My name is Ye Xiaobai. I'm the only Sword God on the Deep Azure Continent, and its only tenth-tier powerhouse.

I'm sixteen this year, and I'm a guy. I live at the summit of the highest mountain in the Demon Beast Mountain Range.

Want to know how I became a Sword God? Then listen closely, and I'll tell you the whole story.

A long, long time ago, my master's master told him that as long as he wasn't completely beyond saving, all he needed was perseverance. If he kept swinging his sword every day, then one day he would become a Sword God.

Put another way: ninety-nine points of hard work, plus one point of talent.

My master's master had failed, so he hoped my master would carry on his legacy and reach the pinnacle of the martial path.

But my master was pretty frustrated. After hundreds of years, he was still a Nine-Star Sword Saint, unable to break through a barrier that had held him back for three hundred years.

Then, one day ten years ago, on a bitterly cold night so dark you couldn't see your own toes...

My master found me on the edge of the Demon Beast Mountain Range, barely clinging to life.

His heart softened, and he took me up the mountain. He gave me a place to live, and taught me the skill I needed to survive in this world: swordsmanship.

He didn't have particularly high hopes, but he still repeated to me the words his own master had told him.

And so I swung my sword day after day, month after month, year after year.

Ten years passed in the blink of an eye.

By the end of my first year, I was a beginner Swordmaster.

By my third year, I was an Advanced Swordmaster.

By my fifth year, I was a Sword Emperor.

By my seventh year, I was a Sword Saint.

The day before yesterday, while sparring with my master as usual, I broke through in the middle of the fight and successfully advanced to Nine-Star Sword Saint.

I was thrilled, thinking I'd never have to let my master pin me down during training again—

And my master had once again been left standing there, wondering how he'd wasted his whole life—

when something strange happened.

“Crack~”

It seemed to come from inside my head. A sound like... a lock clicking open with a key.

Meow meow meow?

What the heck was that sound?

And then there was this feeling... Suddenly, boundless power surged through my body. To put it plainly, if I fought my master again, I was completely sure I could pin him down and grind him into the dirt without breaking a sweat, just like he used to do to me when I first started learning the sword ten years ago.

And that pressure... My master, a Nine-Star Sword Saint and one of the strongest people on the Deep Azure Continent, had gone pale—a rare sight—and a hint of fear showed in his eyes.

Had I... already reached the legendary realm of the Sword God?

Was it really that simple? That natural?

Hadn't my master said there was a barrier to overcome?

Where is this barrier, anyway~?

“You little brat, hurry up and rein in that pressure! I'm fucking about to collapse!” my master yelled, his voice trembling.

My master's shout brought me back to my senses.

In the distance, I saw that his arms and legs were shaking. It seemed his refusal to admit defeat was the only thing keeping him on his feet.

Whoops. A sudden thought struck me, and I'd completely forgotten about my dear master.

“Right, right! I'll rein it in, right away,” I said hurriedly.

I willed it, and the pressure vanished. My master's legs gave way, and he dropped to the ground with a thump.

Looking at him now, completely drained, you'd never guess he was supposedly the strongest person on the continent.

I understood. I'd really become a legendary tenth-tier powerhouse—a Sword God.

It was a realm no Sword Saint could ever reach, in power or in anything else.

After a long while, my master came to his senses. He looked over at me with a little, deeply aggrieved expression, and I started to feel uneasy.

“You little brat... We're not the same... We're just not...”

“Um... Master... where's my barrier?”

“Don't bring that up.”

“But you always said you'd been stuck at a barrier for three hundred years. How come I don't have one?”

“Could you please stop talking...?”

“Um... the barrier...”

Seeing my master's face grow darker and darker, I got a little scared and stopped myself from asking again.

I thought back to that early morning ten years ago, when I first held a sword.

My master asked me that question for the first time.

“Disciple, starting today, you'll be training with the sword. Do you remember what I told you last night is most important when learning swordsmanship?”

“Master, ninety-nine points of talent and one point of hard work!”

“Thwack~” He got hit on the head...

For ten years, every time he asked me that question, I'd get a sound beating.

Now I had proof—and, more importantly, the strength to say it with confidence.

Thinking about how pathetically my master was going to get beaten by me from now on, I chuckled to myself.

I was absolutely certain that what I'd said back then wasn't wrong. The secret to success had to be ninety-nine points of talent, plus one point of hard work...