Prompted by the Hundred Bones Resonance, Gu Chengming finally pulled his attention back to the panel of this so-called "Divorce Counterattack System" floating before him.
He stared at the mission-rewards column, his gaze frozen there for a long moment.
Was this thing really something that ought to show up in a proper game?
Gu Chengming grumbled inwardly.
For now there was no telling whether this was the Free and Unfettered Art amusing itself, or a gift bestowed upon him by that Demon Pill Immortal Sovereign through the opportunity. In any case, judging by the name alone, this thing probably wouldn't do him much good.
Still, he did stumble upon a pleasant surprise.
That was the affection value of the Free and Unfettered Art.
This Sixth Realm technique had been masquerading all along as that ancient "vengeance system," and Gu Chengming had assumed that in such a disguised state the technique wouldn't have entered the affection-cultivation phase at all. He'd never imagined it had actually been quietly tallying affection this whole time.
If he wasn't misreading it, before the system crashed and reset entirely just now, this technique's affection had already climbed silently into the ranks of forty.
The affection stage had, without his ever noticing, shifted from "Stranger" to "Friendly."
So then, the one and only question arose.
Where's my reward for advancing an affection stage?!
Gu Chengming glared, thoroughly speechless, at this now completely made-over "Divorce Counterattack System."
By all past experience, whenever a technique's affection broke through a stage threshold, it was invariably accompanied by a reward of attribute points.
Yet this technique had gone and used the pretext of the system reset to flat-out embezzle his stage reward.
He drew a deep breath and forcibly crushed the urge to complain. However this rotten system chiseled away at his rewards, now was clearly not the time to fuss over it — after all, Elder Little Yu was still waiting off to the side.
He blinked, and the virtual panel in his vision vanished with it, the dim light and shadow of the Hidden Sword Pavilion reclaiming his eyes.
Elder Little Yu clearly had no idea whatsoever what had just happened.
From her vantage point, Gu Chengming had merely reached out to touch the sword's hilt, and then his whole person had gone rigid as though bound in place, standing frozen for a good long while.
"Little Gu, are you all right? Why did you suddenly space out just now, like your soul had wandered off?"
Seeing him finally stir, Yu Wenqiu hurried two steps closer, a trace of worry in her voice.
Gu Chengming waved a hand, signaling that he was fine.
He mused a moment, then, hoping to confirm a few things through Elder Little Yu, asked whether the Elder knew of the deeds of the Fate-Reversing Tribulation-Severing Sovereign in those days.
But the expression on Yu Wenqiu's face was nothing but blank.
Evidently, with Elder Little Yu's current Fourth Realm cultivation and station, she simply had no access to that level of things.
Those earth-shaking secrets about the ancient calamity, about the collapse of the Heavenly Dao's laws, had long since been thoroughly erased, or else sealed away deep in the memories of a handful of great powers — hardly something an ordinary elder could know.
"If you don't know, Elder, then never mind. It's just that when I touched this sword, a few fragmentary, odd words flashed through my mind. I suppose they're some lingering obsession left behind by this ancient blade." Gu Chengming casually threw out an excuse to smooth it over, pressing no further.
Yu Wenqiu looked him over carefully, and only after confirming that his breathing was steady and the flow of spiritual power through his body showed no irregularity did she finally relax completely.
"The things in the depths of this Hidden Sword Pavilion are peculiar indeed. Since you can't make sense of them, best to touch them less from now on. The Grand Tournament is upon us — don't go stirring up needless trouble."
Gu Chengming smiled and agreed. The two then wandered a while longer through the Hidden Sword Pavilion, Yu Wenqiu dutifully fulfilling her role as guide, bringing out several of the pavilion's most prized treasures and introducing them one by one like a proud collector.
A pity that Gu Chengming's eye was now exceedingly high; ordinary magic treasures couldn't even enter his sight, so the two simply passed it off as idle, relaxing chatter.
By the time the setting sun sank in the west and the light within the Hidden Sword Pavilion gradually dimmed, Gu Chengming at last took his leave of Yu Wenqiu.
Yu Wenqiu stood at the doorway of the duty room, watching Gu Chengming's departing figure. She lifted her wrist to glance at that string of demon-core bracelets, and the corners of her mouth couldn't stay from tilting up.
Heh heh, this counts as a date too, doesn't it.
After parting from Yu Wenqiu, Gu Chengming strolled all the way back to the small courtyard on the rear mountain.
Just as he rounded the mountain path, from a distance he spotted a plain-white figure crouched at his own courtyard gate — obviously Su Qingmeng.
This Dao-Child of the Daoning Gate was at that moment crouched, utterly without dignity, on the stone steps beside the gate, holding some withered twig she'd picked up from who-knew-where and poking intently at the dirt on the ground, as though she were… counting ants?
Gu Chengming halted, watching the scene, his expression turning rather subtle.
The Su Qingmeng of this moment had entirely lost the aloof, immortal-maiden air she'd carried at their first meeting.
Gu Chengming sighed inwardly.
It struck him that not one of the female cultivators he knew who bore the title of "aloof immortal maiden" seemed able to hold the persona together from start to finish.
Could this be the fabled destiny of the aloof immortal maiden? Once fallen from the altar, they went sprinting headlong toward the comic-relief or the goofball end of the spectrum?
Hearing footsteps, the twig in Su Qingmeng's hand stilled.
She lifted her head, and the instant she saw Gu Chengming, her eyes lit up. She shot bolt upright in a flash, not even sparing a thought for the dust clinging to her skirt.
"Fellow Daoist Gu!" Anticipation ran through Su Qingmeng's voice. "Sword practice?"
Gu Chengming stepped forward, looking at her eager manner, and asked, rather puzzled, "Fellow Daoist Su, just how long have you been waiting here at the gate?"
Su Qingmeng gave a breezy smile and answered without the slightest concern, "Since noon. I've been waiting all this while — seeing the sky darken, I even thought you might not be coming back today, Fellow Daoist Gu."
Gu Chengming felt a subtle twist inside.
Waited from noon till dusk? Then your timing really was terrible — I'd wager the moment I stepped out for the Hidden Sword Pavilion, you came right over to stake out the place.
He sighed, fished a message talisman from inside his robe, and held it out.
"Fellow Daoist Su, if you wish to come spar with me in the future, there's really no need to just wait it out like this."
Gu Chengming pointed at the talisman. "If I happen to be off the mountain on some errand, wouldn't you have to squat here for days and nights on end? From now on, if anything comes up, just use this to contact me."
Su Qingmeng received the talisman with both hands and turned it over and over, examining it a few times.
"Fellow Daoist Gu, might I ask what this is?"
Gu Chengming was taken aback, and only then did it belatedly dawn on him that this Dao-Child had spent years living secluded in the Daoning Gate, rarely venturing out, her daily life nothing but sword practice and meditation — almost wholly cut off from the outside world.
Even the message talisman, so commonplace among ordinary cultivators and even outer-sect disciples for everyday correspondence, was something she knew nothing of, had never so much as laid eyes on.
Patiently, Gu Chengming gave her a simple explanation of how the message talisman worked — one need only pour in a trickle of spiritual power to transmit brief words across a distance.
When Su Qingmeng finished listening, her eyes went wider still. She carefully tucked the talisman into her sleeve and solemnly clasped her hands toward Gu Chengming in a bow.
"Thank you for the gift, Fellow Daoist Gu. I like it very much."
Gu Chengming's mouth worked; he wanted to say the thing sold by the fistful for a few coppers at the sect's market stalls and hardly counted as a gift. But seeing how she treasured it, in the end he swallowed the words back down.
Only after putting the talisman away safely did Su Qingmeng speak up:
"Ah, right, Fellow Daoist Gu. These past days I've felt my cultivation bottleneck loosening slightly, as if there's a chance to break through. So today I came specially to spar with you, and I hope you'll grant me your instruction."
Gu Chengming looked up at the sun sinking toward the horizon, its afterglow dyeing the courtyard's flagstones a swath of orange-red.
This hour was indeed ill-suited — night was about to fall.
But looking at those bright eyes of hers, and thinking of how she'd doggedly squatted at his gate the entire afternoon, Gu Chengming truly couldn't bring himself to refuse.
"Fine. Since you're in the mood for it, Fellow Daoist Su, then come."
Gu Chengming nodded, flipped his wrist, and a standard-issue longsword was already gripped in his hand.
The two came to the open ground in the courtyard and stood facing each other.
No words were needed. Su Qingmeng's figure blurred, and her sword-light was already upon him.
In this exchange, Gu Chengming immediately sensed the difference.
The entire course of the sparring was more stubborn than any time before.
Clang!
The two blades met. Gu Chengming's wrist quivered slightly; borrowing her force against her, the spine of his sword struck cleanly against the flat of Su Qingmeng's blade.
Unable to withstand this deft leverage, Su Qingmeng was sent flying backward and crashed hard to the ground.
Gu Chengming was just about to withdraw his sword when he saw Su Qingmeng, without so much as a pause, roll and struggle straight back to her feet.
"Again!"
Gripping her longsword tight, she charged at Gu Chengming once more.
Clang!
Beaten back again.
"Again!"
Up, charge, beaten back, up again.
Su Qingmeng's forehead was already beaded with fine sweat, a few strands of black hair plastered to her cheeks, giving her a somewhat bedraggled look.
Her breathing grew ragged, the hand holding the sword even trembling faintly — yet the eyes she turned on Gu Chengming shone ever brighter.
Even as Gu Chengming calmly and unhurriedly dismantled her every move, he watched her state closely.
He could feel it clearly — Su Qingmeng stood upon some crucial threshold.
In that case, he'd give her a hand.
Gu Chengming no longer simply defended and countered; he began to actively guide. Each stroke of his sword landed precisely at the critical instant when Su Qingmeng most needed to erupt, forcing her to keep wringing out every last drop of potential within her body.
The setting sun sank completely, and night descended.
In the courtyard, only the sparks struck from the endless collision of two blades flickered.
When Su Qingmeng was beaten back for who-knew-how-many-th time, so spent she could barely keep her grip on the sword, Gu Chengming suddenly felt the air around them change.
The evening breeze stalled; the spirit-bamboo swaying in the courtyard froze in an instant.
More precisely, it was the aura about Su Qingmeng that underwent an earth-shattering transformation. Her original presence vanished, replaced by a keen, tangible sense of pressure.
Gu Chengming's face went taut. He knew — the moment had come.
"Strike!"
Gu Chengming barked in a deep voice, his tone like an evening drum and a morning bell, jolting Su Qingmeng awake.
Su Qingmeng's head snapped up. Slowly she raised that longsword, its edge already somewhat curled, leveled it at Gu Chengming, and delivered her final stroke — light as a drifting feather.
So fast.
No — not fast. Simply impossible to evade.
Gu Chengming was startled, thinking this stroke was perhaps a touch too outrageous, absolutely not something an early-Third-Realm cultivator should be able to unleash. That sword intent had even neared, indeed brushed against, the threshold of the Fourth Realm.
Facing this utterly dazzling stroke, Gu Chengming didn't flinch; he caught it head-on with his blade.
Zheng —!
Having loosed that stroke, Su Qingmeng seemed drained of all her strength at once. Her body went limp and she pitched forward.
Gu Chengming smoothly drew back his left hand, stepped forward, and steadied her by the shoulder.
Su Qingmeng leaned against Gu Chengming's arm, gasping violently.
Only once her blood and qi flowed back did she abruptly realize just how terrifying the power of that stroke had been.
"Fellow Daoist Gu! Are you hurt?!"
Su Qingmeng hurriedly struggled to check Gu Chengming's left hand.
That had been a stroke loosed in a flash of enlightenment; she'd had no way to control its force at all. Gu Chengming let go, steadied her, then casually shook his left hand and spread his palm open to show her.
Not a scratch — not even a single white mark left behind.
Seeing this, Su Qingmeng was left dumbstruck.
She stared blankly at Gu Chengming's unharmed hand, then looked at the longsword in her own grip, now utterly ruined, thinking Fellow Daoist Gu's strength was perhaps a bit too outrageous — he'd caught a slash on par with a Fourth Realm sword cultivator's just like that.
Unaware that Su Qingmeng's inner musings ran so close to his own, Gu Chengming was intensely curious.
There was no doubt that the stroke Su Qingmeng had just loosed far exceeded her present level.
And yet it had nothing to do with spiritual power, nothing to do with the might of the technique, nothing to do with body-refining intensity, nothing to do with an artifact. It was more like… a kind of trait?
"Fellow Daoist Su." Gu Chengming couldn't help asking, "That stroke just now — how exactly did you do it?"
It took Su Qingmeng considerable effort to come back to herself. She caught her breath and answered frankly, "That was the nascent form of the Daoning Gate's secretly transmitted 'Dao Sword' technique."
She paused briefly, as if arranging her words. "This technique is exceedingly abstruse; one must shatter one's obsession at the brink of life and death to even step through its door. Once mastered, the moment the sword is drawn, one can unfold a heaven-and-earth of one's own, sealed off from the outside world."
After thinking a moment, she added a more precise term to explain.
"According to the records in the sect's ancient texts, perhaps it might also be called… an Embryonic Sword Domain?"
So why has another new setting popped up now?
And what the hell is a Sword Domain?
Well, though he had no idea what a Sword Domain actually was.
It was presumably some sort of attainment in the sword-dao, akin to sword intent?
As for why Su Qingmeng would grasp this…
After all, the one thing the cultivation world never lacked was peerless geniuses of every sort who broke all common sense — and besides, she was a Dao-Child of the Daoning Gate.
The two stood in the courtyard staring blankly at each other for a moment. Su Qingmeng herself had only a half-baked grasp of this "Embryonic Sword Domain" she'd just barely touched; beyond being able to loose that one stroke, no further substance could be pried out of her.
Since the person concerned was herself in a fog, Gu Chengming naturally had no reason to keep pressing.
In an even tone he took his leave of Su Qingmeng.
Su Qingmeng, cradling that curl-edged longsword, was still lost in savoring the stroke from before. She earnestly returned the bow with clasped hands, then departed the rear-mountain courtyard with a light, brisk step.
From her eager manner, she clearly meant to go into secluded cultivation at once and fully digest the flash of insight she'd just brushed against.
After seeing Su Qingmeng off, Gu Chengming turned and walked back into the house.
When in doubt, consult the texts — this was a good habit Gu Chengming had always kept.
In his mind he replayed the data from Su Qingmeng's sword-stroke.
Without a doubt, this so-called "Sword Domain" ought to be a brand-new, independent multiplier bracket, standing apart from the base panel, technique level, and move power.
In the underlying logic of a game, Gu Chengming knew all too well what one extra independent multiplier bracket meant.
Even if it were only a nascent form, the damage boost it brought would explode exponentially.
For the Gu Chengming of now, the allure of this extra multiplier bracket was truly staggering. If he could master it — even just scratch the surface — his peak DPS could climb another great notch.
At that thought, Gu Chengming didn't waste a moment and set off at once for the Scripture Repository of the Wenjian Sect.
The Scripture Repository held ancient texts like a sea. With his inner-disciple authority, Gu Chengming headed straight up to the floor where the higher-tier theory was stored.
After leafing through dozens of dust-caked jade slips and tattered old scrolls of beast-hide, he finally pieced together a systematic account of the "Sword Domain."
The texts recorded that the Sword Domain and sword intent shared a common origin, yet were fundamentally worlds apart.
Sword intent was a cultivator attaching his own understanding of the sword onto his moves, whereas the Sword Domain was purely a matter of stirring, in the realm of the sword-dao, a resonance with the laws of heaven and earth, thereby forcibly carving out a domain about one's person. Those who possessed a Sword Domain were, more often than not, top-tier sword cultivators who had stepped into the Fifth Realm. And in certain extremely special circumstances, a fully realized Sword Domain could even produce a terrifying effect akin to a Dharma-Station.
Looking at the words "Dharma-Station," Gu Chengming's gaze sharpened slightly.
He had witnessed the might of a Dharma-Station with his own eyes in the Tianque Secret Realm — that was law-tier power capable of overturning heaven and earth.
Relying on dead texts alone was, in the end, mere paper theory. Gu Chengming returned the jade slip to its place, turned, and left the Scripture Repository, making straight for the main peak's grand hall.
When it came to insight into the sword-dao and knowledge of the sect's techniques, one naturally had to seek out Sect Master Shen Qianqiu.
…
In the main peak's grand hall, Shen Qianqiu sat behind a great rosewood desk, reviewing the case files sent up from the various peaks.
Seeing Gu Chengming stride in, he set down the vermilion brush in his hand and, with a gentle expression, gestured for Gu Chengming to sit.
"Chengming, with the Grand Tournament upon us, instead of recuperating and preparing on the rear mountain, what brings you to me?"
Gu Chengming clasped his hands in salute and got straight to the point, laying out his confusion and his purpose in coming.
At the words "Sword Domain," the hand with which Shen Ganqiu had lifted his teacup paused slightly.
He looked at Gu Chengming with some puzzlement, clearly not expecting that this disciple — though of superlative sword-dao talent, yet ordinarily little inclined to use proper swordplay, preferring to blast people with his fists — would suddenly take an interest in so profound a sword-dao realm.
Shen Ganqiu asked why he'd grown interested in the Sword Domain.
Gu Chengming answered truthfully, "Today Fellow Daoist Su Qingmeng came to spar with your disciple, and at the final moment she loosed a stroke whose power far surpassed her current realm. She admitted it was the Embryonic Sword Domain secretly transmitted by the Daoning Gate. Your disciple grew curious, and so came to seek your guidance."
Hearing this, Shen Qianqiu was of two minds.
In Shen Ganqiu's view, it was common enough for the young to be proud and competitive. Steady as Gu Chengming usually was in his conduct, he was, in the end, only a young man not yet thirty.
Now that he'd watched his peer Su Qingmeng wield a higher-tier skill he himself hadn't mastered, no doubt a competitive streak had risen in him, wanting to vie for the upper hand in this area as well.
Shen Ganqiu turned it over a bit inwardly and decided it was necessary to console this precious treasure of the sect, lest a momentary discouragement drive him down a dead-end path.
"Chengming, there's really no need to feel disheartened over this matter."
Shen Ganqiu spoke with earnest weight, consoling him: "The Daoning Gate's Dao Sword inheritance differs from the inheritances of every other lineage in our Wenjian Sect. It is a road to the heavens paved by generations of Daoning Gate forebears with their heart's blood, specially for the most preternaturally gifted disciples — a top-tier inheritance that leads straight to the Fifth Realm."
He paused, giving Gu Chengming time to digest this, then went on: "In other words, that Qingmeng girl being able to wield an Embryonic Sword Domain does not mean her comprehension of the sword-dao has already far outstripped yours. It is owing to the nature of her technique. When the Dao Sword inheritance is cultivated to a certain stage, so long as the opportunity arrives, the technique itself will guide her to comprehend the Sword Domain that pairs with it. This is the fortune of ancestors planting trees for descendants to enjoy the shade — not something one can force by individual talent alone."
Gu Chengming listened quietly to Shen Qianqiu's counsel and found it rather amusing.
Realizing the Sect Master had completely misread his intent, he explained, "You've misunderstood, Sect Master. In bringing this up, your disciple wasn't seized by any competitive urge to measure himself against Fellow Daoist Su. Your disciple was merely, purely curious about the Sword Domain — this sword-dao attainment that stands apart from ordinary cultivation — and wished to understand the principle behind it."
Seeing that Gu Chengming's gaze was clear and his tone was by no means bravado, Shen Ganqiu finally let out a long breath.
"So that's how it is. If it's only curiosity, then that's fine."
Shen Qianqiu stroked the whiskers on his chin.
"This Sword Domain is a thing of the utmost mystery; comprehending it depends greatly on one's personal fortune and the opportune convergence of heaven and earth. In the cultivation world, there are many veteran sword cultivators who linger at the Fifth Realm their whole lives, right up until their lifespans run dry, without ever unlocking a Sword Domain of their own. Your realm is still low; to squander your precious years on this in vain, delaying your own cultivation progress instead, would truly be unwise."
But then he found himself in a bind — he hadn't unlocked a Sword Domain himself yet, so just how was he supposed to explain this kind of knowledge to the boy?
"Let me be the one to make it clear to Little Gu."
A clear, bright voice with a hint of a smile came from beyond the hall.
Before the words had faded, Elder Han Che, in a robe of dark green, strode into the grand hall with an unhurried gait.
Han Che gave Shen Qianqiu a slight nod, then walked over to Gu Chengming's side.
He looked at Gu Chengming, smiled, and shook his head — while sighing quietly to himself.
Back then, the former sect master and the many veteran elders he'd taken away had made Shen Ganqiu sect master precisely because they valued his grounded steadiness.
But in truth, Shen Ganqiu's talent was nothing outstanding — mediocre at best, even below-average.
Being sect master was fine, but teaching a disciple of Gu Chengming's boundless gifts left him stretched thin.
"Come with me, Little Gu."
Han Che reined in his thoughts and turned to walk toward the hall's exit. "A thing like the Sword Domain can't be made clear with the mouth. See it with your own eyes, and you'll naturally grasp its depths."
After taking his leave of Shen Ganqiu, Gu Chengming at once fell in behind Han Che.
The two didn't go far, coming instead to an exceedingly open cliff platform on the main peak's rear mountain.
Here a sea of clouds churned and fierce gale-winds howled — a superb ground for martial demonstration.
Han Che stood with his hands clasped behind his back at the cliff's edge, letting the raging wind whip his dark-green robe.
"Watch closely."
Han Che's tone was flat. There was no superfluous movement, nor any mobilizing of the vast spiritual power within him.
He merely stood there quietly, eyes half-closed, and then snapped them open.
In that instant, the world before Gu Chengming utterly changed.
The howling gale-wind froze at once; the churning sea of clouds seemed frozen over by icy frost.
Gu Chengming felt an indescribable pressure sweeping in from all directions. He looked up to see that the space within ten zhang of Han Che had already been enveloped in a pure azure radiance. Within this azure region there was no wind, no cloud — even gravity seemed to have lost its hold.
Standing at the edge of this Sword Domain, Gu Chengming found even breathing came sluggish.
He had no doubt that the moment Han Che's will so much as stirred, every living thing within this space would be strangled to death in an instant.
This was the Sword Domain of a Fifth Realm sword cultivator.
Gu Chengming fixed his gaze hard on those suspended threads of sword qi. Relying on his superhuman spiritual sense and the keen perception granted by the Free and Unfettered Art, he faintly caught a few key nodes.
He saw that those threads of sword qi didn't arise from nothing, but were born of some resonance between the spiritual power inside Han Che's body and the surrounding environment, then given form by some intense personal will. Yet this sense was too hazy; he simply couldn't seize the essential of it.
Judging the moment ripe, Han Che withdrew his aura.
The azure radiance dispersed, the gale-wind howled anew, the sea of clouds surged once more.
"Well?" Han Che turned to look at the thoughtful Gu Chengming.
Gu Chengming answered truthfully, "Utterly awe-inspiring. Your disciple faintly glimpsed the resonance between spiritual power and the outer world, yet couldn't fathom the thing that governs it all."
Han Che nodded in approval.
"It's normal that you can't fathom it, because you haven't yet found your own 'core.'"
Han Che explained patiently: "In constructing a Sword Domain, whether one's spiritual power is deep and rich is only the foundation, and whether one's swordplay is exquisite is only the surface. Its true principle is the outward manifestation of a person's own 'trait.'"
Han Che pointed to his own heart.
"This trait is the Dao you've upheld through half a lifetime of cultivation. The reason the Daoning Gate's techniques can point directly to the Sword Domain is that from the very moment of entry they ceaselessly strengthen that trait. When the trait is honed to the extreme, the inner will can be projected into outer reality, taking shape as a Sword Domain."
"If you try to imitate another's Sword Domain, that is chasing the branch and forsaking the root. You must find the single most prominent facet of your own sword-dao, magnify it without limit, and use it to infect the surrounding heaven-and-earth's spiritual energy."
Gu Chengming stood where he was, chewing over Han Che's words in his mind again and again.
The trait manifested outward, the will projected.
The principle sounded profound and abstruse, but translated into game terminology, wasn't it simply forcibly converting the effect of some passive skill of one's own into a large-area field aura?
Once he'd untangled this layer of logic, Gu Chengming felt a sudden clarity.
He gave Han Che a deep, solemn bow.
"Thank you, Elder Han, for holding nothing back in your teaching. Your disciple is instructed."
Han Che waved a hand with a smile. "Go. The road of cultivation must, in the end, be walked on one's own. There's no need to rush the matter of the Sword Domain; steady accumulation and settling is the better course."
Any ordinary cultivator who heard so heartfelt an admonition from a Fifth Realm great power would surely have taken it as gospel and gone obediently back to meditate and practice the sword, using the years to slowly hone his own sword-dao trait. But Gu Chengming clearly did not fall into that category.
…
Having bidden Elder Han Che farewell, Gu Chengming returned with a light step to the rear-mountain courtyard of the Huiyuan Gate.
Shutting the courtyard gate, Gu Chengming sat cross-legged on the couch, the scene of Han Che unfolding his Sword Domain replaying endlessly in his mind, along with those principles of the Sword Domain he'd spoken of.
Manifest the trait outward…
Without having established a trait, could he use the Free and Unfettered Art to simulate one?
Whatever the case — try it first.
Mind made up, Gu Chengming closed his eyes and began circulating the spiritual power within his body.
He decided to start his attempt with the technique he knew best, the Huiyuan Sword Formula.
The core sword intent of the Huiyuan Sword Formula was the single word "Entanglement," its trait lying in being unbroken and unending, clinging like a shadow. Gu Chengming stirred the Free and Unfettered Art, trying to magnify this "Entanglement" trait without limit and project it outward.
The air around him began to warp faintly, spiritual power spreading outward like countless invisible silken threads.
But at the very instant these threads were about to weave into a net and form a domain —
With a soft "snap," every thread of spiritual power broke apart like an overtightened zither string, and the warped air settled back into calm along with them.
Failure.
Gu Chengming opened his eyes, his brows knitting slightly.
He carefully reviewed the process just now. There was no problem with the output of spiritual power, and the Free and Unfettered Art's simulation had been flawless. The cause of failure lay in the final fusion phase.
Could it be that his own inherent temperament simply didn't mesh with the trait of the Huiyuan Sword Formula?
Gu Chengming fell into thought. Though he'd cultivated the Huiyuan Sword Formula to an exceedingly profound level and even unlocked the Bond of Love, his fundamental combat style was to break the deft with sheer force.
Having him take command of an "Entanglement" Sword Domain did, to a degree, present a conflict.
Gu Chengming quickly adjusted his line of thought and turned his attention to the Hundred Bones Resonance within him.
In that case, why not try manifesting the will of the Hundred Emperor outward?
He circulated the Free and Unfettered Art once more, and the result was even more disastrous. The moment he began the simulation, Gu Chengming felt the blood and qi within him churn; the surging battle-intent simply refused to spread outward as smoothly as spiritual power. Instead it ignited directly inside his body, forcing him to sever the flow of spiritual power at once and swallow back a mouthful of reversed blood that had welled up to his throat.
"A pure body-refining technique clearly isn't suited to constructing a Sword Domain either."
Gu Chengming was rather puzzled.
He tried one technique after another — the Qingxin Formula, the Red Dust Phantom Body Formula, the Zhouli Heaven-Rectifying Heart Method, and many more.
Either the trait was too hidden to form any tangible pressure, or the trait was too rigid, lacking nimble variation — always he failed to take that final step.
Simulations of every sort of trait rose and fell one after another within the small courtyard, yet without exception every one ended in failure.
Gu Chengming sat on the couch, somewhat dejected.
Was it truly a case of just letting nature take its course, waiting until he reached the Fifth Realm to comprehend it?
At last he turned his attempt to the Yin-Yang Creation Strategy.
This time, the spiritual power neither collapsed nor exploded within his body.
A visible ring of pink ripples surged through the air, spreading outward with Gu Chengming at its center, instantly reaching a distance of a zhang or so.
Within this radius of a zhang, the light turned soft and ambiguous, and the manic drifting spiritual energy all around was forcibly soothed, transformed into an exceedingly docile, pure yin-and-yang qi.
Though this pink domain lasted less than two breaths —
there was no doubt that, in that brief instant, Gu Chengming had truly unfolded an Embryonic Sword Domain for a fleeting moment.
Gu Chengming sat dazed on the couch, staring at the air before him that had returned to normal, his face turning subtle.
What in the world was a Harmonious Joy Sect Sword Domain?
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