Insight

Amid the Demon Monkey Pack,

Silver Shadow Sword Light flashed.

Zhang Qingyuan was slaughtering them with abandon.

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

As time passed,

Amid the slaughter,

A hearty and uninhibited feeling flowed through his heart.

At this moment,

For some reason,

The fourth level of the Water Origin Art inside his body faintly resonated with this sword technique.

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

Seemed to be gradually undergoing some unknown transformation.

As he thrust out sword after sword, their momentum gradually transformed into a gentle breeze brushing past, unending and continuous, like fine spring rain. Yet amid this soft transformation, the sword technique became all the sharper and more terrifying!

As more and more Monkey Demons were slain,

The Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles faintly resonated with the Water Origin Art inside his body. It was as if a trapped fish had broken free of its enclosure and was roaming Beyond Heaven and Earth!

The killing intent that chilled the sky,

Continually drew inward.

Yet Zhang Qingyuan's sword technique became increasingly smooth and rounded. The cold, fierce Sword Light he carved through the air gradually changed from stiff to fluid as running water, while his sword technique slowly shifted toward softness and pliancy, like rolling clouds unfurling, exceedingly gentle.

He sensed this change.

This Basic Sword Technique of the Cloud Water Sect Outer Sect,

Driven by the fourth level of the Water Origin Art, no longer retained the framework of one move after another. Instead, it was like flowing water, gradually merging into one.

The Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles, this Basic Sword Technique,

Was the strongest offensive Basic Martial Skill Zhang Qingyuan had mastered.

Encouraged by the Proficiency Panel's display of his own progress, Zhang Qingyuan had long since practiced this sword technique thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of times!

It could be said,

Among the entire Cloud Water Sect's hundred thousand Outer Sect Disciples, those who could endure such dull, repetitive training and had practiced this Basic Sword Technique as many times as Zhang Qingyuan could definitely be counted on both hands.

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

His Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles at Great Accomplishment,

Had basically been attained through repeated practice, drilling all thirteen sword forms to an incomparably proficient degree, piling up thousands upon thousands of training sessions before only then reaching Great Accomplishment!

This kind of Basic Martial Skill at Great Accomplishment,

Might not have differed much in power from the Basic Sword Techniques at Great Accomplishment wielded by those geniuses who understood everything at a glance and mastered it the moment they practiced it.

However,

Because of this, his Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles had, after all, remained trapped within the confines of its forms. He relied only on instinctive moves rather than truly comprehending the true meaning of this sword technique and integrating it fully.

But now,

As he held the Silver Shadow Longsword and slaughtered his way through the Demon Monkey Pack,

Perhaps it was the blood, or perhaps it was the actual combat that forced his mind into extreme concentration. Under the catalysis of the Water Origin Art, the originally orderly, lifeless sword forms gradually began to change.

Like a withered tree,

Sprouting new buds,

A wisp of unprecedented vitality began to bloom amid Zhang Qingyuan's layers upon layers of Sword Shadows!

Within Zhang Qingyuan's heart,

Something stirred faintly, as though he had formed some kind of connection with this sword technique!

"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 your battle to massacre the Demon Monkey Pack. Your Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles proficiency has increased. Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles proficiency +1.]

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

[You are in 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 rate more than ten times faster than usual!

But Zhang Qingyuan had no mind to pay attention to the changes on the panel.

Having lived with it for three years,

He had long understood that the changing data on the panel was merely a quantified display of what he had gained. It had not the slightest connection to any increase in his 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 sweeping up blooms of blood across the sky!

His Sword Momentum,

Became softer and more flowing.

Yet its destructive power became even more terrifying!

Originally, with a single sword strike,

The Demon Monkeys would either die or be severely wounded.

But now,

The Sword Light twisted like a swimming dragon, resembling dense spring rain and flowing Sword Shadows. Yet every flash inevitably took a life—no Demon Monkey could escape the fate of being slain by a single sword!

Within Zhang Qingyuan's heart,

He felt an unprecedented sense of hearty exhilaration, as though he had suddenly understood the true meaning of this sword technique.

But when he thought deeply upon it,

It seemed as though he had gained nothing at all.

So he simply stopped thinking about it.

Sword Light flashed as he unleashed his full strength, enjoying this hearty and uninhibited slaughter and stirring up a bloody storm amid the Demon Monkey Pack.

The guards behind him,

Had originally intended to step forward and assist Zhang Qingyuan in slaughtering these crazed Demon Monkeys.

But upon seeing Zhang Qingyuan unleash such Divine Might, such overwhelming force,

They all stopped in their tracks in horror.

Leaving aside whether they would merely get in the way if they rushed into the biting Golden Light that illuminated the cold sky and have their heads minced by his Sword Momentum, Senior Zhang alone could probably slaughter all these Demon Monkeys with ease!

"Hiss! Isn't that the Cloud Water Sect Outer Sect's Basic Sword Technique, the Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles? How can it be so formidable?! I have seen other Outer Sect Immortal Masters use it before, and its power was indeed formidable, but compared to Senior Zhang's, they are as far apart as clouds and mud!"

Among the guards, a somewhat more knowledgeable Family Elder at the Spirit Essence Realm Third Level cried out in a low voice.

He had once witnessed the Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles used by other Cloud Water Sect Outer Sect Disciples in other cultivation regions.

But just as he had said,

The sword forms he had witnessed before,

Were separated from Zhang Qingyuan's Cloud Water Thirteen Sword Styles by a chasm as vast as the heavens.

If the sword forms of that Cloud Water Sect Outer Sect Disciple he had seen were one move after another—though their power had also been extremely formidable, they had ultimately remained bound by the forms of their sword moves—

Then Zhang Qingyuan's sword forms,

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

Sword Qi crisscrossed, Sword Light flashed,

And the several cultivators present all faintly felt that sword techniques could actually be used like this, that they could reach such a level.

"Rumor has it that once a Basic Sword Technique is cultivated to Great Accomplishment, one can turn decay into wonder. If one can reach perfection, then skill is exhausted in the Dao, possessing all manner of unfathomable power and even causing a cultivator's Divine Soul to resonate with insight."

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

Supported by the guards at his side,

Patriarch Zheng slowly rose to his feet. His gaze looked towards Zhang Qingyuan, who streaked across the sky like lightning and swept invincibly through the Demon Monkey Pack, his voice Filled With boundless admiration.

His eyes were full of respect.

Perfection in the Basic Sword Styles was not something an ordinary person could achieve.

One had to know that even in the Inner Sect spoken of in Cloud Water Sect legends, there might not be anyone capable of cultivating a Basic Martial Skill to perfection!

Yet Zhang Qingyuan before them had actually touched upon a trace of the Artistic Conception of perfection.

How formidable he was,

Was self-evident!

At those words,

Low cries of astonishment arose all around.

Even those who were slow-witted knew that Senior Zhang before them would likely rank among the legendary Genius Great Figures even within the Cloud Water Sect.