Li Yunxian didn’t feel discouraged by this result at all.
After all, in that fleeting moment when she released her Divine Thought, Li Yunxian had already confirmed it—she could not sense time with her Divine Thought.
There was nothing unexpected about this.
If Divine Thought had such perception, then there wouldn’t be only two worlds—or rather, three worlds—where Li Yunxian had ever seen an artifact like the Wenwu Tower that could create a time differential.
So relying on that alone really wouldn’t work.
Everything still depended on her own comprehension.
Just as she had always advanced her swordsmanship in the past.
Sitting inside the Wenwu Tower, Li Yunxian focused her mind through the Xiayun Sword, calmly sensing her surroundings.
Her aura gradually grew tranquil, blending steadily into the Wenwu Tower, as if she had become one with it.
Outside, Principal Fu Ling of Wenwu looked toward the Wenwu Tower in confusion.
She felt that something was trying to wrest control of the Wenwu Tower from her.
Fu Ling’s expression turned cold.
There were currently seven hundred of their best Wenwu students inside the tower—it was no exaggeration to say they were the very heart of Wenwu.
In Fu Ling’s understanding, only an Outsider would try to seize control of the Wenwu Tower from her.
Which Outsider was so bold as to challenge her—a Nascent Soul stage cultivator—for an artifact?
Murderous intent rose from Fu Ling as she projected her consciousness into the Wenwu Tower, carefully searching, only to be left speechless.
Why did someone request to enter the Wenwu Tower, but instead of cultivating, they tried to seize control of the tower from her?
So you don’t want the Spirit of the Heavenly Ladder, it’s the Wenwu Tower you’re after, huh??
Fu Ling grumbled inwardly.
However, she actually realized what Li Yunxian was truly doing—refining her swordsmanship.
For someone at the Qi Condensation stage to cultivate swordsmanship to this degree, even Fu Ling had to admit her admiration.
To wield time as a sword? Fu Ling had never heard of nor seen such a thing.
But she also knew that if Li Yunxian truly succeeded, it would be an even greater breakthrough than raising her cultivation.
But could she really succeed?
Fu Ling felt that even as the actual controller of the Wenwu Tower, she herself couldn’t accomplish such a feat. But if it was Li Yunxian…
She recalled all that had happened since Li Yunxian came to Wenwu.
Perhaps it wasn’t entirely impossible…
Fu Ling lifted her hand, quietly rearranging the positions of the students around Li Yunxian, clearing out a relatively open space for her, and silently splitting off a portion of her Divine Thought to watch Li Yunxian’s situation.
On the first day, nothing happened. It was tranquil, except that Li Yunxian’s aura faded to near nothingness.
If Fu Ling hadn’t been keeping an eye out, she would’ve thought Li Yunxian had vanished from the Wenwu Tower entirely.
On the second day, Li Yunxian’s aura disappeared completely.
On the third day, it remained calm, but Fu Ling sensed a subtle strangeness.
Something off about the Wenwu Tower.
On the fourth day, Fu Ling finally figured out what was wrong.
She sensed a faint, almost imperceptible sword aura inside the Wenwu Tower.
On the fifth day, the sword aura in the tower grew more intense.
Fu Ling frowned slightly, controlling the flow of energy in the Wenwu Tower to confine this aura to Li Yunxian’s area, so it wouldn’t disturb the other students.
On the sixth day, the sword aura within the tower suddenly vanished after peaking.
This was not good news for Fu Ling.
Fu Ling opened her eyes.
She felt the Wenwu Tower’s operation becoming sluggish.
The spirit stones embedded in its structure began shattering one after another, as if something truly terrifying was twisting time itself within the tower.
Without hesitation, Fu Ling instantly appeared above the Wenwu Tower.
***
In the next moment, Li Yunxian was kicked out of the Wenwu Tower.
Such a disturbance immediately attracted the attention of all the Wenwu teachers. A group of Nascent Soul-stage professors instantly took up defensive stances at Fu Ling’s side.
Before they could ask what had happened, they noticed the abnormality in Li Yunxian.
It was as if she were trapped in a strange flow of time.
Half the grass and trees beneath her feet grew rapidly, shooting up and sprouting new leaves in the blink of an eye, while the other half was completely frozen—when the wind passed, even the movement of the blades of grass slowed to a crawl.
Threads of sword aura seeped from the Xiayun Sword, merging into Li Yunxian’s very bones.
In a daze, the onlookers seemed to hear the sound of swordsong emanating from Li Yunxian’s bones.
That was… Sword Bone?
The crowd stared at Li Yunxian in shock.
At that moment, Li Yunxian opened her eyes.
The Xiayun Sword in her hand moved.
As the sword edge swept, the surrounding air seemed to turn viscous.
Or rather, what truly thickened was not the air, but the flow of time in that space.
A slash of sword-light ripped through the void in an instant.
That sword-light was incredibly long, seemingly forming a continuous sheet, but in reality, it was not so.
The sword-light was not truly long, nor a single sheet—rather, time itself in that region had twisted, so that the sword of the previous second had yet to fade, and merged with the sword-light of the following instant, appearing in the world all at once.
The Wenwu teachers who saw through the essence of that sword-light widened their eyes.
Shock resounded in their hearts.
Is this possible? Is this reasonable?
How is this any different from saying a person could step into two identical rivers at the same time?
The answer is…
No.
This is not reasonable, nor scientific.
Thus, before everyone’s eyes, the long sweep of sword-light was repelled and crushed by the world itself.
In its place, a rift appeared in the shattered void—a pitch-black tear from which nothing within could be seen.
It greedily sucked in everything nearby.
Grass, trees, rocks, even decorative lamps—everything was devoured by that windless pull in the blink of an eye.
Even though the rift was only as wide as a palm, smaller than the rocks or lamps, it swallowed everything instantly, leaving not a trace behind, as if encountering no resistance at all.
Fu Ling’s expression changed abruptly, and she immediately reached out to grab Li Yunxian, who was closest to the rift. Only after three seconds, when the rift closed, did she let go.
The crowd stared in a daze at where the rift had been.
All the cultivators who arrived first were well-informed; they immediately recognized what that rift was.
Void Rift.
There were such things inside the Divine Ruins.
They appeared only when the wall between worlds was torn open; even Nascent Soul cultivators would find these extremely troublesome to deal with.
And now…
A Qi Condensation-stage cultivator had sliced one open with a single swing of a Profound-grade Spiritual Sword?
This was even more unreasonable than what had just happened!!
A question popped into everyone’s minds.
Was Sword Bone really this powerful??
Li Yunxian wasn’t the first in history to possess Sword Bone—some had even been born with stronger Innate Sword Bone—yet no one had ever heard of anything like this happening before.
How could this be possible?
Everyone couldn’t help but stare at Li Yunxian with extremely strange expressions.
Li Yunxian paid no attention to what they were feeling. All her focus was on grasping that mysterious state she had entered.
That trance, unleashing ability beyond her own limits, was a rare thing indeed.
To the others who were shocked, thinking, ‘There’s no way a Qi Condensation-stage cultivator could do this,’ Li Yunxian herself didn’t think it impossible at all.
Sword Dao, Sword Dao—it is the Dao that matters most.
Comprehension of the Dao is unrelated to cultivation level.
Cultivation merely determines how much power a person can exert.
Sword shatters the void.
Li Yunxian found herself recalling the legendary phrase: what sword cultivators achieve when they reach the pinnacle.
So this was what it felt like.
Li Yunxian took a deep breath and withdrew from that state of awareness.
She knew very well what had just happened.
Li Yunxian cupped her hands to Fu Ling: “Thank you, Teacher Fu, for lending me a hand.”
Fu Ling looked at Li Yunxian with a complicated expression. “That sword just now…”
Li Yunxian didn’t hide the joy in her eyes, replying directly: “It was an accident that happened in meditation.”
“But as long as I can use it once, that’s enough.”
“The most important thing in cultivation is knowing the direction in which you advance.”
If she could use it once, then there would be a second and a third time, until it became something she could summon at will.
Li Yunxian didn’t hide her ambition or her confidence.
After speaking, Li Yunxian looked up at Fu Ling.
“Teacher Fu, I remember it hasn’t been a week yet—why am I already out?”
Li Yunxian asked with feigned confusion.
With that question, Fu Ling fell silent. The other Wenwu teachers present also fell silent.
There was no need for Fu Ling to answer; they could all see the reason why Li Yunxian had been sent out in less than a week.
Of course, it was because their Wenwu Tower couldn’t contain a Buddha like you!!
Li Yunxian herself was well aware of this, but…….
Li Yunxian blinked: “It seems there’s still a day left. Can I go back in?”
All the Wenwu teachers fell silent.
No one spoke, but the voices in their hearts were unanimous.
Go in? Don’t even think about it!!