Chapter 6: Techniques Beyond the Imperial Realm

An Miaoling took the Heart Sword Technique and began to read. She was instantly and deeply captivated. Gradually, her hands began to tremble slightly.

"This... is this a technique that can cultivate beyond the Emperor Realm?" she asked, her face filled with disbelief. Breaking through the Emperor Realm was her lifelong dream in her previous life, yet she had never even glimpsed the threshold before she died.

"What level of technique is this?" An Miaoling asked.

"It is of the Supreme Realm. I have practiced it a little, and it is truly excellent," Qin Tian replied. "As for that 'Supreme Forgetting Emotion Record' of yours, do not practice it anymore," he added sternly.

"Understood!" An Miaoling nodded vigorously. With this new technique, who would ever want to practice the Supreme Forgetting Emotion Record again? She knew deep down that she had already pushed that path to its absolute limit in her past life. Trying to reach the Emperor Realm with it was merely self-deception.

She looked at Qin Tian, her gaze softening. She no longer had to fear that Qin Tian’s kindness would disrupt her Dao heart. Qin Tian patted her head once more, and this time, she did not resist.

"Let us practice swordsmanship," Qin Tian said. He intended to pass on the insights he had gained over the past few days so she could master the Heart Sword Technique sooner.

"Sword momentum is easy to form, but sword intent is hard to cultivate," Qin Tian began slowly. "Sword momentum is merely external—it is the act of imitating the forces of heaven and earth and imbuing them into the blade. Sword intent, however, is the sword that emerges from facing one's true heart and achieving clarity of self."

An Miaoling was currently at the level of sword momentum. Just as Qin Tian was teaching, Yan Qingsi, the personal disciple of Mo Wentian, arrived. Mo Wentian had intended to deliver cultivation resources to An Miaoling himself, but Yan Qingsi had volunteered, having not seen her handsome junior uncle in quite some time.

Upon reaching Hidden Sword Peak, she saw Qin Tian teaching and decided not to interrupt, opting instead to listen out of curiosity. Initially skeptical, she was soon shocked; what Qin Tian was teaching touched her deeply. She felt the bottleneck of her own sword momentum beginning to loosen.

An Miaoling also had a breakthrough, and the seed of sword intent began to sprout. Seeing this, Qin Tian continued, "Sword intent is an extension of the origin. This origin belongs solely to the sword—it possesses the nobility of the sword, the cold pride of the sword, the sharpness of the sword, and the true heart of the sword..."

Boom!

An Miaoling was enlightened. She had grasped it.

Qin Tian nodded with satisfaction; the past month of study had not been in vain. With the comprehension of sword intent, her speed in practicing the Heart Sword Technique would increase significantly.

Qin Tian then turned to Yan Qingsi and asked, "Is something the matter?"

Yan Qingsi snapped out of her trance and said happily, "Junior Uncle's guidance was like a divine awakening. I find myself growing more fond of—and admiring—you, Junior Uncle. By the way, Master sent me to deliver medicinal pills to the junior sister."

She produced ten bottles from her spatial ring and handed them to An Miaoling. An Miaoling opened them to find high-grade and peak-grade Earth-tier medicinal herbs, along with a Heaven-tier low-grade Nine-God Marrow-Cleansing Pill, refined from nine herbs aged over three thousand years. Even Yan Qingsi was envious, though she knew she could not compare to An Miaoling, who possessed the awakened bloodline of the Ancient Ice Phoenix.

After delivering the pills, she bid Qin Tian farewell, needing to enter seclusion to consolidate her own insights. Before leaving, she winked at Qin Tian, unabashedly showing her admiration, which made An Miaoling frown.

The next morning, Qin Tian was fast asleep when a knocking at the door roused him.

"Master, wake up!"

"No, let me sleep a little longer."

"No, Master, get up and teach me!" Having tasted the sweetness of progress yesterday, she did not want to see Qin Tian waste his potential. Cultivation required perseverance and daily accumulation. Though her master was formidable, she feared he would stagnate if he continued this way. Since cultivators gained longevity with higher cultivation, she wanted to be with him forever, so she was determined to push him.

*Thump, thump, thump!* "If you don't get up, I will keep knocking!"

The door suddenly opened, and Qin Tian stood there in a pair of short trunks. An Miaoling shyly covered her eyes. "Master, you are being indecent!"

"How am I being indecent? You were the one being indecent when you awakened last time," he retorted. "If I weren't a gentleman, well..."

Thinking of that previous incident, she blushed. "Did you do that on purpose?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"Why would I?"

"The medicine contained Dragon Blood. You knew it would react to my bloodline, didn't you?" she challenged.

"Ah, that... perhaps I was a bit negligent," he admitted.

"Enough, enough, I will go practice with you," she said, leading him to the courtyard.

Qin Tian’s "Otherworldly Transformation Technique" was currently at the stage of transforming into all spirits, but he yearned for the stage of transforming into eternity—an Emperor-level law that could influence space, time, and causality. At its peak, one could traverse time and use causality to curse enemies, causing them to suffer misfortune or fall into demonic obsession. As long as one had not transcended the Emperor Realm, they were bound by causality. He couldn't use it yet, but he believed that with the system, he would reach that state eventually.

Time flew by. A decade passed in the blink of an eye.

"Sign in!"

*Ding!*

[You have accumulated six years of sign-in rewards. Would you like to collect them?]

"Collect!"

[Sign-in reward: Otherworldly Transformation Technique upgraded to the eleventh level. Host's cultivation raised to the third level of the Half-Saint Realm.]

[Sign-in reward: Space-Time Token. It is recommended to give this to your disciple; in a crisis, she can use it to summon your spiritual projection through the laws of space and time.]

[Sign-in reward: Eternal Indestructible Body (First Layer).]

As he received the rewards, Qin Tian felt a surge of powerful energy flood his body, and his understanding of the Dao deepened. Six years ago, he had reached the second level of the Half-Saint Realm; this time, he reached the third. The next breakthrough would lead to the Saint Realm.

The Space-Time Token was excellent. Although An Miaoling had reached the third level of the Nirvana Realm, many powerful figures could still threaten her outside the sect. With this token, she could summon his projection. As for the Eternal Indestructible Body, it was a Supreme-tier physical cultivation technique. Normally, the first layer required ten 5,000-year-old herbs and agonizing refinement—using lightning tribulations, wicked winds, and purgatorial flames to break the body down before repairing it with herbs. Since he had achieved it directly, he considered himself very lucky.

He now had the capital to contend with those in the Saint Realm. In high spirits, he went to the Demon-Locking Tower to gather ingredients for a meal. By the time he finished cooking, a full moon hung high in the sky.