The second round of exams, which lasted for three days, all students, had to stay in the Holy Academy to study sword techniques.
Only at the end of the examination could they leave.
Time, two days quickly passed.
Xu Hai carried his hands behind his back, his gaze cold and sharp as he cruised above the examination room, asking Nie Wenlong, “How many swords has Xu Canglan cultivated to?”
Nie Wenlong’s expression was solemn as he said, “Back to senior brother, the eighth sword.”
Xu Hai nodded with satisfaction and said, “Xu Canglan is the second expert of this generation of the Xu Sheng Sect Valve, his attainments in the Dao of the Sword are extremely high, and he has long since reached the peak realm of the Sword following the heart. Seven days in advance, I obtained the Soul Pursuing Thirteen Sword’s Heart Technique Recipe from my master and gave it to him, and he really didn’t let me down. The eighth sword, very good.”
The person who presided over the second round of the Sword Dao Department’s examination was Xu Hai’s master teacher, the Ling Yuan Half-Saint.
The Soul Pursuing Thirteen Swords was also a sword martial art created by the Ling Yuan Half-Saint seven days ago.
As the genius of the Xu Sheng Clan, and also the disciple of the Ling Yuan Half-Saint, Xu Hai, seven days ago, had already obtained the Soul Pursuing Thirteen Sword’s mental recipe and passed it on to the Xu Sheng Clan’s second genius of this generation, Xu Canglan.
Therefore, before the Holy Academy’s examination, Xu Canglan had already comprehended the Heart Technique Recipe seven days in advance, and had already studied the Soul Pursuing Thirteen Swords almost to the limit.
Now, all that was needed was to rehearse the sword strokes, so that the sword strokes and the mental method would blend together, and then this set of sword techniques would be successfully cultivated.
After spending two days, Xu Canglan had already successfully cultivated seven swords and began to cultivate the eighth sword.
“With one more day to go, Xu Canglan should be able to successfully cultivate the tenth sword, and the Sword Heart Pill, is already in my pocket.”
Thinking of this, the corner of Xu Hai’s mouth, couldn’t help but reveal an arc.
The reason why he had told Xu Canglan the recipe for the Soul Pursuing Thirteen Swords, in advance, was of course because he hoped that Xu Canglan would take first place in the second round of the examination and help him win the Sword Heart Pill.
Xu Hai had already reached the peak realm of the sword following the heart twenty years ago, and his sword dao cultivation was getting deeper and deeper, but how could he not be able to condense the Heart of Sword Intent.
Therefore, he had to obtain the Sword Heart Pill to impact the realm of Sword Heart.
As long as he passed tomorrow, the Sword Heart Pill, would be his.
Nie Wenlong stared in Zhang Ruochen’s direction and said, “Senior Brother Xu Hai, Zhang Ruochen is at the Sword Heart Passage Realm, and his speed of cultivating sword techniques is surely very fast, so he is expected to become a formidable opponent for Xu Canglan.”
Xu Hai snorted coldly, revealing a few disdainful looks as he said, “So what if the realm is even higher, it’s only three days, he’s only a mortal, not a Saint, how can he successfully cultivate his sword technique that quickly? Can’t you see that he’s still comprehending the Heart Technique and hasn’t even started practising the sword yet?”
Cultivating the sword technique was divided into two parts: comprehending the mental method and rehearsing the sword moves.
The mental method includes the coordination of the footwork, the operation of the true qi, and the essentials of the sword technique.
Only after comprehending these three things could one begin to rehearse sword moves.
The purpose of rehearsing sword moves was to make the sword technique and the martial artist’s footwork, as well as the way the true qi in the martial artist’s body was utilised, merge into one.
The sword technique and the martial artist formed a whole, reaching the point where you could do whatever you wanted.
When you struck out, you didn’t even need to think, the sword technique was already cast out, killing people with the sword.
For example, Zhang Ruochen’s previous life had cultivated a certain type of sword technique, and when he came to this life, he had to cultivate it again as well, in order for the sword technique to form a whole with this body, reaching the realm of following one’s heart, or even the realm of understanding.
In other words, cultivating the sword technique into a part of the body, such as the hands, feet, eyes, and nose, was considered to have reached the realm of following the heart.
Cultivating sword techniques to the point where the physical body and soul merged was considered to have reached the realm of the Sword Mind.
If you cannot reach this point, then what you cultivate will always be a futile sword stance, and you can only be considered a reckless person, unable to become a swordsman.
Just as Xu Hai’s words fell, all of a sudden, Zhang Ruochen, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, began to practice his sword strokes.
Zhang Ruochen used his hand as a sword and pointed out with a single finger, and seven hand shadows appeared in a whirlwind, separating as if they were heavenly maidens scattering flowers, striking at the seven points in the void.
“Snap!”
A series of seven air explosions rang out, like the sound of the tips of seven swords, pointing at the top of a stone wall.
“Senior Brother Xu Hai, Zhang Ruochen has already begun to rehearse his sword moves, he just executed the first of the Thirteen Soul Pursuing Swords, the ‘Seven Killings of the Undead Soul’.”Nie Wenlong said.
Xu Hai’s face sank as he immediately turned around and looked towards Zhang Ruochen.
It was already the last day, and it wasn’t just Zhang Ruochen, those other trainees, too, stood up and began to rehearse their sword moves.
After Zhang Ruochen executed the first move, he sat on the ground again like a rock, not moving a muscle, and did not continue to rehearse.
“I didn’t expect that after reaching the realm of Sword Mind, one only needs to comprehend through the heart mantra to be able to rehearse sword moves in his mind by virtue of the Heart of Sword Intent, and moreover, one can also reach the realm of great accomplishment.”
Earlier, Zhang Ruochen had been rehearsing the first move, “Seven Killings of the Undead Soul” in his mind, and after trying it out just now, he actually succeeded.
Zhang Ruochen continued to enjoy this subtle realm.
In his Qi Sea, the Heart of Sword Intent took on a human form and began to rehearse the second move, “Soul Breaking Wind”.
From afar, when Nie Wenlong saw Zhang Ruochen not moving at all, he frowned and said, “What’s that kid up to? He only performed one move, and then he didn’t move again. There’s only one last day left, and he still doesn’t start rehearsing his sword moves?”
Xu Hai gave a cold smile and said, “Don’t worry about him, I guess he is too presumptuous and wants to understand all the heart and mouth of the thirteen sword strokes before he starts to rehearse the sword strokes. It’s just a pity that there isn’t that much time left for him.”
They hadn’t reached the Sword Mind Passage, so of course, they wouldn’t understand the subtleties of the Sword Mind Passage, and they simply didn’t know that Zhang Ruochen had long since comprehended all of the 13 strokes of the Sword Technique’s mantra, and was now already rehearsing the sword strokes in his mind.
In the other direction, Xu Canglan of the Xu Sheng Sect Valve had already succeeded in cultivating the eighth sword and had begun to cultivate the ninth sword.
“That one trainee from the Xu Sheng Sect Valve, how is he so powerful that he has already successfully cultivated the eighth sword, he has such high natural talent?”
Duanmu Xingling was very unconvinced, her pair of round starry eyes staring tightly in Xu Canglan’s direction.
At the Pilgrimage Heavenly Staircase, Duanmu Xingling had fought with Xu Canglan and did not feel that the other party was that powerful. At the very least, if she had released her sealed cultivation, she would have been able to completely cross two realms and defeat Xu Canglan.
But right now, she had already fully comprehended the Thirteen Soul Pursuing Swords, yet she had only succeeded in cultivating seven of them.
Could it be that a genius student of the Xu Sheng Sect Valve had a higher level of enlightenment than her, the Holy Daughter of the Demon Sect?
“There must be a problem, I don’t believe that his enlightenment is really that high.”
Duanmu Xingling was very unconvinced and continued to participate in the sword technique with all her might, striving to surpass Xu Canglan. If he was surpassed by him, it would be too humiliating.
Three days finally came to an end.
On this day, the chief examiner, Ling Yuan Half-Saint, personally arrived and sat at the top position.
Beside the Lingyuan Half-Saint, there was a jade lotus platform suspended, and the Spirit Pivot Half-Saint, who was only three inches tall, sat perched on top of it.
She wore a red dress and carried a sword on her back, invisible in a cloud of white mist, like a goddess of the Immortal Realm.
Although the Ling Shu Half-Saint was not very old, she was the disciple of the Xuan Gui courtyard master, and her position in the Holy Courtyard was still above the Ling Yuan Half-Saint.
Even the Lingyuan Half-Saint treated her with great respect and didn’t dare to neglect her.
All of the students who had applied for the Sword Dao Department ascended the martial arts stage and did their best to perform the sword techniques they had learnt, striving to perform at their best.
If they could be spotted by a half-saint and become a half-saint’s heir, it would be a step to heaven.
The first student to ascend the martial arts stage was a woman of a young age, with a cultivation at the early stage of the Heavenly Extremity Realm.
“Dead Soul Seven Killings.”
“Soul Breaking Hearing Wind.”
“Soul Suppressing Standing Shadow.”
That one woman attempted to perform the fourth move, but it ended in failure.
However, having successfully cultivated three sword moves, she was already considered barely qualified and passed the second round of exams.
The second student who ascended the martial arts stage had a cultivation of the Heavenly Extremity Realm Minor Extremity Position, and was considered to be a first-rate powerhouse amongst the students participating in this Holy Academy’s examination.
However, he failed and only barely managed to cultivate two sword techniques, ultimately unable to enter the Holy Academy.
“For him to be able to cultivate to the Heavenly Extremity Realm Minor Extremity Position before the age of thirty-five, his natural talent is already considered very high. It’s just a pity that his enlightenment in the Dao of the Sword is poor, and he didn’t meet the admission requirements of the Holy Academy.”
Many people felt sorry for him, and at the same time lamented that the threshold of the Sacred Academy was too high, and even top geniuses could be brushed aside.
For the next test, more than seventy percent of these trainees were able to rehearse at least three sword moves and pass the test.
Twenty percent of the trainees, could only rehearse two sword moves.
There were also less than ten percent of the trainees who could only perform one move of swordsmanship.
Among them, there were also three or five who couldn’t even rehearse a single move of swordsmanship.
However, even so, it could be seen that the quality of the trainees who had come to participate in the Holy Academy’s examination was indeed very high, and all of them were elites that had been selected from layer to layer.
If those Heavenly Extremity Realm martial artists with ordinary talent were to be allowed to cultivate such a profound sword martial art as the Soul Pursuing Thirteen Swords, not to mention three days, even if they were given thirty days, they might not be able to successfully cultivate one of the sword moves.
By practising the sword techniques, one could also see how enlightened the trainees were.
There were close to a thousand trainees in front of them, and about seven hundred of them were able to practise three sword moves. There were roughly eighty people who were able to perform four sword strokes. There were only ten people who were able to perform five moves.
There was not a single person who had rehearsed a six-move sword technique.
There was only one heir of a Saint Sect Clan who had rehearsed a seven-move sword technique, which was already the most outstanding achievement.
“To have actually rehearsed a seven-move sword technique, I didn’t expect that there were still geniuses with such a high level of enlightenment among those Saint Sect Valves.”Duanmu Xingling glanced towards Huang Yichen and said, “Sister Dust, how many swords did you successfully cultivate?”
“Five swords.”Huang Yichen said.
In terms of enlightenment, Huang Yichen could only be considered at the top level, and was not yet at a heaven-defying level.
In three days, to have comprehended seven swords was a level against the heavens. Even in the eyes of those half saints, it was quite a remarkable achievement.
