Fengyun Wujian ignored the Five Demon Generals of the Demon Domain, casting aside the massive trouble that had suddenly befallen him. The images of powerful individuals he had encountered since the Ancient Era flashed through his mind. When the images of two individuals passed through his thoughts, time seemed to freeze.
Ximen Yibei was an extreme in the way of the sword. His swordsmanship did not emphasize techniques but speed. As he himself said, he only knew one strike—one sword stroke. When that sword came forth, no one could block it. But Fengyun Wujian faintly sensed a significant flaw in his martial arts. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pinpoint it. That feeling was unbearable; he was so close to grasping it, yet it kept slipping away.
The other extreme of the sword path was the one standing before him now—Purple Emperor, the leader of the South Rising North Dipper Sword Sect. His speed in movement was almost the same as Ximen Yibei's sword, able to travel vast distances in an instant, yet leaving afterimages behind. More precisely, it was hard to distinguish between the real and illusory images. Fengyun Wujian couldn't even be sure whether the two women, Donghou and Ziyu, were holding the real him or his illusion when they embraced him. This man was nearly perfect, his unique "Forget-Me-Kill Realm" both strange and powerful. Similarly, Fengyun Wujian felt that there was some flaw he couldn't grasp within Purple Emperor's martial arts—a subtle imperfection in his realm.
Ximen Yibei, Purple Emperor—one was cold, the other seemingly lost in thought. These two continued to circle in Fengyun Wujian's mind, as if they were both wielding their swords. When, by accident, their images clashed in his mind, an immense sound exploded in his head, as though something had unlocked within him.
A powerful sword intent erupted, startling Purple Emperor and the Five Demon Generals of the Demon Domain. The five, who were about to leave, halted, turning to look in the direction where Purple Emperor and the others stood.
Among them, Purple Emperor had the highest swordsmanship. Before the explosive sword intent appeared, he had already sensed something. He held Ziyu with one arm and Donghou with the other, and with a single step, moved swiftly away from Fengyun Wujian.
"I understand now," Fengyun Wujian thought with immense joy. "Ximen Yibei's sword path focuses on the sword, not the body. Therefore, his sword reaches the fastest speed possible. Purple Emperor's sword path, however, focuses on the body, or perhaps more accurately, on killing. Both follow the sword path of killing—their swords must spill blood—but they are entirely different. Ximen Yibei doesn't have the speed of Purple Emperor, and Purple Emperor doesn't have Ximen Yibei's speed in striking!"
Once Fengyun Wujian realized this, his mind cleared as if a bright light had been turned on. The sword intents of these two began to replay in his mind. Unlike others, Fengyun Wujian's intent-sword body technique completely disregarded the form of the sword path, focusing solely on the essence. Having seen their sword paths once, his intent-sword body technique began to reveal a unique characteristic: the ability to absorb others' sword intents!
Without realizing it, Fengyun Wujian activated the sword intent of his technique. With the stimulation of the sword intents of Ximen Yibei and Purple Emperor, the sword intent ascended from the first level of sword-breaking to the Earth Demon Sword Intent, and then to the second level, the Heavenly Demon Sword!
As his sword intent surged, Fengyun Wujian's true qi within him exploded! The energy of heaven and earth surged into his body at a visible speed, causing his robe to billow and his long hair to whip like a serpent in the air.
"Purple Emperor, this person also practices the sword path. What's going on with him?" Donghou asked, pointing at Fengyun Wujian below, surrounded by ripples of semi-transparent energy.
Purple Emperor sighed, glancing at Ziyu. Then, he gave a bitter smile. "This person's talent is something I've rarely seen—probably not inferior to Ziyu's. When we sought to attain our current skills, we spent countless days and nights in intense training. I always believed that becoming a master meant enduring countless lonely nights of endless practice. While others enjoyed love, family, and friendship, we traded those for the bitter discipline. Now I realize, there are people who don't need to dive into endless training like us. With one epiphany, their strength surges dramatically. Ziyu is one such person, and so is this Fengyun Wujian!"
"Purple Emperor, are you saying he's as smart as me?" Ziyu looked down at Fengyun Wujian with disdain, clearly unimpressed.
Purple Emperor gently patted her head but didn't respond.
Donghou's eyes flashed with cold fury. "Purple Emperor, if I'm not mistaken, his sword intent now contains the unique sword intent of your South Rising North Dipper Sect! He is a future threat and should be killed now!"
"Are you jealous of him?" Purple Emperor's expression turned cold and distant as he looked at Donghou. Seeing she didn't deny it, he continued, "I'm jealous of him too. I won't deny it. But if we kill anyone who surpasses us in talent, we'll end up killing most of the Ancient Era's people. Heh, in fact, who knows, our own talents might be quite ordinary. Rather than kill him, why not give him a favor? This person's talent will surely rival the domain lords of the Demon Domain and Sword Domain in the future. Since his power is still low, we can befriend him now, and later, the South Rising North Dipper Sword Sect will have another ally."
"Hmph! You always think you're smarter than me," Donghou sneered at Purple Emperor. "Look at him now—his power is clearly skyrocketing, and with that strange body technique of his, even if we didn't use the Heavenly Demon aura to disrupt his true qi, we couldn't stop him. Furthermore, he's clearly broken through his bottleneck. Defeating him is impossible. But if he wants to escape, with his bizarre body technique, there's nothing we can do. And I've heard it said before that when the Destroyer Dao Lord pressured him to kneel at Youming Peak, he vowed to wash away that humiliation. Many came for the Xuanyin Scroll, but it was actually passed down to him from the Destroyer Dao Lord. Regardless of whether that's true, if he didn't have something the Dao Lord feared, why would the Destroyer Dao Lord degrade himself like that for a newcomer who hasn't even ascended for three years?"
"You always have to be smarter than me," Purple Emperor tightened his arms around Donghou's waist, lost in thought. "Are you implying that the Xuanyin Scroll incident might be a fabrication?"
"Not necessarily, but it's possible the Destroyer Dao Lord is using him as a pawn!"
"Then we can't make a move on Fengyun Wujian. Though we've driven off the Five Demon Generals, the true heavyweights of the Demon Domain have yet to appear," Purple Emperor said as he looked down. "The Xuanyin Scroll is too valuable. The Demon Domain won't give up easily. Whether this matter is true or not, as long as there's a sliver of possibility, the Demon Domain won't abandon it. After all, this is the most credible and plausible version of the story!"
"Ah!"
Fengyun Wujian suddenly spread his arms wide, and an even more magnificent sword intent burst forth like a tidal wave. Behind him, an invisible giant hand forcefully pulled him backward into the sky like a great bird, soaring upward, higher and higher, until it vanished into the clouds...