Chapter 997: Chapter 429: True Explanation of Sword Dao; The Method to Break Through Sword Intent to Sword Momentum

The originally dim and lustreless remnant page suddenly burst forth with a soft yet dazzling radiance.

The charred edges seemed to have flowing light sliding along them, and the complex pattern on the page came alive, its lines circulating and recombining, finally turning into four ancient, vigorous characters—True Explanation of the Sword Dao!

Immediately after.

Beneath these four large characters, as if ink were spreading in water, there appeared densely packed, smaller handwriting, along with a few humanoid diagrams of wielding a sword and schematics of energy circulation.

Xu Ping’s eyes suddenly lit up, and he immediately focused his mind to examine it carefully.

However, after only glancing through the opening section, his brows unconsciously arched, and an expression of extreme surprise and astonishment appeared on his face.

Because, according to what was currently displayed on this remnant page of the True Explanation of the Sword Dao, what it expounded was not the concrete Sword Technique called "Sword Formula of Guiding Momentum" used by that gaunt Cultivator.

Instead, it was the profound Skill and general outline of how to break through from the realm of Sword Rainbow Splitting Light to the higher level of Sword Intent Forming Momentum!

"Did he lie to me?"

Xu Ping’s first reaction was that the gaunt Cultivator had spoken falsely.

But the next moment, he rejected this idea.

At that time the man had been under the control of the Demonic Slaughter True Mantra, his Divine Soul heavily damaged; it was simply impossible for him to lie.

Moreover, compared to a breakthrough Skill like "Sword Intent Forming Momentum," which could be called a priceless treasure, a single concrete "Sword Formula of Guiding Momentum" was utterly insignificant. The other party had no need 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 fix itself to recording a single Sword Technique, but will instead, according to the Sword Dao Cultivation Realm of whoever touches it, reveal a higher-level guiding Skill corresponding to that person’s level?"

If this conjecture was correct... then the true value of this seemingly inconspicuous fragment would likely far exceed imagination.

It might be a shard of a supreme manual that records an entire, complete Sword Dao lineage, able to accompany a Sword Cultivator’s growth and ceaselessly unveil deeper and more profound truths of the Sword Dao.

"What a treasure!"

Even with Xu Ping’s current temperament, he could not help but feel fierce waves surging in his heart.

It was even possible that "Sword Intent Forming Momentum" was not the endpoint.

If it truly were so, then this remnant page would be a road of the Sword Dao that reaches the heavens.

Xu Ping suppressed his excitement and began studying the explanations about "Sword Intent Forming Momentum" on this page of the True Explanation of the Sword Dao.

From Sword Rainbow Splitting Light to Sword Intent Forming Momentum, one must undergo three turns.

The first turn:

Disperse Qi, Return to the Origin—going from splitting light to condensing into one.

This turn emphasizes "restraint" and "tracing back to the source."

It is not simply about forcibly gathering the tens of thousands of differentiated sword lights together. Doing so would only be the form.

The true "condensing into one" is to "scatter the form, condense the spirit," to realize that those seemingly incomparably complex hundreds and thousands of sword lights all, in essence, stem from the sword wielder’s single thought of Divine Sense, from a single strand of origin Sword Qi.

The second turn:

Heart Sword Reflects the Heavens—from condensing into one to resonance.

When a Sword Cultivator can refine their Sword Intent to an extreme, with a heart like a bright mirror and a sword like autumn water, inside and outside both limpid and clear, without blemish or defilement, then their sword heart can become like the surface of a tranquil lake, beginning to "reflect" the surrounding heaven and earth.

This step is no longer mere application of strength; it is the beginning of brushing against the edges of the Heaven and Earth Laws.

Only when one’s Dao Heart is luminous and in harmony with the frequency of heaven and earth can one use one’s own Sword Intent, refined to the utmost, as a guide to lightly disturb the Primordial Qi of heaven and earth, generating resonance and borrowing a sliver of the momentum of heaven and earth.

The third turn:

Intent Moves, Momentum Forms—from resonance to forming momentum.

This is the final metamorphosis.

When the resonance between Sword Intent and the Primordial Qi of heaven and earth reaches a certain degree, and the 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.