God and Sword as One

In the blink of an eye, a quarter of an hour passed.

More than a third of Zhou Yi's Internal Qi had been consumed, yet he was still trapped among countless phantoms.

Every phantom seemed real. Whenever he clashed with one, the force transmitted through its sword edge was exactly the same.

"Such swordsmanship could already be called a spell, couldn't it?!"

One phantom shattered, and another appeared. Zhou Yi's swordsmanship grew faster and faster.

Zhou Yi firmly believed that if he destroyed the phantoms faster than they could appear, the Illusion Sword Intent would collapse on its own.

There were many methods in the martial world for breaking illusion swords, but only Zhou Yi used such a method.

Combining strength and speed to break skill with force!

At this moment, Zhou Yi no longer cared whether they were real bodies or phantoms. He only drew his sword faster.

The Purple Lightning Sword truly became a streak of purple lightning, rising from ten strikes per breath to fifteen.

Then it became twenty strikes per breath, yet it still could not match the Thousand Illusions Sword Intent. No matter how many phantoms Zhou Yi destroyed, he could not outpace their appearance.

This was already Zhou Yi's limit. Even with his body forged inside and out, flawless and without weakness, he still had limits.

Twenty sword strikes in a breath was the limit.

The Purple Lightning Sword continuously emitted a hum. Relying solely on strength and speed to swing it, even the divine weapon Xiahou the Swordsman had left behind was nearly unable to endure it.

"Still not enough! Xiahou the Swordsman's sword speed was unmatched in the world! I can still go faster!"

Zhou Yi kept striking. His entire body resembled a machine, veins bulging as he neared his limit.

Mo Wentian was under no less pressure than Zhou Yi. If not for the Sword Sealing Platform, where the sword intent left behind by the sect's patriarchs aided him, the Thousand Illusions Sword Intent would have been broken long ago.

The patriarchs of the Hengshan Sect had practiced and comprehended the sword on the Sword Sealing Platform through the generations. Over hundreds of years, they had left behind countless imprints, turning it into a mysterious place.

Whether one practiced Hengshan swordsmanship or used it there, the Sword Sealing Platform offered help as though from the gods.

All sects with long legacies had such ancestral grounds. Shaolin had its Pagoda Forest, Wudang had its Golden Summit. The spiritual imprints of countless predecessors allowed later generations to cultivate swiftly, ensuring that their inheritance never ended.

Zhou Yi did not know the mysteries of such legacies. He only thought Mo Wentian's strength was terrifying. In terms of the profundity of his swordsmanship alone, he was no weaker than an Innate Grandmaster.

"The Xiahou Sword Scripture says: where the eye sees, the sword arrives; where the heart reaches, the sword reaches... God and sword become one!"

"Sword and god become one!"

As if enlightenment had suddenly struck him, Zhou Yi used the secret within the Sword Control Technique as he drew his sword.

Spell: Sword Control Technique

Grade: Tier 1

Description: Temper the sword with the mind. Sword and god become one; where the mind reaches, the sword arrives!

The Sword Control Technique was more than one level more profound than the Xiahou Sword Scripture, yet they shared one common point: their descriptions of the sword and the mind.

Xiahou the Swordsman had comprehended a sword intent whose speed surpassed all under heaven. Known as the world's foremost Sword Saint, his path naturally connected with the Sword Control Technique.

Zhou Yi attached his divine sense to the Purple Lightning Sword. At first, his divine sense and body were not in harmony.

His divine sense was too fast. Where his heart reached, his divine sense arrived, with almost no upper limit to its speed. Naturally, his sword speed could not keep up.

An ordinary swordsman who comprehended this level would already have set foot upon the path of cultivating Swift Sword Intent.

By continuously seeking a way to unite mind and sword, after ten or several decades of insight, he might become the next Xiahou the Swordsman.

But Zhou Yi was different. He cultivated the Sword Control Technique, a spell, and had long known how to merge mind and sword.

From discord to the sword following wherever his mind arrived, it took only a quarter of an hour.

Where his divine sense reached, his sword intent followed.

"Could there truly be people in this world who were born knowing?"

Mo Wentian watched with his own eyes as Zhou Yi went from knowing nothing, to gaining insight, and then cultivating Swift Sword Intent.

There were at least a dozen famous sword intents in the world, and the strongest among them was Swift Sword Intent.

Only speed was unbreakable!

Once speed reached a certain level, it likewise represented power!

Zhou Yi split from one into ten, the Purple Lightning Sword transforming into more than a dozen streaks of light. It was so fast that one became ten.

No matter how many phantoms the Thousand Illusions Sword Intent produced, they were all destroyed at the same time. It looked like a single sword strike, but in truth, dozens of strikes had been unleashed in an instant.

The phantoms surrounding him moved as slowly as snails.

Zhou Yi struck in an instant, and more than a dozen phantoms perished simultaneously. Mo Wentian's true body could no longer evade him and was blasted several yards away by the violent force.

Zhou Yi felt that everything had slowed down. He could clearly see the mouths of the Hengshan Sect disciples slowly opening and slowly closing as they cried out, like a scene played in slow motion.

"So this is Swift Sword Intent, something like Bullet Time!"

After only a few breaths, Zhou Yi felt his mind weaken, as though he had gone days without sleep. He instantly withdrew from the sword intent.

Only then did he notice the half-foot-long wound across Mo Wentian's chest, blood pouring from it as the Hengshan Sect's divine physician treated him with all his strength.

The Hengshan Three Swords and many Hengshan Sect disciples glared furiously, drawing their swords against him.

"This junior had a slight realization just now and could not control himself for a moment. I accidentally injured Senior Mo." Zhou Yi took a jade bottle from his robes and handed it to Ji Taizhen, the Hengshan Sect's leader.

"This contains Miraculous Flower Jade Dew Pills specially refined by Senior Huang, the East Sea Whale Rider. Whether taken internally or applied externally, they have miraculous effects on both internal and external injuries."

Ji Taizhen's expression finally improved somewhat. He had seen what had happened just now. Zhou Yi seemed to have entered a certain state of enlightenment, instantly reversing the disadvantage and defeating his master.

The Miraculous Flower Jade Dew Pill truly deserved its reputation as a famous spiritual medicine. Its effects were astonishing. Mo Wentian swallowed one pill and had another crushed and applied to his wound. A short while later, he slowly regained consciousness.

"Mr. Zhou's strength and talent are even more astonishing than that Song Family Swordsman. This old man is ashamed of his inferiority."

Mo Wentian had long since opened all eight meridians. After awakening, he circulated his abundant Internal Force and stabilized his injuries.

"You are too modest, Senior. This junior merely had a lucky insight, and I must thank you for feeding me moves."

"Do not speak of senior and junior in the future. I am only a few years older than you, so I will call you little friend. You have just comprehended sword intent and need to nurture it carefully. In time, your mind will naturally become whole."

"If you attain the Innate Realm in the future, I hope you will come to the Hengshan Sect to discuss the sword."

Mo Wentian had comprehended the Thousand Illusions Sword Intent for decades. His guidance on several subtle points left Zhou Yi suddenly enlightened.

"Hengshan swordsmanship is famous throughout the world, and it has produced more than one Innate Grandmaster. I have long admired it. Once I settle my affairs, I will certainly come to Hengshan for our appointment and discuss the sword with brother Mo again."

Zhou Yi did not dawdle. After setting their future appointment to discuss the sword, he turned and left the Sword Sealing Platform.

Ji Taizhen, the Hengshan Sect leader, personally escorted him down the mountain, leading the way with the attitude of a complete junior.

"Daoist Ji, there is no need to be so courteous. I too am a member of the Daoist faith. My Daoist title is Chixiao."

"Senior Chixiao, please do not joke. You associate with my master as an equal, so you are naturally a senior of Hengshan's Wen Generation. This junior would not dare disrupt the rules established by our ancestors."

Zhou Yi was stunned. How had he suddenly become part of the Hengshan Sect's Wen Generation?

After descending the mountain.

Zhou Yi mounted his horse and headed straight for Jiangzhe.

After two years of testing his sword throughout Jiangnan, he had finally touched the threshold of spiritual completion.

After returning to nurture it for a time, he would be able to connect with Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy and step into the Innate Grandmaster realm.

Along the way, Zhou Yi continuously attempted to enter the Swift Sword Intent. At last, he was able to control it.

He could enter the sword intent in an instant and leave it in an instant.

Using sword intent this way not only made his swordsmanship unpredictable amid rapid and slow changes, but also placed little pressure on his soul.

"Swift Sword Intent is truly terrifying. If I used this sword intent together with a divine weapon, I might be able to kill my former self in an instant."

Zhou Yi's muscles and bones were flawless inside and out, but he was still flesh and blood.

Not to mention that divine weapons could cut through iron like mud, Zhou Yi also had vulnerable points on his body.

If his eyes or ear canals were pierced through in an instant, how could he possibly survive?