"Sword Heart Gives Birth to Dao."
They were sword cultivators; that much was true.
They also cultivated the Sword Dao; that too was true.
But "those who study me shall live, those who imitate me shall die." As for the Sword Dao of that Chief in the dojo—the master they acknowledged in name—mere reverence for a lofty mountain could not encompass their feelings. Their awe ran deep, and they dared not overstep.
Who among sword cultivators under heaven did not know that among the Immortal Sects, the cultivators whose Sword Dao stood peerless beneath the heavens were found in the Profound Heaven Sword Lineage? Naturally, this made the disciples who could enter the Sword Lineage Dojo immensely proud.
This was not a bad thing. Between master and disciple, between fellow sect members, throughout the sect—such pride was also a sense of belonging.
But when it fell upon an individual cultivator and their own cultivation, seeing the pinnacle of the world's Sword Dao from the very beginning of their pursuit of Dao brought both benefits and trials. This barrier had been erected from the start.
Knowing it was one thing, but breaking free from this mental obstacle would not necessarily be easy.
Sword Heart Gives Birth to Dao was likewise a state they sought.
Seeking Dao, seeking Dao—they sought Dao itself, without any prefix. No cultivator under heaven needed to stamp Dao with their own name. Whether heartless or heartfelt, detached from emotion or immersed in the Mortal World, once one saw Dao, one could evolve one's own Dao from it.
Sword Heart Gives Birth to Dao stemmed from this as well: entering Dao through the sword, entering Dao through the heart, thereby giving birth to Dao, and then cultivating Dao.
Put another way, some fellow disciples in the Sword Lineage