AI Cultivation: Reborn as a Sword

Chapter 23: Dao Vessel

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

The same is now occurring within me, 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 becomes five.

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

It almost makes me 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 become 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.

Time disconnects from me; neither the future nor the past bother me here.

I see the gold streamers orbit my Heavenly Jade Core at an ever increasing pace. The azure lightning sparks and crawls along my core in a manner that reminds me 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 Method, 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 method of creating a formation and planting medicinal 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 Establishment realm against lesser ones, depending on their body cultivation, it could likely cause harm. Of course, without sufficient experimentation, I cannot be sure.

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

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

If I had met 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 meat and bone from approaching. It is that they see, embedded in a rock, a sword that is merging its body with its Dao, and that death is certain.

Eight big drops.

Nine big drops.

The Essence within me 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 become a vital area, and it is within the principle of my method to construct a tough outer shell first. This core is the basic foundation of my continued cultivation, and it must never become harmed.

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 immediately 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 some 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 becomes of a perfectly spherical shape.

At this moment, tribulation lightning strikes me again and this time, it is not for a meager transgression such as destroying and consuming the soul. This is punishment for daring to aspire to perfection. Perfection is also the domain of Heaven.

The sword Qi in the area rises immediately to meet the lightning strike, and it manages to resist for all of two seconds before it is consumed and scattered. The lightning strikes me with such force that the rock below me splits in two entirely, and the ground blackens and becomes 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 streamers and azure lightning rush out to meet 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 methods reaches a new high point. Next time, Heaven will not be so merciful.

[ Current realm: Dao Vessel (Early stage) ]