Beneath Sword Extreme Mountain, murmurs rippled through the crowd. Indeed, Lu Yuan’s final display was utterly astonishing.

He conjured a Golden Dragon that devoured all fifty Gold elemental characters. Then, with only four swords, he cleaved through two hundred Wood, Water, Earth, and Thunder elemental characters.

There must be something strange about this! But what exactly was the strangeness?

For instance, what kind of Golden Dragon was that? Many speculated it must be connected to the Way of the Sword.

Lu Yuan was a master of the Sword Dao, even manifesting the Gate of the Sword Dao, so conjuring a dragon related to the Sword Dao capable of consuming some of the second-tier Gold elemental characters, which shared the same origin as the sword, seemed plausible enough. However, the subsequent feat of slaying two hundred Wood, Water, Earth, and Thunder characters with four swords was quite baffling; his method was entirely inexplicable.

Yet, Lu Yuan's final muttered self-remark, "I did prepare some means and magical artifacts," suggested perhaps he used some special artifact. If he possessed rare disposable or reusable artifacts that could temporarily suppress the characters’ effects, allowing Lu Yuan to strike down those two hundred with four swords, it would make sense.

After all, in a place like the Central Celestial Dynasty, strange magical artifacts and rare natural treasures abound, and Lu Yuan possessed great fortune, so encountering such things occasionally was understandable. Therefore, Lu Yuan’s line, "I did prepare some means and magical artifacts," was deliberately spoken to mislead; he had no interest in revealing his true cards, preferring to let these people speculate on the confusion he had deliberately sown.

Down at Sword Extreme Mountain, most of the Sword Gate members felt immense pride for Lu Yuan. Ultimately, Lu Yuan, not the Son of the Sword, had secured the Sword Scroll.

This was a joyous occasion for the Sword Gate, yet tinged with melancholy; the Sword Scroll had resided within their sect for ages, and now it was finally leaving their hands. With the Sword Scroll claimed, would the destiny of the Sword Gate, and the destiny of the Sword Dao itself, perhaps shift?

Jian Liulei and Jian Shangxin’s faces changed dramatically. Never had they imagined that the Son of the Sword, having received instruction from the Deputy Lord of the Jian Civilization, would fail in seizing the Scroll.

This wasn't due to the Son of the Sword being weak—the Son of the Sword, the sixth son of Fortune, could not possibly be weak—but simply because Lu Yuan was too powerful. This Lu Yuan was growing increasingly formidable.

Meanwhile, Jian Ruhai, Old Ancestor Jian Mie, and others felt deeply gratified. Jian Ruhai suddenly surveyed the mysterious middle-aged scholar swordsman, noticing that the man had risen to his feet.

The mysterious middle-aged scholar swordsman seemed to offer Jian Ruhai a slight smile before turning away, hands clasped behind his back. He had witnessed the result and no longer needed to linger.

He had come to the Central Celestial Dynasty using a clone, merely to wander and fulfill a few lingering wishes; observing Lu Yuan was merely incidental. Having accomplished his purpose, he departed.

Seeing the mysterious middle-aged scholar swordsman leave, Jian Liulei and Jian Shangxin exchanged glances. Jian Shangxin remarked, "That mysterious middle-aged scholar swordsman’s clone possesses the strength of a World Realm Third Heaven.

His true body must be extraordinary. When did such a powerful swordsman emerge?

I shall investigate his foundation." After briefing Jian Liulei, Jian Shangxin immediately gave chase to probe the mysterious scholar swordsman’s depths. The Son of the Sword had also been teleported out, emerging in a fit of rage.

His absolute authority had been challenged. Having always been undefeated on his path, he had repeatedly been thwarted by Lu Yuan.

He resolved to find a way to defeat Lu Yuan at least once. Yes, an opportunity would present itself not long from now.

The Son of the Sword smiled upon recalling that future chance. At this moment, Lu Yuan stood behind the Sword Scroll.

In the void, not a single character remained. But now, Lu Yuan sensed a violent transformation occurring throughout his body, or more accurately, within his Sword Space.

At the very center of his Sword Space rested an Ruyi Heaven Sword, which had appeared after the Sword Oblivion Tablet. Beside this Ruyi Heaven Sword, five dragons circled and flew.

The Gold-Devouring Dragon, the Wood-Devouring Dragon, the Water-Devouring Dragon, the Earth-Devouring Dragon, and the Thunder-Devouring Dragon. Within these five dragons, a significant quantity of character essence had been swallowed.

This time, the five dragons had collectively absorbed the essence of two hundred and fifty characters. Prior to this, Lu Yuan had already swallowed a considerable amount of character essence that he hadn't fully refined, keeping it stored here—approximately two hundred and seventy units of second-tier character essence in total.

Lu Yuan hadn't discovered the use for this essence until now. But at this moment, Lu Yuan clearly felt that the time for change had arrived.

In the void, the Dao Character Clone was emitting ray after ray of brilliant light. Among Lu Yuan’s many characters, two were clone-level, surpassing the standard of second-tier characters: the Dao Character Clone and the Overcome Character Clone.

The Dao Character represented the foremost character across countless epochs. Possessing it could manifest terrifying combat power.

If a Civilization Lord obtained the Dao Character, they could become invincible across countless worlds; other Civilization Lords would cease to be their match. Although the Dao Character Clone was only a clone, it was immensely powerful; Lu Yuan’s mastery of spellcraft and other talents were accumulated through it.

The Dao Character contained the entirety of the Dao. Spells, sword techniques, formations, and everything else were but a part of the Dao.

And accurately speaking, characters themselves were also part of the Dao. The Dao is all-encompassing.

The Dao Character Clone currently shining before him floated into mid-air. Simultaneously, all five Devouring Dragons opened their maws.

The Gold-Devouring Dragon continuously spewed forth golden Qi. The Wood-Devouring Dragon expelled wooden Qi, the Water-Devouring Dragon ceaselessly ejected watery Qi, the Earth-Devouring Dragon poured out earthen Qi, and the Thunder-Devouring Dragon continuously unleashed lightning.

These five streams of light merged into the Dao Character Clone, which began to transform incessantly. At this time, countless streams of divine consciousness flashed through Lu Yuan’s mind.

He witnessed countless insights related to the Dao, and he understood precisely what was occurring: the Dao Character Clone was absorbing the essence of so many second-tier characters and initiating a transformation. The original Dao Character Clone had merely been the simplest, most ethereal manifestation, offering virtually no significant added utility.

But now, after absorbing the essence of two hundred and seventy characters, the Dao Character Clone had evolved into a One-Tenth Dao Character Clone. That’s right—a full one-tenth!

Never underestimate a one-tenth Dao Character Clone. If it were a clone of any other character, one-tenth would be negligible.

But this was the Dao Character Clone! Even one-tenth was astonishingly powerful.

The stronger the Dao Character Clone, the greater its future utility. Should he ever attain a Nine-Tenths Dao Character Clone, true sweeping dominance would be realized.

Lu Yuan discovered that by continuously using the Devouring Dragons to absorb other characters, he might cultivate another Dao Character. As long as he absorbed enough characters...

The Dao Character in the heavens and earth, strictly speaking, could only have one origin. If he continued this cultivation path, the emergence of a second one would lead to truly monumental developments.

This prospect was undeniably beautiful. Lu Yuan gazed at the Dao Character Clone in his hands, finding it utterly fascinating.

After refining this One-Tenth Dao Character Clone, Lu Yuan snapped back to awareness. He was still behind the Sword Scroll, surrounded by light yet existing in a place that was fundamentally void.

Eh? The Sword Scroll hadn't landed in his hand yet.

He wondered how much longer he’d have to wait. As he waited, an incomparably powerful surge of divine consciousness pierced his mind.

This consciousness was so vast, so overwhelmingly potent, that Lu Yuan could perceive absolutely no imagery within it. Yes, this was the sheer disparity between their spiritual senses; Lu Yuan couldn't grasp even the slightest hint of the scene.

The creator of this Sword Scroll was far, far mightier in spiritual sense than Lu Yuan was now. Moments later, Lu Yuan found a scroll materializing in his hand.

The scroll was not yet unfurled. Lu Yuan spread it open and discovered that when fully extended, it measured a full zhang long.

The details within the painting were exquisitely minute; the occasional dot could be discerned as a distant star. Furthermore, Lu Yuan noticed words inscribed at the corner of the painting: "Lesser Thousand World Great Desolation Ruined Sword Scroll." Finally, the Sword Scroll was in his possession.

Lu Yuan immediately attempted to project his consciousness into the Scroll. Setting aside its potential to propel him toward the World Realm Eighth Heaven True Realm, and ignoring its other benefits, Lu Yuan was fixated on the Sword Intent Monsters contained within, which possessed dozens of sword intents he desperately coveted.

However, when his consciousness tried to penetrate the Scroll, it met an impenetrable barrier. Impossible!

He was now the master of the Sword Scroll, yet he couldn't enter it. Could anything in this world be more tragic than this moment?

It was profoundly sorrowful. He didn't know when he would be able to penetrate the Scroll with his consciousness.

Lu Yuan strongly suspected one needed to reach World Realm Seventh Heaven before entry was possible, as reaching the World Realm Eighth Heaven True Realm required integrating the Sword Scroll. In essence, the prize he had just won was currently useless, its value reserved only for a distant future.

However, its immense significance in the distant future was the first point. And the second, most crucial point: preventing the Son of the Sword from claiming the Scroll, watching him fail at Lu Yuan's hands—that felt absolutely exhilarating.

When encountering figures like the Son of the Sword, ceaseless frustration was the proper course; that was where the true satisfaction lay! Lu Yuan noticed the surrounding void space beginning to collapse.

Indeed, this void space had been created specifically around the Sword Scroll. Now that the Scroll was in Lu Yuan’s grasp, the void naturally began to disintegrate.

As the space fractured, Lu Yuan tossed the Sword Scroll into his own Sword Space. The void space completely dissolved, and Lu Yuan found himself standing once more upon Sword Extreme Mountain.