Chapter 623: Chapter 623: The Unseen Horizon

Ethan caught sight of Roy moving toward the exit through the gaps in the towering bamboo shelves. Folding the ancient, dusty parchment of the Hidden Sword Light, Ethan smoothly slid it back into its designated slot on the second level, stepping out into the main aisle as if he had just finished memorizing the raw texts.

Thanks to Crul’s unholy processing power, Ethan hadn’t just memorized the two distinct techniques; he had thoroughly comprehended both to a perfect, absolute one hundred percent completion. In the depths of his soul space, he had taken the pleasure of fusing the Twin Swallow Cut from the entrance trial with this new concealment method, forging a completely customized variation he named the Phantom Twin Swallow Cut.

With Crul’s sinister assistance, Ethan had even heavily modified its original structure. Instead of simply delaying the visual energy of both strikes for a single second, the technique now completely hid the second, lethal trajectory entirely within the physical shadow of the first. Even more devastatingly, the hidden second strike could actively alter its trajectory in mid-air up to three full seconds after the initial clash, ensuring absolute, unavoidable decapitation for any opponent who thought they had successfully blocked the first blow.

"This will be remarkably useful," muttered Ethan, a dark, low chuckle vibrating in his chest.

He closed the distance to Roy, who was waiting near the exit ledger. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Yes, Master," said Roy, holding up his wooden ledger token with a proud nod. "I selected a movement technique called the Light Steps of the White Crane. During my fight with the Sword Saint’s grandson, I realized my greatest fatal flaw is closing the distance against elite cultivators without immediately relying on my suicidal trump card. I needed a fundamental agility art to navigate the field."

"The reasoning is sound," said Ethan, his piercing amethyst eyes locking onto his student. "However, you must never forget a universal truth: the absolute path of a swordsman relies entirely on the dominance of the blade, not on your ability to run away. Use the movement to position your kill, but never let it become a crutch. Walk your path, and never doubt your steel."

"I will carve it into my bones, Big Brother," said Roy.

Both of them let out a casual laugh as they finally turned to push through the heavy obsidian doors of the repository. They had spent nearly half a day lost within the maze of scrolls; the deep crimson of the night had completely faded, replaced by the pale, misty gold of a fresh mountain dawn breaking over the outer peaks.

As their boots crossed the stone threshold, the blind elder sitting behind the counter slowly raised his head. His sightless, milky eyes turned straight toward Ethan, a strange, suffocatingly deep gaze emanating from the old man as if he were looking directly through Ethan’s flesh and staring at the primordial shadows hidden inside his soul.

"A truly bountiful harvest, young boy" said the blind elder, his voice sounding like ancient, grinding tectonic plates. "I can feel the faint, chaotic residual frequencies of the archives clinging tightly to your skin."

Ethan’s posture instantly stiffened, his amethyst eyes narrowing into cold slits. A rare jolt of genuine surprise rippled through his mind. He had traveled across multiple realms, and very few entities could read his presence so effortlessly. It was entirely clear that this decrepit, blind gatekeeper was anything but a simple logistics worker.

The old man slowly stood up from his wooden stool, his fragile, skeletal frame suddenly expanding as an invisible, absolute weight blanketed the entire mountain plaza.

"This miserable frontier branch will become far too small to contain your hunger very soon," said the blind elder, a faint, cryptic smile appearing beneath his silver beard. "Since chance has brought us together at the dawn of your path, I shall plant a small, parting seed within you and your little companion."

Without drawing a weapon, the blind elder simply raised his wrinkled right index finger, delivering a casual, entirely effortless horizontal flick through the empty morning air.

There was no explosion. There was no whistling wind.

Yet, three hundred meters away, across the vast courtyard, a massive, thousands-of-years-old ironwood tree—a trunk thick enough to require ten grown men to encircle it—was cleanly, flawlessly bisected in a perfect horizontal line. The top half slid off the base with a terrifyingly silent smoothness, crashing into the dirt.

The elder casually sat back down onto his stool, closing his sightless eyes as if he had done nothing more than swat a fly. "Whatever you manage to glean from that single stroke belongs entirely to your own comprehension."

Ethan bowed deeply, a profound, genuine respect flashing in his eyes as he acknowledged the grand gift. Roy, completely paralyzed by the sheer, ungodly display of power, hurriedly followed his master’s example, his mind entirely blown.

It wasn’t until they had walked several hundred meters away from the pagoda that Roy finally managed to find his voice, his hands trembling slightly against the hilts of his katanas.

"Master... what in the gods’ names was that?" said Roy, his voice a breathless whisper. "There was no spiritual energy... no movement... nothing."

"That is the absolute realm we are currently aspiring to reach," said Ethan, his voice dropping into a deep, intense register as he looked back toward the split ironwood tree. "After a cultivator successfully awakens and masterfully controls Sword Intent, the next evolutionary ascension is the manifestation of Sword Aura. It is a profoundly mystical, higher tier of existence that common martial arts cannot define."

Ethan stopped walking, turning to face Roy with an unyielding gravity.

"When a regular swordsman strikes, he relies on physical velocity and the kinetic edge of the steel," said Ethan. "But when you achieve true Sword Aura, your very willpower distorts the space around you. The air itself becomes your blade. The wind, the light, and the distance between you and your target are completely rewritten by your intent."

Ethan pointed back toward the massive archive building.

"That is exactly why I told you that a master swordsman has no fundamental need for trivial movement techniques," said Ethan, a fierce, dominant glint burning within his amethyst eyes. "If your Sword Aura can instantaneously cross thousands of meters to cleanly sever an enemy’s throat before they can even perceive the twitch of your finger, then you never have to waste a single step chasing them down. Your reach becomes absolute, and the entire world becomes your execution chopping block."

From this moment forward, to avoid confusion regarding cultivation ranks, I will include this footer with the current established levels.

Note: These are only the ranks mentioned so far to avoid spoilers.

Body Refinement Realm

Skin Refinement / Bone Refinement / Organ Refinement

Spiritual Gathering Realm

Spiritual Perception / Spiritual Mist / Spiritual Condensation

Spiritual Core Realm

Core Solidification / Core Awakening / Spiritual Collapse (Half-step Spiritual Core)

Spiritual Soul Realm

Spiritual Soul Awakening / Soul Nourishing / Soul-Core Fusion

Golden Core Realm

Prime Fusion / Core Perfection / Core Destruction

Spiritual Sea Realm

Stage 1 ?? / Stage 2 ?? / Stage 3 ??

Dao Manifestation Realm

Stage 1 ?? / Stage 2 ?? / Stage 3 ??

Spiritual Transcendence

Stage 1 ?? / Stage 2 ?? / Stage 3 ??

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Sword mastery levels

Sword Intent.

Sword Aura.