Chapter 18: Divine Sword Reflecting Reality

"Divine Sword CloudHeart."

Holding the sword, Lin Chuan seemed to feel the deep affection of his beloved in the dream.

"Truly a fine sword."

He waved it casually; the sword's weight was just right, feeling natural to use, as if tailor-made.

"Let's go practice in the courtyard."

Lin Chuan glanced at the sleeping 'daughter' Lin Ruomeng on the bed, thinking this girl must have been awake and asleep throughout.

The child was also well-behaved, never waking him.

Arriving in the courtyard, Lin Chuan circulated the Burning Silence Sword Technique, which actually harmonized perfectly with the Divine Sword CloudHeart, encountering no obstruction.

Spiritual qi continually poured into his body.

Boom—!

Lin Chuan felt his body's spiritual qi expand to the extreme, constantly drilling into his meridians.

This was a sign of entering the Vessel Opening realm.

Nurturing qi in the body, opening spiritual vessels.

Lin Chuan truly hadn't expected to enter the second stage of cultivation so quickly.

Does the dream's reincarnation really come with an auto‑farm harvesting feature?

Regardless, this was a good thing for him; thinking of this, Lin Chuan sat cross‑legged, calmly opening his spiritual vessels.

According to the book's records.

Successfully opening a single cultivable spiritual vessel in the body counts as breaking through; normally a cultivator who opens twelve such vessels reaches the peak.

Some prodigies can break the norm, opening thirteen vessels.

In history there have even appeared peerless monsters who opened fourteen, fifteen, or even sixteen vessels.

The number and width of spiritual vessels opened within the body are the foundations of cultivation; the stronger the foundation, the higher the limit.

This is an eternal, unchanging truth.

……

Meanwhile, far away in Dao Tian Zhou, a shocking transformation was taking place.

Dao Tian Zhou is one of the continents of the Nine‑phase World, where the strong are as numerous as clouds.

The Daoist thirty‑six heavens and seventy‑two blessed lands are all located in this prefecture.

Here also lives in seclusion an unparalleled expert.

The earth shakes and mountains tremble; a single sword separates worlds.

Above Dao Tian Zhou, one sword points to the heavens, another splits the cloud layer, its scar deeply embedded in the void, giving the Heavenly Dome a middle part.

"The old ancestor has emerged from seclusion!!"

Among the endless mountains, a loud shout echoed.

Cultivators filling the mountains and fields flew on their swords toward the highest peak of Dao Tian Zhou.

The old ancestor spoken of by the people is a generation of sword immortal.

At first, people only thought he was a blind man; later, the blind man with a casual strike slew a supreme‑realm demon lord.

The people of Dao Tian Zhou cried out 'sword immortal' and bowed in worship.

The blind sword immortal did not establish a sect; he merely resided on this mountain, where countless sincere swordsmen came seeking the Dao, hoping to receive even a single move or half‑form from him.

Even a casual word of guidance.

For sword‑obsessed swordsmen, the blind sword immortal's casual guidance is enough to be called a lifetime treasure.

The blind sword immortal never responded to anyone.

He occasionally practiced swordsmanship on the mountain peak, not avoiding the public; everyone could watch.

Many sword cultivators gained insight from him, thereafter considering himself his disciples; they jointly established a sect at the mountain's base.

Name: Ten Thousand Swords Sect.

The blind sword immortal thus became the founding ancestor of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect.

The old ancestor's emergence from seclusion is a tremendous opportunity for the disciples of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect.

On the mountain peak sat a swordsman clad in tattered cloth, his eyes bound with black silk, the blade in his hand mottled with rust.

"I never expected that after one great dream I would inexplicably owe karma."

"Lin Chuan?"

The blind sword immortal silently recited that name, "Who exactly are you, able to enter my mortal‑world dream?"

The blind sword immortal calculated with his fingers, yet could not determine where the beloved friend in the dream was located.

That, too, is not a dream.

In the dream, he is his true self, the him amidst the rolling mortal world.

The beloved friend in the dream should also be real.

"There is still another person who might be able to help me."

His state of mind unsettled, the blind sword immortal lost interest in further cultivation; he resolved to find the beloved friend, settle the karma, or else he would find it hard to break through in this life.

The person the blind one seeks is the wife of the beloved friend from the dream.

That is Empress Yun Zhi Yi of the Yun River.

Calculating Empress Yun Zhi Yi's position was much simpler; after several deductions, the blind one determined her location.

"She is actually in a small world within the Daoist seventy‑two blessed lands?"

Dao Tian Zhou is so vast that many cultivators spend their whole lives unable to leave even a corner of it.

In the space surrounding Dao Tian Zhou, countless small worlds have emerged, each containing innumerable opportunities.

Among them, the one hundred and eight small worlds were the most famous, having been enlightened by the Daoist sect's founder, earning the names Thirty-Six Cave Heavens and Seventy-Two Blessed Lands.

In the next instant, Xia Zi's figure vanished from the spot.

Upon reappearing, he had arrived at the entrance of a special space.

"Who goes there! Retreat at once!"

"This place is the Daoist Qingyu Blessed Land; outsiders may not enter."

Seeing the suddenly appearing Xia Zi, a group of cultivators in Daoist robes, as if facing a great enemy, shouted loudly.

Xia Zi glanced at these people.

Pff!

The Daoist cultivators guarding the Qingyu Blessed Land all spat blood.

"The existence of the Daoist cave-heavens and blessed lands should bring blessings to the world; the Dao Ancestor's enlightenment of these places was not meant for you to seek profit through power."

"For your own selfish desires, oppressing countless beings of the blessed land, you deserve death."

Every word Xia Zi spoke carried boundless sword intent, causing the cultivators guarding the blessed land to turn pale, as if suffering the punishment of being pierced by myriad swords.

These cultivators never understood, even unto death.

How could an outsider cultivator know the secret of the cave-heavens and blessed lands?

The Dao Ancestor's enlightenment of the cave-heavens and blessed lands was meant to give worldly beings another path of cultivation, allowing those with affinity to obtain the fortune and blessings within.

The Dao Ancestor wished to form good karma with the world.

Yet under the sun's universal shine, moths still swarm.

The beings within the Qingyu Blessed Land ought to have developed freely.

The so-called immortal's layout, disturbing the fortune, was done by these cultivators to siphon the blessed land's fortune, violating the Dao Ancestor's teachings and privately cutting off the path of the beings within.

Having just awakened from a great dream, and viewing from a worldly detached standpoint, Xia Zi quickly saw everything clearly.

To him, these were not worth mentioning.

But to the beings within the Qingyu Blessed Land's small world, it was an earth-shattering change.

Everyone in the world would have a chance to rise, and would no longer be troubled by the 'immortals'.

……

Within the Qingyu Blessed Land's small world.

The Yun Chuan Dynasty had already been established for three hundred years.

Empress Yun Zhi Yi, however, remained as she was at the founding of the state.

"A Chuan, I have finally come to keep you company."

Sitting on the dragon throne, Yun Zhi Yi murmured to herself, limited by the heavenly-earthly rules, her life had also reached its end.

For three hundred years, she had day and night been thinking of her husband Lin Chuan.

In recent years, she had a growing premonition that a voice told her A Chuan might still be alive.

"If A Chuan is truly still alive, perhaps he has already been reincarnated."

Yun Zhi Yi had attempted to ascend to this realm.

However, the heavenly-earthly rules pressed down on her, not allowing her to advance further; after that battle three hundred years ago, the Heavenly Gate was closed, and immortals have not appeared since.

"A Chuan, if you truly are alive in another world, please guide my soul in the unseen."

"Zhi Yi still wishes… to always be your wife, life after life, forever together."

Yun Zhi Yi's eyes blurred with tears, her vitality gradually dissipating.

Just then, the heavenly-earthly rules that had long restrained her loosened.

Yun Zhi Yi saw a person, who was A Chuan's close friend from three hundred years ago.

"Xia Zi? You… you're still alive?"

……

……

Xia Zi·Peerless Sword Immortal