Chapter 85
The next morning, when she entered the Training Ground, the Pacheon Sword Saint was already standing there holding a wooden sword.
As Baek Cheong approached, the Pacheon Sword Saint did not hand over the wooden sword.
Instead, he simply stared quietly at Baek Cheong.
The Sword Saint’s gaze was directed at Baek Cheong’s body, but it seemed to be looking straight through to something beyond.
A deep gaze that seemed to peer right into her mindscape.
It was the same look in his eyes as when he had noticed Baek Cheong comprehending the Falling Star Style.
“You have awakened the third Sword Form.”
Baek Cheong flinched at being found out so instantly.
She had guessed this might happen when she awakened the Sword Intent, but the man’s ghost-like perception was terrifying.
“How did you awaken it?”
The Pacheon Sword Saint asked with a voice that held a very slight hint of curiosity compared to usual.
It was impossible not to be curious when the Sword Intent of an untaught Sword Form had taken root overnight.
And Baek Cheong was flustered by the unexpected question.
She couldn’t exactly say that she had posted a 'shooshook' thread on the Nameless Forum and realized the Sword Cultivator Dao Friends had deciphered the Sword Path for her.
“Well… as I was mulling over the Sword Intent of the Falling Star Style last night…”
She trailed off, fumbling through her mind.
“I was going like this and that… shooshook, and then I just realized it.”
It was an embarrassing explanation even as she spat it out.
However, the Pacheon Sword Saint slowly nodded his head.
“You must have awakened it naturally while reflecting on the Sword Intent.”
He seemed to have extracted his own meaning from the absurd answer.
A faint tremor flickered in the Pacheon Sword Saint’s eyes.
It was a sight rarely seen beneath his dry, emotionless expression.
“It is incredibly faint, but it has definitely taken root. I teach you one thing, and you awaken not just two, but what lies beyond.”
The Pacheon Sword Saint murmured in genuine Admiration.
But the deeper his Admiration, the darker the shadow cast over his eyes.
No matter how much aptitude she showed for the Flying Sword, she was a Disciple who could not inherit the legacy of a Physical Cultivator.
The brighter her Talent shone, the deeper the regret became.
He shook his head, dismissing his rising thoughts.
After a brief silence, he spoke in a low voice.
“The third Sword Form is called Seongdo Gaecheon.”
Falling Star Style, Star River One Line, Seongdo Gaecheon.
A Sword Art that connected from a point to a line, and from a line to a plane.
“Since the Sword Intent has already taken root, the meaning of the Sword Form must be within you. However, your current realm cannot handle it yet, so banish any thought of attempting it recklessly. Even Star River One Line was cut short due to a lack of spiritual energy, and Seongdo Gaecheon consumes several times more.”
Baek Cheong obediently bowed her head while mulling over the name.
Now that it had a name, the shape of the Sword Form floating in her mindscape felt much clearer.
“Refine the Falling Star Style first. Even with a Flying Sword, repeating it will make the Sword Intent clearer.”
The Pacheon Sword Saint neutralized his expression and nodded.
.
.
.
From then on, Sword Cultivator Training using the Flying Sword became the established routine.
The Pacheon Sword Saint had her repeat the Falling Star Style while correcting the minute details of her Sword Path.
The Knack for gathering energy into a single point, the method to eliminate tremors from the Sword Path, and the sense for changing the speed and direction of the Flying Sword.
With a handheld sword, her body hadn’t been able to keep up, making correction impossible, but the Flying Sword was different.
When the Pacheon Sword Saint pointed something out, she could modify it immediately, and that modification was perfectly maintained in the next movement.
“Even if you do not walk the path of a Physical Cultivator, there is no harm in having sturdy bones, muscles, and blood qi. Since you have the Jade Lotus Physique, you should be able to advance as a Physical Cultivator using only medicinal pills without arduous tempering. Do not forget to take your Dangoldan and Janghyeoldan.”
One day, the Pacheon Sword Saint spoke as he set down his wooden sword.
Then he took out a jade bottle again and handed over top-grade medicinal pills.
‘Uh, well…’
Baek Cheong politely accepted the medicinal pills, but her feelings were complicated.
However, since she had lessened the risk of being forced to become an Inheritor Disciple, there was no reason to risk pill toxicity by consuming Top-grade Medicinal Pills.
‘I should make these into Inscribed Pills too.’
Medicinal pills for Physical Cultivators had strong effects on the body, so it was fine as long as she took them separately.
The number of medicinal pills she periodically consumed had increased, but since she didn’t need to worry about pill toxicity, she didn’t mind.
“One who wields a handheld sword carves the Sword Path into one’s bones and muscles, while one who wields a Flying Sword carves the Sword Path into one’s Divine Sense.”
Like that, Baek Cheong absorbed the teachings one by one every day.
She was Training to equip herself with the proper appearance of a Sword Cultivator.
As long as she could skillfully execute the Falling Star Style with a Flying Sword, she would have no trouble posing as a Sword Cultivator and the Pacheon Sword Saint’s Disciple in anyone’s eyes.
And her time outside of Sword Cultivator Training was not much different from usual.
The days continued with her running Puppetry in the Pill Refining Room to expand the process of Refining Inscribed Pills, logging into the Nameless Forum in her spare time to skim through unread posts, and Expelling Turbid Qi before going to sleep.
Thanks to her Sword Cultivator Training switching to the Flying Sword, the Training didn’t strain her body, and because the Training ended that much faster, the time she could dedicate to forum-surfing increased, which left her satisfied.
* * *
Before she knew it, a month and a half had passed.
It was a day when she was filling her Dantian using only natural Qi Absorption as usual.
However, when she tried to absorb spiritual energy, her Dantian would no longer accept it.
It felt like pouring water into a jar until the surface reached the very brim, unable to take in even a single drop more.
“Huh?”
Baek Cheong contemplated her inner self and examined her Dantian.
Her Dantian, which had been like a vast, vast, vast, vast, vast, vast ocean, was completely full.
It was finally time to break through his realm.
‘Wait, I have to cross a major Boundary - no, a minor Boundary, right?’
However, the pressure of the Barrier felt from her Dantian was extraordinary.
Breaking through from the 3rd to the 4th level previously had also been a minor Boundary, but she had barely managed to pierce it even after mobilizing a Top-grade Realm-Breaking Pill and Quasi-Unification simultaneously.
Because her spirit root had grown through the Five Elements Mutual Generation Cycle and her Dantian was far from ordinary, even a minor Boundary was reminiscent of a major Boundary.
‘This won’t be easy.’
Baek Cheong steeled her resolve and moved her feet.
She headed to the Back Mountain to focus her mind and start fresh.
The name of the Back Mountain towering behind the Yeonha Baek Clan was Baeknyeon Mountain.
She had called it the Back Mountain since she was young, but she remembered the name while explaining it to the kids her age at the banquet.
The entirety of Baeknyeon Mountain was the Clan’s Training Ground, surrounded by a large Formation.
When she informed elder Jin that she would be using a Training Room, the elder’s grayish eyebrows rose.
“Oho, you’re raising your realm? How commendable.”
Elder Jin laughed heartily and opened the Barrier to a C-grade Training Room.
Passing through the cave paths tangled like a Labyrinth, she stood before the stone door of the C-grade Training Room.
She used her jade plaque to open the stone door and stepped inside.
A single Jade Flat Platform, a Spirit Gathering Formation carved into the floor, and densely settled spiritual energy.
It was the same Training Room as when she had come before.
“Huu…”
Baek Cheong climbed onto the Jade Flat Platform and got into position.
She closed her eyes and looked into her Dantian.
The thick Barrier of the 7th level stood firm.
She had expected it, but actually looking at it made her dizzy.
At a rough guess, she thought it was on par with the major Boundary of Qi Condensation cultivators.
‘Still, the Breakthrough Method is the same.’
It was the method of imbuing Quasi-Unification with the Sword Intent of the Falling Star Style and smashing it down toward a single point on the Barrier.
However, there was one thing different from before.
Her Dantian had grown wider than before.
The Amount of Spiritual Energy fully packed into her 6th-level Dantian couldn’t even be compared to that at the 5th level.
As a result, the duration of her Quasi-Unification was bound to be longer.
‘Here I go.’
She gathered all the Five Elements Qi from within her Dantian.
The five attributes converged at the center of his Dantian, clumping together into a single form.
Quasi-Unification.
The unstable state right before the Five Elements Qi completely merged.
As the five attributes condensed into one, they harbored an explosive power.
Once the Quasi-Unification was formed, she loaded the Sword Intent of the Falling Star Style onto it.
The destructive power of the Quasi-Unification focused into a single point and charged toward the Barrier.
A heavy impact was transmitted from inside her Dantian.
However, only a hairline crack appeared on the surface of the Barrier.
If it had been the 5th level, the Barrier would have crumbled in a single strike.
‘Not yet.’
The form of the Quasi-Unification did not scatter.
Because she had a lot of spiritual energy stockpiled in her Dantian, she was maintaining the form of the Quasi-Unification.
She loaded the deepened Sword Intent of the Falling Star Style even more clearly, pressing against the Barrier.
The Barrier resisted, but Baek Cheong did not back down.
She maintained the Quasi-Unification by adding even the spiritual energy supplied through the Spirit Gathering Formation.
‘I have to hold on!’
Her qi meridians tightened as if screaming, but she clenched her teeth and pushed through.
At the point where the hairline crack had spread across nearly half the Barrier, the form of the Quasi-Unification began to blur.
The Spirit Gathering Formation alone was insufficient, and his spiritual energy was hitting rock bottom.
She had thought about taking an Inscribed Spirit Gathering Pill or an Inscribed realm-breaking pill if push came to shove, but she tried to endure it with her own strength.
‘Just a little more…!’
However, there was nothing left in his Dantian.
The form of the Quasi-Unification was about to unravel.
Just as she thought her natural breakthrough was going to fail
An unknown energy surged from deep within his Dantian.
‘…What is this?’
It was an energy that surged without warning or signal.
Its nature was different from both the Five Elements Qi and Lightning qi.
As if it had been slumbering and opened its eyes, it boiled up from the bottom of his Dantian and gushed forth.
As the unknown energy joined the Quasi-Unification, its form became distinct.
Fractures emerged from the hairline crack, spreading out in all directions.
And before long, the Barrier crumbled down.
Like a bursting dam, spiritual energy poured into the widened Dantian.
Her Dantian expanded, becoming twice as wide as before.
Her Divine Sense also grew rapidly, extending up to 27 zhang.
“I did it…”
She finally succeeded in her breakthrough, reaching the Qi Condensation Stage, 7th Level.
But before she even had time to enjoy her relief, a nose-piercing stench filled the Training Room.
When she opened her eyes, her entire body was covered in impurities.
‘Again?’
Impurities had flowed out just as they had when she broke through her realm after taking the Inscribed Dangoldan and Janghyeoldan a while ago.
She thought the impurities in her bones and muscles had been washed away once, but raising her realm caused impurities to flow out yet again.
‘Just how much turbid qi is left in my body?’
She expelled turbid qi every day as usual, yet impurities flowed out every time she raised her realm without fail.
Even when he ate meals, it was healthy spirit food, so turbid qi couldn’t even accumulate.
If so, the cause was not external, but internal.
‘Could it be because of my Spirit Root?’
It was highly likely to be a side effect occurring as his Spirit Root grew through the Five Elements Mutual Generation Cycle.
Above all, unlike a Single Spiritual Root Holder, a Five Elements Spirit Root Holder tended to have lower quality Spirit Roots.
Naturally, it was bound to contain a lot of turbid qi.
‘But my Five Elements Spirit Root is…’
Looking back, there is something else that is important right now.
The unknown energy that had surged from deep within his Dantian right before the breakthrough.
The unknown energy surged and helped smash the Barrier.
‘I have a vague guess, but…’
It could only be the Unification Latent Spirit Root, ten out of ten.
However, she couldn’t figure out why the energy had surged.
“Ugh.”
First of all, the smell was terrible, so she took out a Cleansing Talisman from her Storage Platform.
When she imbued the talisman with spiritual energy and used it, the impurities clinging to her body and the Jade Flat Platform were cleanly swept away.
After the floor was swept once as well, they vanished along with the stench.
She got back into position on the cleaned Jade Flat Platform.
“Huu…”
Soon, Baek Cheong steadied her breathing and closed her eyes.