Demon Sword Sect’s Undercover
Chapter 465 - 465 464 How Far Is Far Away

465: Chapter 464: How Far Is Far Away 465: Chapter 464: How Far Is Far Away Since it involved thunder, the first thing he thought of over the Lihai Sea was the Thunder Triangle.

This had been his most consistent cultivation site on the Lizhi Sea; even now, it still greatly aided him.

Familiar with the route as an old horse knows the way; the ocean had ceased to mystify him.

Over the past twenty years, he had familiarized himself with all aspects of the sea, though perhaps just superficially, as the secrets hidden in the depths remained largely unknown to him.

The journey was peaceful; over this decade, he had rarely encountered danger.

It seemed they also knew that finding a master who could kill him at the Tongtian level was difficult and could not use the Golden Core again, so over the years, the Wu Sect had become uncommonly quiet on the Lizhi Sea, becoming subdued and restrained.

But he knew this was not the true nature of the Wu Sect.

Wu Sect must have plans against him; it was just possible that the plan’s implementation was neither in the Lizhi Sea nor at this time.

Conflict over the Anhe Daoist Sect grew increasingly intense, nearing the brink of a major battle; this not only involved the opposition between the faction within Anhe that advocated surrender and the independents but also the Wu Sect’s increasingly blatant involvement and the unabashed interference by the Shan Sect Quanzhen.

It was soon time to draw the dagger.

Because he had focused mainly on the Anhe Daoist Sect, he opted for a low-profile approach to the Lizhi Sea area.

Hou Niao was causing trouble here, which was quite timely.

Wu Sect had not dispatched its core strength to this area, allowing the Tiger Fang Pirate Group to maintain its restraint, driving them out of this vast sea area over ten years.

Yet all of this was only temporary; he reminded himself of this constantly.

The thunder triangle was currently in the thunder season.

In the all-too-familiar scene, Hou Niao wandered at will, swimming through the thunderstorm as he pleased; at his current realm, the strength of the thunder here could hardly hurt him in most cases.

Still sending out the flying sword to attract the thunder, then converting the thunder force into his own mana, it was a process he had done countless times, handling it with ease.

However, over these ten years, his enduring the thunder baptism was not solely for power, but for something deeper in the thunder.

It was about laws, Dao, and rules.

The God Sensing Realm was an early development of a cultivator’s Sea of Consciousness.

The true development of the Sea of Consciousness would occupy the entire Golden Core Stage, but a precursor was needed before this.

For Hou Niao, opening his Sea of Consciousness also required a primer, a threshold that every cultivator entering the Upper Realm and experiencing God Sensing must pass.

Some relied on the Five Elements as a guide, others started from Yin Yang, and some even entered through emotions.

These were methods, not fixed, generally oriented from the traits of their own Daoist lineage, based on their specific conditions.

Hou Niao had always believed his pathway to activating the Sea of Consciousness would likely be via nature, given his advantages in this area, until his exposure to the Heavenly Dao Thunder at the Yu Family and subsequent years of enlightenment in the Thunder Triangle revealed that his activation pathway was indeed nature, but not a vague sense of nature.

Instead, it was something more specific.

Nature encapsulates everything, including thunder!

What he had been doing all these years, aside from deepening his cultivation and honing his Body Sword Skill, was finding this primer; he only clarified in recent years that it was indeed it!

Thunder!

After going round in circles, he returned here, just like when he first entered Tongxuan and selected the Three Night Thunder Law.

At that time, he was somewhat naive, but now it seemed to be an intuition from the depths of fate.

He was pleased he had followed his intuition rather than others’ insights.

The cultivation system on the Jinxiu Continent broadly falls into two mainstream directions: Daoist Sect and Buddhist Sect, with other so-called paths and techniques of the Demon Sect and similar derived from these foundations.

The essentials had traceable lineage, combined with individual focal points, which formed the Continental Daoist spectrum of flourishing diversity.

There were many differences and also quite a few similarities, specifically in terms of cultivation realms, such as needing to form a core, which required two necessary conditions: first opening God Sensing, second perceiving nature.

This corresponds to the division of the three layers of Tongtian: Tongxuan Realm is the fundamental entry to Dao, upwards sequentially opening the Sea of Consciousness through God Sensing to prepare for spiritual cultivation post-Golden Core, and further up, the Natural Realm opens cultivators’ understanding of heaven and earth, integrating the cultivation not just as a human activity, but growing together with nature.

What he was currently attempting with the might of the natural thunder was to open the thin yet seemingly unbreakable barrier within his sense of the Sea of Consciousness.

This wasn’t something that brute force could stimulate; using thunder to bombard such a delicate area as the human brain was suicidal.

The key lay in perception!

Thus, the power of the thunder mattered little; what was important was the information of the Heavenly Dao contained within the thunder.

He was slightly unfortunate; had his current understanding been available ten years ago in the Cold Well Ice Pond of the Yu Family, might the process have been somewhat easier?

But in cultivation, there is no luck, nor in reality a second Yu family patriarch struggling to survive after being struck by heavenly thunder.

Time passed day by day, yet the thin barrier could not be breached as hoped.

It seemed just a bit away, but that bit was forever.

This wasn’t a matter of using brute force, Hou Niao continually reminded himself, trying not to let impatience affect him.

In the process of cultivation, such a minute margin was all too common: just a bit away from entering the Dao, just a bit away from achieving Golden Core, or like the Yu family patriarch, just a bit away from Nascent Transformation…

But this was just the cultivator’s illusion; in reality, that bit was hardly trivial at all.

It was simply not the right time; it was not recognized by the Heavenly Dao.

Using force was futile, and would only worsen things.

He was very patient.

As he persisted, Thunder Season moved towards its peak and then began to wane, becoming sparse as Hou Niao felt helpless, and gradually calming.

He still hadn’t achieved a breakthrough, but it was not without gains.

He could feel that the Thunder Season had not actually ended; it was merely shifting towards the distance.

Stay here to wait for next year’s Thunder Season, or follow the direction of the moving thunder?

This choice seemed not too difficult.

With a light whistle, he rode his sword.

Before experiencing the power of Heavenly Dao Thunder, he was unable to grasp such traces of thunder, but now he had a vague sense of it, almost capturing the movement of the thunder trace.

Chasing thunder and lightning.

The direction of the moving thunder force was towards the Blue Sea, going deeper and deeper, which carried certain risks, but for him, why hesitate now that his strength had greatly increased, when he had once ventured into the sea over eight thousand li at a time when his Tongxuan power was insufficient?

Without hesitation, he followed his instincts and pursued it.

Indeed,

…As frost flies and the woods drop in the clear heaven and earth, across a boundless sea a tide arises.

Fresh gusts blow from the sea, bearing the aura of fish and dragons; in his heart resounds only the sound of thunder.