Chapter 543: Wielding Dao Through the Sword (1/2)

Lu Yun was supremely confident in his talent; all he needed was a spark of inspiration to send him off in the right direction.

Back on the white path of cultivation, he’d successfully grasped the essence of dao and incorporated it into his sword technique. Logically speaking, it followed that Violetgrave’s sword dao would be no problem for him, either.

Moreover, she’d plainly demonstrated that stroke to Lu Yun on purpose, revealing to him all the secrets of the move.

Captivated by the demonstration under the fifth abyss, there hadn’t been anything for him to test his blade on. Now, the scarlet spirits filling the space as far as the eye could see would serve as the perfect targets.

Swoosh!

Violet sword energy enveloped the area, cutting down the spirits and exterminating them in an instant. However, Lu Yun knew that it wasn’t the slash that killed the spirits, but the heavenly power contained within it.

In other words, he was still relying on his heavenly power to kill his enemies like he had before, exhausting what reserves he had in himself. He had yet to master sword dao like Violetgrave had and could only reach her heights through trial and error. As time went on, though, he would require less energy and instead, rely more on the strength of the sword itself.

“Vastdragon Seaturner? Peng of Kun? Starstream Stroke? Endless Cosmic Ocean? Those techniques really are jokes!”

His lips curled into a smile as he recalled the slash Violetgrave had performed. Gone were the overwhelming swarm of scarlet spirits, replaced by a trail of brilliant sword energy.

Sword dao.

It was an independent dao, just like that of equipment, pill, formation, and talisman dao. Sword techniques and intent were nothing but deviant shortcuts by comparison.

“Dao has no form! I wield dao with my sword, thus I am sword dao!”

Swoosh!

With a twitch of his arm, Lu Yun reeled back in his nearly exhausted heavenly power and frowned in concentration, sending out a flash of violet brilliance.

It took nary a moment.

Violet sword energy overwhelmed the local space, relying on no heavenly power at all. This purest of sword slashes eliminated all the scarlet spirits in the area.

“I… did it?! This, this is sword dao! Wielding dao through the sword!

“...but it’s not my sword dao, it’s Violetgrave’s. I’m only an imitation, just copying her moves. I’ll have to find my own way on this path.” Lu Yun looked up.

Hordes of scarlet spirits had gathered again, but they hovered in the air instead of immediately swooping down. This time, there was also a trace of purple among them.

“A... purple yin spirit?” Lu Yun quirked his brow. He’d seen such a spirit before in Azure Province. It was more powerful than the scarlet spirits, capable of killing an aether dao immortal in a single combat. It was responsible for the great casualties Azure Province had suffered, claiming many dao immortals.

So another had shown up here.

However, instead of entering the premises, it prowled around the edges of the local space. Something here gave it pause.

“It looks like my hunch was right. Dao immortals will be slain by the power here the second they set foot inside,” Lu Yun sighed in relief. Raising Violetgrave, he stood before the layout formed by the Yin and Yang Formation Orbs, looking up at the masses of yin spirits teeming in the sky.

The orbs were thirty percent of the way through a complete merger. The layout and the yin and yang tombs were likewise slowly coming together, like a torn wound knitting back into one piece.