“…I lost so easily. What was that final move? Could it actually be the Second Layer’s final art?” Swordless, she had been pierced through by naked fingers. One move to parry her sword, another to pierce her neck!

“…Quintessence Sword Second Layer, Final Art: Sword Fingers.” On hearing him confirm her suspicions, a chill went through her spine. Even though she was training in the Second Layer of the Quintessence Sword Art, she still hadn’t comprehended the Final Art of the sword art!

The reason why was simple: comprehension of Sword Qi was required to cultivate it!

“Not mentioning Sword Qi, the Second Layer requires True Qi to train! However, you haven’t begun cultivation, not yet! How is this even possible? Not to mention that you haven’t even completed 2 years in age…” Ganwu Aina said this with a mystified expression.

“Hahaha, that is the advantage of my bloodline. As for True Qi, while I haven’t cultivated it yet, do you actually think that a way to train in manipulating True Qi without cultivating it does not exist? I am the prince of a lineage that controls an entire Great World, getting artifacts that others might find impossible to gain in a lifetime is nothing for me!” With an arrogant laugh, Heifeng Jiansui flaunted the advantages of his lineage!

‘So you simply held back your use of True Qi to give face to me and not stomp me in one blow?’ After concluding this, Aina grimaced.

“…I suppose the advantage of a noble bloodline cannot be ignored. Nevertheless, for you to defeat me, your senior by more than a decade, is a matter of great pride to you and a great shame to me. I shall be going into closed-door training! Even if I can’t hope to defeat you, I will at least force you to not hold back!” Saying this, Aina had a determined expression.

In response, Heifeng Jiansui simply smiled. No matter how strong Aina became, her growth rate would never surpass his.

“I’ll leave by myself, you don’t need to send me off. Also, a single year’s worth of resources will be allotted to you by the sect, I’ll leave it within a spatial ring!” Aina left the Swordworld with a single command, leaving Heifeng Jiansui alone in the illusory world.

Thus, Heifeng Jiansui’s introduction to the Paradisiacal Swordworld ended with Aina’s departure.

+++

After Aina left the Swordworld, Heifeng Jiansui followed as well. Even though she said that she didn’t need it, he escorted her around the Royal Palace and treated her to a meal from the Royal Kitchens. Having a young expert from the high-level power Ten Thousand Swords Paradise follow him around spread the message of his affiliation with it.

After sending off Aina, he returned to his room. It was granted by the Emperor, and its top-grade forging facilities and arrays were comparable to that of a core-disciple of the Ten Thousand Swords Paradise.

Immediately entering the Paradisiacal Swordworld, he quickly teleported to the Scripture Palace. In the large library, he immediately strode in the direct of the freely accessible core manuals and began to devour them like a glutton!

Core manuals were fairly high-level and could be cultivated for a long time, but were pretty cheap to access for disciples. In fact, training in these manuals was compulsory for disciples. This was because they were the foundation of the sect. Generations would cultivate with these manuals as foundation and improve them for the later generation!

Most of the core manuals of the sect were as expected, sword arts. Sword forging techniques were also prominent. The rest were battle techniques like martial arts, sealing arts, Dao techniques. Other than a few stray manuals for auxiliary techniques, there were no manuals for other arts. For example, the bloodline and battle spirit techniques did not have any core manuals!

Fortunately, this meant that a large discount would be provided on the techniques relating to Bloodline and Battle Spirits. Also, a moderate discount would be applied on Auxiliary techniques.

After finishing the core manuals, Heifeng Jiansui’s understanding of the Ten Thousand Swords Paradise and the current era rose. The core manuals contained the cultivation path of the current era!

To begin with, he rushed to the shelves that held the ‘Bloodline and Battle Spirit’ related arts. He immediately produced his Sword Seal and waved it in the air. A red light flashed, striking out towards the shelves that held the ‘Bloodline and Battle Spirit’ manuals.

“Reading Cost: 100 merit points/hour. Accept?”

After accepting, Heifeng Jiansui couldn’t help but ponder that the price was too low. Nevertheless, without wasting time, he immediately began devouring the books. With his photographic memory and the ‘Thousand Books, One Heart’ technique, he burned all the information into his mind.

56 minutes later, all the books were completely imprinted in his mind. He immediately paid the hourly fee and began contemplating the information he had gained in earnest.

“As expected, the standard of the techniques is too low.” The few complete techniques were on the level of ‘Thousand Books, One Heart’, and this was a technique he mastered in three months while simply poring through manuals, basically trash! The incomplete techniques were more profound, but rashly cultivating in them could irreparably harm his foundations.

“While I can use these arts as a foundation to create a technique, it still isn’t the best option. There are probably techniques for cultivating the battle spirit and bloodline, simply hidden away in these bookshelves. For example, the Divine Sword Spirit Art, the core sword art of the sect, cultivates the battle spirit as well.”

The best path was to read through all the manuals in the hall. With Heifeng Jiansui simply scanning all the pages of the books, it would require around 3 months to read through all the library books. Coincidentally, permission to read through all the books in the library for a quarter-year required 90,000 merit points. And Heifeng Jiansui currently possessed 90,950 points, just barely enough!

Before embarking on the path of memorizing the library, Heifeng Jiansui decided to overhaul the ‘Thousand Books, One Heart’ manual which had reached its limits.

He was going to read through a lot of books, after all.

+++

“…So mother, I am now a core disciple of the Ten Thousand Swords Paradise.” After regaling his mother with the entire story since Ganwu Aina’s arrival, Heifeng Jiansui awaited her advice.

“Good job! I didn’t expect your understanding of sword arts to be high enough to defeat a Platinum-rank True disciple of the Ten Thousand Swords Paradise! Your seclusion for 3 months will be comfortable; I will make preparations for it. Now that you have the backing of a high-grade sect, don’t hesitate to take advantage of it!” Chanlong Yue praised her genius son once again; he had successfully fulfilled all the missions give by the Elder Shenhai, captured the position of a core disciple in the Ten Thousand Swords Paradise and even defeated a higher ranked platinum disciple!

Even though Heifeng Jiansui was not yet a cultivator, he would not need food or water to sustain himself in this duration. The ‘Black Phoenix Allbeast Rule Formation’ formation he used was not a secret and its forging materials were fairly easy to gather, so this formation was used by Dark Phoenix cultivators while entering seclusion!

“Thank you, mother. I will be going into seclusion for a quarter-year, it isn’t that long. After my seclusion, I will immerse myself into the auxiliary-type sect missions and rack up merit points!” Now that he had his mother to handle matters regarding his seclusion, he could enter it at will. He only had to upgrade the ‘Thousand Books, One Heart’ technique before it!

+++

In the Paradisiacal Swordworld, the black Whitespace that could be molded into a personal domain was gone. In its place stood a rustic looking yet majestic mansion. It had a wooden shingled roof and encompassed man rooms. Forging, alchemy, training rooms- all the requirements of a cultivator were fulfilled. It also had a greeting hall, a kitchen and a bedroom.

In the bedroom, Heifeng Jiansui was seated in the lotus posture, fusing his comprehension of the ‘Thousand Books, One Heart’ technique with his understanding of the Spirit and Soul. There were also similar techniques from the Primordial Era and the battle spirit techniques of the current era, their essences being used as foundation for the new technique!

After nine hours of meditation, a new technique was formed. It encompassed all his understanding of the Spirit and fused in the essences of preceding and similar techniques.

“Boundless Scriptures Showing Dao seems like a grand name, but I believe it suits this technique.” Heifeng Jiansui did not spend too long in creating this technique, but it would still help his spiritual growth.

“Now, its time for my three month seclusion. I wonder how many battle spirit and bloodline techniques will be unearthened in this vast library?” Heifeng Jiansui was filled with anticipation towards the battle spirit, something new to this era, something he had a low understanding of!