Han Xuanji slowly lowered his finger and nodded slightly.
Clearly, he was very pleased with the power of the Great Desolation Sword Finger he had just learned.
He glanced at Nangong Wenjian, who was kneeling on one knee with his breathing in disarray, his gaze still calm and unruffled.
Han Xuanji finally spoke, his voice flat and hoarse:
"Anything too rigid breaks easily. If you seek the pinnacle, you must know when to hide your edge."
Each word struck Nangong Wenjian's heart like a hammer.
His meaning was simple: if you didn't court death, you wouldn't die. Who said a sword cultivator couldn't lie low for a while?
With that, Han Xuanji lingered no longer. He turned and took a single step, his figure merging into heaven and earth like a drop of water falling into the sea. In an instant, he vanished without a trace, as though he had never appeared at all.
Before long.
The mountain wind began to wail again, sweeping up fallen leaves and dust from the ground.
Nangong Wenjian struggled to raise his head and looked in the direction where Han Xuanji had vanished. His eyes, which had once looked down upon the world, were now filled with indescribable shock, confusion, and... a tremor of having survived a calamity, as well as an unprecedented desire kindled deeper within.
He had lost, so utterly and so decisively.
"Hide my edge..."
Nangong Wenjian murmured, looking at the tiny crack at the tip of the spirit sword in his hand, then down at his bloodstained white robes.
He rose to his feet and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, the confusion in his eyes gradually fading.
A hidden dragon must not act; hide your edge and guard your clumsiness.
"Today, I have learned a lesson."
Nangong Wenjian's voice was hoarse, but it carried a strange resolve.
"Next time we meet, I won't lose so badly."
The mountain wind brushed past. The battle between the two had lasted only an instant and had not caused any earth-shaking disturbances. Only the countless deep sword marks on the ground silently spoke of the heart-stopping clash that had just taken place.
Many great cultivators had also witnessed the scene, and who knew how many of them sucked in a breath of cold air? Nangong Wenjian had actually been defeated by the very same move.
Just how great was the gap between them?
"I didn't expect Nangong Wenjian to lose so quickly."
Lü Tianxing murmured to himself.
"Who exactly is this Devil-Slaying Sword Venerable? He concealed his appearance and masked his presence, but what is he staying in the Divine Profound Sect for..."
"And this move is clearly a closely guarded technique of Heaven-Reaching Peak. How did he learn it?"
Ever since becoming the Peak Master of Heaven-Reaching Peak and breaking through to the Void Return Realm, this was the first time Lü Tianxing had felt so troubled.
Countless questions surfaced in his mind.
He would never have imagined that something like signing in existed in the world.
But when Shangguan Feihong learned of the news, he said excitedly instead:
"Master, doesn't this mean the Devil-Slaying Sword Venerable is actually one of Heaven-Reaching Peak's people?"
"That's right!"
Lü Tianxing suddenly realized it, slapped his thigh, and exclaimed in delight:
"The Devil-Slaying Sword Venerable is one of Heaven-Reaching Peak's people! Hahahaha!"
Lü Tianxing was delighted.
He suddenly understood. Who cared about the man's identity? If he had mastered the Great Desolation Sword Finger and also knew the Flying Immortal Sword Instruction, wasn't he one of Heaven-Reaching Peak's people?
In that case, didn't that make the champion of this Sword Discussion Assembly a disciple of Heaven-Reaching Peak?
When Han Xuanji returned to Heaven-Reaching Peak, practically all the disciples were discussing the Devil-Slaying Sword Venerable, every face alight with fervor. Listening to all their praise,
Han Xuanji's mood improved considerably. But although he had shown off in a big way, he wasn't about to let it go to his head. He still had to keep his head down and continue growing stronger.
What did the Spirit Transformation Realm amount to?
He made his way to the Heaven-Reaching Sword Hall, a route he knew like the back of his hand.
Han Xuanji silently said in his heart:
System, sign in.
[Congratulations, host. You have signed in at the Heaven-Reaching Sword Hall and obtained the Primordial Spirit secret technique "Heart Sword Technique."]
Heart Sword Technique?
A Primordial Spirit secret technique?
Han Xuanji pondered for a moment. After receiving the memories and information transmitted by the system, he came to a sudden realization.
The Heart Sword Technique was a rare Primordial Spirit secret technique. A cultivator needed to have a Primordial Spirit before he could even begin practicing it, using the Primordial Spirit as a foundation and combining it with his own sword Dao to condense a heart sword.
The heart sword's attacks were impossible to guard against and extremely terrifying.
If an enemy was unprepared, a single strike might well prove fatal to someone in the same realm.
A Primordial Spirit was almost illusory, and many attacks could hardly harm it. For instance, despite how severely Nangong Wenjian and Shangguan Feihong had been injured before, their Primordial Spirits had not suffered heavy damage. Physical injuries were nothing much to disciples of these great sects.
If Han Xuanji learned this heart sword, killing those who tried to flee with their Primordial Spirits would also become much easier.
However, cultivation of the Primordial Spirit was profoundly mysterious. Most people did not dare delve into it lightly, because once something went wrong, it was very difficult to remedy. Moreover,
every Primordial Spirit secret technique was extraordinarily precious. Ordinary Spirit Transformation cultivators could not even come into contact with one, let alone learn it.
Heaven-Reaching Peak had not placed this inheritance in the Scripture Repository, either. Only true geniuses could learn it from the Heaven-Reaching Sword Hall.
But Primordial Spirit secret techniques were not invincible.
With the Heart Sword Technique, for example, if one attacked an opponent's Primordial Spirit with a heart sword and the opponent blocked the attack, destroying the heart sword, the user would also be injured.
But once I reach the Void Return Realm, that drawback will be gone. That's quite good.
Han Xuanji thought to himself.
Spirit Transformation cultivators could only nurture a heart sword within their own sea of consciousness, and the heart sword was intimately connected to the cultivator.
But upon entering the Void Return Realm, the power of the Primordial Spirit would undergo a transformation, allowing one to condense a heart sword and send it out of the body. Not only could the heart sword be nurtured in someone else's sea of consciousness, but its destruction would no longer harm the user.
The higher one's cultivation, the more formidable one's various methods become.
Han Xuanji thought to himself.
I need to break through soon.
With that thought, Han Xuanji silently left Heaven-Reaching Peak and went back into seclusion.
He paid no attention to the storm brewing in the outside world.
The Heavenly Sword Sect.
The sect master's hall.
In the seat of honor, the Heavenly Sword Sect Master's expression was exceptionally grim. His eyes were sharp beneath his swordlike brows as he frowned and asked:
"You couldn't even withstand a single strike of his sword?"
Nangong Wenjian's expression was normal. Although he had suffered a crushing defeat, he felt no shame. Instead, he was very glad.
He had experienced his opponent's sword intent and seen his sword Dao, and had benefited greatly from it.
Besides, if his opponent had wanted to kill him, he would never have survived.
Looking at his master, who was clearly somewhat disappointed, he simply said calmly:
"That's true. His spiritual power was extraordinarily domineering, and his sword intent was even more astonishingly powerful. This is the first time I've encountered such a powerful opponent."
Even now, he felt afraid when he recalled facing Han Xuanji's finger strike.
But when he closed his eyes, he could not help recalling it and sensing the sword intent contained in that strike. Somewhere in the unseen, he seemed to have grasped something, yet it also seemed to be an illusion. That complicated feeling seemed to take him back to when he had first begun learning the sword Dao.
"Is it possible that he has already reached the Sword Intent Forms a Domain stage?"
Nangong Wenjian suddenly asked.
"How is that possible?"
The Heavenly Sword Sect Master declared it impossible. He himself was a dignified Void Return sword cultivator, yet he had not reached that stage and was still far from it.
Even Body Integration patriarchs were still striving desperately to reach it.
How could a Spirit Transformation junior have already reached it?
As far as he knew, everyone who had reached the Sword Intent Forms a Domain stage was a mighty sword Dao expert whose cultivation reached through heaven and earth, generally a powerhouse nearing the Tribulation Transcendence Realm.