On the jade-green mountain wall, where faint blue light flowed, four lines of powerful calligraphy immediately conveyed their artistic conception to Teng Qingshan.
Upon touching this conception.
“Boom!” It was as if a dam had burst. The thirty large characters spread across the four lines unleashed an intense, terrifying artistic conception that instantly submerged Teng Qingshan like a tidal wave. Though Teng Qingshan’s ‘Spirit’ was mighty, in that instant, it was completely drowned within the conceptual world born from those four lines of poetry.
Teng Qingshan’s eyes perceived dozens of hazy blue figures wielding sword techniques.
The swordplay was ethereal, seemingly following the trajectory of heaven and earth. Yet, to Teng Qingshan, it felt… much like the simple, unremarkable axe work of a carpenter felling wood. Around Teng Qingshan now, from every direction, blue figures were practicing various sword techniques. Describing them as sword techniques felt slightly akin to a sword dance.
…
If someone were to enter this natural cavern, they would find Teng Qingshan holding the Samsara Spear, staring fixedly at the mountain wall, unmoving, for a full half an hour.
“Clang!” A crisp sound echoed.
Li Jun, standing in the passage, jumped several steps further in, startled, and immediately saw the Samsara Spear fall to the ground, rolling until it settled against a side wall. As for Teng Qingshan, he held his right index and middle fingers extended like a sword point, executing one move after another, seemingly practicing some unfathomable sword art.
Teng Qingshan’s figure flickered, his sword-finger motions extremely sharp and fierce.
“Swish!”
Because of the sheer intensity, even without employing Innate True Essence, bursts of surging energy shot out in all directions.
“Clang!” “Clang!” The energy currents struck the jade tablet carved with the four large characters, producing clear ringing sounds, yet the tablet remained completely undamaged.
“Puff!”
The rock face beside Li Jun cracked under the impact of the ricocheting energy, sending small fragments tumbling down.
“When did Brother Teng get so skilled at swordsmanship?” Li Jun gasped in shock. “Could it be related to the ‘Immortal Jade Tablet’?” Although she thought this, Li Jun still dared not look at the ‘Immortal Jade Tablet.’
“Well, having one more skill set is never a bad thing.” Li Jun watched Teng Qingshan’s moving figure inside the cave. “I’ll just wait a little longer!”
But the waiting turned out to be lengthy.
The sun moved from its zenith, traversed the sky until it set, and darkness enveloped even the cavern.
However, the sounds of surging energy colliding against the mountain wall continued ceaselessly, growing ever more intense.
Deep into the night.
Li Jun had long retreated to the depths of the mountain path, fearful of being accidentally wounded by Teng Qingshan. In the dark, a faint scratch of blood marked Li Jun’s cheek—an injury she had sustained earlier when a stray piece of rock had scraped her face. Yet, Li Jun felt no annoyance; she kept her gaze fixed toward the cavern: “Brother Teng’s swordsmanship is growing stronger; the sheer energy it generates is constantly increasing in power.”
Li Jun’s admiration for Teng Qingshan deepened.
Suddenly—
“This is wrong!” A low, furious roar suddenly erupted from the cavern.
“Brother Teng!” Li Jun cried out in alarm and rushed toward the cavern entrance.
Although it was dark, the soft, greenish luminescence emanating from one jade tablet on the cavern wall was enough for an expert of Inner Force to see everything clearly inside.
“Brother Teng, what—what is wrong?” Li Jun asked, her voice laced with alarm and anger.
Teng Qingshan was currently gritting his teeth, blood tracing the corners of his mouth, his face slick with sweat, his entire demeanor resembling a maddened beast.
“I—I’m fine,” Teng Qingshan forced out between clenched teeth.
“Brother Teng…” Li Jun’s worry only intensified.
Teng Qingshan, his face dripping with sweat, stared intently at the jade tablet like a wild wolf: “No matter how superb or mighty the sword technique, this… this is not the path I am meant to walk. This is not what I desire… Even if this could allow me to reach the Void Realm! I don't want it.” Teng Qingshan’s gaze was firm as never before.
Outsiders could not possibly know what had transpired during those preceding five or six hours!
“Brother Teng, what exactly happened?” Li Jun asked tensely, clutching Teng Qingshan’s arm.
Teng Qingshan turned his head toward Li Jun and managed a slight smile: “It’s nothing; this is actually a good thing for me.”
“A good thing?” Li Jun found it impossible to believe that what she had just witnessed could be considered beneficial.
“There are four lines of poetry on this Immortal Jade Tablet,” Teng Qingshan explained. “And I estimate these four lines were inscribed by an immensely powerful supreme expert! They contain the artistic conception of this supreme expert’s swordplay—this is not a mere technique, but the pure Sword Dao comprehended by this supreme expert! It is his Dao!”
“Before his Sword Dao, my previous understanding is utterly insignificant!”
“I was completely immersed in his conception, in his Sword Dao.”
Teng Qingshan’s eyes burned bright. “I had already touched the edge of the ‘Dao,’ which is why I could gradually grasp the conception contained within this poetry. If I were to cultivate here diligently, I believe within three to five years, I could certainly step into the Void Realm, becoming a Void Realm expert.”
“Three to five years?” Li Jun sucked in a sharp breath.
Teng Qingshan was only eighteen years old.
Three to five years?
A Void Realm expert in his early twenties? It was utterly inconceivable!
“Brother Teng, this is a great thing! You should cultivate here. Or… we could take this ‘Immortal Jade Tablet’ with us.” Li Jun urged, unconcerned that the Immortal Jade Tablet was a treasure belonging to the Sword Tower.
“No.”
Teng Qingshan shook his head. “With my comprehension of the Dao, studying this ‘Immortal Jade Tablet’ for several years would indeed lead to the Void Realm! However, that Void Realm would be one achieved through the sword, not the spear. Furthermore, the Dao contained within is his Dao. I would only be walking the path he forged!”
“I have my own path!”
“My weapon is the spear, and it will always be the spear!”
Teng Qingshan’s heart was firm as bedrock.
The fact that Teng Qingshan could independently create the Fist of Earth and the Fist of Water meant that independent creation was fundamentally different from following someone else’s Dao. An expert capable of self-creation possessed a deeper understanding of the ‘Dao.’ For anyone else, even with a Spirit powerful enough to draw out the terrifying conception within the Immortal Jade Tablet, they simply could not withstand it, or perhaps, could not comprehend it at all.
Teng Qingshan could even decipher a small portion of the traceless Dao of Heaven and Earth. Having this sword conception presented before him made its comprehension significantly easier. If Teng Qingshan had truly dedicated himself to cultivating here for several years, leveraging his existing foundation, breaking through the bottleneck and reaching the Void Realm within years would certainly not be difficult.
“However, I must forge a path truly suited for Internal Martial Arts!”
“I must create a path belonging to the spear!”
“A path that belongs to me, Teng Qingshan!”
Teng Qingshan lowered his head and picked up the Samsara Spear, which he had let fall earlier.
“Hmm?” As Teng Qingshan looked down, he saw another line of text situated above and below the four lines of poetry on the Immortal Jade Tablet—"I, Li Taibai, cleaved the Void with a single sword at Bright Moon Island! I leave this sword song here for those destined to find it!”
Upon reading this line, Teng Qingshan’s mind reeled with a jolt.
“Li Taibai?” Teng Qingshan was utterly astonished.
“The Poet Sword Immortal, Li Taibai?”
“Li Taibai, one of the Four Supreme Experts?”
Teng Qingshan was completely stunned. He had initially assumed the four lines were left by a Void Realm expert, perhaps even a Cavern Void expert. Although the thought that a Supreme Expert might have left it had crossed his mind, Teng Qingshan had quickly dismissed that notion.
“Brother Teng, what is it?” Li Jun asked, surprised. She still dared not look at the tablet’s inscription.
“Look here,” Teng Qingshan pointed to that line of text.
Teng Qingshan understood… that the four lines of poetry likely contained Li Taibai’s ‘Sword Dao,’ and thus they also contained Li Taibai’s ‘World Force.’ A mere mountain wall had transformed into a jade-green one over so many years—this was the marvel of World Force.
This was something only a Supreme Expert possessed!
“I shouldn’t look,” Li Jun hesitated slightly.
“It’s fine to look here. You must not look at the four lines of text for now. Once the embedded sword intent is triggered, your spirit cannot bear it, which would cause immense damage to your ‘Spirit.’ You might never reach the Innate Realm in your lifetime,” Teng Qingshan warned.
Li Jun nodded and looked where Teng Qingshan pointed.
“This is—” Li Jun was also stunned when she saw it.
“Li Taibai?” Seeing those three characters, Li Jun found it hard to believe as well.
Emperor Yu, the Qinling Heavenly Emperor ‘Ying Zheng,’ the Poet Sword Immortal ‘Li Taibai,’ and the Shakyamuni Patriarch—these four towering Supreme Experts were the pinnacle figures of the Jiuzhou World across countless ages. All four were Supreme Experts from different eras. But without exception—
They had all attained the Supreme Expert realm.
“This poetry was left by Senior Poet Sword Immortal,” Teng Qingshan marveled. “The legendary Green Lotus Sword Song, one of the Four Great Divine Canons, is probably only slightly more complex than these four lines. It likely contains more detail on the post-natal and innate cultivation processes. But the Poet Sword Immortal’s Sword Dao is entirely contained within this poetry. To be precise, within this sword song!”
Teng Qingshan looked at the line—“The rainbow serves as my attire, the wind as my steed; the lords of the clouds descend in throngs. The tiger beats the drum, the phoenix draws the carriage; the immortal figures stand in rows like hemp.”
His admiration soared.
He imagined the past: Li Taibai, having reached the Cavern Void realm, soared through the air, roaming the boundless world with unrestrained elegance. Here on Bright Moon Island, he encountered some residents, ultimately achieving sudden enlightenment and breaking through to the Supreme Expert realm. He also left behind some simple cultivation methods for the residents of Bright Moon Island.
The residents of Bright Moon Island, utilizing the cultivation method and the sudden enlightenment gained from the four lines on the Immortal Jade Tablet by the Third Generation Patriarch, comprehended the Bright Moon Sword Canon, and their lineage prospered generation after generation.
“Hmm?”
Teng Qingshan also noticed then that on the other side of the cavern, some scattered rocks had completely blocked off a passage.
“Could there be another way out?” Teng Qingshan walked over and kicked out with legs that blurred into phantoms.
With loud rumbling crashes, large amounts of debris were blasted away, revealing that this passage opened onto a platform. Beyond the platform was a bottomless cliff!
“So it was here!” Teng Qingshan stepped out of the cavern and approached the edge of the platform. Li Jun stood beside him.
A cold wind swept past them; before Teng Qingshan and Li Jun was the abyss.
Teng Qingshan looked up at the surroundings, vaguely seeing the edge of another mountain peak.
“Recalling the past, Senior Poet Sword Immortal must have flown down from high above, entering this cavern from this platform halfway up the cliff. Here in the Cavern Void, he comprehended the ultimate Sword Dao.” Teng Qingshan vaguely observed the edge of the other mountain peak. Thinking about how the other mountain peak was as tall as this restricted area peak, and their adjacent cliff faces were equally sheer, a thought struck him: “When Senior Poet Sword Immortal attained his Dao, did he unleash a single sword strike from the high heavens, cleaving a tall mountain in two with one blow? Is that how these two peaks were formed?”