บท 317: The Sword of My Heart
Yaan didn't care that he had created absolute chaos not only in the Heavenly Path Province, but in the provinces surrounding this land. This chaos was steadily expanding as more and more powerful cultivators learned of what had happened to the former Ghu Province. Many thousands of elites flocked towards the glowing white wall, the Heavenly Rebirth Formation, and stared at this wall in shock and disbelief.
Not one of them dared to step through this wall. Just like Yaan had declared, the Heavenly Path Province had been separated from the rest of the world.
This interrupted many things, including cultivators who had left the province to explore the world and intended to return home eventually. Yaan had also cut off all trade between his homeland and the outside world, sending the province's economy into turmoil…
As far as he was concerned, if anyone truly desired to enter the Heavenly Path Province from the outside world, then they were free to do so, so long as they possessed the resolve to go through the rebirth of this shocking formation wall. If they did not possess this resolve, then they had no right to enter his homeland.
Elia truly had her work cut out for her. She had been meeting with the concerned powerhouses across the province ever since Yaan created the Heavenly Rebirth Formation, reassuring them that the Heavenly Path Sect would reform the province into a land far more accommodating for its residents. This would be true for both cultivators and mortals alike, compared to when these lands had been oppressed under the Ghu Clan's tyrannical iron thumb.
Yaan didn't feel bad about giving her this work to do. Elia was at the Peak Origin Soul Realm, preparing to undergo Nirvana; this experience would be a massive help to her, and would increase her chances of success…and survival.
And so, Yaan ignored the chaos that had taken over the outside world. He didn't care that the Heavenly Path Province was in an uproar, and he didn't care that after just a few weeks, all 33 provinces on 7th Sealing Island, one of the seven islands ruled by Seal Immortal, had been made aware of the drastic change in one of the island's provinces.
Eventually, Seal Immortal would also learn about this matter, and maybe he would even visit this place himself to investigate. Maybe…he would be the first to instigate Yaan.
Maybe Seal Immortal would be the first to die following Yaan's tyrannical declaration of making this land independent.
For now, Yaan wasn't worried about any of this. He was the owner of the formation, so even if an immortal attempted to force their way through, he wouldn't be caught off guard, he would sense their presence immediately. There was no reason to be overly wary anymore, because not even Planet Yushu's immortals possessed the ability to sneak past his formation undetected.
Whoosh!
Yaan's body drifted through the wind elegantly, as did his wooden sword, which left behind countless flashes of blade lights and illusory sounds of swords colliding against swords.
Now that he had properly implemented a satisfactory defence for his homeland, he only had one more goal that he wished to achieve before undergoing his Immortal Ascension Tribulation.
He was practising his sword arts, but not the Agile Illusion Art…
The Agile Illusion Art currently had three steps, with each step being exponentially more terrifying than the last. It was his only self-created sword art to date, and he wasn't unsatisfied with it at all, but it wasn't enough…he needed to create another sword art.
He needed to create another art, not because the Agile Illusion Art was too weak, but because it was a specific sword art, and he wanted to create his own general sword art.
General sword arts were those like the first he had ever learned - the Agile Sword Art. These sword arts did not possess specific powerful moves, but were more like complete combat systems for swordplay in general. Specific sword arts, like his self-created Agile Illusion Art, were the opposite - each stage of a specific sword art was a single move, typically exhibiting great power.
However, a true swordsman eventually needed to create at least one of each of these types of sword arts for himself. As of right now, Yaan was on the verge of completing his own general sword art, which was heavily based upon his first ever practised sword art, the Agile Sword Arts, but had been adapted countless times over the years to fit into his own unique style of fighting.
That said, there was still something missing…
WHOOSH!
Suddenly, the air all around Yaan trembled, before exploding, then collapsing into a pool of water. The pool of water fell to the ground, where it fused with the earth and caused the ground to explode all around him. The explosion of earth resulted in countless fireballs filling Elia's temple hall. If not for Yaan quickly snapping out from his daze and hastily retracting the unexpected explosions of fire, turning them from real flames into harmless illusory flames, then Elia's temple would have been burned to the ground.
Ah, looking around, he had already damaged the place quite severely…
Yaan stood up straight and sighed. His wooden sword transformed back into June's humanoid form when she noticed his frustration. However, she felt confused by his dissatisfaction…
"Yaan, did you just…did you just comprehend the dao of air, the dao of water, the dao of earth, and the dao of fire, all to the immortal stage?!"
"I did…" Yaan nodded, but he still didn't look pleased at all.
"Isn't that seriously amazing?" June looked at Yaan in awe. Although she hadn't been alive in this form for long, she was a very quick learner, and Yaan had taught her all that he knew about cultivation, sword arts, and dao.
"Indeed, I achieved something quite absurd…but this isn't what I was aiming for. No matter how many daos I comprehend, something is still missing from my sword art…if only there was a dao of sword in this world, but there isn't…"
June fell silent for a while, before looking up, her gaze piercing through the temple roof and into the sky. Unexpectedly, she actually had an answer for Yaan's doubt towards the lack of an earthly sword dao.
"There are no weapon daos under the Heavenly Dao, for the same reason that there is no human dao, nor any emotional daos…it is the Heavenly Dao's suppression of the living beings in this world. As a sword, I can feel it clearly - my own dao is not supported by the Heavens, because the Heavenly Dao fears the power that mankind would be able to wield with such daos…"
Yaan's eyes widened and he turned towards June in surprise.
"That makes sense…the Heavenly Dao is inclined towards balance, which is why there are no human or emotion based daos - because man is inclined towards extremes. And man's pursuit of the sword…can become far too extreme…"
"That's right, Yaan!" June stepped in front of Yaan, once again standing far too close to him, and beamed a bright smile. "But Yaan, the Heavenly Dao isn't the owner of all dao in this world, is it? After all, true strength is gained by those who develop their own daos within their dao hearts! That's why Yaan's sword art - whilst still incorporating any and every dao under the Heavens - definitely needs to be based upon Yaan's heart, not on those external daos!"
"June…" Yaan muttered dazedly, feeling like he was somehow being enlightened by his own sword.
June giggled and smiled charmingly.
"I'm your Dao Treasure, Yaan, that's why I understand this even better than you! Your sword art needs to come from your heart - just like me. Just keep practising by swinging your heart's sword, and I know that eventually, Yaan will create the best sword art ever!"
Yaan slowly snapped out from his daze and patted June on the head softly. Her smile brightened even further when she felt like she had helped out, if just by a little bit.
"You're right, June. My sword art is my heart's sword. If I want to complete this sword art, then I need to clear my mind of all thought, and swing my sword with my heart alone."
When June saw that Yaan had understood, she smiled faintly, before transforming back into her wooden sword form and returning to his hand as Yaan shut his eyes.
For a long time, Yaan stood there, in this somewhat destroyed temple hall, and simply held his sword in front of him. He adopted an extremely ordinary stance, a sword fighting stance that a mortal warrior might use during their training drills.
Yaan remained in this position, unmoving, for an entire year. At some point during this year, Elia returned to her home, feeling exhausted, until she saw the devastation that Yaan had caused. Her eye twitched and she intended to question what exactly he was doing to 'protect their home' like this, but before she reached him, she stopped.
WOMP…
Yaan did not move, and yet, a ripple of dao spread out from him. Elia's eyes widened and she almost gasped, because within this ripple, there were countless flickers of lightning, each shaped like a sword blade.
"Dao of lightning! He just achieved immortal stage comprehension into the dao of lightning…by standing there and doing nothing?!"
But Elia's shock was only just beginning. She seemed to forget all about the chaotic ongoings outside of her home, because right now, she realised that compared to anything away from Yaan…the greatest shocks would always be experienced when standing by his side.
Three days later, an explosive clap of thunder echoed out from Yaan's body and sword, causing the entire mountain to tremble!
"The dao of thunder! He comprehended lightning to the immortal stage…followed by thunder shortly after…" Elia muttered to herself, falling into deep contemplation as she continued to watch over Yaan.
Originally, she had many things to do, many people to meet, and far too many things to organise…but right now, she stopped caring about those things.
A month later, a blinding light erupted out from Yaan's sword, causing Elia to gasp, because she recognised this as the dao of light!
She smiled wryly, feeling slightly disheartened when she realised that Yaan had comprehended her own choice of dao to the same stage as her, and seemingly with so little effort…
But when she thought about it, she remembered that Yaan had mentioned seeing the true form of the Heavenly Dao once, causing all of his dao comprehension to catapult upwards to an extreme level. It seemed that now, he was allowing those comprehensions to grow further, until they each reached the immortal stage, one by one!
Elia was now excited to see what came next, but she didn't need to wait for long. Soon after the white blade light shot out from Yaan's sword, a wave of darkness followed after, casting a shadow over the entire Heavenly Path Mountain.
The sect members had long since realised that their mysterious sect ancestor, the 'Silver Demon' who created the Heavenly Path Province with his overwhelming might, was cultivating some strange method atop the mountain. Everyone had stopped their usual cultivation, and many chose to sit down and meditate, gaining enlightenment as they felt the fluctuations in Yaan's aura of enlightenment.
The world descended into darkness for half a day, before the darkness faded away, and Yaan was revealed, still standing in that same position…with a metal blade in his hand.
The wooden sword had actually transformed into a metal sword! However, before Elia could even study this sword properly, she realised that unknowingly, it had become wood once again.
She didn't understand everything that was going on, but as fluctuations of dao continued to erupt from Yaan's body, she finally realised just how many daos he had comprehended to the immortal stage. It seemed that after the sword returned to its usual wooden state, and Yaan had comprehended the last of his best understood earthly daos to the immortal stage, his rapid comprehension stopped…and every single one of his dao comprehensions manifested around his body in the form of countless illusory swords.
There was a sword of pure illusions.
There was a sword of rebirth.
A sword of life.
A sword of death.
A sword of slaughter.
A sword of air.
A sword of water.
A sword of earth.
A sword of lightning.
A sword of thunder.
A sword of light.
A sword of darkness.
A sword of metal…
And the sword of wood, which he held within his hands.
Gradually, the many swords circled around Yaan, their shapes growing and distorting, until they suddenly shrank down to the same size as the wooden sword in his hands. Each of the swords drifted inwards, until they reached the wooden sword at the same moment, before immediately fusing into it.
At this point, as the wooden sword shone with the light of over a dozen immortal stage daos, Yaan's eyes shot open. There was no killing intent in his gaze, only an overwhelming desire to protect. He slowly lifted his sword into the sky, drawing Elia's gaze upwards.
As the sword was raised above his head, she couldn't help but feel…like it wasn't a sword, but a paint brush!
"My sword is my heart, and my heart is my home. I'm fed up with slaughtering pointlessly and creating suffering for my own selfish whims…I want my sword art to become an art that will be able to protect my home…I want…to protect my home…" As Yaan muttered to himself, the wooden sword suddenly transformed into an enormous paint brush, a brush so large that it shot up into the sky, through Elia's temple roof, until it touched the invisible ceiling above the Heavenly Path Province, then drawing its first stroke across the formation ceiling dozens of miles in the sky…
Without Elia realising it, her temple had been restored to its undamaged state. She also realised that the paint brush in Yaan's hand was just an illusion, and although it had pierced through her temple's roof, it didn't leave behind any damage at all.
Slowly, Yaan began to move.
On one hand, he was holding the wooden sword, moving fluidly and slowly as he displayed the full extent of his understanding over sword arts. Gradually, his entire being became enveloped with a deep sword intent - a will that contained the very essence of the sword!
On the other hand, a giant paint brush could be seen in the sky above Heavenly Path Province. Only the people within the province could see this paint brush, but when they saw the brush, they also saw the illusion of the Silver Demon below, silently practising with his simple wooden sword.
In this moment, every single cultivator within the Heavenly Path Province fell into a daze. Those who had rejoiced upon the Ghu Clan's fall, those who were feeling dissatisfied and afraid with the state that the province had been left in, and everyone else in between…
In this moment, they all stared up into the sky, watching as the Silver Demon emitted a lonely yet firm aura as he swung his sword and painted the sky with his brush. The people were entranced, because the picture that Yaan painted in the sky above, combined with his sword art which was so perfect that they could not avert their eyes…caused tears to well up within their eyes.
On this day in the Heavenly Path Province, all conflict ceased. All arguments came to a stop, as the people stared up into the sky, and found that they were unable to stop themselves from shedding tears as a painting more beautiful, more desolate, and more resolved, than anything they had ever seen before in their lives appeared in their sky.
Outside of the formation, the cultivators who had gathered in this place were also left feeling dazed. They couldn't see the picture, but they could feel that an immense will was fusing into the formation, causing it to grow stronger with every passing breath.
Amongst these people, was a black-robed young man. He stood alone in the sky, unseen by those below, but his expression became extremely grim.
He was Seal Immortal, the ruler of the 7th Sealing Island, where Yaan had isolated part of his lands away from him. When Seal Immortal first saw this formation, he was extremely stunned by its majesty, and he knew that he couldn't be careless going ahead. After gathering intel, he learned that the formation was actually created by a Nirvana Realm cultivator. This had shocked him to the core and even made his heart tremble, and in the end, he decided to grit his teeth and wait - wait for the day that the Silver Demon failed his Immortal Ascension Tribulation, and the formation fell to ruin.
But now, as he felt the will filling these blinding formation walls, his expression became extremely dark and he retreated with regret.
"Just who is this Silver Demon exactly? There is no way that he is a normal Nirvana Realm cultivator…I can only pray that he fails his Immortal Ascension, and that the Heavens do not allow such a monster to continue existing…"
Inside the Heavenly Path Province, Yaan neither knew nor cared about those outside of the formation. He was wholly engrossed in performing his sword art and painting his picture in the sky, for all within his homeland to see…
This was no ordinary painting, and it had no set form. The painting continually changed, depicting every instance of struggle and the will to return home that Yaan had experienced throughout his life. He was sharing certain memories and emotions experienced throughout his life with the masses, whom all, until now, had known next to nothing about the 'Silver Demon'.
But Yaan didn't care. Right now, he wanted to paint this picture…he wanted to engrave his resolve into the hearts of his people, such that nobody would ever doubt him again.
He wanted to paint his existence into his home.
Finally, Yaan's movements slowed down, and the final scene of the painting took form in the sky above.
By now, not only the mortals, but the cultivators, and even the beasts found themselves shedding tears as they stared at the image of a lonely child in the sky. The image was of Yaan - not the Dao Clone of Qi - but a Yaan who resembled the complete Yaan. Only, there were some differences…
This Yaan was the version of Yaan that the Dao Clone of Qi envisioned, the version of his original self that he hoped to eventually become - a Yaan who cared for his loved ones and cherished his home.
The red-robed child stared down at the people in the Heavenly Path Province. His eyes were filled with a pain so deep that it caused the people to tremble, and yet, that pain was pushed aside by his will to protect those he held dear.
Elia stared up, then quickly looked down, only to find that Yaan was nowhere to be seen. When she looked back up into the sky, her eyes widened in shock, realising that the illusion of Yaan in the sky…had fused with the Yaan she knew! He was even holding onto his wooden sword gently, and when she met his gaze, he smiled at her warmly…
More than anyone else in the province, Elia couldn't stop her tears from flowing.
"Oh, Yaan…" She muttered as her heart felt a stinging pain. She knew better than anyone else what he had been through, so when she saw him developing in this direction, with such an immense resolve in his heart, all she could do was cry.
It was as if the illusory Yaan in the sky was staring directly into the gazes of every living being within the Heavenly Path Province.
"My sword art, is the sword of my heart, and as such, I will name it the Sword Heart Art. My sword art, is the sword of my heart…and my sword is a sword that I vow to use to protect my home. My heart…is a heart of protection."
As the illusory red-robed child spoke gently in the sky, a golden explosion erupted from his body. He swore a dao oath so powerful and so firm, that it strengthened his illusory body, and actually fused with the entire Heavenly Rebirth Formation, granting it with a tinge of gold!
Boom!
Suddenly, a dark cloud rumbled, high above the limits of the Heavenly Rebirth Formation.
Finally, Yaan, in his newly adopted red-robed form, looked up towards the black cloud.
The black cloud was his Nirvana Death Heavenly Calamity. In the end, Yaan had achieved more than simply creating a sword art…
The Dao Clone of Qi had attained an immortal stage dao heart, a named dao heart! And the moment he stated his dao heart's name - the heart of protection - the Heavenly Dao was no longer going to wait for the usual three year period between the blessing and calamity.
Yaan stared up at the Nirvana Death Heavenly Calamity.
He also felt the onset of his Immortal Ascension Tribulation striking him at the same time.
Simultaneously, all eight of the elemental True Immortal Tribulations that would strike a True Immortal once every 300 years during the True Immortal Realm, fused together with Yaan's Nirvana Death Heavenly Calamity.
And as the Heavenly Dao prepared to destroy him using these various attacks, his Dao Ascension Tribulation, the tribulation that all immortals would face when their heart ascended into a named dao heart, started to build up within him.
The sense of crisis within Yaan's heart right now was so extreme that anyone else would break down in fear, but Yaan only stared up at the Heavenly Dao's attack, and killing intent shone within his gaze.
"I already stated that any who dares to target my homeland will face death. Mortals, cultivators, immortals…Heavenly Dao, do you think you are any different?"
As Yaan turned to face the impending tribulations and calamities whilst resisting the building tribulations within himself, the entire Heavenly Path Province saw his red-robed back, defending them from the Heavens themselves, as he raised his sword and pointed at the apocalyptic looking tribulation clouds that had blotted out the sun in the sky.
For the first time in his life, Yaan felt a true sense of unity. He could feel the people staring up at him, he could feel their hopes placed on his shoulders…and he could feel their heartfelt tears, which had soaked into the ground, fusing into his Heavenly Rebirth Formation.
"I have failed many times in my life…but today, I will not fail - I cannot afford to fail. I am not a good person, in fact, I am a demon who has committed many heinous sins…but today, for the first time in my life, I will use my demonic might to protect others. Heavenly Dao…come. Let me show you the might of demon who has finally found the light within his heart."
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