He didn't give himself a single pause, he didn't rest, he didn't think of anything other than Sword Intent, nor did he take the time to talk or spend any time with the girls; all of his attention was fully dedicated to his training, and he continued to do it nonstop.
When his body and mind were about to collapse, he gritted his teeth and continued, and when his body and mind did collapse, he took some healing pills and carried on, undeterred.
Because he knew Sword Intent wasn't something banal, it wasn't something reached by training half-heartedly; even with someone of his talent, he needed to give his all and beyond if he wanted a chance to be able to touch it.
Or else, no matter how long he trained, it would be useless, after all, Sword Intent—or any Intent for that matter—was a direct path to the Laws, Laws that only beings surpassing the Soul Phase, which itself surpassed the Foundational Phase, could touch upon.
Which made it clear how precious and powerful any kind of Intent was, and this was why, even though it was hard, he continued to push through and give his all, and…
His efforts finally paid off!
It was a day like numerous before, a day where he tirelessly repeated his vertical slash, but just at the moment when Sangrelia was falling in yet another execution, he felt it—he felt himself touch upon something, something he couldn't describe.
CRACK!!!
A cracking sound resounded in Mikael's ears as he felt himself breach some kind of barrier.
The moment it reached him, the world around seemed to slow. A leaf carried by the wind almost froze in midair, Sangrelia halted in her descent toward the ground, and even the girls watching from the side appeared suspended, moving at a pace so slow it was almost imperceptible. The only exception…
…was him.
A flicker of surprise passed through Mikael's eyes, 'IT'S HERE!' he thought, his heart skipping a beat as a wave of joy and anxiety surged within him.
Knowing that he was at a critical juncture, Mikael forcefully controlled his emotions and regained his calmness.
He then ignored the frozen world and focused all his attention on Sangrelia in his hands, veins popping in his eyes as he pushed them past their limits, trying to see her—see it—with every other sense as well, whether it be his five senses, his instincts, his Divine Sense, his Foresight of Heaven's Mandate, his mind, and more.
Everything, his EVERYTHING, was focused on Sangrelia in his hands as he desperately tried to understand; he gave his all, pushing himself past his limit to the point he felt his mind 'bleed'.
But he ignored it and pushed himself further, all of his senses were on his environment and on her as he tried to grasp this ephemeral feeling, and slowly but surely Sangrelia continued her descent while Mikael felt himself understand something, the accumulation of the numerous days spent honing his Sword Dao bursting forth at this moment, and then—
He touched it once again, the same feeling that began this 'frozen world moment', he touched it once again but this time it stayed a little longer before disappearing.
'Sword Intent'
The thought passed through Mikael's mind as he continued to focus on Sangrelia's slowly descending form, and with each frozen instant he felt himself understand a little more, his understanding of the Sword Dao deepening by the moment.
Each time he brushed against the greatness of the Sword Dao he understood more, until, just as Sangrelia's tip was about to touch the ground, he understood—
Switch.
He shifted his grip on Sangrelia, redirecting her motion from a downward slash into an upward one.
As she reached the end of her arc above his head, the frozen world stirred back to life, and in that same instant a translucent energy slash burst forth from her blade.
Everything within hundreds of meters felt a terrible sharpness lock onto them, as if they were about to be cut down; all instinctively recoiled, and even the trees seemed to shift backward beneath this all-encompassing edge.
The same was true for the girls. They didn't understand what had happened—one moment everything was fine, and the next they felt on the 'verge' of being severed—yet they, too, instinctively retreated. In the blink of an eye, they were more than a kilometer away, and only then did that deadly sharpness fade.
"What was tha—" began Lyra, only to halt mid-sentence as her gaze followed a translucent energy slash rising from Sangrelia toward the heavens. It seemed to cut through space itself, crossing the vast distance seemingly in an instant, reaching the clouds thousands of meters above.
The slash instantly cut the clouds in half, and the girls who watched this scene distinctly felt like the clouds wouldn't recover for a while?
At the same moment as the clouds were 'cut' by this translucent energy slash, they seemed to 'bow?'
It was like they were bowing toward the slash as they parted out of its way, like peasants before their emperor, and in this way the slash continued its way unperturbed high in the sky for nearly 10 kilometers before finally dispersing.
"What power…" muttered Amelia, who had returned from her training outside of the Sect two weeks ago—exactly four weeks and three days after Mikael had begun striving to grasp Sword Intent—with an expression of awe, admiration, and excitement.
After all, for a warrior at heart like Amelia, witnessing such a display of power did not leave her indifferent; that was the least that could be said, as her thighs tightened and her little sister throbbed while her emerald gaze remained locked on her beloved form.
Amelia's reaction, though intense, still paled compared to Lian'er's, the brown-haired beauty who had not missed a single moment of Mikael's Sword Intent training in the hope of gaining some insights, suddenly let out a bright, elated cry, her eyes widening to an almost comical degree.
"I UNDERSTAND!" she exclaimed, joy overflowing in her voice.
"I need to go into seclusion!" she declared before, without letting the girls time to react, 'teleporting' away to her cave abode, eager to digest the insights she had gained from watching Mikael reach Sword Intent before they faded and she lost this precious opportunity.
'Hopefully, if things go well, I can also step into the realm of Sword Intent,' Hua Lianyu thought as she closed the door to her cave abode and began her seclusion.
Meanwhile, as this was happening…
Mikael, on his side, hadn't moved an iota; he was still in the exact same position as before, Sangrelia extended upward as his gaze remained fixed on the sky above, which seemed to have been cut in half.
In his eyes there was something indescribable, for while he physically appeared to be looking at the clouds above, at the same time… he also seemed not to be.
And this 'weird state' was in truth him internalizing his Sword Intent and trying to solidify his understanding before it could slip away.
Whoosh.
Amelia and Lyra materialized not far from him, but just as they were about to speak they stopped, their eyes drawn to the strange fluctuations swirling around his body.
Understanding that he was consolidating the insights of his newly acquired Sword Intent, both girls stayed silent, allowing him to integrate them without distraction.
Until, finally, Mikael's eyes seemed to regain 'clarity,' his gaze locked onto Sangrelia as a faint smile curved his lips. He turned toward Amelia and Lyra, parting his mouth to speak, but then—
Cough.
A violent cough burst from him, splattering blood, and in an instant both Amelia's and Lyra's expressions changed drastically.
"Mikael!" ×2
They cried out as Mikael stumbled backward, collapsing like a puppet whose strings had been cut, all strength fleeing his body—yet before he could hit the ground, both girls caught him.
Amelia positioned herself behind him, letting his head sink onto her ample breasts while Lyra held him tightly from the front.
"What's happening!? Is his overtraining catching up with him!?" Amelia's voice rang out, heavy with worry.
Lyra's expression was equally troubled as she urged, "Lay him down!"
Amelia obeyed, and in the end Mikael was stretched out on the grass, his head resting on Amelia's plump thighs as they acted as a soft headrest.
Flash.
A potent healing pill materialized in Amelia's hand as she leaned forward, parting Mikael's lips to give it to him—but just then, Lyra's voice cut in.
"Wait! We need to be sure what he has so that we don't inadvertently worsen the situation!"
Amelia's trembling hand froze mid-air at her Dao Sister's words, but she wasn't truly listening.
At that moment her mind was dragged elsewhere—to another place, to another time, to the land she had grown up in, the place that had been destroyed under the power of a terrifying invasion, an invasion that had taken everything from her except Mikael…
Her trembling grew more violent as tears welled in her eyes. "No, no, I can't lose you too…" she whispered, her tears spilling onto Mikael's unconscious body as she leaned closer, pushing the pill toward his lips.
Or at least that was what she would have done—if not for Lyra's hand stopping her. "CALM DOWN!"
The sudden scream, so unlike Lyra's usual calm demeanor, jolted Amelia out of her trauma-induced panic. Her teary face slowly lifted, her eyes meeting Lyra's with a lost, broken expression.
"Mikael isn't dying, it's simply exhaustion!" declared Lyra in a sure of herself tone of voice.
'Exhaustion… exhaustion… exhaustion?' the words repeated in Amelia's mind in a loop until, finally, the tears that had been falling moments ago came to a stop as she looked up with a tear-laced visage.
"W-what?" Amelia asked in a somewhat broken tone of voice.
Lyra gave her a reassuring smile, hiding the worry she felt herself. "It's just exhaustion, he only pushed himself a little beyond his limits, nothing that some rest can't solve!"
"B-but the b-blood?" asked Amelia, her tone a little steadier but still really shaky.
Lyra smiled again, "It's just his body expelling 'bad things,' he just need rest, and using pills wouldn't help him considering he was overdosing on them for a long while!"
"O-okay…" murmured Amelia in a low voice while caressing Mikael's visage and playing with his hair, her beautiful and usually composed face carrying only a lost expression.
Sigh.
Lyra let out a small sigh as she saw Amelia who, at this moment, looked so… lost—a sharp contrast to the usually confident, warrior-like woman she was in her everyday life.
Lyra felt a pang of pain for her, 'The Nexoria invasion really traumatized her, even if she is "past it now" and it doesn't affect her normally… everything changes the moment somebody she cares for is in danger, as she loses all of her means!'
She gave the archer a last look before her gaze fell on her beloved who was 'peacefully sleeping,' and she too began to caress him while waiting for the moment he would wake up…
Author Note:
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Sword Intent!
Finally it has been a while since Mikael reached the Threeshold of it and it was time for him to finally take that step and his battle power took a major leap forward.
Just achieving Sword Intent create a kind of 'domain' that can affect a kilometer of radius with Mikael slash reaching ten kilometers in the sky.
With this fact and numerous others power beats before I think it's pretty clear than in my novel cultivators aren't just 'cultivators' but are entities nearly beyond comprehension.
Hell, even a Spiritual Foundation Cultivator(The equivalent more or less of the good old Fondation Establishement) in my novel aren't only strong, they are in an entirely different dimension of power compared to mortals with no comparison.
Any random Spiritual Foundation Realm cultivator is actually a near-Cosmic Entity(Clearly not as I am exaggerating a little but higher level cultivators… it may not be an exaggeration…)
Totally unrelated but in this scene we saw Amelia's emotions and her rather intense reactions caused by the trauma she bear from the Nexoria Invasion and it made too much sense to not include it after all an event where you lost everything you lose it leave you with heavy PTSD and I thought that just 'clearing' it with a three years time skip and she is good now wasn't incredible.
And while she is better with it after the time that passed, she still carry the weight of this event with her.
———
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— End of Chapter —