Roaming the Four Seas Chapter 135: Advancing to the Spirit Grade
The white-haired soul demon's extreme movement vaguely reminded Su Ye of Ouyang Zhi, the sword demon, whose possessed avatar had reappeared before.
Compared to Ouyang Zhi's heavy yet slightly slower sword techniques, the soul demon's saber technique pursued ultimate speed.
It lacked variation.
In all the martial arts of the world, only speed is unbreakable.
However, if one blindly pursues the speed of moves, it is by no means beneficial to the cultivation of martial techniques.
Six bone sabers slashed toward Su Ye from different directions, completely enveloped by the demon's consciousness.
The anticipated meteor-like swift sword strikes did not arrive.
The black-and-white Taichu Sword moved like autumn water and startled geese.
With a flick of his wrist, he lightly yet forcefully deflected the attack of a single bone saber.
One wrong move led to chaos across the entire board.
The high-speed slashes unleashed by the white-haired soul demon did not land on his opponent; instead, they struck the bone saber that Su Ye had slowly pushed aside to form a horizontal cross-block.
The bone sabers, condensed from soul bones, instantly intercepted thousands of blade shadows.
Amidst a succession of muffled and crisp shattering sounds, they crumbled into dust.
The handsome youth, dressed in a short tunic with martial and scholarly sleeves and a tied ponytail, wore a smile that pierced the soul demon's heart far more sharply than any bold declaration.
With another gentle flick of the Taichu Sword, the bone saber at the bottom left instantly altered its trajectory, blocking the slashes of the three bone sabers on the right.
"Fast and powerful moves can certainly help one win," Su Ye said softly, "but overly convoluted movements will only create an irremediable chaos..."
The white-haired soul demon distanced himself, and the hesitation in his heart caused his demonic energy to consume itself exponentially.
The aura that could previously firmly suppress Su Ye now showed signs of being countered and suppressed instead.
"Aside from using soul power to impose restrictions through your words, what other tricks do you have?!" The mania of the white-haired soul demon became even more pronounced as his aura weakened.
"Your fast saber has never managed to break my defense... Is that not a trick?"
To the white-haired soul demon, the calm smile on Su Ye's face was no different from unmasked mockery.
His shoulders bulged, extending two additional arms.
He grasped the bone sabers sprouting from his lower elbows, and the madness in his pearly-white eyes burned more intensely than when they first met.
"Six bone sabers are not my limit," the white-haired soul demon's cheeks appeared as though dusted with white powder, "Eight-saber style is my true limit!"
"Still don't understand?" Su Ye's lips curved into an arc, "Your problem is not about being fast or slow, but rather that the flaws within your saber technique routines are completely unfixable."
"A nameless nobody, stop spouting nonsense!"
The soul demon's long hair, floating down to his waist, spread out like a white cloak.
The sky full of blade shadows resembled wings beating down upon him.
The bone sabers in the hands of the two extra arms at his shoulders suddenly thrust forward, targeting Su Ye's chest.
His hatred did not stem from his true nature; rather, it was an indescribable external force drawing out these emotions.
The black-and-white long sword clearly cleaved open the white curtain of light within his field of vision.
The chaotic backwash of the bone sabers' slashes did not sweep away the calm and composed Su Ye, but rather the two bone sabers thrusting in a straight line.
A piercing sound akin to ten thousand ants gnawing once again reduced the bone sabers to dust.
His defense was utterly obliterated.
The black-and-white long sword, wreathed in flames imbued with soul power restrictions, landed on his shoulder and cleaved his body diagonally.
Feeling the searing, unhealable pain, the madness within the soul demon's demonic consciousness erupted like a volcano, no longer suppressed in the slightest.
The vast demonic energy accumulated in his origin was compressed to its limit, and an instant later, it rebounded at a near-frantic speed.
The formidable power shattered the white-haired soul demon's bone-armored body.
Self-detonation.
This is the mournful swan song of a cultivator.
A flame, distinct from mortal fire, drifted out from the mouth of the jade gourd, transforming into a ring and instantly unfurling a curtain of light.
It enveloped Su Ye's soul aura within it.
The immense power capable of shattering a soul to pieces was completely absorbed by the Daluo Fire Canopy's causal gate of escaping death.
The alms-bowl-shaped Buddhist treasure fell into his palm, the Sanskrit inscriptions blessing it now dimmed of all luster.
It slowly absorbed the essence of heaven and earth.
In a few months, the causal gate would condense once again.
Though it was an immortal-grade Buddhist treasure, its supreme-yang attribute and the causal gate for escaping death made its efficacy no less than that of ordinary divine-grade spiritual treasures.
Su Ye withdrew the Daluo Fire Canopy that had helped him escape danger.
With a casual wave of his treasured sword, he dispersed the wind and fire clinging to the blade.
The sword body rippled like water, its aura appearing extremely chaotic.
Yet the sword soul, perfectly attuned to him, had become even more solid and condensed.
The artifact-refining classics within his spiritual consciousness contained clear records regarding this phenomenon.
This was a sign of a spiritual treasure advancing.
Ever since the Taichu Sword came into Su Ye's possession from Peach Blossom Mountain, it had accompanied him through numerous cities and experienced countless battles.
The latent spirits it unconsciously absorbed allowed it to grow rapidly.
Previously, due to a weak sword soul, the spiritual treasure had been unable to advance.
The treasured sword, infused with heavenly demon gold, had been scorched by flames during the battle with the white-haired soul demon, thereby refining and integrating the accumulated latent spirits.
Su Ye sat cross-legged in place, placed the Taichu Sword flat across his knees, closed his eyes, and circulated the Lotus Seal.
He channeled a wisp of Buddhist power into the advancing treasured sword.
Golden Buddhist light surged, but blocked by the Taiji diagram at the sword guard, it had no choice but to drift toward the blade.
The blood groove in the center absorbed the formlessly floating Buddhist power.
The original black-and-white colors gradually condensed into a pure, luminous gold.
The binding silk on the hilt, located between the sword guard and the cloud-shaped pommel guard at the tail, was reduced to dust by the advancing and upgrading energy.
Furry, wondrous growths sprouted on the surface of the hilt, colored black and white respectively, separated by a horizontal line in the middle, echoing the principle of equilibrium.
The Buddhist power added to the original sword soul made it solid and robust.
Communicating with Su Ye's spiritual consciousness, it no longer carried any suppressed listlessness.
Su Ye ceased channeling the Buddhist power, opened his clear eyes, and looked down at the Taichu Sword resting across his knees.
He extended his slender right hand, stroking from the tip of the sword to the guard.
His gaze followed the movement.
The brilliant golden blood groove faintly shimmered with residual Buddhist power, purifying the lingering grievances from his enemies' blood.
The raised Taiji pattern at the sword guard still maintained the equilibrium of yin and yang.
Upon seeing the black-and-white hilt, Su Ye's eyes lit up brightly.
Grasping it lightly with his right hand, he found the tactile sensation exceptionally comfortable.
He rose swiftly to his feet and executed the Startled Goose Sword Technique with fluid lightness.
The sword technique, already mastered to the realm of perfection, yielded entirely new insights when executed with the spirit-grade Taichu Sword.
The battle with the white-haired soul demon had made him realize that in martial arts cultivation, going too far is as bad as falling short; thus, he trimmed away the redundant parts of his newly sprouted moves.
His sword forms were like floating clouds and flowing water, and his posture resembled a clear breeze under a bright moon.
Amidst the illusion constructed by the Ten-Way Dream Realm and the reality bridged by the Compassionate Soul-Guiding Crossing, he achieved a gradually perfect harmony with the newly upgraded spirit-grade Taichu Sword.
His eyes shone like stars as he uttered a sharp cry.
The sword qi condensed at the tip of the sword instantly formed the shape of a dragon.
A lifelike dragon of sword qi coiled around Su Ye, who stood at the center, emitting a crisp, clear dragon roar.
The surging Buddhist power dispersed the lingering obsession left behind by the soul demon's self-detonation.
Within Su Ye's spiritual consciousness, a slight sensation of satiation arose.
His cultivation realm also leaped forward significantly.
It was only a pity that his innate aptitude was too high, preventing him from touching the threshold of the second layer of the Return to Origin Realm.
He sheathed his sword, looking at the Taichu Sword scabbard rippled with watery patterns.
The elation in his heart was no less than placing first on the imperial examination list.
So much so that he felt a reluctance to return to reality, wishing instead to hide within this pear-wood couch and wholeheartedly cultivate his sword intent.
The fleeting thought of indolence vanished in an instant.
Illusions are like bubbles.
With a soft pop, it shattered, and he returned once more to the mortal dust.