Chapter 435 - Malus Halliana Sword (1/2)

Chapter 435: Malus Halliana Sword

Zhou Chen’s sword qi was as vigorous as a dragon while Ning Fan’s baleful qi soared into the sky. The weather suddenly changed suddenly on Lightning Bamboo Island. Thousands of cultivators were shocked. Countless cultivators rushed to the Thunder Court Pavilion, the forbidden area of the island.

Hong Yi suddenly rose to her feet. She held a token in her hand and activated the grand formation of the Thunder Court Pavilion, sealing off all of the fluctuations of magic power from their battle.

Hong Yi signaled to three Void Glimpse Stage experts and requested for them to leave the Thunder Court Pavilion to stabilize the situation in the island.

Ning Fan was not really concerned about what the others around him did. Now, there was only a single person in his eyes – Zhou Chen.

Zhou Chen’s strength was nowhere near Yun Tianjue’s. However, among all Void Refinement Realm experts, he definitely was one of the top swordmasters.

The nature of his sword intent was different from Yun Tianjue’s.

With his baleful qi covering his body, Ning Fan carefully studied the vigorous sword intent that was thrashing against him. Inwardly, he gradually understood something.

“This is a sword that has emotions! Aside from that, the emotion that was currently within this sword is something between a man and a woman. If it were to be perceived at a deeper level, it is the feeling of ‘sorrow’!”

Just as his voice fell, Zhou Chen’s old eyes instantly flashed with a hint of surprise. He was shocked that Ning Fan was able to see through the nature of his sword intent with one look!

Precisely, the sword intent he had comprehended was the Sword of Sentiment. Compared to many sword cultivators who were heartless and ruthless, Zhou Chen was an exception.

The sentiment he placed within his sword was the relationship between a man and a woman and which had a sorrowful end…

In Zhou Chen’s entire lifetime, he had fought against countless sword cultivators in the Rain World. All of those who were able to see through his sword intent as the Sword of Sentiment was Void Refinement Realm sword cultivators!

Those who were able to discern that it was about a relationship between a man and a woman on the basis of the Sword of Sentiment were of at least the Void Inquiry Stage sword cultivators.

Those who were able to tell that it was the sentiment of sorrow that was in the sword intent were sword cultivators who definitely had Void Fragmentation Realm level insight. In his entire life, he had only met three of them!

Among the three, one of them was Yun Tianjue. As for the other two, they were the Sword Sovereign of the Sword World and a rogue immortal who travelled across the Four Heavens. Ning Fan was the fourth person!

Well, it was not strange. While Ning Fan’s level in the Dao of Swords might not be the strongest in the Nine Worlds, his knowledge can definitely be considered to be high among countless sword cultivators.

“I have underestimated you. Even though your cultivation base is weak, no one in this Rain World can compete with you in terms of your sword comprehension other than the White-Robed Sword God… If it wasn’t for the one hundred thousand years old spiritual herbs, I certainly will be willing to be friends with you! Unfortunately, as a servant of my lord, I have to do what I was entrusted! I’m sorry that I have to face you! As compensation, I shall let you see the most precious sword in my entire life!”

Zhou Chen clenched his teeth and made a hand seal. A clear “ching” was suddenly heard from the sword box behind him. In the next moment, Zhou Chen was already holding a long sword in his hand. It was a wooden sword.

The wood that had been used to make the sword gave off a whiff of fragrance of begonia. If Ning Fan was not wrong, it was the wood from the Malus Halliana[1].

This sword was rather ordinary. It was so light that it seemed like it would break when one shook it.

However, Ning Fan understood that even an extremely ordinary sword would turn into the most extraordinary sword when it falls into the hands of the swordsmen like Zhou Chen.

When he was in Gusu, he studied swords and understood them. Now, he had already comprehended the principle of “weak swords but strong intent and strong swords but weak intent”.

If it’s a flying sword, it would naturally be better to use stronger and lighter materials to make the sword. After all, it was difficult to prevent magic treasures from colliding against each other.

If it’s a broadsword, one also needs to place some emphasis on the materials used to forge the swords in order to make sure it has a large attack range to sweep away a large number of enemies.

Zhou Chen’s sword was obviously neither of the two.

This sword was an intent sword. Even though the size of the sword was incredibly small and seemed fragile, it could display the strongest sword intent!

What Ning Fan had to defend against was not Zhou Chen’s sword light but his sword intent instead.

Sword intent could strike from every opening. Even if Ning Fan had the lightning armor, it could not completely defend against it.

Ning Fan’s expression turned slightly grim. At first, he was prepared to summon his lightning armor to defend against his opponent’s blow. However, it seemed like there wasn’t a trick he could pull off in front of this Zhou Chen. Instead, he had to show his true capabilities. Otherwise, he would definitely be unable to withstand Zhou Chen’s strike.

After taking care of the situation, the three Void Glimpse Stage experts returned to the pavilion. When they saw Zhou Chen use the wooden sword, all of their expressions changed.

“What?! The third elder actually decided to use the ‘Malus Halliana Sword! This sword kills without shedding blood. Rumor has it that the third elder had used this one sword to kill Void Inquiry Stage old monsters in his entire lifetime. There were at least ten Void Inquiry Stage experts who had been killed by this sword! It is quite unexpected for the third elder to actually use this sword for a mere Zhou Ming!”

“For a mere Zhou Ming…” Ning Fan’s brows were slightly knitted together. Did these three Void Glimpse Stage old monsters really think that they were so outstanding that they could treat Ning Fan like an ant?

If I want the Zhou Clan to be my backer in the future, I must never let them underestimate me. At least, I have to show them something that can gain their respect.

Thus, that’s another reason why I can’t reserve my strength.

“Lightning armor, appear!”

Ning Fan made a hand seal. It was none other than the hand seal to summon the Primordial Lightning Armor.

As Void Refinement Realm experts of the Zhou Clan, the three Void Glimpse Stage experts, of course, knew the Primordial Lightning Armor secret technique. However, this technique was extremely difficult to cultivate. The users of this technique had to devour primordial lightning in order to improve it.

Other than the lightning sovereign who had practiced this technique until the highest level, there was not a single cultivator in the Zhou Clan who managed to improve this technique to the silver grade or above.

It was no surprise. After all, one could only obtain a trace of primordial lightning by killing a Divine Transformation Realm cultivator and they must also be lightning cultivators.

If one wishes to withstand Void Refinement Realm attacks using this technique, they would need to improve their lightning armor to the golden grade. In order to make the lightning armor break through to the golden grade, it was absolutely impossible without more than ten thousand traces of primordial lightning. Besides, it was rumored that the amount of primordial lightning needed for the lightning armor to improve after attaining the golden grade would be even more massive.

There were only several hundreds of Divine Transformation Realm cultivators in total in the internal sea. This number had also taken into account all the secret members of the Four Clans of the Deep Sea and the Zhou Clan.

Not to mention that the lightning cultivators were only a minority of these experts, even if one kills all the Divine Transformation Realm cultivators in the Rain World, they would not be able to gather enough primordial lightning to make their lightning armor break through to the golden grade.

Hence, in the eyes of the three Void Glimpse Stage experts, this technique was undoubtedly an insignificant technique.

When they saw Ning Fan display this technique, they did not regard it as something significant.

“This technique must be the one Mistress taught him. Hehe. This young man is just a Divine Transformation Realm cultivator after all. He actually only knows how to summon a silver-grade lightning armor to defend against the strongest sword strike of the third elder. How could such an inferior defensive technique withstand the third elder’s sword intent?”

“There’s no need to watch any longer. He will certainly lose…”

Just as their voices fell, all of them were suddenly at a loss for words at the next moment. Their eyes turned as large and as round as a camel bell, their faces filled with disbelief.

What they saw was a set of golden lightning armor covering Ning Fan’s white robes. Besides, that golden armor gave out a massive amount of lightning power which was enough to defend against a Void Pierce Stage attack. Evidently, it was a lightning armor at the third level!

“Impossible! He actually managed to cultivate the lightning armor to the third level! H-How is this possible?!”

“After the lightning sovereign, the Rain World now has another person who successfully cultivated the lightning armor to the third level of the golden grade! This armor is enough to make him nearly invincible among Void Inquiry Stage experts… Because of this armor, there are nearly no Void Inquiry Stage old monsters who can harm him! As for us…”

“As for us, even though we are Void Refinement Realm experts, we are just at the Void Glimpse Stage. Even if we use all of our strength, we certainly cannot even leave a single scratch on him!”

The expressions of the three Void Refinement Realm experts were filled with surprise. They were literally speechless after witnessing the scene before their eyes.

All of their intentions to belittle Ning Fan vanished completely at this moment.

The cold eyes of Hong Yi who was observing the fight at the sidelines flashed with a hint of surprise once again after looking at Ning Fan who seemed like Konjin. Silently, she muttered to herself.

“This young man has just gone into the Black Lightning Tower one time. In just ten days, he actually obtained such a large amount of primordial lightning. It really surprised me. When I was gathering primordial lightning in the past, I wasn’t as fast as him.”

Even when Hong Yi entered the lightning tower on her own in the past, she could only depend on killing the undead spirits to obtain all the primordial lightning she needed. Therefore, she was not as efficient and as fast as Ning Fan in gathering primordial lightning.

With Lei Shiyi’s help, Ning Fan could directly purchase a great deal of primordial lightning. Moreover, he was also involved in the massive battle against Ying Long’s troops and became the hero who had slain Ying Long. Furthermore, the lightning lord of every floor he went would spare no effort in gathering primordial lightning to give them all to Ning Fan.

Since Ning Fan did not personally engage in battle to gather most of the primordial lightning, Hong Yi who only acted alone naturally could not compete with him.

Zhou Chen took in a light breath. His eyes became even more solemn. With a clear voice, he said.

“Zhou Ming, even though your lightning armor is strong, it would be difficult to defend against ‘intent’ even if it could block magic techniques, body techniques and tangible attacks. Be it demon intent, divine intent or devil intent, all types of intent are still fundamentally about the intent realm. The cultivation of magic power is tangible but the cultivation of the intent realm is intangible. The reason why a cultivator would need to improve their intent realm in order to break through to the Divine Transformation Realm and the Void Refinement Realm is fundamentally because the breakthroughs need cultivators to understand the transition between ‘tangible’ and ‘void’.”

“The first step of the intent realm is the ‘tangible state’. The second step of the intent realm is the ‘void state’. The third state of the intent realm is the ‘true state’ from the rumors. Every intent realm has their very own grade. The grade of the intent realm will improve as one’s comprehension towards it increases…”

“My sword intent is called the Haitang[2] Sword Intent. I gained this comprehension using a tuft of Malus Halliana. When I first obtained it, it was inferior and it had no grade. However, after spending a great deal of effort to cultivate this intent, the grade of this intent realm has already improved to the ninth grade, the eighth grade and eventually the seventh grade from absolutely nothing. Now, my Haitang Sword Intent is already a sixth grade intent realm! Little Friend, be prepared to take my blow!”

The actual reason why Zhou Chen would talk so much was because he was giving Ning Fan some advice. He was sharing his understanding of the cultivation of the intent realm to Ning Fan.

It was his compensation. It was the compensation he decided to give to Ning Fan for his decision to draw his sword against him.

As he made that decision, he had gone against Hong Yi’s command as well as his own heart.

After witnessing the strength of Ning Fan’s lightning armor and his comprehension in the Dao of Swords, he already had the intention of befriending Ning Fan.

However, he was loyal to his lord and was reluctant to give the spiritual herbs away just like that. Thus, even though he would go against Hong Yi’s order, lose the chance to make friends with Ning Fan and even need to give up one of his arms after the fight, he still had to draw his sword!

In this life of his, his lovelife was already the past. He was only left with a debt of gratitude. Showing his loyalty to his lord was originally to repay this debt of gratitude.

If he also loses this chance to repay his debt, the effort he had spent to cultivate the Dao alone in the past ten thousand years would only have a sorrowful end and the Dao he had been cultivating would be meaningless.

Zhou Chen’s words entered Ning Fan’s ears.

Each of the words he spoke originated from the loneliness he had personally experienced in the past ten thousand years and all the comprehensions of the Dao he had gained. A single word could be considered to be worth a thousand ounces of gold. Countless cultivators in the Rain World had begged Zhou Chen for advice but he would never say a single word to them. Today, however, since he really had no choice but to draw his sword against Ning Fan, the only compensation he could give in return was his Dao comprehensions.

Ning Fan carefully pondered over Zhou Chen’s words. The insights within his mind gradually increased.

His divine intent was rain; his devil intent was mountain while his demon intent was Fu Li. With his terrifying ability to comprehend things, he had discovered three types of intent realms and eventually fused them into one.

However, until the moment he created the Intent Realm of Memory, he still could not see through the essence of the intent realm. He only knew that it was an intent realm of the second step.

After Zhou Chen told Ning Fan that the cultivation of the intent realm was actually the cultivation of the word ‘void’, all of the confusions he had in the past were resolved today.

From nothing to something. Condensing magic power for cultivation. From being tangible to intangible. Breaking the magic technique to form intent. By crushing the void space, one could become a life immortal. By comprehending the truth of the Dao, one could become a true immortal.

Ning Fan’s thoughts slowly became emptier and clearer. It was all because of Zhou Chen’s advice which helped him solve countless confusions that greatly troubled him. Well, the journey of cultivation was always full of hindrances.

“Thank you very much!”

He cupped his fists towards Zhou Chen. There were no grudges in his voice but gratitude instead.

The reason why Zhou Chen drew his sword against him was not because of his personal grudges but his loyalty to his lord. He was not a villain. Thus, Ning Fan did not blame Zhou Chen for doing so.

Since Zhou Chen had shared his Dao comprehension with Ning Fan, he, of course, would naturally feel grateful to him.

However, since both of them were going to have a fight, they naturally could not show any mercy and both of them had to give their best.

Gradually, Ning Fan’s eyes became more focused while Zhou Chen placed all of his concentration into the Malus Halliana Sword.

Zhou Chen had a firm reason to draw his sword while Ning Fan had a strong determination to save Luo You.

This was just a battle between two experts but it indirectly hinted behind the true reason for all the bloodsheds in the cultivation world.

In many occasions, cultivators had no other choice but to fight and kill in order to compete for limited resources and to protect their own Dao.

“Sword up!”

Zhou Chen suddenly raised his sword. Killing intent exuded from his body like clouds. Even though he had yet to activate his sword intent, his sword qi had already rushed towards Ning Fan. It was strong enough to kill common Void Glimpse Stage experts!

Ning Fan’s expression looked slightly surprised. This sword qi was certainly a sword qi that Zhou Chen did not deliberately release. Such a sword qi was already enough to kill ordinary Void Glimpse Stage experts. If it was a sword qi which Zhou Chen released with all his strength, wouldn’t it be able to instantly kill a Void Inquiry Stage expert?!