Chapter Twelve: Deducing the Sword Technique

Chen Yi bent down, cupping the spirit liquid from the small puddle in his hands. He took a small sip and then sat cross-legged, circulating the Five Elements Technique to absorb spiritual energy and break through his cultivation.

As the spirit liquid lingered in his mouth, he tasted a sweet flavor, and an exotic fragrance wafted from it, so intoxicating that Chen Yi was nearly entranced. When he swallowed it, he felt all the pores of his body open up in comfort. His mind cleared, as if he had drunk a mouthful of ice-cold water on a sweltering summer day.

As the spirit liquid flowed into his stomach, the vast spiritual energy contained within erupted and spread throughout his body. The energy streamed into his muscles and bones, filling them to capacity, then poured into his meridians. Even after saturating every meridian, the flood of spiritual energy did not diminish. It began to assault the very walls of his meridians.

To Chen Yi’s amazement, even a small mouthful of the spirit liquid contained such immense spiritual energy. As that energy battered his meridians’ barriers, threatening to overwhelm them, he dared not be careless. He quickly urged the Five Elements Technique, drawing the spiritual energy into his cultivation.

Though his true qi was far weaker and more meager than this torrent of spiritual energy—the difference between a brook and a river—his true qi was pure and concentrated. Each time it clashed with the flood of spiritual energy, instead of being crushed, it converted a thread of that energy into more true qi, growing visibly with each revolution of his technique.

Once, twice, thrice… thirty-six cycles.

As he completed the thirty-sixth cycle, the speed of his true qi began to slow. Then the vast spiritual energy propelled his true qi into a thirty-seventh cycle, charging at the barrier of the fourth layer of Qi Refining.

A boom seemed to sound in his mind, as if a shackle binding him was broken. In that instant, his cultivation broke through the fourth layer and entered the fifth. Only then did the flood of spiritual energy in his meridians finally begin to subside.

After a few more cycles of his technique, the true qi within his body absorbed every last trace of spiritual energy in his meridians, and his fifth-layer cultivation stabilized.

With his realm secured, Chen Yi opened his eyes, which had been closed in meditation for a long time. In the darkness of the cave, his eyes shone with a golden radiance, startling Xiaotian, who had been keeping watch nearby.

This golden glow in his eyes was a sign of his greatly increased power and overflowing spirit.

“That was far too dangerous,” Chen Yi thought with lingering fear. “I never imagined that such a tiny sip of spirit liquid held so much energy. If not for the Five Elements Technique guiding its flow, my meridians would have been torn apart long ago.”

“Luckily, I managed to break through in time and absorb all the energy, avoiding disaster. In fact, the breakthrough even strengthened my meridians, making them more resilient and spacious than before.”

Chen Yi stood and brushed the dust from his clothes—though in truth, a cleansing talisman protected his garments from any dirt. It was merely an old habit.

He and Xiaotian left the cave and looked up at the sky outside. Night had completely fallen, and darkness pressed in on all sides. One could not see their hand before their face.

Chen Yi, bolstered by his new cultivation, was unafraid of the dark itself. What he feared were the demon beasts that roamed these mountains. At night, the Tianlong Mountains belonged to them. As dusk descended, the beasts would emerge in packs to hunt and prowl, creating a terrifying atmosphere.

Even a Nascent Soul cultivator might not escape the Tianlong Mountains unscathed at night. Chen Yi had not even reached the Foundation Establishment stage, let alone Nascent Soul, so he dared not risk venturing out.

He and Xiaotian returned to the cave, where Chen Yi took out the dried meat he had prepared at his sect. This jerky was made from the flesh of demon beasts, rich in spiritual energy, replenishing a cultivator’s strength and staving off hunger.

He shared some with Xiaotian, then gave him some Earth Yellow Pills as well, ensuring his companion could eat well and cultivate. After all, Xiaotian was his brother—if Chen Yi’s strength improved, he hoped Xiaotian’s would as well.

Having eaten, Xiaotian retreated to a corner to refine the pills and enhance his cultivation.

Chen Yi, finished with his meal, saw Xiaotian cultivating and sat down cross-legged himself, reciting the Dao De Jing silently in his heart. He had made great progress recently; unless he found rare treasures, he could not advance further for now.

With his realm secure, he set aside further cultivation for the time being, and chose instead to contemplate the Dao De Jing, hoping to comprehend some of its teachings. This tome, a peerless classic pointing toward the essence of the Great Dao, offered immense benefit to one’s understanding. Even a superficial grasp could raise his cultivation to new heights, allowing him to stand upon the shoulders of giants.

As he meditated on the Dao De Jing, Chen Yi gained fresh insight into the Light-Splitting Sword Art. He realized that the perfect state—where a single strike produced nine beams of sword light—was not its ultimate form. There was a greater power to be found. Guided by the Dao De Jing and his extraordinary perception, Chen Yi began to evolve the sword art, seeking a form more powerful and suited to himself.

He drew upon knowledge from both his lives, adapting principles from each world. Gradually, he refined the Light-Splitting Sword Art.

Unnoticed, the night passed. As dawn arrived, Chen Yi finally completed his new sword technique. In the process, he discovered that beyond the perfect realm of the sword art lay a transcendent state—one that surpassed the limitations of sword techniques, shedding the old forms and creating new ones.

The ultimate form of his new sword art was a single strike producing twelve beams of sword light—real or illusory, solid or ethereal, shifting at will and impossible to defend. Its essence was “light” and “illusion,” synthesizing the principles of optics from his past life with the quintessence of the sword art. Since its core was light and illusion, Chen Yi no longer called it the Light-Splitting Sword Art, but instead named it the Illusory Light Sword Art.

Having completed its refinement, Chen Yi rose, drew the Rainbow Sword from his waist, and began practicing the Illusory Light Sword Art within the spacious cave.

Though he had developed the art to the point of manifesting twelve beams with a single stroke, his body had not yet adapted to the new technique—he needed practice to reach the new level of coordination required.

He wielded the Rainbow Sword, moving through the cave. At first his movements were awkward, but as he went on, he became faster and more adept. Sword shadows and images of Chen Yi filled the cave. Twelve beams of sword light began to coalesce around him, and when he struck the stone wall, the twelve beams followed, carving deep marks. At last, he had brought the Illusory Light Sword Art to the transcendence realm.