True Solution of the Sword Dao

Inner World

Within a city that greatly resembles the outside world,

High-rises and dense traffic; people scuttle on both sides of the streets like ants. The noise of the crowd and the honking of cars is the main melody of this place.

The sky is a brilliant blue, clear and cloudless, and the intently hot sunshine causes the temperature to be higher than normal—the air seems slightly distorted.

Surrounding the city is a large circle of high walls with just two gaps, where gigantic gray metal gates stand open. At one of these gates, a group of priests and nuns clad in gray robes is walking into the city, accompanied by another group of people.

Flanking both parties are rows of guards holding long spears—not the hot weapons, but ancient spears, cold weapons.

Under the gray city gates, the group coming out to greet them is led by an old man with white hair dressed in a silver-gray suit. Behind him, a group of middle-aged men and young people follow respectfully, not daring to overstep.

On the side of the priests, leading them is an elderly nun in a white robe with a silver cross necklace prominently embedded in the middle of her garment. The other priests and nuns don’t have such a symbol.

"The last time I came here, these high walls and city gates were yet to be completed, and now they all look so ancient," the nun sighed. "Time flies, in the blink of an eye, hundreds of years have passed. It’s so fast."

"Nun Anna, last time you came, I was the one to welcome you. These high walls were built out of necessity. Now a war between heretics and you could break out at any time, so our Tuo Se City had to make some preparations beforehand," said the white-haired old man in the silver-gray suit with a smile.

"As a great city that has stood for hundreds of years, Tuo Se City is filled with powerful people. If..."

Nun Anna hadn’t finished speaking,

Boom!!!

In the distant sky, a huge white mushroom cloud slowly rose.

A strong shock wave reached them. Everyone felt a jolt through their bodies.

Nun Anna’s brow twitched.

"It’s those damn heretics! This power... must be the work of Jack the Bomb, a specialist in explosives. What is he fighting against?"

"My lady! Jack’s disturbance is heading this way!" whispered a priest from behind.

"Prepare for combat!" Nun Anna said solemnly, her hand on her chest. "Almighty and all-knowing God, perhaps this is the beginning of a holy war."

"It seems our movements have been leaked; heretics wouldn’t only send Jack, a B-level strengthener. We must call for reinforcements from the nearest Knight Order immediately."

"Yes."

A priest responded loudly. He pulled out a small badge from the pouch he carried—a silver diamond-shaped badge with a symbol of a burning flame in the middle, and around the flame were dense and numerous terrifying and strange faces, all exuding intense pain and fear.

The priest gently threw the badge into the air. Abruptly, a sound chimed, a pure white ball of light flashed, then extinguished instantly.

Seeing the distress signal had been sent, Nun Anna’s expression eased slightly. "Prepare for combat."

The priests and nuns around her are well-trained, showing no signs of fear.

*****************

October 14, 2005, Sunday

Outside World

Inside the fifth teaching building of Yan Capital University, on the third floor in an empty classroom,

A young man wearing a black short-sleeved shirt is sitting at a seat near the window in the back row, looking out the window with his phone, making a call.

The boy’s features were delicate, and it would be more accurate to describe him as pretty rather than handsome. His soft short hair was occasionally flipped by the gentle breeze coming through the window.

"An additional person?" Lin Fei leaned back in her chair and asked with confusion.

"It’s a golden-haired woman, her origins unknown. However, her strength is formidable," a calm male voice came through the phone.

"Are you sure you’re not mistaken?"

"Yes," the man answered affirmatively. "The acting president asked me to inform you that there may be signs of them going out."

"Going out?" Lin Fei recalled the events from her previous life, and it seemed that during this period, there was no incident involving Lin You leaving. So, it must mean that history had changed, resulting in a new complication.

"That’s all there is to the matter," the man on the phone concluded his report.

"Thank you," said Lin Fei gently.

"It is my honor to serve you, Yu Fei."

After hanging up the phone, Lin Fei sat silently in her seat, looking out the window at the square with her face to the side.

During the weekend, the flow of people in the square was much less than usual, looking sparse. Occasionally, some luxury cars would drive out from the Foreign Language College and head off-campus. At a glance, one could see pretty and stylishly dressed girls sitting in the passenger seats of some cars with windows still open.

This was in sharp contrast to some of the boys riding bicycles nearby.

After the military training ended, it was time for the club assembly, followed by the start of official classes. Lin Fei had briefly enjoyed the tranquility of campus life until this call disturbed her mood.

The development and progress of her younger sister, Lin You, were related to information about the crisis from her previous life.

Lin Fei was uncertain about the extent of what could happen, whether the crisis only involved Aisaha alone or if there was a multitude of powerful backers behind her. She was clueless about these details. What she could do was silently observe her sister’s development, believing that there would eventually be an opportunity to see this information clearly. The only difference lay in the length of time. Before that, her task was to continually strengthen herself.

The speed of Lin Fei’s strengthening had now begun to accelerate. The True Force seed, merged with the power of the divine artifact, was gradually spreading into the top-level Dream Eater World. So far, the Crimson Hand had taken about thirty True Force seeds from him, five of which already had owners. Five True Force filaments, not much different from those of Xu Ruoruo, were connected to Lin Fei’s True Force Torrent in an inexplicable way, continuously increasing his overall Cultivation Level.

With every moment, Lin Fei’s True Force Cultivation was rapidly increasing.

"The First Layer of the Qi Cultivation section has the Tracing Shadow Sword Art, perhaps the Second Layer might also have a similar Sword Art," Lin Fei anticipated. With a never-ending supply of True Force in his body, the efficiency of his cultivation had increased tenfold, effectively making one day’s worth of cultivation equivalent to the previous ten days. If not for the fact that Lin Fei dared not directly absorb the True Force coming from the space, he would probably have increased the speed even further. After all, both Jin Yi and Ye Yuhua were Sword Cultivators in the Qi Cultivation Realm, and the True Force passed on from them was of a higher Realm. After breaking it down to a lower Realm’s True Force, the overall quantity was much greater.

Now with a side-effect-free method to accelerate the accumulation of cultivation, Lin Fei’s main focus was on the development of his swordsmanship moving forward.

"According to the Sword Canon, most of the sword techniques contained within are hard to cultivate to a high Realm. If that’s the case, then why collect them at all? Could it merely be to gather powerful subordinates for the Sword Master? Impossible! The Sword Canon clearly indicates that this is the foundational part, obviously laying down the basics for the Sword Master. The most likely possibility is that it’s designed to allow the Sword Master to gain ample combat experience, as well as sufficient understanding of swordsmanship — the myriad types and schools, countless Sword Techniques to freely practice against."

Lin Fei fell into silent contemplation.

"Any path can be divided into quality and Realm. It feels like this foundational part is like using countless Sword Techniques and Sword Arts to temper the Sword Master’s spirit and will, also increasing their combat experience. Then, in the end, they find their own path. That is the key."

Regardless of the Sword Techniques or Sword Arts, they were all created by others. No matter how later generations practiced them, it’s unlikely they’ll surpass the creator, as the creator is always the most suited to their own Sword Techniques and Sword Arts. This was undeniable.

"Only a tailor-made Sword Art is the best," Lin Fei recalled his previous battle with Jin Yi. Her sword technique, though merely her own creation of a High-Level technique, was actually able to contend with his Extreme Shadow, resulting in mutual destruction, or perhaps mutual annihilation would be more accurate. And her strength was only at the data level of a C-grade Peak.

He felt the state within his body. In the Strength layer, he had already broken through the Second Diagram yesterday. With an abundance of True Force, he could easily visualize the Second Diagram. His body also gained a decent enhancement in strength, so much so that Lin Fei was still having trouble gauging his own hand strength. He had accidentally crushed a fountain pen just now, almost spilling ink all over himself.

"I’ve now reached the Third Diagram. Originally, the Tracing Shadow Sword Art started from the Third Diagram, obtaining the first move. I wonder if it will be the same this time," Lin Fei was very expectant in his heart.

Everything he did was primarily driven by True Force to propel Sword Techniques, and the rapid increase in the amount of True Force made his current Sword Techniques appear disproportionately powerful. Aside from the newly acquired Jin Yi Sword Art, as the Star Shattering Sword Technique couldn’t be improved, he simply used Star Shattering. Extreme Shadow he dared not use recklessly, after using it last time, even in the spatial domain, Lin Fei could feel the sheer power of the backlash, which could still easily severely injure himself. He just didn’t know what effect it would have now that he had Jin Yi’s Sword Art to enhance it when performing Extreme Shadow.

Actually, whether it’s the strike of Star Shattering or Jin Yi’s Sword Art, the consumption of True Force is very small. Or rather, relative to Lin Fei’s absorption of the True Force gemstones, and his Cultivation of the Qi Cultivation Technique that far exceeded ordinary Sword Cultivators in total True Force, he never worried about running out of True Force. But Lin Fei was very clear in his heart that these were actually just Disciple Level, the use of Sword Techniques belonged to a low level. Within the Siyue Sword Sect, only Yuan Yicheng, who has now reached level 20 of the monthly moon brightness, could barely be considered an expert. Although he was not clear about Yuan’s current strength, seeing Yuan dare to confront the Crimson Hand revealed that it certainly wasn’t low. According to him, with his Cultivation, he could only perform four moves of level 20-level techniques before his True Force would be completely depleted. Clearly, High-Level Sword Techniques consumed a lot.

Similarly, Lin Fei was sure that he would have such worries in the future. High-Level Sword Techniques inevitably came with high consumption.

"To enhance my strength now, I can only extract what I need from various Sword Techniques and merge them into my own swordsmanship. Whether it’s now or in the future, this is the safest and most correct way." His strength was rapidly increasing, and every moment the data in the testing space continued to grow. He was only a mere ten points or so away from the minimum data of 200 required to be considered a B-grade powerhouse. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)