"Founder, there seems to be a problem with the Antarctic ruins!"
In a dimly lit room, a short, portly man reported to Thunder God through the video screen.
"What happened? Can't you two inspectors handle it?" Thunder God asked, his brow furrowing with concern.
Like the Extreme Martial Arts School, the Thunder Dojo maintained its own hierarchy of leadership. Supervisors required the strength of a high-level War God to qualify for the position, while inspectors needed power beyond the War God level, planetary-level strength.
The Thunder Dojo had only three inspectors, two fewer than the Extreme Martial Arts School possessed.
"Inspector Jiang was surrounded by a monster herd and forced into the ruins," the portly man explained, his expression grave. "Several King-level monsters reached some kind of agreement and are besieging our Antarctic stronghold. I was occupied fighting off the creatures and couldn't reach him in time. When I finally managed to check on the situation, the Antarctic ruins had completely sealed themselves off."
Thunder God's expression darkened. "Don't make any rash moves for now. I'll handle things here and be there shortly."
He cut the video feed, his mind already racing through the implications.
"Antarctica... changes to the ruins?" Thunder God muttered to himself, stroking his bald head thoughtfully. "I promised that boy Han Jue I'd take him there, but it looks like we'll have to postpone..."
"Bang!"
With one final sword strike, the bull's massive head separated from its body. Han Jue stopped in his tracks, breathing steadily despite the intense battle.
"What a waste," Han Jue said, gazing down at the Blood-Scaled War Bull's corpse with genuine disappointment.
If the creature were still alive, it would probably apologize for failing to provide him with a proper challenge, for not allowing him the satisfaction of a true life-or-death struggle that might trigger his breakthrough.
Killing the Blood-Scaled War Bull hadn't led to the enlightenment Han Jue sought. He wondered how other warriors managed to achieve breakthroughs in the heat of battle, to grasp Artistic Conception when facing death itself.
Perhaps the answer was simple: the junior lord-level monster simply wasn't strong enough to push him to that critical edge.
Since a junior lord proved insufficient, Han Jue decided to test himself against the suspected high-level lord that inhabited the northwestern region of City 1001.
In the northwest sector of the city stood a lake over a kilometer in diameter, and within those depths lurked the monster he sought.
High above City 1001, in the vast emptiness of space, a surveillance satellite tracked a single figure moving through the abandoned urban landscape below.
To be more precise, it was tracking Han Jue.
"Is this kid actually planning to challenge that electric eel?" Inspector Wang muttered, alarm creeping into his voice.
He'd received Hong's orders previously to pay special attention to Han Jue's activities, though he'd initially dismissed the commotion the young warrior had caused in the training camp as relatively minor. After all, the truly capable trainees hadn't yet finished their wilderness expedition battles.
But when Han Jue left the training camp, the first thing he'd done was kill a lord-level monster with efficiency that bordered on casual. Inspector Wang had finally taken the young prodigy seriously. With the talent Han Jue displayed, if nothing catastrophic happened, he would at least reach the councilor level in the future, perhaps even higher!
Just as Inspector Wang prepared to send a message reminding Han Jue not to kill too many lord-level monsters and graduate prematurely, he discovered the young warrior had already entered the electric eel's territory.
A junior War God versus a high-level lord?
"Founder, you said to let him train as he sees fit, but he's going to get himself killed!" Inspector Wang said urgently, though Hong's explicit orders prevented him from directly interfering with Han Jue's development.
"Purple Lightning Li Dragon, this is it!"
Han Jue stood at the lake's edge, studying the deceptively calm water with focused intensity.
The Purple Lightning Li Dragon had once been a mid-level lord, quite famous within the training camp's monster catalogs. Some time ago, a trainee discovered the creature had grown significantly, suspected of having advanced to high-level lord status. The area had been immediately designated as a restricted zone within the city.
Despite being called a dragon, it was actually a mutated electric eel from before the Great Nirvana, though its evolution had transformed it into something far more dangerous than its pre-cataclysm ancestor.
Luring out the Purple Lightning Li Dragon would be easy enough.
Han Jue grabbed the severed head of the Blood-Scaled War Bull he'd just killed and hurled it toward the center of the lake with casual strength.
"Splash!"
A massive fountain of water erupted where the head struck the surface. Ripples spread outward in concentric circles as the bull's head gradually sank toward the depths.
The head of a junior lord-level monster represented a feast for any high-level predator. The Purple Lightning Li Dragon wouldn't be able to resist such an offering.
Han Jue didn't have to wait long.
Soon, an enormous black shadow materialized beneath the water's surface, gliding toward the sinking prize with predatory grace.
The creature measured roughly forty meters in length, undoubtedly the Purple Lightning Li Dragon itself.
"BOOM!"
In an explosive burst of motion, the Purple Lightning Li Dragon launched itself from the depths. It seized the Blood-Scaled War Bull's head in its massive jaws and swallowed the trophy whole in a single gulp!
Most of its serpentine body was exposed above the waterline, revealing scales of pale purple that were translucent as crystal, gleaming brilliantly in the sunlight. Within those scales, arcs of electricity pulsed and crackled with barely contained power. A faint rumble of thunder accompanied each discharge, the sound resonating across the water like distant drums of war.
It was indeed a high-level lord!
A smile crossed Han Jue's face, anticipation burning in his eyes.
While conventional wisdom stated a junior War God had virtually no hope of survival against a high-level lord, that assessment applied to ordinary warriors.
He was Han Jue. He was exceptional. And he didn't believe for a moment that he would lose.
"Let me use you as the stepping stone to my comprehension of Artistic Conception!" Han Jue drew the Everlasting Sword from his back and murmured, his voice carrying across the water.
"Whoosh!"
Han Jue exploded into motion, his feet touching the water's surface for just an instant before launching himself forward. Using the liquid as solid ground through pure speed and technique, he reached the Purple Lightning Li Dragon before the creature could fully submerge.
Before it could retreat into the depths, Han Jue gripped his longsword with both hands and thrust downward with devastating force!
"Pffft!"
The SS-grade longsword was designed to damage King-level monsters. Against a high-level lord, it carved through scales and flesh like a hot blade through snow.
Han Jue's strike tore a bloody gash across the Purple Lightning Li Dragon's back. The creature's defensive scales erupted with electricity in immediate retaliation!
"Crackle!"
Arcs of lightning surged across the monster's body, seeking to electrocute its attacker. Han Jue pushed off forcefully, launching himself over the creature's writhing form and breaking free from contact just as the discharge reached full intensity.
The acrid smell of burning filled the air, though whether from the monster's wound or Han Jue's brief contact with the electricity was impossible to say.
The Purple Lightning Li Dragon twisted violently in mid-air, its massive head swiveling to glare at Han Jue with undisguised fury. Its eyes seemed to memorize every detail of his face, as if promising future retribution.
"SPLASH!"
The water's surface churned violently as the creature's massive body struck it. The impact created a whirlpool, pulling the surrounding water into a spiraling vortex. Waves cascaded outward, crashing against the lake's shores with tremendous force.
Han Jue, as if suddenly realizing something profound, momentarily ignored the Purple Lightning Li Dragon's threatening presence. Instead, he focused entirely on the undulating water, watching how it moved, how it flowed, how it transformed from calm to chaos in mere heartbeats.
His Six Eyes activated unconsciously. Within his enhanced vision, lines representing the fundamental operations of spatial laws materialized, overlaying the physical world with geometric patterns of pure understanding.
Water.
Waves.
Layer upon layer, building upon themselves, seemingly endless in their variation and power!
He recalled Han Hechang's demonstration of the third stage of the Everlasting Sword Technique, the Artistic Conception of Water. His uncle's version had been about continuity, about flow that never ceased, about the eternal cycle.
Endless vitality? No, that wasn't quite right for him.
Han Jue found himself completely absorbed in contemplation, momentarily oblivious to the Purple Lightning Li Dragon watching him with calculating intelligence from just meters away.
High above in orbit, Inspector Wang stared at his surveillance screen with mounting horror. Why had the kid suddenly stopped moving? Was he frozen in shock? Injured by the electricity?
"ROAR!"
The Purple Lightning Li Dragon launched itself from the water once more, creating a torrential spray. The displaced liquid formed a massive wave that crashed toward Han Jue with the force of a natural disaster.
In that instant, Han Jue's understanding crystallized.
Water could be gentle, but water could also be violent!
Water could nurture life, but water could also destroy it!
Water had no fixed form, it could be mist, liquid, or solid ice. It could flow around obstacles or crash through them with unstoppable momentum!
Han Jue's eyes cleared instantly, glowing with pale blue radiance like captured starlight. Within those luminous depths, the fundamental patterns of water itself were reflected, understanding transformed into vision, comprehension made manifest.
Drawing his sword in one smooth motion, Han Jue locked eyes with the Purple Lightning Li Dragon. His gaze burned with renewed fighting spirit and absolute confidence.
The next moment, the creature's massive jaws opened wide and swallowed Han Jue whole before retreating back into the lake with its prize secured.
Inspector Wang immediately drew his weapon, preparing to rush to the rescue. Even with the distance, a planetary-level warrior's speed meant he could still arrive in time to,
"Wait?" Inspector Wang's gaze fixed on the surveillance screen, his combat-honed instincts screaming that something was wrong with what he was seeing.
"Swish!"
"Haha! Got it!"
"Next time, remember to chew first!"
"Third stage of the Everlasting Sword Technique!"
Han Jue's excited voice echoed from within the Purple Lightning Li Dragon's body. In rapid succession, he unleashed eight devastating slashes from the inside, each one carrying the full force of his newly comprehended Artistic Conception!
The Purple Lightning Li Dragon disintegrated from within, its body sliced into nine separate pieces that scattered across the lake's surface!
With quadruple power amplification, a junior War God's strength became equivalent to an ordinary high-level War God's full force. The Purple Lightning Li Dragon had only recently advanced to high-level lord status, and like most monsters, it hadn't mastered sophisticated force-generation techniques. By swallowing Han Jue whole, delivering him directly to its most vulnerable interior, the creature had sealed its own fate!
"The Artistic Conception of Water, so that's what it is."
After more than a month of intense contemplation and study, Han Jue finally felt qualified to claim understanding.
Water possessed no fixed form. It could attack or defend, transforming seamlessly between gas, liquid, and solid states. Water could nurture life or annihilate it. Water could flow gently or crash with devastating power!
The Artistic Conception of Water that Han Hechang had comprehended focused on endless continuity, eternal vitality, superior defensive capabilities, the patient wearing away of any obstacle through persistent flow.
The Artistic Conception of Water that Han Jue realized embodied the tsunami's overwhelming force, surging power, devastating offensive capability, the absolute destruction of everything in its path!
Therefore, the Everlasting Sword Technique displayed by Han Jue would be fundamentally different from his uncle's version.
One excelled at defense and endurance.
The other specialized in overwhelming attack and devastating momentum.
Both were Water, but they flowed along entirely different paths, each valid, each powerful, each perfectly suited to its practitioner's nature.