Setis closed her eyes, and upon hearing this sound of confusion, her heart immediately filled with unease.
Could something have actually gone wrong?
Just as she was about to ask, the formation beneath her feet suddenly underwent a new change.
The originally soft light instantly contracted, finally condensing into an extremely faint shadow behind Setis.
The shadow was thin and straight, resembling a sharp sword that had not yet been unsheathed.
Hui stared at the shadow for a long moment, the expression on her face losing its usual composure.
She remained silent, slowly walking a circle around Setis, then extended her paw to lightly tap the edge of the formation twice.
The light and shadow dispersed.
Quiet was restored to the room.
When Setis opened her eyes, she happened to see Hui's peculiar expression.
Shock, confusion, and a hint of inexplicable disbelief.
Her heart instantly tightened.
“Am I really that unlucky?”
Hui looked up at her and remained silent, which made Setis's tone weaken slightly.
“Is my... so-called bone structure really that bad?”
But to her surprise, Hui shook her head.
“It's not bad.”
Setis had just let out a sigh of relief when Hui added another sentence:
“But it's not ordinary, either.”
This made her even more confused, and she asked in bewilderment:
“Then why do you have that expression?”
Hui did not respond immediately. She looked down at the formation on the floor, then glanced at Setis, as if still confirming whether she had misseen earlier.
After a moment, she swept open the wooden door with her tail and said softly:
“Come out.”
Setis followed her out of the cottage.
Hui sat down by the low table, and Setis followed suit.
The white fox remained silent for a good while before letting out a soft sigh.
“You are suited to walk the path of a sword cultivator.”
Setis blinked.
“A sword cultivator?”
She had seen this term a few times in 《Chronicles of Kyushu》, but it was not described in detail. Most of the time, sword cultivators were just powerful figures who suddenly appeared in a story, slaying an enemy with a single strike of a sword before leaving gracefully.
She had originally thought they were just a type of cultivator who used swords.
Hui saw her confusion and explained:
“Unlike ordinary cultivators, sword cultivators can basically only cultivate the path of the sword. It is not that they cannot learn other Daoist arts or divine abilities at all, but they generally cannot learn them well, nor is there any need to.”
Setis was stunned.
“You mean... I can only learn the sword?”
“Pretty much.”
Hui nodded.
“Sword cultivation emphasizes sword qi, sword intent, and sword heart. The further you go, the narrower and purer the path becomes. Ordinary cultivators can learn fire arts, water arts, talismans, formations, artifact refining, and alchemy—they can dabble in a whole bunch of miscellaneous things. Sword cultivators are different; most of the time, they only do one thing.”
Setis subconsciously followed up:
“Practice the sword?”
“Yes.”
Hui glanced at her.
“Practice the sword, nurture the sword, comprehend the sword, and ultimately temper yourself into a sword.”
Setis listened in a daze; these words were indeed very strange to her.
Temper a person into a sword?
She imagined that scene but simply could not understand it.
More importantly—
She suddenly felt a slight trace of disappointment in her heart.
Ever since she heard Li Yuan say she could cultivate spells, she had been excited for days. She wanted to learn all kinds of spells, formations, and talismans, and she also wanted to learn those Daoist arts that could conjure fire out of thin air or move mountains and drain seas.
《Chronicles of Kyushu》 recorded quite a few similar stories.
There were cultivators who could summon thunder with a wave of their hand, those who trapped demons with paper talismans, and those who hid entire mountains using formations.
To her, these things were even more novel than the magic at the academy.
But now, Hui was telling her that she would most likely not be able to learn any of these...
Setis was somewhat unwilling to give up, and she could not entirely hide the disappointment on her face.
Seeing her expression, Hui immediately understood that her thoughts had gone astray.
She sneered.
“What? Do you think it's a pity?”
Setis hesitated for a moment but still nodded honestly.
“A little bit.”
She had somewhat of an obsession with spells.
“I've always wanted to learn those spells. The techniques written in the books are very powerful and interesting.”
Hui raised her paw and lightly tapped the tabletop.
“Do you think sword cultivators aren't powerful?”
Setis thought about it and said seriously:
“It's not that they aren't powerful. It's just... can the power of a sword really be greater than that of a spell?”
As a former magic warrior, she understood the gap between swords and magic better than ordinary people.
At lower ranks, warriors could indeed suppress mages with speed and strength.
But the further they progressed, the more obvious the mages' advantage became.
Large-scale attacks, elemental suppression, flight, barriers, illusions, forbidden spells—none of these were things a simple sword swing could compare to.
There were also many students in the warrior department at the academy, but even they would not deny the terror of high-level magic.
Unless one could reach the level of the Empire's Great Sage, Venus, they would basically be firmly suppressed by magic.
Setis frowned and continued:
“As a former magic warrior, I've learned both close combat and magic. No matter how strong swordsmanship is, it can hardly compare to magic that can destroy an entire block at a whim, right?”
Upon hearing this, Hui let out a direct sneer.
“Don't compare the magic and swordsmanship of your world to the sword cultivators of the cultivation world.”
Her tone carried unconcealed disdain.
“They are simply two completely different things.”
Setis remained silent; she clearly did not understand the meaning of these words.
Hui raised her head and looked toward the distant spiritual spring sea.
“In Kyushu, there are many paths for cultivators. Some cultivate spells, focusing on the changes of the five elements; some cultivate the path of formations, using the heaven, earth, mountains, and rivers to set up deadly traps; some cultivate the path of alchemy, where refining a single cauldron of pills can keep a dying person hanging on; and some cultivate the physical body, shattering mountains and splitting the earth with their fists and kicks.”
“Sword cultivation is one of the most difficult paths among them.”
She paused for a moment and then continued:
“Sword cultivators are not strong in the early stages, and their path is difficult to walk; their path of cultivation is even more arduous than that of many other cultivators. Others can rely on magic treasures, talismans, and pills to make up for their shortcomings, but sword cultivators mostly have only the swords in their hands.”
“What they must do is practice the sword day after day. This process is very dry and tests one's patience.”
Setis's brow twitched slightly, and Hui glanced at her.
“Scared?”
Setis shook her head.
“No.”
Hui did not continue to tease her, and her tone turned serious.
“Only when you can sense sword qi will you be considered to have truly crossed the threshold. Beyond that is sword intent. Sword intent is not pure power, but a sword cultivator's understanding of their own path. Some have sword intent like fire, fierce and violent; some have sword intent like water, continuous and endless; and some have sword intent as heavy as mountains, where a single strike can leave an opponent breathless.”
Setis's eyes slowly lit up. This sword cultivation did not sound as dry and boring as she had imagined.
“Once you reach the state of a clear sword heart and forge your own sword path, you can use your sword to slash through spells, break formations, sever karmic ties, and even cut down the divine abilities others cast upon you.”
Setis was stunned.
“You can even slash through spells?”
“Of course.”
Hui's tone was natural.
“In terms of power at the same level, sword cultivators can undoubtedly rank in the top three. But if we talk about pure slaughter, they can often rank first.”
Setis's breathing quickened slightly. Hui raised one of her tails and pointed toward the distant sea.
“For example, with the body of water before us, ordinary spells or formations would find it very difficult to affect it, or could only affect a small portion of it.”
Setis looked in the direction she was pointing.
“But a powerful sword cultivator only needs a single strike to split it in two.”
Setis could not help but ask:
“Splitting the sea with a single strike?”
Hui looked at her, her tone indifferent.
“Splitting it... is only the beginning.”
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