130: Chapter 109: Learning Swordsmanship, Godspeed!
130: Chapter 109: Learning Swordsmanship, Godspeed!
Sword Master Bi Xiao’s voice seemed to come from another world, layer upon layer until it finally reached Suo Lun, who was deep in meditation.
Of course, it was also because Sword Master Bi Xiao, with his strong spiritual power, was able to awaken him.
If it had been someone else, no matter how loudly they shouted, they would not have been able to wake someone who was in a deep meditation.
Suo Lun awoke and bowed to Sword Master Bi Xiao, saying, “Thank you, senior, for imparting the Sword Dao.”
Sword Master Bi Xiao waved his hand and said, “No need, I also want to see whether you can do what I could not.”
What he said he could not do was, of course, to preserve his family’s land and business.
For this reason, he had helped Suo Lun without asking for anything in return.
Just as Suo Lun had said, no lord would willingly give up their own land.
Although Suo Lun did not know why Bi Xiao had given up his land at the time, it definitely was not for the reason rumoured—that he was so absorbed in the Sword Dao.
If that had been true, why hadn’t he visited the royal city almost at all after giving up his land, nor had he gone to meet the King?
“Let’s begin,” Bi Xiao said.
Then, he picked up a wooden sword beside him and lightly formed a sword gesture.
In an instant, the decrepit and decayed aura about him disappeared completely, replaced by a silhouette full of sword intent.
“Among all sword techniques in the world, none is more difficult than the Calamity Nine Swords,” Bi Xiao said.
“And to understand the Sword Dao, there is nothing better than the Calamity Nine Swords.
Next, I will perform the Calamity Nine Swords at the fastest speed I can, and you see how much you can remember.”
No sooner had his words fallen than his vision blurred.
Suddenly, Sword Master Bi Xiao was no more, replaced by a fairy-like shadow leaping through the cave like a fleeting image.
Even the cave itself had vanished.
For the cave was very narrow, yet within this set of sword techniques, it seemed to become a vast and boundless world.
In the world, there seemed to be only a silhouette, a single sword.
This swordsmanship was, of course, like the dance steps of a deity in the heavens—stunningly beautiful, incredibly exquisite, incomparably magnificent.
Even each movement seemed to have reached the pinnacle of aesthetic form.
Just from watching the movements alone, it could reach the level of shocking the heavens and astounding the spirits.
Only, it was far too fast—taking less than ten seconds from start to finish—for the nine moves and eighty-one forms of the Calamity Nine Swords to be completely executed.
After the sword technique finished, it was as if countless phantoms converged back into the one person, Sword Master Bi Xiao.
“How was it?” Bi Xiao asked.
Suo Lun, wide-eyed and stammering, muttered to himself, “This does not seem like a sword technique at all, but more like a dance of deities, or a wild dance of the Heavenly Demon.
In this world, there turns out to be such a… exquisitely marvelous sword technique.”
Bi Xiao said, “The reaction of anyone in the world who sees this sword technique for the first time is almost the same as yours.
Who knows how many swordsmen have become hopelessly enchanted with the Sword Dao because of it.”
Suo Lun understood that it was like how countless people became obsessed with dancing after seeing Michael Jackson’s moonwalk, or like how many became fond of basketball after watching Jordan’s slam dunks on TV.
Bi Xiao said, “The Calamity Nine Swords is entirely for showing off one’s skill and training one’s muscles and veins, and is not suitable for combat.
But it is still hailed as the number one sword technique in the world, because it is the most difficult, the most splendid, and it best demonstrates one’s swordsmanship accomplishments.”
This feeling was perhaps like that of a pianist who, at the very beginning of learning the piano, vowed in their heart to one day play “Death Waltz,” a piece so contrary to ergonomics and nearly impossible to perform.
Or like some math enthusiasts who, from the onset of their enlightenment, swore in their hearts to conquer the Goldbach conjecture, because it is the gem in the crown of mathematics.
“So, of the nine moves and eighty-one forms, how much did you remember?” Bi Xiao asked.
Suo Lun, taken aback, said, “I was completely dazzled by them, as if witnessing a dance of deities, so I didn’t think to remember at all.”
Bi Xiao said, “Then I will perform it again, at half the speed.”
Following that, Bi Xiao once again transformed into an ethereal figure of a deity and executed the Calamity Nine Swords again.
This time, Suo Lun opened his eyes wide, desperately trying to grasp each move and form.
But it was still too fast; in less than twenty seconds, the ninety-nine moves were complete.
“How about this time?
How much did you remember?” Bi Xiao asked.
“Probably, less than a tenth,” Suo Lun said.
Bi Xiao said, “I will perform it a third time, at half the speed again.”
So Bi Xiao performed the Calamity Nine Swords once more, still breathtakingly stunning and peerlessly exquisite.
But this time, at a speed four times slower than the first, it took nearly a minute to finish.
“Now, how much have you remembered?” Bi Xiao asked.
“About a third,” Suo Lun said.
“No talking, wait until you’ve remembered it all before speaking,” Bi Xiao said.
Then he performed it a fourth time, a fifth time, a sixth, a seventh…
The speed became slower and slower.
By the ninth time, it was extremely slow, taking a full five minutes to complete the entire Calamity Nine Swords, like the slow-motion sequence in a movie.
“Now, how much have you remembered?” Bi Xiao asked.
Suo Lun was nearly driven mad; he hadn’t remembered anything, his mind a tangled mess.
because every time this damned Calamity Nine Swords was performed, it was different.
Yes, each performance was different; it was truly maddening.