Chapter 277: Approaching
The Rule Divine Chain with fifty percent power of Sword Dao was severed by Ning Qi.
Sword Shocking raised his eyes to look at Ning Qi, a trace of admiration evident in his sword-like gaze.
"Not bad, you even managed to withstand my fifty percent power, and can attain enlightenment on the spot. Your talent even I can't match."
"But next, I will use seventy percent of my power. Are you ready?"
Ning Qi replied, "Then, please teach me, Sword Ancestor."
Thus, the two of them began their third duel.
This time, both Ning Qi and Sword Ancestor only released one Rule Divine Chain.
The Rule Divine Chains collided instantly, their Sword Intent incomparably sharp.
The gathered Great Powers merely watching felt a stabbing pain in their eyes, and even their Primordial Spirits dared not look directly.
The two Rule Divine Chains were like two giant serpents battling in the void, suppressing all other rules within the void, as if entering a vacuum.
Initially, Sword Ancestor Sword Shocking could suppress Ning Qi with his Sword Dao cultivation.
However, after a few breaths, Ning Qi's Sword Dao Rule countered and suppressed Sword Shocking's Sword Dao.
Many of the observing Great Powers swallowed hard, seemingly unable to believe their eyes.
Because they truly felt that the Sword Ancestor had enhanced his cultivation, but how has Ning Qi taken the upper hand now?
In the end, Ning Qi's Sword Dao Rule completely vanquished the Sword Ancestor's, and the void returned to tranquility.
Sword Shocking saw this, his outstretched hand frozen in the void.
His sword-like eyes shone brilliantly, regarding Ning Qi as though discovering some treasure.
In his lifetime, he had seen many geniuses, but had never encountered someone like Ning Qi, who made such tremendous progress at a visible speed.
After all, Sword Shocking himself was a genius, praised by his master and fellow disciples in his youth, and he roamed the Beixuan Domain in his younger days.
"Next, I will use all my power, be careful."
"Alright."
This time, Sword Shocking no longer held back.
His figure suddenly rose from the plaza, sword intent enveloping the entire space like winter frost, slaying everything, leaving him seemingly the only one in the world.
The observing Great Powers below dared not move, fearing even a slight movement would lead to the destruction of their Primordial Spirits and their demise.
They were filled with dread and disbelief, questioning just what level of cultivation the Sword Ancestor had achieved.
They, too, were in the late stage of the Void Path Realm, yet in front of the Sword Ancestor, felt like fallen leaves before the autumn wind.
Their gazes involuntarily shifted to Ning Qi.
Under such terrifying sword intent, Ning Qi alone was able to move, standing as the sole entity capable of motion amidst the surrounding frost!
Ning Qi ascended a step at a time, as though climbing a cloud ladder, eventually standing at the same height as the Sword Ancestor.
Sword Shocking floated in the void, his robes fluttering, hair and beard all dancing.
He watched Ning Qi and suddenly asked, "Your sword has just begun, do you intend to surpass me?"
However, Ning Qi uttered one word: "No!"
Sword Shocking was taken aback.
The extent of a person's heart determines the height of their limits.
From birth, Sword Shocking had never followed conventions, those so-called duties to respect and obey tradition couldn't bind him at all.
He never regarded the sect masters and foremost figures of the Infinite Sword Sect as beings beyond surpassing.
Precisely because of this, Sword Shocking became the most dazzling genius in the history of the Infinite Sword Sect at that time.
Therefore, Sword Shocking understood deeply that a person's inner self must be like a sword—breaking through everything to achieve true transcendence.
He always looked down on those who followed the rules because they dared not break conventions and lacked the ambition to surpass those before them!
That's why, in this moment, Sword Shocking asked if Ning Qi had the intention to surpass him.
Upon learning of Ning Qi's feats, Sword Shocking thought Ning Qi was someone like him.
But Ning Qi answered, no!
Sword Shocking, recovering from his bewilderment, asked, "What do you mean by saying no?"
Ning Qi said, "In my heart, I've never had the thought of surpassing!"
The observing Great Powers, seeing the two not moving yet clashing verbally with subtle truths, were perplexed.
They understood the words of the Sword Ancestor, but not Ning Qi's speech.
Only Sword Shocking suddenly widened his sword-like eyes, after a long moment, he exclaimed:
"What a 'no'!"
Sword Shocking slowly internalized this statement, gradually realizing Ning Qi's meaning. He, Sword Shocking, had the heart to surpass all, not being petty, yet fell into the lower grade.
Whereas Ning Qi surpassed him, having never viewed exceeding as surpassing, belonged to the Superior level.
In short, Sword Shocking always had an object of surpassing in his heart.
For instance, in childhood, he wanted to surpass parents and elders, after joining the sect, he had the intention to surpass fellow disciples and masters, and even extended it to all the strong in Beixuan Domain and Southern True Domain before his Sword Dao.
Yet Ning Qi never had such thoughts from the beginning, in his heart, there was no one ahead!
"Then let me witness your Dao!"
After speaking, Sword Shocking swiped a hand across the void, as if caressing a hidden sword.
Around the two, countless sword shapes suddenly formed, all constructed by Sword Dao Rules.
The Great Powers below seeing this scene, their eyes almost popping out.
"Is this the true power of the Sword Ancestor?"
No wonder the Sword Ancestor could lock all surrounding rules, no wonder they couldn't condense their own rules before him.
Even Ning Qi was momentarily stunned, while feeling admiration.
The criterion for judging a late-stage Great Power in the Void Path Realm wasn't the number of rules mastered but the number and length of a single kind of Rule Divine Chain.
For instance, when Ning Qi broke through to the Void Path Realm, he directly reached the late period of the Void Path Realm.
At that time, Jiang Qingxue took Ning Qi's single kind of Rule Divine Chain with twelve strands, eleven zhang long, as the basis, which far exceeded the usual late-stage Void Path Realm standards of ten zhang long, at least five strands.
Before him, the Sword Ancestor in seclusion for ten thousand years, specializing in Sword Dao, remained in the Void Path Realm.
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