194: Chapter 194: Cultivating and enlightening the sword in a desolate valley, refining the waters of the middle period to create a canal.

Ye Qing sat in that desolate valley for several days, repeatedly pondering the sword art of the Nine Nether Void-Breaking Sword, verifying it against the Sword Dao theories he had learned from the Scripture Pavilion and the insights gained from the heavenly sword stele.

He discovered that the core of this sword art lay in the character "Break," which emphasized using the most concentrated Sword Intent to tear through the Void Realm and launch a fatal strike from an angle the enemy would least expect.

This had much in common with his Law of Void; if he could achieve Fusion, it would surely elevate his Sword Dao to a higher level.

He laid the black longsword across his knees and lightly brushed his fingertips over the blade, feeling the faint, elusive trace of Nine Nether Qi contained within.

Although this sword's grade was not particularly high, its material was special, and the wisp of Nine Nether Qi sealed within the blade had a multiplier effect on Cultivating the Nine Nether Void-Breaking Sword.

"This sword art is quite interesting, but unfortunately, it is severely incomplete, with Cultivation methods for only the first three layers," Ye Qing said, having read through the sword art several times, feeling a slight regret in his heart. "However, it is enough; it will suffice for me until the Lianxu Late Stage."

He committed the sword art to memory and then began attempting to circulate his mana along the described paths.

Mana flowed slowly through his Meridians, and following the method described in the sword art, it condensed into strands of Sword Intent as thin as hair, wandering within his body.

This feeling was quite novel and different from the Cultivation Techniques he had Cultivated in the past, as it focused more on the refinement and compression of Sword Intent.

"This Nine Nether Void-Breaking Sword can complement my Chaos Sword Dao," Ye Qing thought to himself. "My Chaos Sword Dao is all-encompassing, emphasizing suppressing people with momentum and crushing them head-on. But this sword art leans towards treacherous surprise attacks, which perfectly compensates for my shortcomings."

He spent about half a day thoroughly mastering the mana circulation path for the first layer of the sword art, then began attempting to condense Sword Intent.

Mana surged through his Meridians like a river flowing into the sea, finally condensing at his fingertips into a strand of Sword Intent that was refined to the extreme and nearly transparent.

That Sword Intent was only an inch long, yet it emitted a sharp aura that seemed capable of piercing through the Void Realm.

"Go!"

He pressed his fingers together like a sword and lightly pointed at a giant boulder in front of him.

Chi! A soft sound rang out.

That inch-long Sword Intent instantly sank into the boulder, leaving a hole the size of a needle tip on its surface.

Although the hole was small, it was bottomless, as if it had directly pierced through the entire boulder.

Ye Qing nodded in satisfaction, having gained an initial understanding of the power of the Nine Nether Void-Breaking Sword.

"With my current Cultivation, if I were to unleash this sword strike with full force, I should be able to cause some trouble for a Cultivator at the Lianxu Middle Stage," he calculated internally. "However, it is not enough. After all, this sword art is incomplete; I need to achieve Fusion with my Chaos Sword Dao to unleash even greater power."

He was no longer in a rush to Cultivate the sword art, instead turning his attention to his own Cultivation.

At the Lianxu Initial Stage, in this Sword Ruins Secret Realm, he could only be considered to be at a low-to-middle level. He needed to improve his Cultivation as soon as possible to possess more self-preservation power in this perilous ruin.

He took out some spiritual Materials collected from outside from his Storage Pouch, as well as the Materials obtained from slaying Yao Beasts in the Secret Realm, and threw them all into his internal space.

The space was like a bottomless pit that could never be filled, greedily devouring these energy-filled items and then feeding back streams of pure, gentle energy, which flowed like a trickling stream into his limbs and bones.

He circulated the Hunxu Yandao Scripture, guiding this energy to flow slowly through his Meridians and refining it into his own mana.

His Cultivation was rising slowly at a steady and solid pace.

This feeling was like adding water to a vat; although the amount added each time was not much, constant dripping wears away the stone, and one day it would fill the vat.

He became immersed in this steady improvement, forgetting the passage of time.

He did not know how much time had passed, but when he felt that the mana within his body had accumulated to a critical point, he slowly opened his eyes.

"It is about time."

He took a deep breath and, like a tidal wave, rushed all the mana in his body toward the chaos sword seed in his Dantian!

Boom—!!! Inside his body, it was as if a thunderclap had sounded!

That chaos sword seed, under the impact of the mana, shook violently and then began to rotate slowly along a more profound trajectory.

A more powerful aura spontaneously emerged from within his body.

Lianxu Middle Stage! Everything fell into place naturally!