Meng Fan chuckled.

“This Sword Qi is not the ordinary kind!”

Then he drew the Hong Qi Sword and began to execute the Emerald Sea Tide Rises Sword Technique.

Meng Fan had previously sparred with Liu Yanping using this technique, and to give her pointers, he had specially studied it.

Thus, he was extremely familiar with the Emerald Sea Tide Rises Sword Technique.

“Senior Sister Liu, your main Sword Technique is the Emerald Sea Tide Rises Sword, am I right?” Meng Fan asked.

“That’s correct!” Liu Yanping replied.

“In that case, watch closely.”

Having said that, Meng Fan continued to practice the Emerald Sea Tide Rises Sword Technique.

Each move was executed with natural grace, making Liu Yanping, who had practiced the technique for many years, feel quite inferior.

Watching Meng Fan practice the sword, Liu Yanping unconsciously gained some insights and felt that her own Emerald Sea Tide Rises Sword Technique could be further improved.

Moments later, the entire Emerald Sea Tide Rises Sword Technique had been practiced up to the last move.

At that moment, Meng Fan suddenly shouted, “Senior Sister Liu, take my sword strike!”

Liu Yanping was startled as she watched Meng Fan.

She saw that Meng Fan had completed the final move of the Emerald Sea Tide Rises Sword Technique.

After finishing the last move, Meng Fan did not stop his long sword but swung it towards Liu Yanping once more.

An ordinary sword strike, without any fancy moves, just a simple swing, casually executed.

“Whoosh…”

A stream of Sword Qi burst forth from the blade of the Hong Qi Sword, slashing towards Liu Yanping.

Liu Yanping’s face changed, and she quickly summoned her True Qi, slashing out with her sword in response.

“Boom!”

A muffled sound echoed as the Sword Qi unleashed by Meng Fan was shattered by Liu Yanping’s strike.

However, a great force hit her, causing Liu Yanping to involuntarily take a step back.

She looked at Meng Fan in shock and disbelief, “Junior Disciple Meng, you’re only at the second level of Qi Refining, how could you possibly unleash Sword Qi?”

As everyone knows, only when one reaches the third level of Qi Refining and channels True Qi with full force can one unleash Sword Qi!

“Think back carefully, did I use any True Qi just now?” Meng Fan said to Liu Yanping.

Just now?

Liu Yanping frowned and recalled carefully.

During Meng Fan’s practice of the Emerald Sea Tide Rises Sword Technique, he had not used any True Qi, just casually practicing the sword.

And after performing the Sword Technique, Meng Fan followed up with a sword strike that flowed like clouds and water, seamless and without using any internal True Qi.

Realizing this, Liu Yanping was dumbfounded and utterly shocked.

“You… how could you possibly unleash Sword Qi without using True Qi?”

At this moment, Liu Yanping was truly astounded.

If Meng Fan had unleashed Sword Qi with a cultivation level of the second Qi Refining level, it would be surprising but not incomprehensible.

Perhaps Meng Fan’s cultivation technique was special, and his True Qi was more profound than that of ordinary people.

But to casually unleash Sword Qi without using True Qi was beyond reason, leaving Liu Yanping unable to understand, as if witnessing a miracle.

“How did you do it?” Liu Yanping asked with a furrowed brow, starting to doubt her own understanding of cultivation.

Meng Fan sheathed the Hong Qi Sword and said with a smile, “This is the very breath you lack for breaking through to the True Martial Realm!”

“What do you mean?” Liu Yanping didn’t understand.

“To break through to the True Martial Realm, you need not only sufficient strength of True Qi but also a transformation of your spirit.

Once you reach the ninth level of Qi Refining, your True Qi is strong enough to break through to the True Martial Realm.

Spirit, Qi, and Mind – what you lack is the Mind!

How to achieve a breakthrough in spirit, I do not know, but I have realized a method during my comprehension of the Sword God Stele.

That is to practice a Sword Technique to the utmost perfection. When a Sword Technique is mastered to the utmost, and you wield your sword, there will be ‘Mind’.

The Sword Qi I just unleashed was not born from True Qi.

It was born from practicing the Emerald Sea Tide Rises Sword Technique to its ultimate limit!”

Hearing Meng Fan’s words, Liu Yanping looked bewildered and incredulous.

“You mean to say, by practicing a Sword Technique to the ultimate limit, wielding the sword as if endowed with a divine presence, one can generate Sword Qi through the Sword Technique?”

“Exactly!” Meng Fan nodded.

“Does that mean an ordinary person, by mastering a Sword Technique to the ultimate limit, even without True Qi, can generate Sword Qi with that technique?”

“That’s the principle!”

Liu Yanping was astounded.

She had just personally experienced the power of Meng Fan’s Sword Qi, which could be compared to the strike of a practitioner at the sixth or seventh level of Qi Refining.

In that case, does it mean that an ordinary person without True Qi, once they master a Sword Technique to the ultimate limit, can compete with a practitioner at the fifth or sixth level of Qi Refining?

But then again, if one could master a Sword Technique to the ultimate limit, how could they possibly be an ordinary person without True Qi?

This was a paradox!

After a while, Liu Yanping came back to her senses.

She asked thoughtfully, “Are you saying that if I can practice the Emerald Sea Tide Rises Sword Technique to the level you have, I can step into the True Martial Realm?”

Meng Fan nodded and said, “Exactly, and breaking through to the True Martial Realm in this way will make you stronger than the average practitioner in that realm, and most importantly, with deeper potential!”

“Why do you say that?” Liu Yanping was somewhat puzzled.

“Because this kind of Emerald Sea Tide Rises Sword Qi is actually the seed of the Emerald Sea Tide Rises Sword Intent. Once you cultivate this Sword Qi, it won’t be difficult to later condense the Emerald Sea Tide Rises Sword Intent!”

Meng Fan continued to explain, “If you can further condense the Emerald Sea Tide Rises Sword Intent at the ninth level of the True Martial Realm, then you can smoothly step into the Heavenly Origin Realm.”

The Heavenly Origin Realm?

She hadn’t even stepped into the True Martial Realm, and here was Meng Fan already painting her a picture of the Heavenly Origin Realm, which made Liu Yanping smile wryly.

However…

Sword Intent?

So the foundation for condensing a Sword Intent was to practice a Sword Technique to the ultimate limit.

“Who would have thought that a single comprehension of the Sword God Stele could broaden your horizons so much!” Liu Yanping said with a touch of envy.

She had also comprehended the Sword God Stele, but the result was… indescribable.

Truly, comparisons are odious!

Meng Fan smiled. To be honest, he hadn’t expected that a single comprehension of the Sword God Stele would give him such a profound understanding of cultivation.

This time, he had really hit the jackpot!

Suddenly, Liu Yanping thought of something and looked at Meng Fan in amazement, “Now that you have mastered the Emerald Sea Tide Rises Sword Technique to the ultimate limit and can generate Sword Qi with it, does that mean that once you reach the ninth level of Qi Refining, you can seamlessly advance to the True Martial Realm?”

“In theory, yes,” Meng Fan replied with a nod.

Liu Yanping was filled with envy, jealousy, and resentment, feeling that the heavens were unfair. How could they allow one person to be so exceptional?

How were others supposed to live?

Couldn’t this kind of excellence be shared with others?

Liu Yanping sighed, saying with immense envy, “Someone like you is outrageous. I wouldn’t be surprised if you suddenly cultivated Sword Intent one day!”

Meng Fan just smiled, saying nothing.

For him, cultivating Sword Intent was indeed not a difficult task.

Take the Emerald Sea Tide Rises Sword Technique, for example; if Meng Fan were willing to spend time studying it, perhaps in a month or two, he could cultivate the Emerald Sea Tide Rises Sword Intent.

But Meng Fan didn’t value the Emerald Sea Tide Rises Sword Technique. Even if he cultivated its Sword Intent, it wouldn’t be a particularly strong one.

Someone like Meng Fan, if he decided to cultivate Sword Intent, would certainly pick a formidable one!

“Just telling you this isn’t worth a hundred Spirit Stones. I’m a fair man; in the next few days, I will personally coach you in the Emerald Sea Tide Rises Sword Technique.”

Meng Fan’s service was incredibly thorough and fitting.

He couldn’t help it; he still valued Liu Yanping, the generous rich woman.

He wanted to comprehend the Sword God Stele a few more times, so he had to fleece Liu Yanping for all she was worth.

“Within seven days, I will ensure your breakthrough to the True Martial Realm,” Meng Fan declared confidently.

Over the next seven days, Meng Fan spent each day coaching Liu Yanping in the Emerald Sea Tide Rises Sword Technique.

Most of the time was spent in the Training Hall, and when Senior Disciple Luo went out to fetch wine, Liu Yanping would come to the Sword Pavilion.

Not a day was wasted!

After seven days, Liu Yanping had finally mastered the Emerald Sea Tide Rises Sword Technique to the ultimate limit.

Like Meng Fan, even without using True Qi, she could generate True Qi with this Sword Technique.

Most importantly, she successfully broke through to the True Martial Realm.

This made her ecstatic, and she rewarded Meng Fan with ten Spirit Stones on the spot.

It wasn’t much, but Meng Fan was content and didn’t complain.

Time flowed like water, and another half month passed.

During this time, Meng Fan still visited the Training Hall daily to observe swordplay. After his last comprehension of the Sword God Stele, he gained deeper insights while watching.

His cultivation level had also reached the third level of Qi Refining.

Most importantly, his concept of Myriad Swords Returning to Me was beginning to take shape.

Unfortunately, the accumulation was insufficient. If only he could study ten thousand Sword Techniques, that would be ideal.

The Sword Techniques practiced by the disciples in the Training Hall were the same hundred or so types, and Meng Fan could no longer find any new ones.

Now, he rarely went to the Training Hall.

“If only I could sweep through the Scripture Pavilion, that would be great,” Meng Fan sometimes thought wistfully.

Alas, he was just a Guarding Sword Disciple of the Sword Pavilion, not a disciple guarding the Scripture Pavilion.

One morning, as usual, Meng Fan began to clean the long swords.

Recently, the swords he cleaned occasionally had a Malevolent Aura.

But the “memories” within these Sword Wraiths no longer attracted Meng Fan’s attention.

They were mostly ordinary Sword Techniques, similar in level to those practiced by the disciples in the Training Hall.

Just as Meng Fan was cleaning the twenty-ninth sword of the day, a voice suddenly echoed in his mind.

“Wait a minute!”

It was the voice of Hong Qi.

“What’s wrong?” Meng Fan whispered.

“This sword may seem unremarkable, but in fact, it is a Spiritual Sword,” Hong Qi reminded Meng Fan.