Xiao Wu and Cheng Hao both looked at the broken wooden mannequin on the floor; one was staring in shock, the other was nodding in satisfaction: although this sword strike might be the weakest amongst the four Deifications, it was still especially domineering in its own way...
The mental pressure it would induce onto the wielder's opponent (the knowledge that with each attack they would make he would be met with a swift and deadly retaliation) was just one amongst many hidden quirks of the technique; other than being lethal to the extreme, it also had extremely low requirements when it came to both cultivation base and understanding of the technique itself to produce satisfying results. At most, it required a bit of effort when it came to practice the timing, in order to reduce the window between the dodge and the attack as much as possible.
Unfortunately, unlike the Black Dragon's Vengeful Talons, the other three techniques of the Ascending Black Dragon's Four Deifications had much greater requirements. Xiao Wu's cultivation base was too low, and as such wouldn't be able to brand enough information in her Will for the Flying Sword to execute the three scriptures... Let alone the fact that from the second onward, the three remaining Deifications all required a vast number of flying swords to work at all! As such Cheng Hao also wouldn't be able to demonstrate the rest of the scripture.
To use the second piece of the Flying Sword scripture, they would both have to wait until the Reverend Stage, the Sixth Stage, which also acted as a bottleneck to the Ageless Realm.
For the third fragment there was a jump of 5 whole Stages, as they would have to wait until the 12th Stage– the HighGod stage, first Stage of the Immortal Realm!
As for the final, fourth fragment, it would be available at the 13th Stage, the Supreme stage!
As soon as Xiao Wu reached any of these three Stages in the future, only then would she be able to use the second, third and fourth movement respectively.
This enchanted mannequin should have been able to resist a cultivation base up to the peak of the second stage, the Basic stage... and yet, without powering it up with Third (Advanced) Stage cultivation but only through First (Inferior) Stage might, this move was still able to cause this much damage. Not bad at all... this should give her an additional layer of defense, especially when paired with I See A Purple World.
Cheng Hao examined the splinters, which were all that remained of the mannequin after he had showcased the move a couple more times. Meanwhile, he eventually resumed narrating the tale of the Black Dragon King.
"In his rampage, the black dragon did not distinguish between those at fault and the innocent, instead opting to indiscriminate killing. The slaughtering went on for nine days and nine nights. On the tenth dawn, unable to keep watching without acting, finally the Supreme Being amongst all gods, the Heavenly Lord, descended to put a stop to his rampage. He cut down the dragon and left him on the bottom of a deep cave, a place where the light, be it the rays of the nine suns or of the ten moons, was blocked from reaching deeper in by a mysterious power. In such a place, he would not be able to harm anyone any longer. As for why the Heavenly Lord had not dealt the final blow... That was because the almighty god pitied his madness, induced by all the pain and hatred in the fallen dragon king's heart. Besides all that, he also saw the love that had been buried and chose to give the beast a chance to draw a better self out for him and the world to see. He therefore casted a curse on the Dragon King! The curse limited him into the body of a mere human, a weak and frail creature... until the day the negative emotions disappeared from his heart and left their spot to a blinding radiance."
"Down there, within the deep cave, the dragon bled profusely from the countless wounds of his human-form body. As time passed and the memories of his loved ones and of his own actions resurfaced, the dragon would cry. He would cry tears of hatred and rage nonstop, all the while feeling the last remaining bits of strength leave him... eventually, those tears converged and formed a narrow stream, which then disappeared into the depths of the cave. Like this, the dragon passed many nights in the solitude of his pitch-black surroundings, his only company being the pain and rage seething within him. However, on one particular day, all of a sudden he noticed a silhouette had appeared in the darkness of the deep valley. When it grew closer, he discovered it to be the figure a woman; dressed in white garments and displaying a perennially warm, otherworldly kind smile on her face. She approached the wounded human without taking notice of the threatening shouts he would send her way. Without giving any explanation, the white-robed woman went to his side and stroked his tired body..."
"She caressed him and whispered comforting words, and with each caress and each soothing sentence, the many wounds would somehow begin to magically heal. Soon, even the blood began to be wiped away... Listening to the reassuring words of the white-robed female, the dragon king felt his eyelids grow heavier and heavier... they slowly lowered and finally, after so many days of uninterrupted bloodshed and inextinguishable wrath, the dragon closed his eyes. Noticing this, the white-robed woman sung him lullabies, with a soft and tender voice that carried hints of the breeze, and of rustling foliage; all the while, until the moment the humanoid black dragon king closed his eyes, the warm smile had never left her face... The dragon king found himself captivated by that smile, seeing it in his head even when his eyelids had dropped down completely. After so many days filled with nothing but heart-wrenching pain, the dragon finally fell asleep and dreamt of happiness and of that one loving and caring smile..."
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Cheng Hao sighed with feeling.
"I don't have the ability to show you the second Deification. This time around, I'm forced to leave the honor to the man itself..." The boy spared Xiao Wu, whose eyes had just lit up in expectation, a weird glance before rubbing the bridge of his nose. To his knowledge, Xiao Lan's Flying Sword scripture was pretty infamous amongst the few who knew it. As for the reason... it was because it was a clear demarcation dividing Sword scriptures... from Flying Sword scriptures! And to those old fools that liked to stick to traditions too much, it was much more of a blasphemy than it was a huge evolution!
Cheng Hao stepped forward and extended his index and middle finger before tapping gently on Xiao Wu's forehead.
Xiao Wu found herself on top of a tall cliff. It was winter apparently, and the lands were clad in snow many feet deep, with even more flakes fluttering down from the clouds. Down below, in the midst of the falling snowflakes was a single person. That person, of course, was Xiao Lan. He retained his youthful appearance, yet exuded the presence of an expert. That - together with a few bits and pieces of knowledge regarding her ancestor she had picked up - allowed Xiao Wu to conclude that the events depicted in this memory must be taking place after the clash with the two Tyrant Dragons. As a matter of fact, in her perception, his cultivation seemed to have increased by a considerable amount, although it had yet to apparently breakthrough to the Immortal Realm yet.
When Xiao Lan spoke, it was in a tone that Xiao Wu bizarrely found to be extremely soothing. It was as if, simply by listening to his voice, he would be able to make her calm down even in a fit of rage. "I have been meditating for a long time regarding what my second Deification should be... To my descendants that are watching now through various methods, I suggest you to look even more closely, because the meaning of my blades, this time around is not of victory, nor of killing. It is a search for peace; for home."
"The sword I will show will carry no intent to kill, nor will it seek to carry the will to harm my opponents... Rather, just like the Black Dragon who managed to find peace even in his frenzy of hatred and grief, this sword strike will help you find peace too: no matter how tumultuous your circumstances or the hardships you will be facing, you will be able to rely on your blade to carve out a safe Haven from all under Heaven!"
"Amongst my four Deifications, this will be the defensive stance!"
"Whether the younglings of Xiao will be able to understand the benefits of such a technique, or whether they will scorn their ancestor, like countless others have, for turning a blade into a shield... all will be up to themselves! I only wish to ask this of you first: for you to answer a question of mine."
Xiao Lan looked up with a scholarly demeanor as he reminiscently spoke:
"My shields, I used them to smash through the Immortals of the Nine Heavens! I shattered convention and switched shielding with slamming, blocking with slashing! But even so, does a shield that seeks to destroy perhaps...
"Weaken?"
"My swords, I used them to protect my comrades from those same Immortals! I tore apart the mundane, and switched stabbing with parrying, severing with deflecting! But even so, does a blade that seeks to protect by any chance...
"Dull?"
"I created my first Deification to be the most domineering counter under Heaven! Right here and now marks the moment I create my second Flying Sword Movement! And it shall be an insurmountable shield of a peace-seeking Black Dragon... a shield of blades!"
At this point, Xiao Wu felt herself move: Xu Ling had waved his sleeve, which signaled the appearance of a gigantic golden door in the skies! It slowly creaked open, and within it, Xiao Wu could spot countless black swords, white shields and a single, gigantic purple moon leaking out extremely dense Qi! Around the black blades, illusory black dragons would coil nonstop. Pale oaks were birthed from the white shields. As for the purple moon, it shed a veil of purple moonlight onto its surroundings, dyeing everything violet.
Xiao Lan snapped his fingers: two-thousand five-hundred and twenty Black Dragon Blades emerged from the Golden Gates of Old with earth-shaking roars! They then began to orbit around Xiao Lan while maintaining a regular distance, forming into a sphere of blackness. Meanwhile, they also shrank a bit in the meantime: the power of each weapon was being condensed!
They then arranged into concentric rings. First, there were two-hundred and fifty-two Black Dragon Blades per ring, for a total of ten orbits. Then, they respectively became two-hundred and eighty for nine...
Three-hundred and fifteen for eight, three-hundred and sixty for seven, four-hundred and twenty for six, five-hundred and four for five, six-hundred and thirty for four, eight-hundred and forty for three, one-thousand two-hundred sixty for two...
All the way to compacting together, forming a single, ever-rotating sphere of two-thousand five-hundred twenty, tiny-sized Black Dragon Blades! If one were to attempt to peer within the sphere of rotating blades, he would only see the gleam of black metal! From the outside, there was not a single bit of Xiao Lan visible. He had been completely surrounded by the spherical ring of swirling Black Dragon Blades!
"Two thousand five hundred and twenty; this is the smallest whole number I have found to be divisible by all numbers between one and ten. Thanks to the existence of those ratios, just a few trajectories and coordinates can be imprinted on the blades, only for the others to be easily calculated by the blade itself. So much so, even a Will as lowly as that of the Reverend stage of the Mortal Realm would be able to achieve the lowest level of the lowest formation."
"Switching between each formation takes a fraction of a breath and only requires a simple, previously entered command... With each switch comes an expansion that takes place in but a fraction of a breath; that small instant is more than enough time for my blades to expand enough to shred anyone daring enough to approach too closely! Within those swirling blades is my safe haven! Within my safe haven there is no fighting; only peace!"
The rotating blades came to a sudden stop, revealing a hole in the ground and a floating figure. As Xiao Lan flew down, not a single snowflake was on his robes, nor were there any damp spots on his clothes... Every single bit of snow had been annihilated long before it could fall on him! Not a single snowflake could get past the barrier of more than two-thousand grinding blades!
"This is my defensive Flying Sword stance! A fallen dragon's longing for peace... the ascending dragon's wish for a home! That is my second Deification! Seeking a safe haven under Heaven!"
"It is the Black Dragon's..."
"Haven Seeking!"