Chapter 37: Overwhelming (Part 2)

  Jiang Xuetang, please instruct!

  The five words made Wang Guanlan's body stiffen on the spot, and the scene was even more chaotic!!

  It's not because someone wants to challenge him by defying the unspoken rules of the Jianghu, but because of the challenger's identity and the way he challenges.

  Jiang Xuetang's name first appeared in the Jianghu six years ago, in Jidong. With his exquisite Rain Swordsmanship, he swept through Jidong, almost invincible. However, later on, he offended Lianyun Villa of Jidong and killed the third son of the villa master, as well as the villainous Hua Die. As a result, he was pursued by the strong men of Lianyun Villa, captured alive, and brought back to the villa, narrowly escaping being beheaded.

  At that time, everyone in the Jianghu thought that this guy was dead, who would have thought that at the most critical moment, the Imperial Forest Army appeared and surrounded the entire Lianyun Villa, just like the Hei Li Jun treated the Bai Du Men, killing the number one villa in Jidong that year to the point where not a single blade of grass was left. It wasn't until then that Jiang Xue Ting's identity was exposed in front of the people of the martial arts world.

  The Seventh Prince of the Great Qi Empire!

  Since the incident at Lianyun Village, this Seventh Prince has rarely been seen in Jianghu. In fact, people never considered him a part of the martial arts world. As a result, over the years, news about the Seventh Prince gradually faded away, and many people in Jianghu almost forgot his existence. After all, compared to ordinary Jianghu people, the identity of a prince from the Great Qi Dynasty was still quite distant from them.

  Although there have been rumors about the Seventh Prince's interest in Qingling of Jingling Lake for nearly a year, after all, rumors are just rumors. Moreover, this matter involves the Ning Wangfu in the southwest. One is an imperial prince and the other is the son of a king. You can't just rush over to steal the bride at the engagement ceremony of the barbarian king's son, can you? That's not proper!

  It's precisely because everyone thought it was inappropriate that they ignored him, but now he has arrived.

  Things got a bit complicated!

  What's even more annoying is the way he shows up.

  It's obvious that the Seventh Prince was not originally in Fengming Valley. If he were, with his status, he would definitely be seated on the platform and wouldn't be able to blend into the crowd. Moreover, Wang Guanlan is certain that the Seventh Prince is using the sword in his hand to force his way into Fengming Valley.

  "What a truly ignorant fellow!!" Wang Guanlan muttered under his breath, stopping in his tracks and closing his eyes to sense the dense sword energy surrounding him. These energies were like fine rain, dense and continuous, extending directly from outside the valley, but after being transformed by the Five Elements Array, they no longer posed a threat to him. However, what caught his attention was that these swords contained a strange power that was half-real and half-illusory, which directly affected his soul. If not for his soul being different from ordinary people, having been tempered by the Strange Fire and the One Thought Gives Rise to Myriad Laws Symbol, he would have probably fallen prey to it by now.

  "Sword intent! The Seventh Prince has actually cultivated sword intent!!"

  As for this strange power, Wang Guanlan only had a vague guess, but Wang Bicheng and Zhu Zhihua, as well as Fengjiu's expressions all became strange.

  This is the will of the sword!!!!!

  What is sword intent?

  In his past life, Wang Guanlan had also seen many of them. At that time, he thought the concept of "sword intent" was mysterious and elusive. It wasn't until he came to this world and cultivated martial arts that he finally understood that sword intent truly existed.

  However, not everyone can grasp the sword's intention.

  What is called "will" is precisely willpower.

  Swordsmanship is two sides of the same coin. Exquisite swordsmanship can only wound a person's physical body, whereas the intent behind the sword directly wounds their spirit and soul.

  To be precise, "Sword Intention" is actually a kind of application where martial artists combine their spiritual power with their own understanding of the way of martial arts. Apart from Sword Intention, there are also Knife Intention, Fist Intention and so on.

  All of these collectively referred to as Bushido spirit.

  A warrior cultivates to the seventh layer of Qi refinement, opens the upper Dan Tian, and can comprehend with the power of his divine soul.

  At this stage, the martial artist has a considerable restraining effect on the caster. Compared to the caster's innate powerful spiritual soul, the martial artist's spiritual soul is tempered through thousands of hardships and is more solid and stronger than the caster, who is a natural prodigy.

  In terms of the principles of yin and yang, the path of the spirit and soul belongs to yin, while a person's qi, blood, and primordial energy belong to yang. The spiritual power of an ordinary practitioner is purely yin, so they are extremely resistant to yang things. However, the spiritual power of a martial artist is cultivated through long-term practice and enlightenment, so it naturally harmonizes with their inner energy and physical body, giving them pure yang properties. Therefore, when an ordinary practitioner approaches a martial artist who has achieved success in cultivating their qi, they will feel extremely uncomfortable, as if their spirit and soul are being scorched, just like Wang Guanlan's experience when she first met Luo Han.

  After refining the seven layers of Qi, a martial artist must continuously grind and merge their own Qi, blood, Yuan Qi, and soul until they are fully integrated and inseparable. When this is achieved to the extreme, it will form a concentrated essence, indicating that one's martial arts cultivation has reached the pinnacle of the Refining Qi realm, becoming a Grandmaster.

  This is a long and arduous process, to succeed not only requires diligent cultivation but also opportunity. Once the refined energy wolf smoke is formed, then the strength will show a leap, which will be several times stronger than the ordinary nine-layer cultivator. This is also why the strong who cultivate the refined energy wolf smoke are called masters.

  Apart from this steady achievement of the Zong Shi position, after refining the seven layers of Qi, there are several ways to obtain great power, such as refining the halo.

  Condensing and refining the essence, forming the aura of the seal.

  Once the cultivation of the aura is successful, it is equivalent to having a spiritual instrument that combines attack and defense, and can fly freely. The combination of attack and defense, and flying freely are just the basic functions of the aura, because different aura cultivation methods have different benefits after achieving success, which will not be described one by one here.

  Apart from the aura, it is the will of martial arts.

  Because after reaching the 7th layer of Qi Refining, it is necessary to harmonize the Qi and blood, Yuan Qi and the soul. In this process, if one's enlightenment is sufficient, they can combine the power of their soul with their cultivated martial path, comprehending a type of soul attack method similar to martial attacks. This soul attack method combined with the martial path is what is known as Martial Intent.

  It's easy to say, but combining the power of the divine soul, understanding the means of attack, and integrating it with one's own martial arts to cultivate a martial will.

  Using Wang Guanlan's previous life's words, it sounds as good as singing, just like stock speculation, everyone knows to buy low and sell high, but how many people can really make money? A martial artist who has refined his qi to the seventh level is like a retail investor, cultivating the will of the martial way is not just about making money, nor is it just about making a lot of money, but becoming a stock god, how many retail investors can become a stock god?

  So, after refining the seven layers of Qi, it is more difficult to cultivate Wu Dao will than to cultivate Gang Qi.

  Every person who has cultivated a strong will in martial arts is a genius among geniuses, and now, one such genius has appeared before everyone.

  The Seventh Prince of the Great Qi Empire, Jiang Xuetting!

  Although he had just entered the seventh layer of Qi Refining, he had already cultivated his Sword Intent.

  Autumn wind and fine rain sword!!

  It was with this sword intent and the top-grade spiritual artifact, Minghe Sword, in his hand, as well as his Autumn Rain Sword Intent, that he dared to forcefully break into Fengming Valley from outside.

  "What's with the sword intent? It's really a bit of a hassle!" Wang Guanlan slightly furrowed his brow, to be honest, he wasn't too concerned about the sword intent. Sword intent directly affected the soul, and for ordinary cultivators, it was a deadly killing move. However, for someone like him who was an anomaly, it wasn't that scary. Even if this Seventh Prince had successfully cultivated the sword intent, it would only be in its infancy, and its power wouldn't be too great, posing no significant threat to him. The real problem now was his identity and the Minghe Sword in his hand.

  The top-grade spiritual artifact, the Minghe Sword, was a treasured item in the inner storage, a renowned top-grade spiritual artifact. But what about the horse-slaying knife in his hand? Not only was it a low-grade spiritual artifact, but he had also just obtained it not long ago and couldn't use it with ease.

  The biggest trouble is that this Jiang Xuetian's identity, although such a challenge has always been a matter of life and death, but if you really beat the emperor's son to death, do you think the emperor will not bother you?

  But what's meant to be will always find its way, and there's no escaping it.

  A white mist rose again in the array, and with a burst of gathering fire-elemental energy, the Nine Fire Flame Dragon appeared once more before everyone.

  "You don't have to be busy anymore, I'll let you in!!" As he spoke, he opened a gap in the formation, and a figure, carrying an unmatched sword aura, charged in immediately.

  However, he was clearly not mentally prepared for what he was about to face. The enormous body of the Nine Fire Flame Dragon completely stunned him, holding the Minghe Sword in his hand and staring straight at the giant creature not far in front of him, his eyes were filled with confusion, and his face was full of bewilderment.

  "No need to doubt, I am Wang Guanlan. This Nine Fire Flame Dragon is condensed from the five elements of the valley using my Five Elements Array Method. If you want to challenge me, then come on!" Wang Guanlan didn't want to waste time with him, so he explained things clearly in one sentence and directly controlled the Nine Fire Flame Dragon to charge at him.

  Even with Jiang Xuetian's rich imagination, he never thought that as soon as he entered the Five Elements Formation, he would encounter such a situation. In his urgent situation, the Minghe Sword in his hand suddenly burst out with great light, transforming into a Star River, its dazzling starlight flashing and tightly protecting him.

  Jiuhuo Yanyu's head crashed into Xing Guang, sending him flying along with his sword.

  "Nine Fire Dragon Technique, how can you possibly use this technique!" Jiang Xuetian, who had flown out straight, finally reacted.

  "Alas, the wisdom of mortals!!" Wang Guanlan let out a sigh once again. The massive body of the Nine Fire Flame Dragon suddenly shook violently, its tail sweeping horizontally and striking Jiang Xuetian's flying figure with even greater force than before, sending him crashing to the ground along with his sword, burying him several zhang deep into the earth. Then, the dragon's mouth opened wide, spanning dozens of zhang in all directions.

  Rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble!!

  Dozens of fireballs shot out from the dragon's mouth, and the pit that Minghe Sword had smashed out was a mess of chaotic explosions!! The scene was so shocking that it made people's scalps numb.

  Until the light of the Minghe sword completely disappeared, the Nine Fire Flame Dragon stopped moving, leaving Jiang Xuetian, who was out of breath and unconscious. Wang Guanlan didn't bother with him either. The Nine Fire Flame Dragon raised its body again and let out a huge roar: "Is there another friend who wants to give me advice?!"

  The sound shakes the fields, with an aura of dominance!!