Reincarnated As God 39 The Sword Chasm

The caravan unfortunately continued going on for a long time. Meng Li was mildly annoyed at the sun for not setting faster, but he knew it wouldn't help. As such, he waited until the caravan stopped.
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When the leader instructed the caravan to stop and set up camp in a clearing close by, Meng Li didn't wait and help and instead briefly notified Ye Jian. He was sure that the arrogant leader wouldn't care about his disappearance.

"Brother Ye, I'm not going to help you set up camp. I need to do something, I'll return tomorrow morning." Meng Li sent a message with Spiritual Sense to Ye Jian. Ye Jian simply nodded at him in response.

Meng Li continued onwards quickly. Even though his robes were normally quite eye-catching, the workers who were setting up camp didn't notice him, even when he practically b.u.mped into them. This was a result of Meng Li completely restraining his aura. How aura works is that everyone has it - even mortals. They can also sense it subconsciously. When a cultivator has control over their aura, they can restrain it and hide their cultivation. However, no ones is able to restrain all of their aura - some of it always leaks out. That's why cultivators with a higher level can sense lower level cultivators. Of course, in such a situation, Meng Li restrained his aura such that mortals and even cultivators wouldn't notice him. It was different from before - when Ye Jian talked with the third layer Qi Gathering cultivator, Meng Li restrained his aura to a level of a mortal, unlike now.

With this small trick, Meng Li quickly arrived to a place with no people around. He used teleportation to go to an even more remote area, since he felt that the place he was at was still too close. He didn't know what might happen, so he was careful.

When he arrived, Meng Li didn't look at the environment around him and simply found a place to sit. It was a pity - the valley he had found was pretty. It was hidden, and something Meng Li would normally appreciate.

However, Meng Li didn't care. He summoned another sword and carefully gripped the hilt. Unfortunately, that mysterious feeling didn't come. Meng Li was disappointed, but not discouraged. However, even with the lack of the feeling, he still felt a certain level of closeness with the sword. Its' existence gave him a feeling of security, which didn't come from something external. It was more akin to a confidence that with a sword, he was safe. It was confusing to Meng Li, since this was the second time he had held a sword in his life - on earth, even though he played with toy swords, he didn't have any experience with real ones.

With a confused look on his face, Meng Li stared at the sword. It was a normal steel sword without any Qi, like the one he summoned for Ye Jian. While holding it, Meng Li felt an overwhelming urge to swing it all of a sudden. He subconsciously did so, without thinking about it.

Fortunately, while he swung without thinking, he remembered which way he should hold it and didn't swing with the flat side. The edge of the sword seemed to cut apart the air as it travelled downwards. The swing was lacking in power - Meng Li didn't put much force behind it and apart from the initial swinging motion merely held it. However, the sword cut apart air without producing as much as a single sound. The air didn't immediately close the gap left by the sword either - it took just under a second for the gap to disappear. It produced a beautiful trail behind the sword as it travelled through the air.

The swing was mysterious enough while it was in the air, but the beauty of it was completely on display once it touched the rock Meng Li was sitting on. It was a part of the ground and stood at about two metres in height. It was harder than regular rock, though not the hardest one could find. However, when Meng Li's sword touched the rock, it pa.s.sed through like it was b.u.t.ter. Without pause, the swing continued on and finally stopped when Meng Li hit his leg with the hilt. As it didn't carry any significant force, it wasn't at all painful, and Meng Li still didn't wake up from the confusion he was in. Thus, he didn't notice the sword travelling through the solid rock, as well as what happened after the slash stopped.

He simply stayed in a trance, seemingly on the verge of comprehending something. However, he was unable to grasp it, leaving him stumbling on the edges of comprehension. However, Meng Li himself wasn't aware of what was happening - he didn't have any time to process even the fact that he was trying to comprehend something. The miraculous state lasted for a few minutes, though to Meng Li, it felt like an instant. Unfortunately, Meng Li was unable to comprehend it in the end, and when he woke up, he felt a sense of loss, like he had missed something extremely valuable.

When he finally awoke, he notice the sword in his hand. His hand which was holding the hilt was surprisingly low. Meng Li looked down and to his surprise, the sword was seemingly embedded into the rock, with only a part of the hilt sticking out. The only thing which explained how it got into such a position was the small gap in the rock, which marked the path the sword travelled to get into this position. Confused, Meng Li pulled the sword out by the hilt and studied the gap in the rock, but while he was looking at it, he noticed something far more confusing. You see, while looking at the rock, Meng Li glanced at the ground a few metres behind the rock, and what was on the ground was far bigger than the gap in the rock.

The ground of the small valley itself was seemingly split into two at an unusual angle. However, Meng Li could sense something familiar from what could only be described as a chasm separating the valley. The chasm was actually a perfect representation of his sword's trajectory, which Meng Li could hazily remember. It was as though the sword was a brush and the world was a canvas, with a huge chasm appearing on it, like an artist painting over the previous coat of pain, erasing it from existence.

Upon closer inspection, Meng Li confirmed that the slash was indeed created by... Something caused by the swing he did. And what made it exceptional wasn't the destruction itself - Meng Li never tried, but he was quite sure he would be able to flatten the entire mountain in a split second if he simply tried. What made it special was the complete lack of any aura, and trace, or any signal what just happened. And even though Meng Li had indeed swung the sword, he didn't use any strength or energy, and was deep in thought. This action wasn't at all intentional on his part, which was what confused him the most.

Meng Li could only ask the system about it.

[You've once again started comprehending a Dao. The Dao of Sword, to be exact.] the system replied without any emotion. Even though its' consciousness was mostly numb, it still felt some surprise as to how a single person could border on comprehending a Dao on practically their first try - first the Dao of Painting, where Meng Li brushed against comprehending it while trying for the second time, and now the Dao of the Sword, where he actually practically managed to comprehend it with the first swing.

Meng Li was confused. He was focused on trying to comprehend the Dao of Painting without success, and now from nowhere he suddenly nearly grasped another Dao, the Dao of the Sword? This is like trying to learn cooking and accidentally learning a knife martial art! Meng Li had a certain anger within him, which he could not vent. It wasn't pointed at anything in general - after learning of cultivation, he got his final proof that G.o.d didn't exist, and even if there was some ent.i.ty like that, it was simply an extremely powerful cultivator. However, this anger, frustration, seemed to be aimed directly at a 'G.o.d' who was basically s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g with him.

However, Meng Li calmed down in a few seconds, returning to thinking. What stopped him from trying to comprehend two Daos? He would simply study the sword and paint during the peaceful times.

With this thought in mind, Meng Li went to the summoning tab and searched for sword arts. He found many sword arts with domineering names and descriptions. An interesting detail he noticed that at some point, the entire screen in his mind actually mutated - before, it took the form of a real screen, but now, it was more like a hologram. The descriptions also were upgraded, with three dimensional examples of the item he was summoning, as well as, in the case of manuals, examples of the results. A blank white figure resembling a mannequin was performing the arts, showing the results. Meng Li had a thought that since these were provided by the system, they were probably correct, and so he could try and learn these arts without summoning them. Of course, it was a thought - summoning them carried no problem to him, so why would he try to be cheap?

After browsing for a while, Meng Li decided. He chose an art called 'Sword Dance of the Faceless Devil'. It was a sword art focused on speed and precision as well as chaining moves. Meng Li chose it for several reasons: First, he preferred to be fast rather than strong, which was a preference which he carried over from earth - he wouldn't be hit easily and if he couldn't beat them, he could run away. Second, this sword art was a rather orthodox one - there were many he had seen which supplemented the sword with fire, water, air, or earth, or even more esoteric elements like s.p.a.ce, light, or even darkness. Meng Li worried that such arts wouldn't let him comprehend purely the sword, since to learn them, he would need to use those elements. Thirdly, the art simply seemed cool to him.

Without waiting, he summoned the manual. It appeared in his hands in merely a few seconds. The book was not large, but not small either. It looked mysterious, on the account of the cover being made from an unidentified black leather. At least for Meng Li - the description in the system stated that it was the leather of a Black Quartz Earth Wyrm, which was a type of a draconic species with an extremely diluted amount of the dragon's bloodline. It still meant that the wyrm was born at the Qi Foundation Realm and grew to the peak of Origin Soul in their adulthood, and that was a.s.suming they didn't cultivate or evolve their bloodline and simply lived on.

To sum it up, it was an extremely strong beast to Meng Li at the current time. The black leather felt smooth to the touch and weirdly cold, while in some places it simply felt like he was touching a crystal.

When Meng Li was about to open the manual and start reading, the system actually said something to him without him asking a question.

[I strongly suggest you choose a different manual.] it said.

Meng Li seemingly froze. His hands had stopped in the middle of opening the book. He didn't close it, because he wanted to ask the system first.

he asked, curiously. This was the first time after he first arrived in the control room that the system spoke first.

[All of the arts you've seen in the summoning tab are tainted. They aren't purely focused on the Dao of the Sword. You've seen the ones focusing on elements - those are easy to spot. However, certain other ones aren't. For example, the manual you're holding. It's not a pure sword art - it has some comprehension of the Dao of the Devil.] the system answered in its' usual monotone voice.

Meng Li was relieved. He chose this art because he was worried about precisely what the system described. This art seemed like the most focused on the pure art of the sword. With a resolute move, Meng Li closed the book on his lap and put it in his bag of holding. Even though it wasn't useful to him, it could be given to someone else, who was more suited towards it.

When he stored the manual, Meng Li returned to his consciousness and asked the system.

he asked eagerly. Something which the system itself recommended had to be something good, right? Unfortunately, his hopes were dashed when the summoning tab changed. What was shown on it weren't ancient grandiose manuals, scrolls or even jade slips - what appeared was a single item, a stack of loose papers. The t.i.tle read 'Sword Basics'.