162: Chapter 161 Two-tenths

Days passed by one by one.

Jiang Hanzhou's life became extremely regular.

At 5:45 AM, he arrived at the Lijian Cliff, sat cross-legged on the bluestone, and meditated on the seventeenth sword mark.

At 12:45 PM, Qingzhu brought his meal. He ate simply and then continued.

At 6:45 PM, the sunset dyed the cliff walls red, and he stood up to return to his Immortal Cave.

At night, he practiced breathing and meditation in the Cultivation room, repeatedly refining and stabilizing the Metal Sharpness True Intent he had comprehended during the day, until late at night.

Every day was the same, rain or shine.

Qingzhu brought food every day, and every day he saw the same scene—Jiang Hanzhou sitting cross-legged on the bluestone, his body surrounded by a faint golden light, the tiger soul saber hovering three feet in front of him; man and saber seemed to have merged into one.

At first, he was amazed, but later he grew accustomed to it; it was just that every time he set down the food box, there was a hint of reverence in his gaze.

On the seventh day, the golden luster on the tiger soul saber grew three parts richer.

On the tenth day, the golden trajectory in Jiang Hanzhou's Sea of Consciousness began to solidify, no longer a phantom that could dissipate at any moment.

On the fifteenth day, he attempted to use his Divine Sense to actively touch the Metal Sharpness True Intent within the sword mark, instead of just passively enduring it.

On the twentieth day, while meditating, he suddenly "saw" the owner of the sword mark—a Daoist whose face he could not see, slashing down with a sword from ten thousand feet in the air, splitting a mountain Peak in two.

On the twenty-fifth day, the golden trajectory in his Sea of Consciousness had solidified into substance, resonating strongly with the True Intent within the seventeenth sword mark.

On the twenty-eighth day, that layer of golden luster on the tiger soul saber covered the entire blade, and when swung, a very faint golden saber radiance would emerge, slicing through the air.

The twenty-ninth day.

Dusk.

The sunset was like blood, dyeing the Lijian Cliff a golden red.

Jiang Hanzhou sat cross-legged on the bluestone, eyes slightly closed, golden light circulating endlessly around his body.

He had been sitting there for three full hours.

Today was the twenty-ninth day. Tomorrow would be exactly one month.

He opened his eyes and looked at the seventeenth sword mark on the cliff wall.

That sharp, straight-as-a-line mark was, in his eyes now, no longer just a simple sword mark.

He saw the Sword Intent sleeping within the sword mark, saw the trajectory of that Sword Intent's flow, saw the golden light that escaped with every pulsation, saw a—

Wait. Golden light?

Jiang Hanzhou's pupils constricted slightly.

That sword mark was glowing.

A very faint golden light slowly overflowed from the depths of the sword mark, like a Vicious Beast that had been sleeping for a thousand years finally waking up, opening a golden eye.

The light grew brighter and brighter. From faint to clear. From clear to brilliant. From brilliant to—blinding!

The next moment—Boom!!!

That seventeenth sword mark suddenly exploded!

It didn't really explode; it was the Metal Sharpness True Intent, having slept in the sword mark for a thousand years, erupting at this moment!

Countless rays of golden light shot out from the sword mark, like ten thousand sharp swords being drawn from their sheaths simultaneously, illuminating the entire Lijian Cliff as if it were a golden ocean!

And Jiang Hanzhou was sitting right in the center of this golden ocean.

Those golden rays did not harm him. They simply circled him, as if paying homage to a monarch, as if submitting to a Dominator.

Then, a Sword Intent slowly rose from the exploded sword mark.

That Sword Intent was extremely pure, so pure that it had no killing intent, no hostility, no superfluous emotions. It was just a Sword Intent.

A straight-as-a-line, incomparably sharp Sword Intent.

Jiang Hanzhou knew what this was.

This was the "core" of that sword mark.

It was the final gift left on the cliff wall by that Senior of the sword path.

He did not hesitate at all. He took a deep breath. He extended his Divine Sense with all his might!

In that instant, he "grabbed" that Sword Intent.

It was not passively enduring, not struggling bitterly, but—actively grabbing it.

The moment that Sword Intent was grabbed by him, it surged along his Divine Sense and crashed into his Sea of Consciousness!

Boom—!!! His Sea of Consciousness shook violently!

But unlike the first day, this vibration was not pain, but—Fusion.

The instant that Sword Intent surged into his Sea of Consciousness, it fused with the golden trajectory he had painstakingly condensed for twenty-nine days!

The golden light surged!

The trajectory that was originally just solidified into substance now began to expand crazily, transforming crazily!

From a thread, to a wisp. From a wisp, to a strand. From a strand, to a sheet.

Finally—Boom!!!

Inside his Sea of Consciousness, that golden light exploded with a boom, turning into a sky full of light rain, sprinkling into every corner.

Wherever the light rain passed, countless insights regarding "sharpness", "severing", "destruction", and "fierceness" gushed out like a spring.

More than before. Deeper than before. Purer than before.

Metal Sharpness True Intent—15%.

It was not a leap-frog Breakthrough; it was not a direct jump from 10% to 20%.

But this 15% was thicker than the Perfection of 10% and more solid than the Peak of 10%.

This was the step where quantitative accumulation reaches the edge of qualitative change.

It was the closest half-step to the "entering the inner sanctum" of 20%.

Jiang Hanzhou opened his eyes suddenly.

In his pupils, a golden light flashed and then vanished.