Demon Sword Sect’s Undercover
Chapter 668 - 668 667 Stage Summary

668: Chapter 667 Stage Summary 668: Chapter 667 Stage Summary Hou Niao was not as relaxed as he appeared, he had been reflecting on himself all this time.

Daoist Yan said one should reflect on their faults daily, but that was not enough.

At the very least, in terms of cultivation, Hou Niao wished he could review his errors ten times a day, especially when deviations had occurred in his own strengths.

His Flying Sword had failed to slay Tang Yan, which he felt was unacceptable.

His long-standing habit within the Soul Realm was, no matter who you were, “I should’ve cleaved you with one strike!”

A slow chop was always his fault.

He couldn’t cut down Tang Yan, neither in the Pocket World nor in the outside world; if it hadn’t been for that guy wanting to take advantage and purposely choosing the smaller world, Hou Niao truly couldn’t figure out how to defeat this Heavenly Kui Star in an outside battle.

When facing an opponent whose Daoist Body and Dharma Body were exquisite, his shortcomings were exposed.

A Sword Cultivator’s strike, if the Flying Sword didn’t deliver a fatal blow, everything that followed was meaningless.

The two extreme Dharma Bodies of Tang Yan were typical examples of this.

His Mustard Seed Golden Body was extremely small, with the force principle scaling up proportionally, just a head-on clash, and yet his Flying Sword couldn’t cleave this body that was ten times tougher.

The Method of Myself was extremely large, with the Three Pure Ones’ Qi cycling endlessly, an example of feigning weakness for strength, perfectly dissolving the power of his Flying Sword into every part of the body, dispersing it with Pure Qi; this already bore a trace of Dao, and he was still helpless against it.

Hou Niao now realized he had underestimated the heroes of the world, just like Jian Ling once did.

The solution?

The Sword Holding State offered no conceivable methods since the opponent would never face him head-on in his true form.

The Flying Sword State was fraught with difficulties.

At his current level, increasing the power of his Flying Sword by even a little required immense effort and progression was slow.

The Body Sword Skill held the most promise, for his Qian Character Mantra was the closest to breaking through his opponent’s Dharma Body, the key lied in momentum.

No one precedes the ancients, no one succeeds the modern.

The momentum of myself alone.

This was also the only Body Sword Formation he had begun to understand.

Although far from mastery, it had already managed to harm Tang Yan’s Method of Myself.

If not for this bit of capability in the Qian Character Mantra, he wouldn’t know how to counter that Lawless Body.

There was also the Zhen Character Mantra, “The Zhen clouds remain still, with the River Diagram secretly connected,”—this was the Hooking and Sinking Formation.

The Lie Character Mantra, “Lie Wind and Cloud Changes, where only I stand lofty,”—this was the Formation of Solitude.

“The momentum of myself alone” and “Solitude” were two different matters.

“The momentum of myself alone” epitomizes self-respect, while “Solitude” symbolizes seeking one’s own defeat, advancing unsteadily, a spirit of the Great Dao’s arduous journey, forged alone.

As for the Hooking and Sinking Formation, it involved the divination of stars, which was actually a counting momentum.

Only by mastering momentum can one truly understand the essence of the Body Sword Skill.

Otherwise, it’s just superficiality, leaving one at a loss when faced with an extraordinarily strong opponent; the problem lies not with the Body Sword Skill itself but with the cultivator’s understanding of the Daoist Method.

Strickly speaking, the two Dao Bodies of Tang Yan seemed suspect of transcending their Realm; it was unclear how he achieved it.

With a mere Tongtian third-level Realm, yet mastering a higher level of the Dao Realm, it hinted at stealing the secrets of heaven.

At least the battle made it clear to Hou Niao the flaws in his swordsmanship and consequently, gave him a direction.

He found a peculiar phenomenon in the construction of his swordsmanship system: each of the three sword states was distinct.

The Sword Holding State was everlasting, a result of the training in the Soul Realm.

His Body Sword State kept improving, with each flaw he discovered pointing the way forward, allowing him to rectify weaknesses and then search for new vulnerabilities.

Only his Flying Sword State remained in a constant state of catch-up, He desired to primarily use the Flying Sword State in combat, yet time and again, it didn’t go as he wished.

Ever since he stepped into the Tongxuan Realm, he initially relied on Sword Holding Skill, now on Body Sword, but he couldn’t resolve a battle using just the Flying Sword State.

His Flying Sword State was improving too, but the problem was it progressed slower than the other two sword states…

This made him realize, could it be that the issue with his Flying Sword State was not a minor flaw but a systematic problem of significance?

He had pondered over this problem for a long time, and through this battle, it became even clearer, but he didn’t know where to start addressing it.

This was how he differed from other Sword Cultivators, for he always sought more challenging opponents, thus he was forever thirsty for improved swordsmanship, never satisfied.

It was like building a house, assembling and disassembling, pursuing a structure that was sturdier, taller, and more majestic, because the guests he had to entertain were of ever-increasing nobility.

The house had to be durable, with an exceptionally solid foundation, but currently, of Hou Niao’s house’s three foundations, the Flying Sword State was always the weakest, unable to match the beauty of the other two.

He racked his brains for decades on his Flying Sword State, yet he still hadn’t found a way to significantly improve it, which is why he doubted if there was something fundamentally wrong from the start.

Was he in doubt about the architectural integrity of the entire Shan Sect Quanzhen System?

This doubt slowly escalated, from initially entering the sect and his adoration for the Flying Sword Skill, to the excitement when he first practiced, then the lack of exhilaration in his initial battles…

Later on, he mainly relied on some fancy moves and the Sword Holding Skill during combat; dissatisfaction grew, but he felt powerless to change it; thus, he started incorporating variations to strengthen his Flying Sword Skill, like thunder.

Still unsatisfied, he persisted until he discovered the Body Sword Skill and without hesitation, he switched doctrines; when the Body Sword Skill showed minor achievements, he hoped that the Flying Sword Skill would also rise accordingly, but he was still disappointed.

In his decades of practicing swordsmanship, it seemed that the Flying Sword Skill had never given him confidence; when danger approached, he would always remember the Sword Holding Skill, Body Sword Skill, Ancient Thunder Talisman, and now he might add the Five Elements Mysterious Light, but never the Flying Sword Skill!

As his abilities in other areas grew stronger, the Flying Sword Skill became increasingly irrelevant, yet he knew it was undoubtedly foundational, offering an unparalleled advantage in overall combat control when in battle.

Such contradictions left him distressed.

A mere cultivator, questioning the mainstream Sword Skill that had been passed down for thousands of years within the Daoist Tradition—it would seem preposterous, reckless, and ignorant to anyone else.

So, what exactly gave rise to such thoughts in him?

Other cultivators would never entertain such doubts; when they lack strength, they attribute it to insufficient effort, lack of talent, scarce resources, or few opportunities, but they would never doubt their Daoist lineage.

Delving deep into himself, recalling over and over his path of cultivation, trying to pinpoint the source of these fearful thoughts was crucial.

It would determine whether his ideas were right or wrong.

When he calmed down and engaged in deep self-analysis, the truth gradually emerged.

The genesis of such thoughts, his feeling that the Flying Sword Skill shouldn’t be just this, indeed began when he first embarked on the Daoist Path.

Because the Sword Cultivators he encountered in the Soul Realm differed from those in reality.

Real-life Quanzhen Sword Cultivators lacked the ability to sweep through obstacles, to advance valiantly and undaunted, with a sense of “who but I.”

But in the Soul Realm, he encountered Sword One, Sword Two, Sword Three…

In his heart, he had long regarded these Sword Cultivators of the Soul Realm as true Sword Cultivators!

That was the root of his dissatisfaction!