On Shenxiao Mountain within Li Mausoleum, Tianming had one hand on the Grand-Orient Sword and the other on Li Shenxiao's tombstone. The sword supplied arcane energies, while the tombstone and Prime Tower supplied spiritual energy that was superior to what he could glean from spirit gems with saintly heavenly patterns.
Behind him was Feiling, dressed in a light-blue miniskirt and leaning against a boulder. She crossed her fair legs and focused her attention on reading.
She was quite the oddball, having read many books like historical chronicles, encyclopedias, and even some about battle arts and cultivation. She not only read at a staggering pace, but also had impeccable memory. Not to mention, she also had a strange interest in heavenly patterns and the Heavenly Will stage.
The boy trained while the girl read, and neither interacted with the other, but the atmosphere around them was rather pleasant. If not for the tombstones around them, one might even say it was a little romantic.
After Tianming finished his daily training, he would play around with her or go to the sacred mountain to visit Qingyu, who had just broken through to the ninth level of Unity. She had finally caught up to Su Wuyou and was trying to advance to Heavenly Will.
"Qingyu, ever since you overcame Lifesbane, your rate of growth is catching up to mine. I bet my talent will rise even more once I overcome my own as well."
That was the key right now, as Tianming was already showing immeasurable talent even before he overcame his Lifesbane. Yet Li Wudi and Qingyu only rose quickly after overcoming theirs.
At that moment, the gold heavenly patterns from the sword, as well as the white saintly heavenly patterns from the first ancestor's tombstone, swam around Tianming's body. They looked like ten gold dragons and ten white dragons. In time, Tianming noticed that the two different patterns seemed to blend together.
"I wonder if anything will change if I bring the sword and tombstone together..." Both of these things did in fact belong to the founding ancestor, Li Shenxiao, after all. He paused his cultivation and placed the tip of the sword against the tombstone.
That caused the two patterns to collide without passing through Tianming as a medium. All of a sudden, the tombstone shook just like Tianming's heart. Next, the tombstone no longer glowed gold like before. Instead, he saw a sight of boundless mountains and rivers on the tombstone, as if it was real. The tombstone wasn't huge, but he could see so much detail from the visual it provided. It showed tens of thousands of cities, cultivation sects, and people.
"There's people inside!" Feiling said with shock. Tianming looked at where she was looking and saw some mountains that looked just like the Grand-Orient Mountains. There, a white-haired, white-clad old man wielding a black and gold greatsword exuded a dominating presence. He stood at the peak of the mountain, brandishing his sword as the masses worshipped him, then turned his head and locked gazes with Tianming.
"Shenxiao Sword Art!"
It was as if he said these words to Tianming.
"This is definitely the ultimate insight of the founding ancestor! It's a battle art that's made to suit the Grand-Orient Sword!" Tianming exclaimed.
It was definitely an accident. He had no inkling that the tombstone would have such a reaction. It seemed that wine wasn't the only prerequisite to unlocking the legacy left behind by the ancestors. Tianming bet that not even Li Wudi knew the Shenxiao Sword Art was hidden right under their noses like that.
"Oh junior of mine, there are five levels to Shenxiao Sword Art. While I’m the creator of this sword art, even I am only able to utilize three levels of it! While the other two have been created, they're not a good fit for my Heavenly Will!"
What kind of demonic genius would be able to create sword arts that didn't match their Heavenly Will? Tianming really didn't understand how that could be possible, being a Heavenly Will novice.
"This sword art is ideal for multi-type beastmasters, especially those with multiple lifebound beasts. In other words, the more heavenly wills you have, the more power you'll be able to bring out! The first step in training this sword art is mastering the five basic strikes. You'll need five heavenly wills, namely, water, earth, lightning, fire, and wind types.
"The second step is to master fusion strikes by slowly assimilating the five basic strikes with each other. That is the essence of the Shenxiao Sword Art. If you have five types of Heavenly Wills, and can completely fuse them together, you'll be able to rend the skies and earth apart!" The old man's voice was so loud that even deaf people would be able to hear him. "You'll see the kind of power this sword art has once you manage to master fusion strikes."
After that, Li Shenxiao began the demonstration. With but a swing of Grand-Orient Sword, the mountains themselves seemed to shake and creak. It took only one strike for the earth to begin to shake! One of the mountain peaks was actually cut flat by him, causing the top part to start tumbling down.
"Here's the first basic strike of the five: Olympos Imperius!" After saying that, he kept the sword away and closed his eyes, conserving his energy.
"The second level of the sword art, in other words, the second strike, isn't just a matter of mastering the second basic strike. Instead, it's about fusing the two basic sword strikes after mastering them. That's why, to me, the second strike of the sword art is a fusion of Olympos Imperius and Oceanos Imperius. Watch!"
When he finished, he struck again, ushering in mass destruction using the Grand-Orient Sword. This strike not only contained the dominating force of the earth and mountains, but also that of the endless ocean. The two forces fused and interacted with one another, making the fused strike far stronger than two individual strikes.
"Next comes the third strike of Shenxiao Sword Art. The way I mastered it was starting with the basic strike, Aetheros Imperius, then fusing it with the previous two strikes."
Tianming understood that the power of the five basic strikes were more or less the same, so the only way to improve them would be to fuse them together. Li Shenxiao's third strike was the fusion of Olympos Imperius, Oceanos Imperius, and Aetheros Imperius.
Li Shenxiao demonstrated the third strike, causing mountains to groan, seas to rage, and winds to howl. The three forces blended together, forming a twister-like sword ki that brushed through the terrain, tearing apart everything it came into contact with.
"There’s still a fourth and fifth strike in the sword art, but the elements of fire and lightning elude me. As such, the best I can do is demonstrate Pyros Imperius and Fulguros Imperius without fusing them. Watch!"
Apart from the difference in elemental type, the two strikes were more or less equally powerful.
"No wonder the sword art focuses mainly on fusing the five basic strikes. The more Heavenly Wills one has, the more one can fuse, and the more power one can bring out. Even the founding ancestor was only able to use the third strike. The fourth and fifth are no doubt even more powerful! So having many Heavenly Wills makes one more suitable to use the Shenxiao Sword Art, and the five basic strikes all have hints of Imperial Will in them. Mastering them individually might not be that hard at all."
At the very least, he was confident he could master Fulguros Imperius and Pyros Imperius individually, but fusing them would be a whole other matter entirely. If his third egg hatched, perhaps he might be able to learn Olympos Imperius or Oceanos Imperius.
Apart from the ancestor's explanation of the moves, there were also some words on the tombstone that read 'Five Basic Strikes Mantra' and 'Fusion Strikes Mantra'.
"The ancestor only provided one method to fuse the strikes. Whether that succeeds will depend on my Heavenly Will and comprehending the two basic strikes. It's really complicated, but I like it!"
The more complex it was, the more powerful it would become! Putting other things aside, Tianming was curious what sort of power he could use by fusing the lightning and fire strikes. He began ravenously training.
"Ying Huo, help me comprehend Pyros Imperius."
"I don't need you to tell me that."
"Meow Meow, try learning Fulguros Imperius.""What? You're disturbing my sleep again? I can't function in the morning, so good night," said the black cat, preparing to pounce away.
Yet, the huge egg of a Primordial Chaos Beast blocked his way.
"Whoa! Even this little one dares to bully me! There's no point in living anymore! I don't have feline rights!"
"Hahahaha...."
In the coming days, Tianming had a direction to lead his training in. He would rely on the Grand-Orient Sword, Prime Tower, and Li Shenxiao's tombstone to gain insight into Heavenly Will. For his battle arts, he would count on his two lifebound beasts to support him in mastering the lightning and fire sword strikes. When time came for their fusion, he would have to be the one to do it. With their goals clear and Meow Meow not holding them back, they made huge progress.
......
"The heck? What are you lot training?" Li Wudi said, seeing the Grand-Orient Sword being used to test out a sword art that startled even him.
"Look, Godfather." Tianming placed the tip of the sword against the tombstone. It looked just like a projector that played back Li Shenxiao's demonstration of the strikes.
"I don't see anything, though," Li Wudi said.
"Nothing at all?"
"That's right."
"The founding ancestor is teaching me the Shenxiao Sword Art."
"What's that?" Li Wudi turned grim and almost tripped. He stood back up and balked, "Old fool! Don't run! I served you all my life, yet you didn't tell me about something so precious! I'll excavate your grave, I tell ya!"
Naturally, he only meant it as a joke.
"Godfather, do you want me to write the teachings down?"
"No need. This isn't suited to my Heavenly Will. I walk the path of domination, after all. Not to mention, since he taught it to you, it means you have good affinity with it," he said with a hint of saltiness.
"Alright!"