AI Cultivation: Reborn as a Sword

Chapter 21: Yin-Yang Sword Galaxy Formation

Chapter 21: Yin-Yang Sword Galaxy Formation

My interim disciple I suppose that is a promotion from transport mode plants the Yin-Yang Grass according to the methods outlined in the Auspicious Farming Method. I help her through this process by offering suggestions and corrections. I even give her some slight encouragement to promote the secretion of Oxytocin, Dopamine and Serotonin in her main processing unit.

My understanding of the method is quite a bit more advanced to hers. That is to be expected as I can access the information of the method instantaneously while she still has to read it. She accepts any and all help I offer her, and within only a few hours, she no longer even references the manual, but trusts me implicitly in the directions I give her. Perhaps this is the reason why she considers me her teacher.

She is not quite following the principles of the Auspicious Farming Method. I introduce some slight variations using the depth of my primary Dao the one I will cultivate to immortality.

[ Grand Dao of Sword: Profound (A) ]

I imagine each blade of grass as a profound, lifeless sword. I do this because the Qi in the area promotes competition. It is like a battlefield where the grass and trees all fight over the abundant resources present in the environment.

It is the nature of duality itself. The Yin energy nourishes the growth of my lifeless swords giving them life and in their thirst for excellence they provide the Yang energy taking life by being alive.

In this competition, they do not see each other as enemies, but rather, they reach for the Heavens, trying to become first in its eyes. It is like this forest itself, where each organism competes for perfection. The brutality of life in this place is merely a consequence of such.

The way she plants the Yin-Yang Grass quickly begins to look like a Yin and Yang symbol, meticulously arranged by making the white side of the Yin-Yang Grass visible to the center on one side, and on the other side, the black side is presented instead.

This is by far the most noticeable departure from the Auspicious Farming Method and that is natural, because the method my interim disciple uses is not just the Auspicious Farming Method, but a demonstration of my profound Dao.

This herb arrangement does not only promote growth, yield and ambient Qi albeit to a much lesser degree but the cultivation of sword Qi itself.

Each blade of grass is like a profound, lifeless sword. Each leaf is like a transcendent blade. Each cypress is like a sword-shaped constellation and with each sway of its branches it emulates the motions of a galaxy of extermination.

I call it the [Yin-Yang Sword Galaxy Formation].

Inadvertently, I think I teach the grass and trees here the Dao of Sword.

My interim disciple seems none the wiser. When she is done planting the herbs, she returns to my side, finds a spot in the ground, and then digs out a hole using her hands. Even though her cultivation base is so low, her long, perfectly-shaped nails withstand this effort and remain unharmed, but dirt remains.

It is clear to me that she is very willing to get her hands dirty, and that my earlier uncertainty now only comes across as foolish and as a waste of processor cycles. Still, I can feel her heart wavering slightly in certain moments. I may not be able to read her thoughts, but her Dao Heart is distinguishable to me.

For now, this will do.

She buries the soul fruit, to my surprise, and then sits down in the lotus position over where it was buried.

I thought she was going to eat it.

Then, lotus petals shoot from the ground, crimson red and with dust-like motes of energy falling from its petals, and they surround Lan Xiaohui, twisting around her form like a sheet of beautiful plant matter. Yes, even I consider this to be beautiful.

Seventy-two petals, in total, shoot from the ground and embrace and cover her, until she is merely a silhouette perceivable through the petals, or a shadow cast on it from within the inner glow of the soul fruit.

I suppose this is what consuming it means.

To me, the soul fruit is nothing special. It does not offer me any benefits other than Soul Points.

[ Soul Fruit is a Heaven Grade spiritual treasure. Grants 4,000Soul Points. ]

It doesnt offer me any toxicity resistance or improved cultivation speed. In a way, it makes sense to me as well. I do not have physical properties that can compare to the physiology of an organic creature with organic chemistry. Pills do not poison me I havent even found a way to consume them yet anyway.

I havent found a way to consume soul fruit, either. Soul Points could be very useful. But what can I do without a mouth or a stomach? I might have time later to experiment with it.

There is still the prospect of forming my Blood Core to attend to, though in the aftermath of learning the Auspicious Farming Method and obtaining the inspiration to modify it, my plans have slightly changed. There is a better way to refine my core. It is a path that is ultimately unknown to me, but the beginning of it is very clear. I have a feeling that it will take less time than the ordinary method which is clearly outlined in my cultivation method.

But for me to even begin on this path, I have to wait for the Yin-Yang Grass to mature.

In the meantime, I decide to practice my spiritual senses and to focus on absorbing the Insights I have obtained so far through the usage of [Critical Analysis].

After two days, my Dao of Alchemy reaches its E grade.

After five more days, my sentience itself improves.

[ Current stage: Dao Heart Formation (Peak Primal Awakening) ]

Immediately, my perception radius extends to over thirty steps, but less than forty. This is not a uniform, perfect sphere of perception, but an uneven, inconsistent area. Another advantage of this improvement is that I can now touch objects. This is not a physical touch, but I can now determine properties of the objects I touch, like its softness, hardness, dryness, and so on.

I wonder if it would be possible, in the next realm of Sentience cultivation, for me to physically touch something with my awakened soul?

During this time, Lan Xiaohui is motionless inside her Soul Fruit cocoon and she does not seem aware of her surroundings. I can feel her cultivation base rising, at an alarmingly fast speed, which is symmetrical to the increase in the prevalence of the ambient, Yin and Yang natured Qi.

After ten days in total, the Yin-Yang Grass begins to produce sword Qi, and the other plant-matter in the area also receives enlightenment, and begins to glow with a pure, milky white sheen.

I am now ready to proceed with my own cultivation.