Xue Luo quickly became the most popular person in the Sword Sect because of this.
Although the disciples of the other two sects did not have the privilege of freely choosing from the Scripture Pavilion, the three sects had a close relationship, and Xue Luo, when occasionally free, was willing to give them some pointers.
Xue Luo was thriving in the sect for a while.
After Li Shuang told Xue Luo that she had decided to go to the demon territory with her, she began a short period of seclusion.
This seclusion was to digest the many merits she had accumulated before.
Earlier, Senior Xue Luo had already given her the most suitable body refining technique: the Profound Bright Body Refining Art.
For these past few days, she would just get started with this technique.
Li Shuang closed her eyes and, following the guidance of the cultivation method, channeled the power of merit to temper her body.
The power of merit is extremely rare. It is rare in the world to find someone like Li Shuang, who has saved thousands of true spirits in one go, thus accumulating such a vast amount of merit.
The Profound Bright Body Refining Art itself is not difficult; its difficulty lies in the process of accumulating merit.
With a massive amount of merit, Li Shuang naturally cultivated very smoothly.
This body refining technique is divided into four stages.
The first stage is Merit Foundation Establishment. In this stage, the body is initially tempered with the power of merit. The highest strength is equivalent to the peak of Foundation Establishment.
The second stage is Merit Cohesion. In this stage, merit will further condense the physical body. The highest strength can reach the peak of Nascent Soul.
The third stage is Merit Transformation into Reality. In this stage, the originally illusory merit will truly transform into the indestructible essence of the physical body. The highest strength can reach the peak of Void Refinement.
The fourth stage is Merit Golden Body. After cultivating the Merit Golden Body, the more merit one has, the stronger the golden body will become, until finally, one cultivates to the peak of the human realm.
Body refining cultivation methods and spirit refining cultivation methods are two completely different systems.
Li Shuang had begun dual cultivation of both systems.
The first stage: Merit Foundation Establishment.
Li Shuang achieved it easily in just one day. From then on, without spiritual power or spiritual consciousness, she could fight a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator relying solely on her physical strength.
The second stage: Merit Cohesion.
Li Shuang spent three days on this step. After three days, a large portion of her merit was consumed, and her physical strength easily reached the peak of Nascent Soul.
Then came the third stage: Merit Transformation into Reality.
This step consumed all of Li Shuang's merit. In the end, her physical strength stayed at the early stage of Void Refinement.
On the surface, her body refinement level was even one level higher than her spiritual power level.
With the support of massive merit, the Profound Bright Body Refining Art didn't take Li Shuang too long.
After finishing her cultivation, there were still several days left before the time Li Shuang and Xue Luo had agreed upon.
Li Shuang then entered the Sword Dao space.
In the Sword Dao space, time flows slower, but it can only be used for practicing swordsmanship.
Li Shuang once again examined these five characters.
In the Sword Dao space, those five stone tablets still stood.
Among them, the first stone tablet had the character "灭" (Mie - Exterminate), and this character had been completely mastered by Li Shuang, now glowing with light.
Li Shuang looked at the second stone tablet.
Each of the five stone tablets represents a character.
Each time, she needed to fully grasp its true meaning to truly understand the character.
Li Shuang had a premonition that only after she mastered all five characters could she obtain the final treasure left by Senior Su Mu.
Perhaps only then could she truly access the Taishang Wangqing Jue (Supreme Forgetting Emotion Art).
Compared to the grand and domineering first character, this second character appeared ethereal; the strokes would be in one place in one moment and suddenly in another at the next.
It was completely inscrutable.
Following the learning method of the first character, Li Shuang began by imitating its form.
There's a saying: "Read a book a hundred times, and its meaning will become apparent."
When there was no clue, what Li Shuang hoped for was to practice the sword a hundred times, and its meaning would naturally emerge.
As soon as she began practicing the sword, Li Shuang noticed the difficulty.
The swordsmanship contained within this second character... was simply too elusive. If she hadn't recently advanced her body refining technique to the Void Refinement stage, she probably wouldn't even be able to simulate the form of the swordsmanship.
Li Shuang even had a vague feeling of predestination.
She cultivated the Profound Bright Body Refining Art, and then began to cultivate this second character; everything fit perfectly.
If she had cultivated this second character first, she would have also discovered the difficulties, and then she would probably have painstakingly searched for a body refining technique.
The time lost in between would have been far more than a day or two.
With the enhancement of her powerful body, Li Shuang barely managed to grasp the sword moves of this second character.
But she always felt... that the swordsmanship displayed in the Sword Dao space was not the complete picture of this swordsmanship.
After mastering the form of the sword moves, Li Shuang decided to leave the Sword Dao space for now.
She came to a deserted back mountain and once again performed the sword technique contained in the second character.
As soon as she performed it in the real world, Li Shuang quickly noticed the difference!
In the Sword Dao space, there was no spiritual power, and no spiritual consciousness could be used; only the sword existed.
But in the real world, this swordsmanship, once performed, would actually involve spiritual consciousness.
The more perfectly the sword moves were performed, the more spiritual consciousness would be drawn.
Li Shuang is currently following two paths simultaneously.
One is the Path of Heartlessness, on which she has already comprehended "Lotus in Ice" and "Seeing All Beings." After comprehending the "Mie" character technique, she feels that she is not far from the third move.
The other is the Path of All Beings, but she has only comprehended "Soul Severing." Moreover, that was a very long time ago.
In these past decades, her experiences have been quite extraordinary.
From the Soul Prison to the super-grade demon seed, to the Langya Palace Secret Realm.
Li Shuang saw people who resorted to unscrupulous means to enhance their strength.
She also saw people who sacrificed their lives to save all beings.
In the Langya Palace Secret Realm, she saw the myriad aspects of sentient beings.
There were those who abandoned their loved ones for ascension.
There were those who harbored delusions and dragged their entire sect into an abyss.
But there were also those who always adhered to their principles, striving repeatedly without ever giving up.
These people.
They are all sentient beings.
What she saw were all paths of sentient beings.
Li Shuang's observations and feelings had already accumulated enough capital for her, and finally, gently guided by this sword move.
Li Shuang sighed softly, her sword moving, cutting away delusions.
When the sword fell, flowers were flowers, trees were trees, seemingly with no difference.
Only Li Shuang knew.
This sword could sever the illusions of the world. As long as the spiritual power did not exceed hers by too much, no one could confuse her heart again.
This sword.
It was named "Severing Delusion," capable of shattering the world's illusions and pointing directly to the true self.
It severs the delusions of others.
And also one's own delusions.
Only by breaking through illusions can one see reality.
After comprehending the "Severing Delusion" sword, Li Shuang still vaguely felt a subtle connection with the second character.
Could the sword moves contained in the second character also be related to the illusions of the world?