144: Chapter 144 New True Meaning

Immediately after, Jiang Hanzhou felt the world spinning.

In an instant, the sound of the wind around him changed.

Jiang Hanzhou opened his eyes and found himself on a vast, white, icy plain.

He looked down at the pale golden bead held in his hand, feeling the warm, smooth texture radiating from his palm.

He did not absorb it immediately.

First, he extended his Divine Sense into his sumeru pouch, confirming that the two beads obtained from the Ten Thousand Gu Sect Cultivator were still there, confirming that the few Ten Thousand Gu Sect manuals were still there, and confirming that the piece of gold marrow cloud-patterned iron and the remaining two Low-Grade Spirit Stones were still there.

Only then did he sit cross-legged, holding the pale golden bead between his hands, and slowly closed his eyes.

His consciousness sank in.

It was still that feeling of "watching a movie."

He saw a mountain.

The mountain was not tall, but extremely perilous, with cliffs like sharpened blades and a solitary peak jutting out.

On the summit sat a simple thatched cottage, and in front of the cottage was a flat bluestone, upon which a young man sat cross-legged.

The young man was about thirty, with a lean face, a scholarly air between his brows, dressed in a faded blue cloth robe, with an ordinary long sword lying across his knees.

It was none other than the Dragon Slaying True Person.

The Dragon Slaying True Person at thirty years old.

He had his eyes closed, and five-colored light flowed ceaselessly around his body.

Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth—the Five Elements True Intent intertwined around him, forming a brilliant canopy that illuminated the entire mountaintop like a fairyland.

But it was different from when he was seventeen.

At seventeen, although he possessed all the Five Elements True Intent, it was still somewhat raw; the five colors were independent of each other, requiring him to strike one sword after another.

But now—

Jiang Hanzhou saw it.

Those five-colored lights were merging.

Metal and Fire intertwined, transforming into a more intense sharpness.

Water and Wood generated each other, producing a more enduring vitality.

Earth occupied the central palace, bearing the flow and changes of the other four elements.

The five types of True Intent were no longer five independent sword lights, but had begun to form a mysterious cycle, nourishing and achieving one another.

This was the Five Elements generating each other.

Jiang Hanzhou's heart skipped a beat.

He stared intently at the trajectory of the five-colored light, at the subtle changes when the Golden Sharpness True Intent intertwined with the other four elements, and at how that golden light was nourished, strengthened, and refined into greater purity within the cycle—

He saw too much.

So much that his Sea of Consciousness began to ache faintly, so much that his consciousness began to blur, so much that the mountain, the thatched cottage, and the figure sitting cross-legged began to shatter and dissipate—

But he did not stop.

He knew this was a once-in-a-thousand-years Opportunity.

The memory of the Dragon Slaying True Person comprehending the Five Elements generating each other at thirty contained his deepest and purest understanding of the Five Elements True Intent.

This kind of Opportunity was rare and hard to find.

To miss it once was to miss it for a lifetime.

He stared fixedly at that golden light, deeply imprinting every rotation, every condensation, and every intertwining with the other four elements into the depths of his Sea of Consciousness.

Then—

He grasped it.

That feeling was completely different from when he had grasped the "tail" of the Golden Sharpness True Intent before.

Back then, it was just a faint wisp of light that required him to exert all his effort to hold onto, to comprehend, and to polish.

But now, that light surged toward him voluntarily.

Like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, like ten thousand swords returning to their origin, as if he himself were the destination for that golden light.

Deep in his Sea of Consciousness, that golden light, which had originally been so faint it might dissipate at any moment, was now expanding, solidifying, and glowing brilliantly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

From a wisp, to a strand.

From a strand, to a stream.

From a stream, to a sheet.

Finally—

Boom!

His Sea of Consciousness shook violently!

The golden light suddenly exploded, turning into a rain of light that scattered into every corner of his Sea of Consciousness.

Wherever the rain of light passed, countless insights regarding "sharpness," "severing," "destruction," and "ferocity" welled up like a spring.

He "saw" it.

He saw how a sword was forged from stubborn iron through thousands of hammerings.

He saw how a wisp of sharpness was honed repeatedly on a whetstone.

He saw how a mountain was split open by an ordinary iron blade.

He saw how an ocean was severed by a streak of sword light.

He saw the essence of the Golden Sharpness True Intent.

It was not merely sharpness, not merely hardness, not merely "the ability to sever everything."

It was—

"Must-Sever."

No matter what was in front of him, no matter who the opponent was, no matter what consequences he would face after striking this sword—

Must-Sever.

This was the Golden Sharpness True Intent.

Jiang Hanzhou opened his eyes abruptly.

The sky was grey and white, with no sun or moon, only that pervasive, soft light falling, illuminating this icy plain, making it bright and cold.

The cold wind howled, whipping up fine ice crystals that stung his face slightly.

Beneath his feet was eternal ice that had not melted for ten thousand years; the ice layer was so thick that the bottom could not be seen, and the surface was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting his figure sitting cross-legged.

The surroundings were deathly silent.

There was no sound of wind, no sound of footsteps, no breath of any living thing.

Only endless ice, endless white, and endless cold.

Jiang Hanzhou did not move.

He just sat there quietly, feeling that brilliant golden light deep in his Sea of Consciousness.

Then, he closed his eyes, and his consciousness sank into his Sea of Consciousness.

A pale blue light screen unfolded before his eyes.

【host: Jiang Hanzhou】

【fate: Late Bloomer (Fifth Order)】

【Cultivation: Dragon Elephant Realm · Primal Elephant Realm (Early Stage)】

【Divine Ability: Great Sun Tide (Incomplete), Tiangang Treasure Refining Technique (First Layer), Divine Intent Heavenly Saber (Minor Achievement, Incomplete)】

【True Intent: Tidal True Intent (20%), Pure Yang True Intent (20%), Golden Sharpness True Intent (10%)】

10%.

Golden Sharpness True Intent, 10%.

It was no longer that faint "tail" that might dissipate at any moment, but a truly solid True Intent that could be used freely.

Although it was only 10%, and although it was still a bit behind the 20% of Tide and Pure Yang, this was a leap from nothing to something.

Jiang Hanzhou opened his eyes.

A faint smile slowly curled at the corners of his lips.

The smile was very faint, but it contained an indescribable joy.

Three types of True Intent.

Tide, Pure Yang, Golden Sharpness.

In the current East Sea cultivation world, how many people could comprehend three types of True Intent at the Primal Form Realm?

Those True Disciples of major Sects, those Prodigies cultivated with the full strength of aristocratic families, those future pillars upon whom teachers pinned their hopes—

Those who could comprehend two types of True Intent were already extremely rare.

Those who could comprehend three were one in ten thousand.

And he, Jiang Hanzhou, born of humble origins, without the foundation of an aristocratic family, without the full cultivation of a Sect, had, by his own strength alone, mastered three types of True Intent at the Early Stage of the Primal Form Realm.

This was not luck.

This was his fate.

This was the confidence bestowed upon him by 【Late Bloomer】.

Jiang Hanzhou took a deep breath, suppressing that joy into the bottom of his heart.

It was not enough.

Three types of True Intent were just the beginning.

By the age of seventeen, the Dragon Slaying True Person already possessed all Five Elements.

By the age of thirty, he had already begun to comprehend the Five Elements generating each other.

And he had only just touched the threshold of his third True Intent.

The road was still very long.