Chapter 169: I've Mastered It

Chapter 169: I Have Mastered It

Within the Divine Network.

Huang Zichou watched the multitude of students selecting their examination techniques and laughed, “What technique you choose is also of great importance in this test.”

“If a technique is too difficult and you fail to master it, you receive a zero outright.”

“It is better to pick something a little simpler, with a greater chance of success.”

Another junior deity said, “This is part of the exam, a test of whether you have a clear awareness of your talent, your limits, your potential…”

“But since most of the students present have made it this far, choosing a five‑star technique should not be hard to master.”

“From six stars onward, failure becomes possible.”

“Seven stars would be rather risky.”

“Eight or nine stars carry a high probability of defeat.”

“As for the ten‑star ultimate techniques, only Yun Jing and Ye Lingxiao seem bold enough to select them.”

At that moment Huang Zichou remarked in surprise, “Three people actually chose a ten‑star technique?

“One chose a nine‑star, another an eight‑star?”

Huang Zichou laughed, “There are many arrogant souls among this batch of candidates.”

……

Bai Zhenzhen stared at the “Endless Ten Thousand Swords” she had chosen, and a nervous tremor rose within her heart.

The foundation‑building exam was divided into three rounds; beyond the first comprehensive round, the next two rounds would be contested on four tracks—Dao Heart, Magical Power, Flesh, and Martial Skill—each yielding a champion who would earn a foundation‑building certificate.

“Yuzi takes the physical test; I take the martial path.”

“Right now I lack a sword technique that can truly strike.”

Gazing at the practical martial art “Endless Ten Thousand Swords,” valued at 1.49 million and rated ten stars, Bai Zhenzhen thought, “If I miss this… I may never again have the chance to learn such a sword art.”

After searching repeatedly, Bai Zhenzhen realized that this “Endless Ten Thousand Swords” was both the most suitable and the most powerful technique among the batch.

“On the martial arena I must face the Immortal Lords of the Celestial Capital… they must all have mastered this pinnacle of expert‑level martial skill, at least to some degree.”

“To defeat them, I must seize this free opportunity and learn this art within two hours.”

Yet despite those words, Bai Zhenzhen lacked confidence; she had never studied such an expensive technique, nor had she ever experienced the true difficulty of a ten‑star skill.

But there was no other way—being poor, to contend with the wealthy students on site she could only gamble everything she had, throwing herself into the struggle with no alternative.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Li Tongyun was trembling with anxiety, for she had just selected a nine‑star technique.

She kept telling herself, “I must master it! I must master it!”

Li Tongyun had fallen to around twentieth place after the first two exams, and after the second stage’s gluttony contest, plagued by incessant vomiting, she sank to the thirties.

Thus, to finish within the top twenty overall, she calculated that she had to master a nine‑star technique in this round, no matter what.

On the other hand, Zhang Yu chose an eight‑star difficulty, the “Endless Spring‑Autumn Zen,” worth 1.55 million.

Though not the highest ten‑star level, Zhang Yu knew this technique was among the strongest of today’s offerings.

“Alas, the Titanium‑Gold Body‑Refining Secret or the Great Heavenly Dragon’s Divine Power are indeed strong, but the alloys and dragon blood required for later upgrades are far too costly.”

“In contrast, the Endless Spring‑Autumn Zen needs no external material to raise its level.”

Having realized this, Zhang Yu understood that the Endless Spring‑Autumn Zen was his only choice.

As a poor man, he had few options; a free chance to cultivate the Endless Spring‑Autumn Zen was a once‑in‑a‑lifetime opportunity.

When the ten‑minute selection period ended, the exam officially began.

Each student’s chosen technique materials and required cultivation items were delivered before them.

What was placed before Zhang Yu was simple—a physical scroll bearing the five bold characters “Endless Spring‑Autumn Zen,” which served as his exam paper.

After scanning the entire scroll, Zhang Yu began, as described, to condense the longevity magical power outlined within the Endless Spring‑Autumn Zen.

Only by successfully condensing the longevity power and then pairing it with the forty‑nine body‑refining movements of the Zen could he truly enter the path of this body‑refining martial art.

While Zhang Yu practiced the Endless Spring‑Autumn Zen,

students on the other side surged forward on their respective techniques.

As Yun Jing cultivated the “Myriad Phenomena Palm,” his eyes, bright as stars, could perceive every structure within his own body, clearly seeing muscles and the flow of magical power, achieving an inner‑vision effect.

Even after memorizing the Palm’s contents, he could, while training, see a moving silhouette of himself overlapped with his own form, allowing him to grasp every flaw in his practice of the palm in real time, constantly adjusting and improving.

This was one of the effects of his Dual‑Eye “Law‑Skeleton,” enabling inner sight while swiftly mimicking various techniques and automatically detecting any errors during cultivation.

When Yun Jing’s gaze flickered toward others practicing martial arts, numbers sprang up in his sight.

“500,000… 450,000… 700,000…”

These were the prices of the techniques being cultivated by the surrounding practitioners, marked by his Law‑Skeleton eyes.

By comparing these values, Yun Jing formed an impression of each person’s strength in his mind.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side, Ye Lingxiao glanced at the Endless Ten Thousand Swords and, instead of practicing its sword forms, simply sat down and began rehearsing them in his mind.

For Ye Lingxiao, who could fully command his body and magical power, as long as the mental rehearsal was flawless, there was no problem. Moreover, the speed of mental rehearsal far outpaced physical practice.

Thus, when he cultivated most techniques, he would skim the manual, sit down, run a mental simulation, and upon moving his body, the technique was already mastered.

……

But for Bai Zhenzhen, who had also chosen the Endless Ten Thousand Swords, nothing was so simple.

She brandished her practice sword, her form flickering with electric light, and began unleashing one sword move after another from the Endless Ten Thousand Swords.

Yet this Endless Ten Thousand Swords is a top‑tier expert‑level sword art, claimed to encompass every variation of sword techniques from the Refining‑Qi stage, reaching the ultimate culmination of such variations.

After all, in the Refining‑Qi stage, divine abilities are not yet manifest; sword moves driven solely by raw strength, speed, and magical power remain limited.

Even so, the Endless Ten Thousand Swords boasts tens of thousands of distinct sword forms.

Bai Zhenzhen flipped through the thousand‑plus pages of the text while rapidly practicing the moves, and the more she practiced, the more something felt amiss.

“This cannot continue.”

“If I go through each move one by one, how could I possibly master the Endless Ten Thousand Swords within two hours?”

With her heart method circulating, Bai Zhenzhen ceased blind practice and revisited the main outline of the text, beginning to contemplate.

“Practice a sword ten thousand times, its intent will reveal itself.”

“The normal way to train the Endless Ten Thousand Swords is to work through each form, and once you have mastered the myriad variations, you condense the sword intent, allowing a single strike to shatter all external techniques in the world.”

“But now there is clearly no time for that.”

“Since the Divine One placed this technique here, it must be theoretically possible to master the sword art within two hours.”

As time slipped away, Bai Zhenzhen grew ever calmer, probing the hidden key of the Endless Ten Thousand Swords.

“Is there some principle that links these forms together? If I could comprehend it, could I instantly master them?”

At that moment, Bai Zhenzhen saw Ye Lingxiao sitting with his eyes closed in contemplation.

Though she did not know what he was doing, a spark of inspiration flickered within her.

“Two hours to rehearse ten thousand sword forms—at present, I cannot achieve it.”

“My body may fail, but what if I practice within my mind?”

Bai Zhenzhen closed her eyes, already rehearsing each movement the Ten Thousand Swords Endless Technique in her mind, yet a lingering sense of something amiss persisted.

“No, what I imagine in my head is not the same as my body executing the moves; it cannot be counted as true practice, can it?”

“But since the Ten Thousand Swords Endless Technique seeks to condense sword intent… must every form be executed with perfect precision?”

Bai Zhenzhen recalled Zhang Yu’s enlightenment of the Celestial Martial Heart Refinement, where a crooked form seemed of little consequence.

With that thought, she shut her eyes again, resumed the mental rehearsal of sword forms, and a fresh notion blossomed.

“The Ten Thousand Swords Endless Technique is, after all, a combat art; what if I conjure an opponent within my mind?”

Speaking of an opponent, Zhang Yu was the first to come to her mind.

As the adversary she had faced most often and knew best, she swiftly painted in her mind a tableau of her clash with Zhang Yu.

Countless prior battles had already etched Zhang Yu’s myriad combat habits into her memory.

Thus, in that instant, Zhang Yu’s full-force strike manifested as an invisible veil of mist before her, seemingly impenetrable, no matter how she thrust her sword.

“Zhang Yu truly is a hard opponent,” she thought.

Yet in this mental sparring, Bai Zhenzhen kept uncovering flaws within her own sword techniques.

Previously, she had sought such imperfections on her opponents, dissecting the gaps between their moves.

Now, in the solitary rehearsal of mind against mind, she repeatedly exposed the very fissures of her own Ten Thousand Swords execution.

In that moment, Bai Zhenzhen felt she had finally struck the right chord.

“Indeed… the Ten Thousand Swords Endless Technique represents the ultimate flux of forms; why must the forms vary? Naturally, to break the opponent’s guard.”

“Practicing ten thousand times is rote memorization; true mastery lies in grasping sword intent amid counter‑techniques—that is the supreme method of this art.”

Thereafter, she flipped through the Ten Thousand Swords text while dueling the imagined Zhang Yu, and under this forged combat she felt herself transform into a bolt of thunder, tearing the surrounding haze as a surge of sword spirit rose within her heart.

In the ensuing days, each of the other students surged forward with astonishing speed.

Yu Xinghan emerged from the makeshift infirmary, his face a mask of tragic resolve, the third eye in his mind flaring open, bearing the hatred of rebirth, and his cultivation of the technique advanced in a meteoric leap.

Yun Jing’s pace grew faster with each iteration, each execution more precise, drawing ever nearer to consummation.

Ye Lingxiao surged ahead like a solitary rider, a hundred versions of himself in his mind practicing disparate sword forms, rapidly propelling the progress of the Ten Thousand Swords.

Yet just as Ye Lingxiao sensed he might claim the top spot,

“Examiner, I am ready,” he declared.

Ye Lingx snapped his eyes open to see Zhang Yu raise his hand and say, “I have mastered it.”

(End of Chapter)