To have been graced with such a change the very instant the young lad ascended into the first rank of the realm of the Blade’s Essence resulted in the young lad’s immense confidence in his future.

However, the progress this young lad had made was not enough to satisfy him since the young lad was capable of condensing his Blade’s Menace, even if it was unstable. His combat prowess had increased more than ten fold, hence, this progress alone had undoubtedly expanded his horizons.

Due to the young lad being in a constant state of enlightenment, he was seemingly able to get a better grasp of the more spiritual and mysterious arts. Therefore, his knowledge of the Sword Art of the Dragon had massively improved just because of that fact alone.

The most important thing to Zhou Yan at that moment was to awaken his Blade’s Menace. He was unable to understand why he was unhappy since his improvement in that area was actually massive.

As for the ascension into a higher realm, that was no longer a huge concern nor was it important to him.

After the young lad was enlightened by the knowledge of the Blade’s Menace, he would be able to forcefully infuse Spirit Crystals to ascend into the realm of the Blade’s Enforcer and all the way into the realm of the Blade’s Menace since the side effects would no longer be a concern to him.

The only thing was since the young lad had not reached the age of sixteen yet, and there was still plenty of time left for the young lad to progress, not thinking about the stability of one’s realm just for the sake of ascending to a higher realm would be an extremely dangerous and risky thing to do. Hence, Zhou Yan was unwilling to pay such a high price imploring such a method. This would only be used as a last resort for him.

The truth was the possibility of infusing the Spirit Crystals within one’s Qi’s pillar came to his mind when the young lad was healing Gu Yan—he felt it while his Spirit Crystals were depleted.

The collection of Qi within one’s realm would also require the need for one’s full enlightenment of that realm’s knowledge.

The young lad’s mastery over his Blade’s Essence was extremely close to perfection. Even though he had not ascended into the third rank within the realm of the Blade’s Essence, the ascension of his realm was never exactly a huge problem for him. The realm of the Blade’s Enforcer was the mutation of one’s Blade’s Essence, and this process of mutation required a huge volume of Qi for the change to happen.

The only concern was if one had taken the enlightenment of one’s knowledge lightly, in most cases, it would cause one’s foundation to be incredibly unstable. Fixing such a major flaw in the future would be extremely and insurmountably difficult.

Hence, it was a last resort for him. Zhou Yan wished to fully master and perfect his mastery within his realm before ascending into the next one, thus, his hard work in training was never solely for the sake of ascension.

…

Alas, Zhou Yan stood up. There were hints of deep contemplation and slight exhaustion in the gaze of both his eyes.

In these couple of days, the young lad had spent all of his time sinking his mind in thinking about the knowledge which would most definitely bring him enlightenment. Thus, day and night the young lad worked hard sharpening his mind, and the only thing keeping his mind focused and sharp was the Burning Blade’s Heart Ale.

He was unaware of what side effects this ale would bring butto the young lad, he could seemingly feel the growth and change of his soul, as if it was slowly taking one step at a time growing ever so stronger.

It was an odd feeling for the young lad but Zhou Yan was now convinced by how accurate his judgment was.

The young lad laid on top of both his hands behind his head. He was able to look out and stare into a partial sky through a small opening on the ceiling.

It was already late night at that moment, and both crescent moons were orbiting one another—it resembled the depiction of the Eight Trigrams.

Thus, Zhou Yan gazed out the small opening into the beauty of the night. Staring into the shroud of the serene darkness, his heart felt incredibly peaceful.

There was a week left before the young lad would be required to head out on his way to the main branch of the Zhou family. He initially assumed that all he had to do was defeat Zhou Lingyi in battle with pure strength and skill alone, and he would ultimately be selected. However, he was unclear of why Gu Yan was in such a grim mood—it seemed as if he was greeting death.

This forced the young lad to silence his deafening anxiety, as he calmed his heart to continue studying.

The young lad felt slightly exhausted and drained. It had been a while since he had a bite to eat and had a good night’s rest.

“The depiction of the moon held the same principles of the Eight Trigrams—the radiance of a moon is a body of pure Yin. Blade’s Core of Pure Yin possessed the ability to condense the radiance of the moon’s light, hence transforming it into the Blade’s Menace of Infinite Moon’s Radiance. A unique form indeed.

“How can I compare to these unique bodies?

“How long can I struggle in this unimaginably vast world?”

Thus, the young lad stared directly at the crescent-shaped moons as he suddenly had an epiphany. This young lad was never easily touched by anything, not in the past nor would he be in the present.”

However, at that moment, perhaps it was due to the spiritual growth of the lad’s soul, as he felt he had gained more moments of epiphanies.

The young lad thought about plenty of things, and moments of reflection like this were like a brief break for him since his mind was able to wander without any limits to wherever his heart desired.

It was uncertain how much time had passed. However, as both moons spiraled and orbited one another, it spun and morphed into the shape of the Eight Trigrams and suddenly transformed into an object similar to a fish’s eye, causing the night sky to be much more radiant than usual.

At the same time, seemingly without reason, the young lad felt a sudden resonation of his soul.

The young lad was unsure of the exact reason but the moment his soul began to vibrate, he could feel a mysterious feeling within as things that were overlooked or were never once thought about flooded his mind all at the same time.

“I have for a fact inherited most of the experience of that Ancient Sage who was capable of Spatial Destruction. Why… How am I still so weak?”

“Since it was such a powerful soul that had infused within me—not to mention a slight spatial destruction energy that was also imbued in me—it would be impossible for me to still be this weak!”

“Anyone powerful enough for spatial destruction, even with its essence alone would be enough to shatter the very fabric of space itself!

“That Lady of the Snow-Jaded Palace made her way to me with the energy of spatial destruction itself. That outburst of energy was so terrifyingly powerful, it’s beyond anything I could ever imagine!”

“It seems that I’ve overlooked a significantly important detail!”

“That soul of the Ancient Sage has so much potential imbued within it, and I’ve completely ignored it!”

Zhou Yan stared at the fish-eye-esque change in the twin moons. The slight change in the radiance of the moonlight would greatly shift the tone of the earth underneath it. Thus, Zhou Yan’s heart was symbolically parallel to the moon’s radiance, hence an immediate change occurred within him.

Alas at that moment, with a newfound determination, the young lad stood firm on the ground as he temporarily set aside any sword’s way of this world and proceeded to focus on the principles of knowledge from the collective memories of the Ancient Sage.

After the major paradigm shift in attitude, Zhou Yan felt as if his forehead had cracked open into a bottomless, terrifying unimaginable abyss. The young lad also felt a sudden spiraling wave of energy coming from the deepest depth of his forehead.

Zhou Yan proceeded to use his sharp and keen sense of perception to sense the nature of the energy. However, with a sudden pull from this whirlpool-like energy, the transformation he had just witnessed from the twin moons up in the heavens was going through another series of changes.

At that moment, it seemed the surrounding area had been completely silenced. Not a single sound could be heard around him.

It was as if the young lad had arrived at an abandoned void, drifting without direction in its vast emptiness.

As he looked up into the heavens above, the sky above was without color, filled by a dull tint.

As the young lad looked beneath his feet, all he could see was a light greyish fluid—it was similar to a thick extra strong glue. It was also deafeningly silent.

“What… what’s all this?”

Zhou Yan was in a panicked state as he stood frozen in place.

Then, a specter manifested in the void the young lad was in. It stood directly in front of the young lad.

All this specter did was stand still in place, without moving an inch; and just like that, Zhou Yan felt a strong wave of terror while he was seemingly suffocating. However, that was besides the point. The most important detail was this specter of a man was none other than… the Ancient Sage!

…

The instant he laid his eyes upon this man, Zhou Yan felt a strong wave of panic in his heart.

A sudden thought rushed into the young lad’s mind—as this felt like a trap from the heavens—how exactly did this happen? The young lad felt as if his very existence, his life would be reaped away.

What can the young lad do to resist in the presence of someone so unimaginably powerful?

However, even if that was the only thing he knew, he was unwilling to submit without a fight.

“Worry not child, for this is merely a personification of my own thoughts.”

At that moment, the specter suddenly emanated a shred of unique energy causing Zhou Yan to be at ease.

Any mental guard the young lad had placed in the face of this specter would have little to no effect on it.

Hence, Zhou Yan’s expression changed to a much more relaxed one.

The young lad had given up resisting since it was painfully obvious to him that there was nothing he could do that would even remotely affect this specter due to the immense gap of power between them.

Since the specter said it would do him no harm, the young lad decided to put trust in it.

Because if he refused to do so, there would be no escape for him.

“Your grace, what exactly has happened to you?”

There were hints of gratitude in the young lad’s heart since though he was unable to do a thing but to submit completely to the specter, this specter of a man truly had once graced him with its aid.

He had such a thought in mind, and it was the young lad’s true feeling when he expressed his most sincere concerns toward the specter.

“I… My condition is a long story, hence there’s no such need for an explanation. However, you may be rest assured that whatever that you received and inherited from me was a major part of my soul’s essence. Hence, cleansing a pure and clean soul would be of great help to you.”

That specter spoke with a soft tone.

Zhou Yan nodded as he took a huge, sincere bow and proudly exclaimed, “Please accept my bow as your pupil, master.”

“Hmm… Good to know that you’re showing such gratitude. It pleases me.” That specter never stopped Zhou Yan’s action, as he nodded satisfyingly.

“This time, I was met with a calamity of lightning. It shattered my enlightened knowledge and principles, hence, there were plenty that I’ve abandoned. I was merely left with another soul as I reincarnate to relearn what I’ve once lost.

“If there’s a day in the future for you to travel the vast universe, perhaps there’s an opportunity for us to meet one day.”

“The universe is like a river. It passes through countless civilizations. Its shore contains plenty of other universes as well, and around it are plenty of calamities of lightning within the void. Remember, in any given moment, scholars should always have a humble heart, to feel small and insignificant, or else the inflated ego of one’s heart would only result in one’s demise.

“My entire lifetime I’ve persisted in many, many principles and at the same time, given up on countless more.

“Hence, the calamity of lightning has shattered my soul, and I would have a fresh new start to relearn my ways.

“There’s no need to give up on anything because of something that holds you back, and at the same time, there’s also no need to persist in something because of any sort of pressure that might force you to do so.

“You’re no exception to this principle.

“Beneath your feet lies the power of the soul. The scholars of your realm study the way of the sword, and even the soul itself is in the shape of a sword. Therefore, the law that governs this realm is the law of the ‘Sword’.

“But as wide as the universe stretches one would still find its way back to the point one had originated from, so what if it’s the law of the sword? I shall help you once more. Thus, I shall help you shape your soul into the shape of a sword!”

Just as the specter spoke, with a single wave of its hand the grey energy that covered the heavens and earth instantly collected and condensed around the young lad.

This void was seemingly about to collapse on itself!

Zhou Yan was incredibly terrified in his heart. There were no limits to this man’s power as there was no scale to measure this man’s limitless power!

Although Zhou Yan had been infused with the will of the Ancient Sage’s soul, Zhou Yan felt he was unworthy to even be an ant in the presence of this majestic man.

Even though it was only how he felt about that limitless power, Zhou Yan believed in the presence of this man, if the man willed it, a single glance alone would be enough to murder the Lady of the Snow-Jaded palace more than a thousand times!

It was an indescribable feeling, the only word that even came close to describing such majesty would be powerful and immense—nothing else.

“Buzz…”

Both the heavens and earth exploded. However, the space the young lad stood on was incredibly stable as if it was unaffected by the explosion. Zhou Yan was puzzled as it was a mystery to the young lad for where he was at.

An infinite wave of energy, just with a single wave of this man’s hand, had formed into a blindingly eye-piercing white light.

Then, both the specter’s hands were seemingly performing the Embracing Tai Chi as the true depiction of the Art of the Formless Fists manifested itself. Each punch was as solid as steel, and limitless specters of twelve forms of Divine Beasts manifested itself as they sent roars into the air before vanishing in the direction of the aureole.