Ray's eyelids twitched as he then gently opened his eyes. The moment he did, his vision was flooded with light and countless colours that felt nostalgic to his mind. It had been a long time ever since he last saw anything, and it was completely different from perceiving things.

He then noticed that his body was lying on a bed, and he was in an unfamiliar room.

‘Wait, I have a body? And where is this place?’

Ray was confused. He tried to recall the events of before, and remembered.

‘Oh right, I remember seeing someone. Light...Winterwinds, was it?’

It then occurred to him that maybe that person brought him here to rest. He didn’t seem to have any restraints put on his body, and somehow, he felt weird being a human again. An idea suddenly popped into his mind, and as he willed it, he then turned into a single edged curved black sword.

‘I see. I’m still a sword but I can manifest a human form, huh? It’s not transformation but instead manifestation. And my manifested body can be stored within the sword.’

Ray felt like the information came as naturally to him as using his both hands and feet. He tried to stand up in order to try feeling the various sensations of the human body, and as he did, he suddenly lost balance as he had forgotten that the human body had joints. It was different from his sword body that was devoid of any muscle, joints, and cells.

As he remembered how the human body works, his mind delved deeper into his memories as a human and tapped into his former instincts. Although the memories and experiences he accumulated during his time as a human felt foreign, the instincts and mnemonic memories were still usable. And so, after about 30 minutes of practice by standing and walking back and forth, he finally remembered how to move as a human.

Ray left the room he was in as he looked around the place. It was similar to the old Chinese structures that he remembered and it seemed like it was a very wide mansion of some sorts.

As Ray then passed by another corridor, he saw someone familiar. It was Light. Light was surprised when he saw Ray moving around, but he was even surprised that he didn’t manage to sense his presence. But despite that, he gave his greetings.

“Greetings Lord Spirit. It seems that you have just awakened. Does anything inconvenience you? If that is so, then please do not hesitate to tell. I will do my best to satisfy your needs.” Light greeted in an overly humble manner.

Ray looked at Light with an expressionless gaze. It wasn’t arrogance, it was merely because Ray had forgotten his emotions as a human. A few millennia of being alone in a dark place was more than enough for one to forget.

“...You sound fake...” Ray stated bluntly. Light almost tripped as his brows twitched.

“A-Ahahaha...that is awfully blunt of you...then what shall I call you, then?” Light asked.

“...Ray...” Ray stated back.

“Is it fine to refer to you by name?” Light asked a question once again, but he was met with a question.

“...Hm? Is it wrong?...”

It was from there that Light realized the Spirit on front of him just might be a newborn. Weapons that had yet to interact with humans or any intelligent being and yet to be used in battle despite gaining sentience were called Newborns. They had the minds that of children, but they were poor weapons of choice as they had yet to develop their own morals and were indiscriminate in their targets. Though it benefited certain Daos related to murder, it usually was an inefficient weapon for those who walked the righteous path.

‘Hmm...Now this might be a bit of bother.’ Light thought.

However, there was no use crying over spilt milk, and Light had decided to take Ray as its master. Furthermore, weapons that gained sentience were extremely rare as only a few of them could properly pass through tribulations every hundred thousand years. As such, Light could only teach the Newborn weapon the path to righteousness.

Light could only sigh at the cruel truth.

“No. It is fine. I shall call you Ray from now on. And in exchange, you shall call me Light too. Understood?”

“Yes.”

“Very well, I assume you are hungry, are you not? If so, follow me.”

And so, they headed to the dining table.

◇◇◇

Ray saw a few young women who seemed to be maids as they served food on the table. The 3 meter round table was filled with various dishes, and an empty bowl was prepared along with a seat. Ray took the liberty of sitting on the empty spot as he curiously looked at the chopsticks beside the bowl. He pointed towards the chopsticks, and asked.

“...How do I use this?...”

“Hm? You do not know? Then how about you try to follow my example.”

Ray tried to do as Light said and watched carefully, albeit expressionlessly, how Light used his chopsticks. It seems easy enough as after half an hour of trying, he finally got the hang of it.

After they finished their meal, Light suddenly asked.

“Can I ask you, Ray? If by chance you can read?”

“...I don’t know...until I try...”

Ray vaguely felt it, but perhaps he could read. It was gut instinct anyway, but at least he wanted to see. Light took out a scroll from his Spatial Ring and showed it to Ray. Ray scanned its content, and answered.

“It looks like I can...”

Ray could read it just fine. It was like it was being translated to English from the local language. Perhaps this was the one of the ‘Transmigration Perks’ that he read on webnovels.

“I see. Then, can I ask what cultivation you are now? And how long have you been cultivating.”

“Cultivation?”

“You do not know?”

Ray shook his head. Seeing the gesture, Light made a sigh as he then started to lecture Ray about the basic knowledge on cultivation.

In summary, cultivation was the absorption and refinement of Spiritual Essence of Heaven and Earth, to attain longevity and power. Those who cultivate can harness the power of Qi, refined from the Spiritual Essence which is also called Spirit Qi.

In order to cultivate, a human needed to have spirit roots, while the rest just needed time to absorb Spiritual Essence to gain sentience.

Light also informed Ray about the cultivation realms, tribulations, and a bit about the common sense of the world. The world was a martial one, power dictated anything, and those without it were at the mercy of those who did.

Ray listened to Lights lecture without expression, but he was listening to his every word. The lecture lasted for a while, and finally, Light asked as he finished.

“Ray, your body does not seem like it is transformed from your original state. I cannot sense any traces of cultivation in it, so I’ll ask. What current realm are you?”

“...I don’t know...This body is manifested and can be stored in the sword...The reverse is also true...cultivation from both bodies are separate...”

Light’s eyes widened at the revelation. The spirit that he wanted to take as his weapon could actually form a physical body?! Then doesn’t that mean he could wield himself with the two bodies? And wouldn’t that mean he is at the default state of Sword Unity in his sword cultivation?!

Sword Unity was a mastery in sword skills that combined the senses of the sword and its wielder. Sword Cultivation was divided into seven levels. Sword Mastery, Sword Energy, Sword Unity, Sword Will, Sword Heart, Sword Domain, and Sword Infinity.

Sword Mastery was the mastery of a person in the art of the sword. It is the highest level mortals can reach.

Sword Energy was the realm when one begins to comprehend how to channel the power of nature into the sword.

Sword Unity was the state where the sword and its wielder combines their senses, tremendously increasing control over the sword’s state, accelerating one’s senses, and further increasing the power of nature that can be imbued it the sword.

Sword Will is the state where one begins to form an imaginary sword that that can cut through reality. It can also be imbued into a real sword, granting it increased sharpness along with the laws imbued by nature. The result multiplies the overall power of the sword by several times over.

Sword Domain was the state where one’s imaginary sword and the laws within it, materializes in reality further amplifying the laws contained in the sword, and weakening other laws within the domain.

And lastly, Sword Infinity was the state where one’s sword become amplified as time passes. It has no limits in its strength as one become capable of cutting through anything, as long as they have enough power to do so. The rate the lower increases is dependent on one’s cultivation realm.

And currently, Light was on the fourth realm, the Sword Will, which he only attained be training for years in the Heavenly Void Divine Sword Art, while Ray will be starting out in the Sword Unity Realm. Light suddenly thought the world was unfair, even though he had a divine art, he suddenly felt mediocre. But then, Light suddenly had an extremely interesting idea...

◇◇◇

“Well then, do you have a cultivation method? I have one, but I am not sure it can be cultivated by a spirit. It is best if you use one that you already know.”

“...It’s fine...I made one...”

‘Does that mean he knows how to cultivate, but did not know what cultivation was? Interesting.’ Light thought, but he didn’t ask. He then suggested.

“I see. Then try cultivating now. I want to see how good it is.”

Ray nodded. After the lecture, they moved into the courtyard as Light claimed he would be guiding Ray in cultivation. As such, they were now going to begin.

Ray sat in the ground as he let his instincts take over. His sword body appeared in his hands as he held it while sitting cross legged. Light’s brows raised at the sight, but he let it be. After all, he had never seen a Sword Spirit cultivate before, so he assumed that it was normal.

Being guided by his instincts, Ray started cultivating his unnamed cultivation method into full throttle. And the moment he did, something unbelievable happened.

The sky suddenly turned purple above the cultivation yard as all the Spiritual Essence suddenly gathered towards the mountain peak and extremely pure Spiritual Essence flooded the entire peak. It was so dense that it had formed a Rainbow Spirit Mist, a phenomenon that occurs when untainted Spiritual Essence flocked in a single place.

Everyone in the Purple Lotus Sect was shocked at the sudden appearance of the purple skies as Spiritual Essence suddenly disappeared from the entire sect as it converged in the Lone Peak, a peak that was gifted into their sect’s most talented sword cultivator.

Meanwhile, in the Lone Peak, everyone was shocked as the mortal maids who didn’t have spirit roots, suddenly gained enlightenment, instantly skipping Body Tempering Realm and breaking through Qi Refining Realm.

And in the cultivation yard, Light was experiencing yet another enlightenment as he broke through the Late Stages of Foundation Building Realm.

As for Ray, his eyes were still closed as a whirlpool of formed in the Rainbow mist while he was progressing through the cultivation realms with unbelievable speed.

Body Tempering Early Stage...

Body Tempering Intermediate Stage...

Body Tempering Late Stage...

Body Tempering Peak...

Half-Step Qi Refining...

Qi Refining Early Stage...

Qi Refining Intermediate Stage...

Qi Refining Late Stage...

And then it stopped at Half-Step Foundation Building Realm. As for his sword body, It had progressed to the 6th Level of the Spirit Realm. After it was done, the Spirit Mist vanished, and so did the purple clouds while Ray and Light snapped out of their dazed state.

Light was speechless from the event, while Ray was still basking in the pleasant feeling from his consecutive breakthroughs.

And as expected, soon enough, a lot of visitors arrived in the Lone Peaks.