Mastery Through One, Sword Arts Greatly Advance

"So how exactly did you manage that last strike?"

Under the big tree, beside the stone table, Huang Rong sat across from Lu Chen, having abandoned even her sunflower seeds. Her eyes were fixed on him, her small face brimming with curiosity.

She had just helped him into a chair, then carefully examined the sword mark on the tree trunk, confirming that the half-foot-long tip of the blade was indeed fully embedded in the wood.

This left her utterly baffled:

With Lu Chen's meager Internal Energy and his beginner-level swordsmanship, even if he went all out and collapsed from exhaustion after a single strike, how could he possibly have achieved this?

That was the domain of the Five Greats!

Lu Chen gulped down the medicinal broth Huang Rong had prepared earlier, regulating his qi and blood while replenishing his strength. His recovery ability was also kicking in, and with both working in tandem, he felt his thoroughly drained body gradually filling back up. In at most half an hour, he should be lively as a dragon again.

Hearing Huang Rong's question, he laughed heartily, brimming with pride:

"Because I've comprehended a peerless Divine Sword! That strike of mine—"

"Wait!"

Huang Rong raised a hand to stop him, her small face taut with seriousness as she warned:

"Don't go blabbing the secrets of your trump card to just anyone, you fool."

Lu Chen chuckled. "I'm not that dumb. Besides, Rong'er, you're not an outsider."

Hearing this, Huang Rong felt a warm glow inside, and the corners of her lips couldn't help but curl into a faint smile:

"I don't want to hear the details of your move. What if I hear it and can't resist learning it, then learn it and can't resist using it? Wouldn't I end up as pathetic as you?"

In truth, she was still deeply curious.

How had a novice swordsman like Lu Chen suddenly comprehended such a formidable sword technique? But curious as she was, she refused to let him explain the mystery of his strike and even solemnly advised him to keep it secret. Naturally, she wouldn't pry into his secrets.

She only guessed it might have something to do with his identity as a "person from beyond the heavens."

If he could fall from the sky, why couldn't he harbor some incredible secret?

Or rather, his very existence was a kind of incredible miracle.

As for Lu Chen, hearing Huang Rong tease him about his earlier disheveled state, he gave an awkward laugh:

"That was just... well, my ultimate move is still in its early stages. My control isn't quite there yet."

That single strike had not only drained his meager Internal Energy but also exhausted all his physical strength, nearly wringing him dry.

Even so, using a blunt practice Wooden Sword, it shouldn't have been possible—impossible—to embed it half a foot into the wood.

Living trees have remarkably tough and dense wood.

In this low-martial world, even a seasoned master far stronger than Lu Chen, pushing to their absolute limit with only a wooden sword, could never achieve such a feat.

The reason Lu Chen had pulled off this astonishing result was clearly the power of "Sword One."

Yes, he had already comprehended his own "Sword One," and the move he chose to embody it was the basic sword technique Huang Rong had first taught him—the one he had practiced the most: "Stabbing Sword Style."

On the boat, he had trained Stabbing Sword Style every night until midnight, and every morning before Huang Rong woke, he would start practicing on the bow deck.

During the voyage, he had focused entirely on this stabbing technique. Even after arriving in Shaoxing Prefecture City and beginning to cultivate the Maiden of Yue Swordplay, his first task every morning was still to stab a thousand times as a warm-up.

With such intense training, the Stabbing Sword Style Huang Rong had taught him was now etched into his very bones.

And the "Sword One" manifested by the "Sword Intent of Extermination of Immortals" was also a flash of Sword Light, splitting the sky and sea, extinguishing stars in an instant, slaying gods and demons, beheading the Ink Dragon, and annihilating the Golden Crow.

That lightning bolt, that beam of polar light, that White Rainbow—all were the epitome of brilliance and the ultimate simplicity of "One."

And the move best suited to embody this minimalist "One" was undoubtedly Lu Chen's now-honed Stabbing Sword Style.

When, within his Sea of Consciousness, he fused the Stabbing Sword Style with his insights from that "Sword Intent Imprint," his own "Sword One" was born.

The only problem was the enormous cost of this move.

With his current level of skill, he couldn't sustain it. A single thrust left him instantly drained.

Moreover, his control was still lacking.

If his control were sufficient, he could hold back and at least avoid such a pathetic state.

Improving control wasn't hard—just diligent practice.

As for raising his skill level...

"Sword One" could also enhance his skill.

By continuously training in Sword One, just like cultivating the Maiden of Yue Swordplay, he could generate true qi from the outside in, building his foundation.

Just as he was pondering this, he suddenly heard Huang Rong ask:

"What's the name of that strike of yours?"

"Sword One."

"Sword One? What kind of weird name is that? Couldn't you come up with something nicer?"

"Hmm..."

Lu Chen thought for a moment, recalling the awe-inspiring scene deep in the starry sky where a White Rainbow pierced a star, instantly slaying the Golden Crow. He said solemnly:

"My Sword One can also be called 'White Rainbow Piercing the Sun.'"

White Rainbow Piercing the Sun.

This was Lu Chen's "Sword One."

"White Rainbow Piercing the Sun? Are you trying to emulate Nie Zheng and Jing Ke, to become a hero who assassinates a king?"

Huang Rong cheerfully spoke such treasonous words as "assassinate a king," her pretty face full of a carefree, teasing expression.

Lu Chen also smiled:

"It's just a move name. This move leaves me completely drained after one use—how could I dare to be so arrogant?"

"You know that well enough. Your 'White Rainbow Piercing the Sun' is extremely powerful, but it can be unleashed but not withdrawn, and it only has the strength of a single sword stroke. It's a last resort for a life-or-death struggle, a final 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 might also undergo some changes."

"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 broth Huang Rong had personally prepared, combined with Lu Chen's own recovery ability, in just two short quarters of an hour, Lu Chen—who had been so drained he couldn't even stand—had fully recovered, vigorous and spirited as a dragon or tiger.

He stood up, stretched his limbs, picked up a new wooden sword, walked to the center of the courtyard, performed a sword salute to Huang Rong, then assumed a stance and began practicing Maiden of Yue Swordplay move by move.

The moment he drew his sword this time, Huang Rong felt the atmosphere was vastly different from before.

Previously, although he had practiced the thirty-six moves of Maiden of Yue Swordplay until they were familiar, and under her stick-and-staff instruction could basically use them in actual combat, even developing Internal Energy, his techniques had still been too rigid and bound by convention, too full of artifice—of course, this was only natural for a beginner.

A beginner shouldn't think about being free and easy or improvising. First, honestly copy the pattern, practice the moves until they flow with utmost fluency, and only then can one attempt to be as unrestrained as a Celestial Horse.

But now, though it was just practice and the moves were still the same, Lu Chen's swordplay had taken on a sense of strict discipline, yet without losing a flowing, natural agility.

This completely different atmosphere almost made one think he was a seasoned veteran who had immersed himself in the Way of the Sword for several years, brimming with talent.

"Is this what they mean by 'one point understood, a hundred points clear'?"

Huang Rong watched Lu Chen dance with the sword without blinking, pondering in her heart:

"By comprehending a single ultimate technique and gaining a deeper insight into the essence of swordsmanship, his Maiden of Yue Swordplay mastery has also advanced by leaps and bounds?"

She guessed correctly.

The great improvement in Lu Chen's Maiden of Yue Swordplay mastery was precisely because he had comprehended "Sword One, White Rainbow Piercing the Sun."

The feedback from the "Sword Intent of Extermination of Immortals" was a pure "Sword Intent."

Being able to grasp principles from the "Sword Intent" and evolve the most basic "Stabbing Sword Style" into a fierce, lethal strike far surpassing his own cultivation level—then touching one point and understanding a hundred was only natural.

But simply practicing the moves didn't fully reveal how much Lu Chen's swordsmanship had truly improved.

To know the extent of his current sword mastery, he would have to actually test it in real combat.

Huang Rong was also getting excited. She grabbed a wooden sword, leaped into the courtyard, and grinned at Lu Chen:

"Come on, let's spar. Let me see just what level your Maiden of Yue Swordplay has reached now."

As she spoke, she thrust her sword diagonally toward Lu Chen's shoulder, also using a move from Maiden of Yue Swordplay.