"So how exactly did you pull off that sword strike just now?"
Beneath the big tree, beside the stone table, Huang Rong sat across from Lu Chen. She did not even have the mind to crack sunflower seeds, her bright eyes fixed on him, her little face filled with curiosity.
After helping Lu Chen onto a chair, she had carefully examined the sword mark on the tree trunk and confirmed that the half-foot section of sword tip had indeed been embedded entirely into the wood.
She simply could not make sense of it:
With Lu Chen's meager Internal Energy and beginner-level swordsmanship, even if he gave it everything he had and exhausted himself with a single strike, he should not have been able to achieve that, right?
That was the domain of the Five Greats!
Lu Chen gulped down the medicinal soup Huang Rong had prepared beforehand, regulating his blood and qi and replenishing his strength. At the same time, his recovery ability was working as well. With both effects combined, he felt his thoroughly drained body gradually filling back up. At most, he should be lively and vigorous again within half an hour.
Hearing Huang Rong's question, he laughed heartily, full of high spirits.
"Because I comprehended an unrivaled Divine Sword technique! That move of mine..."
"Wait!"
Huang Rong raised a hand to stop him. Her little face was taut as she solemnly warned him,
"Don't foolishly tell everyone the secrets of your trump card."
Lu Chen smiled. "I'm not that foolish. Besides, Rong'er, you're not an outsider."
At his words, Huang Rong felt sweetness bloom in her heart. The corners of her lips could not quite stay down, and a faint smile unconsciously appeared.
"I don't want to hear the details of your move. What if I can't resist wanting to learn it after hearing about it, and then can't resist using it after learning it? Wouldn't I end up looking as miserable as you did?"
In truth, she was still very curious.
Why had Lu Chen, a novice who had not practiced swordsmanship for long, suddenly comprehended such a formidable sword technique? But curiosity was curiosity. Since she refused to hear him explain the mysteries of that sword strike and had even solemnly warned him to keep it secret, she naturally would not pry into his secrets.
She merely guessed that it might have something to do with his identity as someone from beyond the heavens.
If he could fall from the sky, was it not only natural for him to have a few unbelievable secrets?
Or perhaps his very existence was itself an unbelievable miracle.
Hearing Huang Rong tease him for how bedraggled he had looked earlier, Lu Chen gave an embarrassed smile as well.
"That was only... well, my ultimate move has just entered the beginner stage. My control still needs work."
That strike had not only exhausted his scant Internal Energy, but all his physical strength as well. It had nearly sucked him completely dry.
Of course, even so, a blunt practice wooden sword should not have been able to sink half a foot into wood.
The wood of a living tree was remarkably tough and dense.
In this low-martial world, even famous experts far stronger than Lu Chen would not have been able to achieve that with only a wooden sword, no matter how much strength they poured into it.
The reason Lu Chen had produced such a startling effect was clearly the power of Sword One.
Yes, he had comprehended his own Sword One. And the move he had chosen to embody Sword One was precisely the basic sword form Huang Rong had first taught him, the Stabbing Sword Style—the form he had practiced the most.
Back on the boat, he had practiced the Stabbing Sword Style every night until midnight. In the mornings, before Huang Rong woke, he would already be training on the deck at the bow.
Even while they were sailing, he had practiced this Stabbing Sword Style with complete concentration. After arriving in Shaoxing Prefecture City and beginning the Maiden of Yue Swordplay, the first thing he did every morning was still to warm up with a thousand thrusts.
After such intense training, the Stabbing Sword Style Huang Rong had taught him had already been practiced into his bones.
And the Sword One manifested by the Sword Intent of Extermination of Immortals was likewise a flash of sword light: heavens split and seas parting, stars extinguished in an instant, gods and demons bowing to execution, black dragons offering their heads, Golden Crows falling and perishing.
That bolt of lightning, that beam of aurora, that white rainbow—each was an utterly brilliant yet utterly simple "one."
And the sword form best suited to expressing that simplest of "ones" was undoubtedly the Stabbing Sword Style that Lu Chen had tempered a thousand times over.
When, within his Sea of Consciousness, he fused the Stabbing Sword Style with his understanding of that Sword Intent Imprint, he gained his own Sword One.
The only problem was that this move consumed far too much.
His current cultivation simply could not sustain it. One thrust was enough to leave him drained on the spot.
Furthermore, his control was still insufficient.
If his control had been sufficient, he could have held back some strength. At the very least, he would not have ended up in such a sorry state.
Improving his control was not difficult, though. He simply needed diligent practice.
As for increasing his cultivation...
Sword One could increase his cultivation too.
As long as he continued practicing Sword One, he could generate true qi from the outside in, just as he did when practicing the Maiden of Yue Swordplay.
As he pondered this, Huang Rong suddenly asked,
"What's the name of that sword strike?"
"Sword One."
"Sword One? What kind of strange name is that? Doesn't it have a nicer name for the move?"
"Hmm..."
Lu Chen pondered briefly. Recalling the breathtaking sight deep in the starry sky of a white rainbow piercing through a star and instantly killing a Golden Crow, he said solemnly,
"My Sword One can also be called White Rainbow Piercing the Sun."
White Rainbow Piercing the Sun.
That was Lu Chen's Sword One.
"White Rainbow Piercing the Sun? Are you planning to imitate Nie Zheng and Jing Ke, and become a hero who assassinates kings and slays emperors?"
Huang Rong spoke cheerfully of such treasonous matters as assassinating kings and slaying emperors, her pretty face filled with carefree teasing.
Lu Chen smiled as well.
"It's only the name of a move. I'm left helpless after using it once. How could I dare be so arrogant?"
"It's good that you know that. Your White Rainbow Piercing the Sun is indeed extremely powerful, but you can unleash it without being able to rein it in, and it has only the power of one strike. It is a final measure for a life-or-death moment, a desperate last gamble. You absolutely must not use it lightly."
"Mm, thank you for the reminder, Rong'er. Actually, after comprehending White Rainbow Piercing the Sun, I feel that my Maiden of Yue Swordplay may have changed somewhat as well."
"Oh? Then once you've rested, show it to me."
"Alright."
The two chatted and laughed as they waited for Lu Chen to recover.
With the medicinal soup Huang Rong had personally prepared and Lu Chen's own recovery ability working together, only a short while passed before Lu Chen, who had previously been so exhausted that he could not even rise, had fully recovered and was brimming with vigor again.
He stood and loosened his limbs, picked up a fresh Wooden Sword, and walked into the courtyard. After giving Huang Rong a swordsman's salute, he assumed his stance and began to demonstrate the Maiden of Yue Swordplay, move by move.
The instant he drew his sword this time, Huang Rong sensed that its bearing was completely different from before.
Previously, although he had mastered all thirty-six moves of the Maiden of Yue Swordplay and could basically use them in actual combat after her staff-and-stick instruction, even having cultivated Internal Energy from them, his moves had still been overly rigid and mechanical. Of course, that was only natural for a beginner—
Beginners should not dream of moving with effortless grace or plucking techniques at will. First, they had to honestly imitate the forms and practice them until they became smooth through familiarity. Only then would they be qualified to try being free and unconstrained, following their hearts as they pleased.
Yet now, although he was merely practicing and the moves were still the same moves, Lu Chen's swordsmanship had gained a sense of strict structure without losing its flowing agility.
That wholly different bearing almost made one think he was already an experienced swordsman who had immersed himself in the sword for years, one blessed with exceptional talent.
"Is this what they mean by understanding one point and comprehending a hundred?"
Huang Rong watched Lu Chen wield his sword without blinking, pondering inwardly.
"By comprehending a single ultimate move and gaining a deeper understanding of the essence of swordsmanship, has his attainment in the Maiden of Yue Swordplay advanced tremendously as well?"
She had guessed correctly.
The reason Lu Chen's Maiden of Yue Swordplay had advanced so greatly was precisely because he had comprehended Sword One, White Rainbow Piercing the Sun.
What the Sword Intent of Extermination of Immortals had given him was a pure Sword Intent.
If he could comprehend principles from that Sword Intent and transform the most basic Stabbing Sword Style into a fierce killing move far beyond his own cultivation, then grasping one truth and understanding a hundred more was only to be expected.
But merely demonstrating the forms did not truly reveal how much Lu Chen's swordsmanship had improved.
To find out the extent of his current swordsmanship, they would have to exchange moves for real.
Huang Rong was watching with growing excitement. She grabbed a Wooden Sword, rose, and leaped into the yard. With a giggle, she smiled at Lu Chen.
"Come on, let's spar. Let me see just how far your Maiden of Yue Swordplay has progressed."
As she spoke, she slanted her sword and thrust toward Lu Chen's shoulder, using a move from the Maiden of Yue Swordplay as well.
Before you continue