Sword cultivators cultivated with Numinous Obscurity, one of the Nine Heavenly Human Arts, as their foundation. But that did not mean they practiced no other arts. Sword cultivators, for instance, also cultivated Dao and Virtue—Numinous Obscurity as the blade, Dao and Virtue as the sheath. Only when the two harmonized did one become a sword cultivator.
To the Mystic Gate, this world was a blank sheet for painting, requiring the nine arts to meld perfectly before one could slowly set brush to paper. To sword cultivators, however, it was layer upon layer of shackles, and only by cutting them apart with the sword could they seek liberation.
From this perspective, the Mystic Gate practiced addition, while the Sword Palace practiced subtraction.
Yet someone in the East Sea Sword Palace had ultimately devised a different approach, creating another method that no longer regarded other laws as restraints, but instead left room for a turn in the road. According to Kongkong'er, however, this lineage did not seem especially welcome in the Eastern Sea these days.
"All us sword cultivators have straight guts. We can't stand those fellows full of twists and turns."
Kongkong'er said, "But on closer thought, their method does have its merits. No matter which path sword cultivators choose, we seek only utmost refinement and purity. But even with the purest sword intent, can one truly attain liberation? Even with the Palace Lord's abilities, it cannot be said that everything goes as he wishes."
"Tell me... don't tell me you're a sword cultivator of that lineage? I always said sword cultivators were upright gentlemen, so how did a pack of money-grubbers like you crop up...?"
"Senior, aren't you just insulting us? We are a proper Pure Transformation Path. At most, we've been somewhat influenced by them and often discuss the