77: Chapter 076 Sword Heart Clarity, Third Qi Column!

77: Chapter 076 Sword Heart Clarity, Third Qi Column!

“Moreover, even if he had broken through the fourth level, he is already dead!

Do you all still refuse to accept the fact that he’s dead?

Are you questioning the rules set by the ancestor of the Great Zhou Family?”

Zhou Yuntian still sneered incessantly.

After that statement, the entire Sword Soul Hall remained deathly silent.

The atmosphere suddenly became heavy.

“How can my son be dead if you are not dead?!”

An abrupt voice appeared.

Following that, a handsome man with profound eyes, holding a wine jug, and with a pitch-black soft sword hanging at his waist, walked in.

After he finished speaking, he tilted his head to drink, then coughed violently, as if trying to cough out his own heart.

Yet, as this man approached, even Zhou Ying and Zhou Qianqian stepped back warily.

“Uncle Zhou.”

Despite their fear of this man, both Zhou Ying and Zhou Gucheng respectfully called out to him.

The man nodded slightly, staring intensely at Zhou Yuntian, and said, “Do you want to see my Lifeless Sword Dao?

Then I shall show you.”

As he spoke, his ruddy complexion suddenly turned gaunt; his handsome face, in an instant, became nothing but skin and bones in a ghastly manner.

At the same time, an oppressive atmosphere of death swiftly permeated the air.

This deadly Sword Intent, imbued with a mixture of blood, fury, malignity, and cold, just the emission of such an aura, caused even Zhou Cangmu to change color lightly and step back several paces.

At this moment, Zhou Yuntian’s expression also darkened, as he struggled to suppress the churning blood within him, feeling extremely shocked.

“Then I shall experience it for myself, see how the waste who knelt and vomited blood back then is faring now!”

Zhou Yuntian, despite his wariness, showed no fear; a commanding Emperor Qi Sword Intent surged out from him as well.

The two energies clashed, exploding continuously in the void.

But the energy did not overflow; instead, it was well-contained, causing annihilation and surges without affecting anyone.

“Back then, my heart was dead, all hope was lost, I was like a walking dead, unaware of myself.

It was through your hand that I humiliated and debased myself.

Now, as your Emperor Qi is not yet mature, and using the Lifeless Sword Dao to defeat you would hardly be convincing, I shall wait until your Emperor Qi Sword Body reaches perfection.”

Zhou Wangchen, after speaking, drank another mouthful of liquor, and yet his soft sword, unbeknownst to anyone, had already circled around Zhou Yuntian’s head.

Matching his presence and indistinguishable in might, yet unknowingly, a bloodstained sword mark appeared around his neck…

Zhou Yuntian was also greatly shocked, extremely wary of Zhou Wangchen who was merely at the First Layer of Sword Heart.

He was unaware of the profundity of the Lifeless Sword Dao, and inevitably suffered a setback at the first encounter, instantly losing, but this did not mean that Zhou Wangchen had surpassed him, possessing combat power near or equivalent to breaking through the third, or almost fourth, level;

it was merely due to the special nature of the Secret Technique.

After this encounter, now wary of his secret technique, could it still be so easy for him?

Zhou Yuntian sneered inwardly; this person didn’t strike at that moment, and instead of feeling grateful, he felt warned.

The next time they met, he would definitely provide a lesson Zhou Wangchen would never forget.

…

Sword Origin Pool.

Within the snow and ice.

Zhou Yan’s aura was profound, his body’s inner qi surging powerfully.

He still didn’t know how much time had passed, and his goal of one thousand drops of blood had now reached nine hundred ninety-nine.

At this step, he awakened again, but the final drop of blood, he couldn’t condense.

His body felt like it might explode, his mind so potent it seemed he could tear the void with his bare hands or crush stars with a single hand!

This was a terrifying sensation of blood energy.

His realm had, without exception, reached the absolute peak of the Third Level of Sword Intent Realm.

However, because he had not comprehended Sword Heart, he was still…

unable to enter the next realm.

It wasn’t that he lacked the ability to comprehend; it was that his mind was merely focused on consolidating blood energy and had never really embarked on Enlightenment!

Yet, despite this, he had still reached the absolute peak state of the Third Level of Sword Intent Realm.

Nine hundred ninety-nine drops of blood energy allowed Zhou Yan, in a flash, to surge like a terrifying Divine Beast.

He breathed out lightly, causing the ice surrounding him to shatter explosively as he silently stood up.

In the palm of his hand, a drop of Blood Essence suddenly appeared.

That drop of Blood Essence, in an instant, transformed into a Gray Dragon Illusion that roared between heaven and earth, its body appearing completely solid.

Its presence, too, seemed to snatch the creation from heaven and earth.

“True · Canglong Sword!”

Zhou Yan softly called out, and with a slight touch of his hand, the heavens and earth exploded vigorously, revealing an extremely terrifying aura that made the world almost tremble.

“Having condensed so much Blood Essence, yet unable to break through level five…

This realm beyond Sword Intent, the increase in combat power is indeed arduous.

Nine hundred and ninety-nine drops of Blood Essence!

It only brought my barely level four combat power closer to level five…”

Zhou Yan carefully sensed with his vast soul and immediately felt a great deal of helplessness.

As expected, the difficulty of the Sword Intent Realm had increased exponentially!

Despite not having achieved Enlightenment or absorbed other forms of energy, condensing nine hundred and ninety-nine drops of Blood Essence only brought him to the peak limit of the Third Level of Sword Intent.

This result was within Zhou Yan’s expectations, but what he didn’t anticipate was how difficult this progress would feel, almost to the point of making him feel like vomiting blood.

“Now, Spirit and Body are completely united, but there seems to be something still incomplete…

Yet, I can now seek Enlightenment, Xingyi Desolate Dragon Sword…

It’s quite challenging.

This icy and snowy world is desolate, matching well with the Xingyi Eagle Form, and should be extremely effective.”

“Eagle Form, the shape of a desolate king, who else but I, challenging the Heavenly Vault.”

“The Eagle Form, its nature is the most ruthless and fierce!

It has the essence of a predator and can spot the tiniest of objects; externally it is yang while internally yin.

Inside, it stirs the yang energy from within the kidneys to ascend to the brain, traversing past the ‘Elixir Book’ along the spine, piercing the three gates, and emerging in the Niwan Palace which in fist forms is called the Eagle Form!

If the fist conforms, then the pure essence supplements the brain, and the eyes will be bright; if opposed, the true strength can’t penetrate the four fingers, yang fire will rise, causing dizziness and inevitably red eyes.

This form’s way can restore the Pure Yang energy, capable of healing the wounds of the soul…”

Murmuring to himself, Zhou Yan stood like an eagle, embodying both spirit and form.

Suddenly, an inexplicable mood struck him like an abyss miles deep, and from it surged the Primordial Ancient Energy; at this moment, with his heart, Zhou Yan grasped the path of a lonely king and mastered the first technique of Eagle Form—the way of the ‘Eagle Striking the Heavens,’ the true Canglong Sword Technique.

Once this sword technique was executed, Zhou Yan’s heart suddenly became clear, as if restraints were unlocked by such an insight.

A beam of light, as if shining in the Soul Void, made Zhou Yan feel as if brilliant light burst forth in his brain!

It was an ineffable aura of light, and within this bright aura, Zhou Yan felt all his uncertainties suddenly became clear, and the obstacles he encountered in his insights all appeared as various illusions, dancing in the light, deriving the things he didn’t understand.

Then, his heart was enlightened, and in an instant, all that he did not understand was thoroughly comprehended.

“Sword Heart Clarity?

Is this what the Sword Heart Realm is?”

Zhou Yan murmured to himself, and suddenly, he reached the Sword Heart Realm.

That drop of Blood Essence also spontaneously condensed, bringing the ancient Blood Essence in his body to a total of one thousand drops.

His Qi Column suddenly “crackled” and shattered, then automatically reassembled, forming the Third Qi Column.

A purple Qi Column, like an arc of lightning during a Heavenly Tribulation, appearing like a segment of DNA, spirally wrapped around within the two Spiral Qi Columns as if it were an additional core.

The two Qi Columns rotated continuously in such a spirally structured manner.

Not only that, the Qi Jie on the Qi Column clearly became five Qi Jie and also reached the Perfect State!

Three Qi Columns, each with five Qi Jie!

Zhou Yan felt the changes in his realm, sensed the overwhelming energy coming through the Giant Sword Soul which, despite being immensely vast, still could not fill the vast chasm of the Sword Heart Realm First Layer Heaven.

That place was like a massive abyss, seemingly never able to be completely filled.

The energy of the Giant Sword Soul was incredibly massive; each time it blasted energy into his body, it was equivalent to the energy accumulated through ten years of grueling cultivation.

However, after more than ten blasts, Zhou Yan finally felt that the realm of the Sword Heart First Layer Heaven had stabilized.

His heart was somewhat shocked; this was almost equivalent to the energy accumulated over a century of hard cultivation with his talent, yet so much still hadn’t filled this realm to its peak!

This terrifying demand for energy finally made Zhou Yan deeply understand how difficult the cultivation of the realm beyond Sword Intent was.

However, this was not enough to make him tremble, what made him tremble was that his Qi Column had become Three Qi Columns!

Within the double helix structure, there was an added fearsome purple, lightning-like Qi Column!

On this Qi Column, countless tiny, gene-like unknown elements, even Zhou Yan himself felt overwhelmingly terrifying when sensing it!

He himself felt a sense of fear while sensing his own Qi Column, showing how extraordinary this thing was!

…

Taking a deep breath, Zhou Yan carefully grasped the benefits of the Sword Heart Realm, experiencing this Tao-like aura, and gradually calmed the huge shock caused by the Qi Column.

Afterward, he carefully sensed his own Blood Essence, sensed his own Giant Sword Soul, and then he subconsciously thought about condensing Blood Essence again.

This time, as soon as the thought arose, the process began.

The Superior Water Heart Method, refined countless times, was executed, and immediately his soul merged with the Giant Sword Soul.

Just as Zhou Yan was about to condense Blood Essence, the Giant Sword Soul suddenly trembled, then a mysterious Soul Energy dispersed.

“Zhou Yan… you have finally…

reached this realm of Enlightenment; I am finally relieved.”

“Master… Master?”

Zhou Yan saw the apparition and was overwhelmingly excited!

He had always felt as if his master was still around and hadn’t truly left.

Seeing his master again at this moment, Zhou Yan was truly excited.