Zhu Renyu, brought by the Vice Lord of the Heavenly Principles Civilization, had successfully defeated Su Yuemian, the third disciple of the Confucian Deputy Lord Ming.

Zhu Renyu was, remarkably, at the Ninth Layer of Righteous Qi.

Nine is the ultimate number.

Lu Yuan watched from the side, still under the guise of Li Taishi. The previous battle had been one of Righteous Qi; Zhu Renyu, at the Ninth Layer, had faced Su Yuemian, also at the Ninth Layer. Yet, Lu Yuan vaguely felt that the Ninth Layer of Righteous Qi was not the ultimate peak. This sensation arose suddenly, without any clear origin.

What was truly happening?

Could there exist a Tenth Layer of Righteous Qi?

However, everything he understood—concerning Righteous Qi, Hegemonic Qi, Evil Qi, Demonic Qi, and the like—indicated that nine was the limit.

No, that wasn't right.

Lu Yuan suddenly found himself seated within his new Sword World, his Immortal Sword of Nurturing resting on his knee.

Simultaneously, streams of something resembling Righteous Qi erupted from the Sword Dao Gourd, the Small Sword Dao Tree, and the Gate of the Sword Dao. What were these? Why were they so similar to Righteous Qi? Lu Yuan was bewildered, but gradually, he began to understand why.

The sword is the sovereign of all weapons.

The sword is the weapon of the gentleman.

The sword is upright and unbending.

Among all armaments, the one most resembling a gentleman and the most upright is undoubtedly the sword.

No other weapon could compare to the sword in this regard, except perhaps the book. Originally, the Confucian Dao involved both the book and the sword, but the sword was rejected, so now only the book was utilized. Lu Yuan’s current sword path, however, seemed to awaken the Confucian Dao of a previous epoch.

An immense reservoir of Righteous Qi had long accumulated in Lu Yuan’s Sword Dao, yet it had never been refined.

The Righteous Qi that allowed Lu Yuan to ascend from the First Layer to the Seventh Layer of Righteous Qi had been cultivated by Li Yuanbai in Mount Hua—it was not Qi cultivated by the Sword Dao. The Righteous Qi cultivated by the Sword Dao was far vaster, but it had remained latent, as drawing forth the Sword Dao’s Righteous Qi was never easy.

But now, this surge of Righteous Qi was being drawn out.

The Gentlemanly Righteous Qi of the Sword burst forth with unstoppable vigor, surging outward.

Lu Yuan absorbed this torrent of Righteous Qi while simultaneously striving to push his own Righteous Qi toward a higher plane.

But ascending from the Ninth Layer of Righteous Qi to the often-unattainable Tenth Layer was far from simple. Lu Yuan encountered the Heavenly Question of Righteous Qi. In an instant, every person he had ever slain seemed to materialize as a wraith, over a hundred figures twisting around him, signifying that more than one hundred lives had been taken by his sword.

Unconsciously, he had killed over a hundred people.

Lu Yuan felt an overwhelming sense of emotion, realizing how sparingly he had killed, how little he had engaged in wrathful slaughter. After all, they were all lives; if he could avoid killing, he did. Except for the profoundly evil, corrupt, or wicked, or those who sought to kill him, he tried his best not to slay others. And yet, the tally was over one hundred.

However, for every person he had slain, his conscience was clear, regardless of who they were.

Lu Yuan held his sword steady, facing the Heavenly Question of Righteous Qi. The Heaven of Righteous Qi was a secluded domain of Heaven and Earth, formed and gathered by Righteous Qi. This trial tested whether one’s conscience was clear; those who had killed mistakenly found it extremely difficult to pass. For a normal cultivator advancing to the Tenth Layer of Righteous Qi, having killed several thousand people was considered few; tens of thousands was normal. For someone like Lu Yuan, with only just over one hundred kills, it was pitifully rare.

It was precisely for this reason that Lu Yuan passed this stage relatively easily.

Having traversed the trials of the Sword Dao Righteous Qi and the Heavenly Question of Righteous Qi, Lu Yuan discovered that his Righteous Qi had attained a higher echelon: the Tenth Layer of Righteous Qi. Upon reaching this level, Lu Yuan vaguely perceived his Righteous Qi engaging in communication, a subtle communion, with an immensely profound character.

That grand character seemed to be the Primordial Character: Zheng (Righteousness).

Lu Yuan opened his eyes.

As Lu Yuan awoke, Zhu Renyu was currently engaged in combat with the Eldest Senior Brother, Kong Ni. When Lu Yuan cultivated his Righteous Qi to the Tenth Layer, Zhu Renyu had been fighting the Second Senior Brother, Meng Wei. In that exchange, their Righteous Qi levels were roughly similar, making a clear victor difficult to ascertain, though Zhu Renyu held a slight edge in the mastery of books.

Now, in the battle between Zhu Renyu and the Eldest Senior Brother Kong Ni, their Righteous Qi was equally matched, so the confrontation shifted to the domain of books.

Zhu Renyu summoned a book: The Book of Heavenly Principles, while Kong Ni manifested The Book of the Confucian Way.

The two volumes clashed in the void. The Book of Heavenly Principles recorded the doctrine of "preserving Heavenly Principles and extinguishing human desires," and countless characters emerged from its pages. Kong Ni’s Book of the Confucian Way contained the principles of righteousness and Confucianism.

Two contrasting ideologies warred against each other, countless pages colliding in the emptiness.

Both cultivated abilities related to textual mastery, though neither had reached the level of the Book of Civilization—that level was too high, utterly unattainable for ordinary cultivators. With a resounding boom following the impact of countless pages in the void, Kong Ni was sent flying backward, spitting a mouthful of blood mid-air. He had clearly suffered a disadvantage and sustained injury in the exchange.

Zhu Renyu landed gracefully. "In truth, I only employed five-tenths of my strength in the textual confrontation. Yet, you failed. What a pity, what a pity."

Zhu Renyu was indeed the meticulously cultivated prodigy of the Vice Lord of the Heavenly Principles Civilization. Both his Righteous Qi and his command over texts were formidable, surpassing the three disciples of the Confucian Deputy Lord. The Vice Lord of the Heavenly Principles Civilization glanced at the Confucian Deputy Lord: "As they say, preserve Heavenly Principles and extinguish human desires. Zhu Renyu lacks the majority of human desires, which is why he is superior in both Righteous Qi and textual skill. It seems I shall claim the initial character Zheng..." This contest was a clash of philosophies between him and the Confucian Deputy Lord; neither could forget to demonstrate their stance—preserving Heavenly Principles and extinguishing human desires—insisting their own doctrine was correct.

The Confucian Deputy Lord was momentarily struck speechless. He truly had not expected the Vice Lord of the Heavenly Principles Civilization to cultivate such an individual. Was the character Zheng now to be lost? Naturally, he did not wish for his Initial Character to fall into the hands of someone like the Heavenly Principles Vice Lord, whom he considered to have strayed onto an evil path, descending into the demonic without realization, long since lost to the darkness. The other two Deputy Lords of the Confucian Civilization, the Deputy Lord of Three Books and the Deputy Lord of Integrity, silently pondered which figure in the Confucian Civilization could possibly surpass Zhu Renyu in both Righteous Qi and textual mastery.

The Confucian Civilization was not devoid of such figures, but at this precise moment, they were all far afield executing missions. One could only concede that the Vice Lord of the Heavenly Principles Civilization had chosen his timing excellently; an immediate replacement capable of matching Zhu Renyu in both domains was nowhere to be found.

The Vice Lord of the Heavenly Principles Civilization laughed heartily. He raised a massive hand, preparing to sweep toward the character Zheng.

"This character Zheng was promised to whomever won the contest of Righteous Qi and textual skill, wasn't it? I haven't even fought yet, so why are you, Vice Lord of the Heavenly Principles Civilization, beginning to claim it?" A voice, somewhat hoarse, cut through the air.

"Who is that?" The Vice Lord of the Heavenly Principles Civilization halted his movement, realizing the speaker was none other than that very Li Taishi, whom the Confucian Deputy Lord had named his final disciple.

Simultaneously, several others turned their gaze toward this Li Taishi.

The Vice Lord of Integrity inquired, "Who is this individual...?"

"He is the newly accepted disciple of the Confucian Deputy Lord, named Li Taishi. I investigated; he is supposedly a successor of the Light Civilization lineage, but that line perished long ago. He likely leveraged connections to become the Confucian Deputy Lord's final disciple," explained the Vice Lord of Three Books. In that instant, the four Civilization Vice Lords, along with numerous Heavenly Venerate-level figures and those at the Half-Step Civilization Realm, all focused their attention on Lu Yuan. Even the Confucian Deputy Lord was surprised that Lu Yuan would suddenly step forward. However, if Lu Yuan was willing to intervene, perhaps there was a chance for a turnaround?

Kong Ni, Meng Wei, and Su Yuemian were utterly perplexed. They knew Junior Brother Li Taishi’s cultivation level; his Righteous Qi had barely stabilized at the Ninth Layer, perhaps still somewhat immature. As for textual mastery, he seemed only to have just begun learning, likely still reciting the Three Character Classic and Thousand Character Classic. Challenging Zhu Renyu now was tantamount to seeking death.

Zhu Renyu was a terrifying opponent, seemingly evolved from the doctrine of preserving Heavenly Principles and extinguishing human desires—possessing virtually no human emotion.

The Vice Lord of the Heavenly Principles Civilization observed Lu Yuan, then looked toward the Confucian Deputy Lord. "Confucian Deputy Lord, there is little point in having someone who just recently joined the Confucian Civilization interfere now. If you lose, lose gracefully. Not losing gracefully now does not suit you."

The Confucian Deputy Lord retorted, "He is also my disciple; why shouldn't he be allowed to fight?"

The Vice Lord of the Heavenly Principles Civilization laughed loudly. "Very well, very well. Zhu Renyu, remember to take good care of this little junior brother who has only been in the Confucian Civilization for a short while."

"Understood," Zhu Renyu replied with chilling composure.

Zhu Renyu advanced closer. "Then, Junior Brother Li, I request your guidance."

Lu Yuan also stepped forward. "I request Senior Brother Zhu's guidance as well, to witness firsthand what it means to preserve Heavenly Principles and extinguish human desires."

A cold sneer flashed across Zhu Renyu's face. He raised his hand and unleashed his Ninth Layer Righteous Qi. While the Ninth Layer Righteous Qi of others was generally benevolent and grand, his Ninth Layer Qi was saturated with immense killing intent, seemingly devoid of any human emotion. It barely resembled Righteous Qi at all. It was unclear how the Heavenly Principles Vice Lord had developed it this way; his Qi was strange and terrifying, like a sharp spear thrusting directly at Lu Yuan. Under the pressure of this Qi, Kong Ni could barely hold his ground, and Meng Wei had suffered minor setbacks. Zhu Renyu's Righteous Qi seemed to embody the very logic of the Heavens.

This fearsome Ninth Layer Righteous Qi bore down upon Lu Yuan with lethal force, swift and absolute, aimed directly at his throat.

At this moment of supreme danger, Lu Yuan did not retreat in the slightest. He raised his hand squarely and projected a wave of Righteous Qi. The moment Lu Yuan’s Righteous Qi manifested, it was utterly different from anything preceding it—it was an immense, boundless Righteous Qi, as vast as the ocean, as pervasive and all-encompassing as Heaven and Earth itself.