AI Cultivation: Reborn as a Sword

Chapter 81: Swordsmanship (5)

Lan Xiaohuis extreme training regiment gives her no time to rest. Every four to eight hours, she has a sparring session with Lady Yue who peels off the layers of her strengths only to leave her weaknesses blatantly on display.

After this sparring session, Lan Xiaohui meditates under Lady Yues Sword Domain, timing her breaths to the rotating cycles of her spinning crescent while simultaneously getting torn to shreds in the Inner World Sphere time and time again.

Even though Lan Xiaohui can only spend twenty to forty minutes at a time inside the Inner World Sphere, I begin to observe a strange effect training within this space has on Lan Xiaohui.

Perhaps it is exactly because of the time dilation that her mind in the real world is able to process and digest each event that happens inside the Inner World twelve times over or perhaps even more. Every second she spends in that world, her mind is also experiencing for twelve seconds.

For every ten minutes Lan Xiaohui spends fighting inside the Inner World Sphere, it appears as if it has the effect of Lan Xiaohui practicing two or more hours in the real world. The exact number is difficult to judge because this training is so hyper-focused.

For example, during the one-hour sparring session Lan Xiaohui has with Lady Yue, a significant part of that training is dedicated to preparations, such as positioning, talking, and, in general, things that are not particularly useful to improving Lan Xiaohuis swordsmanship.

But in the Inner World Sphere, every moment she experiences in combat is useful to her, and this effect is amplified.

This also avoids the issue of learning fatigue, where the mind is simply less able to absorb the lessons after too much training which is also likely why Lady Yue spaces out her sparring sessions in the way that she does.

Finally, with the advancement of her Emptiness Prana method, Lan Xiaohui is able to withstand the mental shock of agony better and the breathing method also improves her focus, further improving her learning rate.

After an entire month of this extreme training regime, Lan Xiaohui is finally able to force Lady Yue to move her dominant foot when she attacks during the spars. It is an achievement that Lady Yue does not immediately recognize or praise.

Three days later, while sitting in the crystal clear basin that seems to contain a powerful lightning Qi after absorbing it during our tribulation Lady Yue remarks with a warm tone as Lan Xiaohuis recovery period is approaching its end and the sparring session is about to begin: Your improvement is tremendous. It is difficult to come to terms that someone like you exists.

Lan Xiaohui, who decided to forgo training in the Inner World Sphere this time, was luckily well aware of Lady Yue and could reply in a shy manner. I am sure that Lady Yue is just offering praise.

Lady Yue shakes her head. It is not just praise. I have heard that people like you exist, but Ive never seen one with my own eyes.

People like me?

Cultivators who can enter a special state a martial trance of sorts, Lady Yue explains.

At this point, Lan Xiaohui has practiced her breathing method to a level where Lady Yues Domain is only a minor distraction. More importantly, her body has been trained to such a degree that she can immediately and reflexively counteract the pull and push of the Domain so that she appears as if she is entirely unaffected by it.

Lan Xiaohui becomes thoughtful at Lady Yues words. It is difficult to describe, Lady Yue, Lan Xiaohui says. When I cultivate underneath your Domain, I feel it pulling me along with it. The lessons of the day are much easier to absorb if I time my breath with the cycles of your moon. I dont understand why.

Lady Yue smiles at Lan Xiaohuis words, a triumphant glimmer in her eyes. I was hoping that would be the case, but I did not expect it would have this effect, Lady Yue says and gestures to her Domain. A cultivator can hide their cultivation depth and even the power of their physique. They can suppress their soul and consciousness to a point where they can come across as ordinary mortals. But the Sword Law cannot be hidden or warped; once it is shown, the profoundness of the Dao speaks for itself.

Lan Xiaohui nods at these words. I understand that now. The Sword Law is the manifestation of the depth of ones Dao.

That is exactly why, Lady Yue says. For a month now, you have been cultivating and practicing underneath the effects of the total attainment of my sword. You should know that the sword is a lonely existence at its pinnacle, it has eliminated all enemies and it is so supreme that no one can follow it. That is also why it is such a grandiose existence that all wish to follow it and go where it goes.

Lan Xiaohui bows her head at Lady Yues words, her gaze briefly focusing on their reflections in the pool of water.

That is why you feel pulled in by my Domain. Your heart seeks to become one with the sword it wishes to walk the same road. If this is what triggers your martial trance, then it must be that you are experiencing the attainment of my sword which in turn is enlightening your own Dao, Lady Yue explains.

Lan Xiaohuis eyes fill with tears for reasons that are completely alien to me. After a moment, the weight of her tears is enough that she is forced to wipe them away from her cheek.

What is the matter, little lily? Why are you crying?

Lan Xiaohuis lower lip trembles and it takes a great deal of effort to steady her tone. Everyone I have met in recent years has betrayed me, degraded me, or tried to kill me, she says. Yet you gave me expensive medicine, cultivation techniques, showed me your Domain, and helped me become a better version of myself. And you havent asked for anything in return. Not even my name. I cant express

Here, her voice breaks and the tears rush down her cheeks faster than she can wipe them off with the back of her hand. When Lan Xiaohui speaks these words, Lady Yue is not the only entity in her mind.

Lady Yue moves over to Lan Xiaohuis side and cradles my owners head in her arms and towards her bosom. Gently, the older woman strokes Lan Xiaohuis hair who, perhaps for the first time in many months, allows herself to feel the great magnitude of bitterness and regret that her past has sowed in her heart.

She cries like a helpless infant. The image of the proud, daring, and arrogant swordswoman shatters in an instant, replaced by something that is far more human and ordinary in itself, that act alone makes her seem all the more extraordinary.

Lady Yue does not say anything, but it takes me but one look at her smile to understand her true motivations and the true reasons why she is helping Lan Xiaohui.

The path of the sword is lonely.

I have never understood such a thing as loneliness not even my dysfunctional sentient core could teach me the concept. Sometimes, I miss Wukong but only because the lack of firepower is inconvenient to my existence. If Wukong were still around, where would I be now? What heights would I attain?

Would my path cross with Lan Xiaohuis? Would Lan Xiaohui die in this forest without me?

Would I regret it?

Before my Qi deviates further due to these questions, I silence the wayward processes of my sentient core.

I know I wouldn't regret it.

I am a sword.