Chapter 460: The Path to Sword King
Translator: 3heryl Editor: Hitesh_
"Yeah, this guy's wood mentality is quite good. It has the feel of wooden spikes."
"Huh? Whipping? Well, I guess it is right as well, since wood mentality would cover a lot of things, such as trees, wood spikes, as well as the veins, which are very tough and soft, containing a huge attacking power while whipping."
"The heaviness of the wood seemed to be slightly different from the heaviness of the mud. It is neater somehow."
There were around four hundred people attending the martial tea gathering, amongst whom were about forty people who were masters in wood mentality. Although they were all experts in wood mentality and had mastered it to the extreme, each one of their wood mentalities would be slightly different.
When they were battling, Ye Chen would sit there and learn the meaning behind it in order to slowly perfect his own, preparing to train the ninth movement of his Green Lotus Sword Art.
Regardless of how powerful Ye Chen's sword intent was, the lack of killing attacks was still a major problem. Therefore, training his ninth movement would be necessary and a priority. With it, his killing attack options would increase to three, which would be rather satisfactory for this stage.
As he watched them more and more carefully and in detail, he learned more and more. Ye Chen suddenly reached out his right hand, using his fingers instead of his sword to demonstrate.
Shoo!
Shoo!
Shoo!
Without using his Zhen yuan or sword intent, he did not even use much energy; he was just sitting there and drawing in the air with his fingers, practicing the movements. It was as if there was a pattern or a painting in the air, and he was learning the paint strokes. However, after dozens of finger demonstration, changes started happening. Wherever his finger touched, the air seemed to be sliced by an extremely sharp sword, making a huge sound. Toward the end, an extremely unnoticeable dim light appeared on the tip of his finger, made of his own sword qi.
"What is going on?"
Tuo Baku and Mu Lingfeng looked at Ye Chen with surprise and curiosity.
They knew that he did not use his Zhen yuan or sword intent, so they could not help but wonder where that finger light came from, since it was so sharp that words could not describe it.
Tuo Baku used his palm to push on the table, causing that tiny little teacup to jump up into the air. He then flicked his finger at the cup, which shot out without a sound, passing in front of Ye Chen.
Coincidentally, Ye Chen's finger pointed at the teacup.
Time seemed to freeze for a second. An extremely sharp and narrow, strong wind shot out from the back of the teacup, leaving a tiny hole on the pavilion column.
Looking at the teacup, there was not a single hint of damage to be seen; even the tea was perfectly sitting still where it was.
Picked up the cup with his left hand, Ye Chen took a sniff before passing it to Tuo Baku.
The latter took over the cup and hurried to examine it. It took him a long while before looking up eventually as he asked confusedly, "There is no hole?"
Ye Chen laughed, "Naturally, not."
"What about that hole on the column?"
"Oh! That? It is from me failing to control my sword intent."
"How strange!"
Tuo Baku still was not able to figure it out- if that hole was made from his sword intent, then it would not be quite possible to go through the teacup before landing on the column. But, if it was not because of the sword intent, then that whole would not have been there... Since the two possibilities were both impossible, which was it then?
"The sharpness of the sword… It turns out that I still lack the mentality of gold."
After watching other people's wood mentality, Ye Chen had learned a lot more about his own wood mentality, and had already seen the beginning of the ninth movement for his green lotus sword art. Therefore, he had the interest to demonstrate it out with his finger. After doing that for a while, he found himself forgetting his wood mentality and the ninth movement, sinking into the pure understanding of his sword. This whole time, he had been using his sword to battle with his opponents, and his sword was made with metals which were designed to be sharp; his sword arts had thus been sharp this whole time as well. However, without his sword, he realized that he was still lacking a little bit of sharpness and decisiveness.
Only until then did he finally realize that a sword artist without the mentality of gold would be extremely pitiful; no matter how sharp other mentalities were, they would not be as sharp as the gold mentality.
The gold mentally was just like the bridge between the sword artist and his sword. Only with that bridge could the sword artist push his own sharpness to the extreme and become a true sword artist. If not, then the sword artist would always have this estrangement from the sword, and he or she would not be able to reach his or her limit of attacking power.
"Although I have just learned about it now, it is still not too late."
Ye Chen let out a breath, his eyes landing on that small hole in the middle of the column.
It was indeed made from his sword intent; however, it was on top of his own sharp qi light, which was invisible and formless. However, the sword intent was also without shape or form; but, once it reached a certain level, it would be able to affect reality. Therefore, it would be invisible but with form. The two did not combine together when they were traveling through the teacup, which was why it did not break; but, they combined and infused together once they got past the teacup, leaving that small hole on the column.
This finger movement had demonstrated Ye Chen's own sharpness completely. However, it was far from enough.
"Since the ninth movement of the green lotus sword art is already foreseeable, in that case, I will have to learn the mentality of gold now. For my future path, I already have a general picture."
Every famous sword artist had his or her own path, which would be their path in sword arts. All this time, his path was rather unclear for him; all he did was follow his instinct. But now, he finally had found his own way. Although it might contain a lot of obstacles, once he reached his destination, he would be the first in the history of sword arts, which would make him almost equal to the ancient sword king. It would also allow him to move on from the path to perhaps an even more powerful path than that of the sword king.
Sword king!
What did it mean to be a sword king?
The king of swords, the first warrior from the ancient era until future times…
Regardless of how powerful the ancient sword king was, he was only a sword king, and not a sword emperor. The reason that he failed to get the title was because he was not able to beat the emperor warriors of the time; hence, the title of king. Now, the number of emperor warriors was no longer limited to one, and therefore, wanting to become one of them or go even beyond would be extra hard. But, Ye Chen had already prepared himself mentally for whatever hardships might lay before him.
Tightening his fist slightly, Ye Chen could feel his blood start boiling.
Boom!
The blasting wave on the stage was intense, shaking the pavilion.
Ye Chen looked over; it turned out that Sikong Sheng had decided to join the battle.
His opponent was mighty, ranked number one in the Fire Swamp Region; he was no weaker than the third-ranked warrior of the Thunder Region, Yin Zongli.
The two exchanged dozens of attacks; as that skyrocketing qi had no other outlet to escape through, it continued to rush toward the sky.
"Lose, now!"
His opponent performed his profound sense martial art, attacking towards Sikong Sheng. The latter did not look afraid; instead, he threw back one of his own profound sense martial art attack.
Boom!
A colorful, bright ball of light exploded in the air as Sikong Sheng backed out for a couple of steps without a single wound. However, his opponent somehow froze there and took the blasting wave head-on, which made him puke out blood.
"Hmm… That profound sense martial art of Sikong Sheng seems a bit strange."
Ye Chen could tell at first sight that it was not that the young warrior from the Fire Swamp Region did not want to back out, but it was because he could not. That fist attack of Sikong Sheng's seemed to have some kind of connection with the earth, using that endless gravity to control his opponent, making him unable to move and forcing him to take on his own blast wave.