Gazing at the five great mountains before him, Zhou Bai suddenly thought, "If I could overcome the hidden dangers of cultivation and usage through laziness, then mastering all five Supreme Divine Powers wouldn’t be impossible."
At this thought, Zhou Bai felt his concerns ease all at once.
So he glanced over and chose the Tianhe Star Explosion swordsmanship first, thinking that Tina was following the path of sword diagrams. All ten Daoist skills beneath Tianhe Star Explosion were related to swords, and if he learned them, he could study together with Tina.
"Then I’ll learn the Tianhe Star Explosion swordsmanship," he decided.
"The Tianhe Star Explosion swordsmanship is a Supreme Sword Dao that channels alien forces from beyond the skies. Once mastered, even if one has not ascended to the ranks of immortals, it is enough to contend with some gods," Jiaojiao, in her middle-aged form, nodded slightly, "Go ahead then."
With a light wave of her palm, Zhou Bai felt his body move with the wind, floating down to the foot of the mountain housing the Tianhe Star Explosion swordsmanship.
A countdown timer flickered before his eyes.
59:59
Jiaojiao’s voice came from beside his ear, "After an hour each time you enter, you will be kicked out of the dream. If you cultivate a Daoist skill more than fifty times, you won’t be able to cultivate that Daoist skill anymore. Remember this well."
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Zhou Bai nodded slightly and walked forward, soon seeing rows of steles appearing before him.
He looked toward the first stele, "Let’s see... All Swords Return to Origin? The compendium of all swordsmanship under heaven, once mastered, one can quickly grasp any sword technique or sword weapon in the world."
"Can it really be as incredible as it sounds?"
Zhou Bai continued reading. Initially, he thought All Swords Return to Origin was referring to a directive compendium that summarized the patterns of swordsmanship and sword weapons, similar to the Lone Swordsman’s swordsmanship.
But he soon realized his mistake, he should not apply the views of a wuxia world to a cultivator’s swordsmanship in a world that had gods and immortals.
All Swords Return to Origin had nothing to do with compendiums, summaries, or patterns.
Apart from the introductory description, the rest of the steles bore no text, only various types of sword marks.
Yet just by examining these sword marks, Zhou Bai experienced unique insights flooding into his mind.
He immediately realized how similar this was to when he previously visualized in the primal Daoist texts.
’Could it be that before the distortion of Heavenly Dao, all Daoist skills were cultivated through visualization? Was that why the original Daoist texts were designed this way?’
Zhou Bai didn’t know the answer, but he understood that if the Twilight Taoist Skills here needed visualization in a dream to be cultivated, it clearly meant they couldn’t be taken outside and shared.
’This might also be intentional by the elders, considering Twilight Taoist Skills are dangerous and their spread needs to be limited.’
Zhou Bai then looked back to the sword marks, a myriad of profound and indescribable feelings continuously surged in his heart.
If he had to summarize, it was about how to communicate with the Void, to steal sword techniques and principles from it.
In theory, no matter what swordsmanship or sword he saw, he could connect swiftly with the Void using the method of All Swords Return to Origin and directly receive an infusion of knowledge, enabling rapid mastery of any swordsmanship or sword weapon.
"Void again."
This was Zhou Bai’s second encounter with knowledge about the Void after Dr. Zhuang.
"No wonder people go mad. All Swords Return to Origin actually entails directly obtaining knowledge from the Void, getting infused with sword knowledge."
"It’s like treating Heavenly Dao’s shadow, the Void, as a search engine, directly searching the Void for related knowledge upon spotting any swordsmanship or sword, then infusing it into one’s own sea of knowledge."
"Who wouldn’t go mad from this?"
However, Zhou Bai knew that he still had to learn, as it was a prerequisite skill.
So, he looked past the first stele, relieved that his half year of diligent study had gradually brought his theoretical level of cultivation up to par with his peers.
At this moment, visualizing the numerous sword marks on the stele, although it was very taxing, he still achieved some understanding.
As nearly an hour of cultivation time passed, Jiaojiao appeared behind Zhou Bai in a flash.
He was seen sitting cross-legged in front of the first stele, deep in contemplation with a troubled brow.
Jiaojiao spoke, "All Swords Return to Origin was already difficult to cultivate even before the distortion of Heavenly Dao. Visualizing sword marks, grasping All Swords Return to Origin, then connecting with the Void to possess the ability to master all swordsmanship and sword weapons in the world.
This process requires months or even years of a cultivator’s consistent enlightenment.
But now, you only have fifty chances, each lasting one hour. Without exceptional talent, how could one possibly learn it?"
Seeing Zhou Bai still lost in silent thought, Jiaojiao said, "Time is up, Zhou Bai, we need to leave."
"Wait, just a little longer, I’m about to master this part."
Looking at Zhou Bai’s anxious demeanor, Jiaojiao waved her hand, taking him away from the mountain of Tianhe Star Explosion swordsmanship and back to the previous tree.
Zhou Bai saw the vanishing stele and felt an extreme sense of loss, standing up angrily to protest, "What are you doing? Send me back! I was almost there!"
Jiaojiao paid no attention to Zhou Bai’s complaint, merely watching him coldly, until after his rant, she slowly said, "Look at your current state, do you think it’s normal?"
Zhou Bai was suddenly startled, reflecting on his current condition, sensing something amiss, and immediately treated himself with laziness points, startlingly using up 500 points.
Jiaojiao continued, "This is a side effect of practicing All Swords Return to Origin. Without noticing, you become irritable and extreme, increasingly obsessed with swordsmanship, more and more greedy.
If you continue to go mad with this, you will become a complete sword maniac, caring for nothing but sword techniques, forgoing even eating and sleeping, and ultimately losing the ability to survive."
Zhou Bai was horrified, especially since he’d just used 500 laziness points to treat his mental issues, he was even more sensitive to his earlier abnormal state. He turned to Jiaojiao to express his gratitude, "Thank you, Elder."
Jiaojiao looked at Zhou Bai somewhat surprised; he seemed to have calmed down quickly, "Oh? Your mental fortitude is not bad. You’ve realized something is wrong and recovered swiftly."
Continuing, she shook her head, "But honestly, your talent is too poor. Over all these years, you are the only one who couldn’t finish the contents of the first stele in an hour, the slowest learner in history."
With that, she sighed, feeling the sentiment that her disciples were declining year by year, seemingly lost interest in talking further, pushed with her hand, and Zhou Bai felt his body lighten, regaining consciousness back in the real world when he came to.