Sharp Sword Realm: fierce and unyielding, it could cleave through anything, relying entirely on its edge and sharpness to overcome the enemy.
Soft Sword Realm: the Ziwei Soft Sword sought cleverness and change; it was cast aside after accidentally wounding a righteous man.
Heavy Sword Realm: the heavy sword had no edge; the height of craftsmanship appeared crude.
Wooden Sword Realm: no longer bound by objects, one could make a sword of grass, wood, bamboo, or stone.
Swordless Realm: without a sword, one surpassed the sword; all things were swords, and wherever the mind and will reached, there was the sword.
The Five Realms of the Sword captured a lifetime of Dugu Qiubai's martial insights. Together with the Nine Swords of Dugu demonstrated in the footage, the two brought out the best in each other.
The Nine Swords of Dugu demonstrated the General Principles Stance, Sword-Breaking Stance, Sabre-Breaking Stance, Spear-Breaking Stance, Whip-Breaking Stance, Rope-Breaking Stance, Palm-Breaking Stance, Arrow-Breaking Stance, and Qi-Breaking Stance.
Every kind of weapon under heaven could be defeated with a single sword. Even when someone bullied others with an outrageously vast reserve of internal power, the Qi-Breaking Stance could break it.
The mental formula of the Qi-Breaking Stance: what was Qi? It was the thread of the void, the root of creation... To comprehend its mysteries was to preserve them within one's heart.
The Nine Swords of Dugu followed three principles: attack without defending, anticipate the enemy, and let the absence of moves overcome the presence of moves.
It was the culmination of Dugu Qiubai's lifelong martial understanding before he entered the Swordless Realm.
The sky screen played the Nine Swords of Dugu in their entirety. Sword Martial Soul owners on the Douluo Continent could all try to comprehend them.
Yet not a single one could grasp even the surface, and Sword Douluo Chen Xin was no exception.
On the Douluo Continent, in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Sword Douluo Chen Xin was utterly convinced.
"Hahaha, hahahaha! I've spent my whole life immersed in the way of the sword, yet I've only reached the Sharp Sword Realm?
"Hahaha, and I thought I had traveled so far along the way of the sword. Ridiculous, ridiculous, truly ridiculous..."
"Uncle Jian..."
Ning Fengzhi wanted to comfort him, but he didn't know how to begin.
"Old swordsman, get a hold of yourself. The sky screen has already laid out the path for you. Shouldn't you be happy?"
"You don't understand, you don't understand... If I can't forge my own path, how can I speak of reaching the pinnacle of the sword?"
Sword Douluo Chen Xin had clearly become obsessed. Forging one's own path along the roads laid down by predecessors was perfectly normal.
On the path of the sword, trying to create a road out of thin air was utter bullshit.
All the Soul Masters with Sword Martial Souls on the Douluo Continent gained considerable insight from Dugu Qiubai's Five Realms of the Sword.
Most of them had stopped at the Sharp Sword Realm, and many had not even reached it.
After all, Soul Masters on the Douluo Continent had almost no fighting skills. Most relied on hitting hard enough to send bricks flying.
The Clear Sky Sect, on the other hand, had practiced some technique and developed the Clear Sky Nine Absolutes, allowing it to suppress the other sects. But that was as far as it went. After Tang Chen, the techniques and methods of the Clear Sky Hammer saw no further innovation.
"Sharp Sword Realm! Soft Sword Realm? Technique? Is it really necessary?"
Qian Daoliu muttered to himself. As for the Heavy Sword Realm, Wooden Sword Realm, and Swordless Realm that followed, he didn't even dare think about them.
In the end, he was just a Soul Master who used a sword, not someone seeking the way of the sword.
Back with Tang Fan, the short video had finished playing.
"These three are representative figures among grandmasters of the sword. Here, the sword is called the sovereign of a hundred weapons and holds a very special place.
"Almost every man dreamed as a boy of roaming the world with a sword in hand."
"Did you?"
"Of course! Slay a man in ten steps, leave no trace for a thousand miles; once the deed is done, brush off your robes and depart, hiding both your deeds and your name."
Tang Fan casually formed a sword gesture with his fingers, and Bibi Dong laughed. "One look and I can tell you're all show."
"Can't be helped. I've been working these past few years and haven't exercised much. Back to swords, though-what men admire even more has to be sword immortals, right?"
"Sword immortals? What are those?"
"Sword immortals are a xianxia concept. They're also called sword cultivators, and their hallmark is flying on swords."
"Flying on swords? Sword Douluo should be able to do that too, shouldn't he?"
"He can, but his sword flight isn't the same as what I'm talking about. Can he take someone's head from a thousand miles away?"
"Ah!? Take someone's head from a thousand miles away! How could that be possible?"
"That's why you shouldn't put Sword Douluo up against a sword immortal. After all, the Douluo World is widely recognized as fantasy's floor tile."
"Fantasy's floor tile? What does that mean?"
"It's a classification. We roughly divide the supernatural worlds in books into wuxia, xianxia, and fantasy. Of course, there are other categories, but we won't discuss those.
"The sword immortals I mentioned belong to xianxia, the Douluo Continent belongs to fantasy, and the sword grandmasters we just saw belong to wuxia."
"Hee-hee, you don't even have supernatural powers, yet you've actually sorted them into categories."
"Hehe, there's another theory: this place is the main world. Any supernatural being who comes here becomes an ordinary person, while ordinary people from the main world who go to other supernatural worlds become powerful supernatural beings."
Bibi Dong's expression stiffened. That did seem to be the case. Since coming here, she had become an ordinary person through and through, unable to sense either her Soul Power or her Martial Soul at all.
"Th-this can't be true, can it?"
"Who knows? It's just an idea people came up with online.
"Back to what we were talking about. Generally speaking, fantasy and xianxia worlds rank higher than wuxia worlds.
"But the Douluo Continent is an exception among fantasy worlds. It might rank even lower than a wuxia world, which is why people call it fantasy's floor tile.
"A floor tile is what we're standing on right now. It means anyone can come along and step on it."
As soon as Tang Fan said that, the people on the Douluo Continent took offense. A crowd of Soul Masters glared at the sky screen.
"That's going too far! What gives him the right to call our Douluo Continent a floor tile anyone can step on? We Soul Masters are clearly strong too.
"Why aren't any of you saying anything? Don't tell me you think he's right."
Ling Yuan looked at Yue Guan, Gui Mei, and the other elders watching the sky screen with her.
"Ling Yuan, don't be so angry. It won't help; you can't reach him.
"Besides, if he said that, he must have a reason. Let's hear him out first."
"Hmph, what reason could he possibly have? He must be belittling us on purpose."
"That's not it. He said it was widely recognized as fantasy's floor tile, so most people over there must agree with that assessment."
Gui Mei spoke up and contradicted her outright, earning a glare from Ling Yuan.
"All right, stop arguing. He's about to explain."
Bibi Dong was also unhappy to hear Tang Fan belittle the world of the Douluo Continent. Pouting, she said, "What gives you the right to say that? If you don't have a reasonable explanation, I won't accept it."
"Of course I have a reason. The problem lies with the protagonist, Tang San."
"What's wrong with Tang San as the protagonist?"
"Tang San wasn't a native of the Douluo Continent. He was originally an outer disciple of the Tang Sect in a wuxia world.
"He stole the sect's secret techniques, which outer disciples weren't allowed to practice, and the sect elders hunted him down.
"In the end, when he could no longer escape, he jumped off a cliff, saying something about proving his resolve through death.
"After he died, his soul came to the Douluo Continent, and he became Tang Hao's son, Tang San.
"There are two theories about this. One says Tang San's soul reincarnated; the other says Tang San seized the body of Tang Hao's original son.
"Since the book never says so explicitly, people have always debated the two theories."