Legend of the Great Sage

Li Qingshan shut his eyes slowly, and his sea of consciousness settled down, without a single ripple anymore.

When it came to comprehension, he had never believed this was a field he was particularly strong in. When he first saw the Cursive Sword Calligraphy, he could not understand it at all. Instead, Xiao An had comprehended a set of sword moves before teaching it to him.

However, through his observations from earlier, he discovered that studying the Sword Collection Manual of Heaven and Earth did not require comprehension, but deduction.

The two often seemed similar, but they actually had differences down to their very essence.

Comprehension was the flash of inspiration when the apple fell on the head, while deduction was a large quantity of calculations, eliminations, and experimentations. While the final objective of the two were the same, to find the correct answer, the abilities they required were actually different.

When the Great Banyan Tree King comprehended the laws of the world through the Mist Province cauldron, he used his tremendous number of cuttings for deduction. It did not rely on his ability to comprehend.

No one could comprehend the entire set of sword moves within the Sword Domain of Heaven and Earth; it was not because the Sword Collection palace was actually useless—over the past several thousand years, who knew how many startlingly talented figures they had produced, so how could absolutely none of them possess an outstanding ability to comprehend? Xiao An’s ability to comprehend was outstanding, but it had not reached the level where it was unprecedented yet—instead, the complexity of the Sword Collection Manual of Heaven and Earth had exceeded the limits of what a person could deduce.

When it came to deduction, Li Qingshan was filled with confidence. This was the spirit turtle’s forte!

He silently criculated the Spirit Turtle’s Method of Sea Suppression. His sea of consciousness reflected the entire Sword Domain of Heaven and Earth as he began his deductions.

Li Qingshan raised his hand, and he grasped a gentle wisp of wind.

“The first move of the sword manual!”

The Sword Domain of Heaven and Earth that had returned to peace moments prior began to surge once more, but this time, it was around Li Qingshan.

Li Qingshan’s arm moved around gently. The breeze in his hand drifted about, sometimes mellow and sometimes turbulent, constantly changing about.

“The second move. The third move. The fourth move…”

Li Qingshan began to dance about. The entire Sword Domain of Heaven and Earth began to dance as well.

The grass grew, the stream gurgled, the carp leapt out of the water, and the pebbles lay in silence.

Every single form, every single feature of the landscape, contained a sword move.

A while later, Li Qingshan had deduced five hundred and thirty eight moves.

The Elders of Heaven and Earth were dumbfounded. Back then, it had taken them over a year to comprehend that many sword moves, yet now, an outsider who was not even a sword cultivator had deduced all of them in a short while. It was virtually beyond their imaginations.

Heaven elder Tian said, “Junior brother, you don’t have to be too surprised. He’s already at the third heavenly tribulation, an entire realm higher than us back then. Who knows how many times faster his soul sense works, so he can obviously comprehend these simple sword moves particularly quickly. This is only the beginning.”

“You’re right, senior brother. The sword moves of the Sword Collection Manual of Heaven and Earth become more profound and obscure as you go. He’ll learn his lesson very soon.”

Sure enough, when he reached the seven hundred and sixty seventh move, Li Qingshan’s movement gradually slowed down, but they remained as smooth as before, like flowing water.

He pushed the deductive powers of the spirit turtle to the limit. Compared to the unfathomable, unpredictable strands of fate, the Sword Collection Manual of Heaven and Earth hidden within the Sword Domain of Heaven and Earth was not particularly complicated.

Elder Di asked in surprise, “What are his origins? How can he comprehend so quickly? Even great cultivators can’t comprehend that quickly!”

Elder Tian said in doubt, “Don’t tell me he’s a natural sword cultivator prodigy?”

Elder Di responded with a question, “Then what does that make us?”

Elder Tian was unable to answer him. Were any of those who became great sword cultivators not sword cultivator prodigies? They even happened to be among the best of the best.

“Let’s keep watching. He’ll encounter a great bottleneck very soon. Right now, the sword moves he’s comprehending are merely the basics among the basics.”

When Li Qingshan comprehended a thousand and one moves, his movements suddenly halted, as he had already comprehended all of the most basic elements that comprised this Sword Domain of Heaven and Earth, ranging from as small as a blade of grass and a droplet of dew to as large as a white cloud and a mountain.

“Li Qingshan, I do admit that you’re a part of our path of the sword. Your name can basically be written into the Sword Collection palace’s history for comprehending over a thousand sword moves in such a short amount of time.” Elder Tian sighed with a sense of delight.

“Alright, let’s stop here for today! Don’t bite off more than you can chew. These thousand sword moves require a decade at the very least before you can fully grasp them. They’re enough for you to use for the rest of your life,” said elder Di.

“Can the two of you shut up? When others are cultivating, don’t disturb them. You’re already so old, yet you don’t even understand this?” Li Qingshan called out rudely.

“You-” The Elders of Heaven and Earth were furious. Even the surroundings responded. It had already been many years since someone last spoke to them like that.

“You sure know how to take it too far! Then why don’t you keep comprehending? Don’t even think about leaving the Sword Domain of Heaven and Earth until you comprehend one thousand, nine hundred and fifty one moves,” elder Di said furiously.

“Stop comparing me to the likes of you!” Li Qingshan pondered to himself for a moment and suddenly thought of something. “I got it!”

Li Qingshan began to move again, wielding his fingers like a sword and pointing them at the sky.

Rumble!

A bolt of lightning sliced through the air, and the clouds surged and amassed. Gentle drizzle fell down, gathering as streams. The streams seeped into the earth, allowing the vegetation to grow and thrive. The tiny insects hidden within the soil crawled onto the leaves and branches, letting out their various cries.

It was all thanks to the inspiration from the Elders of Heaven and Earth when they attacked him to test him. Just gathering the basic elements could not be regarded as a world. The elements had to work together as well to create even more things.

As a result, he disturbed, reassembled, and derived…

After bringing in these changes, the deductions multiplied in difficulty. However, Li Qingshan’s movements never stopped despite being slow.

The spirit turtle was calm to the limit and also patient to the limit, deducing it move by move.

The two elders could no longer say anything. They could not help but call out inside, A little slower! A little slower!

However, Li Qingshan completely ignored how they felt. Before long, he had exceeded the one thousand, nine hundred and fifty first move that elder Di had mentioned. A few days later, he surpassed elder Tian’s two thousand, one hundred and forty second move.

The Sword Domain of Heaven and Earth began to demonstrate changes that even the two elders had never seen before.

The sun rose and fell. The moon vanished, and the stars shifted. Cold frost layered the ground as winter snow descended.

Apart from the most basic cycle of life, Li Qingshan had drawn in the four seasons as well.

The two elders no longer had any more thoughts. They only watched blankly as everything unfolded. What happened next was like a dream to them. One moment ago, it had been a remote desert, yet now, it was the raging waves of the ocean.

Li Qingshan was like a god, standing in the centre of the world and controlling everything as he wished. Whether it was the frigidness of glaciers or the intensity of erupting volcanoes, they all contained profound sword moves.

After who knew how long, Li Qingshan suddenly opened his eyes, and the Sword Domain of Heaven and Earth shattered. He stood in a gloomy, towering hall with two sword-wielding old men sitting nearby, staring at him blankly. Their mouths hung wide open as if they were completely unaware of that.

Li Qingshan set foot outside the pavilion and only left behind three words that echoed through the Pavilion of Heaven and Earth.

“Three thousand moves!”