A Chaotic World 259 Eternal Wraith Sword

"Haha, I was too busy with other matters to take a look at it..." Lu Tianzi could only force out a dry laughter.
He was embarrassed at his own answer as well. Still, it was not completely a lie.
Throughout the war, Lu Tianzi had been busy honing his proficiency in the first two stages of the Eternal Wraith Sword Art. While his superior techniques had saved him from danger time and again during the war, these ordeals also made Lu Tianzi realise that apart from combat techniques, advancing his cultivation level was just as important.
If his cultivation level had been higher from the start, perhaps he would not have to risk his life going through these ordeals in the first place.
Due to this reason, after the war, he had been too caught up with refining the impurities in his liquid Slaughter Essence in preparation for advancing his cultivation level.
And thus he had never truly sat down to spend some quality time looking at the third stage of the Eternal Wraith Sword Art – the Eternal Wraith Sword.
He had continued to push back the matter. Now, this mistake had come to bite him in the ass.
"What are you waiting for then?" Xihuang Yuanfeng narrowed his eyes at Lu Tianzi. "Do you want me to read it to you as well?"
"Fine, fine," Lu Tianzi grumbled helplessly before sitting down. Pulling out the jade slip containing the Eternal Wraith Sword Art, Lu Tianzi closed his eyes and sank his perception within.
The Eternal Wraith Sword Art was divided into three main stages, of which Lu Tianzi was already familiar with the first two. This was effectively the first time that he was reading the contents on the third and final stage.
At this moment, Lu Tianzi could not help but feel slightly excited in anticipation of what was in store for him.
After all, both the Howling Wraith Sword and the Returning Wraith Sword were impressive sword techniques in their own right. Surely the third stage would not be anything too lacking in comparison!
Even if by some unfortunate twist, it was not a particularly impressive sword technique, learning the Eternal Wraith Sword would at least add some variety to his current arsenal of moves, allowing him to vary his combat style further.
This might just come in handy if he was forced to face an opponent of similar strength in the future, allowing him to spring a surprise on his opponent to obtain the win.
Of course, the third stage of the Eternal Wraith Sword Art was what the entire set of sword techniques had been named after. From that fact alone, it was obvious that Lu Tianzi had been worrying too much about it not being sufficiently impressive.
Shaking his head, Lu Tianzi forced these thoughts out of his mind to focus on the contents within the jade slip.
The Howling Wraith Sword allowed the user to strike with sufficient power to induce the howling of the wind, at the same time adding an illusory layer, making it seem as if the sword itself was nothing but a ghastly apparition. When performed to perfection, a martial artist would be able to prevent his opponent from determining the true position of the sword blade, rendering the sword strike almost impossible to block.

The Returning Wraith Sword was based upon the concept of true illusions, granting the ability to call back the attack that had already been sent out, resulting in a secondary strike from behind. When performed to perfection, a martial artist would be able to deal significant mental damage to the opponent even if the physical sword strike was blocked.
The first two stages of the Eternal Wraith Sword Art might seem to be vastly different from each other, but they were basically both independent sword strikes.
As for the Eternal Wraith Sword, it was slightly different from the first two stages. Instead of a single sword strike, it was probably more apt to call the Eternal Wraith Sword a continuous sword move.
The Eternal Wraith Sword worked on establishing a connection with the sword, granting a martial artist complete control over his blade.
This so-called control went beyond mere manipulation by touch. This was about mental control, allowing a martial artist to freely control the movements of the sword with a single thought.
To put it more simply, it was like the difference between physically picking up a cat to place it in one's lap, and commanding the cat to take the initiative to move into one's lap. Even though the outcome would be the same, the second method provided far more flexibility and opened up a new world of possibilities.
With the Eternal Wraith Sword, a martial artist would be able to create a domain around him where his sword could fly around freely in accordance to his will, effortlessly reaping the lives of any opponents who dared to step within.
When performed to perfection, a martial artist could even control multiple flying swords at once.
As long as a martial artist was able to maintain the technique, these swords would effectively transform into wraiths of destruction, ravaging the area around the martial artist for all of eternity.
But with this alone, the Eternal Wraith Sword would be far too lacking to be considered the final stage of the Eternal Wraith Sword.
After all, any experienced Origin Core realm martial artist would be able to materialise their Essence energy into Origin Force, which allowed them to pick up or simply interact with items from a distance. While this was effectively still controlling the sword by touch, as long as they practised this enough, using a flying sword to kill from a short distance would not be an issue at all.
However, there was one specific point that differentiated the Eternal Wraith Sword from that.
Unlike controlling a flying sword using Origin Force, combat techniques could still be used with the flying sword when controlling it using the Eternal Wraith Sword technique.
This effectively meant that a martial artist could possibly perform the Howling Wraith Sword and the Returning Wraith Sword on the same opponent from multiple directions at once!
Of course, that would require a phenomenal amount of control, and it would be possible for one to do so only after an extremely long period of practice.
A beginner like Lu Tianzi could simply forget about performing such a feat for now.
All Xihuang Yuanfeng was expecting from him right now was to learn how to move his sword with his will alone. As for the speed of the movement, it was not important at the moment.
The Eternal Wraith Sword was by far more difficult to master as compared to the previous two stages. Therefore, what Xihuang Yuanfeng was more concerned about was setting the foundation for Lu Tianzi. As for the rest, Lu Tianzi could take his time practising it to perfection.
Even so, even just learning the foundation was not easy by any measure.
Lu Tianzi immersed himself in the technique, trying his best to figure out how it worked.
Xihuang Yuanfeng remained seated on his bed, nodding in satisfaction at the two youngsters who were fully focused on understanding their respective sword techniques.
Within the rock chamber where not the slightest hint of sunlight could enter, it was difficult to sense the passing of time. But there was no doubt that at least hours had passed before there was movement again from one of the two youngsters.
Lu Tianzi opened his eyes.
With a flick of his wrist, the Moon Culler appeared in his hands once more.
He did not grasp the hilt of the sword this time. Instead, he held it up horizontally with open palms, one hand supporting the hilt of the sword and one hand supporting near the other end of the blade.
In such a manner, Lu Tianzi lifted the Moon Culler to chest level.
His perception dove into the Origin Core rank treasure, slowly exploring every inch of the treasure blade.
Xihuang Yuanfeng did not speak, watching silently as Lu Tianzi went about his thing.
In order to execute the Eternal Wraith Sword, Lu Tianzi had to first establish a connection with his sword. Only then would it be possible to gain complete control over his blade.
Lu Tianzi drove the Slaughter Essence within his inner world, gently releasing Essence energy into the sword from both ends. This was him probing the sword even further, making sure that he fully understood every single aspect of the Moon Culler.
Then the Moon Culler suddenly trembled, much to the surprise of Xihuang Yuanfeng.
While the movement was slight, it was still a movement induced purely by Lu Tianzi's will!
As if that was not enough, the Moon Culler actually floated off Lu Tianzi's open palms slowly, hovering in the air right at Lu Tianzi's eye level.
Just like that, Lu Tianzi had cleared the first and also the most difficult hurdle, effectively setting the foundation to mastering the Eternal Wraith Sword!
Xihuang Yuanfeng remained silent, momentarily unable to find the right words to say.
Yes, Lu Tianzi already possessed a prior understanding of the Eternal Wraith Sword Art, which gave him an advantage over Nanlan Qianxue. However, what he had been perceiving was the Eternal Wraith Sword, the most profound stage of the Eternal Wraith Sword Art.
Yet despite having started after Nanlan Qianxue, Lu Tianzi was actually able to master the fundamentals of the Eternal Wraith Sword before Nanlan Qianxue could even gain the confidence to start practising the Shifting Blossoms Sword Art?
In fact, even if he did not compare Lu Tianzi to Nanlan Qianxue, Lu Tianzi's ability to grasp the Eternal Wraith Sword in such a short time was simply out of this world!
As expected, Lu Tianzi's comprehension ability was just as ridiculous as he had remembered.
Wary of experiencing disappointment, he had actually never gotten his hopes up too high before this. But now, his heart finally stirred.
At this rate, Lu Tianzi might really be able to break him out of this rock chamber in the future!
In fact, Xihuang Yuanfeng believed that in all the years that he had lived, he had never ever seen anyone who was as talented as Lu Tianzi!
Just what kind of future would be in store for this talented kid?
Lu Tianzi did not stop just there either.
Under Lu Tianzi's control, the Moon Culler started performing all sorts of movements in the air. Rotating, spinning, moving front and back, moving up and down, all sorts.
While these movements were considered slow and simple, just the fact that he was able to make the Moon Culler perform these movements was already an impressive matter!
Even without Xihuang Yuanfeng's reminder, Lu Tianzi understood just as well that it was necessary for him to familiarise himself with these basic actions. Otherwise, every step further would only be exceedingly difficult.
At this moment, Nanlan Qianxue finally opened her eyes, and she could not help but open them even wider when she caught sight of what was happening around her.
The first thing she saw was the Moon Culler spinning around in the air before Lu Tianzi, which caused her to startle.
She had been immersed in the Shifting Blossoms Sword Art for no more than a day, but Lu Tianzi had actually broken through to the Origin Core realm in this short a time?!
Nanlan Qianxue's mind went blank for a moment. It was only after she sensed the aura of a Peak Essence Condensation realm martial artist shrouding over the Moon Culler that she finally recovered her wits.
Yet even after calming down, Nanlan Qianxue still could not help but marvel at Lu Tianzi's control over his sword.
This was the first time she had ever witnessed an Essence Condensation realm martial artist controlling an object from a distance!
Xihuang Yuanfeng immediately noticed that Nanlan Qianxue had awoken.
"How is it?" Xihuang Yuanfeng asked. "Have you understood the gist of it?"
From the looks of it, Lu Tianzi was fine on his own. All he needed was to familiarise himself with the control of the flying sword for now.
Thus, Xihuang Yuanfeng decided to focus more on Nanlan Qianxue instead.
"Yes, Master!" Nanlan Qianxue answered with a gleam of excitement in her eyes. "The Shifting Blossoms Sword Art is extremely profound, but I believe I have a rough idea on how it works now. Hopefully Master can correct me where I am wrong."
"Good, looks like your talent is passable indeed," Xihuang Yuanfeng nodded in satisfaction. "Now, show me what you've got."

Chapter end

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