The Path Forward Was Blocked Years Ago

Suppressing her excitement, Chi Jiuyu sat cross-legged, holding her breath and focusing her mind as she waited for a moment.

Hmm.

She didn't feel the slightest change...

"Why haven't we started yet, Martial Uncle?"

"You can start once you go lie down on the bed."

"That's so troublesome. Can't we just start directly?"

"Start directly... well, that's not impossible."

At this moment, Zhang Yunlu was defeated once again on the light screen. Although she was gradually developing her own style, it would still take a long time before it was perfected.

But it didn't matter; time was the one thing they had in abundance.

The next moment, the scene on the light screen suddenly accelerated, becoming so fast that even Chi Jiuyu couldn't see what was happening.

After speeding up the footage, Xu Xing turned his head to look at her.

"Then, let's begin."

Hum~

A faint, subtle humming sound resonated in her ears, and her vision began to blur. In a trance, Chi Jiuyu felt her consciousness sinking and falling, with all her methods rendered useless in that instant.

She didn't know how much time had passed before she finally felt herself "land."

As her vision cleared, she saw endless gray mist before her, even beneath her feet, yet she felt as if she were standing on solid ground.

Moreover, she could clearly sense her own body, her mana, her soul, and even her storage ring were all present!

It was as if she had truly arrived in this space in the flesh.

How large could this place be?

Gazing at the gray mist surrounding her, this question suddenly surfaced in her mind.

As a woman of action, Chi Jiuyu didn't just stand there; she summoned an ancient longsword interwoven with gold and cyan colors.

This was her natal spirit sword. Although it had yet to develop a sword spirit, its spirituality was already quite abundant.

To think it could even simulate the spirituality of her own natal spirit sword!

Chi Jiuyu's curiosity grew, and she immediately unleashed the Human-Sword Unity divine ability, fleeing at full speed in one direction.

Her speed broke the sound barrier in an instant, and continuous sonic booms rang out; even a Qi Refining cultivator would only be able to perceive a blurred afterimage flashing past.

Even so, this was not the limit of her speed.

In the living room of the outside world, Chi Jiuyu's physical body slumped onto the sofa, with most of her head hanging off the edge, looking as if she were fast asleep.

A light screen rose, standing side-by-side with the one showing Zhang Yunlu.

"She really knows how to stir up trouble." Xu Xing sighed softly.

Forget it, better to start as soon as possible.

And so, two lines of golden text suddenly appeared in the vision of Chi Jiuyu, who was currently exploring the space.

[Enemy: Nascent Soul Perfection Xu Xing]

[Objective: Survive three sword strikes]

She stopped immediately, the air currents she stirred up agitating the surrounding gray mist, and the longsword circled her once before returning to her hand.

Is it starting!

Chi Jiuyu took a deep breath, suppressing the excitement in her heart.

She had always been confident, confident that she was no worse than anyone else, but the opponent she was about to face was her Martial Uncle, who stood at the pinnacle of the Great Profound Realm just like her master.

Step! Step!

Footsteps echoed from afar. Deep within the gray mist, an illusory figure slowly emerged, with wisps of mist flowing into it, making it increasingly solid.

As the figure solidified, the churning gray mist gradually turned red.

Yet, that red did not appear eerie or bloody; instead, it gave off a feeling of grandeur and uprightness, like a torch dispelling the night.

The red mist gathered in his palm, condensing into a sword. The blade was entirely crimson, and as its divine light flowed, a phantom of a red moon seemed to emerge.

The... the moon?

Shouldn't it be the sun?

But it seemed there weren't any particularly famous swords in the sect related to the sun, though there were quite a few related to the "moon."

Which one was Martial Uncle using?

As these thoughts raced through her mind, the figure became completely solid. His physique was identical to Xu Xing's, but... his face was obscured by churning gray mist.

"Martial Uncle, where is your face?" Chi Jiuyu blurted out.

[Stop the chatter, if you don't draw your sword, he's going to strike first.]

"I was just asking," she muttered.

She then looked at the phantom of Xu Xing not far away, her fighting spirit soaring as a faint golden light ignited in her eyes.

Great Void Truth-Breaking Golden Pupils.

The divine ability was just as its name suggested: it peered through the void and shattered illusions.

With the level of attainment Chi Jiuyu had reached in this divine ability, she could spot flaws even in a Spirit Transmutation cultivator.

However, the ability that had never failed her before seemed to lose its effectiveness at this moment; she could not discern even a single flaw.

The phantom of Xu Xing did not wait indefinitely.

"First sword."

In a voice so calm it lacked even a ripple, the crimson longsword was slowly raised.

Damn it!

Chi Jiuyu felt her scalp tingle and an extreme sense of unease gripped her heart; the intense danger made every fiber of her flesh and soul tremble.

Without hesitation, she unleashed the Human-Sword Unity divine ability and fled into the distance.

A tactical retreat first!

"Slash."

Red light blanketed the sky, inescapable and unblockable; all divine abilities and methods appeared utterly laughable before this single strike.

It was as if a sun had fallen, and Chi Jiuyu, fleeing into the distance, was instantly submerged by the endless brilliance. In the split second before her body vaporized, only one thought remained in her mind.

How the hell could this be Nascent Soul?

Outside, Xu Xing held his bowl of duck blood vermicelli soup, watching Chi Jiuyu get submerged by the light, and couldn't help but laugh.

Of all the cultivation levels she could have chosen, she just had to pick the Nascent Soul Realm.

When he was in the Nascent Soul Realm, he had reorganized everything he had learned and created the prototype of the Great Void Sword Canon.

It could be said that throughout history, no Nascent Soul cultivator had ever existed who could surpass him.

Dozens of seconds later, the gray mist reassembled into Chi Jiuyu, who was now questioning her entire existence.

"Uncle-Master! You're cheating, how could this possibly be the Nascent Soul Realm!"

This was too ridiculously strong; even a weaker Spirit Transmutation cultivator wouldn't be able to block that, right?

[Try again. This time, I will let you feel it clearly.]

"Fine!"

Since it wasn't a real death anyway, she decided to see exactly how her Uncle-Master used Nascent Soul level mana to unleash such an exaggerated strike.

She strode up to the phantom of Xu Xing.

Without any warning, she suddenly thrust her sword forward, and the blade actually vanished.

Flowing Cloud Sword Technique!

In truth, she had learned this sword technique while sparring with Zhang Yunlu.

Facing the sudden attack, the phantom of Xu Xing merely tilted his body slightly to evade it.

"First sword."

It was the same calm, indifferent voice as before.

Chi Jiuyu, who had been preparing a follow-up move, suddenly found she couldn't execute a second strike. Black and white colors spread out from the two of them as the center, and everything seemed to freeze, save for that sword, which remained dazzlingly red.

She also truly and clearly felt the mana aura of the phantom of Xu Xing.

Nascent Soul Perfection.

It did not exceed her own.

This really was the Nascent Soul Realm!

Just as Chi Jiuyu thought she was about to die again, the crimson sword finally stopped right before her brow, not piercing through.

Not only that, but the black and white colors that had spread out slowly retracted.

Whew~

The phantom of Xu Xing turned into a wisp of mist and dissipated.

[How does it feel?]

How else could it feel? It was awesome!

Chi Jiuyu felt a bit discouraged; she had always thought she was the awesome one!

"Are there many Nascent Soul cultivators as powerful as you, Uncle-Master?"

[No, I am the most powerful.]

"...You really are not modest, Uncle-Master."

[Just the truth.]

[However, there is no need for you to be discouraged. After all, the version of me that just crossed blades with you is already over two hundred years old.]

Hm?!

Over two hundred years old!

"No way, Uncle-Master, how could your talent be so poor?"

A Nascent Soul cultivator of over two hundred years would likely struggle to even enter the inner sect of the Sword Sect nowadays.

Uh...

But Uncle-Master's exaggerated combat prowess could not be measured by realm alone.

Wait, no!

"What realm was Master at that time, then?"

[The same as me, Nascent Soul Perfection.]

Chi Jiuyu was stunned.

"Why?"

It was impossible for both Master and Uncle-Master to have poor talent; that would be complete nonsense.

[The cultivation system back then was not yet perfected; Nascent Soul was the pinnacle.]

[With no path forward, we could only continue to experiment.]