Within the Sea of Consciousness, a sword hung high in the air like a blazing sun, radiating scorching sword light.
Within the ten-thousand-foot sword light, scenes of destruction, annihilation, and slaughter played out endlessly, evoking immense terror and utter desolation.
Lu Chen stood beneath the sword light. The moment his "gaze" fell upon it, the sun-like sword light in the sky trembled slightly and cast out a threadlike ray of sword light that entered his pupils.
The instant the sword light entered his eyes, Lu Chen's mind jolted, and a series of chaotic, fragmented visions flashed rapidly before him:
A rainy night. Torrential rain poured down, dark clouds towered like mountains, and a bolt of lightning stretching across the heavens flashed abruptly before vanishing. The rain clouds split apart, and strange gods and demons were beheaded...
The ocean. Wild winds howled, waves raged, and a dazzling aurora flew in from beyond the sky. The winds ceased, the waves calmed, and the seawater parted. The aurora reached straight down into an abyss ten thousand fathoms deep, where the head of a black dragon thousands of fathoms long burst apart...
The starry sky. Countless stars burned quietly, releasing light and heat. A white rainbow suddenly streaked past, piercing through a star. The star was instantly extinguished, and an enormous three-legged golden-feathered bird fell from its core, its massive body slowly splitting in two...
Who knew how long passed.
The rapidly flickering visions before Lu Chen dissolved and vanished, leaving only that bolt of lightning, that beam of aurora, and that white rainbow within his mind.
Then the lightning, aurora, and white rainbow slowly merged into one, becoming a vivid imprint that seemed eternal and indestructible.
As Lu Chen contemplated the "imprint" deep within his mind, formed from the fusion of lightning, aurora, and white rainbow, understanding dawned upon him:
This was "Sword One."
It was the first feedback the Sword Intent of Extermination of Immortals had granted him after he had finally unlocked its first seal.
With Sword One, there would naturally be Sword Two, Sword Three...
But for now, he was only qualified to comprehend "Sword One."
Sword Two, Sword Three, and the rest would require him to accumulate more "Extraordinary Sword Techniques" and unlock higher-level seals layer by layer.
As for the current Sword One—
Lu Chen immersed his mind in that imprint, and all manner of insights gradually arose within him.
This was a pure "sword intent."
There were no moves, nor was there any mental cultivation method.
He needed to comprehend this pure "intent" himself, uncover the "dao" contained within the sword intent, integrate it into his own swordplay, and develop a Sword One that belonged to him alone.
Then how should he express through his own swordsmanship that lightning which tore apart the rainy night and beheaded gods and demons, that aurora which stilled wind and waves, split the ocean, and slew a black dragon, and that white rainbow which crossed the cosmos, pierced stars, and instantly killed the Golden Crow?
Lu Chen contemplated the "imprint" deep within his mind and fell into the deepest meditation.
Outside.
Huang Rong told Lu Chen to continue practicing his sword, then returned to the stone table beneath the large tree. She crossed her slender legs, swung her little feet, and contentedly cracked melon seeds—cracking melon seeds was already popular in the Song Dynasty, though sunflower seeds did not yet exist, so people ate watermelon seeds.
What delighted her most about Lu Chen cultivating Internal Energy was not that Immortal Realm Journey was now practically assured. Rather, it was the sense of accomplishment from personally polishing a piece of uncut jade into something useful. That joy and satisfaction made her genuinely happy.
But while she was happily cracking melon seeds, she saw Lu Chen assume the stance for a forward-stepping thrust, only to suddenly freeze as though struck by a paralysis spell. His body was rigid, his expression blank, and his eyes vacant. He looked as though his soul had left him.
Huang Rong thought his qi had gone astray and was immediately alarmed. She tossed aside her melon seeds, sprang to her feet, and in one step darted in front of him, reaching out to press her hand against his lower abdomen.
When cultivation went astray, the greatest danger was outside interference. Especially when the afflicted person could not actively cooperate, rash intervention could easily worsen the injury through a single mistake.
However, Lu Chen had only just cultivated Internal Energy, and it had been cultivated through Maiden of Yue Swordplay. It was both weak and unrefined. Though Huang Rong did not excel in Internal Energy either, she was still the Daughter of the Eastern Heretic. Her reserves were not great, but they were far purer and more condensed than those of ordinary martial artists.
With her Internal Energy cultivation, even if Lu Chen truly had gone astray, she could easily suppress his Internal Energy and save him.
Yet after pressing her small hand against Lu Chen's lower abdomen and sending in her Internal Energy to investigate, she found that his scant Internal Energy was perfectly fine. Although it had stopped circulating because he had ceased practicing, it remained obediently within his dantian and had not gone out of control.
"What's going on?"
Huang Rong froze for a moment, then looked at Lu Chen again. His face was still blank, his eyes vacant, and his body stiff and motionless, maintaining the posture of a forward-stepping thrust.
"Lu Chen, Lu Chen..."
She waved her hand before his eyes several times and called him again, but failed to provoke any response. Huang Rong could not help feeling a little panicked.
No matter how intelligent she was, she was ultimately only a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl. She had never seen such a bizarre condition in Lu Chen before and had no idea how to deal with it, so naturally she could not help but panic.
Just as she was frantic and helpless, Lu Chen's eye twitched slightly. A dazzling glint like sword light suddenly lit up in his vacant eyes, and the corners of his mouth curved upward as a smile appeared on his blank face.
Huang Rong's eyes widened. He came back to himself on his own?
Could it be that he had been pretending all along, just to laugh at her for worrying anxiously while being unable to do anything?
Thinking this, Huang Rong pouted, about to scold him, when Lu Chen suddenly laughed.
"Ha, I've got it!"
The sudden laughter startled Huang Rong a little. Just as she was about to ask what he had understood, she saw Lu Chen looking at her with wild delight as he laughed.
"Rong'er, I've got it! Thank you, Rong'er. If you hadn't taught me, I couldn't have understood it so quickly!"
As he spoke, he actually grabbed Huang Rong around her slender waist, lifted her high into the air, and spun around twice on the spot.
Huang Rong froze. Her lovely face reddened slightly, and then she slapped his shoulder repeatedly in embarrassment and annoyance.
"Have you gone mad? Put me down this instant!"
Only then did Lu Chen, immersed in the wild joy of his "enlightenment," realize that his actions were highly improper by ancient standards. He hurriedly set Huang Rong down, stepped back twice, and apologized.
"Sorry, Rong'er. I was just too happy and got carried away. I offended you..."
Huang Rong puffed out her cheeks, pouted, and put her hands on her hips in an angry pose.
"So you know you offended me? Honestly, why did you suddenly go mad for no reason..."
Actually, she found it rather strange herself.
With her skills, not to mention hugging her, Lu Chen should not even have been able to touch a corner of her clothes.
Yet when he had laughingly reached out to hug her, she had not even thought of dodging. She had actually let him seize her in one embrace and lift her high into the air...
Recalling her reaction just now, Huang Rong felt rather embarrassed as well.
Of course, she could not possibly admit that she had made a mistake too. Nor did she want to linger on such an embarrassing subject, so she immediately coughed lightly and asked curiously, her little face slightly flushed.
"What exactly did you understand?"
"Rong'er, just watch!"
Lu Chen smiled and strode over to the massive tree in the courtyard, its trunk thick enough for two people to encircle. He held his breath, focused his mind, assumed the opening stance of the basic Stabbing Sword Style, and thrust his Wooden Sword at the trunk.
The instant the Wooden Sword shot forward—
A mysterious feeling welled up from the depths of his heart. Following that subtle feeling, he suddenly stomped the ground. Explosive force erupted from the soles of his feet like a rising tide, surging upward through his knees and legs, waist and hips, and spine, stacking layer upon layer before passing through his shoulders and arms, gathering at his fingers and palm, then bursting forth through the sword.
Whoosh!
The Wooden Sword, which had not been sharp to begin with, actually let out a piercing whistle as it was driven forward by that explosive, tide-like force.
In Huang Rong's eyes, when Lu Chen thrust that sword, the Wooden Sword became a black streak, a thin afterimage, so fast that even with her eyesight, she could only barely catch its blurred shadow.
Then came a muffled thud. The Wooden Sword stabbed fiercely into the trunk, piercing half a foot deep into the living wood before its blade snapped apart with a crack.
"Ah?"
Huang Rong's little mouth fell open, her bright eyes widened round, and her face was filled with stunned disbelief.
There was indeed a saying in the Martial Arts World that grass, wood, bamboo, and stone could all become deadly weapons, but only peerless masters with extremely deep and pure Internal Energy could achieve such a feat.
In Huang Rong's view, using a blunt practice Wooden Sword to pierce through the tough, dense trunk of a living tree and drive it half a foot deep was something that, in the present age, only the Five Greats of the World could accomplish.
But what had she just seen?
Lu Chen said he had "got it," then used the basic Stabbing Sword Style to unleash a sword thrust as swift as an afterimage, piercing the tree trunk and driving the Wooden Sword half a foot into it!
This...
How had he done it?
How could he possibly have done it?
As she was still stunned, Lu Chen, having unleashed that astonishing sword strike, suddenly went weak at the knees and collapsed onto the ground with a thump. His chest heaved violently like a bellows, while dense beads of sweat quickly seeped across his forehead and neck. In the blink of an eye, more than half of his back was soaked through.
"..."
Huang Rong blinked. He had collapsed after just one sword strike?
Although that strike possessed the power of one of the Five Greats and could be called world-shaking, she still rather wanted to laugh...
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