Chapter 60
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: Divine Sense
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Aerial combat using Air Treading Steps.
This was truly unfamiliar to So-hyang.
Of course, she had never experienced it in this life, nor in her previous one.
She had crossed swamps in the Amazon rainforest, balancing on planks and kayaks while clashing with local warlord gangs.
She had memories of dashing across sand dunes in Middle Eastern deserts, slicing through terrorists.
And even surfing the vast Pacific Ocean on a single surfboard, hunting great whales.
So-hyang had honed her swordsmanship overcoming all sorts of harsh terrains and constraints, but the sky was a realm unfamiliar even to her.
Of course, she wasn't entirely without experience in aerial combat.
Grabbing helicopter rappel ropes to ascend with them, snapping the necks of gunners and pilots, then severing the wings of pursuing fighter jets.
Or swinging through city skyscrapers like Spider-Man on specially made wires.
Or strapping on a jetpack to raid drug lords' safehouses.
She had such memories.
However, those experiences all relied on terrain features or external tools.
This was her first time flying purely on her own power and wielding her sword in the sky.
And facing not fighter jets or missiles, but another swordsman.
"Ahaha, this is fun."
The Pure Void Daoist had launched So-hyang into the sky with a palm strike infused with profound inner energy, then followed suit, swinging his Pine Pattern Ancient Sword.
"Even if you can move in the sky, can you truly call it walking?"
So-hyang raised her Spirit Sword to block the sword strike, and immediately realized the issue.
"Ah, this is—"
The Air Treading Step So-hyang employed lightened her body to the extreme through peak lightness skill, allowing her to step and walk on empty air.
"You're getting pushed back helplessly?"
In other words, she couldn't withstand the weight behind her opponent's sword and was sent flying.
Bounced back by the impact, So-hyang let out a wry chuckle.
"...You're quite sly, aren't you."
As expected of a two-hundred-year-old veteran of the rivers and lakes—whether due to a petty grudge over her giving his disciple false hopes, the battlefield he chose was one favorable to him from the start.
"Let's keep going without a break."
The sword art he unfolded was Flowing Cloud Sword.
Unlike the standard Wudang style, which emphasized defensive techniques based on Taiji circles and postemptive strikes, this was an aggressive flowing sword that pressed with ever-changing, varied offenses.
It was a time of one-sided assault.
The Air Treading Step So-hyang used and the one the Pure Void Daoist employed differed in quality.
In So-hyang's case, it reduced her weight and strengthened her leg power to the level where she could 'walk'.
The Pure Void Daoist's footwork was as stable as treading solid ground.
Thanks to the cloud-like inner energy currents enveloping his body, it seemed even freer and more steadfast than standing on two feet.
"Ah, is that Wudang's Ladder Cloud Vertical?"
Generally, when evaluating lightness skill proficiency, mastering the ability to walk on air qualifies one as using Air Treading Step.
That's impressive enough, but the opponent before her had achieved even greater heights.
"Indeed. If you dislike my choice of venue, you may descend—no issue."
Among the pinnacle lightness skills, always mentioned alongside Heavenly Demon Supremacy Step and Soaring Dragon Eight Forms, this was a supreme secret technique.
Facing a practitioner of this in the sky was blatantly unfair, even somewhat despicable.
Thus, the Pure Void Daoist made the courteous offer, already knowing how So-hyang would respond.
"Well, do you want to?"
"Goodness, no."
Having peered into each other's hearts with their eyes, he still posed such a question.
"Then, let's continue."
Hearing her response, the Pure Void Daoist chuckled at his own consistent nature and swung his sword fiercely without further hesitation.
So-hyang blocked the incoming assault with a smile of amusement, yet let out a groan of frustration.
"Tsk, what to do about this?"
Without ground to push off, she couldn't infuse power into her steps, rendering all movements lifeless.
Defense meant being helplessly pushed back by the incoming weight.
Offense lacked the force to pierce or bypass defenses, becoming bland and empty strikes.
With attacks meaningless, she was inevitably forced into defense, and even that faltered.
The situation was disadvantageous in itself.
"Ho, got time to think?"
As So-hyang pondered, the tip of the sword engraved with pine patterns shot toward her in a straight-line thrust.
So-hyang barely deflected it by angling her Spirit Sword.
Unable to fully absorb the shock, her body should have been sent flying backward, but she twisted her trajectory, spinning like a top.
And with that, a centrifugal sword swing.
"Hah, a counterattack even then?"
The Pure Void Daoist looked surprised but easily blocked the swing.
It was a sharp strike, but a sword without footing was inevitably dull.
Of course, she wasn't incapable of unfolding a leaf-like sword art centered on evasion and deflection, but it didn't satisfy her.
That would just be fleeing the opponent's chosen game.
"As expected, this won't do."
Ways to support weight and generate power in the sky without footing to step on.
A few methods immediately came to So-hyang's mind.
First, simply expelling inner energy for propulsion.
Effective, but inefficient.
Second, mobilizing full power or releasing seals for overwhelming leg force to stomp the air.
Also inefficient, not a fundamental solution.
The reason So-hyang sought this spar and crossed swords wasn't mere victory, but growth.
If she just wanted to win, she could cling desperately, using the Pure Void Daoist as footing in a frenzy.
But So-hyang sought not brute force, but true enlightenment to advance a step.
A perfect exemplar stood before her—a time for learning.
First, observation with the five senses.
The visible flow of the cloud mists.
The sound of energy condensing in her ears.
Though slightly different from typical Gang Qi, as tangible inner energy, the trajectory was similar, giving her a sense of its properties.
Next, qi sense and spirit sense.
Simply shaping inner energy into cloud-like fluid around her body was something even current So-hyang could do easily.
The key was what elevated it to Ladder Cloud Vertical, treating air as ground for free movement.
What was that crux?
She needed to peer deeper.
So-hyang's pale eyes narrowed slightly, gazing sharply at the opponent as if to slice him apart.
"...You, those eyes—could it be."
The Pure Void Daoist's signature ultimate art, a superior vision encapsulating Taiji and Wuji principles.
Of course, as a unique ultimate art built from one's life and martial accumulation, she couldn't fully imitate it, but she could mimic fragments of its method.
Eyes are windows to the mind.
Mind is the fruit of the soul.
The vision of one who has expanded their existence goes beyond perceiving light with optic nerves.
It holds potential to pierce even higher-dimensional intangible truths.
So-hyang recognized this by locking eyes with the Pure Void Daoist.
Inspired by gripping the sect leader to pry open his mind's window and hammer in thoughts, she awakened the reverse—receiving.
Her pupils emitted a glow, subtle yet vividly clear.
The reach of that light was her vision, now broader, deeper, farther than before.
"Hah, unbelievable."
The Pure Void Daoist pressed with successive sword swings yet sighed in exasperation unwittingly.
Eyes he prided for surpassing even ancestral visions after over a century of refinement.
Born from the uniqueness of an ultimate art constructing personal subjectivity beyond laws—not something ordinary transcendent masters could attain.
If they did, the backlash would shatter their minds—
"—My mental fortitude is rather sturdy, you see."
The key was opening the mind to receive information.
Human minds and souls are inherently fragile; opening them is as dangerous as gutting oneself.
But So-hyang's mind and soul, tempered by unique madness and sword heart, wouldn't break—posing no burden.
"...Heh."
His thoughts were read.
Not inferred from outward signs, but peering into thoughts themselves.
In turn, peering into So-hyang's mind, "sturdy" fell short of describing her psyche.
"Well, perhaps not insane?"
"Hm, can't deny that."
So-hyang could now see more, deeper.
Yet it was less vision, more a distinct sense; for the Pure Void Daoist, his ultimate art altered eye structure into visual form.
Thus, So-hyang didn't need eyes as the focal point.
She opened her mind, spreading will and spirit omnidirectionally to unfold perception.
Similar to spirit sense or qi sense, but those resembled smell or hearing—
This was like touch.
Like judging with skin's texture by reaching out, her consciousness and intent perceived and insighted everything within range.
"Ah, this is interesting."
As if extending another limb, overlaying nerves onto space.
A spherical field like a soap bubble, sensing everything within intimately.
"Perceiving with unfolded consciousness... yes."
Shall we call it Divine Sense.
"...Monstrous."
The Pure Void Daoist saw it too.
A realm of consciousness dissecting essence, a pure white domain centered on So-hyang's body.
His was an ultimate art culmination of lifelong transcendent achievement; this monstrous junior recreated it via mere imitation and enlightenment.
Regardless, So-hyang used her new Divine Sense to scrutinize the Pure Void Daoist.
"...I get the gist now."
His Ladder Cloud Vertical around his body—vague inference solidified into firm conviction.
It was terrain and a mount crafted from inner energy.
To withstand exchanges of transcendent masters, merely dispersing shock into air fell short.
"More intricate than expected?"
Space. Recognizing space's concept and rooting into its boundaries.
Not merely Wudang's Ladder Cloud Vertical, but elevated to higher realm fused with his ultimate art—a miracle technique.
In a word, part of his ultimate art.
"Hm, troublesome."
Even for So-hyang, grasping and understanding the principle didn't allow simple mimicry.
Slicing recognized space was one thing; dynamically fixing cloud mists to high-speed moving coordinates was impossible.
A realm of mastery through repeated trials, errors, optimization.
"I said it before: it's not what you see, but what you do that matters."
Toward So-hyang's troubled smile, the Pure Void Daoist's Pine Pattern Ancient Sword flew again.
"But, do I need to copy it entirely?"
And with that, So-hyang's foot stomped the air fiercely, her form exploding forward.
"—Kuh!?"
The Pure Void Daoist urgently jerked his head back, but a small scratch marred his cheek.
"...What did you do now?"
Recreating lightness skill before forging her sword, reworking his ultimate art her way—So-hyang didn't obsess over exact mimicry of seen techniques.
Understand result and principle, then recreate somehow, even if process differed.
Convergent evolution of sorts—fulfill the role, done.
Ladder Cloud Vertical's principle: dynamically rooting into space's boundaries per movement to fix coordinates.
Just reference the core: supporting space's boundary as brace.
Generate Gang Qi underfoot, slice space's boundary finely via Divine Sense.
Then, step using it as footing.
Not a full swing, so power lacked; the slice merely a minor nick.
A faint ripple of a cross-section, quick to restore.
"—Sufficient."
She could now step with weight.
Infuse power into her sword.
In short, now on equal footing, ready for true contest.
"Honestly, it was frustrating. Now my turn."
Short, concise steps narrowing distance like slicing it; in an instant, So-hyang's Spirit Sword reached the Pure Void Daoist's nose tip.
He desperately raised his sword to block, but couldn't hide his complicated expression.
"...Haa."
Ultimately, he sighed deeply, as if the earth sank.
In what world does one mimic ultimate arts?
Steal sect secrets upon sight?
Though spars teach through exchange, having one's bottom line stripped so one-sidedly...
"Oh? Time for such thoughts?"
As if to personally dispel them, So-hyang unleashed rapid consecutive strikes matching short steps.