Insight

Amid the demon monkey pack,

Silver Shadow Sword Light flashed,

Zhang Qingyuan was slaughtering them with wild abandon,

The Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles flowed from Zhang Qingyuan's hand with strict precision, cold light flashing. Every move carried incomparably sharp killing intent; whenever the cold light flashed, a spray of blood was bound to rise.

As time passed,

Amid the slaughter,

A hearty and uninhibited sensation flowed through his heart.

At this moment,

For some reason,

The Fourth-Layer Water Origin Art inside his body faintly echoed with this sword technique,

The sword forms that had originally been so rigidly structured, every single move,

Seemed to be gradually undergoing some unknown change,

Sword after sword thrust forth, their momentum gradually transforming into a breeze brushing past, unending and continuous, like fine spring rain. Yet amid this gentle transformation, the sword technique became even sharper and more terrifying!

As more and more monkey demons were slain,

The Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles actually faintly resonated with the Water Origin Art inside his body, as if a trapped fish had burst free of its enclosure and swum Beyond Heaven and Earth!

The chilling killing intent that reflected across the sky,

Continued to draw inward.

Yet Zhang Qingyuan's sword technique became increasingly rounded and smooth at this moment. The stern Sword Light cutting through the air gradually changed from stiffness into the fluidity of running water, the sword technique slowly shifting toward softness and pliancy, like curling clouds unfurling, exceedingly gentle.

He sensed this change,

This basic sword technique of the Cloud Water Sect Outer Sect,

Under the impetus of the Fourth-Layer Water Origin Art, no longer possessed the framework of fixed moves. Instead, like following flowing water, it gradually merged together.

The basic sword technique known as the Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles,

Was the strongest offensive basic martial skill Zhang Qingyuan had mastered.

Driven by the encouragement of seeing his own progress displayed on the Proficiency Panel, Zhang Qingyuan had long practiced this sword technique thousands upon tens of thousands of times!

It could be said that,

Among the entire hundred thousand Outer Sect disciples of the Cloud Water Sect, there were absolutely no more than a handful who could endure such tedious, repetitive training and practice this basic sword technique as many times as Zhang Qingyuan.

Zhang Qingyuan knew well that his aptitude was actually quite ordinary.

His Great Accomplishment Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles,

Had basically been attained only after practicing the thirteen paths until they became incomparably proficient, piling up thousands upon tens of thousands of training sessions before only then reaching Great Accomplishment!

Such a Great Accomplishment basic martial skill,

Though its power differed little from the Great Accomplishment basic sword techniques of those geniuses who understood at a glance and mastered things the moment they practiced them.

Still,

His Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles were, after all, trapped within the confines of set moves. He relied solely on the instincts of those moves rather than truly comprehending the true essence of this sword technique and integrating it completely.

But at this moment,

With the Silver Shadow Longsword in hand, he slaughtered his way through the demon monkey pack.

Perhaps it was blood, or perhaps it was the real combat that concentrated his spirit to the utmost. Under the catalysis of the Water Origin Art, the originally lifeless and rule-bound sword forms gradually began to change.

Like a withered tree,

Sprouting new buds,

A thread of unprecedented vitality began to bloom amid Zhang Qingyuan's layers upon layers of sword shadows!

Within Zhang Qingyuan's heart,

He faintly sensed something, as though he and this sword technique had formed a connection!

"So that's how it is!"

Amid the brutal slaughter, Zhang Qingyuan moved through the monkey pack like drifting clouds and mist, murmuring in his heart.

[You fought numerous demon monkeys alone. You gained insight during the battle of strangling the demon monkey pack. Your Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles proficiency has increased. Your Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles proficiency +1.]

[You gained insight during battle. Your Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles proficiency has increased. Your Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles proficiency +1]

[During battle]

Line after line of text continuously appeared on the panel in his mind.

The proficiency behind the Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles,

Was increasing at a speed more than ten times faster than usual!

Yet Zhang Qingyuan had no mind to pay attention to the changes on the panel anymore,

After living with it for three years,

He had long understood that the changing data on the panel was merely a quantified display based on what he had gained. It had not the slightest relation to the improvement of his own cultivation strength.

At this moment, Zhang Qingyuan,

Was immersed in this mysterious insight,

Silver Shadow whistled through the high altitude in his hand, bringing forth streak after streak of biting cold light and whipping up blossoms of blood that filled the sky!

His Sword Momentum,

Became softer and more expansive.

Yet its killing power itself became even more terrifying!

Originally, beneath a single sword strike,

The demon monkeys would either die or suffer grievous wounds.

But now,

The Sword Light twisted like a swimming dragon, resembling the flowing light of dense spring-rain sword shadows. Yet every flash inevitably took a life, and not a single demon monkey could escape the fate of being killed by one sword!

Within Zhang Qingyuan's heart,

There was an unprecedented sense of hearty and uninhibited exhilaration, as though he had suddenly understood the true essence of this sword technique.

But when he thought deeply about it,

It seemed as though he had gained nothing at all,

So he simply stopped thinking,

Sword Light flashing, he unleashed his full strength and enjoyed this hearty and uninhibited slaughter, stirring up a foul wind and bloody rain amid the demon monkey pack.

The guards behind him,

Had originally intended to step forward and help Zhang Qingyuan kill these crazed demon monkeys.

But upon seeing Zhang Qingyuan unleash such divine might, such overwhelming force,

They all stopped in their tracks in shock.

Leaving aside whether the biting Golden Light reflecting against the cold sky would turn them into a hindrance, and whether they might have their heads ground away by his Sword Momentum the moment they rushed forward, Senior Zhang alone could probably slaughter all these demon monkeys with ease!

"Gasp! Isn't this the Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles, the basic sword technique of the Cloud Water Sect Outer Sect? How could it be this formidable? I have seen other Outer Sect immortal masters use it before, and its power was indeed formidable, but compared to this Senior Zhang, they are as far apart as clouds and mud!"

Among the guards, a more knowledgeable family elder at the Spirit Essence Realm Third Level cried out in a low voice.

He had once seen the Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles wielded by other Outer Sect disciples of the Cloud Water Sect in other cultivation regions.

But just as he had said,

The sword forms he had seen before,

Were separated from Zhang Qingyuan's Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles before him by a gulf like a heavenly moat.

If the sword forms of that Cloud Water Sect Outer Sect disciple he had seen were one move after another, and though their power had been quite formidable, they were ultimately constrained by the forms of the sword moves,

Then Zhang Qingyuan's sword forms,

Flowed as smoothly as water, as if they had transcended nature and broken free from the confines of set moves!

Sword Qi crisscrossed and Sword Light flashed,

Causing the several cultivators present to faintly feel that sword techniques could actually be used this way, could reach such a level.

"It is said that once a basic sword technique is cultivated to Great Accomplishment, one can turn decay into magic. If one can reach perfection, then skill has reached the Dao, possessing all manner of unfathomable powers capable of making even a cultivator's Divine Soul produce a resonance of insight."

"I fear this Senior Zhang's Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles has long reached Great Accomplishment and is advancing toward perfection!"

Under the support of the guards beside him, Patriarch Zheng,

Slowly stood up. His gaze looked towards Zhang Qingyuan ahead, who resembled a lightning bolt streaking across the sky and rampaging freely through the demon monkey pack. His voice was filled with boundless admiration.

His eyes were full of respect.

Perfection in the basic sword forms was not something an ordinary person could achieve.

One had to know that even in the legendary Inner Sect of the Cloud Water Sect, there might not necessarily be anyone capable of cultivating a basic martial skill to perfection!

Yet Zhang Qingyuan before them could actually touch upon a thread of the Artistic Conception of perfection,

How formidable he was,

Could well be imagined!

At those words,

Soft cries of alarm rose all around.

Even those whose brains were not much use knew that this Senior Zhang before them, even within the Cloud Water Sect's immortal gate, likely counted among those legendary Genius Great Figures.