The light green Heavenly Peach Wood suspended in midair in front of Junior Leopard; it glowed with a faint green light.

He sucked in a deep breath and concentrated completely on the half-meter piece of peach wood.

A rich, pure spirit of life emanated from it, causing him to feel that the thing in front of him was not a piece of wood taken from the heart of a tree trunk, but rather an entire tree, one that had considerable vitality.

He could also sense the power of the wisp of Thunder Yuan within it, weak but full of life!

It was the power of Thunder Yuan!

Heavenly Peach woods which had been struck by Heavenly Thunder more than a thousand times within ten thousand years contained a small amount of Thunder Yuan.

Thunder Yuan was different from the energy of regular thunderbolts. It was the source from which thunderbolts were created; it was the seed of the power of thunderbolts. Like the Mysterious Fire kindling Junior Leopard had acquired from the Dragon Chimera, thunderbolt was like the seed of a plant: As soon as it chanced upon a favorable environment, it would germinate.

Of course, if it was left untouched for too long, or if it wasn't properly nurtured, the Thunder Yuan would gradually lose its potential and fade away.

But as of now, the Thunder Yuan within the piece of Heavenly Peach wood was still alive and vigorous.

He was going to integrate the piece of Heavenly Peach wood with his Emerald Pearl Sword. The combination would level up the power of his Flying Sword.

In fact, even during the Middle Ages, the Heavenly Peach wood had been a top-quality material for forging Flying Sword. As long as the wisp of Thunder Yuan in the Heavenly Peach wood was dealt with well, it would not only greatly increase the attack force of the Flying Sword but also have a crucial influence on the sword's speed. After all, there were not too many things in the world that could travel faster than thunderbolts.

The Silver Moon Sword Technique was a complete system of practice; it included methods for creating Flying Sword. Of course, if it weren't for this Junior Leopard would not have successfully made the Emerald Pearl Sword into a Flying Sword.

But compared to the process of creating his first Flying Sword, the move to integrate the Heavenly Peach wood into the Flying Sword was still highly risky. A wrong move would destroy the Flying Sword and the invaluable Wood as well.

Therefore, Junior Leopard could not help but be extremely cautious!

Fortunately, before he made the Flying Sword, Junior Leopard had consulted Elder Qing thoroughly on this matter; he had knowledge about every single detail of the process of practicing the Flying Sword. He knew the matters that needed attention and the possible mishaps that could occur. He was choosing to do this only because he knew he had a 60 to 70 percent chance of success.

For someone like Junior Leopard who liked to take risks, these odds were good enough for him.

He flicked his finger lightly, and a single drop of blood flew out. It shot straight into the Heavenly Peach wood. His gaze tightened; a small part of his divine thoughts had been transferred into the Wood along with the drop of blood.

HISS!

A pleasurable feeling was transmitted to him from the Heavenly Peach wood, and his peering eyes suddenly opened wide.

He felt great, really great. This was a wonderful feeling that arose from the depths of his mind.

Peaceful and harmonious. Pure, without a single speck of impurity, and full of vitality!

After Junior Leopard's divine thoughts had attached to the Heavenly Peach wood, his entire being seemed to become purified from the inside out from an extraordinary energy. His mind was immensely clear, and his thoughts flowed smoothly inside his mind. He felt that even his divine thoughts had been purified; many intricate details had been integrated harmoniously.

"Huh? This is—!"

At that precise moment, Junior Leopard's expression became weird, as if he had discovered something strange.

"Why is it like this? Why do I feel like I can infuse all of my divine thoughts into the Heavenly Peach wood!?" He felt surprised. A bizarre thought flashed through his mind. 

The way of Reining Sword was split into two types. The first type was to use Qi. The second one, which was also the higher level method, was to use Divine.

To use Qi meant using one's internal Qi to rein the sword; to use Divine meant to use the power of divine thoughts to rein the sword. Because Junior Leopard's divine thoughts were extremely powerful, his method of Reining the Sword was to use his divine thoughts.

Unlike Junior Leopard, the sword pract.i.tioners of the Middle Ages had not been able to sense the presence of divine thoughts. Their cultivation was below Level Seven.

Therefore, the sword pract.i.tioners of the Middle Ages who had cultivation below Level Four used Qi for Reining Swords. When their cultivation reached Level Four, the Bone-Forging Realm, their spirit and willpower strengthened. While they still could not sense divine thoughts, they had devised another method of using their own essence and blood to nurture the sword. This allowed the Flying Sword to combine with the soul, reaching a state where the human and the soul became one. From there, they could progress to the level where they could use divine thoughts for Reining Swords.

Therefore, for a real sword practicer, the Flying Sword in their hands would usually be the first Flying Sword they had nurtured using their essence and blood. The Flying Sword was deeply connected with their spirit. When it was destroyed, their spirit would be damaged as well.

When their cultivation reached Level Seven, they would be able to sense the presence of divine thoughts. Only when they were able to attach a strand of divine thoughts to the Flying Sword, could they be said to have completed their Flying Sword and to truly use Divine for Reining a Sword.

However, that meant that only a single strand of divine thoughts could be attached to the Flying Sword, like what Junior Leopard was experiencing right now. But he discovered that the Heavenly Peach wood could not only contain that strand of divine thoughts, it could accommodate the entirety of his divine thoughts.

In other words, he could transfer all of his spirits into the Heavenly Peach wood and use it as an additional physical body!

"It's a pity that my spirit cannot leave my body completely!" Junior Leopard smiled wryly inside. In this world, with the start of cultivation, a key principle was the external and internal cultivation. The way of the external and internal cultivation firstly meant cultivation of the Internal Qi and the body together. After the cultivation reached Level Four, the spirit gradually changed and was unknowingly moisturized by the body and the Internal Qi during the cultivation. It expanded continuously. Meanwhile, during the expansion, the spirit became more and more closely connected with the body. Finally, they became inextricable; the spirit would never free itself from the body. Even if the spirit could actually leave the body, n.o.body dared to do that. There was a reason. Theoretically, once the spirit separated from the body, it would bring the essence out of the body. Thus, the body that one had strenuously practiced would die. Without the support and nourishment of the body, the spirit would also slowly disappear from the world.

Therefore, spirits were inseparable from the physical body.

"While I cannot transfer the spirit into the Wood, I can still transfer a relatively large amount of divine thoughts. Then I could manipulate it more easily!"

The relations.h.i.+p between divine thoughts and spirit was actually very simple: If the spirit was a complete physical body, the divine thoughts would be appendages extending from the body.