Cultivation Starts from Farming
Chapter 997 - 429: True Explanation of Sword Dao; The Method to Break Through Sword Intent to Sword Momentum
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·1,270 words
Previously on Cultivation Starts from Farming...
Xu Ping refined the innate spiritual liquid, significantly increasing his lifespan and cultivation realm. Realizing he needed more resources for his breakthrough, he considered leveraging his position within the Outer Sea Human Race alliance. He then examined the spoils from the emaciated cultivator, focusing on an ancient paper fragment marked with a complex pattern. After forcing the cultivator to reveal the activation method using his Demonic Chant, Xu Ping learned the fragment required pure sword qi to activate.
The once dim and lusterless remnant page suddenly erupted with a soft yet dazzling radiance. The charred edges appeared to have flowing light tracing along them, and the intricate pattern on the page animated, its lines circulating and reforming, ultimately transforming into four ancient, powerful characters—True Explanation of the Sword Dao! Following this. Beneath these four grand characters, as if ink were spreading through water, densely packed smaller handwriting emerged, accompanied by several humanoid diagrams illustrating sword wielding and schematics detailing Qi circulation. Xu Ping's eyes instantly brightened, and he immediately focused his mind to examine it closely. However, after merely skimming the introductory section, his brows unconsciously rose, and an expression of extreme surprise and astonishment dawned on his face. This was because, according to the content displayed on this remnant page of the True Explanation of the Sword Dao, it did not expound upon the specific Sword Technique known as the "Sword Formula of Guiding Momentum" employed by that gaunt Cultivator. Instead, it detailed the profound Skill and general outline for achieving a breakthrough from the realm of Sword Rainbow Splitting Light to the higher level of Sword Intent Forming Momentum! "Did he deceive me?" Xu Ping's initial reaction was that the gaunt Cultivator had lied. But the very next moment, he dismissed this notion. At that time, the man had been under the influence of the Demonic Slaughter True Mantra, his Divine Soul severely damaged; it was entirely impossible for him to lie. Furthermore, compared to a breakthrough Skill like "Sword Intent Forming Momentum," which could be considered a priceless treasure, a singular concrete "Sword Formula of Guiding Momentum" was utterly insignificant. The other party had no reason whatsoever to conceal anything. "Could it be..." An astonishing conjecture surfaced in Xu Ping's mind: "This remnant page of the True Explanation of the Sword Dao does not confine itself to recording a single Sword Technique, but rather, based on the Sword Dao Cultivation Realm of whoever touches it, reveals a higher-level guiding Skill corresponding to that person's level?" If this conjecture held true... then the genuine value of this seemingly inconspicuous fragment would likely surpass all imagination. It might possibly be a fragment of a supreme manual that chronicles an entire, complete Sword Dao lineage, capable of accompanying a Sword Cultivator's growth and ceaselessly unveiling deeper and more profound truths of the Sword Dao. "What a treasure!" Even with Xu Ping's current composure, he couldn't help but feel fierce waves surging within his heart. It was even conceivable that "Sword Intent Forming Momentum" might not be the ultimate destination. If that were indeed the case, then this remnant page would represent a heavenly path of the Sword Dao. Xu Ping suppressed his excitement and commenced studying the explanations pertaining to "Sword Intent Forming Momentum" presented on this page of the True Explanation of the Sword Dao. Transitioning from Sword Rainbow Splitting Light to Sword Intent Forming Momentum necessitates undergoing three distinct turns. The first turn: Disperse Qi, Return to the Origin—a shift from splitting light to condensing into a singular point. This turn places emphasis on "restraint" and "tracing back to the source." It involves more than merely forcibly gathering the myriad scattered sword lights. Doing so would only constitute the form. The true essence of "condensing into one" lies in "scattering the form, while condensing the spirit," realizing that those seemingly infinitely complex hundreds and thousands of sword lights all fundamentally originate from the sword wielder’s singular thought of Divine Sense, from a single thread of origin Sword Qi. The second turn: Heart Sword Reflects the Heavens—moving from condensing into one towards resonance. When a Sword Cultivator manages to refine their Sword Intent to an extreme degree, possessing a heart as clear as a bright mirror and a sword as sharp as autumn water, with both inner and outer being limpid and clear, unblemished and undefiled, their sword heart can then become akin to the surface of a tranquil lake, beginning to "reflect" the surrounding heaven and earth. This stage transcends the mere application of strength; it marks the initial brush with the edges of the Heaven and Earth Laws. Only when one's Dao Heart radiates brightly and aligns with the frequency of heaven and earth can one utilize their own Sword Intent, refined to its utmost, as a guide to subtly agitate the Primordial Qi of heaven and earth, thus generating resonance and borrowing a fraction of heaven and earth's momentum. The third turn: Intent Moves, Momentum Forms—progressing from resonance to the actual formation of momentum. This represents the final metamorphosis.
When the resonance between Sword Intent and the Primordial Qi of heaven and earth reaches a certain degree, and a Sword Cultivator's comprehension of "momentum" attains the Transformation Realm, they can achieve: "When intent moves, then qi moves; when qi moves, then momentum forms."
At that time, there will no longer be any need to deliberately draw or resonate; wherever the Sword Intent points, there the grand momentum will naturally incline.
The Primordial Qi of heaven and earth will spontaneously converge, forming a "Sword Momentum Domain" belonging to the Sword Cultivator alone.
...
"This True Explanation of the Sword Dao... is simply inconceivable."
The more Xu Ping studied, the more deeply shocked he became.
It dissected this abstruse, mysterious realm breakthrough into three clear, traceable steps. What must be done at each step, where the key points lay, what obstacles might be encountered and how to overcome them—all were expounded with crystal clarity.
This ability to unravel the highest principles of the Great Dao, to divide and categorize them and simplify the profound, made Xu Ping even suspect that this was not a legacy that should exist in the Human Realm at all.
Even those Sword Cultivators who had long since grasped "Sword Intent Forming Momentum" might not be able to summarize and pass on their comprehension in such a systematic and exhaustive manner.
However, understanding was one thing; actually cultivating according to it was as difficult as ascending to heaven.
The latter two turns, "Heart Sword Reflects the Heavens" and "Intent Moves, Momentum Forms," were far too profound and obscure for Xu Ping, who had yet to complete the first turn. It was like gazing up at the starry sky—knowing its vastness, yet unable to touch its light.
All of his mind and spirit were focused on this first turn, "Disperse Qi, Return to the Origin."
Even so, this first turn alone was enough to drain his mind and spirit.
....
Time slipped by silently amidst focused cultivation; in the blink of an eye, three years had passed.
Within the underground cave dwelling, Xu Ping held the Canghua Divine Wood Sword, his mind completely immersed in the world of the Sword Dao.
At first there were a hundred sword lights, then a thousand; gradually, their number far exceeded ten thousand.
Countless emerald-green sword lights filled the cave, like rippling jade-green waves, like scattered stars in the firmament. Sword Qi bristled, slicing the space apart with a constant hissing sound.
In the next instant, with a stir of his thought, the ten thousand sword lights, as if drawn by an invisible gravity, suddenly contracted inward and converged.
The radiance flared, dazzling to the eye, and in the end the myriad swords returned to one, transforming into a single, incomparably solid, inwardly restrained pillar of a heaven-piercing sword, exuding an incomparably fierce aura.
Yet Xu Ping only shook his head in vexation and dispersed the sword light.
