Flying Sword

Biodata

Power Progression

Flying swords can improve through prolonged nurturing, changes in their wielder’s Sword Dao, or reforging. The following developments concern different swords, not successive grades of one weapon 59 144 358 555.

Nature and Classification

Physical Sword and Life-Bound Flying Sword

• Ancient usage: A true Life-Bound Flying Sword required refinement of the Dao Heart and comprehension of Sword Intent. Sword cases, scabbards, and gourds existed to nurture it 21.
• Contemporary usage: Many cultivators called “sword cultivators” are principally specialists in sword-control techniques, wielding Law Artifacts or Law Treasures 21.
• Song Yan’s cultivation method: The Sword-Planting Technique requires severing the Spiritual Roots, opening the Sword Mansion of the Dao-Subduing, and planting a Sword Dao Seed. The Life-Bound Flying Sword serves as a bridge to the Sword Repository and compensates for the shattered roots 16.
• Sword-body abandonment: One recorded branch of sword cultivation abandons physical swords and nurturing containers entirely, pursuing unity between person and sword 77.

Evil Swords

• An Evil Sword forms when a Sword Cultivator’s demonic descent transforms their Life-Bound Flying Sword through the demonization of Dao Heart and Sword Intent 56.
• Most Evil Swords gradually grow dull after their wielders die 56.
• Dugu Yin destroyed his original Life-Bound Flying Sword and melted it into a Zen Staff. His later Black Prajna retained residual Sword Dao resonance even after his death, making refinement difficult 725 727.

Abilities and Uses

Remote Sword Control

• Flying swords can be directed through the air with spiritual power; Sword Qi provides another means of refinement and control 32 59.
• Song Yan could still control a mundane sword after his cultivation fell, although the spiritual-power drain was taxing 32.
• Controlling multiple swords simultaneously is a foundational requirement for sword formations 144.
• Remote control is not obligatory: Song Yan also wielded Unmoored Boat by hand to temper his basic sword forms 407 411.

Sword Qi and Sword Intent

• A physical blade can carry concentrated Sword Qi into an attack. Against a demon, Song Yan channelled almost all his available Sword Qi over his sword before striking 48.
• Sword Intent influences both the grade and might of a Life-Bound Flying Sword 348.
• Sword in the Clouds divides and independently controls strands of Sword Qi, creating multiple sword shadows. It demands strong Divine Sense and consumes considerable power 41 42.
• Sword in the Clouds is considered an extremely simplified sword formation: more flexible, but less powerful than a true formation 75.

Sword Formations and Domains

• Flying swords serve as Formation Eyes, producing formations with powerful offensive and defensive effects 144.
• Mastery requires coordinated sword control, enough swords, and knowledge of formations—not merely the ability to move several blades 144.
• The simplest formation recorded in the Sword-Planting Technique requires at least three flying swords 171.
• Song Yan’s Spirit-Absorbing Sword Formation uses nine swords, arranged with three inside and six outside, to draw together surrounding Spiritual Qi 310.
• His Heavenly Dao in Motion arrangements require at least fifteen swords. Seeking Benevolence can occupy the domain’s center while Unmoored Boat leads the surrounding blades 385 646.
• Sword sets forged by one smith from similar primary materials are especially compatible, making them well suited to formation use 555.

Sword-Riding and Escape Techniques

• A flying sword can carry passengers: Qin Ying transported Song Yan through the clouds beneath protective Spiritual Qi 43.
• After Foundation Establishment, Song Yan used Unmoored Boat to carry himself, Xiao Ju, and Xiao He, guiding it through the connection between his will and Sword Qi 241.
• Wandering the Great Void merges the Life-Bound Flying Sword with the body, transforming the cultivator into escape light rather than requiring them to stand on an external sword 241.
• The technique is fast, agile, and difficult for same-realm Divine Sense to track completely, but consumes several times more Sword Qi than ordinary flight 241.

Sword Spirits

• An ordinary Sword Cultivator generally needs at least Foundation Establishment and sufficiently profound Sword Intent to have a chance of forming an embryonic Sword Spirit 202.
• A Sword Spirit shares its wielder’s thoughts and can control the Life-Bound Flying Sword without consuming the wielder’s mental effort or Sword Qi 202.
• Sword Spirits grow with their cultivators and enable specialized secret arts 202.
• Song Yan obtained Xianxian early by using the crow spirit associated with Moon-Crying. It became Unmoored Boat’s embryonic Sword Spirit and demonstrated the ability to reproduce his Void-Viewing Sword Eye 202 204.

Preserved Memories and Inheritances

• Ancient flying swords can retain spiritual traces of their owners’ Dao Hearts and Sword Intent 162.
• Through the Two-Pole Realm, Song Yan experienced the histories associated with swords such as Joined Branches, Moon-Crying, and Shufeng 97 201 305.
• These encounters can yield Sword Qi, cultivation gains, or seeds of Sword Intent; Shufeng transmitted a seed of Bai Qi’s Slaughter Sword Intent 97 305.
• Access is not automatic. Sole Laughter once absorbed two and a half million spirit stones without producing the expected Sword Dao illusion 519.

Forging, Nurturing, and Limitations

Refinement and Maintenance

• Basic flying-sword refining procedures are well established, and Flying Sword Law Artifacts and Law Treasures are extremely common 552.
• Sword Qi nurturing can sharpen blades through repeated circulation. The Great Void Sword-Nourishing Chapter tempers their emitted Sword Qi before returning it to them 209.
• Even ordinary iron may improve more noticeably inside a Sword Case nourished by Sword Qi 171.
• Yan Gui intended to raise Green Plum’s grade by tempering it with collected heavenly materials and earthly treasures 97.
• Scabbards, sword cases, and sword gourds became uncommon after Sword Cultivators disappeared from public view; most contemporary flying swords are stored in Heaven and Earth Bags 358.

Practical Weaknesses

• Contamination: Foul blood interfered with Song Yan’s early sword. After its source died, spiritual power removed the contamination and restored easy control 14.
• Interception: A walking corpse caught Song Yan’s flying sword and hurled it back at him 11.
• Disrupted spiritual workings: Shi Yunhao’s chains immobilized Jiang Ming’s flying sword by interfering with its internal circulation 343.
• Sword Qi wear: Modern blades made to bear gentler spiritual power wear down rapidly under Sword Qi and Sword Essence. Song Yan suspected ancient swords endured better because of prolonged Sword Qi nurturing 249.
• Formation attrition: Even excellent ordinary swords could be ruined within months of continuous use in the Spirit-Absorbing Sword Formation 310.
• Wielder requirements: Xiao Ju could not yet use the Three Swords of the Celestial Lodge before Golden Core. Spirit Treasures require at least Nascent Soul cultivation to wield 556 585.

Notable Flying Swords