Under this oppressive force, the heavy waves, though endless and churning with monstrous swells, could not advance an inch!
Flame Burning Sea!
The Blazing Flame Saber, incinerating the enraged ocean!
This disadvantage made Lin Yang feel an extreme sense of foreboding!
"Bad!"
Lin Yang's pupils contracted, as if he could already see his defeat. He gritted his teeth and quickly increased the infusion of his spiritual power.
As the spiritual power of the fifth layer of Condensing Pulse surged, the waves, with renewed support and combined with his body-cultivation strength, managed to break through the pressure of the Blazing Flame Saber bit by bit.
The waves, for a short time, stopped retreating and instead advanced a little.
Sword energy roared, and the short sword in his hand imbued the waves with a trace of sword intent.
A sharp sword intent.
Upon sensing this sharp sword intent,
Fang Ming's expression shifted slightly.
This sword intent... seemed to be the sword intent of a sword cultivator?
Had this person already become a cultivator capable of flying with his sword?
In the number one cultivation world, cultivators followed the path of the Sword Immortal, which was divided into three stages. The first stage was initial entry into the sword, akin to Fang Ming using his magical artifact to take a head with his flying sword.
The second stage was flying with the sword, where the flying sword possessed the function of flight.
The third stage was the unity of man and sword, where man and sword transformed into a single beam of rainbow light.
During this process, only upon reaching the second stage, flying with the sword, could sword intent be generated.
For someone like Fang Ming in the first stage, sword intent could not be produced.
Could it be that Lin Yang's comprehension in the way of the sword had already surpassed Fang Ming, who possessed the strength of the Dao Foundation realm?
Fang Ming's thoughts raced, and he quickly extracted from the memories of his original body, Lin Xuan, the reason why Lin Yang possessed sword intent.
He immediately realized with enlightenment that Lin Yang was able to emit sword intent through the short sword in his hand.
Fang Ming thought to himself, "So that's how it is. In the number one cultivation world, sword intent can only be comprehended by the cultivator themselves. Tools and weapons do not help cultivators comprehend sword intent. Therefore, only cultivators who have reached the stage of flying with their sword in their sword cultivation can wield sword intent."
"However, in this cultivation world, the standard for wielding sword intent has been greatly lowered. It is not necessary to rely on oneself; one can use artifacts. Just like the short sword in Lin Yang's hand, it can emit sword intent without necessarily relying on oneself, but rather on an artifact."
"This is the subtle difference between the two cultivation worlds..."
Lin Yang's short sword should be a treasure sword of the upper mortal grade. Only such a sword could allow someone who did not understand the way of the sword well to emit sword intent.
After examining Lin Xuan's memories, Fang Ming finally understood that it was not that Lin Yang's cultivation in the way of the sword had surpassed him and allowed him to emit sword intent.
Instead, it was through the short sword in his hand that he emitted sword intent.
And this method of emitting sword intent caused the sword intent to have an outward appearance but no inner substance, much like his feigned enlightenment; it was merely a false sword intent.
There was nothing remarkable about it.
Even with the Blazing Flame Saber, a non-immortal-demon-level martial art he used for warming up, this kind of sword intent could not shake it.
It was merely a temporary deterioration of the situation; Lin Yang ultimately could not stop the Blazing Flame Saber.
From a higher perspective, Fang Ming quickly understood everything and the answer to who would win the conflict between the Blazing Flame Saber and the sword intent.
However, Fang Ming also harbored a slight desire to obtain this treasure sword that could emit sword intent. In the number one cultivation world, various magical artifacts did not have this function, nor did Fang Ming's flying sword.
The difference between these two worlds led to sword intent being wielded by artifacts. If he could research the origin of sword intent from artifacts, it might be helpful for him to comprehend his own sword intent and reach the realm of flying with his sword on the path of a sword cultivator.
Having made up his mind,
Fang Ming's gaze fell upon the scene.
The Blazing Flame Saber's aura surged, and profound divine patterns appeared on it, its light so dazzling that the surrounding collateral disciples closed their eyes.
Although Lin Yang's short sword carried sword intent, allowing the waves to advance temporarily amidst the flames, it was only temporary.
The Blazing Flame Saber, with its infinite variations and containing both material and spiritual power, merely retreated slightly before attacking again.
And this time, the waves carrying sword energy could no longer withstand the Blazing Flame Saber.
The sword energy waves retreated continuously under this might.
The Wrathful Sea Sword Art, a profound technique said to be infinitely close to the upper mortal grade, was ultimately in vain.
The sword intent within was forcefully shattered by Fang Ming's supreme saber intent!
Immortal-hero-level sword intent was shattered by martial-hero-level saber intent.
Even though the Blazing Flame Saber was a top-tier existence among non-immortal-demon-level martial arts, and this sword intent was emitted by an upper mortal grade short sword and an upper mortal grade sword intent, which were within the mortal, spirit, earth, and heaven tiers, it was not a spirit-tier, earth-tier, or heaven-tier profound technique.
However, this was still considered the shattering of immortal-hero sword intent by martial-hero saber intent.
This achievement was not something anyone could accomplish.
Only Fang Ming could do it.
Fang Ming's gaze swept over.
He saw Lin Yang, struck heavily by the saber intent, bleeding profusely, the blood erupting like a fountain.
He muttered in a trembling voice, "I have lost."
"I... have actually lost."
"Body and spirit dual cultivation... yet inferior to a waste whose spiritual power hasn't even reached the first layer of Condensing Pulse..."
"Heh heh!"
"Ridiculous! Ridiculous!"
"Sword intent is indomitable... My sword path..."
Lin Yang realized that he ultimately could not be indomitable.
His heart was still burdened with concerns.
Therefore, he lost.
The onlookers nearby, witnessing this, felt as if they were in a dream.
What had they seen?
A former waste defeating Lin Yang, who was at the fifth layer of Condensing Pulse?
A former waste defeating all the duty personnel of the Salary Hall today? Defeating the supervisor of the Salary Hall?
The changes today... were truly incredible!
The onlookers felt that their trip out today was worth it, otherwise, how could they have witnessed such a turnaround?
"Young Master Lin Xuan is amazing! Lin Yang is a cultivator at the fifth layer of Condensing Pulse with dual body and spirit cultivation. To defeat him so easily with purely body-cultivation means, he must at least be at the sixth layer of Condensing Pulse in body cultivation!"
"Perhaps even the seventh layer of Condensing Pulse?"
Some onlookers exclaimed.
From their own perspective, Fang Ming had not displayed any spiritual power in this battle; these were clearly body-cultivation techniques.
In the cultivation world, although body cultivators were rare, precisely because of their rarity, their combat power was stronger and they were more respected.
"Seventh layer of Condensing Pulse! This level is comparable to Young Master Lin Yao!"
"Although he lacks spiritual power cultivation, unlike Young Master Lin Yao who cultivates both body and spirit, he is on the same level!"
Some collateral disciples said.
"Incredible! Even with inferior immortal cultivation aptitude, through hard work, one can still achieve a comeback and challenge a fifth-layer Condensing Pulse cultivator with dual body and spirit cultivation!"