Ten miles.
Walking upstream on top of the surging river, Gu Qing Shan continued moving along the winding path continuously for ten miles.
His surroundings began to change.
Lines of text appeared on the War God UI:
[You’ve left the domain of the World Valley]
[At this very moment, you have entered the domain of Wild Nature City]
[A temporary mapping function has been activated and is currently recording map data according to the discovered path]
The War God UI is recording map data!?
Gu Qing Shan looked at these lines of text in surprise, then looked at the banks of the river on both sides.
This region was extremely sparse with only barren sand beaches on both sides.
While continuing forward, Gu Qing Shan asked: “War God UI, what kind of place is Wild Nature City?”
[Unclear, the Laws of Reality only displayed this name] the War God UI replied.
“You can see the names manifested by the Laws?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
[You can also communicate with the Laws; you’re just not used to it yet] the War God UI answered.
Gu Qing Shan face-palmed himself.
That’s true, I’ve just learnt how to observe Origin power and the world of Laws——–
Gu Qing Shan continued to move forward for a while, but felt a little impatient and decided to go onto the river bank.
Taking a deep breath, he silently clenched his fist and activated [Blessings of the Past Worlds]
Thanks to this blessing, he once again attempted to contact the Origin of the world!
Suddenly, everything around him became transparent.
A gigantic figure appeared from the void of space and spoke in a thunderous loud voice:
「 Youngster from the World Valley, welcome to Wild Nature city 」
As the voice disappeared, so did the figure.
Gu Qing Shan suddenly sensed a trove of new knowledge appearing in his mind.
——Wild Nature City can be considered to be a completely different civilization from the World Valley.
In this place, wild beasts are the main proponents of civilization and development.
After absorbing all of this knowledge, Gu Qing Shan’s body became limp as he collapsed to his knees.
“Hoh… hoh… hoh…” he breathed heavily, attempting to ease the fatigue brought by his communication with the Law Behemoth.
This only happened because I overexerted myself in order to communicate with the world.
Shroud is already an expert, capable of using the power of Laws in combat without even feeling exhausted.
Gu Qing Shan sat still to rest while continuing to compile his newfound experience before finally standing back up.
“The power of the world…”
He was feeling a bit impatient to try it again.
This was the most foundational desire of a living being, wishing to receive the recognition and protection of the world itself, as well as its cooperation.
Gu Qing Shan drew the Earth sword and formed a stance in place.
He took a deep breath and held it.
Then he began to use his own will to reach out to the Laws of Reality.
After a while, Gu Qing Shan’s body slumped abruptly.
A wild and unrestrained force had descended upon his sword.
Boundless wind was drifting around his sword, blowing the sand around him into dust devils, gathering and becoming increasingly greater until it eventually became a wall of wind and sand that connected heaven and earth.
Gu Qing Shan lightly lifted his sword until it was level with his shoulders.
At that instant, he sensed a sort of hallucination.
He felt like he was the world itself.
Gu Qing Shan took two deep breaths, slowly relaxed himself, then spoke:
“Thank you, I don’t need it right now”
Instantly, he receded away from that state.
The hallucination from earlier could no longer be felt.
The sky-high sandstorm gradually subsided, proving that something had indeed occurred just now.
Standing in the wind, Gu Qing Shan lightly sighed.
“Using the world as my sword… I’ve never even imagined such a thing. How would this kind of swordsmanship even continue to develop?”
Gu Qing Shan fell into thought.
My swordsmanship had converged from ten thousand swords to a single strike and is now currently in the process of diverging to become ten thousand swords again.
Xie Gu Hong was a wielder of seven swords.
But now, I seemed to have gained a different kind of enlightenment.
How would the path of my swordsmanship continue from this point on?
Wielding his sword, Gu Qing Shan stood blankly.
At this moment, heaven and earth became silent, his surroundings went still.
Gu Qing Shan stood alone on top of the sandy banks with his head lowered to the ground, pondering his swordsmanship without uttering a sound.
Night shifted into Day.
Morning dew had settled on top of leaves.
Gu Qing Shan suddenly spoke: “There are no issues with the path of my swordsmanship, it is still turning one sword into ten thousand swords”
“However…”
“Above one sword diverging to ten thousand swords, there exists an even higher realm!”
As soon as he said this, Gu Qing Shan suddenly felt like a set of restraints had come undone, his entire body felt like it had disappeared and became one with the world.
He subconsciously let go of the Earth sword.
Chao Yin, Heaven, Earth, and Six Paths Great Mountain sword, all appeared around him at once.
“Release!”
Gu Qing Shan uttered a curt shout.
The four swords shot forward, simultaneously unleashing attacks in different directions.
The Chao Yin sword unleashed a light-blue sword phantom, Secret Art [Crescent Slash]!
The Heaven sword unleashed two thrusting sword phantoms in opposite directions, Secret Art [Swallow Returns]!
The Earth sword split off into countless black sword images, Secret Art [Drawn Shadows]!
The Six Paths Great Mountain sword thrust forward, unleashing a tsunami of sword phantoms towards the surging river, Secret Art [Torrent]!
With his gaze, Gu Qing Shan’s iris glittered with a faint yellow glow before unleashing countless invisible slashes towards the sky.
Divine Skill, [Forgetting River Severance]!
In an instant, Gu Qing Shan had unleashed five Secret Arts!
In the past, he only needed a single strike to kill an opponent, but now, he could simultaneously unleash several Secret Arts without any delay.
The Earth sword’s heavy mountainous voice resounded:
「 Excellent, truly impressive. I really can’t imagine how others would be able to stop your attacks 」
Luo Bing Li commented: “With five strikes attacking all at once combined with my [Heaven’s Choice], it would only become even more powerful!”
Shannu said with delight: “Gongzi, congratulations, your swordsmanship had improved one step further”
Chao Yin sword let out a doubtful ‘wu wu’ sound.
The Earth sword explained: 「 Chao Yin, he isn’t simply controlling ten thousand swords at once like before. Each of these attacks contains his full strength, each sword seal is filled to their limit, it’s completely incomparable to a simple Sword Saint 」
The Chao Yin sword was still a bit doubtful, but after a while, it gave off a chime and became relaxed once again.
The Earth sword said: 「 Yup, if you can’t understand, you don’t have to, just follow his lead and show off your might 」
Gu Qing Shan sighed emotionally: “It was only today that I finally managed to comprehend the principles behind diverging one sword into many; but my Great Master, Xie Gu Hong, had already managed to realize these principles during the Age of Old, a true unparalleled hero of humanity, no wonder those Divinities were so wary of him”
Xie Gu Hong was able to unleash seven sword strikes simultaneously, each one consisting of his full strength; it didn’t take much to see just how terrifying that would be.
No wonder sword cultivators were always so feared the more advanced a cultivation civilization became.
Recalling the heroic sacrifices of the cultivators in Xie Gu Hong’s generation, Gu Qing Shan couldn’t help but feel sorrowful again.
Fortunately, I was ultimately able to obtain the twin swords Heaven and Earth, not letting their efforts go to waste.
At this point, a line of glowing text suddenly appeared on the War God UI:
[You’ve reached the lowest required threshold for comprehending ‘Enemy-killing Sword Technique’]
[The ‘Enemy-killing Sword Technique’ hidden within the Coin of the Earth is slowly awakening]
[Once you’ve fully grasped the divergence of one sword into many, you will enter a state of enlightenment and officially begin to comprehend his Bygone Era sword technique]
Skimming through those words, Gu Qing Shan felt like another heavy set of restraints had been lifted off of him and sighed in relief.
My swordsmanship that had been stagnant for so long is finally improving again, such a joyous thing.
But even more worthy of celebration is that my swordsmanship had reached divergence into five swords, and it would only diverge even more in the future.
Right at this time, [Enemy-killing Sword Technique] has finally begun to awaken.
I’m looking forward to it very much, I wonder how far the Bygone Era humans were able to develop their swordsmanship.
With that in mind, Gu Qing Shan felt a little bit less interested in Wild Nature City.
How could something from outside possibly compare to the results of one’s own achievements?
He flew back onto the river and began walking upstream again, moving against the water and wind.
On his way, he crossed many other domains like the Metal City, Merlin’s Hut, the Barren Wetlands, Dragon Cavern, and Gear Fort, witnessing all sorts of unimaginable things.
Gu Qing Shan discovered that each domain was under the protection of a different Law Behemoth.
As he thought about it, this was similar to the future where each world had its own world spirit.
It was quite wondrous.
After several days of travel.
He finally reached his destination.
——the Jungle of Elves and Giants.
