The courtyard of Qiushui Pavilion.
The morning breeze whispered through the leaves, and the ancient tree—whose years of standing in this courtyard were long forgotten—seemed to watch with keen interest the young man and woman beneath its boughs.
"Is this a philosophical debate or a sparring match?" Li Mo asked with a grin, raising his sword.
"Either works," Ying Bing replied, her slender fingers tightening around her sword hilt until her knuckles turned white.
She just wanted to begin.
Li Mo raised an eyebrow.
It seemed the "ice block" had made new progress in swordsmanship and had come to test herself against him.
In that case, he’d have to get serious too.
"Then let’s call it a spar."
"Very well, let’s begin—"
"Wait."
"Hm?"
Ying Bing exhaled softly, her gathered momentum faltering.
Li Mo chuckled. "Since it’s a spar, why not add some stakes? Like a reward or something..."
He remembered all too well.
Back when the "ice block" had taught him swordsmanship, every mistake had earned him a smack on the rear!
The trauma to his backside was something Young Li would never forget.
What was lost must be reclaimed with his own hands!
His competitive spirit flared.
A reward...
Ying Bing gritted her teeth.
Right now, she really didn’t want to hear those words.
"Fine!"
Her voice and her sword, Tianfrost, arrived at the same time.
With this strike, silence fell. An overwhelming sword intent enveloped Qiushui Pavilion, dominating the small world within.
Li Mo’s mind trembled.
This was a sword technique he had never seen before.
Given his current insight, he could tell—this was an art of the highest caliber!
"Where did the ice block learn this?"
But he didn’t dwell on it.
Instead, he recalled the principles of the Nine Swords of Dugu, particularly the "Sword-Breaking" stance, and moved with his blade.
However... how to put it?
This swordplay was still far beyond him.
"Hm?"
Ying Bing frowned.
Why had Li Mo’s swordsmanship regressed so drastically?
His movements were chaotic, devoid of any artistic conception, a far cry from his skill the day before.
Clang! Clang! Clang—
The swords clashed.
Almost instantly, Li Mo’s Crimson Sky Sword was forced into retreat.
Neither of them used anything beyond pure swordsmanship.
Li Mo couldn’t just pull out a hammer to turn the tide, so he barely held on, parrying frantically.
But Young Li wasn’t just passively enduring.
Even as he fought, he activated his martial insights.
[Twenty years of martial insights successfully infused.]
[Year One: You commit the Nine Swords of Dugu’s principles to heart, striving to master them.]
[Year Seven: You realize the true essence of this art—the Sword Demon’s defiance of heaven itself, a mortal body untouched by the world’s energy, challenging the heavens in pursuit of the elusive "One."]
[Year Twelve: You remain lost in the sword’s depths, recognizing your own lack of comprehension.]
[Year Twenty: Reflecting on your spar with Ying Bing, a faint spark of inspiration flickers within you.]
Young Li nearly wept.
Twenty years.
And barely a ripple to show for it.
Only because of his heightened perception post-"Divine Observation," combined with sparring against the ice block, had he even gained this much.
Otherwise, this insight would’ve been a total waste—like trying to learn painting from scratch.
"Again!"
Li Mo distilled what little he’d grasped.
This time, his swordplay grew even more erratic.
Every technique he’d ever learned, whether advanced or peerless, seemed to abandon him.
Not that it would’ve helped.
Against Ying Bing’s Tianfrost Sword—a force as inexorable as heaven itself—even the Sunwheel Sword Canon would be crushed.
Clang—
Clang—
Clank—
Li Mo’s grip on Crimson Sky trembled faintly.
This was terrifying!
His Extreme Soldier’s Slaughter Body wasn’t just for show.
For her sword to jolt him like this... just how monstrous was her strength?
Smack!
Suddenly, his guard broke.
Tianfrost slipped through and tapped him lightly on the rear.
Li Mo: "?!"
Folks.
This was getting personal.
"That’s enough for today," Ying Bing said coolly, sheathing her sword.
She had mostly familiarized herself with the first stance of the Divine Skyheart Sword. With a bit more refinement, she’d master it completely.
And besides...
She really... really couldn’t continue.
That strange sensation hadn’t faded despite her focus.
Like a persistent parasite, it had nearly shaken the foundation of her indomitable swordplay.
"It’s not over yet!"
Young Li burned another twenty years of martial insights.
Getting spanked again? Did he have no dignity?
If every time he picked up a sword, he remembered this humiliation, how could he ever be the dashing, peerless swordsman of his dreams?
He had to reclaim his pride!
Swish—
Li Mo raised his sword again, his movements still wild and unstructured.
"This sword..."
Ying Bing’s brows knitted.
At first glance, his strikes seemed like the flailing of an amateur.
But something bizarre happened.
Despite the lack of form, his blade somehow found weaknesses even she hadn’t noticed.
Clank!
This strike actually halted Tianfrost’s advance.
A master of the sword, Ying Bing adjusted seamlessly without thought.
Yet, the moment she shifted—
Tianfrost’s flaw aligned perfectly with Crimson Sky’s tip again!
As if she’d deliberately offered the opening.
"Could it be...?"
A thought struck Ying Bing.
This felt like... the flavor of "Skill Approaching the Dao"?
Every swing was crude, disjointed, hardly worthy of being called swordsmanship.
Yet, inexplicably, it found her weakest points.
Opposite her, Li Mo sensed the moment was ripe.
[Congratulations, Host. Thirty years of martial insights successfully infused!]
[Year One: You dissect that spark of inspiration, merging it with yourself. Countless past sword techniques resurface in your mind.]
[Year Eight: Every duel you’ve ever fought replays in your thoughts. You can even simulate battles against past opponents in your mind.]
[...]
[Year Thirty: You finally grasp the method to seize that elusive "One."]
[Thirty years of martial insights expended. You have attained the rudiments of the Nine Swords of Dugu.]
Li Mo’s gaze sharpened.
Now, Ying Bing—her robes fluttering, her figure graceful—stood before him, her weakness laid bare.
The ice block had a fatal flaw!
His mind emptied of all distractions, focused solely on the sword and that "One."
Zing!
Tianfrost’s terrifying sword intent suddenly froze.
A faint blush crept up Ying Bing’s neck.
He... he actually dared to mimic her!
That spot was indeed her greatest vulnerability right now.
With a surge of fury, she unleashed the Divine Skyheart Sword’s second stance.
Tianfrost, after its momentary pause, erupted with all its pent-up might.
"Release it!"
Ying Bing’s gaze was a mix of calm and reproach.
The sword light exploded.
Smack!
Crimson Sky was indeed knocked from Li Mo’s grip—along with Tianfrost.
Normally, this would’ve ended the match. Two swordsmen without swords couldn’t very well keep sparring.
But this time was different.
The Nine Swords of Dugu were not bound solely to the blade.
And this art knew no defense—only offense!
The best defense is a fierce offense!
No sword? No problem—hands will do just fine!
Straight for that opening, the 'One'!
Smack—
The sound rings out, crisp and clear.
Their figures blur into one.
Ying Bing freezes abruptly, lashes fluttering faintly.
The air seems to solidify.
Unaware, Li Mo cracks his eyes open with a grin:
"Heh, this round’s mine~"
Heart] Chen Yi traversed the cultivation world for eight hundred years, charging his way to the Tribulation Transcendence stage. Just as he was outwitting his 81st Heavenly Tribulation to ascend to immortality, he was suddenly pulled into a chat group called the "Multiverse Transmigrators Support Group." To his surprise, the group was filled with nothing but fresh-faced newbies who had just transmigrated. [Help! I transmigrated into a disgraced concubine in the cold palace, and the tyrant emperor is about to execute me!] [I ended up as a cannon-fodder villain, and the protagonist is still chasing me—WTF!] [I woke up as the protagonist’s father, but I’m about to be sacrificed in a ritual! What do I do? Urgent!!!] Chen Yi stared at the chaotic flood of desperate pleas in the group and fell into deep thought. "Seriously? You drag me into a newbie transmigrator chat group… only after I’m one step away from becoming an immortal?"
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
