“The sacred grounds will send people to keep an eye on this place,” Daolord Inkmind said with a smile. “You can come with me to visit the underground palace, or you can wander around our planet and explore it a bit.”
“No need.” The Ninedust Sectlord said calmly, “I’ll wait right here.”
“Yes, there’s no need to trouble anyone. The two of us can simply wait here,” Ji Ning agreed. He then looked at the nearby Skywind. “Skywind, you can go out and engage in some exploration and adventuring. If you have any questions regarding the Dao of the Sword, you may come speak to me about them. After I acquire the worldsplitter stone, I’ll leave this planet. By then, you’ll have to rely on yourself.”
Skywind said respectfully, “Yes, Master. In truth, in the last few days since you transmitted the Dao of the Sword to me, I’ve gained many insights and am prepared to enter the World level already.”
“Skywind.” The nearby Daolord Inkmind smiled. “The sacred grounds have quite a few World-level cultivators. They are the disciples and servants of the various Daolords here. After you make your breakthrough, you can spar with them. You can also go and study from the various Sword Daos which the successive generations of our Daolords have left behind.”
“Understood.” Skywind revealed an excited look.
The nearby Ning nodded in approval. “Disciple, this is a wonderful opportunity for you. Don’t let it slip past you.”
……
Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord spent the rest of their time quietly meditating underground, waiting for the right moment. The Ninedust Sectlord simply sat on the ground, while Ning used his temporal acceleration cottage. The sectlord was at a bottleneck and needed an epiphany to break through. Ning, in contrast, had just recently become a Daolord of the Second Step. He needed to seize every moment.
That very year, Skywind broke through to become a World-level cultivator. In the past, he had never had a good teacher; he had relied completely on his own natural talents to cultivate himself. Things were different, now that he had Ning’s guidance. Ning was a perfect teacher for him, with the five sword-arts Ning having transmitted being perfect guides as to five different directions the Dao of the Sword could be developed towards.
Every ten years or so, he would come and ask Ning a question. He would also often leave the underground region to go to the sacred grounds and spar against the other World-level cultivators there.
“He’s improving at a terrifying rate.”
“Who the hell is this kid? I’ve never seen him here before.”
“His name is Skywind. I hear that he’s the disciple of one of the Prophets.”
“A Prophet? No wonder he’s this impressive. I heard that all Prophets are incredibly strong.”
“His Sword Dao is simply incredible. I’ve never seen any World-level cultivator improve this quickly.”
Thanks to Ning’s temporal acceleration treasure, Skywind truly did improve remarkably fast. Three thousand years later, he had become a master-class World God… but of course, he had actually spent nearly three hundred thousand accelerated years within the spacetime treasure.
“No wonder the Prophet took a liking to him.” The Grand Elder’s avatar stared at Skywind from afar as the latter sparred with another opponent. The avatar nodded. “His talent for sword-arts truly is impressive. Inkmind, on my orders all of the Sword Dao legacies within the sacred grounds are to be made available to him.”
“Ah?! B-but Grand Elder…” Daolord Inkmind was rather startled.
“Skywind is a member of our race,” the Grand Elder said with a smile. And so, Skywind began to gain access to some peerless sword-arts legacies.
……
“Master, your disciple has some questions to ask.” Every ten years, Skywind would come and ask Ning some questions. Each time, Ning would guide him through his queries and even personally spar with him to help him out.
Strictly speaking, Ning had spent far more time with Skywind than his other two disciples, Bluecliff Xiaoyu and Green Bamboo. Although Ning’s Primaltwin and Xiaoyu often met in the Three Realms, Xiaoyu was different from Ning; she wasn’t the type of person who was completely enthralled by cultivation. In contrast, Green Bamboo and Skywind were true cultivators.
“Master, your disciple has studied many of the sword-arts of the sacred grounds. Each time, you were able to easily point out the various flaws within them.” Skywind was puzzled. “Should I stop learning these sword-arts?”
“The five sword-arts I taught you represent five different avenues for developing the Dao of the Sword. All the sword-arts in the universe are unable to escape the reach of these five avenues.” Ning chuckled. “The more you study, the more it will benefit your mastery over my five sword-arts.”
“Ah.” Skywind was enlightened. In truth, the more sword-arts he studied, the more amazed he was by his master. Over the course of countless chaos cycles, the sacred grounds had produced quite a few Daolords of the Dao of the Sword. However, whenever he compared their sword-arts to his master’s sword-arts, especially his master’s Omega Sword Dao sword-intent, he always felt that they were much inferior.
Skywind was beginning to understand just how terrifyingly powerful his master truly was! The sacred grounds had built up an enormous collection of sword-arts, yet not a single one of them appeared to be a match for his master’s.
“You have spent five thousand years under my tutelage, and your sword-arts are comparable to that of supreme World Gods. Further instruction will be of limited use to you. What you should do is go meditate and find a Dao which suits you the most, a Dao which you shall use to become a Samsara Daolord,” Ning said. “You can leave now. Go. Explore. Adventure. Here in the sacred grounds, you’ll never have a chance to truly temper yourself.”
“Understood,” Skywind said respectfully.
……
He left the underground world, returning to the beautiful world outside. He resolved the enmities and feuds he had, then went out to adventure through the world!
Skywind slowly began to grow and mature. After two thousand years of adventuring, he possessed the power of a transcendent World God even though he didn’t have any particularly powerful treasures! By now, he was ready to break through to become a Samsara Daolord whenever he wished. However, he did not break through because he kept on having the feeling that the Daos he had developed were not what he was truly searching for.
His master’s five sword-arts all surpassed everything he was able to come up with. As for the Omega Sword Dao’s sword-intent, it was unimaginably superior. And so Skywind continued to search… search for a Dao he would be satisfied with.
The sacred grounds kept a quiet watch on him as well. When they realized he already had the power to become a Samsara Daolord whenever he wished, they showed themselves and began to help him when necessary. Skywind’s status in the sacred grounds quickly skyrocketed, and he was viewed as Samsara Daolords were!
“That’s Skywind.”
“That’s World God Skywind. He’s already come back.”
When Skywind returned to the sacred grounds, he attracted the attention of many of the Elder Gods, Ancestral Immortals, and World-level cultivators here. The news that he was capable of becoming a Samsara Daolord whenever he wished had long ago been leaked to everyone; this was to ensure that no one would grumble or complain about the special status he had within the sacred grounds. In this planet, the sacred grounds held an overwhelming level of power over the rest of the world. There was no fear that anyone might attempt to harm him out of jealousy.
“Master, World God Skywind is nothing more than a World God. Why is everyone so excited?” A violet-robed woman quietly asked her master.
This woman was Violetlotus. Fairy Violetlotus was an extremely capable woman, and she was capable of doing anything to achieve her goals. After she learned of the existence of the ‘sacred grounds’, she came up with a way to become a member of a Samsara Daolord’s school! Later on, she managed to acquire one of just ten slots for cultivators to be sent into the sacred grounds and become one of them. She had never expected that Skywind had already become a World God.
“Ah, disciple… you don’t know this yet, but Skywind is no ordinary World God. The sacred grounds have many World Gods, but Skywind is the disciple of a Prophet. He is also incredibly powerful, and he has reached such heights in the Dao of the Sword that he can become a Samsara Daolord whenever he chooses.” Her master’s eyes glowed with excitement. “Do you know? The speed at which he became a World God and reached such heights of power is only equaled by some of the most legendary Daolords in the history of the sacred grounds. Given his current level of insight and the fact that he still refuses to make a breakthrough, he clearly wishes to develop an even more powerful Dao for himself and become an absolutely dominating Daolord. I’d be more than willing to become the retainer to a figure like him.”
Fairy Violetlotus was speechless. A complex look appeared on her face as she stared at the distant Skywind.
In truth, Skywind had seen her as well, but he had only given her a glance and then departed.
“Skywind…” Fairy Violetlotus watched silently as he left. Although she had repeatedly caused trouble for him and had actually tortured him, she also felt certain strange, mixed emotions towards him. If it wasn’t for that, she would’ve killed him long ago when he was very weak. The reason why she had tortured him but not killed him was due to the contradictory feelings she had in her heart.
“He just glanced at me, then ignored me? I wouldn’t have cared if he came over to take revenge on me and kill me, but he didn’t even glance a second time at me.” Fairy Violetlotus continued to stare silently, her fingernails digging deep into her palms.
……
Ning was very pleased that his disciple Skywind was searching for a suitable Dao for himself. However, he wasn’t really able to help out; it would all be up to Skywind himself.
He himself had only been able to join together his five Supreme Daos when he was within the Genesis Lands of the alternate universe. Finally, after reviving his parents in the Three Realms, his heart became peaceful and he was able to break through to master his Omega Sword Dao.
This disciple of his would have his own path to tread. Even if his disciple also embarked on the path of the Omega Sword Dao, every single cultivator’s Dao would be different and unique in certain ways. There was no way any Samsara Daolord could completely imitate or train in the Dao of another; only the Dao they themselves created would be ideal for them.
“Darknorth, our chance has come,” the Ninedust Sectlord said.
“Yes.” Ning rose to his feet and walked out of his temporal acceleration cottage. They had waited here for twelve thousand years; it was now finally time for them to go retrieve the worldsplitter stones.