Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Alex and Bladedance’s spar went on for some time. During this time, Alex showed everything during this sparring, barring none.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Bladedance said, moving away from Alex as their spar came to an end.

Alex was slightly out of breath after having tried very hard to fight against the Sword God and failing to make the slightest impact in the battle. She had about the same Body Cultivation as him right now, and still, she was so far ahead of him that he could not possibly catch up in a short time.

Bladedance sat on the sand, asking Alex to take a seat next to her.

He did.

“You still have a short way to go before you have fully learned to utilize your Sword Domain,” Bladedance said. “Either you haven’t focused on it as much as you should, or you haven’t had the chance to practice it much. Either way, you’ll need to spend some time learning just this.”

Alex couldn’t help but agree. He had learned Sword Domain a long time ago, but he had rarely used it in many fights. “You are correct,” he said.

“I know I am,” Bladedance replied. “That being said, it would not hurt you to start learning about Sword Heart.”

Alex’s eyes perked up. “Really?” he asked.

Bladedance nodded. “Tell me, how many types of Intent have you learned for the Sword?” she asked.

Alex paused. “Types of Intent?” he asked. “Do you perhaps mean the Intent that has to do with my Sword Aura and the Intent I formed for my Sword Domain?”

“Those types, precisely,” Bladedance said.

“Then 2,” Alex answered.

“Wrong, 3,” she said. “You’re forgetting your neutral Intent. The Sword Intent may have no great will behind it, but it is an Intent nonetheless, and it is different from your Aura and Domain.”

Alex supposed that was true. He couldn’t so easily ignore the very initial Intent.

“Also, it is clear that you weren’t taught by someone who knew much about Sword,” Bladedance said. “If they did, they would have perhaps warned you about forming your Sword Domain with an entirely different Intent from your regular aura.”

Alex got worried. “Is that wrong? Did I make a mistake perhaps?” he asked.

“No, not a mistake,” Bladedance said. “In fact, what you did is actually the better thing to do in almost all cases.”

“Huh? Then why would someone warn me against this, master?” he asked.

“Because progressing in this path is extremely difficult,” she said. “You will not have noticed the difficulty yet, but going forward, especially when you start forming your Sword Heart, you will notice it.”

Alex listened intently.

“Sword Heart, as the name stands, is you trying to find the core of your sword—the heart. When you have a generic Sword Intent, you can learn that heart from others as well. There are dozens of people ready to teach you about Sword Hearts. But when you’ve cultivated your sword as you have, with different and unique Intents, you’re forced to forge the path on your own.”

“The path here on out will have to be separated. You’ve done all you can for your sword yourself. Now, it’s time to evolve those things on their own. During the formation of the Sword Heart, the man and the sword will have to be separated.”

Bladedance raised her hand to the side and in the distance, a bubble appeared, forming a Sword Domain around something invisible.

Alex stared with a stunned expression.

“That is my Sword Heart separated from me, manifesting as a Domain. I can also separate it in other forms too. I can pour it as Sword Intent onto a piece of rock. I can surround a leaf with it as my Sword Qi, or I can aid someone else’s attack with it, forming a Sword Aura through it.”

“But they will all have one thing in common. They will all be my Sword Heart, so they will be the same Intent. You have different Intents, so your task now is to merge them into one. When you’re left with a single Sword Intent, and you have learned enough to separate it from yourself, you will have learned Sword Heart.”

Bladedance continued teaching.

“Once you have formed a Sword Heart, it is said that you will not ever need a sword afterward,” Bladedance said. “But of course, as a swordsman, you will still be using it. Especially when you wish to evolve it further.”

Alex perked up in surprise. She was continuing.

“Beyond the Sword Heart lies the Dao Sword. The sword is separated from the man during the formation of the Sword Heart, and it remains separated going to the next step.”

“At the next step, you form a Dao surrounding your sword. You can either combine existing Dao into your Sword Heart, or make one that does not make sense even. What’s more, you can form as many Dao Swords as you can, each a Sword Heart with its own Dao.”

She looked at Alex. “How many Dao have you learned until now?” she asked.

“Uh… Sixteen,” Alex said. “Thirty-two if True Daos don’t count.”

“Thirty-two?” She looked at him for a long time, trying to see signs of any lies. But there were none. He really had that many Daos.

“How…”

Before Alex could answer, however, she stopped him. “Don’t bother. I don’t even want to know.”

“If you have 16 Daos, or 32, you can form a Dao Sword with all of them, assuming they are all compatible. I do suggest you make as many as you can, for your next job will be to get rid of the ones that won’t work.”

“One after another, you will start banishing the Dao Swords that do not speak to you, keeping only the ones that do. You will continue to whittle it down again and again, until you are left with just one.”

“This is known as the One True Sword.”

“Once you’ve formed this, the man that was separated from the sword during Sword Heart will accept it into himself, reaching the final stage of sword, known as One with the Sword.”