Chapter 58: Transformation
Behind closed eyes, Yu Nianzhen saw a raindrop fall from the heavens.
Its speed was neither fast nor slow, but when it touched the ground, a narrow hole appeared in the ground.
The hole exuded a sharp aura, but the area around it was undisturbed.
’The raindrop sword art contains two intents. The first intent is a sword intent, and the other is a water intent.’
’The sword intent carries a meaning of penetration while the water intent carries a meaning of malleability.’
’The malleability allows the sword to penetrate through small gaps.’
After returning from the war, Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue took a few days to relax.
During that time, they sparred to confirm each other’s martial arts, ate together, and made plans for the future.
However, Jiang Yue was a disciple of the third peak. It was already disrespectful that he went to Yang mountain before greeting his master.
Because of this, he only stayed for a few days before going to the third peak.
When he left, Yu Nianzhen went into retreat.
The thousand herbs garden would open in six months, and before that, he wanted to improve his cultivation and swordsmanship.
On the first day of retreat, Yu Niznzhen refined a body cleansing pill
This was because he consumed a lot of pills during the war, and sediment had accumulated in his meridians.
If left unchecked, these impurities would continue to accumulate and may cause problems in cultivation.
After removing the impurities, he calmed his mind and began to cultivate.
When the war started, Yu Nianzhen was at the early stage of the fifth level of the origin forging realm.
However, he occasionally cultivated during the war, and his level had risen to the peak of the fifth level of the origin forging realm.
Because of this, he only required three days to break through and stabilise his condition.
Although he could continue to break through without encountering any bottlenecks, Yu Nianzhen did not continue to cultivate.
Instead, he chose to practice his sword and assimilate the experiences he gained from the war.
This turned out to be the right decision.
During the war, Yu Nianzhen realised that he preferred the drifting wind sword art compared to the other nine he had learned.
This was because the drifting wind sword art was fast and did not give the enemy a chance to react.
Because of this preference, he used this sword art more frequently, and his comprehension of it had overtaken the others.
At this time when he needed to comprehend intent, Yu Nianzhen naturally chose to start with the drifting wind sword.
It wasn’t just because of his preference but because he had experienced its intent.
His mind still retained a vague feeling from that time, and he hoped it would help him comprehend the drifting wind sword intent much faster.
Fortunately, his assumption was right.
When he put his mind to it, Yu Nianzhen quickly grasped the intent of the drifting wind sword art.
The intent was merely a fledgling, but the power of his drifting wind sword art increased by three times.
It was as he was cultivating this intent that Yu Nianzhen realised something.
At first, he thought that the sword art’s intent merely contained a sword intent.
However, he soon realised that the intent was a mixture of sword intent and wind intent.
The sword intent contributed to lethality, while the wind intent contributed to speed.
In the same way, the raindrop sword art contained a sword intent and a water intent.
The sword intent contributed to penetrative ability, while the water intent contributed to malleability.
As he practised his sword arts and their intent, Yu Nianzhen felt something growing in his mind.
He didn’t know what the something was, but he knew that it was beneficial to himself.
Because of this, he continued to practice without taking any breaks.
On the thirteenth day, a random idea sprung into his mind, and Yu Nianzhen felt like he was struck by lightning.
"I have a sword origin, and like the sword arts, my origin can develop an intent."
Previously, Yu Nianzhen had chosen a sword path for himself.
However, he had never thought of a way to achieve what he wanted.
At this moment, a seed suddenly germinated in his mind.
It grew uncontrollably, and countless methods crossed his mind.
In the end, only one was left.
His intent was transcendent.
If that was the case, he needed to absorb other intents and make them his own.
As soon as this thought appeared, Yu Nianzhen did not continue to waste time.
"The drifting wind sword art is made of three sword variations. Each of the three variations has an essence of speed."
"It also has a wind intent that has an essence relating to speed."
"If I can absorb these essences and implant them into my origin sword, something should happen."
Yu Nianzhen didn’t know what would happen, but he knew that it wouldn’t be harmful.
For the next short while, he spent all his time practising the drifting wind sword art.
As he practised, a bundle of light green light appeared above his qi ocean.
The bundle was half a centimetre wide, and its core was a small silver rune.
With each new understanding, the silver rune would absorb a strand of light green light.
Almost two months after he began practising the drifting wind sword art, the silver rune absorbed all the light green strands.
Soon after, the rune sunk into Yu Nianzhen’s origin sword and radiated a pure silver light.
A moment later, the origin sword sunk into the qi ocean and his origin qi began to transform.
Previously, Yu Nianzhen’s origin qi was colourless.
After the origin sword sunk into the qi ocean, the origin qi turned into a pure silver. Small swords appeared within the qi and became part of the qi.
"Qi transformation?"
Yu Nianzhen was shocked when he saw the phenomenon.
The main difference between an origin forging realm cultivator, and a qi transformation realm cultivator was their qi.
The qi of an origin forging realm cultivator matched the element of their origin.
In Yu Nianzhen’s case, his origin qi had a metal element, but it did not have any sword characteristics.
After breaking through to the qi transformation realm, his origin qi would gain the characteristics of his origin.
However, his qi had now transformed when at the sixth level of the origin forging realm!
"Is it because of the sword intent?"
At this moment, his origin sword rose and once again stood above his qi ocean.
When he saw this, Yu Nianzhen focused his consciousness and sunk it into the origin sword.
Previously, the sword was pure without any blemishes.
However, a small rune had now been etched on the sword’s blade.
When his consciousness touched the rune, a voice sounded in his mind.
"First form of the sword, speed."
Yu Nianzhen felt like the door in his mind had opened a little wider.
He knew that the sword had nine forms, which broke down to one hundred and eight variations.
From the drifting wind sword art, he absorbed the essence of three speed-based variations.
Using this logic, he needed to absorb nine more speed-based essences to build a complete base of the speed form.
Yu Nianzhen couldn’t help being excited when he realised this.
However, now was not the time for excitement.
This is because his body was still experiencing changes.
During his five years of seclusion, Yu Nianzhen learned a technique to transform his body and soul into a sword body and sword soul.
In that time, he was able to grasp a fledgling understanding of the technique, but he was unable to make any further progress.
At this moment, an image appeared in his mind.
The image was of his meridians, three souls and seven spirits.
The image was incomparably complex, but a map was drawn using a thick line.
Yu Nianzhen observed the map, and a compulsion appeared in his heart.
Before he could think about it, he began to circulate his qi.
The circulation method was different from his usual cultivation method, but Yu Nianzhen couldn’t stop himself.
He knew it was dangerous to randomly circulate his qi, but his instinct told him that nothing would go wrong.
His instinct was right.
When his qi completed the first cycle, his meridians and dantian began to change.
The dantian widened, and the meridians thickened and expanded a little.
In the second cycle, his qi began to penetrate his body.
The qi washed his body, and impurities were expelled through his pores.
However, the most mysterious was the change happening to his soul.
Although the qi did not enter the soul, a mysterious meaning combined with the soul, and it began to condense.
As his soul changed, Yu Nianzhen felt his mind become clearer.
He felt like a lot of unnecessary thoughts were removed from his mind.
At the same time, some of the things he couldn’t understand in the past became easier to understand.
It wasn’t that the complexity of the matters had decreased, it was more like he had suddenly grown a little bit smarter.
