82: Chapter 81 Divine Skill 82: Chapter 81 Divine Skill Three floors up, since I had already planned my choice of swordsmanship, there was no hesitation.
The classification of swords, since ancient times, has been done in many ways, including high-brow divisions such as Sword Gall, Sword Intent, Sword Heart, Sword Momentum, and Sword Soul!
There is also a more straightforward classification, for example, describing a swordsman’s technique, one might compliment him as being versatile in motion and stillness, unpredictable in illusion and reality, variable in lightness and heaviness, and unified in speed and slowness, combining both hardness and softness.
Speed and slowness, hardness and softness, lightness and heaviness, illusion and reality, motion and stillness…
When a swordsman can master the essence of these contradictory states of fencing and merge them together, he truly becomes a master.
The swordsmanship Hou Niao had learned before was straightforward and overwhelmingly powerful; it was characterized by speed, hardness, heaviness, reality, and action!
Now, to improve himself, he must start from the other aspects of the sword, which are slowness, softness, lightness, illusion, and stillness!
The first level of fierceness is straightforward and easy to learn, with the Sword Gall in hand, charging fearlessly forward; but these aspects of the second level are difficult, requiring a long time to refine and learn how to demonstrate these contrary aspects of the sword in battle.
How to control the field, control the rhythm?
By altering the rhythm to disrupt the opponent’s moves, instead of being slow, light, and soft, and getting beaten into a pulp by the opponent.
Picking up about ten more sword books into his bag, it was not from greed, but because he might not be able to return for a while.
Carrying these jade scrolls, he returned to the old man on the first floor, registered, and signed a Magic Contract of non-disclosure, a necessary procedure.
The old man was trembling slightly, yet his speed was still not slow.
However, he was old after all, and accidentally dropped a jade scroll on the floor, bending clumsily to pick it up.
Hou Niao, always ready to help others, could not just stand by and watch.
As he bent down to pick up the jade scroll under the desk leg, his gaze caught sight of one of the wooden legs of the eight immortals table, which was a few inches short.
The reason it remained stable was that a dark bamboo slip was wedged under the short section.
Using a scroll to prop up a table leg?
“Elder, your table leg is lame; how about I find a carpenter to fix it for you?”
The old man shook his head indifferently, “Never mind, just prop it up like that.
It has been propped up for several hundred years, passed down through generations, and no one decided to fix it before me, so why should I?
It’s not like I should pay out of my pocket to fix it for the public.”
Hou Niao had nothing to say in response and changed the subject: “How about I find you a piece of wood of the same size to prop it up?
Using a scroll seems a bit…”
The old man’s cloudy gaze swept over him, “What’s wrong with the scroll?
It’s been hundreds of years since anyone’s looked at it, and no one has been able to master it…
Might as well make use of waste.”
Hou Niao’s mind stirred, “What skill?
There’s something that hasn’t been mastered in hundreds of years?”
The old man ignored him and continued to copy the sword jade scrolls, but by now, Hou Niao’s curiosity had been piqued, wondering if the legendary Divine Skills were acquired ?
He bowed deeply, “Old sir, may I take a look at this scroll?
Well, I’m not really planning to practice it, just wanting to broaden my knowledge…”
The old man answered only reluctantly after being pestered for a while,
“Stop with the nonsense!
You just want to secretly train hard, hoping to one day cause a sensation and reveal yourself as a saint in public, don’t you?”
“I am telling you, this scroll is not meant for the common folk to see.
I’m afraid it would waste the time of ambitious people like yourselves who strive for greatness yet end up achieving nothing…”
He paused briefly, then softened his tone, “However, seeing how you’ve always been polite and understanding, there might be room for negotiation.
This scroll is old and cannot be duplicated.
You can take it, but I’ll have to charge you ten Spirit Stones; it’s not that I want to make money from you, but there are only so many copies in the tower, and I’ll need to manually carve each character myself.
Given that, is ten Spirit Stones too expensive?”
Hou Niao felt secretly delighted, “Not expensive at all, elder.
You are indeed the role model for our generation.”
Every cultivator has an overwhelming ambition to reach the heavens in a single step, some are more overt, and some are more covert; Hou Niao belonged to the latter.
This was why he had spent ten Spirit Stones on five worthless books in Liuyang City.
For him, a cultivator with limited experience, such temptation was hard to resist.
From a motivational aspect, he was quite pleased with the direction of his swordsmanship, but being greedy, he also wanted to seize opportunities in other areas.
“Don’t go boasting about it; if you succeed, your name will be renowned, but if you fail, you’ll just become another joke…”
“Of course, I’m not one to brag,” Hou Niao humbly replied.
With a sense of accomplishment, Hou Niao walked out of the Sword Storage Tower, thoroughly satisfied with how smoothly his visit had gone, having had clear goals and even some pleasant surprises.
A servant approached with a broad smile; Hou Niao recognized him as Jiang Nanying’s attendant.
Big families always maintained such grandeur, and it wasn’t just them—Yu Xinglie and Ma Rujun always had attendants as well, while only Zong Qian and Wang Mian, like him, were solitary figures.
Jiang has set up a feast at the Lian Heng Building to welcome you.
He sent me here to wait for you.”
These fellows were indeed sharp-nosed; they had caught him just as he stepped out, and it was difficult to refuse without dampening their spirits.
Also, which other disciples are invited to this banquet?”
The servant bowed respectfully, “Apart from Mr.
Ma the Fourth, and Mr.
Wang the Sixth is not here, perhaps still in closed-door cultivation?”
Lian Heng Building was not the most luxurious restaurant in Jin City, but it was unique in the culinary world here.
Most of the patrons were cultivators; the ingredients included real spiritual beings, and payments were made with Spirit Stones, which were not something an ordinary mortal could afford.
The place was not far.
They arrived in a moment and ascended to a private room on the second floor.
It was spacious and bright.
In addition to the disciples the servant mentioned, there were also three women, obviously cultivators too—one Essence Building and two Energy Inductions.
They joined arms in camaraderie, made introductions, and among the two Energy Induction women were Jiang Nanying’s sister, Nan Zhi, Yu Xinglie’s niece, Treasure Bead, and Ma Rujun’s cousin, an Essence Building cultivator known as Sister Ma.
When Ma Rujun first met them, he joked about introducing his cousin to them.
Of course, that was just a joke.
The marriages of mortal women depended on their parents’ mediation, but once they entered cultivation, they had much more say in their lives.
Everyone took their seats in order, and Jiang Nanying explained, “We brothers have succeeded in our respective break-throughs one after another.
We had planned to gather once everyone was here to celebrate, but I and Brother Yu have already finalized our assignments abroad and will be departing soon.
We’re afraid we cannot wait for the good news from Brother Wang, so we decided…”
He spoke politely, but the message was loaded with information.
Hou Niao’s own breakthrough had taken half a month.
The second brother Jiang and the third brother Yu must have had very smooth breakthroughs, having already finalized their next steps.
Now only the sixth brother Wang was left, and it was unclear what exactly was holding him back?