The Way of The Dao

* Boom! *

The platform shook fiercely.

The turquoise-eyed young woman had completely stopped Ling Tian's sword!

Ling Tian's smile widened further and added weight to his sword, bringing the girl to her knees as the fire on the sword grew increasingly fierce.

She gritted her teeth, her body trembling, fiercely resisting the suppression coming from Ling Tian's sword.

The water that was about to shrink due to the scorching fire suddenly burst out, starting to counterattack as water particles quickly gathered and gradually extinguished the flames on Ling Tian's sword.

The aura around the platform soon began to attract fire and water, greatly amplifying the energies of both the copper and wooden swords.

"Hmmm?!" Her beautiful turquoise eyes showed shock and confusion as she felt the change in the aura around them, as if she felt her energy being sucked in more and more.

"Keep it up! Don't let go of that feeling! If you don't concentrate, we won't be able to pass the next test!"

The next moment, the young woman was startled as Ling Tian's voice reached her consciousness easily, dispelling the haze of confusion and shock.

Just as she was about to exclaim that she would not be so easily fooled, this woman was stunned when she saw Ling Tian; this time, his gaze, his eyes no longer held any arrogance or superiority let alone that murderous intent, the only thing in them was the usual indifference but this time with a hint of expectation!

As if understanding in an instant what was at stake, she no longer said anything else and concentrated on gathering her natural aura on her sword, causing the water particles to gather faster and flow steadily.

The water and fire began to swirl more and more, scattering into small particles all over the platform.

Both Ling Tian's and the young woman's auras collided fiercely, the ripples of impact could be felt all over the platform. Both continued to clash swords, finally maintaining a balance in the midst of battle without missing a beat.

The fire mostly predominated over the water for a long time, demonstrating superiority and power before weakening as the water became denser and purer, beginning to take superiority.

Ling Tian turned slightly, calmly launching the attack with his sword. Meanwhile, she exhaled and her arm was already raised, her two hands coming together in trajectory, tightly clenching the sword and meeting Ling Tian's sword.

* Bang! *

The void finally trembled, but this time, curiously the fire and water intermingled, maintaining a perfect balance!

The aura of the place formed a funnel the next moment, with fire and water intermingling harmoniously and swirling around each other.

Suddenly, two almost identical swords, thin and slender to the eye with patterned designs and delicate drawings of the sun and moon respectively on their blades showed above both of them!

"This is...!"

Her voice trembled slightly, feeling immense power as she carefully perceived the two blades spinning around both of them; the sun and moon on them gave off a mysterious feeling that made her feel like she would be slashed or overtaken by that great power.

"Where have I seen this before?"

Instead, unlike the young woman, Ling Tian frowned slightly as he saw the pattern and and the two swords above them both. He was sure he had seen this patterns in the past, but he didn't remember where exactly.

A funnel of force finally appeared above them, creating a vortex and absorbing the aura of the place along with the auras of both of them, causing the swords to light up more.

* Flash! *

"Haaa!"

A somewhat intense gasp came from the lovely young woman's body, panting somewhat fast once the force funnel and all sorts of energies disappeared and they were taken to another place.

"A World of Swords?"

Unlike her, Ling Tian was perfectly fine without any tiredness or paleness; his gaze was still calm and indifferent, with a bit of surprise at seeing the place where they were.

She too raised her head soon after and was surprised to see what Ling Tian was referring to.

Surrounding them both were thousands and millions of swords!

Swords stuck in the ground, together on top of each other, floating in the air, anywhere any kind of sword could be found!

All kinds of swords could be found, beautiful and horrible, from small to long, big and thin, made of copper, iron, metal, gold, crystal, diamond and more. Even the hilts were also of different types of materials, even adapting to male and female hands.

Some swords radiated brilliance, while others great energies and some others nothing...

"Choose?"

Ling Tian lifted the corner of his mouth at the sight of the world of swords, sensing every sword intent in the surroundings, as if the next moment they could be attacked without hesitation.

"How did you know before that I had to expel all my aura and combine it with yours in order to pass the test?"

The young woman then asked at once after making sure there was no danger. Her questioning gaze fell on Ling Tian and she looked at him with narrowed eyes; she still remembered the murderous intent coming from Ling Tian and did not let her guard down easily. That intention of wanting to kill her was real and she saw it in his eyes.

"Mhmm?"

Ling Tian kept looking around while feeling a small hint of bad vibes, as if something bad was about to happen.

"Shouldn't you introduce yourself first? I already told you my name."

Ling Tian wanted to find out where this feeling came from as he deflected the topic a bit. The only thing he was sure of was that it was coming from one of the swords...

Hang Liang?

It was the first thought that came to his mind, after all, Hang Liang would be the one and only biggest threat in this place.

"Why should I tell you my name?" She frowned and said without thinking.

"It's okay, it doesn't matter anyway."

But Ling Tian was indifferent, taking no notice of the response from this little woman who would barely be about 16 or 17 years old at most. Her appearance really was very young and barely mature.

She was surprised by Ling Tian's response. Although she had not said it with such an intention but rather it was out of an automatic response, she remembered that she had come this far thanks to Ling Tian and he had already saved her once in the first trial.

'He could be a very old senior but managed to retain his youthful appearance with some kind of rare technique or treasure? That would explain a lot...'

She thought as she saw Ling Tian's nonchalant but slightly focused appearance as he looked at all the swords. When it came to very adult and old people, they would behave in such an indifferent and calming manner to her unlike the young and adults who were just trying to leave a good impression on her.

She also thought that Ling Tian might not be very old, something similar in comparison to her Masters, but that idea was something almost impossible to believe, so she dismissed it.

"Choose your own sword, don't be swayed by its appearances..."

Suddenly, before she answered, Ling Tian spoke casually as he kept scanning each sword, as if he was choosing one.

"I know, thank you for your advice."

So, she replied gratefully before she started scanning any sword.

Ling Tian raised his eyebrow slightly as he noticed the change in her tone of voice, becoming slightly more respectful and conveying a bit of confidence and gratitude in her voice.

"My Masters told me never to go by appearances, because appearances can be deceiving. The true can be false and the false the only real thing..."

She commented casually as she recalled the teachings of her two Masters seemingly, examining each sword in her path calmly. The beautiful swords made of gold or fine crystal did not enter her sight for more than 3 seconds, minutely perceiving the aura they conveyed.

However, Ling Tian paused as his heart pounded fiercely...

'Hey! Remember! The true can be false and the false the only real thing...!'

'Hehe yeah! Big brother! I believe you!'

'You're right, brother Ling!'

A certain memory crossed his mind, recalling when he was just barely in the Cultivation World and was just starting to become strong with his female companions. His first two female companions in the vast and endless Cultivation World: Ning Xiaoyi and Xi Fei.

Both women were Ling Tian's first partners who accompanied him into this cruel and cold world when he was alone and just beginning to know the kind of world he had come to.

Among their countless adventures, battles, travels and coexistence, he had once told them that same phrase that this young woman had said: the true can be false and the false the only real thing... he had told them when they were taking a test to enter a prestigious sect.

But that was all in the past, shortly before they were killed and he never saw them again and fell into despair and grief...

"You two have really been with me all this time, huh?"

Ling Tian whispered to himself, wanting to think that the spirits of both women accompanied him on his long, arduous, cold, lonely and bloody journey to where he is now.

"My name is Ziqing, Nalan Ziqing."

So, Nalan Ziqing finally spoke her name as her eyes flashed and she picked out a simple wooden sword, made of a simple, thin metal in plain sight. Although she frowned as her hand stopped slightly a few inches away as she sensed something ominous filled with danger, she still took the sword.

Ling Tian caught a glimpse of Nalan Ziqing's action and the crisis of alarm flared intensely.

"Move!"

Ling Tian's figure flashed in less than a split second, arriving at Nalan Ziqing's side as he grabbed her waist and forced her to retreat from the spot.

* Boom! *

A flash that looked like a small and simple sword appeared and tore the space on the spot, fiercely piercing part of Ling Tian's abdomen and making a small explosion of blood and pieces of flesh!