As the Cloud Wandering Elder’s fighting spirit surged, a thought flickered through Jiang Wang’s mind: Could Welcoming Guest Child have already contacted his reincarnated body? Did his sudden appearance and words serve to create a window of opportunity for the elder’s next life?

It wasn’t that Jiang Wang was prone to paranoia; rather, he had endured far too many conspiracies, and within his own body lurked the Jiang Nightmare, a constant threat he had to guard against at every moment.

Yet, this thought was fleeting. As the master of the Cloud Top Immortal Palace, he was certain that the former essence of Welcoming Guest Child had dissipated and would never reappear. Moreover, regarding the Cloud Wandering Elder, he had contemplated deeply and held a strong conviction.

Jiang Wang had always possessed an unyielding will, yet lately, he found himself easily distracted by stray thoughts. With his divine soul as a sword, he swiftly severed these杂念. His gaze locked onto the Cloud Wandering Elder, and with a flash of sword light, his being followed.

As his long sword arced through the air, his body, mind, and intent fused into the sword style itself, isolating all trivial thoughts, all matters that dared to linger. This was the stance of pure combat.

Sincerity in heart, sincerity in intent, sincerity in sword.

The horizontal sword strike was named “Scholar Down and Out,” a style both romantically unrestrained and imbued with sorrow,潇洒 and sharp.

The Cloud Wandering Elder, embracing the resolve to fight to the death, advanced rather than retreated, his hand forming a “Wind” character seal which he thrust forward. But Jiang Wang arrived with such speed and urgency that the nascent风云 were cleaved before they could gather momentum. The elder’s fingers splayed, then formed a “Mountain” character seal. This seal, gathering suppression and defense, was indeed formidable.

The long sword swept across, colliding with the vague “Mountain” character. The green mountains faintly shimmered, thick and majestic.

Long Xiang Si was blocked by the Mountain character seal, but Jiang Wang did not alter his sword momentum. His left hand formed a seal, and chains of Imprisonment Drill, a technique of the Legalist school imbued with inherent rules, emerged from the void behind the Cloud Wandering Elder.

The Cloud Wandering Elder dispersed the Mountain character seal, flipped his palm downward, and pressed. Invisible ripples spread, a semi-transparent light shield trapping the black chains of Imprisonment Drill. Simultaneously, the light shield sought to envelop Jiang Wang. He had employed this technique before at the Welcoming Guest Pavilion, and Jiang Wang was naturally immune. A sea of flowers bloomed around him. Each advance of the Cloud Wandering Elder’s invisible ripples was met with several explosions of flame flowers, halting its progress and creating a stalemate in the air.

In the Cloud Wandering Elder’s temporarily obscured vision, only endless flame flowers remained. Suddenly, he lifted his eyes. Jiang Wang descended from the sky, sword in hand, his momentum grand. Facing this strike, the Cloud Wandering Elder did not meet it directly. Instead, he clenched his fist to his heart, and countless light feathers exploded from him, with him as the epicenter. Jiang Wang, who had pierced vertically from the sea of flame flowers with his sword, was precisely blocked by these sharp light feathers.

The Cloud Wandering Elder truly had reasons for his unwillingness and dissatisfaction, and the capital to back it up. His fighting intuition was astonishing. Though he clearly could not discern the illusion body of the Red Makeup Mirror, he instinctively chose the most stable response, rendering Jiang Wang’s surprise attack fruitless.

These light feathers, though seemingly soft, possessed an extremely sharp power. They clashed furiously with Jiang Wang’s sword qi, producing a sound like striking metal and iron.

Jiang Wang’s surprise attack was obstructed, but he remained composed and firm. He drew his sword back, extended his hand, and ignited his Samadhi True Fire. The Samadhi of essence, qi, and spirit united. The moment this fire emerged, the invisible ripples entwined with the sea of flame flowers were instantly incinerated. The Samadhi True Fire even burned in reverse, forcing the Cloud Wandering Elder to cease his related secret arts. Even Jiang Wang’s own sea of flame flowers was parted by its flames, a testament to the Samadhi True Fire’s overwhelming power.

And those scattered light feathers, before the rapidly approaching Samadhi True Fire, collapsed in succession. This collapse, however, was the best way to deal with the Samadhi True Fire. It both consumed the Samadhi True Fire’s power and prevented it from spreading.

The Cloud Wandering Elder made a swift decision. With a thought, he gathered all the light feathers, aiming to exhaust the Samadhi True Fire’s power in the shortest possible time. Just like Dou Mian, once the Dou Zhan Golden Body was exhausted, he had many means to suppress his opponent.

However, as the sky full of light feathers barely gathered, Jiang Wang casually flicked, letting that cluster of Samadhi True Fire entangle with the light feathers. He himself, vertically ascending with his sword, moved like a wandering bolt of lightning, drawing a clean arc in the air, avoiding the light feathers, and arriving before the Cloud Wandering Elder. One sword, fierce like the blazing sun, arrogant and bold – this was the so-called “sword of youthful frivolity.”

The Cloud Wandering Elder hastily formed a seal, but where was the time? He was directly pierced by a single sword strike, nailed back to the ground! His body was simply too old. When his realm was suppressed, he could rely on various secret arts to fight, and it was not obvious. But after the Starlight Holy Tower was isolated, in the life-and-death struggle with Jiang Wang, his reactions could no longer keep pace.

Since removing his divine abilities, Jiang Wang often used the Samadhi True Fire as his winning hand. This time, however, he only used it to open the situation. After all, fighting is full of variables, and winning and losing is the fundamental principle. True strong individuals do not blindly rely on divine abilities; divine abilities are merely tools, and no matter how strong, they must serve the fight itself.

On the summit of Late Cloud Mountain, Jiang Wang pinned the Cloud Wandering Elder to the ground, a wisp of long hair hanging beside his face, unable to conceal his razor-sharp appearance at this moment. Behind him, light feathers, flame flowers, and Samadhi True Fire were all dissipating.

The Cloud Wandering Elder was spitting blood, and Jiang Wang, pressing his sword, was asking: “Are you… convinced?”

This battle should be considered decided early on. Jiang Wang would not relinquish his advantage without certainty. If not for the opportunity of the Cloud Top Immortal Palace’s revival, he might not even have given this battle a chance.

The Cloud Wandering Elder’s turbid eyes blinked open blankly, fresh blood continuously flowing from his mouth, trickling down his wrinkles. It was a wonder where his withered body held so much fresh blood.

“I do not know how you began cultivation,” Jiang Wang said slowly. “But I, for one Opening Pulse Pill, delved deep into a den of thieves, bore thirteen wounds on my body, and narrowly escaped death. I believe it was no easier than for you.”

“This world holds many injustices. Some are born higher than you, see further than you, but mere hatred and resentment cannot solve any problem.”

“Only effort. The only fair thing is effort.”

“Effort will not be wasted.”

“Effort allows one to stand in a higher and farther place.”

Jiang Wang tried his utmost to “convince” the Cloud Wandering Elder, to let him die without resentment, so that he need not carry his unwillingness into the next life. But the Cloud Wandering Elder merely shook his head and countered, “Did I… not put in enough effort?”

Jiang Wang fell silent.

Not to mention those past lives of reincarnation, even in this life. To obtain the Cloud Top Immortal Palace, the Cloud Wandering Elder had put in more effort than everyone present, even sacrificing eighty years of his life without hesitation. How could he now say that the Cloud Wandering Elder had not put in enough effort?

But some things, indeed, are not achieved through effort alone.

“I can see that you are not on the same path as those young masters and young ladies. To die by your hand, I am truly convinced. At least you have given me a certain fairness.”

The Cloud Wandering Elder looked at Jiang Wang, summoning his last strength, and glared fiercely: “But fate has been unfair to me, this world… unfair!”

Jiang Wang felt the Cloud Wandering Elder’s internal organs collapsing one by one, his Tongtian Palace beginning to dissolve, and the Dao Yuan within his body gradually scattering. His breath completely vanished, and finally, he died.

Jiang Wang could not fully know what he had experienced in this life. That story was too distant, and he would likely never hear it… but he would forever remember the despair in those decayed eyes. He didn’t know why, but he suddenly thought of something Forward often said: “No matter how much effort, it will still be meaningless.” And Zhao Ru Cheng, whenever he advised him to put in effort, would always say, “Who said enjoyable things are always associated with ‘waste’?” And so, he wasted everything, his talent and his wealth.

Why did Jiang Wang initially feel a good connection with Forward? To a large extent, it was because he saw parts of Zhao Ru Cheng in Forward.

Now Forward had begun to make an effort. Would his effort be meaningful? When he later stood before his master’s opponent, could he overcome the fear in his heart and defeat his nightmare? Jiang Wang suddenly could not be so certain.

Does effort have meaning?

Many times, I do not wish to give readers answers. Because many times, regarding life, regarding the world, I share the same confusion as you all. I have never mastered the truth.

So I only lay out the problems, dissect a real world, and present it for you to see. Different people, different choices. I believe everyone will find their own answers.