Knock, knock, knock. Knock, knock, knock.
A long, slender index finger tapped rhythmically against the armrest.
Knock, knock, knock. Knock, knock, knock.
The sound was like someone knocking at a door.
But the door to the Great Void prison cell would never open.
Nor could a prisoner of the Great Void Illusion Realm possibly leave before their sentence had expired.
Chen Suan sat in the room's only chair, before its only table. Spread across that table was a sheet of letter paper.
He had stared at the hastily scrawled plea for help on the paper, lost in thought for a long while.
Outside the window, the phantom image of a sundial would cast itself upon the wall, allowing him to clearly see how time passed and know how much remained of his sentence.
After an entire long day of contemplation...
He decided to die.
He held a sword in his hand. It was three feet three inches long and one inch nine fen wide. Its hilt was made of black-and-white duality wood, its bronze scabbard bore a pale yellow-green patina, and its iron edge was slowly emerging from the sheath.
This sword was called "Beyond"—beyond the Dao.
He grasped all that lay within calculation; for all that lay beyond it, he fought with "Beyond."
He was the most cautious of men, often waiting until he possessed absolute certainty before making a move.
But there were exceptions in life, just like this sword.
Just as before in Tianjing City, when he had drawn his sword against Jiang Wang.
Though Heavenly Secret calculated no path of fortune, he still had to contend beyond Heavenly Secret.
A man named for "calculation," whose Supernatural Power was "Heavenly Secret," and who wielded the sword Beyond, was known in the Great Void Illusion Realm as "Jia