Chapter 148: The Vessel

Reflecting on the sword dao inheritance that had just surfaced in his mind, Ye Junze first stabilized his breath and slowly pondered the initial contents of the Canghao Sword Art. Although he already remembered the key points quite clearly, to avoid any omissions, he carefully reviewed the entire technique from beginning to start.

Having confirmed every detail and made sure nothing was left out, and once his breath had completely steadied, Ye Junze followed the cultivation methods detailed in the Canghao Sword Art to begin condensing his very own Canghao Sword Intent.

After all, according to the teachings of the Canghao Sword Art, the strength of one's initial Canghao Sword Intent was a crucial factor determining whether a cultivator could master the sword art to perfection or even achieve ultimate success.

If a cultivator could condense an extremely powerful Canghao Sword Intent right at the very beginning of their practice, their overall level in sword dao would already be invisibly elevated at that exact moment.

As for how to condense the strongest possible Canghao Sword Intent of one's own, the sword dao inheritance left by that Senior Canghao did not elaborate in detail. Apart from thoroughly explaining the method of condensing the Canghao Sword Intent, it merely stated that because everyone's thoughts and perceptions differ, the formation of one's supreme sword intent was left for the cultivators to comprehend on their own.

When Ye Junze had first encountered this explanation, which sounded as good as saying nothing, he could not help but fall into deep contemplation.

After pondering for a while without finding an answer, he muttered to himself, "Since it isn't explicitly stated, I will just proceed according to my own understanding. That is still much better than having no specific cultivation method at all. As for whether the intent I condense turns out to be the strongest one, I suppose I will simply have to leave it to fate."

Having figured this out, Ye Junze stopped pondering further. Following the instructions in the Canghao Sword Art, he began to mobilize several key acupuncture points required to nurture a wisp of Canghao Sword Intent.

Ye Junze slowly turned his gaze inward and saw a steady stream of spiritual power emerging from these specific acupuncture points. At the same time, he cautiously directed a tiny thread of spiritual power to circulate continuously among these points. This wisp of spiritual power swiftly glided from one acupuncture point to the next, and then immediately flowed onward to the subsequent one.

Seeing that this initial process was proceeding remarkably smoothly, a smile involuntarily appeared on Ye Junze's face. Yet, his focus remained entirely undiminished; he continued to carefully manipulate this thread of spiritual power as it constantly traversed the key acupuncture points.

Ye Junze had no choice but to be extremely cautious, because the inheritance in his mind had explicitly explained that what he was doing at this moment could be colloquially described as cleansing the marrow and purifying the tendons. Through the circulation of spiritual power, he was steadily broadening the resilience of the meridians and expanding the capacity of the acupuncture points. While this step seemed very simple in terms of operation, the truly difficult part lay in how to widen these points using an extremely faint wisp of spiritual power while ensuring that no harm came to the meridians and acupuncture points, which would otherwise disrupt subsequent steps. Since this very first step exerted a profound influence on all the procedures that followed, Ye Junze naturally had to approach it with utmost care.

Thus, the core difficulty of this step lay in testing whether the cultivator possessed sufficient patience, alongside acute powers of observation and control over microscopic details.

Fortunately, Ye Junze had never lacked either of these essential qualities.

Consequently, he possessed ample patience to control that single thread of spiritual power as it performed the marrow-cleansing effect on the key acupuncture points within his body.

The purpose of undertaking this step was to lay a solid groundwork for the most critical step that would follow.

After all, if Ye Junze truly succeeded in nurturing a wisp of Canghao Sword Intent, preserving this wisp of intent and cultivating it until it grew powerful would naturally demand an exceptionally suitable vessel. And these key acupuncture points were, without a doubt, the most appropriate vessels.

Normally, when we store certain items, if the container is subpar and its preservation performance falls short of our expectations, the items we wish to store naturally cannot be preserved to their fullest potential, and when we take them out again, they are bound to have suffered a certain degree of depreciation.

The acupuncture point vessels that Ye Junze was currently attempting to forge operated on this very principle.

If the acupuncture points lacked stability and resilience, then no matter how powerful the sword intent he nurtured might be, it could not be properly protected, let alone cultivated to its ultimate peak. If this continued over the long term, the Canghao Sword Intent that he had painstakingly nurtured would inevitably dissipate due to an unqualified vessel.

Therefore, Ye Junze was in no rush to proceed to the next steps. With extraordinary patience, he repeated this arduous task over and over again.

Fortunately, having cultivated for so long, Ye Junze was no stranger to such tasks, nor would he find them unhabitual; it was simply another opportunity to put his strengths to use.

When an unknown amount of time had passed, Ye Junze once again used the method of inner vision to examine the key acupuncture points he had just cleansed.

Following his gaze, he observed that the meridians surrounding those acupuncture points had been transformed by his previous efforts into a somewhat translucent, crystal-clear appearance. As for the acupuncture points themselves, they were even more translucent, surpassing the meridians.

Yet, despite reaching this stage, Ye Junze still seemed somewhat dissatisfied, giving an imperceptible shake of his head.

According to the teachings within the sword dao inheritance in his mind, only when the key acupuncture points and meridians became so crystal-clear that not a single trace of any other color could be seen would the marrow-cleansing effect be considered to have reached its absolute finest. Only such acupuncture point vessels could be deemed the most compatible match for the Canghao Sword Intent.

Seeing that his hard work still fell far short of what the inheritance described, it was only natural for Ye Junze to feel a touch of dissatisfaction.

Fortunately, this did not cause him to lose heart. Shaking his head to brush away the unpleasant feeling, he refocused his mind and once again manipulated his spiritual power to continue with the task at hand.

After all, given Ye Junze's personality, if he chose not to do something, so be it, but once he started, he was bound to carry it out to the best of his ability. This could be considered one of his few unwavering principles.

One might call him stubborn, rigid, or anything else, and Ye Junze would harbor no objections.

For he knew deep down that only by maintaining the highest degree of earnestness toward a matter could he reap the finest rewards.

If one merely treated things with carelessness, sloppiness, and indifference, then even if a task was completed, the result would never be what Ye Junze desired.

Therefore, regarding matters he deemed important, he always maintained an incomparable level of seriousness—out of responsibility to the task, and even more so, out of responsibility to himself.

Time slowly drifted by, and it was impossible to tell how much time had flowed away.

It felt very short—so short that it was as if Lingling had secretly stolen a brief nap without anyone noticing.

Yet it also felt very long—so long that the pile of candies beside Lingling had visibly diminished, to the point where one only needed to point a finger to count exactly how many remained.

Suddenly, Ye Junze, whose eyes were tightly closed and whose entire mind was immersed in forging the suitable vessel-like acupuncture points, wore a flash of joy across his face, as if something that pleased him greatly had just occurred.

Ye Junze once again looked inward, turning his attention to those critical acupuncture points.

At this moment, the acupuncture points were crystal-clear, their interiors as transparent as pure crystal, while the meridians connecting them shared the exact same translucent clarity. It felt as though even the microscopic veins upon them could be seen with absolute distinction if one merely stared closely enough. Across such acupuncture points and meridians, not a single trace of any other color could be detected.

Seeing this, how could Ye Junze not feel pleasantly surprised? After all, his prolonged efforts had finally not been in vain.

Ye Junze could not help pondering, "Looking like this now, there shouldn't be any difference from what the inheritance described, right?"

Lacking anyone else who had cultivated the Canghao Sword Art to use as a point of reference, Ye Junze could only rely on his own sensations.

After all, the inheritance had merely stated that the absence of any other impurities or colors meant success, without displaying a concrete visual example.

Thus, Ye Junze concluded that his current state should be more than sufficient—at the very least, he had fully met the requirements set forth in the inheritance, hadn't he?

What Ye Junze did not know was that his current state was far more than just "more than sufficient."

It should be known that the Canghao Sword Art merely stated that once the acupuncture points turned crystal-clear and devoid of other colors, it would be considered a success. In other words, Ye Junze's previous attempt had already achieved that effect, though he himself had failed to perceive it.

That original Senior Canghao Sword Immortal might not have reached Ye Junze's current level of purity during his very first attempt at this task. Although later on, through continuous cultivation, that Canghao's purity of the acupuncture points nurturing the sword intent naturally surpassed anything the present Ye Junze could compare to.

If that Canghao Sword Immortal were still alive and could witness the changes in Ye Junze's acupuncture points after inheriting his sword dao, he would likely sigh from the bottom of his heart: "Formidable is the younger generation."

He would then immediately modify the sword dao inheritance he left behind, designating Ye Junze's current state of acupuncture points as the supreme benchmark. He would demand that everyone who practiced his Canghao Sword Art in the future follow Ye Junze's exact approach when constructing their vessels in the first step, and decree that anyone who failed to reach this standard had no business practicing the Canghao Sword Art at all.

However, Ye Junze was entirely unaware of all this, and he remained trapped in a state of hesitation.

Because, although he felt that the acupuncture point vessels he had currently constructed met the requirements of the inheritance, lacking a concrete point of comparison, he still could not tell whether his current state could truly be considered a success.

Consequently, while Ye Junze eagerly wished to proceed to the next step, he worried that this step might still be flawed, which would in turn compromise everything that followed.

Thus, Ye Junze did nothing for the moment. He paused entirely and began to think deeply.

After pondering for a while, Ye Junze muttered to himself, "Although there is no reference, according to the descriptions in the Canghao Sword Art, the acupuncture point vessels I have constructed should have already reached that level. Since that is the case, there is no need to hesitate further. Whether it succeeds or fails can only be known after giving it a try. At worst, I can simply start over from the beginning."

Having figured this out, Ye Junze made up his mind. Once his decision was set and his breath fully steadied, he prepared to take the next crucial step.