If you go beyond the boundaries of basic sword moves, things get tricky—almost impossible, really.
Quinn Shepherd understood just how difficult that was.
No matter how complicated, innovative, or ever-changing sword arts get, they all break down into a handful of basic moves: thrust, lift, cloud, chop, cleave, point, collapse, hang, flick, wipe, sweep, block, intercept, and flourish.
Even the most astonishing sword techniques are just creative combinations of these basic forms.
But the Imperial Preceptor of Everpeace is different. He added new fundamental sword moves to the foundation itself!
How terrifying is that?
Quinn didn’t know how many new basic moves he’d added, but even one would force all previous sword arts to be rewritten—otherwise, in the Preceptor’s eyes, they’d be riddled with flaws.
“He could be called a god now...” Quinn muttered, pushing down his shock.
Philip Qu’s Grand Six Directions Sword Art was truly overwhelming—its power was fierce and wild, beyond belief!
Quinn had met a few Six Directions Realm experts back in the Great Ruins, but none were as terrifying as Philip.
Both were Imperial Academy scholars, but comparing the Five Luminaries Realm to the Six Directions Realm was like a giant leap—the difference was staggering!
Scholars in the Five Luminaries Realm were strong, but not outrageously so. In Quinn’s eyes, none of the Academy’s Five Luminaries scholars could match him.
But among the Academy’s divine-ability experts, even those newly advanced to the Six Directions Realm were unbelievably powerful!
The Six Directions Realm was truly a world-shaking transformation.
Just as Quinn thought this, Lin Xuan—the Dao-Heir—lifted his arm, and his horsetail whisk suddenly flared. The whisk’s threads surged together, forming a cluster that thrust straight into Philip Qu’s Grand Six Directions Sword Art!
Philip’s Grand Six Directions Sword wasn’t built on the basics, but Lin Xuan wielded his whisk as a sword, every move clear and precise, rooted in fundamental sword skills.
Lin Xuan’s swordplay didn’t have the sweeping grandeur of the Grand Six Directions Sword, but Quinn could see something extraordinary in it.
"Philip is doomed. Lin Xuan only needs a single move to defeat him," Quinn thought.
He’d learned swordsmanship from Village Chief—just one form, Sword Treads the Rivers and Mountains; the rest were all basic moves. But his insight now surpassed countless sword masters.
Lin Xuan’s strike looked simple, as if he were just stabbing at Philip’s descending sword. But each whisk thread was a fine sword in itself, endlessly shifting and transforming!