AI Cultivation: Reborn as a Sword Chapter 23: Dao Vessel

After the first three big drops form, the process becos much quicker. The pure Essence desires to stick to the other purified Essence. The more there is, the quicker it becos. It is like gravity and how stars would form in distant galaxies. The gases and particles that exist in the interstellar dium co together, collapsing inwards until the pressure packs it all together denser and denser. There cos a point of critical mass when this process quickens at an exponential rate.

The sa is now occurring within , and I observe my little star forming with a distant fascination. I devise several formulas and equations to predict the future of its formation, but it follows no universal law that I know of. It is not gravity. It is not the weak or strong nuclear force. It is neither the coulomb force.

It is fascinating.

Four big drops form and clump together.

Then four becos five.

Here, the rate increases even more and the white core within grows larger and larger. I feel the purity of its Essence and perceive it like the sll of ozone after a thunderstorm. Though I have experienced this sll only once in my existence when I was hit by lightning I still rember it clearly.

It almost makes desire to release the Tribulation Lightning from my internal storage, but alas I have none left. All were absorbed by my internal aperture and fed to my spiritual roots.

It feels lighter than my blood, but I also know that it is far more potent. A small drop of this Essence would be akin to fifty drops impure Essence.

And it continues to grow.

Six big drops.

I am so absorbed by this process that I beco entirely unaware of my surroundings. Such thoughts like directives, or even Lan Xiaohui, are present nowhere in my sentient core. All that exists in my world is this Heavenly Jade Core and its formation.

Ti disconnects from ; neither the future nor the past bother here.

I see the gold strears orbit my Heavenly Jade Core at an ever increasing pace. The azure lightning sparks and crawls along my core in a manner that reminds of the electrical storms of Jupiter. There are such clouds of icy blue and dark red that coalesce on the surface of the core, forming hurricane shapes as they collect and then dissipate.

Beyond my awareness, golden scripture begins to appear on my black jade fuller, dotted with symbolic patterning, like the lines that form the Eight Trigrams.

The word Dao appears at the top of my black jade core, in golden script.

The sword Qi in the area also continuous to grow, even as I absorb it. It now no longer flows into my vessel, but into the cocoon that contains Lan Xiaohui as well. It now no longer forms a river that resembles the Milky Way Galaxy, but rather a deluge of cherry blossom, pitch black and pearl white, that swirl around the formation.

The ambient Qi also improves. This formation, based on the Auspicious Farming thod, emphasizes growth and yield, and how to utilize places with strong Qi to magnify the effect. Instead of formation flags, it uses the orientation and spacing between each herb to harmonize and balance the flow of Qi. It is truly an auspicious thod of creating a formation and planting dicinal and spiritual herbs.

I doubt it could compare to a formation that would specialize in either, but for my purposes it is more than enough.

Seven big drops.

Whether Lan Xiaohui was right, or they are intimidated by the sword Qi, no creature approaches. At least, I think so. My attention is entirely focused on my core, but I never sense anything enter my expanded perception radius. Even though this sword Qi would likely not be enough to stop a demonic beast of the third rank in the Foundation Establishnt realm against lesser ones, depending on their body cultivation, it could likely cause harm. Of course, without sufficient experintation, I cannot be sure.

I know that it cannot harm , and I am only in the Late stage of Qi Refinent.

Next, the word Sword appears beneath the previous word, and glimrs with an absolute and oppressive gleam. More lines and esoteric symbols weave into the black core of my physical vessel.

If I had t Wukong now, instead of back then, I likely would not even need [Tyranny] to suppress and restrain him. Even now, halfway to completing the first step of my perfection, I already resemble a weapon that subjugates all.

From this point onward, it is neither the Array nor the sword Qi that discourages creatures of at and bone from approaching. It is that they see, embedded in a rock, a sword that is rging its body with its Dao, and that death is certain.

Eight big drops.

Nine big drops.

The Essence within revolves around my body now at a diminished capacity, but increased speed. They form clumps of satellites around my Heavenly Jade Core which continues to grow and expand. For my body, this core will beco a vital area, and it is within the principle of my thod to construct a tough outer shell first. This core is the basic foundation of my continued cultivation, and it must never beco hard.

Ten is an auspicious number in the eyes of the Heavens. Nine is a perfect number, but ten is the domain of Heaven itself. Once ten big drops form and fuse together, my impure Essence is no longer tolerated within my body.

My black jade fuller imdiately expels a shower of black blood containing my impure Essence. When this black blood touches the grass, it burns and sizzles, raising smoke over the formation.

At this point, my Heavenly Jade Core is so massive that it is able to hold on to so of my Essence and continue to refine it, and extract purified Essence from it.

Here, the process is quick and unstoppable.

Outside my knowledge, the sky above darkens and flashes with golden tribulation lightning. Heaven does not tolerate theft.

Eleven big drops.

Twelve big drops.

The Heavenly Jade Core here trembles struggling to complete the final step of the process.

The word Mind appears on my fuller, below the other two words.

There are now twelve big drops and nine small drops within my vessel, and theres only a tiny satellite of impure black Essence left.

With one final revolution, the black Essence disintegrates, and leaves behind a tiny drop of pure Essence which combines with the rest to form the final thirteen big drops.

The collection of big drops then collapses into itself, shrinking and smoothening until it becos of a perfectly spherical shape.

At this mont, tribulation lightning strikes again and this ti, it is not for a ager transgression such as destroying and consuming the soul. This is punishnt for daring to aspire to perfection. Perfection is also the domain of Heaven.

The sword Qi in the area rises imdiately to et the lightning strike, and it manages to resist for all of two seconds before it is consud and scattered. The lightning strikes with such force that the rock below splits in two entirely, and the ground blackens and becos charred.

The enlightened grass dies. The trees are blown away. The leaves are scattered.

Only the Yin-Yang Grass remains.

The tribulation lightning flows through my body and into my aperture, and from there reaches for my Heavenly Jade Core in order to crush it, but the gold strears and azure lightning rush out to et it.

The tribulation lightning is stopped in its tracks.

Then the word Body appears on my fuller, as my transformation completes.

All the symbols flash with a gold light, exuding my intent and the new depth of my cultivation. The tribulation lightning disperses but I feel that the growing dissatisfaction with my daring thods reaches a new high point. Next ti, Heaven will not be so rciful.

[ Current realm: Dao Vessel (Early stage) ]