Sage of Humanity-Chapter 1690 - 1688: The Secret of the Drawn Saber Slash

This time, something seemed different. Lu Ye activated Insight Spirit Runes, channeling them into his eyes, and instantly saw through the aura of the cultivator opposite him, Wang Xiu.

Suddenly, the feeling of impending death intensified to the extreme!

Wang Xiu seemed to move, and in the next instant, saber light filled Lu Ye's vision.

The Boulder Mountain Saber in Lu Ye's hand fiercely met the attack.

With a loud bang, violent mana collided and scattered within the hall. Lu Ye felt an immense force surging towards him, pushing him backward uncontrollably.

However, his eyes were extraordinarily bright because he had already been knocked out at this point before, but now he was still in the azure hall. This undoubtedly indicated that he had blocked this strike.

He did block it, but not completely...

Because Wang Xiu's ferocious saber light had torn through Lu Ye's shoulder from a distance.

Even though it was just a spirit projection, this projection was no different from Lu Ye's physical body. The only difference was that dying here didn't pose a threat to his life, it merely consumed a bit of Mental Consciousness.

Considering the strength of his current physique, the fact that Wang Xiu could strike him from a distance showed the terrifying power of his attack.

Almost half of Lu Ye's shoulder was cut off, yet he paid it no mind, wielding the saber in the other hand fiercely downward, with a faint beastly roar echoing as an invisible beast opened its maw, the violent saber momentum enveloping Wang Xiu.

The fangs were bared!

As Wang Xiu was forced to retreat, Lu Ye surged forward fiercely, his aura becoming domineering and brutal.

In an instant, silhouettes moved within the azure hall as saber lights flickered.

Wang Xiu was strong. The predecessors who managed to leave their legacies within the barghest were all exceptional, unmatched in their realm across eras.

But his greatest strength was that Drawn Saber Slash!

If Wang Xiu in normal state was on par with the likes of Qing Li, Yien Xi, and the Praying Mantis, then the Wang Xiu executing the Drawn Saber Slash was on a higher level.

Lu Ye blocked this strongest strike. Therefore, what followed was straightforward. In this era, within the same realm, Lu Ye too was unparalleled.

A brief moment later, amid the intense battle, Lu Ye suddenly halted as Wang Xiu withdrew from the combat circle and slightly nodded at him.

Seeing this, Lu Ye was pleased, thinking he had passed the test?

But soon he was confused because usually, upon passing such tests, he would also comprehend the legacy left by the opponent in the barghest.

The barghest of Qing Li's Fangs Bared, Yien Xi's Brazen Plundering Technique, and Praying Mantis's Twin Saber Style were all comprehended through repeated deaths and confrontations.

However, in the contest with Wang Xiu... Lu Ye didn't actually sense his legacy.

Moreover, by his own reasoning, Wang Xiu's legacy should be that Drawn Saber Slash; how could he comprehend it through this confrontation?

What was going on?

Just as Lu Ye was puzzled, Wang Xiu sat down cross-legged, placing his sword sheath across his knees, and mana started surging up his body.

Lu Ye watched quietly, and in the next moment, realization dawned on him.

He had always pondered why Wang Xiu's Drawn Saber Slash was so powerful, and it was only now that he understood.

It was powerful because the charging up took long enough.

The draw of the saber was instantaneous, but there was an extended period of charging before the draw.

In the cultivation world, the power of secret techniques requiring charge time is not trivial, much like the Fire Phoenix Spirit Runes that Lu Ye once used, where the charging time was long, but once successfully activated, it could annihilate a multitude of foes in the same realm.

Long charging time meant pouring in enough power, thus the force was naturally substantial.

At this moment, complex patterns began to manifest on Wang Xiu's sword sheath, and even with Lu Ye's insight into the Path of Spirit Runes, he could sense the complexity of these spirit runes.

Such a spirit rune couldn't possibly be constructed by an ordinary spirit runes master.

Wang Xiu was evidently an exceptionally outstanding spirit runes master!

The incredible secret behind his Drawn Saber Slash lay in this spirit rune, and as for the key to it, Lu Ye would need to explore it himself.

Within the azure hall, Lu Ye watched intently, committing each basic element's connection and transformation to memory.

For a typical combat cultivator, even if they forcibly memorized it, obtaining this legacy wouldn't be easy. But Lu Ye was different. He himself was a spirit runes master and possessed the Talent Tree, so he felt obtaining Wang Xiu's legacy shouldn't be difficult.

As time passed, Lu Ye stayed longer in the azure hall this time than ever before.

It wasn't until several days later that his Mental Consciousness returned.

Luckily, having subdued Ma Shangsi as a Blood Servant, with such a Peak Moon Jade level protector by his side, Lu Ye could be focus-uninterrupted. Otherwise, traveling through the stellar space, he wouldn't dare to do this.

Upon opening his eyes, the first thing he did was attempt to engrave the spirit rune into the Talent Tree.

If he could successfully inscribe that spirit rune into the Talent Tree, he could invoke it freely in the future.

This wasn't a difficult task for him; it just required some time and effort. At present, there were already many spirit runes on the Talent Tree, all inscribed by himself.

The blank leaves burning on the Talent Tree are all carriers that can inscribe spirit runes.

Recalling the experiences in the azure hall, Lu Ye meticulously began his task.

The spirit runes exhibited by Wang Xiu were far more complex than even the void, consisting of nearly ten thousand Yin-Yang Dual Origins.

This was not something a single leaf could bear.

It took Lu Ye several days to gradually inscribe the entire spirit rune. When he looked at the Talent Tree, it seemed to exude a sharp aura, as if a peerless weapon was hidden within the leaf area carrying this wondrous spirit rune, ready to strike at any moment.

The spirit rune was successfully inscribed, and the next step was to attempt verification; Lu Ye felt eager.

After slightly restoring his condition, he mimicked Wang Xiu by placing the Boulder Mountain Saber, sheath and all, horizontally across his knees, and immediately activated mana to construct the spirit rune on the sword sheath.

Wang Xiu's process was very slow, primarily due to the teachings; it's estimated that when he left this legacy, he was worried that future generations wouldn't understand, so he taught in almost a step-by-step manner.

Now that Lu Ye had learned this spirit rune, there was no need to be so slow.

Even though it was a spirit rune constructed from tens of thousands of basic elements, he built it in an instant.

Immediately afterward, he channeled mana into the spirit rune.

This infusion is the power build-up process for the Drawn Saber Slash; the longer the build-up time, the more terrifying the power of the slash!

As mana flowed into the spirit rune, it began circulating just like a cultivator performing their exercises; this situation made Lu Ye feel as though the spirit rune had truly become a living cultivator, with his infused mana operating a Major Circumambulation within it.

After a cycle, there was a slight change within the sword sheath.

Lu Ye felt that if he wished, he could transfer this pre-constructed spirit rune from the sword sheath onto the Boulder Mountain Saber at any moment, thereby enhancing the power of the swing at that instant.

This is the mystery of the Drawn Saber Slash.

However, with only one cycle of mana having operated within the spirit rune, the power enhancement upon drawing the saber was almost negligible.

Lu Ye continued to channel mana...

Yet he quickly realized another problem.

The quality of the Boulder Mountain Saber's sheath was too low, unable to withstand such power accumulations.

The Boulder Mountain Saber's current quality was hard to define, as it was transformed by the barghest devouring the old Boulder Mountain Saber, but the sheath was still the original one.

It's merely at the spirit treasure level, and not even of high quality.

Lu Ye had never thought to replace the sheath or enhance its quality before, as it was just a container, mostly unnecessary.

But now that he wanted the sheath to be the carrier of the spirit rune, its quality was undoubtedly too low. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

After only a few cycles, the sheath already showed signs of strain, and continuing like this would certainly result in it shattering.

This made Lu Ye furrow his brows. It seemed that he would need to find a better sheath in the future, at least one capable of withstanding the continuous power build-up of that spirit rune.

Stopping his actions, Lu Ye thought for a moment.

Wang Xiu constructed the spirit rune on the sheath out of necessity, as he also owned the barghest and couldn't find an Artifact Refiner to craft such a spirit rune within the barghest; likely, no refiner in this world could do that.

So the only option was to take a step back and craft the spirit rune as a restriction within the sheath, thereby satisfying his requirement for continuous power build-up.

Because it was a formed restriction, he only needed to infuse mana into it and didn't need to deliberately maintain the existence of the spirit rune.

But for Lu Ye, these issues were not a problem at all. With the convenience of the Talent Tree, he could effortlessly control even the most complex spirit runes.

So... perhaps he didn't need the sheath for now; he could try within the Boulder Mountain Saber.

If the sheath couldn't withstand such power build-up, the Boulder Mountain Saber surely could.

With this realization, Lu Ye smoothly transferred the construction of the spirit rune to the Boulder Mountain Saber.

Everything went smoothly, with the wondrous spirit rune maintained within the Boulder Mountain Saber, its own mana circulating cycle after cycle, slowly building up power.

In the short term, this power build-up wouldn't yield significant results, but as time passed, it would naturally grow stronger and stronger.

The only hassle was that he always had to allocate part of his attention to maintaining the existence of the spirit rune, while continuously infusing it with his own mana.

However, for a cultivator pursuing personal strength, if it could exchange for an opportunity for an explosive outburst, these efforts were worth it.

Lu Ye's strength was already unmatched in the same realm, even though he hadn't truly fought against a full-strength Moon Jade Late Stage, Lu Ye felt he wouldn't face much difficulty against one at his current state.

With such a standard of strength in normal circumstances, if he could suddenly unleash a strike that far surpassed his current strength, could he perhaps qualify to threaten a Sun Blaze?

The two red talismans given by Su Yuqing had already been used, and the treasure coin was with Hua Ci; he indeed needed a trump card now.

Ma Shangsi was indeed loyal enough, but he couldn't rely on others for his own safety. Compared to others' protection, Lu Ye preferred having the ability to face crises on his own.