Chapter 39: The song of swords. The saber was the weapon of tyrants. Where a longsword focused on speed and flexibility to find weak points in the opponents defense, the saber focused on using speed and power to straightforwardly crush the opponent. Yao Jun closed his eyes and focused on enduring and studying the pressure that the sabers brought with them. A saber was a weapon that shared many similarities with the longsword, there was much that could be learned about the longsword by studying the saber. Since longswords focused on flexibility, they could easily find themselves lacking in power and strength. By studying the unique parts of sabers, a wielder of longswords could find that little thing that he needed to increase the power of his strikes. Yao Jun continued to immerse himself in the tyrannical pressure that the sabers brought with them for another 10 minutes, thoroughly memorizing the crushing force that enacted upon his body. After the 10 minutes were up, he opened his eyes and took another step forward. After taking another step forward, the tyrannical pressure from the sabers vanished. What replaced the tyrannical pressure was a soft breeze. There was no pressure that bore down on Yao Jun, nor was there the feeling of his body being affected in any way, there was only a calm breeze that flowed past Yao Jun. Yao Jun was slightly put off by the calm breeze that was the complete opposite of the pressure that he had faced so far. Even the daggers that he faced in the start exerted a type of pressure on him. Yao Jun was just about to turn his head when he felt a wet sensation flow down his left cheek. He wiped his cheek with his palm before inspecting it. Upon inspecting it, he found his entire palm smeared in blood. Slightly shocked, Yao Jun used his index finger to trace his entire face and was even more shocked to find that there were already several small cuts on his face. While he was shocked, Yao Jun was simultaneously happy. With a turn of his head, he found just the scene he had been waiting for, a forest of longswords. There were a myriad of longswords, but most of them followed the normal path of a standard Jian sword. The longsword focused on speed and flexibility, flowing like the wind. Yun Yantian's longsword style perfectly encapsulated the grace and majesty of a longsword. When he fought, his longsword flowed like the wind, slicing up his opponents with the grace of the spring breeze. Yao Jun's longsword style on the other hand resembled the style of the saber, focusing on speed and power. Yun Yantian's longsword style was something he had been taught by his family and was considered the traditional sword style. Yao Jun's longsword style was something he had come up with himself as he was training as a child, each stroke of the longsword bringing with it the full force and determination that used to train. This style was only further strengthened when Yao Jun absorbed Little Thunder and learned to control lightning, an element known for it's speed and power. Despite that, Yao Jun still wanted to use a longsword. No matter how suited he was to using a saber, he still wanted to carry a longsword at his side at all times. The longsword was the first gift his father had ever given him. To him, the first step to giving his parents a better life was mastering that longsword. His father had given him that longsword to train with. When he gave Yao Jun that longsword, he also gave him the weight of his expectations and hope. If Yao Jun could not even master that longsword and fulfill his fathers expectations, how would he ever give them a better life? Feeling the breeze flow past his body, slicing open small wounds on his body while also seeping in through the wounds and slowly strengthen his body, Yao Jun reached out with his hand and grabbed onto the handle of the closest longsword. If he wanted to master the longsword properly, just feeling it's energy flow past him would not be enough, he would have to experience it with every fiber of his body and allow it to change his body, ingraining each cell with the power of the sword. When one reached a high enough level of power, one could use their weapon to send out attacks that were completely made out of energy. These were often called Sword Qi or Spear Qi. But to send out these, one needed two things. One needed to have become strong enough to send their Qi out from their body, and one needed to have a connection with the weapon they were using. The energy they sent out was called Sword Qi, while the connection with their weapon was called Sword Intent. What Yao Jun was hoping to do now was to build up that connection with the swords around him, imprinting all his cells with the essence of a longsword. When Yao Jun grabbed onto the handle of the longsword, the once gentle breeze turned into a furious tempest, the strong winds slicing Yao Jun's clothing into ribbons and staining his entire form in blood. Despite the pain coursing through his body as more and more energy seeped into his body, Yao Jun's somber gray eyes did not twitch, maintaining their undying determination. Yao Jun was uncertain how much time passed as the winds around him picked up in strength, his mind was completely focused on moving around the energy that seeped into his body. If he did not move it around on his own, there was a risk that the energy would gather in one place. If the energy gathered in one place, he would not be able to imprint his entire body with the energy of a sword, meaning that it would become exceedingly hard for him to use Sword Qi. While Yao Jun was focusing on moving the energy around, baptizing his entire body with the pain that the longsword energy brought with it, the sound of the storming winds around him slowly vanished, replaced by an intoxicating humming. The humming started from the sword in Yao Jun's hand, but it slowly started spreading, each sword adding it's own note to the symphony that the humming slowly grew into. Before Yao Jun managed to notice, the humming had spread to every longsword in the area, turning into a beautiful, but disoriented melody. Yao Jun finally noticed the humming around him and removed his focus away from the energy that was coursing through his body. He had already allowed the energy to seep into every inch of his body, so there was no longer any need to worry about it gathering in one place. His body had been baptized by the longsword energy, so even if the energy gathered in one place, it would slowly melt and automatically seep into the other parts of his body. As Yao Jun was listening to the melody of the swords, he felt like the melody was begging him to lead it, to control the melody and change it into a song created just for him. He didn't spend much time thinking, he had a hunch that he would not be finished with this test unless he turned this melody into a song. Yao Jun put strength into his hand and pulled his arm backward, pulling the sword he was holding out from the ground. When Yao Jun pulled the sword out from the ground, it disintegrated into small dots of white light that integrated themselves into Yao Jun's body. The dots of light entered his body and immediately flew to his chest, integrating themselves into the gate that was located next to his heart. Once every dot of light had entered the gate, the humming of the swords changed dramatically. It was no longer the humming of swords that filled the area, but rather the roar of beasts. It started out as a myriad of low growls, but it quickly grew louder and louder, reaching a crescendo where every roar mixed together into a single roar that shook the very space in the area. After the roar continued on for a little over a minute, it suddenly vanished, leaving behind only silence. All the swords around Yao Jun also vanished, even the path that he was standing on had vanished. All that was left was Yao Jun's blood covered body floating in a completely white space. Despite the pain coursing through Yao Jun's body, he couldn't help but smile. He could feel a completely new connection with the longsword hanging at his waist. While it still felt like it was just an extension of his body, it had a new feeling to it, like an ancient beast laying in waiting for it's next prey. The humming changing into the roar of beasts, and his connection with his sword making the sword feel like an ancient beast was connected to his power, the Demon God's Gate. Since he was born with that power, he was fated to share a close connection with all Demonic beasts and monsters. This connection also manifested as his Sword qi and Sword Intent, but he would have to take his time and experiment just how it manifested. While Yao Jun was smiling to himself, the Nine Heavens Sword Empyrean appeared before him once more.