286: Chapter 144_1 286: Chapter 144_1 What is the Sword Dao?
For ten thousand people, there might be ten thousand answers.
Cao Zhen simply did not know the answer.
Mainly because, in the novels he had read, there were too many answers regarding what the Sword Dao is, and he did not know which one to choose.
“I also do not know what the Sword Dao is.”
Cao Zhen looked up at the starry sky, feigning depth as he slowly said, “In this world, perhaps no one knows what the Sword Dao is.
Everyone, no matter who they are, is merely exploring the path of the Sword Dao.”
Wu Jianzi seemed not to have expected an answer without an answer.
The gentle smile that always graced his face faded slightly with surprise.
He nodded slightly in agreement and said, “Indeed.
The vastness of the Sword Dao, who can say, who dares to say, what the Sword Dao is!”
After a slight pause, he looked at Cao Zhen and continued, “However, everyone has their own understanding of the sword.
What is your understanding of the sword?”
Cao Zhen quickly thought it over.
Arguing about swordsmanship with Wu Jianzi, he definitely could not get entangled with the other person, nor could he debate swordsmanship from a normal perspective, as that would surely lead to defeat.
The best method was to spout the most useless yet most pretentious things from the various novels he considered mystical and arcane.
He pondered for a moment, then slowly began, “To me, the sword is simply about drawing the sword.”
“Drawing the sword?
Is that all?” Wu Jianzi’s face showed a hint of disappointment.
With a faint smile on his lips, Cao Zhen looked at Wu Jianzi as if gazing at a disciple who only knew a fraction of the picture.
He said, “Think about it, ponder it thoroughly.”
He was a Great Grandmaster in the theory of Immortal Cultivation, not in the theory of the Sword Dao.
How could he know what the Sword Dao was?
To win, he simply needed to toss Wu Jianzi a viewpoint and let Wu Jianzi guess by himself.
As for how to interpret it, that was Wu Jianzi’s problem.
In any case, his method was to convince Wu Jianzi to persuade himself based on his own line of thinking.
Wu Jianzi’s eyebrows slightly raised—a ponder?
Thoroughly ponder, drawing the sword… just drawing the sword…
Muttering to himself, Wu Jianzi’s murmuring eventually faded, and he was completely stupefied, his brows tightly furrowed in deep contemplation.
Suddenly, it was as if he had realized something, and his entire demeanor brightened with enlightenment.
The next moment, his body surged with tremendous mana.
Sword Qi bursts forth, shooting towards the heavens, spanning over a thousand miles.
Cao Zhen even felt that at this moment, in this part of the world, every inch of space seemed to be filled with Sword Qi.
Some were sharp and unparalleled, as if they could pierce through everything in the world, while others were formless and forceless, constantly changing.
Some were as swift as the wind, others as heavy as mountains…
Enlightenment!
This kid, he just attained enlightenment like that!
Cao Zhen almost blurted out a shocked expletive.
This kid, incredible!
He simply spoke casually, and after just one ponder, the kid had attained enlightenment?
In the distance, at the Hundred Peaks Sect, atop each Sword Peak, everyone looked at the sword Qi that stretched for thousands of miles, and they were all stunned.
“What is this?
The Sword Qi of enlightenment!”
“Who has attained enlightenment?”
“Who else but Wu Jianzi?”
“With such expansive Sword Qi, it could only be Wu Jianzi.”
“Didn’t he leave?
How did he suddenly attain enlightenment outside of our Hundred Peaks Sect?”
“What’s going on?”
“Let’s go see.”
The disciples from each Sword Peak, along with the experts, hurried towards the place where the Sword Qi surged to the sky.
In the sky, the overwhelming Sword Qi did not last long.
Enlightenment was but a momentary revelatory flash, not typically lasting very long.
Wu Jianzi opened his eyes, which had been tightly closed, and gave a salute to Cao Zhen.
“I have lost.
I understand now that no matter the swordsmanship, no matter how profound it is, whether desiring to predict the enemy’s movement or aiming for offense without defense, everything is predicated on drawing the sword.
Although drawing the sword seems simple, it embodies everything.
The moment of drawing the sword is the moment of life and death; drawing the sword is everything.
Actually, there is no need for anything like predicting the enemy’s movement, no need to practice any other sword moves that follow.
The sword drawn from the sheath, that one strike, is the strongest.
Just perfecting this one strike is enough!”
Listening to Wu Jianzi’s words about predicting the enemy’s movement and attacking without defense, Cao Zhen did not understand what Wu Jianzi was talking about.
But there was one thing he was certain of, he had bluffed successfully.
Wu Jianzi had persuaded himself.
So now, what should he do?
In Wu Jianzi’s eyes, he must be considered a learned expert by now, and a learned expert should certainly say something more.
Struggling to suppress the laughter within, Cao Zhen put on an inscrutable air and slowly said, “Ponder it again, ponder it even more thoroughly…”
“More pondering?” Wu Jianzi was stunned again.
Was what he had just thought incorrect?
No, if it had been wrong, the senior wouldn’t have told him to ponder further.
He hadn’t considered all possibilities.
Since drawing the sword is everything, then what about before drawing the sword…
Once again, Wu Jianzi’s brows furrowed unconsciously, and the next moment, limitless Sword Qi soared towards the sky from his body, spanning thousands of miles…
Cao Zhen was dumbfounded, absolutely dumbfounded.
He had simply wanted to put on a show, not even understanding the meaning himself, and this man had achieved enlightenment again?
Others struggled to attain enlightenment, finding it incredibly difficult.
Many people never experience it once in their lifetimes, yet he found it so easily?