1283-1284: A Martial World Myth at Forty Percent Strength! (Bonus Chapter for Monthly Votes)

"Sword qi like threads, the sound of swords like a zither, sword intent transformed into music... Th-this is already the supreme pinnacle of the sword path, a fearsome technique belonging to the ancient Sword Immortals of legendary tales! I never expected you, Nameless, to have reached such cultivation?"

Po Jun stared in astonishment at Nameless, who had conjured the sound of an erhu from sword qi and sword intent. A towering wave had already risen within his heart. His mind shook so violently that goosebumps covered his body, and he felt the scalp-numbing awe of looking up at an unreachable mountain.

Even with his pride, feelings of defeat, inferiority, and despondence began to rise within him at this moment.

Sword qi was inherently sharp;

The sound of swords could pierce metal and shatter stone;

Sword intent could easily intimidate and tear apart a person's mind.

When ordinary swordsmen trained their swordsmanship to the utmost limit, they pursued the ultimate in sharpness and lethality.

Yet beyond that limit, Nameless had broken through to another extreme. He had turned sword qi, sword sound, and sword intent—all originally sharp and fierce—into a mournful erhu melody. It was like turning tempered steel into something soft enough to wrap around one's fingers. He had already surpassed the summit and entered another realm, where mountains were no longer mountains and water was no longer water.

"So... what he was playing wasn't an erhu. It was sword qi. It was loneliness!"

Po Jun finally understood that the gap between himself and Nameless was not merely one of strength and cultivation realm, nor was it the half-step difference in swordsmanship understanding that he had imagined.

It was an enormous gap in swordsmanship attainment.

If he could be considered a peerless swordsman of the martial world, still within the