Eternal Swordmaster
Chapter 338 - 331 Challenge 5

Chapter 338: 331 Challenge 5

"With your strength, you are still far from my great-grandfather. If continuous fighting could even the gap, then all the cultivators in the world wouldn’t need to cultivate; they’d all just go to war with each other, why seek the Dao, why ask about the immortals?"

"Stop wasting your energy..." The girl seemed completely oblivious to her own far inferior strength, her eyes slightly red as if recalling something, incessantly speaking.

The Red Flower, still in a black robe, stood motionless, waiting with closed eyes at the Bagua platform. He completely ignored the girl.

"Daoist Red Flower." Zheng Yunzhen and a few others slowly flew out, looking towards you Red Flower from afar.

The girl in the red dress immediately fell silent, saying no more.

"Fire, calm down," the plump Taoist appeared beside her, speaking in a deep tone. His voice, like a stream of spring water, suddenly entered the girl’s mind.

Only then did her emotions slightly cool down.

"Everyone’s innate talent has its limits, although defying fate has only been mentioned a few times in history. But you seem to have developed some demonic obstruction recently," the plump Taoist sighed, "If cultivation doesn’t succeed, you could choose other paths."

The girl in the red dress clenched her lips tightly, staring at the Red Flower on the platform, her mind filled with unknown thoughts.

Ever since she witnessed the battle last time, her emotions had been unstable, seemingly provoked by the Red Flower. Recalling her past experiences, she even forgot the gap in cultivation between the two and started shouting loudly.

By now, the two on the platform stood facing each other, starting their conversation.

Zheng Yunzhen focused his gaze on the opposite Red Flower, not finding any trace of the severe injuries he had inflicted earlier, which made him frown slightly.

"Daoist, with your visit this time, may I know the important matter?"

Lin Xin didn’t speak, merely slowly drawing out the Red Flower Sword. He now played the role of a challenge-obsessed lunatic for the Dao, too lazy to speak further.

Seeing his posture, Zheng Yunzhen also knew this guy had obviously come for a challenge.

The opposition was strong enough to withstand his second Dao Seeking move; such strength was unmatched even within his own sect, forcing him to confront it personally.

With no choice, he transmitted his voice to those around him, signaling them to retreat further away.

Then he activated the protective formation.

An elderly man in a yellow robe stood by to support him.

"Please," Zheng Yunzhen ceased to speak further. Facing such a battle-crazy figure, retreating would be useless, and though there might be other techniques, those hinged on understanding his opponent.

Being completely unaware, he could only satisfy the opponent’s will and fight fairly.

The two, each wielding their magic artifact, suddenly emitted vast amounts of invisible energy fields, countering each other.

"Red Flower Sword Path, Heart Technique!"

Lin Xin’s figure surged forward rapidly, reaching Zheng Yunzhen in a blink, thrusting his sword towards his chest.

"Cloud Emerge, Dragon Reveal!"

Zheng Yunzhen dared not be careless. He wielded his strongest move apart from his Dao Seeking Ultimate Kill.

Suddenly, a huge white dragon formed from flying swords emerged, winding from behind him and charging towards Lin Xin.

Boom!

The platform shook violently as the dragon roared amidst the large volumes of white clouds engulfing the scene.

The surrounding disciples couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise.

In an instant, the cloud dragon collapsed, and a divine shadow soared up amidst it.

"Divine Shadow!"

The cold shout spread, and the crowd saw the Red Flower dive downward, vanishing in an instant, leaving only a faint, melancholic residual image unknown to all.

Below, Zheng Yunzhen’s expression was solemn.

With one flick of his longsword, he cast out a burst of white light.

"Dao Seeking First Sword: Heartless!"

The voice thundered.

A white vortex appeared before Zheng Yunzhen, from which tens of white flying swords burst forth, making a sharp turn to rush at an empty space on the right.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Multiple parrying sounds exploded at once, revealing a red figure that had abruptly appeared there—it was Lin Xin, struck out of his Divine Shadow state. The group of white longswords seemed to have pre-empted the opponent’s attack direction.

"It would be better for you to withdraw straightforwardly, otherwise I can’t ensure that I can hold back next time," Zheng Yunzhen said mildly, furrowing his brows.

Lin Xin ignored him and backed away repeatedly. The Qilin was temporarily unusable, and Yin Mantuo had not yet recovered. He could only rely on his existing strength to cope with his opponent.

The group of white longswords incessantly surrounded Lin Xin on the platform, attacking furiously.

He too, holding the Red Flower Sword, was making an effort to hold his ground at the center.

While holding on, he was faintly sensing the special Taoist intent within the sword technique.

The core of the Flowing Clouds Blade Intent lay hidden within the rhythm of the indefinable clouds.

Lin Xin compared moves without Taoist Intent to those before him that contained the Flowing Cloud Blade Intent.

As a Dao Seeking kill technique, the contained Taoist Intent was astonishing, almost every aspect of it was an interpretation of the user’s personal will.

While dodging and blocking, Lin Xin observed. With his eyes as a Formation Talisman Master, he vaguely made out that the Flowing Cloud Blade Intent seemed to be composed of many tiny units.

Each of these units contained a little bit of Taoist Intent, and when accumulated together, utilizing a special formation combination, they burst forth with unprecedented lethal power.

"Could this be the same principle as the Sea of Clouds? No matter how vast the Sea of Clouds is, it is also formed by the gathering of bits of cloud essence. Cloud essence is the most basic unit."

"So how is this kind of Taoist Intent formed? Both personal will and inherited cultivation techniques can condense Taoist Intent, but what is the difference between them?"

"All cultivators pursue the three major stages of heart, intent, and realm, stepping into the realm of Yuan Jing and achieving Nascent Soul is fundamentally what all cultivators yearn for in their dreams. No matter the technique, they must ultimately step into that realm."

Questions kept surfacing in his mind. He felt there was a crucial area he was overlooking, but he couldn’t recall what it was.

He carefully memorized the Taoist Intent employed by Zheng Yunzhen at this moment, but because of his distraction, his handling of the flying sword group also increasingly showed signs of strain, unlike before. Each flying sword in the group now had about twice the power of Zheng Yunzhen’s normal sword techniques, and he had to put in all his effort in each move he made, and still had to use high speed to dodge and not directly confront.

With doubts in his mind, his movements slightly slowed.

’Today’s goal has been achieved; it’s time to withdraw.’

With that thought, he suddenly retreated, smashing the protective shield and flying towards the distance.

Zheng Yunzhen withdrew the group of flying swords, watching him fly further away and soon disappear into the Sea of Clouds.

"This person is probably using you as a whetstone to sharpen his own Taoist Intent," said the yellow-robed old Taoist beside him.

Zheng Yunzhen nodded slightly, smiling helplessly.

"Really," he himself didn’t know what else to say.

*********************

Boom!

A red light exploded, blasting a large pit in the forest, directly demolishing the ground and trees.

The surrounding area teemed with various fleeing animals, including some odd and bizarre monsters.

Lin Xin stood at the edge of a several-meters-wide black and red pit, panting heavily, seemingly exhausted.

"Something’s not right, not right."

He frowned, muttering to himself.

"If Taoist Intent is the extreme condensation of personal will, then how could a fixed technique be infused with this intent?"

"Could it be similar to calligraphy and painting, where one can feel the so-called essence, energy, and spirit?" he wondered, looking at the large pit before him, utterly puzzled.

"But if Taoist Intent is a complete condensation of essence, energy, and spirit, then this kind of thing should be unique to each person, so why does the Yuan Dou Demonic Technique require me to comprehend thousands of different Taoist Intents?"

"I tried to set aside my own Taoist Intent and comprehend the Flowing Cloud Blade Intent, but the result was a disruption of spiritual energy, instantly becoming unstable and exploding."

His frown deepened.

Carrying a sword, he returned to sit by the fire, took down a roasted rabbit, unscrewed the pre-prepared spicy sauce, and began to eat with it.

"Taoist Intent is a threshold that every Foundation Establishment Cultivator must pass, which means, every Foundation Establishment Cultivator will have Taoist Intent." He recalled all the cultivators he encountered and the countless Taoist Intents he witnessed since his debut, but most didn’t leave much of an impression, some even failing to integrate Taoist Intent into their techniques, making their comprehension in vain.

"Only at the peak of Intent Level, by condensing Taoist Intent to the utmost and integrating it into techniques, can its power be truly and completely manifested. That is to say, the Dao Seeking kill techniques of the Way of the Knife, and the Sincere Path of the Sword Dao, represent the essence of extremely concentrated Taoist Intent."

Suddenly, he realized something that he had previously overlooked, his brain thundering like lightning, he was jolted.

"No!"

He tossed aside the rabbit meat in his hand and suddenly stood up.

"Since Taoist Intent is an extreme manifestation of emotional will, then why isn’t every emotional will able to condense Taoist Intent?! Why only a few succeed? Emotions taken to extremes aren’t rare; loss of family, separation from spouses and children, despair, pain, madness, various extreme emotions are countless," he mused.

He vaguely felt he discovered the key.

He carefully recalled the feeling when he first comprehended the Red Flower Sword Intent.

"Harmonizing with heaven and earth... Yes! It’s harmonizing with heaven and earth naturally! Resonance!"

He was suddenly shaken.

He quickly reviewed the Yuan Dou Demonic Technique and his previous memories of many other cultivation technique manuals. All that involved the stage of Taoist Intent shared a common notion – that understanding a kind of Taoist Intent required traveling to the most suitable environment. It needed the appropriate mental state, and furthermore, one must reach a state of mind devoid of all thoughts, achieving Forget Self, Forget Intent, and Forget Desire.

"So it seems, personal will triggers a resonance with heaven and earth, thus forming the so-called Taoist Intent. That means, each type of Taoist Intent is an interpretation of a part of the natural universe. By feeling into the Dao... That’s it, that’s it... Taoist Intent should indeed be, as recorded in ancient texts, the universe’s resonance and feedback to an individual’s comprehension of the rules,"

He suddenly felt an epiphany, clearly recalling something he knew very well from before, but at this moment, recollecting it had an indescribable charm.

"So, by understanding the natural universe, can I not also condense a completely unique interpretation of Taoist Intent? Through the knowledge I possess, leveraging the power of the natural universe. This is the essence of a cultivator’s Taoist Intent."

Thinking this, Lin Xin suddenly thought of Earth’s science from his previous life. Isn’t science also humanity’s comprehension and understanding of rules, using them to transform external objects, creating variousMeans to leverage and change nature?

This is so similar to the current situation!