The smell of soy sauce?

"That's the unique flavor of that wine. Try it and see how it tastes, Senior," Ye Guan remarked.

The man nodded, took a sip, and smiled. "It's just ordinary wine, but it has a distinct flavor. It's great."

Ye Guan smiled. "As long as you like it, Senior."

The man took a big swig of it and turned to Ye Guan.

"Release your sword intent."

Ye Guan unleashed a strand of his Invincible Sword Intent.

The man pointed with two fingers, and a streak of sword light passed by

Boom!

Ye Guan's Invincible Sword Intent shattered instantly, and his face grew serious as he looked at the man, who calmly asked, "Do you know why your sword intent is so fragile?"

Ye Guan replied solemnly, "Because I'm too weak, and Senior is too strong."

"

Hahaha.

" The man laughed, "That's a pointless statement."

Ye Guan was speechless.

The man opened his palm, and a strand of sword intent emerged.

It hovered over to Ye Guan.

"Try it."

Ye Guan stared at the strand of sword intent and slashed at it with all his strength.

Boom!

A dazzling light erupted, but the man's sword intent remained completely unharmed.

Ye Guan's face darkened at the sight of it.

"Your resolve is not firm enough!"

The man spoke from a distance, "Your sword path is set, but your resolve is not firm and strong enough. Without strong resolve, your sword intent lacks purity. There are three critical decisions for swordsmen—the first is choosing your sword.

"Why choose a sword? This is crucial because only with genuine love and passion can we dedicate our lives to the sword."

The man took a sip of wine before continuing, "The second critical decision is establishing your intent. What does that mean?

"Simply put, it's about setting a goal for your Sword Dao. Your intent can be big or small, but you must have one. Without it, you are like a headless fly, drifting aimlessly, achieving nothing."

The man looked at Ye Guan and added, "Your intent is to be invincible in the sword, but I don't feel any invincibility in your sword intent."

Ye Guan remained silent.

"The third is unwavering belief," the man said, "Sword cultivation is fraught with dangers and countless enemies. During this journey, your belief can waver, and you might even doubt yourself. That's why strong belief is important.

"Of course, I'm not talking about blind belief. Many people deceive themselves, thinking that they've worked hard without actually putting in the effort."

"I've seen too many of such people," the man said, shaking his head. "It's not scary when others deceive you. What's terrifying is when you deceive yourself."

A complex light flickered in Ye Guan's eyes. Invincible Sword Intent! It had been many years since he obtained it, but Ye Guan wasn't sure if he still had the same ambition as before.

Back then, he once said, "If I don't practice the sword, so be it. But if I do, I must be invincible."

Inwardly, he admitted that this thought had gradually faded away. After encountering more and more powerful enemies, his mindset to become invincible had weakened.

Thinking of this, Ye Guan couldn't help but smile wryly. He had deceived himself as well. Cultivating one's state of mind truly needed constant self-reflection and tempering.

"Your sword intent has form but no spirit. In other words, you're missing the vitality, the sharpness of the sword. You're young, so you should be full of energy and passion. You should be bold enough to challenge even the heavens and the earth," the man remarked.

"But people should also feel awe toward those who are truly powerful," Ye Guan retorted.

"Is that in conflict with what I said?" the man asked, "No. The vitality I'm talking about doesn't mean recklessly causing trouble but having the mindset that if you encounter someone stronger, you should think, 'I'm not as strong as you now, but I will surpass you in the future.'

"As a swordsman, you must dare to think and dare to act."

Ye Guan fell into deep contemplation.

The man glanced at Ye Guan and smiled, "Your biggest problem is that your conviction isn't pure enough. If your conviction is pure enough, you can even suppress your divinity with your sword intent, achieving the legendary coexistence of humanity and divinity."

Ye Guan quickly asked, "Senior, have you perhaps achieved that?"

The man shook his head. "No."

Ye Guan was speechless.

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

The man finished his drink in one gulp and said, "Strengthening your conviction in the sword cannot be achieved in a day or night. It requires constant persistence and effort.

"Just thinking about it isn't enough. Once you've thought about it, you need to act immediately."

Ye Guan nodded. "I understand."

"Do you really understand?" the man asked with a smile.

"I need to act."

The man nodded as well and turned around to leave. However, he seemed to have remembered something, as he stopped and said, "Can you help me with something?"

Ye Guan asked, "What is it?"

The man remained silent, causing Ye Guan to feel somewhat puzzled.

The man extended his hand and said, "Give me another bottle of wine."

Ye Guan handed him a bottle of wine.

The man opened it and drank it all in one go.

Ye Guan then asked, "Senior, are you a Path Annihilation Realm expert?"

The man shook his head. "No."

Ye Guan was stunned. "Path Creation Realm?"

The man shook his head again. "Also, no."

"What?"

Ye Guan was completely taken aback.

The man looked at Ye Guan and laughed, "I'm just at the Transcension Realm, only one realm higher than you."

Ye Guan found it hard to believe. "Impossible..."

"

Hahaha!

" The man laughed heartily, "Why is it impossible?"

Ye Guan smiled wryly. "I really find it hard to believe. With your strength, I feel that even someone at the Path Annihilation Realm might not be your match."

The man laughed. "I fought the Third Hall Master of the Evil Dao Palace."

"What was the outcome?" Ye Guan asked.

The man calmly replied, "She wasn't my match."

Ye Guan was deeply moved.

The Third Hall Master was terrifying. If it weren't for the intervention of his aunt and father, they would have been in dire straits. After all, Emperor Yong might not necessarily defeat her after his breakthrough.

However, the Third Hall Master actually wasn't a match for the Transcension Realm expert before him.

The man continued, "As long as your Sword Dao is pure enough, cultivation bases don't really matter. Of course, your speed and strength must be at the peak.

"If I had been a Path Creation Realm expert, I would have killed the Third Hall Master with just three strikes during our exchange."

The man's voice was calm, but it was filled with immense confidence.

"Shouldn't that be easy for you, Senior?" Ye Guan asked seriously.

The man shook his head. "It is

very

difficult."

Ye Guan was puzzled.

"With a guilty conscience, how could it not be difficult?"

A guilty conscience? Ye Guan looked at the man. It seemed that everyone trapped here had their own stories.

"Have you ever done anything in your life that you regret deeply?" asked the man.

Ye Guan thought for a moment and then said, "No."

The man smiled. "I envy you."

Curious, Ye Guan asked, "What is it that you regret, Senior?"

The man didn’t answer and simply continued drinking.

Ye Guan didn’t press further. Instead, he quietly took out more wine and placed it in front of the man.

The man didn’t refuse. After drinking for a while, he said, "I got married at a very young age. My wife was my childhood sweetheart. We grew up together. Later, I wanted to make a name for myself, so I went out adventuring with friends.

"My friend got into big trouble, and I was captured by a clan while helping him escape. I was imprisoned for more than ten years..." The man took another gulp of the wine in his hand and continued, "When I finally returned home, my wife already had a child."

Ye Guan was stunned.

"She did not betray me. However, I had been gone for so long that everyone thought that I was dead. My cousin took a liking to her, and… he forced himself on her."

Ye Guan stared at the man and asked, "And then?"

The man calmly replied, "I annihilated my entire clan."

Ye Guan didn’t say anything more.

"Influenced by Confucian teachings, I was very traditional, so I couldn’t face my wife. I knew it wasn’t her fault, but I just couldn’t face her..." The man trailed off and stared at Ye Guan. "If you were in my shoes, would you be able to face her?"

Ye Guan was silent for a moment before replying, "It was not her fault."

"I know." The man nodded. "It was my fault. I was absent for too long, and I could not protect her. But back then, I was too young, and I just couldn’t get past that hurdle in my heart.

"After making sure that she and her child were taken care of, I decided to leave. From then on, I focused solely on the Sword Dao."

Ye Guan asked, puzzled, "Then why does this still trouble you, Senior?"

"It's because I still can't get past that hurdle in my heart," the man replied.

Ye Guan remained silent.

"I took care of her and made sure that she was safe, but—do you know what hurts the most in this world? It’s not harsh words or brutal actions; it's indifference.

"We used to be so close, inseparable, and we could talk about anything. After that, however, I regarded her with extreme politeness as if she were a stranger."

"I once asked myself whether I knew just how dark human nature can be, and it was all because I was harboring a dark thought at the time. I was angry and upset. Why did she give birth to that child? Why did she not remain loyal to me until death? She ought to have ended herself back then."

The man suddenly laughed. "See? I wanted to blame her, even though it was my fault. Isn’t that terrible? Isn’t that selfish? Isn’t that disgusting?"

Ye Guan sighed softly without saying a word.

The man continued, "Looking back now, I wasn’t taking care of her out of genuine concern. I was taking revenge, and I used a method a hundred times crueler than harsh words..."

"What would you like me to do for you, Senior?" asked Ye Guan. He refrained from making any judgement, as he had no right to do so.

The man opened his palm, and a jade pendant floated to Ye Guan.

It had three words engraved on it that said, "Hand in Hand."

"Give this jade pendant to her, and tell her that it was my fault..."

A storage ring floated over to Ye Guan as well. "Inside this ring, you'll find the coordinates of my universe region, as well as my life savings and my swordsmanship inheritance. Give them all to her."

Ye Guan hesitated for a moment before asking, "Senior, how long have you been here?"

The man took a big swig of the wine in his hand and replied, "Don’t worry, I’ve only been here for a hundred years or so. Also, I wasn’t imprisoned here. Like you, I came here to challenge this place.

"I killed the original prisoner here. Then, I decided to stay, wanting to meet top experts from the universe regions out there. However, I found that the majority of them were useless. So I’ve been fighting the existing Dao since then."

"I see." Ye Guan nodded, and he realized that the man before him still couldn’t face that woman. Men were often like this—too prideful to bow their heads and admit their mistakes.

Ye Guan asked, "What’s your name, Senior?"

"Ye Xiuran," the man replied with a smile. With that, he looked up and laughed. "Great Dao, come! Let’s have one final battle!"

Hum!

A resonant sword hum reverberated, and the Great Dao Seal in the sky crumbled.