Yet neither Chen Xin nor all the people of Douluo Continent outside the Sky Screen had expected this.
Facing this old tiger ready to bite back at any moment, the Yankang Imperial Preceptor not only showed no anger, but even revealed a smile carrying a trace of tolerance and apology.
"Old sir, do not be nervous."
The Imperial Preceptor's voice was soft, like a spring breeze capable of soothing all the restlessness in one's heart.
He did not even guard against the killing sword in Chen Xin's hand.
Right before everyone's eyes, under the gaze of tens of thousands of Imperial Academy students and citizens, he slowly bent down.
The Imperial Preceptor extended a slender, fair hand holding no weapon and gently placed it on Chen Xin's shoulder.
The instant his palm landed.
Chen Xin felt an immense yet incomparably gentle surge of vital energy flow through his shoulder and pour endlessly into his body like spring floodwaters bursting through a dam.
This vital energy was far too pure.
It carried not the slightest bit of hostility. After entering Chen Xin's meridians, it was like an experienced old physician.
It gently enveloped the Soul Power running wild everywhere due to the collapse of his Sword Heart, gradually smoothing it out and guiding it back into his dantian.
Not only that, this vital energy traveled upward through his meridians and flooded into Chen Xin's mind.
The Sword Heart that had cracked after witnessing the Imperial Preceptor's sword principles actually began to slowly heal under the nourishment of this gentle energy.
In less than three breaths.
The blood at the corner of Chen Xin's mouth stopped flowing, and color returned to his previously ashen face.
The tearing pain within him vanished without a trace, replaced by an unprecedented sense of ease.
"This..."
Chen Xin was completely stunned.
He stared blankly at the Imperial Preceptor before him as the Seven Kill Sword fell from his hand onto the bluestone slabs with a clang.
He had lived to such an age, killed countless people, and been hunted by countless others.
But he had never seen someone like this.
A peerless expert standing high above all others, facing an outsider of unknown origin who even harbored hostility.
Not only did he refrain from killing him, but he also spared no effort in expending his own vital energy to heal him.
Such broad-mindedness, such bearing, lay completely beyond Chen Xin's understanding.
The Imperial Preceptor withdrew his hand and clasped both hands behind his back, his figure still as upright as a pine.
He looked at Chen Xin, and a nearly imperceptible hint of surprise flashed through his profound eyes.
When he had just treated Chen Xin's injuries.
His vital energy had traveled once through Chen Xin's body.
He keenly sensed the strange cultivation system within Chen Xin.
There was no Spirit Embryo Divine Treasury, no Five Luminaries and Six Harmonies.
Instead, nine bizarre rings containing the lingering souls and resentment of beasts had been forcibly locked onto the nodes of his internal meridians.
This was clearly a dead end that utterly locked away one's potential, like drinking poison to quench thirst.
Yet what surprised the Imperial Preceptor was that this white-haired old man had relied on his ultimate focus toward a particular thing to forcefully carve out an eye-catching, pure aura upon this dead road.
"Old sir, you are not from our Yankang Kingdom, are you?"
The Imperial Preceptor looked at Chen Xin and asked gently.
Chen Xin rose to his feet.
He straightened his slightly disheveled robes, put away the Seven Kill Sword, and gave the Imperial Preceptor a deep bow.
This was the highest respect a pure sword cultivator could offer to a predecessor whose attainment in the sword far surpassed his own and whose heart was so broad.
"My name is Chen Xin. I am indeed not from Yankang Kingdom."
Chen Xin raised his head, his eyes full of confusion.
"There is something I do not understand."
"Imperial Preceptor, you clearly saw through me. You know that what I cultivate is not your kingdom's orthodox method and that I may even be a heretic with sinister intentions."
"Why did you not only refrain from killing me, but also expend vital energy to heal my injuries?"
This was not only Chen Xin's confusion.
It was also the greatest question in the hearts of Bibi Dong and the others outside the Sky Screen, who had been waiting to watch a good show.
On Douluo Continent, heretics were meant to be burned to death. This had been an unchanging iron law for thousands of years.
Upon hearing this question.
The Yankang Imperial Preceptor seemed to have heard something amusing, and a carefree smile curled across his lips.
He turned around and looked at the tens of thousands of eager students and citizens in Imperial Academy Square.
"Heretic?"
The Imperial Preceptor shook his head, his voice echoing serenely over the square.
"How vast are heaven and earth? How boundless is the Great Dao?"
"The sea embraces all rivers; tolerance makes greatness."
The Imperial Preceptor turned back, his gaze meeting Chen Xin's directly.
"Our Yankang Kingdom promotes reform. We believe that the daily lives of the common people are the Dao."
"So long as knowledge can benefit all living beings and help people understand the principles of heaven and earth, whether it comes from the Great Ruins or an alien race beyond the nine heavens."
"Our Yankang Kingdom welcomes it all."
The Imperial Preceptor stepped forward. His broad azure robes fluttered fiercely in the wind, carrying a heroic spirit that seemed capable of swallowing mountains and rivers.
"Old sir, the cultivation method within you may be crude, and it may have locked away your potential."
"But within your body, I sensed an incomparably pure Sword Intent."
"It is a pure intent born solely for slaughter, having cast aside every complicated transformation."
A gleam of delighted appreciation lit the Imperial Preceptor's eyes.
"Even I find such pure intent exceptionally stunning."
"Since you also enjoy the sword."
The Imperial Preceptor took two steps back and made an inviting gesture toward Chen Xin.
"Why not use the strongest sword strike of your life to attack me?"
"Let me see what is unique about the swordsmanship of your world."
At those words, not only did the crowd in Imperial Academy Square cry out in alarm.
Outside the Sky Screen, Ning Fengzhi and Bone Douluo also widened their eyes at once.
"Is he... going to guide Uncle Sword?" Ning Fengzhi's voice trembled, a sign that his excitement had reached its peak.
Within the Sky Screen, Chen Xin took a deep breath upon hearing the Imperial Preceptor's invitation.
His Sword Heart, which had just been crushed, ignited once more with blazing fire.
This was a once-in-a-millennium opportunity for a sword cultivator!
"Since the Imperial Preceptor is willing to instruct me."
Chen Xin's gaze instantly became incomparably sharp, and his entire body seemed to transform into a peerless divine sword drawn from its sheath.
"Then this old man will offend you!"
As soon as he spoke, Chen Xin forcefully pushed off the ground, and the nine Soul Rings around him rose with a boom.
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black!
Although the Soul Ring system seemed exceedingly strange in this world and was even regarded as trash.
When the ninth black ten-thousand-year Soul Ring lit up with dazzling radiance.
Chen Xin's aura still surged to the absolute pinnacle of his entire life.
"Ninth Soul Skill!"
Chen Xin tightly gripped the hilt of the Seven Kill Sword with both hands and raised it high.
All the vital energy in the surrounding air seemed to be drained away at that instant.
An utterly terrifying aura of slaughter sent fine cracks spreading across the bluestone slabs around the lecture platform.
"God and Demon Slash!"
Along with Chen Xin's thunderous roar.
He and his sword transformed into a shocking sword radiance dozens of zhang long, as though it could split the sky in two, and with unwavering resolve, he slashed fiercely down at the Yankang Imperial Preceptor.
This strike contained no flashy transformations.
There was only ultimate slaughter!
Facing this breathtaking peak sword strike.
The Yankang Imperial Preceptor remained where he stood without even shifting his feet.
That sky-cleaving sword radiance reflected in his eyes, while the praise on his face grew increasingly intense.
"What pure killing intent!"
"He abandoned every path of retreat and concentrated all his essence, energy, and spirit into this one strike."
"With such resolute will, if he were placed in my Yankang Army, he would absolutely be an unparalleled fierce general charging into battle!"
Just as the enormous sword radiance was about to fall within three feet of the Imperial Preceptor's head.
The Imperial Preceptor finally moved.
He did not draw a sword, nor did he summon any earth-shaking vital energy.
He merely slowly raised his right hand.
He extended his index and middle fingers, pressing them together like a sword.
He looked at the seemingly flawless sword radiance in midair, countless complex trajectories of Arithmetic flashing through his eyes.
Then, he lightly tapped with his fingers.
He struck an utterly inconspicuous node on that astonishing sword radiance.
"Buzz!"
A strange tremor rang out. Chen Xin's Ninth Soul Skill, into which he had poured the strength of his entire life, was undone by the Imperial Preceptor's light tap of two fingers.
Like a snake stripped of its bones, it instantly collapsed.
The terrifying sword radiance stretching dozens of zhang became a breeze that lifted the corner of the Imperial Preceptor's azure robe before completely dissipating into the air.
Chen Xin held the Seven Kill Sword and landed steadily before the Imperial Preceptor, maintaining his downward-slashing stance.
He was not injured.
Yet his aged eyes were filled with unprecedented shock and enlightenment.
The Imperial Preceptor withdrew his fingers and gently addressed the stunned Chen Xin.
"Old sir, your killing intent is pure, and your power is highly concentrated."
"But your sword is too rigid."
The Imperial Preceptor drew a circle in the air with his hand.
"All things between heaven and earth are constantly changing."
"If you only know how to slash directly ahead without accounting for the changes in space and the movement of the stars."
"Then your sword will only ever be able to split the trees before your eyes, never the firmament above your head."
"Try dispersing your killing intent. Feel the flow of vital energy around you, and let your sword become the key to unlocking the shackles of heaven and earth."
The Imperial Preceptor's words appeared plain.
But to Chen Xin's ears, they were like a great bell, deafening and enlightening.
Chen Xin closed his eyes.
The Seven Kill Sword in his hand let out soft tremors.
Within his mind, the Imperial Preceptor's finger that had broken his Ninth Soul Skill replayed again and again.
Calculation, space, laws, the flow of vital energy.
Things he had never considered before surged into his heart like a tide.
"So that is how it is..."
"This is the true way of the sword..."
Chen Xin murmured to himself.
Suddenly, an exceptionally strange fluctuation erupted from his body.
It was not an increase in Soul Power, but an elevation of realm.
The Rank 96 bottleneck that had troubled him for a full decade let out a crisp cracking sound at that moment.
Rank 97!
With just a few casual pointers from the Imperial Preceptor.
Chen Xin actually crossed the Peak Douluo threshold, which had been like an insurmountable chasm, and achieved enlightenment and a breakthrough on the spot before tens of thousands of people!
This miraculous sight made the people of Spirit Hall outside the Sky Screen so furious that they nearly spat blood.
Bibi Dong in particular had her exquisite face twisted beyond recognition.
Meanwhile, inside the main hall of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, deafening cheers erupted.
Within the Sky Screen, Chen Xin slowly opened his eyes.
He put away the Seven Kill Sword.
This Titled Douluo, who regarded face as dearly as life itself, performed an act no one had expected.
He straightened his robes, then his knees gave way.
He knelt solidly before the Yankang Imperial Preceptor, who was unknown how many years younger than him.
"Those who attain are teachers."
Chen Xin pressed both hands to the ground, his voice trembling faintly with excitement.
"Thank you, Imperial Preceptor, for the grace of remaking me!"
"Please accept this old man's bow!"
Looking at Chen Xin kneeling before him.
Yankang Imperial Preceptor did not dodge.
He calmly accepted the bow, then reached out and helped Chen Xin to his feet.
"Please rise, Elder."
The Yankang Imperial Preceptor held Chen Xin's hand, a hearty smile rising from the depths of his heart.
"When three people walk together, one of them is bound to be my teacher."
"Elder, there is no need for such ceremony. Your slaughter Sword Intent, pure to the utmost extreme, has also given me great inspiration."
The Yankang Imperial Preceptor raised his head and gazed into the distant sky, his eyes becoming unfathomably deep.
"My Yankang Kingdom's reforms require precisely this kind of resolve—to press forward without hesitation and sever all old rules."
"If you do not mind, Elder—"
"From now on, let us address each other as fellow Daoists."
"I will incorporate your pure Sword Intent into my swordsmanship, distill its essence and discard its dross. Perhaps it may allow my sword path to climb another step higher."
The Yankang Imperial Preceptor's words carried the peerless bearing of a true grandmaster.
He did not scorn the weak, nor was he complacent with his current state.
Like a vast ocean, he greedily absorbed all knowledge and principles useful to his reforms.
Looking at the middle-aged man in the green robe on the screen, gentle and refined as jade—
The entire Douluo Continent—
Whether they hated him or were grateful to him—
At that moment, they had no choice but to admit it from the bottom of their hearts.
The foremost man beneath the gods.
He fully deserved that title.
As the Yankang Imperial Preceptor's words fell, Imperial Academy Square became utterly silent.
Everyone had been won over by the magnanimity and bearing of the foremost man beneath the gods.
He did not disdain the crude cultivation method of a visitor from another world. Instead, he was willing to draw useful elements from it, even lowering himself to associate with an outsider as an equal.
That boundless tolerance was the true foundation that allowed Yankang Kingdom's reforms to be carried across the land.
Yet beyond the light screen, Douluo Continent had already erupted into a complete frenzy.
Within the main hall of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect—
Ning Fengzhi gripped the armrests of the sect master's throne tightly, the veins on the backs of his hands bulging.
His usual gentle and elegant demeanor had long been thrown to the winds. He paced back and forth through the hall in excitement.
"Level ninety-seven! Uncle Sword has broken through to level ninety-seven!"
Ning Fengzhi's voice trembled slightly, and tears even welled up in his eyes.
Outsiders simply could not understand how difficult it was for a Titled Douluo to advance even one level after reaching level ninety-five, but Ning Fengzhi knew these matters inside and out!
That required ten years, or even decades, of arduous cultivation and enlightenment.
Before you continue