I Am Loaded with Passive Skills - Chapter 3958 - 1891: Breaking the Bamboo

Chapter 3958: Chapter 1891: Breaking the Bamboo

A single character difference, a world of difference.

The Sword Ancestor heard the underlying meaning in the young man’s words.

It was silent for a long time, slowly raised a hand, and held a snowflake drifting down from the sky, a faint sadness in its expression.

The snowflake melted in the palm, spreading into droplets of water, soon evaporating again in the cold wind.

“Snow changes continuously from condensing to melting.”

Only then did the Sword Ancestor look up, expressionless, as if stating an eternal truth:

“Young friend, so it is with people.”

“Life, from its beginning to its end, in the cycle of reincarnation, is never unchanging.”

Jin Ren also stretched out his hand and caught a snowflake.

His palm was cold, and the snowflake lay quietly in his hand without melting into water:

“But old man, snow is snow because it has no spiritual intelligence; whether it changes depends on changes in the environment’s temperature, not itself.”

“Yet it’s not the same for humans; humans have self-will, even with drastic temperature changes, they cannot be evaporated into nothingness all at once.”

“The weak are powerless to save themselves, unable to resist the environment; I can understand that. But even you, Sword Ancestor, can’t?”

The Sword Ancestor remained silent.

Jin Ren looked straight at him: “I’m asking about you, not the snowflake, old man.”

The Five Regions had picked up on something.

Lord Shou was clearly asking “whether to strive forward and thus change,” and the Sword Ancestor was also answering “whether there had been change,” but obviously, it wasn’t as simple as it sounded.

“Change, change, change…”

“Big change? Small change? What are they talking about?”

“The Sword Ancestor obviously changed, but what else can it become, the Demon Ancestor? Haha, funny!”

Not to mention that even the Five Regions couldn’t understand it.

Sword Deity Hua, Elder Wuyue, and others, didn’t quite understand either.

Only Bazhun’an, who received a reminder from Xu Xiaoshou, knew what this guy was truly asking about.

The Sword Ancestor smiled: “Old man, striving forward, of course I’ve changed.”

“Mm?” Jin Ren nodded, “And then?”

The Sword Ancestor gestured towards the Mystical Gate behind the Sword Tower, shook his head slightly, and remained silent.

“And no more after that?”

“No more.”

“Is this the end?”

“Yes.”

Even this “yes” didn’t trigger the passive system’s lie detection, popping up information, leaving one in despair.

The Sword Tower was completely under control…

Along with this residual intent of the Sword Ancestor, which couldn’t stir up any waves under the Demon Ancestor’s hand, hence the despair?

Jin Ren furrowed his brow, unwilling to accept this.

He released warmth, the snowflake in his palm quickly melted, evaporating after turning into water:

“But even though snow melts into water, and water evaporates into air, it never completely disappears.”

“As temperature changes again, it will condense into fog, condense into rain, and fall as snow once more.”

“Even snow is stubborn, the ancient swordsman has a steely pride, let alone you as the Sword Ancestor, and yet you say, you’re resigned to this?”

Who would truly feel resigned…

The Sword Ancestor looked at this youthful, sharp young man, its eyes filled with increasing melancholy.

It was no longer who it once was.

This era was no longer its era.

With relief, with regret, with helplessness, the Sword Ancestor smiled openly:

“The world renews itself each day.”

“Young man, my era has passed, your path, you must walk on your own.”

So old and fragile!

Jin Ren really wanted to slap this self-resigned old man awake.

On second thought, perhaps the old man wasn’t resigned but had no choice but to be resigned — had it exhausted all its skills and still ended in failure?

Even so, Jin Ren felt a stifled pride.

He turned around, angrily flicked his sleeve, faced the Five Regions, and shouted fiercely:

“The duckweed, a minor nuisance, swallows the vast sea within its belly.”

“The horseweed speaks not, laughing as the Heavenly Pillar breaks in the autumn wind.”

The Five Regions were astounded.

These lines brimmed with overwhelming arrogance, belonging to Lord Shou, yet these words seemed unlikely to come from Lord Shou’s mouth.

Can you even find wisdom in a dog’s mouth?

The Sword Ancestor listened in dismay.

It obviously heard the sarcasm.

These lines were those it composed long ago before ascending to the Heavenly Realm, when planting jade bamboo and sword hemp on the Eastern Mountain, chronicling a lifetime’s achievements.

They were lines in the introduction of the later “Sword Sutra.”

It left some influence within, only extraordinary swordsmen viewed them as divine but confusing, unauditable throughout.

Xu Xiaoshou…

This young man, indeed heard them once and remembered them all…

His talent is astonishing, surpassing even my own back then.

Not satisfied with cursing these lines with its back turned, it turned its head, still pointing fingers for a personal scolding:

“Even the tiniest insect, still feasts on the Way of the Heavens.”

“The three-fragrance ceremonial sacrifice, dares to draw ancestral god’s blood.”

Paused, Jin Ren looked at the Sword Ancestor before him, shaking his head in immense disappointment, murmuring:

“Old man, it’s really difficult to associate your current state with what you once wrote. It’s like two different people.”

The Sword Ancestor remained calm and silent, neither proud for past achievements nor ashamed by jeers and taunts, neither rejoicing at material wealth nor saddened by self-pity.

It was simply doing what was “right” at the moment.

On Lingyu Mountain, Gu Qingyi looked up at the sky, looking at Xu Xiaoshou and the Sword Ancestor, one young and uplifted, the other elderly and dispirited, with mixed feelings in his heart.

He once read the “Sword Sutra,” the introduction resonating to the high heavens, the body full of profound truths, embracing the warm knowledge anew, loving it immensely.

The Sword Ancestor he imagined should resemble the youthful arrogance of the legendary Eighth Sword Deity.

Unleashing the sword at any injustice, cutting through it all.

Now, the Sword Ancestor was truly summoned by the 21 Famed Swords, yet was quite different from his expectations.

If not for Xu Xiaoshou stepping forward, ninety percent of the Five Regions’ people would still be deceived.

Gu Qingyi could understand the general situation and approximately comprehend what Xu Xiaoshou was subtly insinuating.

He only felt a sense of loss and wistfulness.

The driving force behind his pursuit of the path, now before his eyes, wasn’t even as impressive as Xu Xiaoshou — how is that different from the sky falling?

“Snow…”

Gu Qingyi spread open the snow in his palm.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by readnovel.co