Chapter 15: The Sword Sect

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April 14.

Five days remained until the night market at Lingyuan Marsh, which he had arranged with Old Lady Qin.

Within the cave residence, Song Yan sat cross-legged, eyes closed, as his spiritual consciousness underwent tremendous transformation. In the midst of boundless darkness, a dozen or so streaks of light slowly aligned and combined, forming a pattern akin to a miniature chessboard.

Suddenly, the phantom chessboard shifted again.

It was as if he stood upon an ancient battlefield, amid soldiers and generals locked in a bloody clash.

As though seated high among the clouds, an immortal lost in the beauty of mountains and rivers.

As though, beneath the stillness of night, a child gazed up in wonder at the stars scattered across the sky.

“The Lord of Vitality, who governs the utmost and moves in all directions…”

“Borrowing the chessboard of heaven and earth, treating mountains, rivers, grasses, and trees as pieces, merging the five elements as the ground, tracing the five star meridians as the formation, with man as the celestial center…”

“This is… the Five-Star Meridian Grasp.”

In an instant, Song Yan felt his consciousness torn apart into dozens, even hundreds of tiny fragments, the searing pain drowning out all other senses, his mind roaring with agony.

He had no idea how much time passed before the thunderous din finally subsided.

Within the cave, Song Yan slowly opened his eyes.

“Was that… a breakthrough?”

The cultivation formula named “Five-Star Meridian Grasp” contained only methods for training and visualization, lacking a complete system. Thus, he had no way of knowing what level his own spiritual consciousness had reached.

He extended his senses, which could now reach twenty-four or twenty-five zhang—enough to encompass even the scenes outside his cave.

Falling leaves, the chirping of insects, the drip of dew—every sound and sight was magnified, giving him an uncanny feeling of…

Control.

“So this is the effect of enhanced spiritual perception… truly wondrous.”

When he first began practicing this formula, his progress was rapid; within just a few days, he advanced from the third or fourth monument to the point where he could cut down twelve. But upon returning to the sect, he quickly discovered that the speed of spiritual cultivation slowed to a crawl…

In more than a month, he advanced only from twelve to fourteen monuments…

After arduous training, only today did his spiritual senses undergo an unusual change—surely a breakthrough of some minor bottleneck.

After a moment to steady his breath, Song Yan took out the stone bead. It had returned to its usual white color. Immersing his consciousness within, he once again entered the Realm of Duality.

He glanced sideways at the seventeen circular black marks on the stone stele, then lifted his gaze to the immense ink-black monument forming in the sky.

His spirit became a blade, easily slicing through the first monument.

Now, Song Yan could divide his mind, meticulously experiencing the sensation of turning his consciousness into a blade—

Marvelous.

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Each time he shattered a black monument, a corresponding circular mark would light up.

By the time the seventeenth monument formed, his spiritual power was nearly exhausted. Still, he forced himself onward, forging his awareness into a blade to meet the falling monolith.

Boom—

“……”

At last, when all seventeen monuments were destroyed, the seventeen circular marks shone brightly!

Song Yan could barely hold on, yet he refused to leave the Duality Realm, his gaze fixed upon the monument inscribed with the “Five-Star Meridian Grasp” formula.

But it was not the monument that changed first, but the sky.

Song Yan looked up. The shattered black “ink stains” drifted and swirled, as though assembling into some pattern.

A hum—

Song Yan narrowed his eyes. The energy from the seventeen destroyed monuments had not dissipated, but was now resonating in unison, gradually merging into two ancient, sharp-edged characters…

At the same time, the monument engraved with the “Five-Star Meridian Grasp” finally began to change.

The script and diagrams upon it seemed to dissolve like ink, the two characters slowly taking shape, imprinting themselves upon the stone.

Song Yan gazed up. Far above, black and white interwove to outline the vast, majestic image of an immortal sect’s gates!

“Sword Sect…”

Song Yan murmured.

He was no longer ignorant of all things; at least he understood some basic facts.

In the world of cultivation, there were many sects with “Sword Sect” in their names—even in Chu, there were several insignificant ones, like the “Qingyuan Sword Sect” or the “Lingxi Sword Sect.”

Their disciples generally focused on sword techniques or on forging flying swords.

But for a sect to name itself simply “Sword Sect,” was that not overly bold…?

While Song Yan was lost in thought, the phantom image of the sect blurred like ink in water.

Symbols, scriptures, and diagrams emerged from the blackness, circling around him.

Suddenly, the first black rune shot straight toward him, piercing his brow.

He instinctively tried to dodge, but his spiritual form was far too slow.

Then all the black runes surged at once, plunging into his mind and vanishing without a trace.

Already depleted by unleashing seventeen blades of spiritual force, Song Yan’s mind was overwhelmed as the runes flooded in.

A stabbing pain—he lost consciousness.

…

Four days later, at dawn.

The rising sun bathed the world in purple radiance. Most disciples who were not overly slothful would rise early to cultivate and absorb its essence.

Song Yan had not found any mention in the Qi Condensation chapter of how this “purple sunrise energy” differed from ordinary spiritual energy, nor what its special properties might be. Nevertheless, gathering energy at dawn seemed an unbroken tradition throughout the entire Dongyuan Sect.

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According to Senior Brother Lin Qing, this tradition dated back to the founder, when the Exalted Li first established the sect here.

In the outer sect, upon the eastern mountain’s Sunwatch Rock, Song Yan sat in a secluded corner, slowly opening his eyes.

“To formally practice this ‘Sword Cultivation Art’… I must disperse my current cultivation and start anew?”

“……”

“Could this be a demonic technique?”

Unease gnawed at Song Yan’s heart.

Recalling the events of that day, he felt a deep suspicion toward this strange sect.

“Sword Sect…”

After losing consciousness in the Realm of Duality, he did not awaken for three full days. When he finally came to, he found within his mind a message, like a letter, and a peculiar cultivation method.

Much of the letter’s content was obscure, filled with terms Song Yan could not understand or only vaguely guess at.

He could only interpret it in his own way.

By his reckoning, this sect named itself “Sword Sect,” devoted solely to the Dao of the Sword. Yet the disciples had suffered catastrophe, all perishing utterly, leaving only the sect master, who, unable to swallow the humiliation, had gone off to seek justice.

But the sect, passed down from the founder, had lasted only four or five generations—now the legacy was broken, and the sect master, ashamed before the ancestors, left behind the sect’s token for a worthy successor, so that when the ancestors demanded an account, there would be someone to answer.

However, since the sect was gone, and there was no guide to test his temperament or aptitude, he could only be granted the status of an outer disciple and access to the most superficial of the sect’s arts.

If, in the future, he managed to reach the Golden Core stage, he could enter the sect’s secret grounds, become an inner disciple, and rebuild the Sword Sect.

“…Golden Core…”

Song Yan was speechless.

Given his own talent, it would be a blessing from the heavens if he ever established a foundation in this life.

Golden Core? He hardly dared dream of it.

The letter said the sect had passed through only four or five generations.

Considering that, and the fact that apart from himself—the lucky inheritor—there was not a single disciple left, and the sect master’s fate was unknown, Song Yan concluded…

This must have been a minor, reclusive sect from ancient times, likely not even as large as Dongyuan Sect.

Which also explained why it possessed such a rare secret art for cultivating spiritual consciousness as the Five-Star Meridian Grasp.