"My body is getting in the way of my comprehension..."
Interrupted, Ye Xiao forcibly cut off his train of thought. He crouched on the ground, gasping for breath.
That had really scared him!
If the Snow Empress hadn't intervened, heaven knew what he would have turned into!
Ye Xiao was for the Heavenly Dao, but the Heavenly Dao was not for Ye Xiao?
Cold sweat unwittingly trickled down Ye Xiao's forehead, and he swallowed hard.
It was bad enough that the damned world consciousness hadn't interrupted him, but it had even been eager to welcome him?
Was everyone in the fucking Douluo World a bully?!
"I'm fine..."
"Thank you. Otherwise, I don't even know what would have happened afterward."
Ye Xiao slowly calmed his thoughts and took a deep breath before turning to the Snow Empress.
"What happened to you just now..."
The Snow Empress was puzzled and alarmed, but she didn't know where to begin asking.
"My comprehension is a little too strong. I'm having trouble controlling it."
Ye Xiao's eyes flickered. The moment his consciousness returned, he had locked it down.
That made it much less likely that his consciousness would suddenly wander and comprehend some random nonsense.
"My knowledge is too limited, and my comprehension is too strong. If I don't think about something systematically, I can easily fall into that kind of scattered, vague state again."
"In that state, my self-awareness gets severely diluted."
Ye Xiao rubbed his temples. It seemed he had to move his plans to study the Divine Realm's collection of books up the schedule.
As long as he could systematically categorize and accumulate his knowledge, then the next time he let his thoughts wander to comprehend the Dao, they would only build upward instead of continuing to scatter.
"...Then what do we do?"
The Snow Empress asked stiffly. She had never seen anything like Ye Xiao's condition, so how could she possibly help?
"For now, I just need to stop letting my thoughts run wild."
Ye Xiao shook his head and said no more.
His current comprehension was probably one or two points higher than that of the Ye Xiao on the sky screen.
But thanks to the teachings previously shown on the sky screen, his comprehension would probably increase again as time went on!
Ye Xiao felt a headache coming on. For the first time, he found fault with his own comprehension.
To put it simply, he had taken too big a stride and pulled his balls.
"That works. The most important thing for you now is still to improve your cultivation."
The Snow Empress nodded, feeling quite helpless herself.
As for the path Ye Xiao was on now, no one could say how he should proceed.
"I understand, Snow Empress. Thanks to you for what you did just now."
"Let's go to Mingdu first. I won't be affected again anytime soon."
Ye Xiao looked thoughtfully at the city not far away.
Until he had built up a sufficient store of knowledge, he had made up his mind not to think about anything related to the nature of the mind.
Still, although he had nearly merged with the Dao this time, he had gained quite a bit too.
[Teaching Panel] Name: Ye Xiao Level: 13 Comprehension: 15 (9+6) Martial Soul: Epiphyllum Sword (yellow) Soul Skills: 1. Power of Sharpness (300 years): Enhances the Epiphyllum Sword's sharpness attribute, and every swing has a 0.05% chance of unleashing Sharpness Sword Qi. Number of people taught: 789321 Sword Dao inheritance: Permanence Sword Body, first layer (Sword Qi conversion), Treading on Snow Without a Trace (upper limit: Soul King), Aura Concealment Technique, Cold Jade Sword Scripture (breathing cultivation technique), Sword Heart, Sword Dao Sequence, first stage (Primordial Beginning Opens Heaven), Intercepting Sword Technique, equilibrium (currently only able to fuse two attributes), Heaven and Earth One Sword (kingly authority), Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Origin
As Ye Xiao's eyes flickered, he seemed to see a slender Long River of Sword Dao emerge from the void.
It was only because he was in the Douluo World that it wasn't very conspicuous. If he were over in Honkai: Star Rail, he would now be a bona fide Sword Aeon.
Or rather, if he hadn't been interrupted earlier, he would probably have become a being similar to an Aeon.
With a thought from Ye Xiao, a new kind of panel appeared before him.
This time, however, even the Snow Empress could see the panel!
"This is..."
The Snow Empress looked strangely at the virtual projection that had suddenly appeared before her.
[Sword Dao] Current stage: Primordial Beginning Opens Heaven Dao master: Ye Xiao (Epiphyllum) Fellow travelers: Destruction, Life, Kindness, Evil, Tang San... Snow Empress, Ye Guyi... Rule: Those of lower standing cannot unleash Sword Qi
"This is what I wanted to create, specifically to protect the people around me."
"But because it was too difficult, I gave up on it for the time being. I never imagined it would come into being on its own through a coincidence."
As Ye Xiao explained, he began making changes.
[Add first-level authorization, and add Ye Guyi and the Snow Empress to it] [Add second-level authorization, and add the Ice Empress, Xiao Bai and Wu Qingyao to it]
Ye Xiao picked out several people from among the fellow travelers and directly elevated their standing.
Under the rule that those of lower standing could not unleash Sword Qi, beings with lower authorization could not use Sword Qi against beings with higher authorization.
Of course, this was only the first stage of establishing the Sword Dao. The subsequent distribution of fortune, pressure from superiors and all that other stuff would come along gradually.
"However, the Sword Dao only controls the Sword Qi and sword-attribute Soul Power cultivated by Soul Masters."
"I imagine the Sword Dao won't truly come into play until levels are reset to zero in the future."
Ye Xiao spoke thoughtfully.
With the Sword Dao in place, he no longer needed to keep anything to himself. He could throw out a whole bunch of powerful things, such as the Cold Jade Sword Scripture and Treading on Snow Without a Trace.
That way, once levels were reset to zero, anyone in their right mind should go cultivate his superior cultivation techniques and sword techniques.
"So next, I need to find a way to increase the age of Soul Rings and create a manual for cultivating Sword Qi without an attribute."
Ye Xiao put the panel away and explained to the Snow Empress.
"Mm..."
The Snow Empress gave Ye Xiao a long look. She had noticed that Ye Xiao had placed her and Ye Guyi at the same level.
As for the Sword Dao panel Ye Xiao had created, she could vaguely sense that it seemed to be a foundation of the future world, but it was still very rudimentary now, so she paid it little mind.
Take the rule preventing those of lower standing from unleashing Sword Qi, for example. It merely restricted Sword Qi.
Among the living beings in the world today, probably no one but Ye Xiao used Sword Qi as their foundation.
"All right, all right, Snow Empress, let's go in."
Ye Xiao shook his head and led the way through Mingdu's city gates.
A mysterious smile played at the corner of his mouth.
As the master of the Sword Dao, the benefits he received naturally weren't as rudimentary as the panel made them appear.
Ye Xiao's thoughts turned to the slender Long River of Sword Dao from earlier.
He determined the river's source and the course it carved, but fellow travelers could still pour "water" into it.
Although this little river was still very fragile, once it stabilized, Ye Xiao would fear no one on the Douluo Continent.
Just as the panel had said at the very beginning: [10 points of comprehension brings about a qualitative change. In the future, you can become the supreme master of the Sword Dao, and even the Douluo Universe can become a sword in your hand!]
To Ye Xiao, wasn't the current Long River of Sword Dao itself a sword embryo?
What was more, even if levels were reset to zero in the future, what did that have to do with his great sword, which was already embedded in the universe?