Chapter 108: The Sword Cleansing Pool of the Violet Flame Sword Sect, A Natural Sword Embryo!

At this moment, no one bothered to refute Sword Immortal Qingyin. Just as Xian Xiangqiu's destination remained uncertain, did claiming this boy belonged to the Ziyang Sword Sect make it so?

When Cao Xuan teleported back, he was still utterly bewildered. *Wait, mate, where was the sword momentum you talked about? Don't tell me that sword just charging up there counted as sword momentum.* He suddenly seemed to realize that he might actually be quite formidable.

"Does a grandmaster-level sword intent really allow one to crush opponents of the same realm?" Cao Xuan realized in hindsight. It dawned on him that although he hadn't spent much time practicing spells, techniques at the grandmaster level were certainly not common.

Seeing Cao Xuan's bewildered expression, Liu Yu couldn't help but sigh. "The geniuses of the Central Continent are indeed as numerous as crossing carp. Senior Brother Cao, you must have seen that sword intent just now as well!"

Liu Yu had just encountered a late Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Central Continent. Having accumulated three losses, he was eliminated. He had felt rather dejected, but upon seeing that soaring sword intent, the sting of defeat lessened. The Central Continent truly was teeming with geniuses.

Cao Xuan remained baffled. He wondered if his young grandmaster, Xian Xiangqiu, had been exaggerating; the difficulty didn't seem high at all. Yet, seeing that even a late Foundation Establishment cultivator like Liu Yu had been eliminated, it seemed to align with her warnings. Shaking the thoughts from his head, he decided to focus on securing his hundred victories first.

Afterward, Cao Xuan encountered no real resistance. He simply unleashed his sword intent and ended the matches in an instant. There was no holding back or showing mercy. It was as if he had activated an instant-kill cheat; accustomed to defeating opponents in a single strike, holding back would only make it boring.

While Cao Xuan found it tedious, the emissaries of the Six Sacred Lands in the sky, along with Liu Ruyan of the Jade Maiden Sect who had just returned, watched with solemn expressions.

"This boy's sword intent is no mere basic comprehension. He has already attained mastery!"

"Indeed, he controls it at will. How is this possible? Even if a Foundation Establishment cultivator had practiced the sword from infancy, they shouldn't possess a fully mastered sword intent!"

Daoist Qingxu stroked his beard. "Could this boy's cultivation talent..." He suddenly turned to Ancestor Qingmu. "I recall that all participants register their details with your sect, do they not?"

Ancestor Qingmu nodded. It was a classic case of overlooking the obvious. Had Daoist Qingxu not reminded him, he would have completely forgotten.

"Haha, I haven't checked the disciples' records in a century. I completely forgot about that," Ancestor Qingmu laughed as he rummaged through his storage space for a jade slip. He kept to himself the fact that, were it not for Xian Xiangqiu's sudden rise a hundred years ago, he might not have touched these records for millennia.

Retrieving the jade slip and pulling up Cao Xuan's information, he smiled. "So he is Xian Xiangqiu's fellow disciple. It seems Yun Province is truly a blessed land!"

He spoke without any fear of the Xuanhua Dao Sect coveting the region. After all, the Central Continent was the greatest blessed land on the entire Xuanhua Continent. He had expected to see details of another genius comparable to Xian Xiangqiu, but upon reading the record, he found only four words: *utterly mediocre*.

Indeed, while a top-grade spiritual root and a grade-seven talent seemed outstanding to ordinary disciples, they were utterly unremarkable in the eyes of Ancestor Qingmu. He handed the jade slip over. Daoist Qingxu read it and frowned, looking past the surface to the core of the matter.

Had it been solely a matter of spiritual roots and talent, he wouldn't have considered recruiting Cao Xuan for the Sacred Land. Yet, in the dozens of battles that followed, Cao Xuan's sword intent grew increasingly elegant and effortless.

Practice made perfect. Though Cao Xuan felt no pressure from his late Foundation Establishment opponents, each execution of his sword intent was akin to practicing his swings in empty air, allowing him to integrate and master the *Azure Dao Sword* even further.

To Cao Xuan, this was routine, but to the spectators from the Six Sacred Lands, it appeared as though his sword intent was leaps and bounds ahead with every passing match.

Sword Immortal Qingyin of the Ziyang Sword Sect watched with a mesmerized gaze; to her, nothing was more captivating than sword intent. Had Cao Xuan scanned her with his system, his mind would surely have been flooded with a barrage of notifications chiming with rising favorability.

"A natural sword embryo! A born sword embryo!" she thought.

In her eyes, Cao Xuan was the ultimate raw material for the sword. Comprehending sword intent was as natural to him as breathing. Looking back, she recalled that when he first clashed with the disciple wielding the folding fan, his grip on the sword had actually seemed somewhat unpracticed.

She could hardly believe her own recollection, for it seemed as though he rarely held a sword. No, it wasn't that he rarely held one, but rather that he seemed "unfamiliar" with the Azure Cloud Sword in his hand. How could a swordsman be unfamiliar with his own flying sword?

She had wondered if he was concealing his true strength—perhaps he possessed a bound natal sword. Yet, with her early Void Refinement cultivation, she had not only probed him thoroughly but had even scanned his storage bag. He had only this single flying sword and no other sword-type artifacts.

As a sword cultivator, she knew a master would never go without a proper weapon. Thus, she could only conclude that Cao Xuan's sword intent was evolving with every single match. He was not measuring himself against his opponents; he was competing against himself!

The more she watched him, the more pleased she became, mirroring Liu Ruyan's regard for Xian Xiangqiu. To her, if she could bring Cao Xuan back to the sect from this journey to the Qingyun Sect, the trip would be an absolute success.

"With his aptitude, he might even enter our sect's sacred ground, the Sword Cleansing Pool!"

Outsiders only knew that the Ziyang Sword Sect possessed a Sword Cleansing Pool capable of tempering and upgrading flying swords. What they did not know was that it could also cleanse a cultivator's spiritual roots.

Yet, ordinary cultivators could not even approach the pool, let alone cleanse their roots.

*Outsiders remain unaware that the Sword Spiritual Root possessed by our sect's Dao Child—a root comparable to a Heavenly Spiritual Root—is not innate, but was forged in the depths of the Sword Cleansing Pool!*

A Sword Spiritual Root granted the immense cultivation talent of a Heavenly Spiritual Root, coupled with an innate affinity for the sword and a natural enhancement to sword intent. If Cao Xuan could endure the trial of the Sword Cleansing Pool, his future achievements would not fall short of Xian Xiangqiu's—he might even surpass her.

Soon, the contents of Ancestor Qingmu's jade slip were shared among the crowd. Some lost interest upon seeing the top-grade spiritual root and grade-seven talent. Others, like Daoist Qingxu, doubted the accuracy of the record. After all, how could a mere grade-seven talent allow a twenty-year-old youth to comprehend such profound sword intent?

Only Sword Immortal Qingyin's eyes shone with a fervor that went beyond mere interest.

*A fully mastered sword intent at twenty years old... I must have this boy, and no one shall take him from me!*

She shifted restlessly, filled with an impatient longing.

*No, I cannot let them suspect anything!* she warned herself, forcing her composure back. She could display a firm determination to claim him, but she could not overplay her hand. The former would be seen as a natural appreciation for a sword genius; the latter would only make the others suspect that Cao Xuan harbored some deep secret.