13: Chapter 13 Understanding of Sword Intent

Accompanied by the release of his Spirit Ability, the area within a ten-meter radius centered on Mu Qingci was dyed a dark purple.

Countless phantom images of the Hades Sword descended from the sky and plunged into the ground, forming a Domain that resembled a sword graveyard.

Standing within the Domain, Jing Hongchen was surprised to discover that his Soul Power was actually decreasing. Although this meant little to a Titled Douluo like him, the fact that he could feel it meant the effect would be absolutely extraordinary for low-level Spirit Masters.

Sure enough, the complexion of Meng Hongchen, who was standing beside him, became noticeably pale, and the Soul Power within her body was rapidly disappearing.

Jing Hongchen hurriedly released his Soul Power to protect his granddaughter.

Mu Qingci realized that his Spirit Ability had affected the two of them and hurriedly deactivated it.

As he retracted his Spirit, the area returned to normal, and the countless phantom images of the Hades Sword dissipated completely.

"Sister Meng, Hall Master Jing, are you two alright?"

Looking at Meng Hongchen's slightly pale face, Mu Qingci realized that he had seemingly caused trouble.

"I'm fine, Qingci. Your fourth Spirit Ability is truly powerful; my Soul Power would have been drained in no time." Meng Hongchen managed to force a smile onto her pale face, not wanting to make Mu Qingci feel guilty or worried.

Jing Hongchen frowned in thought, then looked at Mu Qingci and voiced the doubts in his heart: "Kid, your Spirit Ability shouldn't be as simple as just draining Soul Power, right?"

As a Titled Douluo—even if he was a bit of an inflated one who reached his rank through pills—his perception of the surrounding heaven and earth energy was far superior to that of low-level Spirit Masters.

Jing Hongchen had been able to clearly sense just now that after Mu Qingci released that fourth Spirit Ability, the heaven and earth energy within a one-kilometer radius was converging here.

"As expected, nothing can be hidden from you, Hall Master Jing. My Spirit Ability is indeed not just as simple as absorbing Soul Power."

Mu Qingci smiled and began to explain his new Spirit Ability, his eyes filled with surprise and joy.

"This fourth Spirit Ability of mine is called the Netherworld Sword Array. As you just saw, it is a Domain-type Spirit Ability. Its effect is to devour the Soul Power of enemies within the Domain and feed it back to me. Just now, I forgot to place a mental mark on you two, so you were automatically classified as enemies. As for the other effect, the heaven and earth energy within a one-kilometer radius can be used by me. This range will increase as my level increases, and the same goes for the degree of usage of the heaven and earth energy."

Listening to Mu Qingci introduce his Spirit Ability, Jing Hongchen became more and more alarmed.

"Good grief, kid, according to what you said, if you find a place with abundant heaven and earth energy, wouldn't you become a perpetual motion machine in battle?"

"You could say that. After all, the absorbed Soul Power can also be used to maintain this Spirit Ability, and I haven't discovered any obvious shortcomings yet."

When Mu Qingci answered, the pride in his eyes could not be hidden.

This was no ordinary ten-thousand-year Spirit Ability; it was simply a mechanic-breaking monster. It was just like Tang San's Blue Silver Domain, providing a continuous supply of Soul Power—it was simply unsolvable.

"You kid really are a monster. It's fortunate that you came to my Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy and not that so-called Shrek Academy," Jing Hongchen remarked offhandedly.

After acquiring the spirit ring, the three of them set out on their return journey.

After his Soul Power broke through to the Spirit Ancestor rank, Mu Qingci could clearly feel that the Soul Power within his body had become more profound. Coupled with the bonus of his ultimate attribute, he was now confident in fighting a Spirit Emperor and had the certainty of defeating one.

After returning, Mu Qingci took two days of leave to begin meditating to stabilize his cultivation and familiarize himself with his new Spirit Ability.

After two days of cultivation, Mu Qingci made a novel discovery.

Mu Qingci discovered that a kind of miraculous connection seemed to have formed between him and the Hades Sword.

It was similar to a feeling of telepathic connection, which was very profound.

He released his Spirit, and four spirit rings—yellow, purple, purple, and black—swirled beneath his feet.

Mu Qingci closed his eyes, carefully sensing the changes in his Spirit and the circulation of Soul Power within his body.

He stood there like a wooden statue for a full hour.

Just then, Mu Qingci suddenly opened his eyes and swung the Hades Sword in his hand forward.

A crescent-shaped sword energy slashed out, striking a massive piece of granite in front of him.

With a "boom," under this powerful attack, the granite shattered upon impact.

Mu Qingci walked up, picked up a fragment of the granite, and carefully sensed the residual Soul Power fluctuations on it.

He sensed a trace of unusual power within the Soul Power.

That power did not seem to belong to his Soul Power, yet it seemed to have countless connections with him.

Mu Qingci sensed it carefully and finally reached a conclusion: Sword Intent.

Yes, he had successfully cultivated his first wisp of Sword Intent.

Although it was only a wisp, it was truly, tangibly existent and could assist him in battle.

This discovery made him extremely pleasantly surprised. As the owner of a sword-type Spirit, and a god-level Spirit like the evolved Hades Sword at that, how could Mu Qingci not want to possess his own Sword Intent?

He had always felt that a Spirit Master with a sword-type Spirit who lacked Sword Intent could not be considered a true sword cultivator.

After obtaining this wisp of Sword Intent, Mu Qingci began to practice frantically, attempting to strengthen it.

But no matter how he practiced, it had no effect at all.

This caused Mu Qingci to fall into deep thought.

However, he quickly recovered, because he thought of a method: find a true sword cultivator to spar with in order to improve his insights into Sword Intent.

This method was undoubtedly the most effective—improving and strengthening his own Sword Intent by observing the opponent's.

But now another problem arose: where could Mu Qingci find a true sword cultivator?

Spirit Masters with sword-type Spirits were extremely rare. Even in places like the Douluo Three Kingdoms that championed the power of Spirits, finding a Spirit Master with a sword-type Spirit who possessed Sword Intent was not an easy task, let alone here in the Sun Moon Empire.

"What should I do? Who should I go find?"

Just as Mu Qingci was pondering, a name quietly surfaced in his mind.

The reason Mu Qingci could think of that person was because he first thought of a spirit tool: the sword of judgment.

In the original work, the person who truly unleashed the power of this level-eight melee spirit tool was none other than Ji Juechen, who was known as the Sword Fanatic.

Ji Juechen happened to be from the Sun Moon Empire and was a student at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy; it couldn't be more appropriate for Mu Qingci to find him to polish his own Sword Intent.

Moreover, this guy Ji Juechen was also extremely obsessed with battle; if there was someone willing to spar with him, he would be begging for it.

After having this idea, Mu Qingci immediately set off for the third grade to look for Meng Hongchen, to see if she could find Ji Juechen.

"Ji Juechen? Qingci, why are you looking for that guy?"

Seeing Meng Hongchen's reaction, Mu Qingci knew he had found the right person; she definitely knew Ji Juechen.

"Oh, Sister Meng, don't worry about so much. I want to find him to spar."