Chapter 41: The Chapter of Sword Intent
"Shoo!"
A cold sword shadow, at an incredibly tricky angle, stabbed straight at the Dark Gold Ape before him—a beast over two meters tall, its entire body covered in dark green scales. The Dark Gold Ape, renowned for its savage strength, smashed its thick arm fiercely toward that sword shadow.
The instant the sword shadow was scattered, three rays of sword light lit up almost simultaneously...
By now, it was already the sixth day since Jian Wushuang had entered the Dark Forest. Over the past five days, he had slaughtered spirit beasts of Sea Transformation Great Completion and Sea Transformation Perfection throughout the Dark Forest, going through dozens of battles large and small, some of which were extraordinarily perilous.
Compared to five days ago, Jian Wushuang's swordsmanship had clearly become much more cunning and ruthless, and his combat experience had grown immensely.
One must know that Jian Wushuang had grown up in the Sword Marquis Manor since childhood. Aside from that one time in the Life-and-Death Arena, he had never fought anyone to the death before, so his experience in mortal combat was certainly lacking. But now, that deficiency had been made up.
"Swish!"
A splendid strike, flickering bright and dark, so fast it was nearly impossible to catch with the naked eye. The blade's edge, carrying astonishing piercing force, bored straight through the Dark Gold Ape's throat.
Gurgle~~~ Blood sprayed wildly, and the Dark Gold Ape's towering body collapsed along with it.
"Not bad. That's already the seventh Sea Transformation Perfection spirit beast you've killed in these past few days." Sima Bu walked forward and said with a smile, "The burst of your spiritual power is clearly still a considerable distance from Sea Transformation Perfection, but your swordsmanship is quite good, and after these days of tempering through battle, it has shed its former rawness."
"Still far from enough." Jian Wushuang shook his head, without the slightest trace of pride in his heart. "My combat experience is still insufficient. Even with powerful swordsmanship, in real battle I still can't bring it into full play. That's why, even now, I can only barely handle spirit beasts at the weaker end of Sea Transformation Perfection. When I run into truly powerful ones, I can't deal with them at all and can only flee in a wretched state."
"If only my combat experience were richer, my swordsmanship more mature..." Jian Wushuang clenched his fists tightly.
"Don't aim too high. After all, you haven't reached Sea Transformation Perfection yet—to have this level of battle strength is already extraordinary." Sima Bu said this, then abruptly changed the subject. "Over these past few days, I can see that your talent in the sword is extremely high. And I have something here that you should find useful. Out of regard for Ji Wuyue, I'll give it to you."
As Sima Bu finished speaking, he flipped his hand, and a somewhat yellowed thread-bound book appeared in his palm.
"Hm?" Jian Wushuang was taken aback, then fixed his gaze intently on the golden ring Sima Bu had always worn on the ring finger of his right hand. "Could that be the legendary Universe Ring?"
The Universe Ring—a universe contained within.
Just now, Sima Bu's hands had clearly held nothing, yet with merely a flip of his hand, a thread-bound book had appeared. Naturally, only a Universe Ring could accomplish such a feat.
"Correct, it's a Universe Ring." Sima Bu smiled faintly. "However, this ring of mine was bestowed by the Gold Dragon Pavilion. It's the symbol of a Gold Dragon Guard's status, so this ring is also called the Gold Dragon Ring. If you're interested in the future, you can go to the Gold Dragon Pavilion, accept missions, and become a Gold Dragon Guard. At that time, the Gold Dragon Hall will gift you a Gold Dragon Ring free of charge as well."
"Is that so?" Jian Wushuang's heart stirred.
"Alright, you should first take a careful look at the book I'm giving you. I obtained it through a stroke of fortune. The contents are some insights into the sword left behind by a sword dao expert—and what's worth mentioning is that this sword dao expert was a supreme powerhouse who had reached the Yin-Yang Void Realm." Sima Bu said.
"Sword dao insights? Left behind by a supreme powerhouse of the Yin-Yang Void Realm?" Jian Wushuang's expression turned solemn.
The Seven Levels of the Spirit Dao, Spiritual Power Sea Transformation, Innate Golden Core, Yin-Yang Void Realm... Among these, the Innate Golden Core already made one a powerhouse, while the Yin-Yang Void Realm was the realm of peak powerhouses. Even across the entire Heavenly Sect Dynasty, there weren't many of such peak powerhouses.
Sword dao insights left behind by a powerhouse of that caliber?
Jian Wushuang immediately took the thread-bound book and began flipping through it carefully.
The book did not mention the expert's name; it contained only insights into the sword dao. This was how the book understood the sword dao:
The sword dao is divided into two aspects: sword technique and sword intent. Sword technique governs form, sword intent governs substance. Only the combination of the two constitutes the sword dao.
The latter part of the book likewise divided the sword dao into the "Chapter of Sword Technique" and the "Chapter of Sword Intent," introducing and expounding upon them separately.
Jian Wushuang first looked at the Chapter of Sword Technique.
"Sword technique has form but no substance; it is overly rigid. No matter how high one's sword technique, without knowing how to apply it flexibly, it is no different from ordinary, or even third-rate, sword techniques. Conversely, even the lowest-grade sword technique, in the hands of an expert who truly knows the sword, can easily surpass those top-tier, super-first-rate techniques a thousandfold or ten-thousandfold..."
The Chapter of Sword Technique was not long in content; what it described were the basic common sense of the sword dao. What differed was that the sword dao expert who left behind this book seemed to disdain the many sword techniques of the world, even feeling that within the sword dao as a whole, sword technique was dispensable.
"This senior's understanding of sword technique is a bit too extreme. What he says about sword technique needing to be unbound by fixed styles—I agree with that. But his denigration of sword technique as utterly worthless, even saying that sword dao warriors should abandon so-called sword techniques altogether—that I cannot accept." Jian Wushuang thought to himself.
He had cultivated sword technique since childhood and knew deeply how greatly possessing a body of sword technique aided a warrior.
After all, in the struggle for the Sword Marquis Manor, it was by sword technique that he had overpowered Jian Meng'er and Ye Mo.
After all, in this Dark Forest, it was by sword technique that he battled those Sea Transformation Perfection spirit beasts—even beheaded them.
Without sword technique, even relying on the uniqueness of the Great Heavenly Creation Art, he could at most contend with spirit beasts at the peak of Sea Transformation Great Completion—and even then, victory or defeat would be uncertain.
Jian Wushuang silently shook his head, no longer reading the Chapter of Sword Technique, and instead turned his gaze to the Chapter of Sword Intent.
"Sword intent is divided into two kinds. The first is the will of the sword dao that grows alongside one's own sword technique—the stronger the sword technique, the stronger the sword intent!"
"The other kind of sword intent is the artistic conception of heaven and earth formed through comprehending the natural world."
"In this world between heaven and earth, there exist vast quantities of elemental forces—for example, the boundless earth, the scorching and violent flame, and the omnipresent wind... These are all powers of nature itself, and all of these powers can be comprehended to form sword intent and merged into sword technique, greatly enhancing its might. Upon comprehending it to an extremely high level, even a casual strike of the sword could surpass those top-grade first-rate or super-first-rate sword techniques."
"There are many such sword intents—Swift Wind Sword Intent, Raging Fire Sword Intent, Great Earth Sword Intent, Dripping Water Sword Intent..."
The introduction to the Chapter of Sword Intent was far more complex than that of the Chapter of Sword Technique, and Jian Wushuang was completely engrossed by its contents.