"Boom!"
As thoughts raced through his mind, a pillar of flame rose around the Blade Slave. Just as it neared the roof, the pillar suddenly expanded from roughly ten feet across to a hundred, then two hundred, until it touched the streaks of sword light formed by the Heavenly Shadow Sword.
"Bang!"
Amid a violent collision, the pillar of flame actually scattered those streaks of sword light on the spot.
Only then did Yun Ye and Luo Cheng, who had still been marveling at the power of Chu Yinan's Heavenly Shadow Sword, react.
"Those flames... are... are blade qi!"
Xu Taiping, who had been pondering for a long while, finally spoke, his eyes lighting up with a flash of excitement.
Indeed, the flames forming the pillar around the Blade Slave were manifestations of the blade qi within his body.
Only upon hearing Xu Taiping's words did Yun Ye and Luo Cheng come to their senses. Then Luo Cheng said, his face filled with horror:
"Someone who can give blade qi or sword qi physical form can only be considered a great Sword Immortal or a great Blade Cultivator. Only those whose sword qi or blade qi achieves Blade Qi Profound Connection are true Blade Immortals and Sword Immortals. In other words, although this Blade Slave's cultivation realm has been suppressed, his blade intent and blade force still retain the strength of a Blade Immortal!"
Giving qi physical form, achieving Blade Qi Profound Connection, and achieving spirit transformation were three realms unique to Blade Cultivators and Sword Cultivators.
Among them, giving qi physical form was merely the first step. Profound connection was where a Blade Cultivator's cultivation truly began.
Most importantly, comprehension of these three realms did not depend entirely on increases in cultivation, but more on a Blade Cultivator's understanding