BZZZT!
Wen Qingye gazed at the Sword Aura in his hand and couldn’t help but think, ’If it weren’t me, anyone else who got their hands on this yellowed metal sheet would have been utterly annihilated. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been left here waiting for me to collect it. I imagine quite a few people have died to that Sword Aura just now.’
"What exactly is that thing?" the Ice Python asked, unable to hold back its curiosity after watching Wen Qingye stare at the yellowed metal object for a long time.
The surface of the yellowed metal sheet was engraved with dense, intricate characters. These characters were like countless sharp swords; a single glance would make an ordinary person feel dizzy and confused, their eyes stinging with excruciating pain.
Wen Qingye pondered for a moment before saying, "This is a Sword Manual, the cultivation insights left behind by some powerful expert. However, this is only the first half; the rest seems to be missing."
The Ice Python said in astonishment, "Then that person must have been a Great Power, right? For a mere Sword Manual they wrote to be able to emit such a pure Sword Aura..."
Wen Qingye’s brow furrowed in thought, and he nodded. "Yes, this person could be considered a prodigy of the Sword Dao. It doesn’t detail any specific Sword Dao Laws or other special Sword Dao Laws, but it does explain the foundational Cultivation Methods for the laws of more than twenty types of Sword Dao among the Three Thousand Great Dao. It even includes the Lifeless Sword Dao and the Eternal Life Sword Dao."
Overall, this Sword Manual could be said to guide one to the threshold of all Sword Daos, but the extremely specific and subtle aspects of cultivation would still depend on one’s own efforts. Even so, this item was a rare treasure.
At this thought, Wen Qingye’s heart burned with excitement. ’This means I can cultivate the Lifeless Sword Dao, too!’
The Lifeless Sword Dao was one of the highest-ranked of all Sword Daos, placing twenty-first among the Three Thousand Great Dao. Its reputation was legendary, and few in the Immortal Realm cultivated it.
Wen Qingye looked at the Sword Manual in his hand and muttered to himself, "The Lifeless Sword Dao ranks even higher than the Slaying Immortal Sword Dao, and it’s also more difficult to cultivate. I wonder when I’ll ever be able to master it. However, this Lifeless Sword Dao follows a path of lightness and gentle movement, which is a perfect fit for the Still Water Sword."
With this Sword Manual, although Wen Qingye didn’t have a complete set of cultivation memories like he did for the Slaying Immortal Sword Dao, he now had a path to begin.
Moreover, the Sword Manual contained some unique insights that offered a spark of inspiration for Wen Qingye’s own Sword Dao, especially his understanding of the Slaying Immortal Sword Dao.
Wen Qingye slowly put the Sword Manual away and looked around. Without the Sword Manual, the towering Sword Aura was naturally gone, and the surroundings immediately became much quieter.
Wen Qingye looked ahead, then glanced at the map in his hand and said slowly, "We should get moving. Once we leave the Purple Nether Swamp, we can reach Jinchuan Country. From there, it’ll take less than a month to get to the Celestial Profound Sect."
The Ice Python nodded, then glanced around and said, "I have a feeling there’s something else profound here, but with our current strength, we can’t take it. We can only wait until next time, after I’ve passed my tribulation."
"Mm," Wen Qingye agreed. He also found the formation of the Purple Nether Swamp to be quite mysterious. For a Secret Land to form, it was either a work of nature or it must contain a world-altering treasure.
With no more reason for restraint, the Ice Python held the Dragon Pearl in its mouth and its body transformed into a streak of lightning, speeding off into the distance.
「Three days later.」
High above the Purple Nether Swamp, Wen Qingye stood on the Ice Python’s back. Gale-force winds raged around them, but Wen Qingye remained completely unaffected. He held the Still Water Soft Sword, practicing various basic movements—chopping, hacking, parrying, and thrusting. There was nothing flashy about his motions, yet the essence behind each swing was distinct.
Wen Qingye gazed ahead and said softly to himself, ’I’ve already comprehended the Swift Wind Law and the Spiritual Softness Law of the Lifeless Sword Dao, reaching the First Layer of the Human Dao. But the Killing Lifeless Principle is the hardest. I always feel like I’m missing something... It seems there’s really something profound about this Lifeless Law.’
The Swift Wind Law, also known as the Rapid Law, was about unleashing the sword with ferocious speed—swift as lightning. It was about being fast, reaching an ultimate extreme of speed that was too quick for an opponent’s instincts to even react.
The Spiritual Softness Law, on the other hand, was a state of gentle, fluid grace. It was like a Spiritual Snake striking—agile and ingenious, a concept focused on artistic conception.
The Killing Lifeless Principle was the most formidable law within the Lifeless Sword Dao and also its most essential part. The Killing Lifeless Principle was the law of slaying the Primordial Spirit.
One could grasp how powerful a Swordsmanship that could slay the Primordial Spirit was just by looking at the July Killing Heart Sword Technique—and that technique didn’t even scratch the surface of the Killing Lifeless Principle.
Aside from cultivating the Lifeless Sword Dao, Wen Qingye also trained in the Slaying Immortal Sword Dao. Every day, he would either be endlessly comprehending them or practicing with his sword.
At other times, he would take out the Sword Manual to slowly comprehend the Slaying Immortal Sword Dao or the Lifeless Sword Dao within it, then gradually deduce a correct cultivation path for the Lifeless Sword Dao on his own.
Wen Qingye knew that on this long road of cultivation, he could not afford to be overly ambitious.
Night, morning, Noon, and evening—Qingye was constantly cultivating, either practicing or comprehending the Sword Dao.
The Slaying Immortal Sword Dao gave off an extremely heavy and steady feeling, its power explosive and domineering, while the Lifeless Sword Dao felt gentle, ethereal, and agile.
One was like the earth, the other like the wind in the sky. As Wen Qingye continuously comprehended them, he sometimes wanted to try and merge the two Laws, but he found it to be incomparably difficult.
One day, as Wen Qingye was on the Ice Python’s back comprehending the Killing Lifeless Principle from the Sword Manual, an extremely violent aura suddenly erupted from ahead, seeming to want to tear both him and the Ice Python to shreds.
’This Demon Beast...’ Wen Qingye’s heart began to pound uncontrollably. His eyes were involuntarily drawn forward, where he saw a black tentacle emerge from the purple water. The surrounding water rippled, sending waves surging into the distance.
Amid the calm, the scene was rather bizarre.
The Ice Python stared at the black tentacle ahead and roared in terror, "Is that a Celestial Star Beast?!"
The Celestial Star Beast was an extremely peculiar Demon Beast. Its strength was unknown, its shape was unknown; ancient texts only recorded that its entire body was covered in tentacles, and its only method of attack whenever it appeared was with those tentacles.
In the Ice Python’s memory, the Celestial Star Beast’s power was immense—truly immense.
Wen Qingye’s eyes were fixed on the tentacle ahead. Others might not know the true form of the Celestial Star Beast, but how could he not?
The Celestial Star Beast’s true body was that of a giant octopus. It just disliked light and preferred to keep its head buried. And because it was so powerful, almost everyone who saw its true form had died, which was why so few people knew what it really was.
So, even though one of the Celestial Star Beast’s tentacles was right in front of Wen Qingye, its actual body was an unknown number of miles away.
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