All along, Song Yan had believed that his path in the Sword Dao had been steady and well grounded enough.
After all, back when he had still been in the Qi Refining Realm, his mindset had been little better than Deng Ke's.
From Sword in the Clouds to the Sun Moon Star Three Sword Formation, then to the Traveling Heavenly Dao Sword Domain, he had progressed step by step, from easy to difficult.
The transitions had been reasonably smooth, too.
Over more than fifty years, aside from the Six Void Heaven-Falling Sword Finger, these were the only offensive methods he had studied.
Yet Deng Ke had gone and practiced nothing but basic swordsmanship, grinding away at it for nearly a hundred years.
At that thought, Song Yan could not help feeling somewhat ashamed.
Leaving sword intent aside, his foundations in the Sword Dao were probably inferior to Deng Ke's.
"Anyone who can become a disciple of the Sword Sect must have their own exceptional qualities."
"After cultivating to the Golden Core Realm, their aspirations and horizons will naturally rise."
"Yet entering the Inner Sect at this point requires passing this Eighteen-Pavilion Crossing, testing the foundations of their Sword Dao... the Sword Sect's seniors truly saw things from on high."
Without this trial, his path in the Sword Dao could easily have gone astray.
It checked those with outstanding talent and encouraged those whose talent was lacking.
Song Yan was not discouraged by his failure in the slightest. At least he had failed in a sect trial, rather than in a fight to the death.
He did indeed feel that he had become a little restless and impatient after forming his Golden Core.
If he could use this opportunity to settle his state of mind, that would be no bad thing.