Sword Diagram

Meanwhile, Lin Chen was still on his way back to the Herb Garden.

He had a lot on his mind.

Back when he was at the First Level of the Spirit Martial Realm, his combat strength had been nowhere near Mu Yunzhou's current level. He even suspected that Mu Yunzhou might have stood a chance against that black-clad man at the Third Level of the Spirit Martial Realm on his own.

That was fighting an opponent two levels above him!

Still, Lin Chen took it in stride.

The road of martial arts was long. Naturally, meteors would streak across its sky, dazzling in their brilliance.

But Lin Chen believed he only needed to focus on himself and keep growing stronger.

Then, one day, he would become the brightest star in the night sky.

He would become an eternal blazing sun high above, enduring through the ages.

"No matter what, I have to keep this to myself. Not a word to anyone. And I'd better stay out of the Vast Mountains for now."

Lin Chen made up his mind.

As evening drew near, the sunset clouds turned crimson.

Lin Chen left the Vast Mountains and returned to the Herb Garden.

He first made a round of the Herb Garden, then went back to his room and took out the scroll Mu Yunzhou had given him.

He laid it flat on the table and slowly unrolled it.

What met his eyes

was not the illustration or annotations he had imagined, but an ink painting so spare it could even be called rough.

The scroll was washed in varying shades of ink. Faint mountains rose in the background, wreathed in mist.

At its center, a mere handful of strokes traced a black mark slashing diagonally downward, like a brushstroke someone had left with a casual sweep of the hand.

[You have obtained a Nameless Sword Diagram]

[It contains a portion of a swordsman's insights into the Sword Dao. You can immerse your spiritual sense in it to comprehend its profound Sword Intent.]

[Note: Sword Qi cuts the body; Sword Intent cuts the spirit. Each attempt at comprehension consumes a great deal of mental energy, requiring a week of recovery. You can seek out something that nourishes the soul to speed up your comprehension.]

Lin Chen's brows lifted at the panel's message.

"Comprehend Sword Intent? Mu Yunzhou really is no ordinary person. An ordinary martial artist could never offer an opportunity like this."

After all, his father was at the Tenth Level of the Spirit Martial Realm, and his spear technique had reached the peak of mastery, yet he had not even touched the threshold of true intent.

By Lin Chen's reckoning, that was a realm only Profound Martial Realm martial artists could reach.

"I have to keep this secret. I can't let a second person see the Sword Diagram."

Lin Chen warned himself once more, then turned his attention back to the scroll.

"Sense it with my spiritual sense?"

He studied the Sword Diagram intently and cautiously extended a thread of spiritual sense toward it.

In an instant, everything changed!

At first, the painting had looked utterly ordinary, with nothing special about it no matter how he examined it.

But the moment Lin Chen's mind reached toward it, the black mark slashing diagonally downward sprang to life!

It was no longer a line. It seemed to become a real ancient sword, descending in a slash.

An indescribable sharpness rushed at him. Lin Chen could even hear the blade cutting through the air and feel the resolve, ferocity, and unstoppable momentum contained in that flash of swordlight!

In a daze, he no longer seemed to be in the Herb Garden. He stood atop a boundless sea of clouds as dazzling Sword Qi descended from the nine heavens, tore through the thick clouds, and crashed down.

The next instant, that Sword Qi from the heavens pierced straight through him and wiped him out!

"Hiss—"

In his room, Lin Chen's eyes flew open. He sucked in a sharp breath, a trace of horror in his gaze.

"What a terrifying strike. It was as though it truly dragged me into that world and made me experience being cut down."

Lin Chen murmured, still shaken.

Clearly, this painting alone could seize a viewer's mind and make him feel as if he were there, personally enduring that strike to grasp its mysteries.

What the painting held was no tangible sword move, but some intangible spiritual intent.

The sword cultivator who had left it behind had sealed his understanding of the Sword Dao within the painting, giving it a living essence.

"What realm of the Sword Dao had the sword cultivator who left this reached? To let someone experience the power of Sword Intent firsthand and comprehend its mysteries this way..."

Lin Chen was astonished.

He could faintly sense that, after the Sword Qi had pierced him, his understanding of the sword had improved in some way he could neither explain nor put into words.

Just then, Lin Chen sensed something and instinctively looked at his Character Panel.

A new line of text quietly appeared:

[Sword Dao]: None (8/5000)

"This is..."

An idea occurred to Lin Chen. When he expanded the Sword Dao entry, it confirmed his guess.

"Just as I thought. I only need to allocate five thousand experience points to master Sword Intent."

"I'd originally planned to begin comprehending it only after breaking through to the Profound Martial Realm. But now this Sword Diagram has given me a chance to comprehend Sword Intent early..."

Sword Intent.

A profound realm of the Sword Dao.

Only after mastering Sword Intent could a sword cultivator truly be called a swordsman. With its power behind him, his strength would surge in every respect.

"It takes five thousand experience points to allocate an attribute point. As expected of Sword Intent, that's a high threshold."

"But did those eight points come from studying the Sword Diagram once?"

Lin Chen fell into thought.

"It seems that as long as I have this Sword Diagram, I'll eventually comprehend Sword Intent even without allocating experience points."

Several days later, Lin Chen summoned Lin Tie.

"Young Master, what are your orders?" Steward Lin Tie asked with his head lowered.

Lin Chen went straight to the point.

"I need treasures that can calm the mind and nourish the soul. Keep an eye out, and notify me immediately if you hear of any."

"Calm the mind and nourish the soul?" Lin Tie paused. Such things were seldom used by lower-level martial artists, but as a subordinate, he knew better than to ask questions. His job was simply to carry out the order.

"Yes, Young Master. I'll keep a close watch and report as soon as I hear anything."

Lin Tie answered faithfully.

"Good. You may go. If you handle this well, I'll reward you."

Lin Chen dangled the promise of a reward before him.

"Serving the Young Master is my duty," Lin Tie said at once.

And so, time flowed quietly by like a stream through the mountains.

From that day on, Lin Chen's life settled back into a steady, peaceful routine.

Alongside his sword technique and movement technique practice, he took out the Sword Diagram to study it once a week.

Before he knew it, the maple leaves had begun to yellow, and the wind blowing in from the Vast Mountains carried a distinct chill.

That day, sword shadows flashed across an open patch of the courtyard as Lin Chen practiced the Thunderlight Sword Technique with the Greenedge Sword in hand.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps sounded outside the gate, followed by Lin Tie's hushed voice, unable to conceal his excitement:

"Young Master, I found one!"