God-Confounding

As for that sixth-grade sword art?

His Panel could inherit a technique's level of mastery. Ten days, maybe half a month, and he would have it down.

Of course, he couldn't tell Leng Qiu any of his greatest secrets.

"Captain Leng." Lu Zhen looked at the anxious woman before him. "All my life, I've heard people tell me I couldn't do it."

"In the Nine Provinces, they said I'd never get far."

"When I first entered the Special Training Camp, they said my grasp of True Intent was poor and I was destined for last place."

"Even when I climbed the tower a few days ago, everyone thought I couldn't make it past the third floor." Lu Zhen smiled faintly. "And how did that turn out?"

"I took first place."

Lu Zhen's voice rang with conviction. "The Martial Path is a boat pushed upstream. The path others consider best might not suit me."

"I don't care what others think."

"What matters is what I think!"

Leng Qiu's eyes narrowed slightly. She stared at him, and the sharp resolve rolling off him left even a Nu River Realm expert like her momentarily speechless.

He was right. In the pursuit of martial arts, how could there be one path that was best for everyone?

A clear Dao heart and thoughts free of doubt—that was what mattered!

This brat had come from a small world and forced his way past every prodigy of the Ancient Clans. Wasn't it precisely this stubborn drive to forge ahead, to break the old before building the new, that had brought him here?

If he listened to her, returned the treasure, and unsettled his Dao heart, that would be the real loss.

Seeing Leng Qiu fall silent,

Lu Zhen softened his tone, and his gaze grew gentler too.