Chapter 35 — Azure Cloud True Person’s Legacy
Of course, it didn’t mean the real, living ‘Azure Cloud True Person.’
There was no way a person from two hundred years ago could suddenly appear before me.
In reality, it didn’t even look fully human.
The form was clear, but it was strangely blurred, as if covered by a thin veil.
This was most likely—
An intent incarnation created from the will and energy Azure Cloud True Person had left behind in this place.
For an absolute expert who had even ascended to immortality, leaving behind such an intent incarnation wouldn’t be impossible.
It was then.
The intent incarnation slowly raised its right hand.
Shaaaaa—!
The moment it moved, a ripple-like slash spread through the air.
In response, the old sword marks on the walls shimmered with a silvery glow.
I couldn’t help but hold my breath.
‘…No way.’
The tip of the intent incarnation’s finger drew slowly through the empty air.
An ‘formless line’ stretched out from its fingertip.
Ssssssh—
The ‘Flow’ created by that formless line overlapped perfectly with the curved sword marks engraved on the wall.
Those elegant curves carved into the stone.
At first, I had thought they were sword marks left by internal energy powerful enough to carve stone.
But I was wrong.
They weren’t sword scars at all.
They were lines drawn with the ‘flow of qi’ itself.
‘Formless Sword… so such a realm truly exists.’
A realm spoken of only in legends.
The absolute state where one could cut through all things using only the flow of qi.
That very Formless Sword was unfolding right before my eyes.
I swallowed hard.
The intent incarnation extended its fingertip and gracefully twisted its body to the side.
In response, the straight sword marks on the opposite wall reacted, emitting a faint blue light.
Shaaaaaack—
The formless slash cut straight through the air and reached the wall.
The sword aura that surged like a wave shot forward in a straight line, leaving a clear trajectory as if slicing through rock.
Then the intent incarnation took a single step.
Ssssh—
With each step, the marks left on the floor flashed in succession.
Weight shift, stride length, distribution of force.
Everything matched the flow of the footwork perfectly.
Afterimages of the intent incarnation began to spread out.
One.
Two.
Three—
Soon, dozens of afterimages appeared.
Each moved according to different principles, following the sword marks on the walls and the traces on the floor.
Some drew curves with the Formless Sword, while others soared as if grazing the ceiling before descending again, perfectly tracing the footwork trajectories.
The movements were similar, yet all different.
The Flow was the same, yet the essence differed.
It was as if layers of training accumulated over decades were unfolding all at once.
Facing this overwhelming depth of martial arts, I couldn’t even breathe.
‘…So this is the ‘Flow’ that Azure Cloud True Person left behind?’
At that moment, the dozens of afterimages slowly began merging into one.
Once again becoming a single entity, the intent incarnation raised its fingertip.
The air rippled.
Quietly, yet massively.
Shaaaaaaaaaack—!
The Flow exploded outward, vibrating the entire underground space.
The curved sword marks on the walls, the footwork traces on the floor, even the faint ripples touching the ceiling.
Every single trace left in the underground space flashed with silvery light at the same time.
All of it converged into a single essence.
And at its center, a perfect line radiating dazzling light was formed.
The pinnacle of a single strike. An absolute, flawless ‘Flow’ without any forced strength.
I stared at the scene, forgetting even to breathe.
As the final Flow passed through the air, all the residual light filling the underground space scattered into nothingness.
Perfect silence returned once more.
The intent incarnation, the Formless Sword, the Flow… everything had vanished.
Only the soft glow of the night-luminous pearls remained, quietly illuminating the empty darkness.
***
“…Haa, haa.”
My breath finally burst out after a long while.
I hadn’t been able to breathe properly until just now.
My entire body was still trembling from the shock of witnessing something so overwhelmingly profound.
‘Flow…’
What I had just witnessed was not a simple demonstration of sword paths.
It was the enlightenment Azure Cloud True Person had left behind during his lifetime.
I had seen with my own eyes the deepest root of martial arts, that ultimate realm.
It was impossible to describe in words.
But if I could properly understand what I had just seen…
I was certain that my martial realm would advance not by one stage, but by several.
My instincts and senses were telling me so.
“…Damn it.”
I lightly bit my lip.
It had felt so close I could almost grasp it.
The enlightenment of the ‘Flow’ that Azure Cloud True Person had left behind.
But,
That Flow had slipped away right before I could seize it.
Like smoke scattering instantly in the air.
It had felt like I could reach it at any moment, yet I was just one step, one final inch short.
‘If only… if only I could have seen a little more.’
It wasn’t mere regret — it was closer to a desperate urge to reach out and grab it.
The moment that intense desperation tightened around the depths of my heart,
“…Huh?”
A flashing sensation streaked through the depths of my mind.
At the same time, I felt a strange pull, as if my consciousness was being drawn toward a certain point.
It was then.
[True Intent ‘Flow’ has been imprinted.]
A short message flashed before my eyes and then faded like spreading ink.
“…Imprinted? No way!”
I unconsciously drew in a sharp breath, and more text appeared in succession.
[The imprinted Flow can be reproduced.]
[Would you like to reproduce it?]
My heart pounded wildly.
‘…It can be reproduced?’
An unbelievable surge of anticipation rose from deep within my chest.
The thought that I might be able to see that final, pinnacle Flow I had missed filled my entire body with tremors.
I didn’t hesitate.
‘Reproduce it.’
[In accordance with the Awakener’s will, the imprinted Flow will now be reproduced.]
The familiar voice echoed in my mind, and the floating text disappeared.
A moment later,
‘…!’
I felt as if the depth of my senses had sharpened by another layer.
I unconsciously closed my eyes.
In the pitch-black darkness, a faint light began to spread.
It wasn’t real light.
It felt closer to something blooming from within my consciousness.
Sssssssh—
Something started to become visible in the gradually brightening field of vision.
No — it resurfaced.
It was the intent incarnation of Azure Cloud True Person that had vanished before my eyes earlier.
It stood with its back turned, just as I had first seen it.
But this time, it wasn’t appearing in the real physical space.
The ‘Flow’ imprinted deep in my mind was being reproduced.
At that moment, the intent incarnation’s shoulder moved ever so slightly.
It was a sign that the scene I had witnessed before was about to unfold again.
‘I can’t miss it this time.’
The perfect ‘Flow’ the intent incarnation had shown was on an overwhelmingly high level.
With my current realm, there was clearly a limit to how well I could follow it.
‘If only it could unfold just a little slower…!’
Desperation tightened around my mind.
It was then.
[In accordance with the Awakener’s will, the reproduction of the Flow will proceed at a slowed pace.]
My heart surged violently.
It was an exquisitely timed response, as if it had read my mind.
‘…Good.’
I focused my mind even deeper.
My consciousness sank quietly like a ripple on still water.
The intent incarnation’s fingertip rose with extreme slowness.
It moved several times slower than before.
The martial Flow the intent incarnation had displayed began to unfold again, scene by scene, in slow motion.
‘…I can understand it.’
The overwhelming martial Flow that the intent incarnation had first shown.
Back then, I had been swept away by its height and intensity, barely able to follow it with my eyes.
But this time was different.
Every line, every essence, and even the flow of breath drawn by the intent incarnation became clearly readable.
It felt as if my awakening ability was carefully unraveling and displaying Azure Cloud True Person’s ‘Flow.’
The reproduced Flow of the intent incarnation was, as expected, perfect and overwhelming.
The energy extending from its fingertip sliced through the space, creating countless trajectories.
And at some point—
My body began naturally following the Flow that the intent incarnation was demonstrating.
My toes naturally stepped onto the flow of footwork on the floor, and my wrist rotated smoothly along its essence.
I was advancing not through mere understanding, but through bodily acquisition.
‘Just a little more… just a little more…’
Inside my inner space, I continued following that ‘Flow.’
The realm that had seemed utterly unreachable now felt almost within my grasp.
But at that very moment,
[The current realm of the Awakener allows reproduction of the ‘Flow’ only up to this point.]
[The remaining ‘Flow’ will reveal itself naturally as the Awakener’s realm advances.]
The intent incarnation and the martial Flow that had filled my vision vanished into the air.
The afterglow of light slowly faded, and the inside of my consciousness sank back into darkness.
I slowly opened my eyes.
The underground space before me remained completely unchanged.
Only the soft blue-white glow of the night-luminous pearls still illuminated the darkness as before.
The real change was taking place inside me.
“Huuu…”
The moment I unconsciously drew in a breath, I felt something stir within my dantian.
The internal energy settled deep in my dantian rose gently and spread through my meridians.
It wasn’t forced circulation.
It was a smooth, natural flow, as if it had found its own path.
It was definitely a different sensation from before.
‘…Now I understand.’
The ‘martial Flow’ left behind by Azure Cloud True Person that I had followed in the depths of my subconscious.
I hadn’t reached that lofty realm he had attained.
But my body had ‘remembered’ a part of that new realm.
I didn’t force strength into the hand holding my sword.
I simply steadied my breathing, and my body reacted naturally.
Shhh—
My toes naturally slid forward.
They landed precisely on the trajectory of the footwork traces left on the floor.
It wasn’t a movement I had consciously intended.
It felt as if my body was finding the path on its own.
Then the sword slowly rose.
It wasn’t that I lifted the sword—my arm moved naturally, as if breathing.
Swish—
The tip of the sword drew through the air.
Naturally, no sword energy surged forth, nor did it shake the walls.
But the trajectory of the sword bore a deep resemblance to the direction of the sword marks engraved on the walls.
I widened my eyes.
‘…My body remembers it.’
The sword path I had just executed was clearly lacking.
It was crude compared to the Formless Sword demonstrated by the intent incarnation.
Yet a portion of the Flow the intent incarnation had shown had seeped into my sword path.
When I steadied my breathing once more, my body naturally continued into the next movement.
My toes landed exactly on the flow of footwork on the floor.
The sword rotated smoothly, following the flow through my elbow and shoulder.
Shhhh—
A faint trace of qi rippled along the path where my hand holding the sword passed.
The martial realm that had seemed impossibly high, something I could never catch up to.
My body was already trying to follow the path toward that realm on its own.
I paused in surprise for a moment.
‘So this was the Flow…’
I hadn’t fully understood it yet.
I might never reach it in my lifetime.
But I had clearly stepped onto the ‘threshold’ of that realm, at least in part.
“…Azure Cloud True Person.”
I quietly murmured to myself.
The True Intent he had left behind.
The martial ‘Flow’ the intent incarnation had shown.
All of it was guiding me to a higher place.
Now, only one thing remained.
I had to train this enlightenment, engrave it into my body, and refine it further.
The remaining Flows. The final strike I had yet to reach.
They would quietly sleep within me, waiting for my realm to rise.
I turned my steps toward the staircase.
The moment I took a step—
‘…Hm?’
A very faint flow of energy brushed past from behind me, scattering like a fleeting breeze.
There was no wind, yet it felt as if some essence was flowing.
For a moment, I had the illusion that Azure Cloud True Person’s intent incarnation had turned to look at me one last time.
I paused briefly and looked back.
There was nothing.
Only complete silence, with all traces already settled.
“…Must have been my imagination.”
I turned forward again.
Then I slowly walked toward the stairs.
It was time to return to the surface.
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