“It is like this, please watch closely.” Zhou Ziyun said.

She collected a handful of saber energy and began to demonstrate. Her movements started slowly but quickly picked up speed. Her figure spun and leaped several times before she finally threw the blade of spiritual energy at the strength-testing totem.

The ghostly face of a tiger rose to meet it and the two sides clashed with a deep reverberation. The whole totem shook dangerously and when it stopped, ten orbs glowed at the top.

Zhou Ziyun’s attack was so powerful that it drew gasps and murmurs from all over. She was at the 8th Level of the Spirit Initiate Realm and yet she was able to turn a dagger into a killing weapon with the power at the tenth level. This was talent on display. Even if she was terrible at preaching the Dao, her fighting ability was unquestionable.

In reality, Zhou Ziyun would not have been able to do this just a few moments ago. It was thanks to her sudden comprehension. She realized that her Flying Dragon Saber Art had a heavy focus on speed. All moves emphasized blinding speed. its footwork had to be performed in a sprint. And multiple attacks were expected in the span of a split second.

All she did was incorporate this extreme speed into throwing a dagger. If her weapon had been lighter, she was sure she could have thrown it even faster. It hadn't been simple but she had managed it somehow.

“I see… I see… this is speed.” Hong Mei whispered, her eyes shining with excitement.

The older woman no longer held any thoughts about the advice Deng Lun had given. He was totally wrong. In her eyes, this one was the real truth!

She didn’t waste any time and began to practice. Her movements were sluggish at first but Zhou Ziyun gave her pointers every step of the way. It didn’t take long and she soon felt confident enough to give it a practical try.

“Wait!” It was at this point that Deng Lun finally butted in.

All eyes turned to him and even Hong Mei glared at him.

Deng Lun kept a straight face and said, “I have already given advice to Miss Hong Mei. Even if she is able to improve her attack power according to your words, how can we know that it was because of you or if it was actually because of me?”

“You are right.” Zhou Ziyun said with an amused look, “Let’s do this then. You managed to increase her attack power by half a level. If I can’t increase her attack power one whole level, then it will be considered my loss.”

Deng Lun was surprised for a moment but then smiled and nodded, “Good, agreed!”

The spectators returned as Hong Mei once again faced off against the dreaded strength-testing totem. After a dance of spiritual energy, a silver needle shot out and smashed into a tiger’s head. There was a long pause that seemed to last forever until four glowing balls finally appeared at the top of the totem.

“Fourth Level!”

“She actually did it!”

“Amazing, one whole level!”

The Dao preaching arena erupted in cheers. A true dark horse had appeared and had actually taken down one of the four geniuses. One truly had to be here to believe it. In an instant, the common people of the Eastern Sanmu Metropolis all learned of her name; Zhou Ziyun, disciple of Ten Thousand Flower Valley.

“How did you do it?” Deng Lun asked sharply.

Zhou Ziyun tilted her head and grinned, “I am also quite good at comprehension. But unlike you, I comprehended the truth.”

“The truth… the truth?”

She left the dumbfounded Deng Lun and returned to her seat. Also ignoring an excited Tang Liang, Zhou Ziyun closed her eyes and meditated on what had just happened.

What she had casually said was the truth but the key was in the details. Comprehension was indeed very important to cultivators but not always. The road toward the immortal realms was filled with twists and traps. There were countless wrong turns and pitfalls. There were innumerable ways to stray from the right path, the true path.

This was the essence of comprehension, to seek the true path. Anybody could pretend to be an expert and try to comprehend cultivation arts. Almost all of them would come to various wrong conclusions. Some might be able to get a little stronger while a few might be able to get a lot stronger. But none of them could actually obtain the truth, the true path that would let them leave behind their mortality. This was what she had done, she had looked at all the possible paths to improvement for that needle art and picked out the most correct one, the true path.

Comprehending the truth was even more important for immortals. Each immortal realm represented a greater truth, a more powerful and more complete Dao. And at the very end was the Great Dao, the ultimate truth. In this sense, the Great Dao Preaching Event was actually a misnomer. Few people actually realized what the term Great Dao actually meant. Most mortals and commoners would assume it just meant a strong Dao that was about the same as any other Dao, just better. In reality, the difference was akin to that of heaven and earth.

The Great Dao was the true path. It was what all immortals sought. It was the supreme Dao, the one that could break through the limits of the Spirit Demigod Realm and reach Nirvana. It was something that had never been achieved in this world.

Zhou Ziyun’s mind filled with these profound thoughts.

Her spiritual sea became chaotic as her energy surged.

She replayed every saber form of the Flying Dragon Saber Art. She imagined herself performing each move of the Nineteen Demon Subduing Palms to perfection. There were also Dugu’s Tenth Sword, Summer and Winter’s Eternal Sutra as well as countless other lesser martial arts and secret manuals. All of it melded together within her, forming something new.

She had always helped other people with their cultivation. It started with Lin Qingcheng and moved on to the ice sisters and then Bei Yingluo. And now she was participating in a Dao preaching event and had analyzed the cultivation arts of several dozen people in a row. All of this made her realize something about herself that had been so obvious from the very start. It had simply seemed so impossible, too good to be true, for her to believe until now.

But she believed it now. She had just proved it. It was the truth. And once she broke through that mental limit, another one quickly followed right behind.

Boom!

9th Level of the Spirit Initiate Realm!

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