Setting those distracting thoughts aside for the moment, Bai Yi came back to himself. His Divine Sense immediately settled on the three Dao-Teaching Jade Talismans.
[Azure Cloud Sword Art: A Higher Vehicle sword art for Qi Refining. The Sword Light it cultivates surges like a vast sea of clouds, yet also possesses an elusive, ethereal grace...]
[Heaven-Cang Heart-Questioning Record: A Higher Vehicle foundational method for Foundation Establishment. The true qi it cultivates flows ceaselessly and purely, with a deep, rich cadence...]
[Three Heavens Sword Cultivator Study Compendium: A collection of the conclusions reached by the greatest Sword Cultivators of the Three Heavens sect over several thousand years. It can inspire younger Sword Cultivators to clarify their hearts, question the sword, and press bravely forward...]
"Three Heavens Sword Cultivator Study Compendium?!"
Bai Yi's gaze passed over the first two Dao-Teaching Jade Talismans. For him now, a Higher Vehicle sword art for Qi Refining was certainly important, but it was no longer as indispensable as before.
As for the second, a Foundation Establishment cultivation method, he couldn't think about that yet, given his current realm.
Only the Sword Cultivator Study Compendium filled him with curiosity.
Judging by the sword marks on the mansion's stone walls, the Foundation Establishment Sword Cultivator had already just barely touched the realm of the Sword Dao.
As the sect behind him, the Three Heavens Sword Sect must have preserved even more of the essential insights of its greatest Sword Cultivators through the generations.
With a turn of his palm, Bai Yi took out the Dao-Teaching Jade Talisman and pressed it to his brow. His Divine Sense poured into it, and a great stream of text flowed endlessly into his mind, like a creek.
"We, the Three Heavens Sword Sect, hold the reins of power in the Eastern Heaven Region of the Great Primordial Dao Realm. Why? Because of the three-foot Azure Edge in our hands..."
"The sword seeks straightness through curves; it would rather break than bend..."
"The Sword Dao Realm..."
"The First Realm of the Sword Dao: Sword Intent..."
"What is Sword Intent?"
Bai Yi closed his eyes and immersed himself in the Sword Cultivator Study Compendium. Only after the sun and moon had traded places, after a full day and night, did he slowly open his eyes.
His eyes were full of wonder and excitement.
Although this compendium was no cultivation Secret Art, it recorded, from the simple to the complex and in clear, accessible detail, general information about the Three Heavens Sword Sect, along with some of the insights accumulated over ten thousand years by the sect's six Nascent Soul Sword Cultivator True Lords.
The Three Heavens Sword Sect originated in the Great Primordial Dao Realm, whose territory was as vast as that of the Immortal Alliance, and which held more than a trillion mortals and cultivators.
It was divided into the Six Great Dao Regions, and the Three Heavens Sword Sect was the Eastern Heaven Region's hegemonic power. Its Nascent Soul True Lord-level Sword Cultivator lineage had endured for ten thousand years without ever breaking, and its founding ancestor was hailed as the supreme Sword Cultivator who had come closest to Spirit Transformation.
This compendium was called a study compendium, but it was more like a history of the Three Heavens Sword Sect, as well as an introduction to the Great Primordial Dao Realm.
It was an introductory text the Three Heavens Sword Sect distributed to every disciple entering the Inner Sect.
Even so, its final section, which explained the Sword Dao Realm and included insights into the Sword Dao Realm from six Nascent Soul True Lords, had taught Bai Yi a great deal.
"What is a Sword Cultivator? What does it mean to comprehend the sword?"
"Use the sword to clarify the heart; only when you cut away the turmoil within your heart can you be called a Sword Cultivator..."
Bai Yi carefully pondered the principles. He reached out and gripped the Heart-Questioning Sword in his palm. His eyes were reflected in its smooth blade.
Wisps of Sword Qi breathed in and out, seeming to sweep the sword and his mind clean like a duster.
After a long while, a glimmer flashed through Bai Yi's eyes, and the Heart-Questioning Sword in his hand returned to stillness.
With the study compendium's guidance, he had fully understood the insights he had gained about the sword in his hand when he had fought to the death against the two demons and the Foundation Establishment corpse.
Although his realm and skills had not improved much, he had grown increasingly familiar with this three-foot Azure Edge, as if it were connected to his very lifeblood.
"Sure enough, the Sword Dao Realm isn't something one can touch so easily."
"If the first method won't work, then I'll take the second."
"For someone like me, who has the Dao-Deriving Mirror, this second method is the true way to question the sword."
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Bai Yi sheathed his sword, without much regret in his heart.
As a guidebook for disciples entering the Inner Sect of the Three Heavens Sword Sect, the Three Heavens Sword Cultivator Study Compendium focused on the first realm of the Sword Dao: Sword Intent.
It even surveyed the insights and methods of the six Nascent Soul True Lords who had cultivated Sword Intent.
When Sword Resonance gives birth to intent, it is called Sword Intent.
Under Sword Intent, ten thousand swords can be moved, and ten thousand techniques can be used.
Unlike the Dao Resonance in a Sword Art, Sword Intent was an insight into the Sword Dao Realm, the Sword Cultivator's understanding of his own Great Dao.
It could enhance all techniques, no longer confining one to a single Sword Art. Every sword strike contained a trace of the might of the Great Dao of the sword.
The Three Heavens Sword Sect had once recorded a Nascent Soul True Lord who, at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining, had used his strength as one who had only just entered the realm of Sword Intent to slay a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator across a whole realm.
From this, one could see the might of Sword Intent.
According to the methods used by countless Sword Cultivators across the Three Heavens Sword Sect and even the entire Great Primordial Dao Realm to cultivate Sword Intent, though there were many, they could be summarized into two approaches.
The first was to possess extraordinary talent and comprehend Sword Intent in a single moment. The Sword Intent one attained this way would bear a strong personal character.
The second was to cultivate a wide range of Sword Arts, using quantity to trigger a qualitative change. The Sword Intent attained this way would be profound and comprehensive.
Neither approach was superior to the other. But compared to the first, which demanded extraordinary talent, the second required far less talent.
Most disciples of the Three Heavens Sword Sect chose the second approach, cultivating a great many Sword Arts and continually consolidating their insights until they transformed.
Even so,
half of the Three Heavens Sword Sect's Foundation Establishment Inner Sect Disciples still failed to enter the realm of Sword Intent, even after spending their entire lives trying, right up to the end of their allotted lifespan.
"Even a Foundation Establishment Sword Cultivator would need at least a year to cultivate a Qi Refining Sword Art from the beginning to Dao Resonance Perfection."
"But with enough Enlightenment Glimmer, I need at most three days to cultivate a Qi Refining Sword Art from nothing to perfection."
Bai Yi's thoughts turned. For an ordinary Sword Cultivator, perhaps the second method was difficult to advance with.
But in his hands, as long as he had enough resources, he could advance with the second method at a speed that could even rival sudden enlightenment.
After all, even the most talented cultivator's sudden enlightenment would need at least a year or two of Sword Dao foundations, wouldn't it?
Taking the Azure Cloud Sword Art Dao-Teaching Jade Talisman beside him, Bai Yi also understood that the Three Heavens Sword Sect Inner Sect Disciple who had been refined by the Demonic Path had likely followed the second approach.
It was just a pity that, when he was already on the verge of entering the realm of Sword Intent, he had died at the hands of the Demonic Path.
"It's just a pity that the Three Heavens Sword Sect only lets you exchange for one Sword Art Jade Talisman each time."
"Otherwise, I could have gotten quite a few more Sword Arts."
Holding the Sword Art Jade Talisman, Bai Yi couldn't help rubbing his nose.
The Dao-Deriving Mirror alone was already difficult to support. Now he had to get so many Sword Arts as well. If he were outside, the cultivation resources for him alone would be enough to support more than ten Dao Students of the same realm.
"Spending money has its own troubles too."
After examining the three Dao-Teaching Jade Talismans, he found only an Identity Token representing the holder's status as an Inner Sect member of the Three Heavens Sword Sect, and a First-Tier Supreme-Grade Yellow Mountain Seal.
After putting everything away, Bai Yi took out his travel pack.
After the successive battles, he had thrown away all the demon beast materials in his pack. In their place was a whole load of Demonic Artifacts.
Twenty-six First-Tier Inferior-Grade Demonic Artifacts, and four First-Tier Middle-Grade Demonic Artifacts...
Bai Yi looked at the Demonic Artifacts before him, which emanated a chilling aura. Although none was a top-grade Demonic Artifact like the Hundred-Ghost Banner he had found last time, one that could nearly catalyze Enlightenment Glimmer all by itself, these thirty Demonic Artifacts were still a great fortune to him.
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