Enlightenment: Beginning as a Disposable Warrior-Chapter 205 - 151: Blade and Sword Perfection, Comprehension Transformation!

"Mr. Li possesses such unfathomable strength at such a young age... Truly, there is always someone greater!"

Watching Su Mu depart, Zhang Feng and the other outstanding young Martial Hall disciples could not help but sigh in admiration. On their way back, their mood grew somewhat sombre, a sense of defeat welling up in their hearts.

"Zhang Jin, I heard you presented the Cold Heron Saber to Mr. Li. You did exceedingly well in this matter. In the future, if there is an opportunity, you must seek a closer connection with Mr. Li. This will greatly benefit both you and the Martial Arts Hall."

Zhang Jin was startled upon hearing this, looking at Li Yuanshan with surprise. Such praise was beyond rare. Li Yuanshan gave Zhang Jin a meaningful glance and said no more.

...

Changfeng County Town.

After parting ways, Su Mu once more entered the Qifeng Mountain Range and found a secluded spot. Having swallowed several pills to restore his qi blood, Su Mu split his focus.

???:[Blazing Fire Saber Technique (Great Success 99%), Qingfeng Swordsmanship (Great Success 99%)]

Su Mu's gaze landed on the new section of his attribute panel, his heart burning with excitement. It is often said that a few words from a sage are worth more than decades of study; the Martial Dao is no different.

The gains from battling a powerful foe far surpass those from fighting mediocrities tenfold, a hundredfold.

This battle not only led to the creation of his own martial art, but also brought both the Blazing Fire Saber Technique and Qingfeng Swordsmanship to the threshold of Perfection. For this very reason, Su Mu chose to part ways with Li Yuanshan and the others.

"This new move merges the Blazing Fire Saber Technique and Qingfeng Swordsmanship. I'll call it Flaming Tornado."

"Next, I'll strive for Martial Arts Perfection... and then, strive for the next level of Comprehension!"

Su Mu's eyes shone with brilliance and expectation was written on his face. He had accumulated at the Hidden-Dragon Level of Comprehension for two whole years, and it had only been five years since he began his journey on the Martial Dao.

"Let us begin!"

Not long after, when his body had recovered, Su Mu drew the Cold Heron Saber from his waist and began to cultivate the Blazing Fire Saber Technique and Qingfeng Swordsmanship. These two entirely different saber and sword martial arts switched effortlessly in his hands.

This cultivation lasted the entire night.

Blazing Fire Saber Technique (Perfection)

Qingfeng Swordsmanship (Perfection)

A Martial Artist of decent talent would require several years to reach Great Success in an Eighth-Grade Martial Arts, but Perfection would often take a decade. Yet now, after hard polishing these two Eighth-Grade Martial Arts for half a year, Su Mu had mastered them both to the Realm of Perfection!

And at that very moment—

Crack------

A crisp sound echoed in Su Mu's mind, followed by the continual sound of shattering.

Comprehension: 83!

The limit of Comprehension at the Hidden-Dragon Level was instantly broken. The Hidden Dragon in the Abyss at the center of Su Mu's brow let out a resounding roar and immediately surged from the depths of the sea.

Just as both Martial Arts reached Perfection, Su Mu once more felt himself roaming the heavens, transformed into a dragon soaring on clouds and mist, streaking across thousands of miles, rising ten thousand miles; Qingyun, Cang River, and Changfeng—the Three Counties—lay fully beneath his gaze.

His vision continued to extend, following the surging Canglan Great River away from the remoteness of the Three Counties.

In this process, the coolness at his brow circulated throughout Su Mu's body, time and again purging the impurities from his soul and flesh, as if he had returned to the womb, to the profound purity of innate origin.

In a trance, he seemed to see in the earth a long, ephemeral river, and upon this river stood figures, each and every one of them towering, peerlessly elegant and magnificent.

These were ones who once dominated a region, or could break an army alone, or gained fame throughout a state—all peerless talents whose names endured in history after their deaths!

At present, Su Mu was not yet at the level of such extraordinary prodigies, but his potential already rivaled those legendary figures whose names were etched in the pages of history.

Great Yan Dynasty, in the Depths of the Clouds stood a nameless Daoist temple.

Beneath a peach tree, a white-haired, divine old man faced an empty chessboard, playing a solitary game. A pitch-black chess piece had hung above the board for more than a month without falling.

Hm?

All of a sudden, the old man's brows arched in surprise as he looked up at the night sky. In the breaking dusk, a full moon hung high, and strange crimson lights faintly appeared in the southern heavens.

"Crimson destiny manifests for a Martial Artist. Though still very faint, destiny has shown itself.... Which Noble Family, or within which Holy Land, has a person of great destiny been born?"

"Hmm? ...Qingzhou, perhaps?"

The white-haired old man's empty left hand slowly pinched a calculation. Wisps of light flickered between his fingers, yet he could not deduce specifics. He let out a soft 'Hm?', then withdrew his gaze, sighing and finally dropping the black piece he had held for over a month onto the board.

"This game is hard to break... hard to break indeed..."

Thereafter, the Great Yan Court, as well as various millennia-old Noble Families and Martial Arts Holy Lands, all felt something.

"Red Tiger Roaring at the Moon—the direction points to Qing and Yan States... Immediately send men to investigate all infants born in Qingzhou and Yan State in the recent hours. That person must be among them. If we can recruit him, perhaps he could become an unparalleled general for Great Yan!"

"Yet another rough Martial Artist. Still, if I can take him for my own, that would not be bad. Send men to those two states at once."

Throughout the Great Yan Dynasty, not only the court, but many great Noble Families and Martial Arts Holy Lands, each harbored their own schemes and began moving in secret. Although the anomalous phenomenon was not yet clear, anyone able to stir such a celestial sign was undoubtedly a monstrous genius.

If he could be recruited, he might become a mighty pillar for centuries to come.

But if he were an enemy, he must be crushed in the cradle, lest he become a source of calamity.

At this moment, Su Mu—the one at the heart of these celestial waves—remained wholly oblivious to how he had drawn the attention of all the powers in the Great Yan Dynasty.

Even now, Su Mu's spirit roamed the heavens. It wasn't until the profound mystery was nearly exhausted that he once more saw the two radiances glimpsed during his last breakthrough at the Hidden-Dragon Level.

This time, Su Mu saw them even more clearly, with some subtle differences.

One inky black radiance fell within Qingyun County, seemingly woven from two dark mists intertwined. The other, a faintly sinister blood-red light, was rooted in Canghe County, as if on the verge of vanishing at any moment.

Once the transformation was complete, the youth in the forest exhaled a long breath and slowly opened his eyes. In that moment, as sun and moon cycled, dawn's light pierced the sky and bathed the world, shrouding the youth in swirling radiance.

"The transformation is complete!"

A smile appeared on Su Mu's face. After nearly two years, he had finally shattered his shackles and achieved another transformation in Comprehension. At once, he summoned his attribute panel for a look.

[Name: Su Mu (17 years old)]

[Longevity: 409 years]

[Skills: Five Animals Qigong (Perfection), Vajra Body (Perfection), Blazing Fire Saber Technique (Perfection), Qingfeng Swordsmanship (Perfection), ...]

[Comprehension: 83 (Dragon-and-Phoenix Level)]

"I've broken through the four-hundred-year mark in longevity!"

His gaze shifted lower.

Su Mu's eyes quickly settled on the Comprehension section. After breaking through 80 points, his Comprehension transformed from Hidden-Dragon Level to Dragon-and-Phoenix Level.

"Dragon-and-Phoenix Level?"

Su Mu whispered softly, yet deep in his gaze glittered determination. Dragon and phoenix long transcended the mundane. Su Mu could not help but think of a certain peerless emperor from his past life.

He who possessed heavenly countenance and the "Dragon-and-Phoenix Level"—Tang Taizong, Li Shimin. Li Shimin's civil and military achievements ushered in the Golden Era of the Great Tang Dynasty, the Zhen Guan Golden Age, leaving a distinguished mark in the chronicles of Huaxia.

At that thought, even Su Mu—with his temperament—could not help but burn with fervor. In past lives, all those deserving the title "Dragon among Men, Phoenix among Mortals" were those whose names echoed through history; though gone, their fame endured for a thousand generations!

"So long as I steadily strengthen myself, one day, I too, Su Mu, shall reach such a realm!"

With ambition surging in his heart, the flood dragon at his brow, transformed by breakthrough, let out a resounding roar in response. Once Su Mu calmed himself and checked his own state—

Scenes from his martial journey flashed unconsciously before his eyes, every martial art he had mastered swept past his mind's eye.

For a moment, Su Mu was filled with wonder and suspicion, his deep gaze settling on the Five Animals Qigong he had first cultivated.

Suddenly, all fifty-four postures of the Five Animals Qigong seemed projected before Su Mu in the void, and with a thought, the fifty-four stances instantly became fifty-four shadowy little figures mirroring his own outline.

As the little figures began to move, the fifty-four postures of the Five Animals Qigong came alive.

The little figures moved with Su Mu's will, vividly embodying his deepest thoughts, then lively and vividly practiced and inferred each form.