The gray-robed figure instantly felt puzzled. “Who is he? I know all the Empyrean Gods on Kilostar Island. Hell, I know most of the Empyrean Gods of the entire Three Realms. But this white-robed youth…” Although quite puzzled, he knew that here in Undermoon Lake, there were only two possible reasons for Empyrean Gods to be here.

The first was they had fought a path through the challenges. The second was that they had followed someone who did.

“He’s new. Does this mean…he just made it through Demon Icepass?” The gray-robed man felt shock in his heart. He watched as Ji Ning sat there meditatively, not daring to disturb him.

He waited for a total of twelve days.

Finally, Ning opened his eyes. All of the scattered insights he had gained over the course of a century had been unified, and his understanding of the sword had risen once more. In fact, Ning was able to vaguely sense a bit of what complete mastery of the [Five Treasures] should look like. However, he always felt as though he was a bit off, as though he was searching for flowers within a great fog. He was unable to truly understand and fully master the entire [Five Treasures].

“I’m still a bit off.” Ning sighed to himself. “If I could advance a bit more and fully understand the [Five Treasures], thus gaining full mastery over a sword-art that surpasses the limits of the Heavenly Daos…I’d probably be able to leave Undermoon Lake.”

The complete [Five Treasures] was something which even True Gods and Daofathers would find desirable. But alas, the price of learning this consummate sword-art...