"The world is like a chessboard, holding a sword is like initiating the game."

As soon as he stepped into the palace, a deep voice echoed beside Wang Junze's ear. Immediately, the surrounding space transformed, making him feel as though he was in the midst of a gigantic chessboard.

"Fight with the sword, ask not of life and death!"

"Do you dare to wield the sword?"

For a moment, Wang Junze seemed to have lost all awareness of his surroundings, with only that sentence reverberating by his ears.

"Buzz!"

Raising his head, Wang Junze's Dragon Roar Sword unsheathed abruptly, its edge emitting a soft hum as it instantly assumed the sword holding stance of the first style of Chess Swordsmanship, Initiate the Game.

Almost at the moment Wang Junze wielded his sword, an ice sculpture appeared in front of him. However, this ice sculpture was completely different from what Wang Junze had seen on the snowfield before. Upon its appearance, it came to life, fiercely striking at Wang Junze with a sword.

This strike came exceptionally fast. If it weren't for Wang Junze being in the sword holding stance, where his senses were multiple times sharper than usual, he might not have been able to react at all.

Bang!

In that instant, Wang Junze let his sword thrust forward, seamlessly converting to the second style, Laozi.

The sword edges met in mid-air, and in that brief moment, the ice sculpture was shattered by a single strike from Wang Junze.

Engaging in battle for real, Wang Junze realized that although the ice sculpture's attack was swift, its strength was merely at the level of Condensing Truth. With Wang Junze's Hundred Meridians Opening strength, he could effortlessly crush the ice sculpture!

However, the danger did not end there.

Just as the ice sculpture crumbled, two more ice sculptures emerged from the surrounding void, simultaneously assaulting Wang Junze.

The ice sculptures' strength still hadn't changed much, but their numbers had doubled, naturally increasing the pressure.

Fortunately, Wang Junze's strength was still enough to overpower them. The sword edge flickered as it transitioned into the third style, easily vanquishing the two ice sculptures once more.

But… this was still only the beginning!

Four ice sculptures, eight ice sculptures… sixteen ice sculptures!

Each time an ice sculpture was defeated, their numbers would double. In just a few rounds, Wang Junze began to feel a tingling sensation on his scalp. When the ice sculptures reached sixteen in number, he no longer dared to rashly destroy them.

If he continued to kill them like this, wouldn't their numbers soon inflate to dozens or even hundreds? How could he fight then?!

"No, it can't be that one would be made to kill endlessly, or even the mightiest would meet their doom!"

In a flash of thought, Wang Junze quickly realized that perhaps he had mistaken the situation.

The ice sculptures that appeared were of the same level as himself, and started from the easiest attack by a single ice sculpture. This absolutely couldn't be some trap, but rather a test!

"The world is like a chessboard, holding a sword is like initiating the game… Fight with the sword, ask not of life and death!"

In that instant, a spark of enlightenment flashed in Wang Junze's mind.

Sword techniques!

The moment he entered here, the voice had asked if he dared to wield the sword.

The ice sculptures only appeared after he drew his sword, meaning if he hadn't wielded it, or if he didn't understand Sword Dao, perhaps this trial wouldn't even exist.

So the core of this trial wasn't about strength, but rather… Sword Path Cultivation!

Initially, he was defeating ice sculptures without actually using Sword Dao—just overpowering them with brute force. Therefore, the deeper he got into the fight, the greater the pressure became. If he kept mindlessly killing, with the ice sculptures multiplying, the only path left would be a dead end.

However, if he shifted focus away from simply winning or losing and instead worked on refining his Sword Dao, elevating his Sword Path Cultivation, it might become a completely different scenario!

With this realization, Wang Junze shifted his attention back to the sword techniques of the ice sculptures.

Previously, he only perceived these sword techniques as fast, with nothing special in the moves themselves, even appearing stiff and monotonous. But now, by focusing on the ice sculptures and observing closely, he found these sword techniques to be fierce and aggressive, with an implicit coordination among them.

As for the sword techniques seeming stiff and monotonous, it wasn't about the techniques themselves—it was simply because they were executed by ice sculptures.

But what if it wasn't the ice sculptures wielding the swords, but a human?

Could he still handle it as easily?

Thus, the weakness didn't lie in the sword techniques, but in the ice sculptures.

Realizing this, when Wang Junze looked at the sword techniques again, he gradually perceived their ferocity and variation.

Most importantly, Wang Junze seemed to sense that these sword techniques had many similarities with Chess Swordsmanship, as though they had evolved from its techniques!

"Laozi… The core of these sword techniques is actually this very move!"

In an instant, Wang Junze suddenly realized.

Ferocity, sharpness, and extreme speed—these are the essence of the Laozi move, aren't they?

These sword techniques utilized by the ice sculptures, though appearing varied, actually all follow this core.

Buzz!

A buzzing sound echoed in his mind, as if it exploded in an instant. Countless thoughts surged forth, bringing full awareness to Wang Junze.

Chess Swordsmanship seems to have only five techniques, but these five were never just simple sword moves—they could embody countless variations!

Like playing chess, each game is ever-changing!

No two games in the world are the same, just as each match against different opponents should not rigidly adhere to the same techniques.

Otherwise, endlessly using the same five moves against anyone would easily reveal and counteract the sword momentum, wouldn't it?

If the five ice sculptures on the snowfield instructed the most standard forms of the five sword techniques, showing what they should be like, then this battle is actually teaching Wang Junze how to adapt!

Only by allowing the sword techniques to evolve, while perfectly embodying their essence, can one truly grasp the essence of Chess Swordsmanship. Otherwise, even if one practices those five techniques to perfection, in the eyes of true masters, it's nothing but a joke.

With this realization, Wang Junze felt a sudden clarity and enlightenment.

For the moment, he began trying to mimic the ice sculptures' sword techniques, completely immersing himself in the comprehension of Sword Dao.

Of course, this sounds simple, but in reality, it tests a person's true Sword Dao talent.

Whether it was perceiving the variations in these ice sculptures' swordplay or continuously comprehending and transforming the techniques into one's own Sword Dao during the battle, all of these were extremely challenging. Without exceptional talent, success would be impossible, and one could end up trapped there, unable to escape.

In fact, back when studying Chess Swordsmanship, Luo Qingxuan had mentioned that unless one was a true Sword Path Genius with unparalleled talent, even a complete inheritance wouldn't be enough to master Chess Swordsmanship.

Upon entering the palace, the voice had cautioned early on, to fight with the sword, ask not of life and death!

This kind of swordsmanship, this kind of test, was never meant for the mediocre.

The commonplace didn't deserve such inheritance and couldn't possibly survive in these ruins.

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