A stream of sword aura danced forth, circling the two and protecting them completely. With Xu Ziqing bound securely against Yun Lie’s back, Yun Lie climbed faster than before.
Before long, they overtook several nearby cultivators, leaving even Xi Lin and the others behind.
Ever since he began cultivating, Yun Lie’s will had been exceptionally resolute. Once he made a decision, he focused entirely upon that purpose, allowing nothing else to draw him away.
This time was no different.
His demonic impulses had intensified earlier only because Xu Ziqing wanted to separate from him. Now that Xu Ziqing was bound to his back, Yun Lie could follow his own wishes again. His attention turned toward the Sword-Shaped Wood.
Nor was Yun Lie alone. Every sword cultivator who reached this place was shaken by the tree and sensed that it might bestow tremendous benefits.
That was why so many continued climbing despite grudge insects and serpents that could leave them dead without even a body to bury. Not one was willing to turn back. Such was the unyielding spirit of the sword.
The higher they climbed, the more glaring the differences between sword practitioners became.
Those with greater power in the Sword Dao climbed faster and left the weaker farther behind.
At this point, abundant true essence and lofty cultivation realms were worthless. Only attainment in the Sword Dao mattered.
Even with true essence suppressed, those with profound sword attainment released the sharpest sword qi, killing cleanly and without hesitation.
When Yun Lie had not yet fallen into demonic corruption, he had still restrained his power to some degree. Now, with his impulses unbound, he exercised no such restraint.
Once he released sword aura, no one dared approach within several chi of him.
Gradually the first tier of branches drew near, seeming close enough to touch.
At that moment, every sword cultivator felt a heaviness in the mind. Countless flying swords seemed to surge toward them, their cold light flashing and their edges incomparably sharp.
Within a breath, the swords were upon them, threatening to hack them to pieces and leave no remains!
Almost everyone was caught unprepared. Having already consumed so much strength fighting the grudge serpents, they struggled to evade the attack.
But Yun Lie’s expression did not change. His eyes opened and closed, releasing an invisible intention directly against it!
The first realm of sword intent could induce hallucinations, making a person believe countless sword lights had struck them.
To suppress such intent, one needed resolute willpower and the ability to withstand the illusion. Alternatively, one could oppose sword intent with sword intent; only the person with the stronger cultivation of it and the firmer will would prevail.
Yun Lie recognized the nature of the attack the instant it struck.
For him, the Sword Dao was already instinct, so he released his own sword intent immediately.
It too was the first realm of sword intent.
The two strands of sword intent collided, seemingly with a tremendous roar, yet perhaps without any sound at all.
The illusions of countless flying swords produced by the first realm shattered like glass and vanished.
At the same moment, Yun Lie leaped onto the first tier of branches.
Xu Ziqing had been attacked by the sword intent as well, but he had often trained under his senior brother’s sword intent. More experienced than many of the others, he recognized the illusion quickly and did not become trapped within it.
Before he could lose his focus, Yun Lie had destroyed the first-realm attack. Xu Ziqing landed safely on the branches with him.
This extraordinary tree was likely unique under heaven and earth. Xu Ziqing was deeply interested and looked around from his senior brother’s back.
What he saw astonished him.
From outside, the Sword-Shaped Wood’s trunk and branches appeared grayish white. Yet atop the first tier, their surfaces shimmered green. Under the shifting light, the green turned to silver-white, smooth and lustrous like flowing water. Countless thin branches spread like a carpet, supported by several thicker limbs. The sight was exquisite.
But it was not a soft beauty, nor the beauty of flourishing life. It was an intensely sharp beauty. Every delicate branch pointed upward like a sword, proud and unyielding.
Yun Lie raised a hand and beckoned. A leaf fell into his palm. It was a little over a cun long, shaped like a small sword with a tip so sharp it seemed able to sever a hair at a touch.
Xu Ziqing studied it curiously, noticing that some peculiar force seemed trapped within the leaf, unable to erupt.
Yun Lie flicked a finger. His sword qi swept across the leaf, breaking it in two.
From the break burst an intention accompanied by a buzzing sound like a sharp weapon cleaving the air. It rushed toward their faces!
Yun Lie’s gaze sharpened, and he released sword intent.
The two intentions collided, sending ripples through the air.
His Ruthless Slaughter Sword Intent quickly shredded the other sword intent. Its scattered fragments became a fine stream that flowed into Yun Lie’s brow.
He sensed that his own sword intent had grown a little stronger.
Xu Ziqing felt something entirely different.
When the contained sword intent erupted, he experienced a blazing sun shining directly upon him, threatening to melt him. But the sensation lasted only an instant before another, icy sword intent crushed it.
He realized that the first had been a sword intent connected to the blazing sun.
At the same time, Xu Ziqing felt a breath of sword intent brush over him like a gentle breeze. Knowing his senior brother had benefited, he urged, “Senior Brother, collect more sword-shaped leaves!”
Yun Lie needed no reminder. Almost as Xu Ziqing spoke, he released surging sword intent that became a tornado, sweeping and scouring the surrounding branches.
Countless sword-shaped leaves rose into the air and were gathered into Yun Lie’s storage ring with a sweep of his sleeve.
Within a few breaths, every sword-shaped leaf for dozens of zhang around had been collected.
Yun Lie was faster than most, but he was not the only swift climber.
Several other sword cultivators reached the first tier of branches at roughly the same time. They were in different parts of the tree and did not interfere with one another.
Other cultivators with somewhat weaker sword attainment soon arrived in succession as well.
Xi Lin eventually reached that level. He also quickly discovered the leaves’ secret and began collecting them.
Yun Lie continued sweeping along, gathering more leaves. Xu Ziqing, still on his back, observed the sword cultivators who were gradually reaching the same tier.
To his astonishment, he spotted someone he knew.
A handsome young man in magnificent purple robes leaped onto a branch a little over ten zhang away. He carried the reserved dignity of a scion of a great clan and appeared aloof and cold.
But an unmistakable pressure of sword power surrounded him. A strand of sword aura coiled behind him, its murderous edge carrying a sense of rushing wind, pure and concentrated.
It was Xu Zifeng, a member of Xu Ziqing’s former clan and once its foremost genius, a cultivator with two spiritual roots, one thick and one thin!
Since entering the great world, Xu Ziqing had not seen anyone from the Xu clan. He remembered that Xu Zifeng’s impressive bearing had attracted someone’s attention almost as soon as they arrived, and he had been taken away. Xu Ziqing had never investigated which sect had accepted him.
But now Xu Zifeng bore the mark of a small sword on his arm. Xu Ziqing immediately recalled the Cen sisters who had guided them here and understood that Xu Zifeng had joined the Myriad Swords Immortal Sect.
He did not know what had become of Xu Zifeng’s younger sister, Xu Zitang. Her aptitude for the Sword Dao had been inferior to her brother’s, and she had shown no unwavering dedication to sword cultivation. It was unlikely they had joined the same sect.
Xu Ziqing did not know the precise attributes of Xu Zifeng’s spiritual roots, but the wind conception in his aura made it evident that he had Water and Fire dual spiritual roots.
Xu Zifeng’s vigorous spirit and remarkable sword pressure showed that he was doing well. The fact that his sect had brought him to the Tianlan Secret Trove suggested he was highly valued. This was unsurprising. Water and Fire dual spiritual roots were not a decisive advantage in the great world, but they could benefit his Wind Sword Dao cultivation.
Xu Zifeng had always possessed extraordinary comprehension. Even when constrained by a clan in a small world, he had understood sword qi on his own. After joining a distinguished great-world sect with skilled teachers, it was only natural that he could condense sword aura in a few short years. His cultivation realm now was probably above Essence Transformation as well.
Xu Ziqing glanced at him only briefly before looking away, privately admiring his progress.
He suspected that Xu Zifeng had come to the Sword-Shaped Wood seeking to comprehend sword intent. If he succeeded, his standing within the sect would rise even further.
Xu Ziqing’s guess was correct. Xu Zifeng had indeed come to comprehend sword intent.
He quickly surveyed the branches, plucked a sword-shaped leaf just as Yun Lie had done, and cut it open.
A strand of sword intent rushed toward him. Xu Zifeng neither dodged nor retreated, instead forming a sword seal that imprisoned the intent within an invisible cage.
The Myriad Swords Immortal Sect was the greatest sword sect of the great world. Even the Wuling Immortal Sect could not rival its sword-related mysteries or its collections of ancient manuals.
Other sects might not know precisely what form the Sword-Shaped Wood would take. But Xu Zifeng’s technique suggested something to Xu Ziqing.
Perhaps the Myriad Swords Immortal Sect already understood some of the tree’s extraordinary uses.
After trapping the sword intent, Xu Zifeng sent out a strand of sword aura and engaged it.
Before long he frowned slightly and formed another sword seal.
The invisible cage exploded, shattering the strand of sword intent within.
Xu Zifeng plucked another leaf and repeated the process.
Then Xu Ziqing noticed several more sword cultivators bearing small sword emblems on their arms. None had yet comprehended sword intent, but all possessed sword aura.
Like Xu Zifeng, they used sword seals to confine the intent released from the leaves. Some crushed it casually, just as he had. Others suddenly smiled and reached a hand into the invisible cage.
A strand of sword intent sliced open one cultivator’s palm and immediately entered through the wound.
Sweat appeared on the cultivator’s forehead. A current of some kind surged up his arm, passed across his face, and entered his Purple Palace, where it finally stopped.
Countless tiny lights seemed to battle within his eyes as a fiercely sharp aura suddenly erupted around him!
Xu Ziqing understood at once.
These sword cultivators were all just one step away from comprehending sword intent. Yet that final step was precisely the greatest barrier preventing countless cultivators from succeeding.
Now that the Sword-Shaped Wood had emerged, their greatest opportunity had arrived.