The horizons glimmered dimly as the first blush of the morn’ lit up the skies.

As the first light of dawn peeked through the horizon, a single ray of light parallelly reflected the glint in Zhou Yan’s eyes from the tip of his blade.

Throughout a restless night, the young lad gained enlightenment via the way of the sword. Zhou Yan achieved unity in his mind, body, and soul, and through this, the young lad was reborn. His rebirth was the product of infusing the cloud of primal essence of the blade as an extension of his body.

As meek and as frail the lad’s body was, he had a strength akin to casting a solid block of steel for hidden behind his unassuming body was an explosive energy of youth desperate to be unleashed.

No longer was the young lad the same fifteen-year-old naïve fool, for his gaze, was now pierced deep. His eyes were pitch black, as dark as the night sky that stretched across the endless stars.

The instant the ray of light flashed, sluggishly, the young lad’s body began to move like an idle masonic effigy. It started with an inching crawl, however, in due time, his pace quickened.

The young lad’s hands danced with a strange flow of movements. Unusual forms of shapes presented in the form of his odd dance… This very dance mimicked the actions of a unique, primal beast. At this moment, the projection of this strange, unseen beast formed through the body of the young lad.

“Form of the dragon, rising blade!” growled the young lad. The very sword in his grasp vibrated as a definite buzz emanated from the tip of his blade. The sound echoed a bright and gleeful tone.

All he could hear in front of him was a swift ‘swoosh’ of the blade as it cleanly pierced a falling leaf, skewering it through the thin silvery blade.

However, unaware of how much force he used to stab the leaf, the sword that he had for three full years suddenly snapped into two, with one end clunking to the ground as the broken piece fell to his feet.

Zhou Yan frowned at the sight of his broken blade, his forehead resembling flowing streams of water into several creeks. Staring down at the two halves of his broken blade, he was frustrated by the setback his blade caused him in his progress.

“My journey to mastering The Form of The Dragon had just begun, and there is indeed much to comprehend. However, how do I achieve such a feat when even the very basic act of controlling my strength trumps me. Perhaps, it is true that the act of enlightening a fool such as I would be an impossible task,” mumbled Zhou Yan sulkily.

He proceeded to grab the broken sword piece off the ground when it instantly flew into the lad’s palm with a ‘swoosh’!

He decided not to sulk any longer and chose to put his training of the ‘Form of The Dragon’ on hold and forget about the texts in the ‘Edict of The Nine Folds of Yin and Yang.’ At the same time, the young lad decided to devote his full attention to mastering the art of the sword that the Zhou family was built upon, twas’ known as ‘Sword Art of Clear Waters Heaven’s Blade’.

The young lad, Zhou Yan, refused to believe that his natural gift, the prime talent handpicked by the entirety of the Zhou family would amount to nothing; even if he failed to comprehend the intricacies of the Form of The Dragon in the bequeathed knowledge of The Art of The Formless Fist, primarily when this lad was exceptionally bestowed!

As the soul merged itself in his body, thus began the painful process of metamorphosis the young lad had to endure, as he felt the inner shackles that once bound his potential had been obliterated. Seeds of confidence sowed in the young lad’s mind as he was sure that his intelligence was not as awful as what the lass, Zhou Lingyi claimed.

Riding the waves of his confidence, he resumed training in the sword art of his familial ties.

This sword art contained nine different forms.

Each form bore its own set of complications.

Before the lad began, Zhou Yan felt the first forms were no challenge to him. However, each form after the third would be no easy feat to accomplish. They required all the physical energy the young lad could muster. Every ounce of strength and will was a necessity for the young lad to perform the latter forms.

Through the lens of a rank three swordsmen, it seemed that he could comprehend the first three forms, a simple feat, nonetheless. The fourth form, however, proved to pose the most difficult to him. To best describe the fifth form, it could only be done by reading the scribbles of the heavenly scrolls, which was beyond the young lad’s comprehension.

However, after being bequeathed with a flood of knowledge, on top of being enlightened by a full night’s study of the first Form of Sword Art of The Formless, The Form of The Dragon; resuming his mastery over the sword art of his family would be as easy as water flowing down the stream into the drain.

First form, second form.

Third form, Fourth form.

The young lad presented the fifth form in an unbroken series after repeating the fourth form only once. The sixth came as naturally and uninterrupted as the fifth.

…

Then he proceeded to the seventh form …

After several repetitions of the seventh, the talented Zhou Yan was graced by enlightenment to perform the eighth form.

Alas, at this moment, the young lad was wholly absorbed in the dance of his blade, as his real conviction alone had naught but left his mind. It was only when the gleaming rays of light reflected off the edge of his broken silvery blade, did the lad awoke from his trance.

At the same moment, a wave of energy pulsated in the young lad’s body. It was like several endless streams of water flowing inside as the waves splashed. The Blade’s Essence of tiny silvery scalpel flowed chaotically in the new paths forged internally by the collective effort of both forces ‘Inner Strength of the Void’ and ‘The Edict of The Nine Folds of Yin and Yang’ combined.

The young lad felt that it was at this very moment, his consciousness returned.

In an instant, written across the young lad’s cold expression was the face of sheer glee, excitement, and shock.

“Blade’s essence…infused in my body is the blade’s essence. This is a sign of reaching the very pinnacle in the realm governed by the essence of the blade! However, I have achieved nothing but the first rank of a blade’s cardinal…. This could mean…”

In a desperate attempt to calm his rapidly beating heart and growing anxiety, Zhou Yan inhaled deeply.

In the realm governed by way of the sword, three distinctions were made. These were swordsmen, Blade’s cardinal, and finally the Blade’s essence. One would only be worthy of the knowledge that exceeded the limitations of this realm to a different realm afar when one had mastered the full extent of the Blade’s essence!

However, with only the timespan of a night, this young lad was already worthy of dwelling in the realm of the blade’s essence!

This sudden advancement was beyond the comprehension of any mortal men! The progression from a mere third-ranking swordsman to the first rank of Blade’s essence would only be a fool’s wish as the feat itself would be akin to scaling a mountain that pierced the very heavens as each rank has its distinctions to complete, together with its own set of complications.

Scattered across the Canglan City were countless men of skill and wisdom. However, as skilled and as wise these men were, the achievement of this rank halted the progression of numerous more!

The difficulty of this challenging task was once a thought Zhou Yan and his fellow swords mate dared not conjure in their minds. As of the present moment, infused in his body was the essence of the blade in its very primal form. How could Zhou Yan not be shocked in the wake of the sudden turn of events?

Drawn to understanding the very nature of his circumstances, this young lad, Zhou Yan, apparently too, had inherited the anxious nature of his ancestors. He could no longer contain his anxiety, and his heart began to beat rapidly.

In this realm governed by the essence of the blade, there were two things most valuable to a scholar of this art. The first would be one’s body’s physical limits and abilities, as true to the saying of ordinary folk; the strength of the body lies within the foundations of one’s bones. The second would be insight, as insight influenced one’s wisdom.

Though the lad lacked in feats of physical talents, he was extraordinarily gifted for his unparalleled insight as Zhou Yan had undergone the test of might years ago!

It did not matter that his mother was a maiden of no status and unknown origin. Zhou Yan was still bequeathed the title as a pupil of his family’s sacred name.

However, met only by waves upon waves of setbacks made his grandfather’s heart wretch in disappointment and sorrow. Upon gazing at his grandfather’s sad eyes, this saddened the young lad as his heart too wretched in agony.

Currently, the young lad’s body was reborn as his bones were rebuilt to a state of unimaginable invincibility, paired with his unparalleled insight, it was indeed an extraordinary event.

No longer will this lad be a disappointment to his grandfather! No longer will he cause shame to his father; no longer will he be called a fraud or unworthy of his glory, nor would he be looked down upon by common folk with judgment!

This lad, as of his current state, would finally be worthy of the title of a natural genius! He would finally have the ability to show the common folk his unparalleled genius talents!

Thus, Zhou Yan sheathed his sword as he stretched out his fatigued body, then step by step, the young lad walked in the direction of the morning sun.

Basking in the rays of the morning sun, with every step the young lad took, his path was poetic as it symbolized the arduous journey of the way of the sword.

…

“Zhou Yan, are you aware that you are late? The incident of you pushing your body’s physical limits was brought to the attention of your grandfather! Did you know that you were made an example of insolence by the entirety of the family? You were also heavily criticized by the elder sages of the family.”

Before Zhou Yan could set foot in the academy, a sharp and slightly coarse voice echoed in the lad’s ears.

The voice was from a preteen whose voice had not fully matured to manhood.

This lad was none other than Zhou Yan’s very own cousin, Zhou Xian. Zhou Xian had proven himself to be quite the real genius, as was his perceptive insight. However, as talented as he was, his insight was nowhere close to Zhou Yan. Since many years ago, Zhou Yan had bested him in the test of insight. Since that defeat, Zhou Xian spent many days seeking guidance from Zhou Yan; however, after knowing the truth that Zhou Yan was nothing but a fool, the attitude towards his cousin changed in an instant.

Fueled by his arrogance solely on the fact that Zhou Xian demonstrated more potential than Zhou Yan, he refused to address Zhou Yan by his ‘upperclassman’ status. His ignorance extended to his unwilling reluctance to even address Zhou Yan as ‘Cousin’!

The full extent of his disrespect would be Zhou Xian outrightly addressing Zhou Yan by his name. This act was the pinnacle of rudeness as addressing an elder by their names meant simply dismissing the fact that they were seemingly their equal or beneath them. Zhou Yan perceived this act of audacity as nothing but an insult to the highest degree!