Volume 3, Chapter 17 – Killing Intent

An excuse?

Standing on the embankment, Bai Xiang looked down at the river below, a faint sigh on her face that didn’t belong on someone her age.

“Dao Lord Tao,” she said quietly, “have you ever crossed swords with a Sword Lord?”

Why was she bringing that up out of nowhere?

Tao Muyun was thrown for a moment, and answered on reflex, “Naturally not.”

“Is that so? Then in Dao Lord Tao’s estimation, how strong is a Sword Lord’s power?”

This time, Tao Muyun understood her. He stared at Bai Xiang with a grave expression. “Dao Lord Bai… I don’t think you have a clear concept of what the Sword Lord attainment means.”

Bai Xiang smiled and lowered her eyes to him. “Then I must trouble Dao Lord Tao to enlighten me.”

“…It is ‘crushing an entire era,’” Tao Muyun said, enunciating each word. Then he gave his whisk a light shake. “Cultivators in this world all want to become Buddhas and immortals, to live forever. Like the Five Dragons of the Daoists of old, or the golden bodies of the Buddhists, or even all manner of demonic arts that plagued the mortal world—these people all wanted to become immortals, to preserve their power.”

“To reach that goal, people have tried nearly everything. But in the end, the path that can truly be walked through… you could say there’s only half of one.”

“Half a path?”

“Yes, half.” Tao Muyun sighed. “That is Sword Dao. After glimpsing the true meaning of the Innate, one proves the Sword Lord attainment. Just from that title you can tell it’s different from the rest.”

“Returning to Origin and Embracing the Core—that is when one becomes a Sage and a True Person.”

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“Breaking tribulation and transforming the core—that is a Divine Fetus immortal, also called an Earth Master.”

“Earth Masters and human immortals—at our level, even if you dropped us a thousand years in the past, we could still go to the Sacred Court of Emperor Yu and secure an official post.”

“If one dislikes court affairs, one can simply sit in some mountain forest. In time, a stream will form beneath one’s knees, and within less than fifty years a sect will gather around you, clan and disciples all under your blessing.”

“But all of that is worldly pursuit,” Tao Muyun shook his head. “Human immortals, Earth Masters… in the end, they’re still running themselves ragged over mundane matters. They can’t truly grasp heaven-and-earth’s workings, nor can they control birth, old age, sickness, and death.”

“A Sword Lord is different.”

“Since this realm can be called a ‘fruit attainment,’ it must have truly transcended the mundane. Let me use a real example.”

“There are two Sword Lords in the world today,” Tao Muyun said, spreading his hands. “Wu Mengzi of Suzhen Dao, and Chu Weiping of Qingping Dao.”

“Wu Mengzi’s lifespan has reached ninety-six; Chu Weiping is over a full century. Yet both look like white-haired youths, with the vigor and condition of someone fixed in their golden thirties.”

He raised his voice slightly. “That is the first step of transcending birth, old age, sickness, and death. They can refrain from eating grains, avoid the taint of worldly air, and are untouched by illness and demonic corruption. They can live for at least another twenty or thirty years.”

To live past a full hundred years and then still have another twenty or thirty—that meant a baseline of a hundred and twenty. That was already older than Holy Emperor Gu.

Bai Xiang was a little surprised, but the more she thought about it, the more it felt only natural.

The Holy Emperors of old had also held the Sword Lord attainment. But times change; methods advance. The techniques and theories of the past couldn’t possibly be more advanced than those of today. The methods Holy Emperor Gu pioneered back then couldn’t match a system refined through generations of Sword Dao geniuses.

And there was something else: Holy Emperor Gu was the first Human Emperor who ended the age of demon rule. To achieve that, his life had to be filled with endless campaigns and slaughter. His body must have been worn down heavily in the process, and that would directly cut into his lifespan.

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So it was normal that he died at ninety-three.

What was remarkable was that now, sixteen hundred years later, later Sword Lords had pushed lifespan on that foundation up to a hundred and twenty or thirty. Even that much was enough to be called defying nature and transcending death… which only showed how absurdly hard it was to make progress here.

Keep in mind: Holy Emperor Gu failed to reach a hundred only because his body was overdrawn.

If he hadn’t worn himself out, he might have lived to a hundred and something as well. Then the “increase” in the Sword Lord’s lifespan would have to be shrunk even further. Over sixteen hundred years, maybe they’d only gained a few additional years.

A few years—did that even count as progress?

Even basic differences in physique from person to person could produce a gap of several years. Calling that “progress” didn’t feel convincing to Bai Xiang.

But at least Tao Muyun had clearly expressed one thing: that a Sword Lord could resist aging and death to a certain extent. Before their body truly reached its final limit, they could maintain their functions at a high level, exerting combat power not far from their peak.

“What Dao Lord Tao means, then… is that the core of this fruit attainment lies in transcending nature?” Bai Xiang asked. “And a Sword Lord’s power is merely the bonus that comes with that transcendence?”

“I’ve never crossed blows with those two, so I wouldn’t dare to make wild guesses,” Tao Muyun said, shaking his head. “I’ll only share two thoughts.”

“First, there’s word passed among the Nine Dao lineages that the Innate threshold holds the riddle of life and death. If you cannot cross it, you stay a human immortal, an Earth Master. Only after crossing it can you truly be called an Earth Immortal or a Celestial Master. As for what Earth Immortals and Celestial Masters can actually do… if you want details, you’ll have to look to myth.”

Tao Muyun lifted his brows slightly. “The Demon Kingdom and the Blood Sea along the northern front can only rely on those two to hold them down. Yet here in Ze and Qi, even this inferior blood cloud is enough to leave the likes of us helpless.”

“That gap is something Dao Lord Bai can savor slowly.”

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“Second is a question I saw on the internet a few years back. It asked: if someone had physical attributes several times that of an ordinary person, how much would their fighting strength increase?”

“Several times the physical attributes…” Bai Xiang frowned. “If that multiple is an all-around increase, then the boost to combat strength would probably have to start counting from ten times.”

Tao Muyun smiled. “That was this old Daoist’s thought as well.”

Pretty trendy, this old Daoist—using something he picked up online to test me.

Bai Xiang’s face didn’t show it, but in her heart she already understood what Tao Muyun meant.

Many people thought that a several-fold increase to overall capabilities wasn’t such a big deal. But you had to realize: several times the strength meant muscles and bones that could bear that strength. Several times the reaction meant corresponding nervous response and mental processing. Not to mention senses, perception, and intelligence—those hidden faculties. Factor all of those together, and even if that multiple was only two, the increase in fighting power would have to be multiplied by ten.

So what about a Sword Lord?

A hundred years of cultivation, a hundred years of accumulation.

Even leaving experience aside, and setting aside Tao Muyun’s first point—ignoring all those mythical methods entirely—just the “Earth-Immortal body” they’d honed would be enough for a Sword Lord to crush a Divine Fetus.

“In the face of the grand tide, the strength of the individual is insignificant,” Tao Muyun said frankly, looking at Bai Xiang.

Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes slightly. “Dao Lord Tao is advising me to compromise for now…”

“As long as a person is alive, there will be times they have to compromise,” Tao Muyun said. “The exchange of interests, the compromise of power—that’s how a human-ruled world operates.”

“Dao Lord Bai is still young. The Divine Fetus realm will not be your end. A momentary compromise doesn’t mean a lifetime of it.”

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“This poor Daoist urges you: don’t drive yourself into a dead end.”

Tao Muyun’s words could be called painstaking advice.

Bai Xiang drew Feixiang Heaven and gave him a sword salute, then said nothing more. Her body drifted forward into the Blood Cloud Great Marsh.

“Young folk do run hot…”

Tao Muyun stroked his long beard, his gaze toward the blood cloud tinged with worry.

For the Blood Sea to rise again was an ominous sign. A young talent like Bai Xiang ought to be a pillar of hope in humanity’s struggle against the Aberrations. He truly didn’t want to see things head in a worse direction.

“I saw another line online once—it said that every major event in history will play out at least twice.”

“Explained in terms of the Daoist Canon, the first time is when Heaven stirs killing intent—stars shift and constellations are changed.”

“The second time is when Earth stirs killing intent—dragons and serpents rise onto land.”

“As for the third time…”

Shaking his head, Tao Muyun let out a sigh and turned back toward the camp behind him.