Sword Pavilion.
Outside the Sword Mountain, Li Yaozu sat cross-legged.
He had been meditating here for many years.
Even though something had happened back home, he hadn't returned. It wasn't that he didn't want to go home, but rather... he couldn't.
The entire Sword Mountain was isolated by a layer of thin mist. Its range had grown larger and larger, already encompassing Li Yaozu within it.
An incredibly formidable sword intent filled the surroundings in all directions.
"Caw! Caw!"
A clan's dark crow arrived bearing a message.
Li Yaozu turned his head, only to see the dark crow crash into the edge of the thin mist and turn to ash.
It was only when the Ancestral Spirit Tablet glowed that Li Yaozu furrowed his brows tightly. "Is Yunlin in trouble in Deston Prefecture?"
A Half-step Body Integration Old Ancestor of the Yun Clan in Deston Prefecture.
During the battle at the Mountain of Esoteric Stratagems, Li Yaozu had indeed seen a Half-step Body Integration expert—that would be the Huan Gui.
The Huan Gui fought single-handedly against over a dozen Void Refinement experts. Even He Hao and Zhen Wu had a significant gap in strength compared to the Huan Gui.
Currently, the Huan Gui was also in Deston Prefecture. However, whether the Huan Gui would risk her life fighting a Half-step Body Integration expert for the clan was truly hard to say.
She was an outsider, after all. His father originally didn't trust the Huan Gui either, only treating her as a friend with whom they shared common enemies.
"Half-step Body Integration... Old Ancestor, I will try my best to hurry to Deston Prefecture."
Li Yaozu put down the spirit tablet in his hand, let out a long breath, and gazed up at the Sword Mountain.
Here...
There was also a Half-step Body Integration expert breaking through to the Body Integration realm, which had caused everything happening now.
A Body Integration realm breakthrough was different from the tribulations of other realms.
There was absolutely no lightning tribulation above the Sword Mountain; there was only the conceptual intent of Glimpsing the Dao.
It was also this layer of "Dao" that trapped the entire Sword Pavilion, filling a hundred-mile radius entirely with sword intent.
Li Yaozu closed his eyes and comprehended. What the true method of sword intent probed into was another world.
In this world, everything appeared pale. High up in the cloudy sky, a handsome young man stood with his hands behind his back.
He held a wooden sword at his side, his robes and long hair fluttering in the wind.
This person was named Zhuang Qingyao, also known as the Sword Venerable.
He was precisely the hidden Half-step Body Integration expert of the Sword Pavilion, a senior expert who had spent his entire life accompanied by his sword.
At thirty thousand years old, he had a sudden epiphany of the Sword Dao conceptual intent: "The sword is like rain, drifting without a trace, touching all things."
"Whoosh! Pitter-patter!"
Rain began to fall again in all directions around the Sword Pavilion. The dark crow that had just flown to the Sword Pavilion triggered the sword intent.
The layer of hazy mist outside was the Sword Venerable's sword intent, and it was also the "Law" guarding his Glimpsing of the Dao.
Only when his Glimpsing of the Dao was complete would the Sword Pavilion open.
Within the Sword Pavilion, sword cultivators could be seen sitting cross-legged one by one, seizing the opportunity of the Sword Venerable's breakthrough to comprehend his sword intent.
"Brother-in-law, I just went and asked the Ancestral Master. He told you to wait a bit.
Right now is the time when the Sword Venerable is Glimpsing the Dao. Any slight mistake could cause all his previous efforts to be wasted, and who knows when an opportunity will come again."
Inside the Sword Pavilion, Star Sword Saint braved the rain and flew toward Li Yaozu.
Having cultivated in the Sword Pavilion for hundreds of years, Star Sword Saint still looked the same.
His cultivation had reached the peak of the Divinity Transformation realm, showing his extraordinary aptitude.
However, he didn't have a "Void Refinement Space" like the Li Clan members did, and currently, he hadn't even touched the threshold of the Void Refinement realm.
Upon arriving at the Sacred Hall Sword Pavilion, Star Sword Saint no longer dared to call himself "Sword Saint."
That was his title back in the Starfall Region when he was the sword cultivator with the highest cultivation base.
But here in the Sword Pavilion, the only one who dared to be called Sword Saint was the Old Ancestor of the Sword Pavilion.
"I called you brother, don't call me brother-in-law. Nothing is settled yet."
Li Yaozu's head was covered in black lines.
Hundreds of years had passed; if old Xingxing had married, he would have a house full of children and grandchildren by now.
Although she was his own sister, Li Yaozu didn't know how many times he had told him not to hang himself on a single tree.
"You don't understand." Star Sword Saint, with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, was a top-tier handsome man in the world.
He looked up at the rain and spoke seriously,
"The Ancestral Master said that heaven and earth in this world are merely a small corner, and people in the world are all in a small room. This is the Dao that the old man has glimpsed.
Since that is the case, Wenwen and I are already living in the same room. We are only one step away from me becoming your family's son-in-law."
"If the Ancestral Master of the Sword Pavilion heard that, I'm afraid he would never discuss this kind of Dao again in his life."
Li Yaozu rubbed his forehead with his hand.
Fang Linglong, inside the sword box, also couldn't be bothered to pay attention to Star Sword Saint.
Fang Linglong said,
"Your sister Yaowen, by reincarnating through soul cores to observe the common people of the world, is not only imitating the methods of Star Sword Saint to enrich her own Spiritual power but is also thoroughly comprehending the Scripture of the Common People.
Her Dao attainment is the accumulation of all her avatars. Let alone Star Sword Saint, even you fall far short."
Li Yaozu nodded slightly.
"I have also gained something by observing the Sword Venerable's Dao as he breaks through here.
The path of the Sword Dao is long, and I shouldn't lack the effort to seek and explore.
Instead, over these years, after breaking through to the Void Refinement realm, I neglected my sword intent.
Now, seeing the Sword Venerable breakthrough, I realize that sword intent is the foundation."
"Transforming intent into Dao, this is also what makes a sword cultivator extraordinary."
Fang Linglong praised,
"During your journey to the snowy mountains back then, your sword intent returned to true simplicity, laying down the foundation.
When the family's Golden Chapter of Enlightenment is finished being used by Yaoqing and Yaotie, you need to keep it in your hands for a few more days.
Do not be overly eager for quick success. Transform multiple conceptual intents into Dao Intent, and then break through to Body Integration."
"Don't be like the person up there."
Hearing this, Li Yaozu, who had just been carefully savoring the bitter days of carrying Sister Fang on his back in the snowy mountains all those years ago, changed his expression.
"What does Sister Fang mean?"
"How could Glimpsing the Dao be so easy? The Sword Dao transforming into rain is far too common.
Among the three thousand Great Daos of the world, who knows who has already occupied it? How could it be his turn?"
Fang Linglong sighed, "Just comprehend his sword intent. As for the Dao realm, don't try to learn it. This path is already impassable unless he has another epiphany and walks a new Dao path. But how could that be easy?"
"That's why I told you not to be overly eager for quick success.
Once you get the Golden Chapter of Enlightenment, comprehend a few more Dao paths, and your chances will be greater. Ascending to Body Integration means ascending to the grand stage of the world."
Hearing this, Li Yaozu felt conflicted.
Breaking through to the Dao realm was even harder than he thought. It was absolutely not a realm that could be broken through just by reaching the required cultivation base.
The three thousand Great Daos had to be fought for.
"However, even though that person miscalculated this time, he still has skill."
Fang Linglong pondered for a moment and sent a voice transmission,
"Do as I say. Go tell him that you once met a senior whose Sword Dao transformed into rain, saving him the effort of continuing to Glimpse the Dao.
Once the Sword Pavilion's barrier breaks on its own, you can easily go to Deston Prefecture to help Yunlin."
"There's also a Half-step Body Integration expert in Deston Prefecture, and he cultivates the Dao of seizing spiritual energy.
I really want to see what kind of tricks that person is playing. Along with the Wu tribe in Deston Prefecture and the so-called Imperial Protectors Guard...
How could we miss out on a fun event like snatching a Mahayana opportunity?"
Li Yaozu pondered briefly and didn't hesitate.
He immediately floated up into the air.
He saw the Sword Venerable frowning continuously, looking exactly like someone who had fallen into a predicament.
Li Yaozu immediately cupped his hands and relayed everything Sister Fang had told him, word for word.
Hearing this, the Sword Venerable withdrew his wooden sword. Surprisingly, he didn't get angry because of it, but only let out a long sigh.
"I climbed the green mountains and beheld the Daoist spirit.
I watched the heavenly clouds drift across the world.
I waited for early spring, when peach blossoms would bloom.
For ten thousand years, I wandered the world in search of the drizzle.
This is already my fourth time attempting to break through to the Dao.
The world called me the Green Mountain Sword Venerable, the Cloud Mountain Sword Venerable, the Peach Blossom Sword Venerable, and now I am called the Drizzle Sword Venerable.
It seems my opportunity has not yet arrived. So be it, so be it."
"Your name is Li Yaozu, the Li Clan's Sword Venerable?" The Sword Venerable smiled faintly, already brushing off the failure of his breakthrough just now.
"Yes."
Towards this senior, Li Yaozu was exceptionally respectful.
Failing Body Integration four times wasn't due to a lack of skill, but rather because the Sword Venerable had bad luck.
Fang Linglong had already grumbled, "A'Zu, stay away from him. I've never seen anyone so unlucky."
"..."
Li Yaozu, on the contrary, felt that this Sword Venerable, just like his Third Brother, wouldn't turn back until he hit a brick wall, which was worthy of respect.
The Sword Venerable said calmly,
"For over a decade, you have been observing and comprehending.
Today, you actually managed to see through my Dao; you are much more knowledgeable than the disciples of my Sword Pavilion.
I see that you harbor conceptual intent, all of which has returned to true simplicity.
I don't know how you forged such a foundation. It's just that your cultivation time is still short, making it difficult to forge a Void Refinement Space."
The Sword Venerable sized Li Yaozu up, making Li Yaozu's scalp tingle with numbness.
They were both at the Void Refinement realm, yet the other party had seen right through him to his core.
"It just so happens that I haven't reached Body Integration and still have some Dao Rhyme left. Your opportunity has arrived."
The moment his words fell, Li Yaozu felt the world spin, having already been pulled into the Void Refinement Space by the Sword Venerable.
Mountain rocks, clouds and mist, peach blossoms, and rain gradually spread within Li Yaozu's space. The Sword Venerable sat down cross-legged.
"Senior!"
Li Yaozu could feel that the Sword Venerable was using great Spiritual power to temper his space for him.
But the matter in Deston Prefecture was urgent. Why did this kind of opportunity have to come right when his two children were facing a massive problem?
Li Yaozu gritted his teeth, "I have urgent matters in Deston Prefecture!"
"Are you in a great hurry?" The Sword Venerable frowned slightly.
"You informed me of this matter, saving me three hundred years of effort.
If you leave, the Dao Rhyme from my failed breakthrough will return to heaven and earth, and your opportunity will be gone.
Open your space. Once this Dao Rhyme disperses within your Void Refinement dharma methods, your Void Refinement Space will break through."
"I..."
The Ancestral Spirit Tablet lit up, and Li Yaozu felt at ease. "Senior, come, this junior is ready."
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