When Zhang Ruochen walked out of the Sword Pavilion, it was dusk in the world outside.
A slanting sun hung in the sky, radiating a crimson glow that turned that piece of sky into a flame-like form.
Dusk, was the time when day and night alternated, the yin and yang were transforming into each other, and the rules between heaven and earth would find some subtle changes.
Night and day, after all, were somewhat different.
It was recorded in Empress Qian Bone’s notes that the second level of the sword represented “day” and “night”, and that only by observing the changes in heaven and earth during the two moments of the day, early morning and dusk, could one comprehend the first level of the second level of the sword.
Empress Thousand Bones’ understanding of the Second Level of the Sword was very different from the current understanding of the Second Level of the Sword by the sword cultivators of the Kunlun Realm, yet there were many desirable points.
Thus, Zhang Ruochen decided to cultivate according to the Thousand Bone Empress’s interpretation of the first layer of the Sword Two realm, while at the same time, incorporating some of the insights of the three Sword Saints of the Eastern Region of the Xuan Gui Sword Saint, the Nine Spectres Sword Saint, and the Buried Moon Sword Saint.
Sitting on the cliffside of the third mountain, Zhang Ruochen looked towards the setting sun in the sky with full concentration, appearing quite calm as he sensed the subtle changes in the alternating moments of day and night.
“Ta-da!”
Qi Fayu stepped out from the Sword Pavilion, wearing a green-coloured Daoist robe and carrying an ancient sword on her back, she simply looked like a fairy who didn’t eat earthly fire.
Who would have thought that such a cool, elegant, and saintly woman was the Holy Maiden of the Demon Sect?
Her beautiful eyes that did not contain any impurities stared at Zhang Ruochen’s body as she said, “You want to comprehend the changes in Yin and Yang Qi from the alternation of day and night?”
“That’s right.”Zhang Ruochen said.
“It is indeed a good method, but will it be too slow to cultivate like this? A month’s time to be able to cultivate to the first level of the Sword II realm?”Qi Fayu’s voice was beautiful, like heavenly music.
Zhang Ruochen just smiled and said, “If you want to be fast, you can’t be fast enough, it’s already great to be able to find a cultivation path that belongs to you.”
In fact, after viewing the Sword II notes of the sages, Zhang Ruochen already had a deep understanding of Sword II.
While he was observing the changes of day and night, the Heart of Sword Intent in his Qi Sea had long since changed into a human form and was already rehearsing sword techniques.
“Does Senior Sister Qi want to enlighten the sword together?”Zhang Ruochen invited.
“Good.”
Qi Fayu’s pair of slender jade hands twisted up her long Taoist robe and walked over, sitting cross-legged beside Zhang Ruochen, her back and waist hiked straight, outlining a perfect curve.
The setting sun’s afterglow spilled over the two of them, on the ground, leaving two long reflections. The clouds in the mountains were constantly changing, rising up from the bottom of the cliff, completely enveloping the two of them.
As the sun completely set the chassis line, the entire world was engulfed in darkness, the air became somewhat cold, and a bright star appeared in the sky.
Under the starlight, Zhang Ruochen stopped his enlightenment, took out the Void Sword, and began to wield the sword technique.
“Swish swish!”
His footwork was quite subtle, sometimes moving left, sometimes prancing, giving off an unpredictable feeling.
A cold aura and a ball of flame gushed out from the blade of the sword at the same time, and as the sword moved, the two forces began to rotate, forming a faint Taiji imprint.
Qi Fayu just stood on the side, quietly observing Zhang Ruochen’s sword stance, and secretly said in her heart, “His understanding of Sword II is still at the most superficial level, with his progress, it will take at least three months before he can successfully cultivate the first level of the Sword II realm.”
Reaching the first layer of the Sword Two realm in three months was, in fact, already quite remarkable.
One had to know that Qi Fayu had spent a whole year to reach the first layer of the Sword Two realm.
Although, the sword dao talent displayed by Lin Yue was indeed extremely high, it could not threaten her for the time being. Thus, she stopped paying attention to Lin Yue and returned to the Sword Pavilion to begin her closed-door cultivation to comprehend the second layer of the Sword Two realm.
That night, Zhang Ruochen had been standing at the edge of the cliff, constantly executing sword moves.
It was only in the early morning of the next day that he stopped, sat down on the ground once again, and began to observe the change of day and night again.
Each day, Zhang Ruochen’s attainments in swordsmanship progressed rapidly, incorporating his own insights into the sword path.
Arriving at the dusk of the eighth day, when the sun was setting, suddenly, a piercingly cold aura surged out from Zhang Ruochen’s body, completely freezing his body and turning him into a humanoid ice sculpture.
Sitting in the cold ice, he was still breathing in and out, and the true qi in his body was slowly running.
It wasn’t until the morning of the tenth day, the moment the sunrise slowly rose from the horizon, the cold ice on Zhang Ruochen’s body slowly melted, and immediately, wisps of flames gushed out from the pores of his entire body, as if he had turned into a fireball.
In the flames, Zhang Ruochen opened his eyes, a smile appearing on his face, “I see, the first level of the Second Sword Realm isn’t that difficult!”
Zhang Ruochen stood up and took a breath of fresh air, then, he travelled down the mountain.
In the Sword Pavilion, Qi Hong was sorting out his Sword Scripts, and a strand of his Saint Soul, sensed Lin Yue leaving the Ancient God Mountain.
At that moment, he stopped, a strange smile appeared on his face as he muttered to himself, “There are only the last six days left, Lin Yue actually descended from the mountain at this time, could it be that he has already given up?”
Within a month, cultivating to the first level of the Sword Two realm was originally an impossible thing to do.
Lin Yue choosing to give up, in fact, Qi Hong didn’t feel surprised in the slightest.
With that, Qi Hong travelled towards the second level of the Sword Pavilion, ready to tell this good news, to Qi Fayu, or to put her mind at ease sooner.
When Qi Fayu learnt of Lin Yue’s departure from the Third Heavy Mountain, there was another point of disappointment in her eyes. Originally, she had always been very optimistic about Lin Yue’s potential and wanted to receive him under her banner.
Now, it seemed that Lin Yue’s heart, was still a bit poorer and not as outstanding as she had imagined.
With that, Qi Fayu did not think any more and continued to cultivate the Sword Dao.
Zhang Ruochen’s departure from the Third Heavy Mountain was certainly not to give up the competition with Qi Fayu.
Rather, he had already sensed the first layer of the second realm of the Sword and was ready to return to the Violet Cloud Spirit Mountain and use the Tulip World to race against time to cultivate the second layer of the second realm of the Sword.
There were still six days left before the one month deadline.
In the Figure Scroll World, it was sixty days.
Zhang Ruochen naturally wanted to enter inside the Figure Scroll World to cultivate, instead of choosing to stay in the Sword Pavilion. The Sword Pavilion, to him, was actually not the best place to cultivate.
The second level of the Second Sword Realm was called “Yin Yang Chaos”.
Although this realm was higher than the “Alternating Yin and Yang” realm, because Zhang Ruochen had already crossed the threshold of the Second Sword Realm, comparatively speaking, the second realm was slightly easier than the first realm.
For the entire sixty days, Zhang Ruochen continued to cultivate day and night, and his entire person became quite frantic, the hair crown on his head had shattered and his long hair fell down, his eyes were all bloodshot, and a single vein of green veins sprouted on his forehead.
When outsiders looked at him, they would think that he had gone off the deep end.
In reality, Zhang Ruochen’s mind was still very clear, it was only because he was too overworked and tired that he had become the way he was now.
It wasn’t that Zhang Ruochen didn’t want to rest, but, rather, he had deliberately allowed himself to fall into a state of chaotic consciousness.
He was already quite close to the second level of the Second Sword, just one step away from comprehending the realm of “Yin Yang Chaos”.
According to the Nine Spectres Sword Saint’s notes on the Second Level of the Sword, the best way to comprehend the “Yin Yang Chaos” was to first make oneself crazy, letting fatigue, tiredness, and sleepiness constantly stimulate one’s potential.
When he was young, in order to cultivate the second level of the sword, he once dived into the bottomless ice lake, and in the lake, he fought with the savage beasts in the water without rest, and spent three months, and finally succeeded in cultivating the second level of the sword. In that cultivation, he almost died at the bottom of the lake.
In the view of the Sword Saint of the Nine Spectres, if a cultivator maintained a clear mind, he would simply reach the realm of yin and yang chaos.
For a sword to be chaotic, a person must first become “chaotic”.
Of course, to cultivate in the way of the Nine Spectres Sword Saint was actually a deviation of the sword, and it was very likely that the cultivator would be unable to control his spirit, and thus go overboard. Even, there was a possibility that he would die suddenly due to over exertion.
Zhang Ruochen had a strong spiritual power and was guarded by the Seal of the Gods, so comparatively speaking, he at least had an advantage over the Nine Spectres Sword Saint back then.
Even the Nine Spectres Sword Saint dared to put up a fight, why wouldn’t he dare?
For sixty days, Zhang Ruochen was in the state of practising the sword from start to finish, the whole person was sleepless, his consciousness was becoming more and more fuzzy, even the true qi in his body seemed to be depleting, reaching the limits of his body.
“Zhang Ruochen, the one month deadline has come and gone, you should go to the Sword Pavilion.”Little Black reminded.
Zhang Ruochen stopped and propped up his body with his sword, his eyes were bloodshot all over as he panted heavily and said, “The second level of the second realm of the sword is really too difficult, it really isn’t something that can be cultivated in an instant. Perhaps …… with the help of the Sword Soul Ice Spirit, it will allow me to cultivate a little faster.”
In the end, he still stayed at the first layer of the sword two realm.
A treasure like the Sword Soul Ice Spirit could be considered unattainable, so no matter what, Zhang Ruochen had to obtain it.
Not having cultivated into the second layer of the Sword Two realm, Zhang Ruochen was of course quite unwilling, so on his way to the Sword Pavilion, he began to squeeze his potential again and continued to realise the sword.
As long as one worked hard, there would definitely be rewards.
……
The third mountain of the Ancient God Mountain, today, appeared to be quite lively, with many cultivators gathered.
All the cultivators who ranked in the top ten in each realm of the Sword Dao Competition all came to the square below the White Stone Sacred Cliff. They were the topmost prides of the Two Element Sect, and would become the top echelons of the Two Element Sect in the future, so naturally, they had to be cultivated with focus.
