CHAPTER 37: CHAPTER 37 SWORDPLAY_1

Last night, Shen Mo had an extensive conversation with Chen Mengze. Having listened to Chen Mengze recounting past events that night, he developed a new understanding of him. However, these revelations didn’t change much. Shen Mo still followed his own plans and routines, methodically arranging his cultivation days. He continued cooperating with Senior Brother Guo, each getting what they needed.

After conveying Chen Mengze’s desired birthday gift to Guo Zhao, Guo Zhao was overjoyed and, as promised, bestowed upon him a low-grade Profound Level Spirit Sword. In the meantime, Shen Mo fulfilled his duties conscientiously, concentrating on Alchemy and making talismans in his room daily without venturing out.

Life passed quickly.

In the blink of an eye, a month had gone by, and more than half of their time allocated to guard the mine was over. During this month, apart from the initial encounter with the Stone Spirit, subsequent night patrols had been uneventful. As for the Gold-devouring Rats that loved to burrow into and consume Dark Crystal Mines, Shen Mo and his companions had encountered a few. However, none required Shen Mo’s personal intervention. Senior Brother Guo specifically dealt with these demonic beasts; whenever they were encountered, he would handle them and drive them away.

Shen Mo’s sole duties were to patrol at night once every three days and often cook meals for Chen Mengze and Guo Zhao, waiting for them to return and eat. The rest of the time, he could openly slack off and cultivate in seclusion without any interference. In recent days, Senior Brother Guo Zhao had even excused him from night patrols, keen to patrol with Chen Mengze himself in the hopes of having more opportunities to bond.

However, not all paths are smooth, and even the moon is not always full. As Shen Mo had expected, despite Senior Brother Guo Zhao’s eagerness, he never found a chance to get closer to Chen Mengze. Instead, the relationship between Shen Mo and Senior Brother Guo Zhao gradually warmed through their many discussions and scheming sessions, and they became quite familiar.

「Stars hung low over the vast plains, and the moon surged like the great river.」

Tonight, Guo Zhao and Chen Mengze were on night patrol inside the Dark Crystal Mine. With nothing else to do, Shen Mo left his cave mansion and went to a rocky platform by the Lancang River to practice his swordplay.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

As Shen Mo’s elbow moved slightly, the sharp edge of his sword seemed to slice through the void in the darkness, generating intense gusts of wind.

"Break!"

He stood with his sword, pointing at a huge stone in the distance, and let out a sharp cry.

BANG!

In the next instant, a streak of sword Qi shot out from the tip of his sword, shattering the huge stone.

It is indeed a Spirit Sword of the magic artifact level. Truly extraordinary.

Gazing at such powerful destructive force, a faint smile appeared on Shen Mo’s face. He had been cultivating with this Dragon Sparrow Sword, a gift from Guo Zhao, for over a month and was gradually getting the hang of it. He had also begun to discover its unique properties.

According to Guo Zhao, this sword was classified as a magic artifact not only because it was forged from Cold Ice Black Iron, making it far stronger and sharper than ordinary divine weapons, but also, and crucially, because a Sword Path master had activated its sword intent during forging.

"Kill Life." This was the name of the Dragon Sparrow Sword’s intent.

Shen Mo simply had to pour enough Mana into it to activate this sword intent technique. Just now, shattering the huge stone from afar with a single strike demonstrated the power of its sword intent.

With my current strength, fully activating this Dragon Sparrow Sword’s intent, its power could match that of a cultivator in the early stages of Qi Gathering.

He calculated this mentally and was quite satisfied.

If this attack were used against an enemy, a cultivator at Layer IX of the Body Tempering Realm caught off guard could be heavily injured and unable to continue fighting with a single blow. It’s like having an additional sure-kill technique in battle.

However, although a sword intent’s level of gnosis can be activated for defense, it’s quite limited. To transform sword intent into a true Artifact Spirit capable of communicating with people and possessing independent gnosis is still a distant prospect.

In the cultivation world, all kinds of armaments, divine weapons, and spiritual treasures were classified into four main tiers: Profound Level, Spiritual Level, Treasured Level, and Immortal Level. Each level was further divided into four grades: low, middle, high, and extreme.

Profound Level items were collectively referred to as magic artifacts. This tier had already surpassed mundane standards and become highly sought-after objects in the cultivation world. Once a cultivator used their blood to refine it, a magic artifact could connect with its user.

As for Spiritual Artifacts, they required the item itself to develop gnosis.

Regarding spiritual treasures, no one in the entire Red Flame Country was certain if even one existed; ancient texts were vague about their true power and mysterious properties.

Celestial artifacts were even more legendary, existing only in tales.

At this moment, Shen Mo was far from reaching such levels. Even contemplating them was difficult to imagine. After all, when one’s knowledge is insufficient, speculation and imagination often lead to laughably off-base conclusions, like tales of "the empress in the East Palace makes flatbreads, while the empress in the West Palace rolls green onions."

Better to focus on practicing my swordplay!

Pushing down his distracting thoughts, Shen Mo lifted his Dragon Sparrow Sword and began practicing the Supreme Clarity Sword Technique.

CLANG! CLANG!

Under the silent night sky, endless Sword Light whirled about, forming a resplendent momentum that subtly aspired to pierce the heavens. Shen Mo waved his sword, his movements as smooth as flowing water, the entire routine seemingly effortless.

This Supreme Clarity Sword Technique was the basic sword technique he learned after joining the Riverside Sect, a skill he had been practicing for more than ten years. Previously, due to the original owner’s poor Talent, there had been no progress. When he transmigrated and activated the Destiny Panel, he finally began to advance rapidly. After several months of painstaking cultivation and experiencing various real battles in places like the Dark Crystal Mine and the Zhao Family’s Spirit Field, he had now mastered this sword technique to the perfection stage.

[Martial Art: "Supreme Clarity Sword Technique" Senior (3999/4000)]

"Senior..." Looking at this proficiency term in his basic attributes, Shen Mo murmured, "By the standards of the cultivation world, my Supreme Clarity Sword Technique has reached the Perfection stage."

However, on the Destiny Panel, this level is not the limit!

The Destiny Panel listed seven levels of proficiency for martial arts and magic: Primary, Senior, Junior, Senior, Elite, Master, and Epic.

In the cultivation world, however, there weren’t as many distinct levels for the cultivation of these martial arts and magic. They were generally divided into four Realms: Entry-level, Senior, Senior, and Perfection.

Through some exploration and experimentation, Shen Mo had confirmed that the first four proficiency levels on the Destiny Panel roughly corresponded to the cultivation world’s Realm progression.

Primary corresponded to Entry-level.

The panel’s first ’Senior’ (Slightly Accomplished) corresponded to the cultivation world’s first ’Senior’ (Lesser Accomplishment).

Junior corresponded to the cultivation world’s second ’Senior’ (Greater Accomplishment).

And the panel’s second ’Senior’ (Mastered/Integrated) corresponded to the cultivation world’s commonly known Perfection stage.

Under normal circumstances, when a practitioner reached the Perfection stage, their mastery of a particular martial art or magic technique had reached its limit, with no further room for improvement. Only those who were extraordinarily gifted could possibly deduce and improve upon the martial arts or magic created by their predecessors, reaching a legendary, ultimate level.

However, for Shen Mo, even having cultivated the Supreme Clarity Sword Technique to this stage was only midway through its potential for him; he had not yet reached the limit.

It seems that... the Destiny Panel allows me to reach the limits of martial arts and magic more easily than ordinary cultivators.

But, there are always bottlenecks.

Looking at the Dragon Sparrow Sword in his hand, he sighed.