Chapter 738: Snatching the Sword

Small-scale cultivator duels emphasize scheming, strategy, and varied tactics, with many variables at play.

Large-scale cultivator battles, when everyone converges and charges in a swarm, instead place greater emphasis on plain, straightforward shifts between offense and defense.

If one side holds an advantage at either end—offense or defense—their odds of winning are quite high.

The conflict with the Severing Gold Sect is no different.

Being able to wear Gold-Subduing Armor to defend against gold-type Daoist arts, when cultivations are roughly equal, will grant the upper hand once the melee begins.

But that's only when facing ordinary disciples of the Severing Gold Sect.

Ordinary Severing Gold Sect disciples cultivate gold-type techniques, gold spiritual power spells, and martial arts.

Even when they cultivate sword arts, they practice ordinary gold-type sword arts, or the entry-level Severing Gold Sword-Control Art.

Gold-Subduing Armor can defend against those.

But core disciples are different.

This is the subtlety of orthodox sword cultivation, and it seems to have little to do with him.

"Without a spirit sword, the sword Qi a cultivator unleashes is honestly not all that different in power from ordinary spells—but once a spirit sword lends its force, the might of sword arts rises to a whole new level."

His own inheritance wasn't exactly orthodox either, so its power naturally couldn't be compared with that of these core, direct-lineage disciples.

"There's a saying in the cultivation world: a sword cultivator with a sword is a dragon, a sword cultivator without a sword is worse than a dog. It's a bit exaggerated, but it shows just how important a sword weapon is to a sword cultivator."

Sister Situ said this with longing in her heart.

But being hard to counter doesn't necessarily mean there's no way to counter it.

"Therefore, every sword cultivator treats their spirit sword as a treasure, and all of them dream of obtaining a supreme divine sword."

He was the exact opposite.

Though Sister Situ put it well, Mo Hua never really felt it.

Sister Situ shook her head. "That would involve profound sword intent. I haven't cultivated to that level yet, so I don't really understand it."

Mo Hua murmured to himself.

But using it to counter the Severing Gold Sword Art was a bit of a pipe dream.

The core disciples of the Severing Gold Sect mostly possessed excellent sword-cultivation aptitude, practiced the most orthodox Severing Gold Sword-Control Art, and wore superior-grade gold-type spirit swords.

Trying everything, though it doesn't guarantee success—

"A good sword weapon can make a sword cultivator like Liu Ruhu, or even 'defy the heavens and change one's fate.'"

Sister Situ pondered for a moment, then said: "Sword arts are a special kind of Daoist art. This art emphasizes the unity of person and sword."

It was also far more powerful than the sword art wielded by that Jiang leader Mo Hua had run into at the very beginning—the one who had stolen the Severing Gold Sect's inheritance, defected from the sect, and trafficked cultivators.

Jiang leader's sword art was stolen.

"Body cultivators rely on the flesh, spiritual cultivators rely on the qi sea, and a sword cultivator's cultivation depends heavily on the sword weapon."

"Alright then," Mo Hua nodded.

He now realized that he seemed to have underestimated this sword art after all.

As one of the Twelve Streams, the Severing Gold Sect's sect-guarding sword art had a long lineage and was far from as simple as he had imagined.

It was immeasurably stronger than the half-baked Severing Gold Sword Qi Mo Hua himself cultivated.

Using Gold-Subduing Armor to counter ordinary gold-type Daoist arts was fine.

But without trying, failure was already certain.

"The initial stage of person-sword unity means the cultivator's spiritual power merges with the spirit sword, thereby unleashing stronger sword Qi."

In the dining hall of the disciples' quarters, Mo Hua rested his chin on his hand, thought for a moment, then asked Sister Situ beside him:

"Sister Situ, is a sword cultivator's spirit sword really that important?"

This kind of sword Qi, bolstered by a superior-grade gold sword, became even more fearsome.

"Severing Gold Sword-Control Art…"

"A sword cultivator with a sword and one without are two completely different kinds of cultivators—worlds apart."

"Oh…"

Sister Situ was briefly startled, then nodded. "Naturally."

The Severing Gold Sect couldn't have held its place among the Twelve Streams of Qianxue for so long otherwise.

On second thought, if it really were that easy to counter, given the temperament of Severing Gold Sect disciples, their front teeth would have been knocked out long ago—they wouldn't still be this arrogant.

A sword cultivator without a sword—can they even be called a sword cultivator…

Part of their sword art's power came from gold-type spiritual power, but its core might came from the pure Severing Gold Sword Qi.

"How important exactly?" Mo Hua asked again.

Mo Hua felt a sudden clarity.

Mo Hua decided to study it properly…

Mo Hua knew his own limits—his foundation was truly too poor, and he had no family heritage to fall back on. On the path of orthodox sword cultivation, he was not only thousands of steps behind others, but was also destined not to go far…

"Then what does a higher level of 'person-sword unity' look like?" Mo Hua asked.

The unity of sword Qi and sword weapon—compared with other sword cultivators, he was essentially clueless.

But when it came to sword intent, he was actually quite familiar with it.

After all, he had already learned the "Sword Transformation" form of Divine Thought into Sword.

Only, his crude "Sword Transformation Form" produced a Divine Thought Sword that probably couldn't count as orthodox sword intent either.

"Then why does a sword weapon amplify the power of sword Qi?" Mo Hua asked again.

So far, the only methods he had seen that could amplify spiritual power were the Five Elements Source Formation, and the Five Elements Source Armor inscribed with it.

Apart from that, no spiritual weapon had any "spiritual power amplification" effect.

And the Five Elements Source Formation was the Wuxing Sect's sect-guarding ultimate art, and also an extremely difficult formation to learn and pass down.

So far, the Five Elements Source Armor is only made by this family alone.

But swords are different; although the sword-forging methods are scarce and hoarded by major sects and clans, strictly kept from outsiders, compared to the Five Elements Source Array, they are relatively "common."

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then added:

"Because of the sword array?"

"Yes," Sister Situ said. "Spiritual swords amplify sword qi precisely because, during their forging, sword arrays are sealed within them—the sword and array are one."

"Thus, when spiritual power is channeled into the spiritual sword, flowing through the sword array, the emitted sword qi becomes far sharper."

Mo Hua asked again: "Have you ever seen a sword array?"

"No," Sister Situ shook her head. "The transmission of sword arrays is a family's core secret; even direct-line array masters within the clan cannot learn them easily."

"So strict?"

"Extremely strict," Sister Situ said solemnly. "I don't know much about other families, but take the Situ Clan—transmission of the Fire Discharge Sword Array is exceedingly harsh..."

"Not passed to outsiders, not to in-laws, not to those who marry out, not to non-direct-line members; even among direct-line members, to learn the sword array, one must sign a 'Death Oath,' swear a vow—life may die, the art must not be passed—before gaining the right to learn the sword array..."

Mo Hua winced at this.

He had only heard from Master Gu that sword arrays were the core inheritance of swordline clans, extremely precious.

He hadn't imagined they could be this precious...

But the more so, the more curious he became.

What exactly did a sword array look like...

He had to find a way to get one and study it.

Mo Hua's thoughts shifted, and he couldn't help but glance at Sister Situ's Fire Discharge Sword hidden in its scabbard.

Sister Situ tensed instantly, instinctively guarding the Fire Discharge Sword in her hand.

The two locked eyes, and Mo Hua whispered:

"Can I take a look?"

Sister Situ looked conflicted. "Little Brother, you... won't take it apart, will you..."

Mo Hua nodded immediately. "No no! I'll just look..."

Seeing Sister Situ still reluctant, Mo Hua said:

"Right here—just two glances."

Reluctantly, Sister Situ handed over the Fire Discharge Sword she wore at her side, treasuring it as if it were her life.

Mo Hua accepted it solemnly, feeling its weight and a faint warmth.

The blade, forged from some unknown material, gleamed like jade, sharp as iron, with a faint crimson glow flowing across it.

Mo Hua squinted, examining the hilt, searching for seams that might allow it to be opened.

Sister Situ grew tense again.

Fortunately, Mo Hua had no intention of actually disassembling it.

After carefully inspecting every part, finding no point of entry, he solemnly returned the Fire Discharge Sword to Sister Situ. "Thank you."

Sister Situ exhaled in relief, took back the Fire Discharge Sword, and immediately sheathed it.

Whenever the Fire Discharge Sword was in Mo Hua's hands, she felt anxious.

Mo Hua, meanwhile, sank into deep thought.

The Fire Discharge Sword was Sister Situ's treasure—hard to act on. If he truly damaged it, he'd feel too guilty.

Mo Hua thought for a moment, then said to Sister Situ:

"During the next break, we'll enter the Demon Refining Mountains and take a few spiritual swords from the Duanjin Gate..."

The power of sword qi comes partly from the sword array.

So if we dismantle the Duanjin Sword, we can study the sword array—and also study how to improve the Metal-Resisting Armor to defend against true Duanjin Sword Qi.

Sister Situ shook her head. "Even if we steal them, they won't be useful—spiritual swords usually have self-destruct arrays engraved inside; if forcibly dismantled, the sword array will destroy itself..."

Mo Hua froze, pondered, and realized she was right.

Since sword arrays are this precious, having a self-destruct mechanism is only natural.

Still, even so, we must steal them.

Only after stealing them can we know whether they can be dismantled.

"No problem—first, steal them and see," Mo Hua said.

Sister Situ wanted to argue further, but suddenly realized—if Little Brother didn't steal Duanjin Swords, given his curiosity about arrays and his obsession with digging to the root, he'd eventually turn his attention to her Fire Discharge Sword...

Sister Situ's heart tightened, and she quickly nodded:

"Yes, that's right! We must steal them! Without stealing a few to dismantle, how can we know whether they'll self-destruct?"

"Little Brother, I'll help you steal them!"

Dismantling the Duanjin Swords was fine—as long as they didn't touch her Fire Discharge Sword.

Mo Hua was deeply moved.

In his mind, Sister Situ had been promoted to "Great Good Person."

Several days later, the ten-day break arrived again.

Mo Hua called Cheng Mo, Sister Situ, and others; the five of them went to the Demon Refining Mountains once more.

Mo Hua didn't bring any other disciples.

He had weighed it carefully: before optimizing the Metal-Resisting Armor and solving the Duanjin Sword Qi problem, his junior brothers and sisters faced greatly increased risk of injury—it wasn't worth it.

Besides, this time they were going to "steal"—light gear, swift action, decisive strike; too many people would complicate things.

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