Wait, How Did My Digital Girlfriend Become a Sword Immortal? Chapter 820: Chen Huai'an - Mahayana!

Chen Huaian required the duration of a single incense stick burning to restore his True Essence.

Meanwhile...

Maybe due to his primary form not facing intense fights on Earth Star, or perhaps from immersing in the advanced cultivation of his clone for so long, Chen Huaian realized that the nearly impossible barrier for typical cultivators simply didn't apply to him.

A regular cultivator advancing from the pinnacle of the Void Fusion Realm to the Great Ascension Stage demands insight into the principles of heaven and earth.

It calls for exceptional understanding.

It involves genuinely grasping a thread of Dao Rhythms.

This thread of Dao Rhythms might relate to the Sword Dao, the Blade Dao, or even the Calligraphy Dao; pursuits like cooking or fishing could embody it as well... The infinite and boundless Dao principles of heaven and earth abound. Drawing a blade to slice water forms a Dao, forging an iron rod into a needle represents a Dao, and water drops eroding stone counts as one too. The Dao embodies the core principle of heaven and earth, the pinnacle of proficiency, the supreme law governing a world's operations.

Reflecting on his adventures in the Cangyun Realm,

Chen Huaian recognized that he had long ago seized control of his Sword Dao.

The toughest obstacle facing Void Fusion Realm cultivators, he had silently overcome ages ago.

Setting aside his possession of Sword Heart and Sword Bone, disregarding his Original Dao Physique. Even without any of those, his current breakthrough would proceed unaffected. All he had to do was merge the Sword Dao insights from the Cangyun Realm with Earth Star's rules, enabling him to harness the heaven and earth principles of this planet.

For Chen Huaian,

This demanded merely the span of one incense stick burning.

Muscle Tyrant cast a profound glance at Chen Huaian and stayed silent.

Its immediate task was to break ties with Chen Huaian's identity.

Though the myriad gods and buddhas stood as its foes, they weren't Chen Huaian's adversaries just yet.

As the inheritor of the Ancestral Dragon, Chen Huaian carried the duty to topple the heavens.

Thus, he needed to stay concealed, building power in the shadows.

However...

A trifling Wu E, if worthy of death, then let him perish!

"Human cultivator, don't imagine that merely aiding this king in reconstructing my physical form lets you command me at will!"

Muscle Tyrant unleashed a dark, mocking chuckle: "First, this king will handle this vile creature. If you're wise after that, perhaps serve as a page boy in this king's service!"

With those words spoken, Muscle Tyrant's combat approach grew wilder. It ignored all harm from Wu E, fully embracing a tactic of harming the foe at the cost of eight hundred to their one thousand.

"Chen Huaian!" Wu E sensed disaster looming if this persisted. While fending off Taotie's grasp, he hastily declared: "You've heard it yourself! Taotie is an ancient Fierce Beast; it would never bow to anyone. Even if you preserved its life, what then?

That was just the shell of a body!

The real Taotie remains utterly disdainful of you!

Yet we Demon Immortals differ. Our path to immortality proves the purity of our teachings, marking us as virtuous ones acknowledged by this world!

Join me now to subdue Taotie!

This act would gather merit for your own path to immortality!"

Chen Huaian understood Muscle Tyrant wasn't betraying its origins but severing bonds for the larger scheme.

He offered no response.

Having shared a master-servant bond before, mutual comprehension existed between them.

Muscle Tyrant was stalling for him. He merely had to concentrate on his breakthrough.

A pivotal chance silently drew near.

Heaven and earth grew tranquil.

The Sword Qi gathered at Chen Huaian's fingertip abruptly solidified without unleashing. The golden glow encircling his frame slowly shifted to pale cyan. Reminiscent of March's misty rains in Jiangnan, it wove through the cycling heaven and earth Spiritual Energy.

Within his dantian, True Essence welled like a surging river tide. As it coursed via the meridians across his form, it evoked shards of poetic cadence—not audible whispers, but a sentiment threading the Dao Rhythms. It resembled a gentle recitation of "There will be a time when the long wind breaks through the waves" amid clouds, or the untamed spirit of "I entrust my sorrowful heart to the bright moon," subtly infusing his Sword Dao.

Though his eyes remained shut, he perceived the quivers of his Sword Bone and Sword Heart inside.

The "Dao Rhythms" that typical cultivators struggled to grasp felt, to him, like meeting a longtime companion.

It was the "Heaven and Earth at My Mercy" he attained before the Sword Pavilion's Sword Tomb that year, deflecting a sky of snow with Sword Qi. It was the fleeting sense of "What Can You Do to Me" when his clone shattered a Great Ascension Stage demon sage's pressure. It even included the spirit concealed a millennium within the "Green Lotus Sword Manual"—the boundless liberty as the Poetry Immortal wielded his brush, the bold sprawl of drunken repose on Chang'an Street, the leisurely wanderings across the world sword in hand.

"So that's how it is..." Chen Huaian's thoughts delved into the sword domain, his body appearing ethereal.

He felt Earth Star's heaven and earth rules converging upon him.

Bearing the ocean's brine and the wind's gentleness, these forces no longer demanded forced integration. Rather, they flowed like water meeting a vessel, instinctively bearing him to distant shores.

That strand of Sword Qi on his fingertip abruptly scattered, morphing into countless cyan motes of light.

Some formed half-bloomed green lotuses, hovering near his shoulder.

Others became shards of Lunar Splendor, eddying about his wrist.

Still more wafted afar on the sea breeze, molding the lingering North Sea hurricane into fluffy wisps of light smoke—this Sword Intent shed its prior oppressiveness, retaining only the essence of "carefree."

What defines carefree?

Carefree means unbound by realms, unshackled by regulations.

Like a breeze traversing a bamboo grove, heedless of the nodes; like a full moon sailing an endless sea, indifferent to the swells.

The clash between Muscle Tyrant and Wu E slowly halted.

Despite being a Demon Immortal, Wu E found himself drawn into the Dao Rhythms radiating from Chen Huaian's vicinity.

Shock filled Muscle Tyrant's gaze. It distinctly sensed that this Sword Intent held no savage edge, yet it evoked deeper reverence than any show of force—that was authentic "Great Freedom," the liberation from Celestial God Clan bondage that even primeval Fierce Beasts coveted.

Transcending the Three Realms, beyond the Five Elements.

"The Big Boss's Dao... it's somewhat frightening..."

Muscle Tyrant squinted its eyes.

At such a vital enlightenment juncture, no interruption could be allowed.

It fixed its stare on Wu E, body coiled in readiness.

Any twitch from Wu E would trigger its tempestuous assault and slaying strike.

Just then.

*Pop—!*

True Essence in Chen Huaian's dantian detonated abruptly.

The force wasn't explosive, but rippled outward gently.

Each wave encased a poetic intent, unfurling across heaven and earth like spreading ink.

The audacity of "Heaven has endowed me with talents that must be put to use."

The expansiveness of "I must ascend the mountain's crest."

The liberated poise of "The light boat has already passed ten thousand mountains"...

These sentiments wove with the Sword Dao, forming a beam of inky light surging from Chen Huaian's crown. As it rent the clouds, it summoned swirling purple qi from the distant skyline.

The True Essence, once rampaging toward the Immortal Realm via the nine unsealed Wells of Heaven, now reversed. Drawn by the Sword Qi as if the Silver River cascaded inverted, it funneled into the apex of Chen Huaian's head.

The Spiritual Energy tempest revolving around Chen Huaian endured the full length of one incense stick's burn.

"Supreme Carefree..." Chen Huaian at last unveiled his eyes.

His pupils mirrored green lotuses. Lifting his finger once more yielded no cataclysmic Sword Qi. A mere soft flick sent a cyan gleam drifting to the sea before Wu E.

Where the cyan light touched, the waters bloomed a translucent green lotus.

Its petals bore the "Carefree Dao Rhythms" capable of melting even heaven and earth rules.

The golden aura cloaking his form fully vanished, supplanted by a serene "concealing sharpness in void"—Great Ascension Stage cultivation now flowed instinctively like breath, achieving flawless unity of "I am the Sword Dao, the Sword Dao is me."

The sea wind swept by, fluttering Chen Huaian's robes, as though poised to soar on gales, yet he stood firm upon the waves, toes grazing crests like solid earth.

"The incense stick's time has elapsed!"

"Now, you shall meet your end!"

As his words concluded, the azure sky abruptly dimmed.

Stirred by Chen Huaian's killing intent, this stretch of heaven and earth plunged into somber gloom.