After Zhang Yu struck with his sword, he felt his spirit, mind, and will rise in a surge, while the circulation of his heart force into the sword became incomparably smooth.
He had originally guessed that the change in the Cicada Cry Sword might have been due to it nurturing a spirit within.
After all, swords often communicated with their wielders and were influenced by their intent and aura. Thus, the birth of spirit through sensing aura was the most common occurrence.
Yet at this very moment, he finally understood what that burgeoning opportunity was.
This was not some spirit within the sword, but "a god born upon the sword"!
This was a transformation one level higher than "heart and sword as one." Only after a sword wielder controlled their sword against enemies and attained a certain realm of unity between person and sword would there be a slight chance for such a wondrous divine ability to evolve.
Such opportunities were exceedingly rare. The key lay in a particular moment of inspiration, and if it was accumulated and nurtured for too long, this god might settle into stagnation and never emerge. Thus, even if a sword wielder sensed it, they might not necessarily be able to seize it.
At this moment, he was quite grateful to He Jun for helping him temper his sword.
It was precisely the successive challenges from Wang Chongjin and He Jun after Mo Guangchen that had given him this opportunity.
The three of them came from the same sect and the same lineage, yet their transformations differed from one another. In terms of strength in battle, each was stronger than the last, giving him exactly a set of steps upon which to gradually adapt and climb layer by layer.
For this reason, he had treated