang Ruochen extended his hands, and a powerful Sword Intent surged from his palms.
Above him, a "shua shua" sound rang out. Nine hundred and ninety-nine leaves of the Sky-Connecting Divine Tree, controlled by the Sword Intent, fell down and condensed into a giant leaf sword.
"Grand Void Light Splitting."
The giant leaf sword shot out rapidly, causing the void itself to bulge outward as it flew for over ten miles. Suddenly, all the leaves split apart, transforming into nine hundred and ninety-nine light shuttles that struck the ground at three times the speed.
"Boom rumble." Each leaf striking the ground left a crater five meters in diameter.
With just one sword strike, that patch of earth was riddled with holes.
Zhang Ruochen frowned slightly and said, "Compared to Ling Feiyu, there is indeed still a huge gap."
When Ling Feiyu executed this move, the leaves would split and explode at ten times the speed, enough to threaten a Ninth-Rank Half-Saint.
Executing the same move, Zhang Ruochen could only achieve three times the speed. The power of the sword move was thus greatly diminished.
Zhang Ruochen was not discouraged, however. If Sacred Art-level sword techniques were so easy to learn, could they still be called Sacred Arts?
Back then, Ling Feiyu had spent three years to reach Great Perfection. Zhang Ruochen had only just scratched the surface now, so naturally, he could not compare to her.
"Since I have already comprehended the Sword Dao rules of this move, I can begin attempting to break it."
Spending two consecutive days, Zhang Ruochen tried various methods, but with his current Sword Dao realm, he simply could not break a Sacred Art-level sword move.
The Nine-Life Sword Art was too profound, containing too many variables. Even a gifted sword cultivator could spend a lifetime studying it and still not fully comprehend it.
Zhang Ruochen had only just scratched the surface; trying to break the Nine-Life Sword Art was undoubtedly as difficult as ascending to heaven.
"Perhaps... I can go and seek advice from the various ancestral masters. They are all Sword Saints, with a Sword Dao understanding that has reached the pinnacle. They might be able to break this move."
Thinking of this, Zhang Ruochen immediately walked out of the Scroll World and headed toward the graveyard of the successive ancestral masters of the Skyward Sword Lineage.
The graveyard was located on an eight-thousand-meter-high snow mountain, surrounded by sheer cliffs, with an invisible force enveloping the mountain.
Any cultivator who came here had to climb the mountain on foot.
Zhang Ruochen stepped onto the stone stairs and ascended. When he reached the mountainside, he saw a ten-zhang-high circular altar.
Around the altar stood sixteen majestic stone statues, one on each side.
Some statues were mighty and robust, giving a feeling of a wrathful Vajra; some were short and hunched, appearing extremely aged. Others were dressed in a refined manner, like a scholar teaching.
"Nan Xusheng, Sikong Qingyu, Qian Suanzi..."
Sixteen names were arranged on the altar. Zhang Ruochen had heard some of these names eight hundred years ago—they were Sword Saints who had shaken the world.
Other names were too ancient and seemed quite unfamiliar.
In the wind and snow, Zhang Ruochen stood below the altar, the howling of the cold wind in his ears, along with the clanging sword cries of thousands of ancient swords on the snow mountain.
"Disciple pays respects to all ancestral masters."
Zhang Ruochen clasped his hands, extremely respectful, and bowed to the sixteen ancestral masters.
These sixteen ancestral masters had spent their entire lives guarding the Nether King Sword Grave, and some had even died in battle here.
The contributions they made had saved countless lives, their merits immeasurable. Whether or not Zhang Ruochen was their descendant, they deserved a bow.
The altar shook, and streaks of shadow flew out from the center, merging with the sixteen stone statues.
All the stone statues came to life, like sixteen Sword Saints appearing simultaneously.
A very refined stone statue extended an arm and raised it slightly, saying, "No need for such formalities. Rise."
Immediately after, another stone statue said impatiently, "Zhang Ruochen, have you thought clearly these past few days about why you lost to the sword-bearer of the Sky-Burying Sword?"
The spirit of this stone statue was the very ancestral master who had possessed Zhang Ruochen to fight Ling Feiyu that day.
Zhang Ruochen thought for a moment and said, "Although my Sword Dao realm has reached the Unity of Man and Sword, my understanding of the Sword Dao is still worlds apart from the sword-bearer of the Sky-Burying Sword. Moreover, her sword moves are exquisitely subtle. To be honest, I cannot keep up with the speed of her sword move variations."
Although Zhang Ruochen had figured out a way to counter her the day after their fight, that was only when Ling Feiyu was using fifty percent of her power. With Zhang Ruochen's current insight, he could not handle it if she used her full power.
The stone statue nodded and said, "The gap in realm cannot be bridged in a short time. But as long as you are willing to train hard, you can narrow that gap in a short period."
Zhang Ruochen immediately said, "Not long ago, I had another clash with the sword-bearer of the Sky-Burying Sword. Unfortunately, I could not withstand even one of her strikes."
"Recently, I have been thinking about how to break that one sword move of hers. But her move is too profound and too fast. Even though I have already comprehended the Sword Dao rules within it, I still cannot break it."
Hearing this, the sixteen ancestral masters of the Skyward Sword Lineage all became interested.
One of them, looking quite excited, asked, "What sword move did she use? Hurry up and show us."
"Yes."
Zhang Ruochen glanced at the thick snow on the ground, then swept his foot sideways, sending a large patch of snowflakes into the air.
Under the control of his Saint Qi, the snowflakes condensed into a white sword and shot toward a distant cliff wall.
"Boom."
As it neared the cliff wall, the snow-condensed sword directly split apart, striking the wall and leaving deep sword marks.
Seeing this sword strike, all the ancestral masters fell silent.
The more refined ancestral master said, "This is the first move of the Nine-Life Sword Art, 'Grand Void Light Splitting'... No, that's not right."
Zhang Ruochen asked, "What's wrong?"
"You said you clashed with the sword-bearer of the Sky-Burying Sword not long ago. How could you have fully comprehended the Sword Dao rules of this sword move in such a short time?"
Another ancestral master had the same doubt, saying, "The 'Grand Void Light Splitting' you just performed has at least thirty percent mastery; you should have just scratched the surface. Even a monstrous genius like the Sword Emperor, Xue Hongchen, could not have learned it so quickly when he was young."
Zhang Ruochen hesitated for a moment but still spoke up, "To be honest, disciple has obtained a time-space treasure. By entering it, I can gain ten times the cultivation time."
The sixteen ancestral masters had long since passed away, leaving only sixteen spirits in the world. Therefore, Zhang Ruochen did not hide this from them.
"I see."
All sixteen ancestral masters showed expressions of sudden realization, and they were also happy for Zhang Ruochen.
After all, possessing a time-space treasure was enough to allow Zhang Ruochen to stay ahead of his contemporaries and even catch up to the older generation.
"Ha ha! This is excellent. Since you have a time-space treasure, catching up to the sword-bearer of the Sky-Burying Sword is only a matter of time."
"As long as you catch up to her, you must teach that girl a good lesson for us!"
"Is it necessary to be so rough with a woman? In my opinion, it would be better to marry her. The best way to conquer a woman is to conquer her heart," said a rather handsome and dashing ancestral master.
There was no need to guess; this ancestral master must have been a romantic figure who cherished women in his youth.
Zhang Ruochen stood below, out of politeness, not interrupting them.
However, some of the remarks made by the ancestral masters still caused the corners of Zhang Ruochen's mouth to twitch uncontrollably.
(One more chapter before one o'clock. Still a few hundred words short, will finish soon.) (To be continued.)