At this moment, Yanqing's scalp went numb.
It felt as if invisible needles were pricking his back from all directions.
Without hesitation, he tried to retreat—launching an aerial attack toward Evan in the process!
But Evan—
He calmly raised his hand.
And in it, a sword Yanqing had never seen before took shape.
This was—
The Xuanyuan Sword.
Or rather, to be precise—
A mimetic Xuanyuan Sword.
Taixu Five Aggregates · Form Aggregate!
Sword Initiation — Waning Moon!
With nothing more than a casual swing, a crescent moon of sword intent manifested in Evan's hand—
And slammed into the ground.
From the instant that sword intent appeared before Yanqing's eyes
to the moment it brushed past his body and struck the earth—
Yanqing's pupils shrunk violently!!
That strike—
If he hadn't dodged in time, then even as a Xianzhou native—
He would have been seriously injured.
The training ground trembled.
A massive half-moon crater was carved directly into the earth.
Even Jing Yuan, watching from the Divine Foresight Pavilion, opened his eyes.
"Such a Taixu sword art…"
"But why does this name feel… familiar?"
Jing Yuan frowned.
Taixu.
Taixu…
Taixu itself was an ancient Xianzhou philosophical concept.
What was Taixu?
It referred to the primordial substance of the universe—Qi.
A theory that existed long before the Xianzhou,
dating back to the Imperial Era.
Taixu Sword Art…
Wait.
The Marshal!
Marshal Hua had once mastered a sword art—
Also named Taixu Sword Art!
"…Does this man have a connection to the Marshal as well?"
"A Nameless from Jarilo-VI."
"A genius of the Genius Society."
"An envoy of the All-Knowing Lord."
"And now… the Marshal's honored guest?"
"This just keeps getting more interesting."
As his words fell, a projection appeared above the strategy board.
"General, the analysis is complete."
"Stellaron Hunter Kafka surrendered voluntarily. According to the Divination Array—
the Stellaron incident has nothing to do with them."
"However… we uncovered some unusual clues."
"The trail points toward—"
"I know," Jing Yuan interrupted calmly.
"Fu Qing, since the Stellaron Hunters are uninvolved, release them."
"But General! The clues point to the Vidyadhara—!"
"Fu Qing, Fu Qing… see? You're rushing again. With this temperament, you still want to be General? Train a bit more."
"Hmph! Jing Yuan!"
Click.
Fu Xuan decisively cut the connection, cheeks puffed in anger as she turned toward March 7th and the others—
And…
A certain diviner who was clearly trying to sneak off work.
"Qingque—!"
...
Cloud Knight Training Grounds, Changletian
Dozens of Cloud Knights stared at the two figures in disbelief.
That outworlder stood perfectly still.
He merely lifted his sword slightly and traced a line across the ground.
And Yanqing, the valiant lieutenant, was forced into frantic evasive maneuvers.
Was this man really just an ordinary outworlder?
Only Yanqing—who experienced it firsthand—understood the terror of that strike.
And that had only been one move from the sword art.
The Taixu Sword Art Evan obtained from Yanqing's treasure chest—
Or more accurately—
Taixu Sword Intent.
The Taixu Sword Intent was divided into Five Aggregates:
Heart · Form · Intent · Soul · Spirit
Form and Soul were sword techniquesHeart, Intent, and Spirit were internal arts and mental disciplines
That earlier strike—
Was merely a basic move from Taixu · Form.
The most ordinary one.
Yet in Evan's hands—
It was no weaker than facing the General himself.
Yanqing was familiar with this kind of pressure.
Jing Yuan had used it during their sparring sessions—
And even then, the General had deliberately suppressed his strength.
But Evan?
He hadn't suppressed anything.
He swung a simple sword strike under Emanator-level pressure.
Yanqing knew—
If Evan hadn't held back even slightly,
This entire training ground would have been obliterated.
(Fortunately, the Xianzhou was protected by the Hunt's blessing. Otherwise, Evan wouldn't have been able to cut this deeply.)
Yanqing froze.
He swallowed hard, staring blankly at Evan.
For a moment—
His sword heart shattered.
"Two minutes left."
"Are you surrendering… or continuing?"
Evan smiled faintly.
The sword in his hand never paused.
After fully absorbing the Taixu Sword Intent, Evan no longer needed a physical weapon to execute these techniques.
So why use a mimetic Xuanyuan Sword?
Because it looked cool.
"How could I surrender?! I won't lose!"
Yanqing immediately mounted his flying sword and began evading.
No—this wasn't enough!
Pure evasion wouldn't work!
He had to attack!
Six flying swords shot forward instantly!
Worthy of a young lieutenant—
Such sword-control was rare even across the Xianzhou.
Compared to Yunli of Zhuming—
It was no weaker.
The six swords sealed off Evan's front, back, and sky—
Every escape route blocked.
"Teacher Evan, don't hold back!"
But the Evan standing on the ground—
Had already vanished.
He reappeared atop the flying swords—
And lightly stepped down.
All six swords sank straight into the earth.
Yanqing instantly lost contact with them.
"As a swordsman," Evan said calmly,
"you don't trust the sword in your hand—
but instead rely on external tools?"
"One day, you'll meet a girl wielding a heavy sword."
"She won't hold back."
"…A heavy-sword girl?"
Yanqing blinked.
Who was that supposed to be?!
Doesn't matter!
As long as he could last three minutes!
Abandoning the six swords, Yanqing gripped his own blade.
A chill surged along the edge.
If the condition was simply to endure—
Then he just needed to create time.
Swordsmanship aside—
His sword-control wasn't weak either!
He immediately mounted his sword and took to the air again.
Two minutes left!
"Tsk."
"Sword-control, huh?"
"Interesting."
Evan's expression sharpened.
Waning Moon no longer worked—
So he changed techniques.
"Taixu Sword Form…"
"Sword Initiation — Sever the Void!"
In that instant—
Yanqing felt himself locked in place.
Crack—!
The sound of shattering glass echoed.
Evan was still there—
And yet, not there.
Because space itself裂开.
This strike had nearly reached the level of the Herrscher of Void's authority.
The creator of the Taixu Five Aggregates truly was a godlike existence.
No wonder they were revered as Immortals in Shenzhou.
Shattered space reflected Evan's image like a mirror—
Multiple afterimages descended simultaneously.
"…Oh?"
In the Divine Foresight Pavilion, Jing Yuan raised an eyebrow.
Trained under Jingliu's lineage, his sword arts were vast.
His ultimate move—Heavenly River, Dream-Severing—
Was said to cut even stars from the sky.
Yet after seeing Evan's strike—
He understood.
The world held many sword paths.
And Taixu Sword Art was in no way inferior.
"How much of this can that brat Yanqing learn, I wonder?"
Thud!
Yanqing fell from the sky—
Landing face-first.
"Teacher… I… I lost."
Three minutes were up.
He didn't even want to stand.
He had already lost.
That strike tore space itself—
But to Yanqing, the damage wasn't fatal.
Xianzhou people were blessed by Abundance—
Even losing a head wasn't necessarily fatal.
And Evan had only cut space.
"You didn't lose."
"You fell at three minutes and one second."
"So—lesson one. You win."
Evan pulled him up, smiling.
He handed Yanqing the Xuanyuan Sword and brushed the dust off him.
"I demonstrated two techniques just now."
"Both belong to Taixu · Form."
"Specifically, Sword Initiation techniques."
"…!"
Yanqing was perfect for learning Taixu Sword Art.
The first strike shattered his sword heart—
Yet it recovered almost instantly.
That reminded Evan of Yanqing's counterpart.
Ma Yanqing.
One of the Seven Disciples of Taixu.
Seven bastards.
Seven nightmares that made players hate Yanqing on sight.
"Taixu Sword Form…"
"Those moves were amazing…"
"Thank you, Teacher!"
Yanqing nodded eagerly, gripping the sword.
"This sword is yours."
"So—continue now, or come back tomorrow?"
"Next, I'll teach you other Taixu Form techniques."
"And… the Heart Aggregate as well."
"Heart Aggregate?"
Yanqing tilted his head, utterly confused.
"What's that?"
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