Half a month later, after comprehending many times, there were only a few nonhuman prisoners left that he had exchanged for.
Xu Qing no longer continued to use the prisoners' breakthrough to draw the saber of heavenly tribulation. Instead, he kept recalling and carving the saber in his mind. He also tried to copy the movement of the saber.
In his mind, a rather stable saber image finally appeared. He carefully maintained it and slowly deepened it.
This process was very boring, like forging a peerless sharp blade.
Gradually, the saber emitted a sharp glow. In reality, at this point, Xu Qing knew that he could end it.
However, he sensed that although the saber he comprehended at that moment had astonishing might, it wasn't the saber that could slash the Dao that he had envisioned. Instead, it could slashed the body and soul.
"It's different from what I imagined…"
Xu Qing fell silent and decided not to end it. Instead, he continued to copy and deepen the saber image in his sea of consciousness. He wanted to see what would happen if he continued to comprehend.
Sometimes, if the method was wrong, it's fine if the forging time was short, but if the forging took too long, what you would get would not be a sharp blade but scrap metals.
Hence, half a month later, when he continued to comprehend time and again, his mind suddenly trembled. The saber strike he copied in his sea of consciousness still collapsed.
Due to the blood and sweat he had entrusted to it for a long time, as the saber image shattered into pieces, Xu Qing's body also trembled violently and he spat out a large mouthful of blood.
"How could this be…"
Xu Qing's expression was dispirited. He was unwilling.
Regardless of whether it was the Extreme Heaven Saber or the image of the Ghost Emperor Mountain, he didn't feel it so difficult. Moreover, he had clearly formed the image of comprehension earlier but in the end, for some reason, it collapsed.
It was as though the saber strike's outline could be copied but he couldn't copy it on a deeper level.
"Is my method wrong?"
Xu Qing fell silent. He closed his eyes and fell into deep thought.
After a long time, he gave up on comprehending the saber strike itself. Instead, he recalled the criminals who had their Dao severed and the scenes of their Dao foundation collapsing after the saber strike landed.
As the scene kept appearing in his mind, Xu Qing's body suddenly trembled and he opened his eyes.
"My direction is wrong!"
"All my previous comprehensions were based on the previous method, but those were all based on the body and soul. For example, the Extreme Heaven Saber slashed the body and the Ghost Emperor Mountain suppressed the soul."
"That's not true comprehension. That's just copying. What I need this time is genuine comprehension."
"The Dao-Slaying Saber formed by these rules isn't the saber of Heavenly Tribulation, but the saber of the Heavenly Dao!"
"On a deeper level, it uses rules to cleanse the spiritual energy in a cultivator's body. The moment the saber descends, the spiritual energy is affected. It's as though… it no longer belongs to the cultivator!"
"The main point of this saber strike isn't to slash but to make the cultivator's spirit qi reject the cultivator and collapse on its own!"
"This strike, or rather, this move, is more like… a decree!"
Xu Qing's breathing was hurried and an intense glint appeared in his eyes.
"The decree commands spirit qi and makes it reject cultivators?"
"How do you do it?"
An answer instantly rose in his mind.
Spiritual energy was the essence. If one treated spiritual energy as an existence like anomalous substances, then whose aura was spiritual energy…
Xu Qing thought of the four Primordial Heavenly Daos outside this small world. Their gazes gathered to form the sun and moon, transforming into laws and rules.
"Spiritual energy comes from the laws, and the laws come from the Heavenly Dao?"
Xu Qing mumbled as a strange glint appeared in his eyes.
After prisoners were imprisoned in this small world, they would be invaded and assimilated by the small world and eventually fuse with this world. Hence, the laws of this small world could dissipate their cultivation.
"Therefore, this strike was formed by the Heavenly Dao using the laws to transform into a decree and slash down!"
"Then what is the Heavenly Dao?"
A look of contemplation appeared in Xu Qing's eyes. After a long time, he took a deep breath and stood up, walking away from this small world. When he arrived outside the continent, he stopped in the void and lowered his head to look at the four huge primordial Heavenly Daos outside the light barrier.
He observed very seriously and carefully. He even spread out his perception, immersing himself completely.
Time flowed by. Seven days later, Xu Qing felt waves of comprehension.
"These four Heavenly Daos aren't corporeal objects. They are existences that seem to be alive but aren't. They seem to be dead but aren't.
"Such existences don't have their own will."
This was Xu Qing's observation. At the same time, it was also the answer he had obtained from asking Fairy Zi Xuan in the past seven days.
This answer reminded Xu Qing of the Wanggu Continent.
According to his understanding, experts who had grasped the laws of the Wanggu Continent could also perform this Heavenly Dao Saber Art in the Wanggu Continent. However, this point was extremely difficult.
This was because the Heavenly Dao of the small world was controlled by the Sword Holding Palace, so it could be used.
However, there shouldn't be anyone who could control the Heavenly Dao of the Wanggu Continent.
Without anyone controlling it, the Heavenly Dao wouldn't have any self-awareness. It only had instincts formed by laws.
At that moment, Xu Qing suddenly understood what the Spirit Repository Realm was.
He also understood why Ghost Hand had said that the Spirit Repository Realm required one to comprehend the Heavenly Dao and that there had to be a Heavenly Dao guarding their secret repository.
That was because only the Heavenly Dao could shoulder the laws and command them.
Spirit Repository Realm experts could already use the laws of their Heavenly Dao on the Wanggu Continent. Although it couldn't be used for a long time, it could be modified for some time to form their strongest state.
It was similar to the Foundation Building Mystic Brilliance Form.
After understanding these, Xu Qing had a deeper understanding of this Heavenly Dao Saber.
He finally understood why he had been failing previously.
This was because this strike contained laws that only the Spirit Repository could grasp. Moreover, the Spirit Repository controlled it by relying on the Heavenly Dao in the secret repository as a carrier.
Hence, he failed. No matter how he copied it, it was impossible for him to succeed.
He lacked a carrier that could carry the laws!
"So that's how it is!"
Xu Qing completely understood.
"Carrier…"
He thought of the Poison Restriction Pill, the life lanterns, the emperor-level cultivation arts, the purple moon…
In the end, he gave up.
Ultimately, these were all external objects.
There was only one thing that was most suitable.
That was… the mosasaur.
It was his intrinsic mosasaur!
"The Heavenly Dao in my future secret repository!"
This was an item that truly belonged to him!
Xu Qing's eyes gleamed.
