Chapter 904: Draw the Bow
Taiyin 13 Swords existed in two versions. The earliest, original form was created by True Lord Taiyin, while the widespread version was later refined by the Earthly Preceptor Xu Wugui. After True Lord Taiyin was recruited into the Daoist Order, she accepted Xu Wugui’s improvements, and the two versions eventually converged.
Although Qi Xuansu had obtained the Taiyin 13 Swords with relative ease, his version was far less natural and fluid than one painstakingly cultivated through personal practice. Each time he wished to use it, he had to activate his Spiritual Body. Otherwise, he would not be able to use the technique. In essence, his skill was borrowed, akin to invoking a divine descent.
Since it required the Spiritual Body, he could not cultivate sword slaves, and naturally could not employ the Taiyin Sword Formation, which required the cooperation of 13 such slaves.
Beyond the necessity of the Spiritual Body, this borrowed skill had further limitations. Those who trained in the Taiyin 13 Swords through their own efforts could even innovate upon the original framework. But borrowed techniques were rigid and could not be altered, since they were already fixed in form.
Since it was borrowed, it did not come for free. One had to pay in terms of divine power or incense power. To be fair, divine power was far more precious than true essence or innate qi, as the latter two could be restored quickly from within oneself, but divine power had to be drawn from external sources, just like Taiping coins.
In a sense, Taiping coins served as the currency of the mortal world, while divine power was the universal currency of Immortals.
For this campaign, Qi Xuansu had received only 800 marks of divine power from the Daoist Order.
Clearly, according to Daoist assessments, 800 marks was more than sufficient to sustain a Xiaoyao-stage Heavenly Being through prolonged combat.
But seeing nearly 400 marks of divine power squandered away, Qi Xuansu had no choice but to withdraw the Taixuan Sword Heart Series and stop the sword formation. Instead, he shifted to using the Reversing Qi Technique.
Unlike ordinary slashing and thrusting, the Reversing Qi Technique followed strange, contorted arcs, never straight lines.
By logic, the shortest path between two points was a straight line, and a curved path, though varied, would surely be slower. Yet against all reason, the Reversing Qi Technique was particularly fast. Its paths were all curved, and still, each strike landed before Katsura Yoshiyuki’s, as if space itself had been distorted, distance and proximity inverted.
Moreover, the Reversing Qi Technique was endlessly erratic, full of contradictions. It seemed riddled with flaws, yet within those flaws had unpredictable shifts and deadly traps, impossible to anticipate or guard against.