CHAPTER 364: CHAPTER 364: SWORD SOUL REALM!

[Ding, your Comprehension of the Way of the Sword has advanced to the Sword Soul Realm]

[Sword Soul Realm: Heart, soul, and essence become one with the sword. The sword moves with your will, joins with your soul, and your essence condenses into form. As long as the heart lives, the soul stays, and the essence endures, the sword will never fade.]

[Ding, you have grasped a new skill: Gifted Sword]

[Gifted Sword: Special skill, cannot be leveled up. Anything in the world can become a sword—grass by the road, fallen leaves in the forest—made into solid flying swords under your control. The range, number, and strength of the things you turn into swords depend on your Comprehension of the Way of the Sword.]

[Ding, Gifted Sword has fused with Myriad Sword Technique. Gifted Sword has been enhanced.]

[Gifted Sword: Special skill, cannot be leveled up. Heart, soul, and essence unite with the sword. You can turn objects within a certain range into solid flying swords to attack enemies. Each sword costs 2 Mana points per second. Attack range, number of conjured swords, and their sharpness and toughness all depend on your mental power and your Comprehension of the Way of the Sword.]

Johnnie stared at the new prompts, a bit stunned and surprised.

Gifted Sword looks plain at first, but if you think about it, with this skill Johnnie can freely control the things around him in a fight.

No one is going to keep an eye on every leaf and blade of grass during battle, right?

Besides, the Myriad Sword Technique hasn’t really disappeared. It’s just that each flying sword is now solid, and the Mana cost per sword went from 1 to 2.

That’s no big burden for Johnnie. Mana points hardly matter to him now.

With that in mind, Johnnie took a deep breath and checked the Immortal Arts he currently had.

[Vajra Indestructibility (Immortal Art): Level 1. Your body turns metallic. Overall defense increases 1000×, plus 10% true damage resistance. Consumes 10% soul power per second. Can be leveled up by advancing The Mage of the Five Elements or by spending a God-Tier Skill Stone.]

[The Myriad Phenomena (Immortal Art): Level 1. Plants and trees shift to trap enemies, like myriad phenomena. Targets lose 10% Health points per second, plus 1% true damage. Healing methods don’t work. Costs 10% soul power per second.]

[Water-Curtain Celestial Blossom! (Immortal Art): Level 1. Forms a giant water curtain that can block damage equal to soul power × 10,000,000 (including true damage). Costs 100% soul power.]

[Hellfire (Immortal Art): Level 1. Summons powerful hellfire. Enemies inside take 10,000% fire magic damage per second, plus 10% true damage. Duration and area depend on your mental power. Costs 100% soul power.]

[Earth’s Downfall (Immortal Art): Level 1. The ground sinks and mountains crumble. Deals 10,000% magic damage to all targets in range, plus 10% true damage, with a 10% chance to stun for 1 second. Costs 100% soul power.]

[Spatial Compression: Immortal Art, special, cannot be leveled. Uses spatial power to ignore distance within ten kilometers. Take one step to arrive anywhere within ten kilometers. Each use costs 5% soul power. The coverage depends on how well you control spatial power.]

soul power!

That’s what he needs.

Johnnie let out a small sigh, wondering when he could trigger the heavenly tribulation to ascend to godhood, turn his Mana points into soul power, and freely cast any Immortal Art.

For now, Seth and the others can form the Way of Heaven Divine Stele guardian array to supply soul power, but it’s still a hassle.

And using Mana points to cast Immortal Arts weakens them.

There’s no good fix yet. He’ll use the Way of Heaven Divine Stele guardian array as a stopgap. Once Johnnie becomes a Divine powerhouse, this problem will be gone.

With that, Johnnie left the Way of the Sword comprehension space.

He guided the Void Sword, picked a random direction, and sped off.

After his Way of the Sword advanced to the Sword Soul Realm, he could clearly feel his flight getting much faster.

Judging by those Star Raiders with Highgod power, his Fly with the Controlled Sword speed is definitely faster than theirs now.

After flying for a while, Johnnie picked a quiet spot and landed.

It was a small hill about two to three hundred meters tall, with dense trees and lush grass.

He planned to test Gifted Sword here.

He let out a soft breath and felt everything around him. Under his control, leaves slowly fell and floated in front of him.

The soft wild grass suddenly turned razor-sharp—no longer something to be trampled, but countless keen flying swords.

Using fallen leaves as swords, blades of grass as swords—a true sea of swords formed around him.

Johnnie reached out a finger and lightly touched the nearest leaf. Its sharp edge cut his skin at once.

"So sharp? This feels even stronger than the sword energy formed by the Sword Control Technique before."

He was very pleased. These solid flying swords made from plants weren’t as flashy as sword energy, but they held more raw power and killing intent.

With a thought, the swords around him trembled and let out a deep, solemn hum.

All the creatures on the hill shivered. The noisy forest fell silent.

Johnnie waved his hand. In an instant, all the flying swords howled into the sky, then gathered together like a rushing river and crashed down.

The earth shook. Rocks flew.

A seemingly bottomless pit opened up in front of him, thick Sword Intent pouring out of it.

A hole that deep should have filled with groundwater. But because of Johnnie’s Sword Intent, the water kept spraying out, and the soft droplets turned into sharp weapons, punching through the surrounding soil.

A pool about a hundred meters wide slowly took shape.

Johnnie felt it carefully and found that the Sword Intent left by that strike would linger for a while.

Without thinking too much, Johnnie left after testing the power of Gifted Sword. He was satisfied with what he saw.

...

Not long after the pool on the hill was formed, a player who was a Sword Immortal type happened to pass by.

Soon after Johnnie returned to The Chinese City in Montemar Empire, Cecilia found him.

"Johnnie, one of the Yett Family members found a pool filled with Sword Intent. People who practice nearby can get better understanding of the Way of the Sword!"

"Lots of people have heard about this, and they’re all heading there. They even gave the pool a name — Sword Pool."

"I contacted the first person who found the Sword Pool, and it turns out it was just created recently. There’s another unknown Sword Master in the Universe Continent, but we don’t know if they’re friend or foe."

Cecilia looked a little worried.

Johnnie listened carefully, and the more he heard, the more familiar it felt. He casually asked some questions about the environment around the Sword Pool, and soon he was sure — this so-called Sword Pool was the one he had created when testing Gifted Sword.

Johnnie just said a little, and Cecilia’s eyes widened. She quickly realized something and asked excitedly."Did your level in the Way of the Sword go up again?"

Johnnie nodded. He had actually reached the Sword Soul Realm.

But it was a pity — he had no idea what came next in the Way of the Sword.

Still, it was a bit surprising that the Sword Pool could help Yett Family members improve their understanding of the Way of the Sword.

That was actually a good thing. The Comprehension of the Way of the Sword space in The Secret Realm of the Sword Tomb had a similar effect, but going in was really hard — you had to beat the Sword-Testing Puppet and there was a time limit.

Now that Johnnie was at stage 8 of the Sword Immortal advanced quest, he could use the Sword Pool to speed things up.

He thought for a moment, then quickly started moving with Cecilia. They spent some time and recreated a few Sword Pools in the places where Yett Family members often gathered.

Johnnie also called over a few Yett Family Sword Immortal players and asked them to practice near the Sword Pool, while he watched from the side.

He did a rough calculation and realized that as the Yett Family disciples studied, the Sword Intent in the pool was slowly disappearing.

Based on the current number of Sword Immortal players in the Yett Family and how many Sword Pools there were, he figured he wouldn’t need to make another one for at least three months.

Of course, this was an ideal situation. As more advanced Sword Immortal disciples appeared, the Sword Intent in the pools would disappear even faster.

Johnnie just needed to take some time to refill the Sword Pools with Sword Intent.

After finishing all of this, a whole day had passed.

Johnnie took a quick rest and then immediately entered The Map of Heaven and Earth. He needed to ask Aureon Human Emperor about the next level of the Way of the Sword and how to continue training.

Aureon had his own Aureon Sword, so he probably knew something.

"You’ve already reached the Sword Soul Realm? That’s fast! No wonder I felt something strange when I saw you earlier." Aureon Human Emperor said, clearly surprised.

He thought for a moment, then sighed and said."I can’t help you much with the next steps of the Way of the Sword. For many years, my own progress in the Way hasn’t stopped — I’ve been stuck for a long time."

Johnnie felt a little disappointed. Although he had many attack skills, the one he could really use freely in battle was still the Way of the Sword.

What came after the Sword Soul Realm?

The old man in The Secret Realm of the Sword Tomb wasn’t there anymore. The person who created that place must have gone beyond the Way of the Sword — definitely beyond the Sword Soul Realm.

Although Aureon couldn’t help much, what he said next gave Johnnie some ideas.

Aureon said."There’s a saying — everything happens for a reason.It’s not just empty words, Johnnie. You can look at the abilities you already have and find your own path forward in the Way of the Sword."