The saber howl shook the air, instilling a saber aura within it. It all originated from the newly manifested saber within Wei Wuyin's hand, bȧrėly even gripped by him, yet it was reacting so strongly. Wei Wuyin had the feeling that if he wished to change this saber's shape, it would adamantly refuse! It gave him that type of lively feeling.
SHIIING!
When he finally gripped the sword, the saber howl reached a whole new height in intensity as if jubilated at Wei Wuyin's acceptance of it. The edge of the saber coursed with saber light, containing boundless saber energies of exceptionally high-grade. Despite not being able to see the saber, he felt every curve, every weight, and every reaction it had. A small smirk of elation firmed on his face, causing him to brandish the saber slightly.
"Perfect!" He genuinely praised, feeling as if this saber was the physical embodiment of Element. There were no flaws in its design, matching his dėsɨrėd preferences of a saber, be it the distribution of weight, thickness of its blade, edge, or hilt. His hand clasped around the hilt just right.
"You…" Guan Yu was stunned.
"What's happening exactly?" Wei Wuyin asked, unsure of what this feeling was or how this was possible. However, from Guan Yu's response, it seemed his current situation was abnormal.
"You've comprehended Heart of the World, World of the Saber Intent?!" Guan Yu asked in disbelief.
Wei Wuyin nodded, but then he frowned. He wasn't aware of the exact standard of the Grand Cyclic Stellar Region, but he had the memories of Jing Jiu, a War Blessed, and he knew the standard of Star Core Phase geniuses of the utmost level quite intimately. When Guan Yu asked this, he realized that there was bȧrėly any mention of World Heart Intent for any of them. Actually, most were unverified claims.
In fact, Jing Jiu hadn't comprehended it either. That said, he had four different Intents at the Awakened Intent Stage. They were Bow, Battle, Slaughter, and Spear Intent. This perfectly coincides with a War Blessed's preference. After all, Long Chen comprehended Sword, Slaughter, and Battle Intent at the Awakened Intent Stage too.
"Is there something wrong with this?" Wei Wuyin inquired.
"Oh my heavens! You really don't know, do you?!" Guan Yu was in total disbelief, almost unwilling to believe this scenario would ever happen. Even his jaws were dropped, just in total astonishment.
"...Just explain." Guan Yu really had a habit of not answering questions properly sometimes.
Guan Yu deeply inhaled and exhaled, his eyes focused heavily on the saber that was coursing with saber light and shook faintly in elation. He sighed in defeat, "You don't know that a World Heart Intent is required to become a Worldly Saint? It's something Earthly Saints could spend thirty thousand years of their lifespan comprehending and still fail to do so. You have the key to the Worldly Saint Phase, how could you be so fortunate yet so ignorant?" He sighed again, feeling that the world was slightly unfair.
Wei Wuyin's expression changed considerably. The key to becoming a Worldly Saint is World Heart Intent? That, surprisingly, made sense in hindsight. Worldly Saint and World Heart Intent. For a moment, he felt somewhat silly not making that connection. However, his surprise wasn't due to that, but that he also had the Origin State, supposedly the key to ascending to the Heavenly Saint Phase!
While they were bound to be other crucial requirements, the fact that he possessed these two already was quite startling. And he had inadvertently gained them both, heavily reliant on his Astral Souls wild antics. Considering this newfound knowledge, he dispelled every single ounce of doubt towards their hectic and chaotic approach towards cultivation.
While he was maximizing his foundation at every turn, they were clearly preparing far, far off in the future.
"How are you aware of this?" Wei Wuyin asked curiously. Even Wang Yutian wasn't able to properly articulate the requirements to become a Worldly Saint, and he was a Worldly Saint himself. Yet Guan Yu seemed absolutely confident that a World Heart Intent was the key to ascending.
"Hm?" Guan Yu hummed out as if caught off-guard by that question. With a cheeky tone, he said: "I've been taught some things." After saying this, he didn't elaborate. From his words, he was clearly against telling anyone how he'd come across this information.
However, Wei Wuyin didn't press. Jing Jiu learned about the key to ascending the Heavenly Saint Phase from an ancient cultivation manual, so it wasn't outside of the possibility that he was taught it by an incredible expert or read it in a book somewhere. In fact, his information could be incomplete.
It was very difficult to pass down insights of a realm without being an entire realm beyond, having completely ascended it. This held true even in the Azure-Prime Galactic Zone, so he wasn't about to casually trust every little thing Jing Jiu thought or Guan Yu said.
Still, this was much to think about. If both were correct, if he could reach the Earthly Saint, then didn't he have a clear path to become a Heavenly Saint?
Returning to the faintly howling saber in his hand, he asked: "Why is the saber acting like this? It feels alive."
Guan Yu sighed, "Of course it does. The Essence of War is forged based on your general Will, and you've comprehended Saber Heart Intent, so the saber will reflect that accurately. If my uncle is correct, try to sense its internal composition."
Wei Wuyin didn't hesitate to pour his spiritual sense into the blade. Since it wasn't expanding outwards, it was extremely easy to course it through the saber. Furthermore, there wasn't a single bit of rejection. But when he sensed it, Wei Wuyin's frowned.
"I can't," Wei Wuyin said.
"You can't do what?" Guan Yu playfully asked.
Wei Wuyin gave him a brief 'glance' and turned back to the saber, "Its conjured materials elevated from astral-grade to mystic-grade?"
Guan Yu nodded, adding an agreement sound for Wei Wuyin to hear, "If my guess is correct, peak-grade Mystic-Earth mystic materials to be exact. Your World Heart Intent is exceptionally high-quality it seems."
Wei Wuyin knew that his spiritual sense was unable to sense mystic-graded materials or its energy. As a mere mortal, how could he? "So Intent can elevate certain standards? In that case," Wei Wuyin immediately manifested Elemental Origin Heart Intent, constructed from nine Apex-level Intents, and infused it into his gambeson.
Dzzzzt!
Instantly, the gambeson's grey color became pure, pristine white without any flaw.
"What?!" Guan Yu staggered backwards slightly. "Is that...oh my god, is that Mystic-World?! No way, no wait...its still Mystic-Earth…" Guan Yu was a Starlord and had an ample amount of experience differentiating mystic-graded materials, and instantly realized that the gambeson that Wei Wuyin wore was beyond peak-grade of Mystic-Earth yet not quite low-grade Mystic-World.
"So Elemental Origin Intent is compatible. Interesting," Wei Wuyin had doubts because the Elemental Intents were Material Intent, not Ethereal Intents like Slaughter, Battle, or Saber. However, seeing this, he realized it didn't discriminate on type of Intent.
"I guess even the elements can be used as tools of war as well." When Wei Wuyin thought of the various environmental advantages and disadvantages of war, he felt like he understood a little more what 'War' encapsulated.
"You've comprehended Elemental Origin and Saber Heart Intents?! Oh my heavens…" Guan Yu was starting to have his understanding of what it meant to be a genius overturned, fortunately causing him to feel less inferior than before, because Wei Wuyin wasn't just a genius, he was a total monster! How could you feel inferior to the outlier?
"Can others wield my conjured armaments?" Wei Wuyin asked curiously.
"What?" Guan Yu didn't understand the question. No, he understood, he just didn't know why it was even asked!
Wei Wuyin turned the saber to the side, offering a portion of its hilt to Guan Yu. "Can you wield it?"
Guan Yu's eyes shined. He instantly reached out for the saber with dėsɨrė. You want me to wield it? Of course I'll wield it!
SHIIING!
The saber howled violently, spurting out a thin stream of saber light that sliced Guan Yu's outstretched hand, drawing blood! He winced and aggressively retracted his palm, his expression the picture of shock and awe, including betrayal. He looked at Wei Wuyin as if he had done so purposely. After all, its not like he hadn't taken others' fully formed weapons before.
"Oh? I see. It has a will now. Apologies," Wei Wuyin honestly said as he felt the saber's reluctance of being wielded by anyone except Wei Wuyin.
After seeing Wei Wuyin apologize, Guan Yu sighed and lost his doubts towards Wei Wuyin doing so deliberately. He licked his cut, looking at the saber with a little more caution. He couldn't help but wonder how he got here, acting as an information goat for a strange yet talented monster that took him down in a single punch. Someone like this should be incredibly knowledgeable, not asking for knowledge.
Wei Wuyin and Guan Yu continued to discuss for an entire hour more. They discussed the size and various zones of the Battlefield, the Soldiers of War that Guan Yu was aware of and actively avoided, and how long he's been there—twelve whole years. It seems gaining a thousand War Souls was not easy. There were thousands of Soldiers of War still here, and numerous new ones arriving every two years.
However, with this, Wei Wuyin knew exactly what he needed to do to maximize his benefits in the Nexus Battlefield.
"Do what exactly?" Guan Yu's notably confused and questioning voice resounded. Yet, when Wei Wuyin spoke out, his eyes widened and his mouth gaped slightly.
Wei Wuyin brightly smiled and said, "Gather an army, of course."
