Chapter 27: The World Within The Stone (2)

(AN: One more since this training arc might take awhile)

It's now the ninth day of staying within the illusion world of the intent stone. A phantom that wielded a scythe lunged towards Ulquiorra. A phantasmal scythe appeared in Ulquiorra's hands. His Qi surged towards the scythe as he swung it towards the phantom. The scythe that Ulquiorra wielded easily sliced the phantom's scythe and body in half.

These past few days after the fourth day, Ulquiorra honed his newfound power against the phantoms. The more he used it, the more he understood how the application should be done. At one point, he had realized that the thing he needed to do was related to qi.

It took him awhile as he was very new to the qi system. Qi was much more free in terms of manipulation, and the spirit energy that he was used to was not as easy to use. Going back, he needed his qi and intent to be synchronized in a way that both would have the same nature of nothingness. Doing so would increase the attack potency, but also drains the qi much more.

Luckily, he was still able to recover his qi at a very fast pace in this place. It was also worth noting that the more he practiced, the more his cultivation was refined and progressed. He felt that his qi was much better now in terms of quality and quantity. He didn't know what stage he was now though. Still, he was not at the foundation stage yet that's for sure.

The phantom offered to Ulquiorra about moving on to the next stage. Ulquiorra pondered about it. He had already gotten the aspect that he thought he lacked for the intent. It should be time to check if there were still other things he needed to learn.

"Not yet." Ulquiorra said.

He would move on to the next stage, but not with the scythe weapon. He will first tackle the weapons he were confident with the most. These weapons were the lance and the sword. He still hadn't faced them in this cycle. After awhile, a phantom with the sword was taken down by him, and offered for him to move to the next stage.

"I agree." Ulquiorra said blankly.

The phantom nodded, and then waved its hand. The space around Ulquiorra distorted, and soon, the dark void was gone. What replaced it was a grassy plain with several boulders around them. There was a phantom of a middle aged man with robes similar to Tian Cai in front of Ulquiorra. The man had his back turned, and his hand was holding a sword.

Suddenly, the man swung his sword, and as he swung, the land in front of him split open as if a fissure happened. He was able to cut a boulder in the distance with that simple slash. Ulquiorra didn't react. The man then turned towards Ulquiorra.

"Ho? A seventh stage Qi Condensation brat came? Hm? You even mastered True Intent already? What a talent!" The man laughed.

Ulquiorra tried to make a phantasmal sword appear in his hand just like before, and it worked. Ulquiorra was about to slash at the man, but the man raised his hand. He signalled Ulquiorra to stop.

"Calm down there, Kid. This stage is not like the past one. We won't mindlessly attack each other. This time, there would actually be dialogue. It's more of a friendly sparring so to speak." The man said.

"Friendly? Without enough pressure, how do you expect someone to progress?" Ulquiorra answered back.

The man laughed.

"That is true! Still, what we'll do right now is a different type of sparring." The man said.

"Different in what way?" Ulquiorra asked.

The man positioned his sword to the side. Suddenly, the qi around him surged. It was now visible to the naked by along with what seemed to be his intent. Ulquiorra felt that the man's whole being was similar to that of an extremely sharp sword.

"We're going to learn how to materialize our intent to the point that not only our strikes are imbued with it, but also our whole being." The man explained.

He then started to walk around. As he did so, the grass around his were being cut even without him swinging his sword. It was something that would impress a lot of cultivators. Unfortunately, Ulquiorra didn't show any sort of amazed expression. He just stared at the man with indifferent eyes. Seeing this, the man coughed despite being a phantom.

"Are you not impressed?" The man asked.

"No." Ulquiorra said.

The man froze.

"Enough of that. Materializing your intent into one's whole being? Elaborate." Ulquiorra said.

The man sighed. Still, he had to do what he had to do as a former direct disciple of the sect. He then assumed a serious pose.

"To materialize your intent into your being, you must first make sure that your qi and strikes are in tune, and have the same nature as your intent! This part, you already got down, because I can sense that you've developed true intent. The next part would be trying to project both your qi and intent around your body. You have to make sure that it is controlled to the point that it wouldn't dissipate or become scattered." The man said before continuing.

"And, the best way to learn how to do this is to experience it in person." The man then appeared in front of Ulquiorra, and then materialized his intent like an aura with a grin on his phantom face.

Ulquiorra felt as if countless blades tried to pierce through him. Unfortunately for the man, Ulquiorra instinctively used Hierro. The intent aura didn't pierce through Ulquiorra's skin nor did it slice through it unlike the time with the grass. The man's eye widened.

"Eh? That's not how I imagined it would go...." The man mumbled before hearing Ulquiorra's emotionless voice.

"Is that it?"