Chapter 496: 470 Thoughts on the Sword Heart

Opening his eyes once more, Tang Zhao was full of high spirits, his eyes shining brightly, almost in a state of excitement.

He had been influenced by a Sword Heart again, his boiling blood making his heart thump wildly.

Yet in the blink of an eye, that excitement receded, and his gaze returned to calm.

After all, he was gradually getting used to it.

On this narrow Yunsi Tongdao, Tang Zhao had already experienced the Sword Heart more than a dozen times, substituting himself into many different minds.

He had been joyful, sorrowful, angry, and pained; he had also been clever, dull, rational, and greedy.

He was at times passionate, at times depressed, at times humble, at times flamboyant. He had once been firm in his convictions, and once utterly hopeless; he could be refined and elegant, and he could be vulgar beyond measure...

Every Sword Heart, although merely an abstract sensation and not a true cycle, was undoubtedly an experience. He would experience the different qualities of each Sword Heart; when he substituted himself into them, they seemed to merge with him, only to fade away like a tide the moment he opened his eyes.

Of course, it did not fade that completely.

It was like holding a handful of sand; when you open your hand, the sand flows through your fingers, but something always remains in your palm.

Moreover, as his accumulated experience grew, he pushed aside those varied qualities on the surface and ultimately grasped some of the most essential things.

It was just that these things had not yet formed a system and could not provide him with a solid, reliable handle; he needed to think about them deeply.

"Ugh, negative energy again. Get out, this damn anger."

Tang Zhao took a deep breath, using the Great Sun Divine Carriage scripture to drive away the last bit of extra emotion in his mind.

This was also unavoidable; except for the first Sword Heart he experienced, which was happy and simple, the others were more or less complex and dark, and they were all entanglements of negative and positive energy, merely leaning more toward one or the other.

Tang Zhao did not know if the complexity of a Sword Heart was related to the level of one's realm. If judged by his intuition, the first Sword Heart's realm was not low, because that mind was completely rounded and systematic, with its various parts combined quite harmoniously.

Yes, a Sword Heart is a whole, but it is also clearly composed of different parts, just as a person has a brain, a torso, flesh, and bones; only when the various parts are connected into a system is a "Sword Heart" truly formed.

This system must have a main body that establishes the tone of the Sword Heart from the very beginning. It is the thing Tang Zhao feels the moment he enters a Sword Heart. For example, the first Sword Heart he felt was happiness, while the one just now, he felt was fighting spirit.

And immediately following, surrounding this main body, other parts of the Sword Heart arrive in succession; they are all connected by the main body and extend far into different categories.

For instance, if the main body of happiness connects to the past, it can connect to happiness and memories; connecting to the present, it can connect to satisfaction and confidence; connecting to the future, it can connect to liveliness and passion...

Similarly, fighting spirit can connect to positive courage and perseverance, and can also connect to negative anger and stubbornness...

It is like a galaxy, with countless planets and satellites revolving around the largest star; they are both independent individuals and, under the action of various invisible forces, gathered together to become a galaxy.

And the star at the very center, which is the main body of the Sword Heart, is completely elusive.

At first, Tang Zhao thought the main bodies were all emotions, such as happiness, anger, and the like, as emotions are the most conspicuous, the most superficial, and the easiest to extract. But he soon realized his thinking was too narrow; the main body can be any concept in the realm of the spirit, such as will, including ideals and beliefs; such as temperament, including passion or coldness; such as desire, including greed and gluttony or lust; such as taste, including elegance and vulgarity...

Everything, everything he could think of and could not think of, was enough to support a Sword Heart.

Truly as vast as the starry sky.

Amidst his astonishment, he seemed to have grasped something.

Then, let's try one more.

He would stop after trying one more; trying any more would be meaningless. What he needed now was to sort through what he had seen and heard and think it through thoroughly.

Pulling at a thread, Tang Zhao probed with his Ruyi Silk and was slightly stunned.

The main body of this Sword Heart is...

Thinking.

This was exactly what Tang Zhao wanted. As soon as he entered the Sword Heart, his mind immediately became agile and his thoughts clear; this feeling was even more wonderful than that initial "happiness."

It is truly good; if only the main body of his own Sword Heart were also thinking.

But that is likely not under his own control. His Sword Heart might even be incomplete, but it should already have taken initial shape, making it difficult to turn back.

The formation of a Sword Heart, just like the birth of Sword Intent, is not entirely controlled by the Sword Guest, nor is it entirely controlled by the sword.

Thinking made his train of thought increasingly clear, and his ideas were linked together by a clear chain of thought:

I was wondering why the varied Sword Hearts seemed familiar; aren't Sword Intent and Sword Heart two sides of the same coin?

Sword Heart is the Sword Guest's Sword Intent, and Sword Intent is the sword's Sword Heart.

They are both extracted separately, simplifying and clarifying complex things.

The original human heart and the Sword Seed are both very complex.

It is said that the human heart is like the sea; how could the beginning of a Sword Seed be any less complex, leaving one unable to grasp it? It contains every direction and has countless possibilities.

Even if it has been cast into a sword by a Sword Smith and has already been screened once, having a general direction, it still possesses different possibilities. Therefore, the same sword in the hands of different Sword Guests will have different Sword Intents.

What truly fixes the Sword Intent, and can even be "defined" in two or three words, is actually the moment the Sword Guest and the sword match. It is actually the Sword Guest helping the sword choose the path to move forward among countless directions.

Then, is the process of Sword Intent formation also like the process of Sword Heart formation?

If Sword Intent is based on the sword, with the Sword Guest as an auxiliary, and finally decided by the Sword Guest, then is the Sword Heart based on the Sword Guest, with the sword as an auxiliary, and finally completed by the sword?

It is just that no matter how complex the sword's inner meaning is, it is ultimately not as complex as the human heart, and it is static; therefore, in the end, Sword Intent can even be summarized in two words, while the human heart is unpredictable, and what the sword can anchor is only the initial feeling.

Yes, Tang Zhao finally recognized it clearly; the first sensation upon entering a Sword Heart is less of a main body and more of an anchor point.

The sword chooses a certain quality of the Sword Guest, any aspect is possible, plants a mark, and gives the Sword Guest a response. The Sword Guest uses this as a foundation to construct a complete Sword Heart, adding qualities, emotions, power, will... all sorts of things, finally allowing the Sword Heart to take shape.

The Sword Guest might not even be clear about this process themselves, merely cultivating according to instinct.

This also explains why, at the Sword Guest stage, cultivating the Sword Heart is so difficult and aimless—one hasn't even reached the state of "heart-to-heart resonance," cannot get a response from the sword at all, and cannot even find the starting point, so how can one know where to begin cultivation?

All a Sword Guest can do is sharpen their own mind, make their Spirit stronger, and cultivate intimacy with the sword, in hopes of receiving the sword's resonance early, thereby stepping into the realm of heart-to-heart resonance.

The realm of heart-to-heart resonance, which is the Sword Hero, is when one truly begins to cultivate their own Sword Heart.

And can those Sword Heroes perceive the full picture of their own Sword Heart?

What Tang Zhao sees now is a pile of Sword Hearts hanging overhead, as if these Sword Hearts were independent individuals, even available for people to immerse themselves in and experience; in fact, this is not the case. A Sword Heart has always been just a part of the human heart; it does not carve out a territory in places like the Soul or the brain. To put it more abstractly, a Sword Heart is the sum of certain spiritual consciousnesses related to the sword within the human heart; it is a concept.

Those Sword Heroes who have not walked through Zizai Tower probably cannot know where their Sword Heart originates or where it can go; it is already quite good if they can know that a Sword Heart is a Sword Heart.

Even those Sword Heroes who have entered Zizai Tower may not realize it; they wouldn't come to the backstage, so how would they know there is such a simple method of observation?

If Tang Zhao's thinking is correct, then his understanding of the Sword Heart should exceed ninety-nine percent of Sword Heroes; it can be said that the path is smooth until the Sword Immortal stage.

As for above the Sword Immortal...

That is too far away. Tang Zhao does not believe that a Sword Immortal would have no understanding of the Sword Heart. The realm of a Sword Immortal is another leap, much greater than the improvement from Sword Hero to Sword Guest; it is truly not something a Sword Hero can speculate about.

What was the Sword Heart realm of a Sword Immortal again?

Unity of man and sword?

Could it be the combination of Sword Heart and Sword Intent...

Thinking too far ahead. Before reaching the threshold of that realm, it is just blind guessing.

Actually... he also has a Sword Immortal's Sword Heart hanging above his head; if he were a bit bolder, wouldn't it be possible to take a peek?

Forget it.

He really does not have that much courage.

Just now, while peeping at the Sword Hero's Sword Heart, he relied on his own realm of Heart-to-Heart Connection to ward off most of the influence, yet he still ended up tainted by some of it, leaving his emotions fluctuating.

It was fortunate that the Sword Heart here was primarily positive; he could slowly digest and absorb what he had picked up, and sitting in meditation to calm his mind was enough to handle it, or even if he couldn't get rid of it, it would be no great harm. But to risk peeping at a Sword Immortal's Sword Heart—who knows what would happen?

That would simply be courting death.

Only when he truly becomes a Sword Hero, has exhausted all the insights of today, and is still one step away from the threshold, would it be worth coming back to see the path ahead of the Sword Immortal seniors if the opportunity arises.

There should be an opportunity, right?

Tang Zhao withdrew from contemplating the Sword Heart, and that exceptionally clear thinking and rationality gradually faded away, returning to his usual state; he even felt a bit dull-witted.

He could use more of this kind of lingering effect.

Although he does not consider himself stupid, there is always someone better, and he still has a large gap compared to those seniors who are exceptionally wise and possess intelligence bordering on the monstrous; in any case, he is certainly not at the point where he can establish an anchor point with wisdom, so being tainted by the wisdom of others is very beneficial.

Taking one last look at the still vast Sword Heart remnants, Tang Zhao decided to leave; he carried his thoughts and experience, intending to try and cultivate his own Sword Heart in the Zizai Realm.

It is just like playing a game; while looking up guides and watching experts as a "cloud player" is very enjoyable, the joy of experiencing the game still requires one to play it personally.

Sharpening the knife does not delay the woodcutting, but one cannot just sharpen the knife and forget to cut the wood.

After thinking for a moment, he left a Light Imprint Stone Shuji in place to record the changes in this high hall while he was in the Zizai Realm; he wanted to see how the background operated when he entered the Zizai Realm, and also see how the Sword Heart backup was generated.

After finishing this, he returned along the original path, went back to that small "heart," put away the Congjun Order, and relaxed his mind.

"I want to go—to the Zizai Realm."

As he clearly issued the command, the ceiling and walls once again released countless tentacle-like threads, wrapping around him.