Volume 1 Chapter 5 — Enigma of the Scar

Outside the gates of Sword Star Sect, two youth dressed in martial robes began descending the mountain. Although it was very silent, and not even a single communication, they were, in reality, talking via voice transmission.

The brown-haired youth looked at his companion and said. "I truly hate that guy. Can poison kill him?"

"Give it up." His companion bluntly replied. "People who have death essence are very keen towards danger. Discovering poison would be very easy to him."

"But I want to kill him...That guy always hit my nerve. Ordering us like servants, how dare he!"

"Just endure. Also, don't try to do anything stupid for few years. I still need that Wang Peng's influence."

"Hmph! No way, we have a deal!"

The brown-haired youth said and his movement hasten. The scholarly-looking youth shook his head seeing this, and was about to follow, but stopped when he felt something behind him.

"Brother Guo, Brother Cao." It was the voice of a thin man. "You guys seemed....to be in hurry?"

The thin man was a youth around 18 or 19 and was dressed in purple, but it was designed with golden silks forming beautiful edges. Perhaps it was because of that, or because of the insignia on his chest, but Guo Niu and Cao Li become very respectful the instance they saw him.

"Senior Brother Shi."

The brown-haired youth — Cao Li — and scholarly-looking youngster — Guo Niu — saluted as a form of respect to the Core Disciples.

To be honest, they are already at the early essence foundation while Senior Brother Shi is at peak of Essence Foundation. Once both of them reached the middle essence foundation, they would be Core Disciples. Although Cao Li and Guo Niu respect this Senior Brother Shi, it was only a pretense.

"Meeting Senior Brother midway through our mission is truly a sign of blessing."

"A mission?"

Shi Qingshan smiled, "Is that so?"

"Yes, Brother Shi." Cao Li lifted his head and looked at Shi Qingshan. "Thirteen peak 1st Rank diremonsters. Just a form of training."

"That's a good training experience." Shi Qingshan praised and his eyes sharp. "But it seemed both of you reached Essence Foundation, hunting beasts weaker than you....just seemed doesn't sound right."

Guo Niu and Cao Li lowered their head. Guo Niu sent a voice transmission. "Cao Li! You shit head. How stupid are you! If this guy reported it to Sovereign, we're dead!

"Tell me, what should I say?" Cao Li was also troubled. He was too angry and depressed today, so his thinking was slightly affected.

"Just tell him we're going into the wilderness. Beasts there are stronger and fierce, that's why our threshold is low."

Cao Li listened to him and looked at Shi Qingshan and said. "It does not sound right....but what if we're hunting in the wilderness?"

"Oh?" Shi Qingshan listened and thought it was pretty logical. However, a glint flashed on his eyes as he said. "Forgive your Senior Brother for being so doubtful, I'll not trouble anymore then."

Guo Niu and Cao Li relaxed. They thought it was over, but it seemed they still slip out of the cage. Bowing, Guo Niu, and Cao Li then continued walking.

Watching them departing, Shi Qingshan's smile disappeared. He turned and face the gates of Sword Star. His face serious, he headed in a certain direction. Few juniors greeted him on his way, he politely responded to them. And after making sure no one followed him, he entered a secret door.

Shi Qingshan stood and cupped his fists. There was no silhouette around, but Qingshan continued bowing.

"Qingshan...What brings you here?"

A voice sounded. From the corner, behind the shade and shadow, a middle-aged man emerged and was sitting on a chair.

"Qingshan greets Sovereign." He looked at the middle-aged man and said. "It seemed that Guo Niu and Cao Li are heading out. Sovereign, do you think this is a ploy of Grand Elder to kill brother Xin?"

The sovereign smiled and said. "He won't do such a stupid thing. Probably, this is his personal disciple's doing."

"Wang Peng?"

"Yes. Qingshan, just go and follow them. Once they act, I'll permit you to do as you wish. But don't kill them, we can use it as evidence to punish that Wang kid."

"Qingshan obeys Sectmaster."

Shi Qingshan left. Lu Tian stood up, on his hand was a cup of tea, and looked in the direction of Beast Bright Mountain Range. His eyes were very bright that it was as if it could see everything. He sighed. "Father failed you. But let me see how you change your destiny. Two years the calamity will descend, so you should live the life of commonfolks. You'll be safe. However, if you can rise once again, it's better; Wasteland Domain will have more chance of survival."

....

....

....

Meanwhile, on the concrete cave, Xin An was sitting cross-legged; mind focused on reading the contents of the Intent Segment.

Intent Segment was very simple and not too difficult to practice. Only a sword and saying the word 'Activate' would be sufficient.

Xin An's consciousness departed on the spatial ring and opened his eyes. His eyes blankly staring and his mouth murmuring... "But activating the Intent Segment...I just need to say 'Activate?' Is this...fraud?"

"But its content seemed not fake." Xin An pondered and stood up. His eyes swept to look for a sword but there was none. The cave was empty.

"This is hopeless." Xin An said. "I have many treasures, but these are sabers and mystical objects that I can not use at the moment. There's no Sword!"

Old Man's weapon was Saber and Xin An used the sword. Although he was very rich now, all of his treasures were useless. Not only the spatial ring had mysterious beads, but there is also a mystical Mask!

Xin An was oblivious of the mask utility, however, it was covered with ten thousand odd dots. Those dots were very mystifying and archaic. If Xin An had an opportunity, he would surely appraise it.

"I wonder where's the spatial ring of that bulky man. If I'm not mistaken, he used the sword." Xin An remembered that when Sovereign Yu was fighting with his foe, the bulky man used a sword and Xin An could never fathom such a powerful sword artist. If Xin faced that bulky man, a single strand of his sword intent would cut him into pieces. "When Sovereign Yu waved his hand at that time, the devastating area and the corpses disappeared. If I go there, it would be like finding a tael on the river. It's not worth wasting time. I guess I have to look for a stick then."

After making a decision, Xin An descended from the mountain. Although he had been careful climbing down, he almost fell ten feet from the ground, because he stepped into a crumbling rock. After that event, Xin An learned to slow down, and fortunately, the incident never occurred twice.

The hollowed cave was about a hundred and ten feet high, climbing down fifty-five feet had used his five minutes of time. After landing on the ground, he went to the forest.

There were no branches around the ground, so Xin An could only feel guilt as he broke a small branch on a tree.

It was about the length of a sword. It was not sharp, but Xin An sharpened it with a stone. He plucked the leaves on it and looked at the remodeled stick. Its edges looked quite better now, but it won't do any harm. Unless Xin An comprehended half-sword intent, his wooden sword will remain ordinary.

Xin An took a breather. It took him an incense worth of time to make this wooden sword, and finally, it was time for practice.

Xin An then went back to his temporary dwelling place and began climbing up the mountain. In his opinion, though it would waste his time climbing up, that place was safer than the ground.

Xin An hadn't encounter troubles during his return, and after arriving in the cave, he immediately went inside to start practicing.

"Activate."

Xin An murmured. Right after, his scar had started to prickle. It was itchy. Before, it was in a normal condition, but now there was a feeling of airy. It was also cozy and light.

Xin An was baffled by the scar's warmth but ignored it, and instead gripped the sword and focused.

According to the Intent Segment, to comprehend a specific intent, one has to either visualize or held an actual object pertaining to that intent.

For instance, Xin An wanted to comprehend the Sword Intent, so for Intent Segment to be helpful, he had to hold a sword. But Xin An could also cultivate Intent Segment without a sword using the visualization, but its influence was very limited.

Because of that Xin An had to look for a stick and remodeled it into a sword. Although it wasn't an actual sword, it was better than visualizing.

The scar continued illuminating a scarlet light, Xin An didn't know why, but he wasn't bothered by it, so he instead closed his eyes and began swinging his sword.

This was part of the instruction; one had to do an action while activating the Intent Segment.

Xin An swing and swing his sword and it wasn't long enough before a boundless amount of Intent hovered around the cave.

When Xin An comprehend sword intent before, they were in reality a bit choosy. These intents wouldn't allow themselves to be refined into a specific intent. Because of that Xin An had used about three and half years to gain the power of half-sword intent.

Xin An concentrated. Under the effect of Intent Segment, they began drifting inside his mind.

"This amount of intent...." Xin An was rendered speechless. Intent gushed to his mind like a stream. The flow was not fast, but at least they gushed. "It feels like I'm cultivating than comprehending. How mystical..."

In reality, Intents are in fact not that diverse from Primal Essences, Archaic Essences, and Elemental Essences present to the Heaven and Earth. Essences are simply indiscernible to the naked eyes. Without trying to mediate and sense them, essences would remain transparently hovered around the aether.

Intents are the same. Attempting to comprehend Intents, one has to sense them, which threefold harder than sensing essences. After the process of sensing, the next is conversion to specific intent. Whether be it Sword Intent, Saber Intent, Fist Intent, so and so forth have to undergo the same process. They are no shortcut.

However, even if you comprehended intents and had long converted them into specific intent, you wouldn't be able to use it without achieving Synchronization.

Synchronization refers to the degree of control. Without great control over the Intent, how could it be used to slaughter?

Even if comprehend an Intent and didn't undergo Synchronization, it would be useless in a battle. It's like practicing a low-tier martial skill and later found out it was simply ineffective!

So how to achieve Synchronization?

To be honest, it's simply easy and simple. All you gotta do was to refine them. Simple as that.

In a short saying, compared to cultivation which only has three simple steps; sense the essence, absorb the essence, refine the essence. The Intents on other hand used four steps and that was to sense, convert, synchronize, and refine.

Three hours passed. Xin An was exhausted by swinging his sword continuously without stopping. Sweats drenched his body. His weak and soft hands were faltering under the pressure of each swing. He hadn't count how many swings he did, but the intents he converted Xin An counted all of them!

It was about 490 strings of intents, an indication that once he converted 10 more strings, he would achieve Half-sword Intent!

Xin An did not need to undergo synchronization and refinement of his Strings of Sword Intents. That was because in the past he had achieved Sword Intent, which means he had gotten used to it. In addition, Intent Segment helped him refine them as the instant the strings of intent entered his mind.

In other words, Xin An simply didn't need to do anything other than swinging his sword and activating the Intent Segment!

"8 more strings..." Xin An was ecstatic as he converted two strings of intents. "If this continues, achieving True Sword Intent in a single day is not impossible!"

His face formed a smile. If he can achieve True Sword Intent, then killing 1st rank diremonsters would be relatively easy. Even 1st rank frenzied beasts would be slaughtered under his sword!

Xin An gritted his teeth and swing. He swings and counted. Every hundred swings would produce one string of intent. He swings and was unaware of the passage of time.

At two hundred swings, Xin An bit his lips. At four hundred swings, Xin An's legs started to tremble. At six hundred swings, Xin An almost lost consciousness.

But finally... Xin An gritted his teeth and let out a cry. The 800th swing came slashing downwards.

That slash was unique, unlike the earliest slashes. It was luminous. It dashed straight with deafening noise. The sword light came crashing into the wall and dispersed. However, as soon as it dispersed, countless sword cuts formed into the wall like web cracks. With a 'hong!', the wall was dented.

"At last!" Xin An's hand loosened the sword. He lost strength and came kneeling to the ground. However, tears fell from his eyes. "Half-step sword intent...Yan'er, I'm coming soon. There are no ifs. Our dream will be fulfilled!"

Despite the tiredness and exhaustion, Xin An still put a smile on his face. Xin An and Yu Ruyan had once made a promise under the Willow Tree. That day was when both of them had survived the terrifying Frosty Snow Mountain — One of the forbidden lands of Wasteland Domain. They promised that they will forever and never part, explore and venture into the world together.

Xin An gritted his teeth and stood up under the support of the wooden stick. He then suddenly remembered his benefactor and sighed. "Sovereign Yu, I will not disgrace the Defiers. I'll promise you that."

After a moment of happiness, Xin An was still in a state of disbelief. Without Intent Segment, it would be far harder for him to retain his Sword Intent. Converting 500 strands of Intents had used his three and half years previously, but now it only took him perhaps about a few hours. The difference was astronomical!

Xin An looked at his hand. He still felt numbness in his arms. His palm also looked a bit pink and was swelled. However, he held the sword and said. "There's no time to rest. Even if I have to swing for million times, so what? I have to achieve True Sword Intent! Only with it, I'll have the strength!"

The Intent Segment had been deactivated when he reached Half-Sword Intent, so Xin An had to say the word to activate it again. After he said, 'Activate', his heart suddenly thumped.

"En?"

The sword was dropped. Xin An swayed around the cave. His whole world was spinning and the only thing that he could feel was...pain...extreme pain.

He gripped his chest and breath.

"This painful. What's... happening to me?!?!"

Xin An collapsed in the ground. However, he didn't lose consciousness and maintain the degree of half-awake. The pain in his heart assaulted him over and over again!

" A a a a a a"

The cave was filled with echoes of despair. Birds that flew near would scatter like frightened wolves. Xin An's eyes were bloodshot. "How could I die here? Yan'er is waiting for me!"

Xin An fought against the pain. He tightly gripped his chest under his robe and ripped it apart. The illuminating scarlet scar was very attractive. Xin An looked at it.

"Is this because of the scar?"

Xin An clenched his teeth and roared. His mind was already muddled and his only thought was to rip his scar apart!

He touched it and was about to rip it apart when suddenly everything disappeared. The pain, the dizziness...everything vanished!

"What's going on here?"

Xin An was stunned. "Was all of that merely an illusion?"

"No! Everything was real. I don't know what happens, but I can not be mistaken! It must be the scar."

Xin An made a decision. He gritted his teeth and tap his scar again.

Then. Ba-dump!

His heart clenched, his head dizzy. Xin An hurriedly tapped the scar. The pain vanished.

"I knew it!"

"It's the scar!"