Seeking the Root of the Sword

Time flowed on, and half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

Ji Ning stood upon a bank of clouds beside a towering, precipitous cliff face that scraped the heavens. He gazed up at the sword-art carved into the stone.

"The 'Five Treasures Sword Art'… it truly is a sword-art that surpasses the limits of the Heavenly Dao. I'm just a tiny bit short… I can't fully merge with the second chapter." Ji Ning frowned. For the past half year, he had been making lightning-fast progress, almost completely comprehending the second chapter in a single, smooth stretch. But in the end, he had hit a bottleneck, and it was blocking his way.

Being trapped by a bottleneck is the most terrifying thing for a cultivator.

Many Immortal cultivators get stuck at a bottleneck for eons upon eons without making a single inch of progress! Training isn't something where the longer you train, the more you are guaranteed to improve. If one could eternally make progress, those Celestial Immortals who had lived for billions of years should logically have become Pure Yang True Immortals long ago. Clearly, that's impossible. The last time Ji Ning had broken through a bottleneck in his sword-art and comprehended the complete Dao of the Sword, it was after eighteen years of bitter combat in the Realm of Annihilation, and only after he had even reached the first level of Sword Force. It had been a natural culmination.

"Breaking through this time won't be so easy."

"What should I do?"

Ji Ning frowned.

At times like this, having multiple clones didn't help at all.

"Staring blankly at this won't help. Breaking through a bottleneck requires a bit of serendipity." Ji Ning immediately sent a mental message. "Ninefang."

Whoosh!

A streak of light flew over, landing on the clouds. It was the bald old man, Ninefang the Empyrean God. Ninefang quickly said with respect, "Prefectural Lord."

"I want to take a proper stroll through the Three Realms," Ji Ning said.

"A stroll through the Three Realms?" Ninefang was startled. He studied Ji Ning carefully. He had thought Ji Ning was going to launch another sneak attack on the Seamless Gate. But now, it didn't seem like it.

"Let's go."

Ji Ning immediately led Ninefang away from the Sword Immortal world.

...

In the dark, vast world, atop the towering ten-thousand-meter royal throne, the Godking immediately received the news.

"Ji Ning has left the Sword Immortal world." The Godking immediately unleashed his boundless heartforce, scanning for Ji Ning's trail. "He has already arrived at the Tigerfang Major World."

Having been burned once before, the Seamless Gate was now prepared. They wouldn't fall at the same place twice.

...

In the Tigerfang Major World.

A wooden boat drifted along a wide river. On the boat, a white-robed youth sat alone, drinking. Beside him stood a bald, old servant with respectful deference.

"This Tigerfang Major World is the domain of Tigerfang the Immortal," Ji Ning said with a smile. "Immortal Tigerfang rose to prominence in the ancient era and even participated in the Dawn War. He has always preferred to walk the path alone, not taking many disciples. Still, two Empyrean Gods were willing to follow him. He's quite a formidable figure in the Three Realms."

The Xia Emperor relied on his subordinate experts and his background to rule the Grand Xia world.

Immortal Tigerfang, however, relied solely on his own personal strength.

"Without relying on the Xingtian Formation, I'm probably no match for this Immortal Tigerfang," Ji Ning said with a laugh. There were indeed many Empyrean Gods and True Immortals in the Three Realms. The very top tier each had their own unique brilliance. By relying on the Xingtian Formation, no one could suppress Ji Ning. But in a true one-on-one fight, there were indeed quite a few who were stronger than him. Just among his own fellow disciples under Patriarch Subhuti, there were several.

Figures like Red Snow, Patriarch Lu, and Tigerfang the Immortal were all standing right on the threshold of becoming a True God or Daofather. In terms of their mastery over the Dao and their ultimate techniques, they were far more perfect and far superior to Ji Ning. Ji Ning himself admitted this. After all, he had been training for far too short a time, so he had focused his efforts on the two paths of 'Sword Force' and 'Heartforce'. In the face of the coming apocalypse, there simply wasn't enough time for him to slowly comprehend the Dao.

"Prefectural Lord, please be careful of the Seamless Gate," Ninefang hastily sent a mental warning.

"Relax," Ji Ning said.

The moment he entered the Tigerfang Major World, his heartforce had already enveloped the entire world.

"The Seamless Gate is being very cautious now. When I was in the Sword Immortal world, someone was constantly monitoring me with a heartforce scan. The moment I left, the Seamless Gate probably knew. Although there are many Seamless Gate outposts in this Tigerfang Major World, only one of them has Empyrean Gods or True Immortals. But there are nineteen of them there. They must have just arrived. Nineteen Empyrean Gods and True Immortals relying on formation restrictions… I wouldn't be able to break through that," Ji Ning said, shaking his head.

He sighed inwardly.

His first sneak attack had yielded the greatest results, but trying to take another bite out of them now would be far more difficult.

"Come on, again."

"You're out of strength already? Tired after just that much?"

"Come on."

Faint sounds drifted over from a distance.

Ji Ning's gaze swept across the distance, landing on a village. The village was built beside the river, relying on it for survival. In the village, a tall, muscular man dressed in animal skins was practicing swordplay with a youth. The tall man called out again and again, "Come on, fight harder! Be smarter! Your sword strikes need to be more direct. Fancy moves are useless."

Boom. The youth's sword was just struck aside, sending him flying backward to crash onto the ground. He quickly scrambled up and charged again, gritting his teeth.

Again and again he was knocked down; again and again he got up.

The tall man kept talking the entire time.

Sitting on his boat, Ji Ning watched this scene from afar. He could tell that the man and the youth looked alike. They were probably father and son. The scene reminded him of when he was a child, practicing swordsmanship under his own father's tutelage. Compared to this tall, burly man, his own father's swordsmanship had been on a slightly higher level.

However, in terms of raw power, this man was not inferior to his father back then. This man had already reached the Zifu Disciple level, though his sword technique was slightly weaker than his father's had been.

"This village is very ordinary, but this man is a Zifu Disciple. It seems he brought his son here to live in seclusion," Ji Ning mused to himself.

"If only…"

"If father were still alive, and I could practice swordplay with him again… how wonderful that would be." Ji Ning suddenly rose to his feet.

"Prefectural Lord!" Ninefang quickly called out.

Ji Ning took a single step.

Whoosh.

In an instant, he appeared right next to the tall man and the youth in the distance.

Bufen was shocked, staring at the white-robed youth who had suddenly appeared beside him. Although he had been training his son, as a Zifu Disciple he was still keeping an eye on his surroundings. He had long since noticed a wooden boat drifting on the river a few miles away, and had also noticed the white-robed youth sitting on the boat drinking. But just now, in the blink of an eye, the white-robed youth was standing right in front of him.

"No spatial ripples. He didn't tear through the void," Bufen thought. Despite only being a Zifu Disciple, he came from a major sect. "Just relying on pure speed to appear here in an instant, and the wind around him is still gentle and slow… this level of skill is impossible even for a Primal Daoist."

"Who are you?" the dirty-faced youth looked at Ji Ning.

"Yun'er," Bufen barked. The youth was startled and dared not speak.

Ji Ning looked at the tall man and laughed. "Don't be alarmed. I only wish to compare swordsmanship with you."

"Compare swords?" Bufen was stunned. Was this a joke?

"Come at me," Ji Ning commanded.

Bufen didn't dare refuse. The other party could probably annihilate him with a flick of his finger. He suppressed all other distracting thoughts.

"Watch out." A heavy sword materialized in front of Bufen.

Ji Ning extended both hands, and two longswords coalesced from the energies of heaven and earth. At his level, even a casually formed sword was far tougher than a Mortal-ranked flying treasure.

Seeing this, Bufen's heart trembled even more. "What game is this senior playing?"

He didn't dare hesitate. He immediately activated his Zifu true ki, and the heavy sword shot forward like a streak of light, directly stabbing at Ji Ning.

"Clang!"

Ji Ning held his two swords. The moment the heavy sword stabbed forward, his swords moved like flowing water, blocking it multiple times in succession. His entire body was sent flying backward, and he even staggered slightly after landing.

"Father seems wary of this white-robed man, but he seems pretty weak," the dirty-faced youth watching from the side thought to himself, puzzled.

"Impossible!" Bufen couldn't believe it.

"It seems that using a Houtian-level body to execute my sword-art and block a Zifu Disciple's magic treasure flying sword… is very difficult, even for me," Ji Ning murmured to himself. He hadn't bothered to hide his voice, and Bufen, the Zifu Disciple, could faintly make it out. He was utterly speechless. Using only Houtian-level power to resist a Zifu Disciple's treasure?

There was a world of difference between Houtian, Xiantian, and Zifu.

"Again," Ji Ning commanded.

Bufen didn't dare be negligent. He immediately attacked again.

This time, the heavy sword, controlled by Bufen's Zifu true ki, was incredibly fast and fierce. However, Ji Ning's swordplay seemed simple, yet had already reached a state of returning to the basics, of supreme mastery. Ji Ning could have, with just a thought, infused his longswords with 'Sword Force'. But then there would be no point to this exercise. Ji Ning forcibly suppressed all such power, keeping his strength at the Houtian level. Naturally, this also slowed him down.

With his speed and strength reduced, he had to rely entirely on his mastery of the sword-art to defend.

Fortunately, his opponent was just a Zifu Disciple. Ji Ning's own mastery of the sword-art was higher by an unfathomable degree.

"I never imagined that by suddenly having this whim and fighting like this…" Ji Ning had never tasted this kind of feeling before. By keeping himself at the Houtian level while his opponent's heavy sword completely overwhelmed him in terms of both speed and power, he was forced to constantly dig deeper into the profound mysteries of his swordsmanship.

He felt a sense of progress.

He understood that he had found the right path! Walking along this path, he might be able to break through his current bottleneck and reach an even higher level of sword mastery.

"So amazing! His swordplay is so miraculous. This… this is impossible!" Bufen was also fighting with all his might, pulling out his most powerful sword techniques, even using some strange and bizarre flying-sword arts he knew, just so the mysterious white-robed youth would display even more sword techniques.

The white-robed youth's sword-art was opening up an entirely new world before his eyes.

For the first time, he realized that a sword could be used like this!

Because Ji Ning was keeping his strength and speed at the Houtian level, the swordplay he used was something this Zifu Disciple could see clearly. Even though he could see it clearly, it still felt incredibly profound and unfathomable. Even with a simple, basic sword move, Bufen would ponder it furiously as he attacked. Yet it still felt like a thick fog, impossible to grasp.

Even so, he could feel his own mastery of the sword-art increasing.

"A golden opportunity."

"A golden opportunity!"

"I, Bufen, was forced to flee with my son, and yet I've encountered such an opportunity! The Sword Dao! I can walk the Sword Dao! My realm will increase, and I'll quickly become a Wanxiang Adept, and then a Primal Daoist. I'll be able to go back and rescue my woman, and…" Bufen's heart was wild with joy, but he immediately suppressed those ecstatic thoughts.

He focused on facing Ji Ning, frantically memorizing some of Ji Ning's sword moves. Even the casual, imaginative moves Ji Ning displayed in response to different situations were exquisitely profound.

Ji Ning was a peerless genius of the Sword Dao, and he had already achieved great mastery in it. Now, he was using the 'Five Treasures Sword Art', a technique that surpassed the limits of the sword, as his foundation to comprehend the mysteries of the sword. Even a fragment of his insight was enough to benefit his opponent endlessly.

"Perhaps… this is the root of the sword. By discarding all external powers like Heartforce and Sword Force, I might be able to better seek the root of the sword. The 'Five Treasures Sword Art' is a true sword-art that points directly to the root of the sword. Very well. From today forth, I shall journey through the Three Realms and duel countless swordsmen." A moment of enlightenment dawned on Ji Ning, and he immediately made his decision.

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