Chapter 422: Understanding the Sword Path (1/2)

Perhaps, through their experience as a soldier, they could feel the quiet bloodlust coming from her. It wasn't overwhelming or oppressive but it was unsettling, like a needle prickling at your skin.

The two commanders both felt it and they couldn't help but feel surprised.

”Such dense killing intent and yet, it is controlled. How much killing would it take to reach such a level? Several thousand? And so young!” they thought.

”Perhaps, you really can do this without our help”, said Yu Zhen, ”In that case, you can spend the next month or two training or hunting, with us or alone. It is up to you, you may go now.”

Ming Yue bowed and left with her two pets.

As for Zi Jing and Yu Zhen, they both turned back to the war table and looked at it.

”We'll need a detailed map of the swamps, plot a course, and plan from there.”

”I need to bring this to the others to dissect. When is that supply ship suppose to come?”

”In a few days, but we should scout the area better....”

At this point, everyone was getting busy and in the weeks to come, it had grown colder. However, Ming Yue did not let up on her own training.

Without her sword, she had lost her main way of fighting but that only meant she had to evaluate what she did have. And while Drifting Sky was not available, she still had the Pearlstone Dagger, a Lower-Divine Grade dagger. Furthermore, her Changing Clouds Armor would boost her power once it transforms.

”I could ask Commander Zi Jing if he can strengthen these two but... it would be better if he focuses on the lizards. Rather, this dagger... I have to try a few things with it.”

She played with the dagger in her hands as she stood by the lakeshore.

”It's speed triples when I fill it with my energy... but only when thrown. What if I use the dagger to execute my techniques? How would that work?”

Thinking this, She held it in her hand just like with Drifting Sky and began to circulate her energy. Building it up she let it flow into the dagger, causing wind and lightning to encase it in a thin layer.

Aiming at the sky, she swung out, letting loose a blade wind.

It flew from her dagger and into the sky, climbing until it reached the clouds and vanished. Her eyes snapped back to it as if a light had gone up in her head.

”I understand now, Realm of a Hundred Swords! My progression was wrong.”

But with this one attack, how was she so sure?

”I shouldn't have started with the stick, a dagger would've made much more sense. I should start with things closer to Drifting Sky.”

She examined her dagger before using another technique.

In the span of a single night, she had executed all of her sword techniques with the Pearlstone Dagger, something she had never attempted before. After all, she had no reason to do so before.

And at the end of it, Ming Yue's suspicions were made true.

”Starting with the branch would've been much more difficult or impossible. But at least with the dagger, it is a more reasonable start. The sensation is a bit different compared to Drifting Sky, I need less power to attack but the techniques themselves also come out a bit smaller. I think I understand what this stage is about. The essence of the sword is ourselves, our energy. In order to be able to use anything as a sword, I must adjust my energy accordingly and fluidly. I need flexibility.”

Through this, she understood what Realm of a Hundred Swords was meant to be. She could not change the fact that a sword and a dagger are different or that a stick cannot compare to her weapon. Rather, she must change how she interacts with these items, she cannot treat them like a sword but turn them into one.

As with the Pearlstone Dagger, it is different from Drifting Sky but just like it, she can use her techniques with this dagger. All that she needed to do was to adjust her strength and change how she used it.