Choice
Within his room, Ling Tian opened his eyes as the light of Dawn entered through the windows. The Inn slowly began crowding as people headed downstairs for food and such or people simply leaving.
Cultivators didn't eat ordinary food since it was problematic for their cultivation, the mortal air could hinder their progress so they ate exquisite foods made of rare materials when they ate.
The things that a cultivator could eat were things such as meat of consumable demonic beasts or animals with Qi cultivation, rare spiritual plants or mystical fruits and etc. These things tasted much better than mortal food but they were rare and expensive. Most cultivators couldn't afford them so they stopped eating altogether or ate pills instead.
After one reached the XianTian realm, one could survive without eating food and by Qi alone; However, water was still something that needed to be taken and only Heavenly Awakening realm cultivators could ignore eating and drinking for good.
The delicious smell of food made Ling Tian sniff and break his cultivation state. He yawned as he stretched his hands and opened the system store to see his points. A cheerful smile of victory appeared on his face as he saw his 725,000 EP.
'I have finally done it! I am rich!'
He looked down and saw only 2 of the high-grade spirit stones remaining.
'It is worth it at this rate! Let's upgrade everything!'
He added 100,000 points to his talent immediately, the familiar feeling returned as his talent increased to the Mid-Heaven level. He tried it and saw he got 250 EP for one minute of cultivation. He upgraded again and his talent reached the High-Heaven level for 250,000 EP. He received 500 EP for one minute of cultivation. He noticed the next level needed 500,000 EP so he stopped with a sigh.
'No matter what, it is getting way too expensive... the numbers are irritating me a little...'
The system seemed to strangely understand his thoughts as the way his EP showed changed abruptly. The three zeros disappeared and a 'k' appeared in front of the number, he noticed it happened to all his Log's point reports. His remaining points showed 375k EP. (The 'k' Stands for thousand -> 12k EP= 12,000 EP)
'It seems this system's AI is merely inactive but still working somehow... I don't want to risk anything but turning it on... It could be an enemy and screw me over; I will ponder about this later.' he thought as he added 100k points to his cultivation.
The expected breakthrough didn't happen!
He grew confused as suddenly, several massages appeared on his Log and he began reading them with interest.
[This message has been Archived by the creator for the user/host. Upon reaching near the Inner Heaven realm it is to be shown:
My dear disciple and inheritor, you have a choice to make as did I and my master and his master and many before him too. Once one completes their transformation at the XianTian realm, they will become real Immortal practitioners, seekers of Dao, and truth. Chasers of the higher path and the great way.
Before you lies a choice, you must choose the path of your Dao. To make this choice you have to answer yourself these questions; Would your Will rather follow your heart or your reason? What would you do if, on one hand, you would die with no regret, on the other, you would live with regrets? What will you do when your reason tells you to run to survive but your Dao's heart is contradictory with your reason?
My successor, this does not mean for you to abandon reason and logic for that is a fool's way. It means what would be your priority if the two contradict. For example, Reason tells you to live as a slave for a hundred years so that you can exact revenge but your heart tells you to live free and destroy all obstacles on your path even if it means you die on the way for your willpower shall be gone after 100 years and your Dao heart at ruin; Which is the right one in your view? The life of a hill on earth or a shooting star in the sky?
Those who seek the sword, seek their heart; The path of the sword does not belong to heaven, it belongs to the swordsman. The Dao of a Sword Immortal is his own Dao it is not a Dao of heaven since the Sword was not born of heaven. There are many Daos that resemble the sword Dao and are from heaven but they are not the true Dao of the sword.
The true Dao of the Sword is to follow your own path, not the path of the gods, the demons, the devils, the celestials, or Heaven itself. The true path of the sword does not lie within reason or the path of heaven; it lies within the heart.
If you dare face the sky and not feel fear if the sky would crumble upon you so that it may bury your heart; that is the true path of the Sword; For those who walk on this path, feel no regret or remorse, they are serene and at peace for their hearts are free. Only a free heart can split the heavens and carve a path of its own upon the skies beyond...
A heart will have sadness, sorrow, happiness, and many other things but it must not have lingering knots and regrets...
If you choose your heart, then breakthrough will be restricted until you have comprehended your Sword intent; if you fail within a century; the path of Sword was not meant to be yours... And this inheritance is better for someone else so it shall leave you, this is a Mercy... A high understanding of the sword at the level will always be a requirement for breakthroughs.
If you chose the other option, you will breakthrough and the system shall vanish, seeking someone else as you cannot inherit my power. Only someone who comprehends their Sword Intent before the realm of Inner Heaven and follows their heart can walk the true path of the sword.
A sword immortal is noble and kind but not merciful to his enemies, he must be serene but not emotionless, he must be carefree but not without reason and logic, he must live without regret. That is my way but you have to comprehend your own...
Choose...]
Ling Tian frowned as he looked at the choices.
'If I had to choose, I would rather die with dignity than lose my pride and take my revenge later since I would be an empty shell after my revenge is done and even finding peace after death will be a very low possibility; At least if I die with dignity I will have peace in death... And I really don't want to lose the system so Heart it is...'
He made his choice and clicked. The system went back to normal and he noticed something interesting, his points were added but since he didn't have the requirement the breakthrough was on hold.
'Hmm, Sword intent... Sword skills and arts can be upgraded but not the intent. I guess it makes sense since the system can't really tell me something It can't know. I don't even know what sword intent I have. The best way is to fight since it gives inspiration and life and death pressure can bring out potential the best. I should go and see some other sword cultivators and their sword intent, perhaps challenge them... I need to comprehend it ASAP or no advancement in cultivation it seems...'
He stood up, "In any case, I still don't understand many things; I should gather some data and hoard a lot of Spirit stones on my new storage treasure. Demons and all these things, I need to figure it out, a long conversation with Lian Qiu seems necessary." he murmured and put on the necklace with a smile, 'It looks good.'
He looked at his system screen and searched the shop for a new sword.
A while later he found what he was looking for...
[Inner Heaven Wave Repulser: 47k EP
Heavenly Wave Repulser: 560k EP
Divine Wave Repulser: 6.2m EP]
His sword was from a set of swords in the system that had one for each cultivation stage with the highest being a Divine Awakening realm sword, it was a Divine-grade treasure! He bought the Inner Heaven one and took it out to examine it.
It looked the same but the Aura and majesty of the sword were 100 times greater, when he looked at the blade, he felt his eyes hurt a little. He made a casual swipe on a nearby wooden chair. To his confusion, the wooden chair didn't move at all. He looked at the sword, 'Is it broken?!'
He gently tapped the chair and it suddenly fell to the ground in two pieces, the sword was so sharp that the chair had held its balance while being cut in half even though Ling Tian used so little force that it was small even for a normal man. The sword had met no resistance at all. 'How terrifyingly sharp! It must also be durable enough for a peak treasure made for Inner Heaven cultivators. I will put it in system inventory and take it out just in case I face a bad situation.'
He also realized he needed to see the effect of pills on EP gain since spirit stones were so good as he left the room to look for Lian Qiu.