Buzz—
An invisible ripple spread outward.
Void Clarity Sword Heart, activate!
In an instant, Qin Jue's world changed.
The clamor vanished, and even the dust drifting through the air came to a standstill. His thoughts raced at their utmost speed, and he entered a state of ethereal calm and reason.
In this state, the essence of all things in the world appeared clearly before his eyes.
Qin Jue abruptly opened his eyes and looked at the painting on the table again.
This time, what he saw was no longer a motionless drop of water.
The drop moved.
It fell from a great height, wrapped in an unstoppable momentum as it tore through the sky.
To Qin Jue, it was no mere drop of water. It was a sharp sword descending from the heavens.
It had no elaborate variations, no flashy techniques—only one pure movement: falling.
Gravity became speed, and speed gathered into a cutting edge. All its power was concentrated in that tiny drop, without the slightest leak or waste.
"This is..."
The falling droplet was reflected in Qin Jue's pupils. With Void Clarity Sword Heart active, countless principles of the sword raced through his mind as he deduced them. He analyzed and extrapolated, trying to see through to the essence behind this sword.
Slowly, the droplet broke apart before his eyes.
He saw countless fine lines—the paths along which Sword Qi flowed. He saw countless tiny nodes—the points where power burst forth.
At last, all the lines and nodes converged, forming a perfect cycle.
"Ultimate Form. This is an Ultimate Form."
An Ultimate Form was the most perfect move distilled from a martial technique after it had been cultivated to its limits and undergone a final sublimation.
But the painting expressed more than just an Ultimate Form.
As the