Chen Fan had fought in this void-like secret realm for thirty years, while only three years had passed in the outside world. And one could only enter this place once in a lifetime, so Chen Fan treasured this opportunity all the more.
Thirty years meant nothing to him. He had fought until he entered a state of utter selflessness, his strength gradually drawing closer to that of his mirror image. As he maintained a prolonged battle at peak condition, the Burning Wood Chapter within him fully displayed its great utility after he entered the Nascent Soul Late Stage, endlessly replenishing his true essence without ever running dry!
Bang!
A tremendous explosion burst forth as the swords between them collided. Chen Fan and his mirror image were sent flying back once more. They had clashed too many times to count—from the trembling hum of blades at the beginning to every strike now being capable of blasting apart mountain ranges. The transformation was utterly staggering!
"You are riddled with hidden flaws, yet I've only just discovered them!" Chen Fan stared at his mirror image, the Heavenly Eye Treasure Art activated. At last, he understood what the Nine Palaces Elder had meant.
"I was indeed wrong to enter this battle while searching for the flaws within myself!" He smiled faintly, his gaze fixed on the mirror image as he continued, "Fortunately, I eventually forgot by chance that you were my mirror image and treated you as a powerful stranger. I searched for flaws in your Sword Dao, never expecting that I had taken the right direction!"
He understood now. For a cultivator, the hardest thing was nothing more than questioning the Dao one cultivated. Doing so would instead cause one to fall into an even greater maze, unable to find a way out.