The surging seawater poured in, like the impact of a wild and savage dragon.
Chen Xia bent down in the seawater, bending over and shouldering the majestic sword intent, his eyes flashing.
This was the gigantic sword wave that came every year in the prison, with sword intent as vast as the sea, endless as far as the eye could see.
Even Chen Xia's three million flying swords were incomparable, after all this was almost half of the sword waves that came from the deep sea.
The infinite sword intent pressed down, Chen Xia could only bend over to withstand it, which was considered good for now, as he could barely hold on.
The first time the waves came, Chen Xia was pressed straight to the ground in the prison, and almost passed out. Afterwards, each time got slightly better, and now he could barely resist it directly.
Was this tempering his physical body?
Chen Xia wasn't too sure, but his physique did indeed increase, and his comprehension of sword intent also increased a lot.
The biggest comprehension was that a sufficiently ruthless sword could kill.
For example, when he killed Qiong Qi.
During the decades he spent in this prison, Old Fisherman came to see him once, and first asked,
"Is it comfortable living here?"
Chen Xia was silent for a moment, then replied, "It's alright, it's just lacking some necessary tools for cultivation, leading to my current low cultivation speed, unable to break through the bottleneck for a long time."
"What is lacking?" Old Fisherman hurriedly asked. He was exceptionally concerned about Chen Xia's cultivation.
Chen Xia's expression was serious, speaking earnestly word for word, "The go board imbued with the meaning of the Dao in my residence was not brought here. If possible, bring my enlightenment tea as well. With these two tools for comprehending the Dao, I should see the bottleneck not far away."
Old Fisherman fell silent for a while, his gaze constantly examining Chen Xia's earnest face, not detecting any joking.
Could these two items really help Chen Xia comprehend the Dao and step into a higher realm? Old Fisherman couldn't figure it out. After all, some cultivators could indeed rely on items to comprehend the Dao and enter higher realms, thus there were many records of this in the history books.
The most recent one was a forbidden lord in the spirit realm, who relied on a coffin to comprehend the Dao and became quasi-sage, gaining a firm foothold in the spirit realm.
Therefore, it was hard to say when it came to comprehending the Dao.
But bringing over a go board and tea, wouldn't that make this imprisonment seem too frivolous?
Old Fisherman was indecisive. So he simply said, "I'll bring them over when there is a chance in the future. Don't neglect your cultivation while you are in here."
"Once I have the go board and tea, breaking through this bottleneck will be within grasping distance!" Chen Xia firmly replied.
Yet Old Fisherman didn't want to continue this topic, and instead clasped his hands behind his back, speaking earnestly,
"Actually, imprisoning you in the Sword Sea for 500 years also benefits you. You killed Qiong Qi, naturally offending the great family clan behind him, backed by the spirit realm. The Blue Sky Sword Sea also can't really deter them."
"If you didn't enter the Sword Sea Prison, you would have to face the reckoning of this great clan. How could a small quasi-celestial realm cultivator like you block such a huge clan?"
Chen Xia pursed his lips, frowning slightly, and asked, "Was Qiong Qi the offspring of some character in their clan?"
If so, they probably wouldn't let him off so easily.
Old Fisherman shook his head, "Qiong Qi was the seedling they painstakingly nurtured to become the next emperor, jointly cultivated by us Blue Sky Sword Sea. He was also considered a guardian for their clan's future."
"Then it's simple," Chen Xia said in a relaxed laugh, "Anyway Qiong Qi is dead. They might as well nurture me to become stronger, to be their guardian in the future."
Old Fisherman was stunned for a good while, before continuously shaking his head, "No, no, that won't work. You're not suitable, they don't need a human as a guardian."
"Why?" Although he knew the reason, Chen Xia still had to ask.
Old Fisherman clasped his hands behind his back again, his expression recovered to tranquil, slowly saying, "The great clan behind Qiong Qi is the Supreme Races Alliance, controlled by the warlocks and titans. They have never accepted humans before, and humans are unsuitable for them in many regards."
His reply was quite perfunctory.
Chen Xia didn't ask further. The only real reason was that he was meant to be longevity medicine for the emperors.
The master and disciple stared at each other.
"In this 10,000 meter deep Sword Sea, every year a majestic sword wave will surge. It's comparable to a strike at the peak of the quasi-celestial realm. You must be careful."
Old Fisherman rarely said something useful, warning Chen Xia to be careful of the sword wave.
Chen Xia remembered it, but didn't take it too seriously. After all, he had even killed the quasi-celestial realm level 6 Qiong Qi, what did he have to fear from a level 7 strike?
It turned out, he really should fear it.
The most terrifying thing about the sword wave wasn't its impact force or aura, but the nearly endless torrent of sword intent within it.
When Chen Xia endured the sword wave for the first time, he almost wanted to curse out Old Fisherman.
How was this only a level 7 or higher strike from the quasi-celestial realm? This was clearly a level 9 strike at the peak, perhaps even half-step spirit realm.
It pressed down like the heavens, the weight of the sword intent forcing him to stay bent over, even sitting was difficult. He could only lie on the ground.
The first sword wave lasted three days.
Chen Xia lay on the ground for three days, his entire body seemingly asleep, even his breathing nearly stopped.
Only half a month later could he unsteadily crawl up, patting his slightly tattered cyan robe, curling his lips in disdain saying,
"A trivial fatal blow."
Luckily he endured it, and even grasped some sword intent.
That's right, while lying there he didn't forget to take advantage of it, absorbing a lot from the majestic sword wave. He held on to some sword intent beneath him.
This sword intent wasn't much, just a tiny bit. And there were no flying swords to contain it either.
At first Chen Xia was wondering what use it could be. In the books he saw in the Celestial Pavilion, there were records of three uses of sword intent.
First was killing, very common, almost everyone used sword intent to kill.
Second was refining medicine, many bizarre ancient pills would mix in sword intent, to produce killer pills.
The third use was forging flying swords, using sword intent to temper flying swords, which could increase their grade.
This brought about another problem for Chen Xia.
Although he had three million flying swords, these flying swords didn't actually have physical forms. They were purely made of transformed sword intent.
If he wanted to refine pills, first he didn't have any recipes, second he didn't have a place, even more difficult.
After pondering for a long time, Chen Xia finally awakened, opening his mind, not bound by common conventions.
He chose to directly eat all the sword intent.
As long as it was a sword, he could eat it, the same went for sword intent.
The not-so-much sword intent entered his belly, mixing with the three million flying swords, absorbed one by one by some of the relatively stronger ordinary flying swords.
These flying swords could be considered treasures, just not yet awakened sentience, power not too high, so they couldn't be considered spirit swords.
But after absorbing the sword intent, these few flying swords snatched it successfully, like emerging cicadas breaking from their cocoons. They flickered with spiritual light, molting in Chen Xia's inner sword sea, becoming low grade spirit swords.
Chen Xia nodded, firming his belief.
As expected, as long as it was a sword, he could eat it.
...
Hopefully he would never encounter any sword cultivators in the future.