Chapter 219

A look of concentration appeared on Arran’s face as he focused his attention, concentrating his thoughts on the seal that Master Zhao had created years earlier .

The seal was the same as always — a bafflingly intricate weave of Shadow Essence, as impenetrable as it was complex .

Yet the seal’s complexity wasn’t what frustrated him .

Over the years, he had grown to know it as well as he knew his own body — better, perhaps . Intricate though it was, he knew exactly where every strand of Essence belonged, and exactly how they were all woven together .

Rather, what left him frustrated was that despite his knowledge of it, the seal still easily resisted his every effort to remove it .

He had long since tried the methods the Sixth Valley’s Patriarch had shown him to remove it, but none seemed to achieve much of anything . No matter what he did, the seal reformed itself instantly whenever he managed to damage it .

It was as if the seal had a mind of its own . Or not a mind, exactly — it more resembled a single-minded will, and one that seemed ingrained in the very weave of Essence itself .

This will, if it could be called that, rejected any of Arran’s attempts at changing or destroying the seal . Whatever he did to attack it, the seal simply shrugged off the damage and returned to its original state without even the slightest delay .

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It was maddening — like trying to carve a statue out of water .

Still, there was nothing for it but to continue his search for a solution . And without any idea of where to begin, all he could do was study the seal . Perhaps eventually, he would find some weakness he had overlooked .

He spent three hours sitting aside the stream that ran through the small valley, the tree next to him providing shade as he examined the seal’s many intricate details once more .

Pleasant and peaceful though his surroundings were, Arran’s mood gradually soured as three hours of study brought him no progress whatsoever .

The Patriarch had told him the seal contained a sliver of Master Zhao’s insights, and in the months since then, he had recognized what he thought was a hint of this .

It was as if the seal reflected a fundamental law of reality — as if its very existence was an indelible feature of the world .

Yet try as he might, the insight contained within the seal remained inscrutable . He could just barely glean its existence, but beyond that, it refused to reveal even the slightest shred of its secrets .

At first, he had believed this was a simple shortcoming of his own knowledge — something he could fix with further study, given enough time .

But as the months passed, he had begun to suspect that there was another problem . Somehow, the insight within the seal felt incomplete, as if there was another part of it . And worse, he began to think breaking the seal without that missing part might be impossible .

Perhaps he might find a way around that if he reached the Patriarch’s level of skill and knowledge, but that was little comfort . Doing so would take centuries, if not longer .

He knew that there was something he was missing, but as for what it was…

Frustrated by the complete lack of progress, he decided to take a break to clear his head .

After a moment’s thought, he stood up and began to practice the Thousand Cuts style . Difficult though it was — especially following Brightblade’s advice not to repeat the same series of moves more than once — at least here, he felt like he made some small process .

And if the practice was difficult, at least his sword wasn’t actively resisting his efforts .

He spent half an hour practicing the Thousand Cuts, until the frustration of working on the seal had mostly faded . Then, he ate a quick meal, and set to work on the seal once more .

Frustrating or not, it was a task he’d have to complete sooner or later .

But for all his resolve, this attempt at finding a weak spot in the seal fared no better than the previous one . Several hours passed slowly and fruitlessly, with Arran soon feeling like someone trying to carry water in a basket .

He took another break, then began his work anew .

By the time the sun set his mind was weary from the effort, and he could not help but feel disheartened as he realized that he had achieved nothing whatsoever . He had gained no knowledge, no skill, no insights — he had merely wasted time .

He went to bed with a heavy heart that night, his goal seemingly even further away than it had been in the morning .

Four days passed like this, with Arran spending each day fully devoting his attention to the seal . Yet for all his efforts, he made no progress at all .

It was as if the seal was a lock that needed a key to be opened — some special knowledge or insight that would allow him to defeat it . And without that key, his attempts were doomed to failure .

Yet the only person who knew the truth was Master Zhao himself, and years had passed since they parted ways . For all Arran knew, he might never meet the man again .

He had long since examined the things Master Zhao had given him before he left, but none of it was any use . Among the scrolls, amulets, and other resources he had been given, there wasn’t a single one with any information that would aid him in this task .

Master Zhao’s training wasn’t any use, either . The man had barely even discussed how seals worked when they were together . Instead, he had merely placed several of them on Arran’s Realms, and told him to figure it out himself .

Arran had figured out the weaker seals quick enough . Although they had first been broken with the help of Realm Opening Pills, he had eventually learned to recreate them almost perfectly .

Yet the knowledge he had gained from doing so proved little help . The seal on his Destruction Realm was different altogether, and it required something far beyond some skill in Shadow seals to open .

The thought was enough to leave him hopeless .

On the fifth day, he felt weary from the moment he awoke, the prospect of spending yet another day achieving nothing weighing heavily on his mind .

As usual, he headed to the tree beside the stream, and as usual, he spent several hours studying the seal without gaining anything useful .

When he felt he could go no more, he let out a sigh, then stood up and stretched out, preparing to take a short break by practicing the Thousand Cuts .

Yet even as he drew his sword, his eyes suddenly went wide .

“But he did teach me something…”

Arran spoke the words out loud, the realization striking him like a bolt of thunder .

When they first met, Master Zhao had spent months teaching him nothing but swordsmanship . At the time, he’d believed the man’s only purpose was for him to learn control, to prepare him for learning magic .

But now, he realized there was something strange about that . From what he’d learned since then, control was something mages acquired while they practiced magic, not before they even started . And even then, swordsmanship was hardly the easiest way to improve one’s magical control .

Moreover, now that he considered it, the sword style Master Zhao had used was a strange one . At the time, inexperienced as he was, he had thought it was as if Master Zhao’s movements condensed every sword stroke down to its essence .

But now, he could see that wasn’t quite true . Although the man’s techniques had been trimmed of all excess movement, there had been a strange sense of purpose to them .

He realized with some shock that what he remembered of Master Zhao’s sword style somehow resembled the sliver of insight within the seal .

A shiver of excitement ran through his body as he saw a new path ahead . Perhaps he was fooling himself into seeing something where nothing existed, but even so, just the possibility was enough to fill him with anticipation .

He quickly raised his sword . Then, he began to practice the moves that Master Zhao had taught him all those years ago .