Chapter 1971: Zhang Xuan Goes Mad

"Of course I have a sword. How else could I manifest sword intent and take the assessment without one?"

Before he finished speaking, Shan Xiaotian's eyes suddenly widened, and his mouth twitched. "After I entered the room, I threw my sword away... The teacher didn't actually test me without a sword, did he?"

He had thrown his longsword away shortly after entering the room because he couldn't unleash powerful sword intent using his usual sword techniques. Since there was no wall in front, he didn't know where the sword had flown, and he couldn't retrieve it.

At the time, he hadn't thought much about it, but the teacher's sudden question completely stumped him.

How could one manifest sword intent without a sword?

It was like trying to milk a bull—there was no milk to begin with, so how could he possibly get any?

Yet, despite this, the teacher still managed to get a result: two-thirds of a meter...

It was as if he'd squeezed a small half-bucket of milk out of a bull.

How was that possible...?

Shan Xiaotian felt like he was going crazy.

"Ahem..."

Seeing his confirmation, Zhang Xuan felt a pain in his chest.

Damn it, other people betray their fathers, but you're betraying your teacher!

How did he end up with such an unreliable student?

No wonder he couldn't exceed one meter. So that's what was going on all along...

"Don't let this matter get out... I'm going into secluded cultivation!"

Knowing that continuing the conversation would completely erode his dignity as a teacher, Zhang Xuan waved his hand, ignored the other person, and turned back to his room.

After adjusting for a while, suppressing the frustration in his heart, he tapped his finger, and the Tome of Heaven's Path reappeared in his palm.

He had wasted a book to seal a sword intent, and now he wanted to see what exactly was going on!

Gently opening the tome, he saw the sword intent swirling within it again and lightly tapped it.

An understanding of the Sword Dao flowed from his fingertip into his glabella, instantly invading his Sea of Consciousness and seemingly threatening to burst his head. At the same time, a resonating sound, like a great bronze bell, immediately echoed in his mind.

"The Sword Dao is the path of the sword, not falling under the scope of the Grand Dao of Heaven and Earth, but rather a path created by humans..."

As the voice began, Zhang Xuan listened for a moment before instantly becoming engrossed.

Compared to this Sword Dao, the Heaven's Path Sword Art he had previously cultivated was mere child's play, like a lesser witch encountering a greater one.

While not incorrect, what he had practiced was at best flawless according to the Heaven's Path of the Master Teacher Continent. In the face of this sword art, it was riddled with flaws.

It was like asking if the knowledge you learned in elementary school, no matter how accurate, would still be correct when you got to university.

Not necessarily!

Newtonian mechanics, believed for three hundred years, also faced doubts, leading to the theory of relativity.

In ancient times, everyone believed the earth was flat and the sky was round as truth. After the heliocentric model, it became laughable, and people thought the sun was the center.

Then... it was discovered that saying the sun was the center was equally ridiculous.

Knowledge progresses, and so does the Heaven's Path.

What is called truth today might be called a joke a hundred years from now.

A few centuries ago, everyone believed nothing could travel faster than sound. What about now?

A sword art recognized as flawless by the Heaven's Path of the Master Teacher Continent was not necessarily so in the Higher Heavens.

"No wonder... even though I cultivated Heaven's Path cultivation techniques, I couldn't adapt to the spiritual energy of the Higher Heavens. So... to the Heaven's Path of the Higher Heavens, the cultivation techniques I practiced weren't that correct; in fact, they were full of flaws!"

"This means that each Heaven's Path has its own rights and wrongs. In that case... what is truly real, and what is fake?"

His body trembled, and Zhang Xuan felt a sense of bewilderment.

Each country has its own laws. Doing something in one country might be a crime punishable by execution, while doing the same thing in another country might not only be fine but even praised.

Was the Heaven's Path also like this?

What the Heaven's Path of the Master Teacher Continent considered correct, the Heaven's Path of the Higher Heavens might not necessarily approve of?

"Could it be that everything I've cultivated... has been wrong?"

A sharp pain pierced his mind, and Zhang Xuan was at a loss.

Since he began cultivating two years ago, he had always deeply believed in the Heaven's Path cultivation techniques, convinced they were absolutely correct. Now, he suddenly discovered they were only considered correct by the Heaven's Path of the Master Teacher Continent, not truly correct...

This plunged him into panic.

The cultivation technique within him, just as he was about to circulate it, caused a trance, as if a voice was constantly reminding him: *This is wrong!*

When he was about to execute a martial art, a voice similarly rang out: *Wrong, wrong, all wrong!*

His eyes immediately turned bloodshot, steam billowed from his head, and the true qi within his body surged erratically, as if about to explode, threatening to overwhelm him at any moment.

If anyone had seen this scene, they would have certainly understood...

He was suffering a qi deviation!

Zhang Xuan, who had always cultivated Heaven's Path techniques, had fallen into a state of qi deviation less than half a month after arriving in the Higher Heavens!

And by the looks of it, he would collapse completely at any moment.

Rumble!

As his mind struggled with confusion, his entire being shook incessantly, as if experiencing an earthquake, threatening to collapse at any moment.

His questioning of the true qi within him was equivalent to questioning everything from his past.

The Library of Heaven's Path trembled, and his body could no longer withstand it; he violently spurted a mouthful of blood.

Just as his internal energy became chaotic and his true qi raged out of control, threatening to overwhelm him at any moment, a red pendant hanging around his neck suddenly emitted a gentle light, enveloping him.

Enveloped by this light, his tumultuous mind immediately calmed down, and Zhang Xuan's bloodshot eyes slowly returned to normal.

The shaking Library of Heaven's Path also seemed to be appeased by some immense force, settling completely.

With his mind clear, he seemed to gain a new understanding, and his previous doubts became clearer.

"So that's it. It's not that it was wrong, but rather... with a new point of reference, it became more macroscopic, allowing me to view things more comprehensively..."

Like the blind men feeling the elephant: one felt a leg and said the elephant was a pillar; another felt its belly and said it was a wall; another felt its tail and said it was a snake...

Were they wrong?

Individually, they weren't wrong, but the true answer was.

This was the inability to view the problem more macroscopically.

If the Heaven's Path of the Master Teacher Continent were likened to Newtonian mechanics, then the Heaven's Path of the Higher Heavens would be relativity, applicable to a wider scope, better explaining the paradoxes that arose in mechanics within the macroscopic and microscopic universes.

For example, according to Newtonian mechanics, if a train moved uniformly at one-third the speed of light, and someone outside the train illuminated a light source, a person inside the train would observe the light's speed to be four-thirds its original speed.

However, the truth is that the speed of light is constant; no matter how fast the train moves, the measured result remains exactly the same.

Previously correct laws became unusable at this point, but strictly speaking, none of them were wrong; it was just... that they involved a grander world and more profound knowledge.

Like this sword intent.

It was infinitely more profound than what he had previously understood. It wasn't that his former sword art was flawed, but rather... this sword intent stood on a higher vantage point, allowing for a clearer view.

"So that's how it is..."

With this enlightenment in his heart, the sword intent completely merged with his entire being, and his understanding of the Sword Dao became even more powerful.

His previous insights, such as the True Understanding of Speed, True Understanding of Offense, and True Understanding of Defense... merged in his mind like flowing water, becoming indistinguishable from one another.

"No wonder no one on the Master Teacher Continent could merge so many true understandings. It was because many of their attributes were completely different... So, it wasn't about innate talent, but about standing at too low a vantage point!"

With a deeper understanding of the Sword Dao, Zhang Xuan suddenly realized.

Previously, on the Master Teacher Continent, his father, Zhang Zhenxing, had specifically mentioned that very few people comprehended two true understandings, and those who comprehended three were almost non-existent, let alone those who could merge them.

He had always thought it was impossible due to lack of talent or corresponding books...

Now it seemed it truly couldn't be achieved on the Master Teacher Continent. It had nothing to do with talent, but with an insufficient vantage point!

Could Newton have discovered the law of universal gravitation just because an apple fell on his head?

No, it was because he stood on the shoulders of giants. Countless scientists before him had already accumulated knowledge to that point; he merely needed to push the door open.

The many true understandings he had grasped perfectly merged within his body, and his entire aura rapidly ascended, as if he had become a sharp longsword. His physical body, true qi, and soul all underwent tremendous refinement and tempering.

"Excellent! Only by comprehending this Sword Dao can I truly be invincible among those of the same cultivation level!"

Previously, no one in the Transcendent Hall could stop him because a place like Starry City was too remote.

After entering the Soaring Cloud Sword Pavilion and sensing the artistic conception within the giant sword on its mountain gate, he realized his strength wasn't as great as he had imagined. But now, with the Sword Dao's true understanding completely merged, even if the Ten-Mile Sword God truly appeared, he might not be a match for him at the same cultivation level!

The sword intent completely merged with him and was fully comprehended. The sealed Tome of Heaven's Path burned away like thin smoke, disappearing the next moment.

"Not only did I not lose out, I even gained..."

With a faint smile, Zhang Xuan opened his eyes.

He had previously thought the Tome of Heaven's Path was wasted and had been extremely frustrated. But truly comprehending this sword intent was like instantly leaping onto the shoulders of a giant. Only now did he realize he hadn't wasted it at all; instead, he had gained immensely!

Otherwise, for him to comprehend this level of sword intent on his own might not have been possible even in ten or a hundred years.

"Ruoxi, thank you..."

Holding the pendant in his palm, Zhang Xuan smiled faintly.

Just now, when he suffered a qi deviation and his consciousness was chaotic, the Library of Heaven's Path almost couldn't withstand it. At that critical moment, it was the pendant Ruoxi had given him that saved his life.

If she could place the Spring and Autumn Grand Canon within the Library, could she have already guessed that he would encounter such a situation?

Had she made a prediction in advance?

He lowered his gaze. Inside the crystal-like pendant, the blood-red color remained dazzling, but for some reason, it seemed a little dimmer than before.

"What exactly is your identity?"

Knowing about the Library and predicting this situation, who exactly was Ruoxi?

"I can't delay any longer. I must challenge sect leaders and elders to quickly gather information about the Spirit God Palace..."

After studying it for a moment, Zhang Xuan found that neither his Eye of Insight nor the Library of Heaven's Path offered any solutions regarding the pendant. Unable to wait any longer, he stood up and walked out.

Back in the courtyard, Zhang Xuan found the subordinate who had voluntarily pledged allegiance and gave him his first task.

"Cao Chengli, I'm giving you your first task: go find out how to obtain a Transcendent Jade Token from the Soaring Cloud Sword Pavilion. If it's convenient, get a few of them."