The Man Betrayed by His Friends and the Sword

As for that copy of the "Twelve Story Building," Shan Xu took it and opened it. The handwriting was his own.

He had personally transcribed the sword art and given it to Ye Qiandeng.

"Does Brother Shi know swordsmanship?" Shan Xu suddenly asked.

"I don't."

"I saw that finger-sword move you used earlier, Brother Shi. It had quite a bit of form to it. I thought you knew swordsmanship too!" Shan Xu said.

"Just a way to stay alive. It's nothing worth mentioning," Shi Feizhe said dismissively.

"Indeed. A man wandering the martial world needs a few ways to stay alive!" Shan Xu said with a sigh. Then he tossed the "Twelve Story Building" to Shi Feizhe. "I have nothing of value on me, and I have no way to repay you for saving my life. Please accept this copy of the 'Twelve Story Building,' Brother Shi!"

"Oh!" Shi Feizhe caught it. He had actually looked through this sword manual earlier, but couldn't understand it. He might as well give it straight to Shan Xu.

He could at least understand a little of internal cultivation manuals and visualization methods.

But swordsmanship? He truly couldn't make heads or tails of it. The terminology was completely different from the cultivation methods he'd encountered before!

"Let me catch my breath first, then I'll explain it to you. The 'Twelve Story Building' is quite a test of comprehension and talent. If you can't learn it, Brother Shi, don't accuse me of holding back!" Shan Xu said with a smile, then began to regulate his breathing.

How could that be? I'm a Martial Arts Genius!

There's nothing I can't learn if you teach it to me!

Shi Feizhe had tremendous confidence in his talent for martial arts. It was like planting a willow branch without meaning to and having it grow into a tree. He hadn't expected to meet someone who would teach him swordsmanship.

Shan Xu took a long time to regulate his breathing—so long that Shi Feizhe had made more dry rations, lit a campfire, and watched the sky darken again. All the while, heat steamed from Shan Xu's body, his face turning blue one moment and purple the next. He even took several pills along the way.

At last, with a loud "Wah!" he spat out a mouthful of black blood, and his complexion improved considerably.

Seeing Shan Xu wipe his mouth, Shi Feizhe asked, "Brother Shan, have you forced all the poison out?"

"It isn't that simple. Bone-Corroding Gut-Severing Powder is highly toxic. I missed the best time to detoxify myself while fleeing for my life. The poison has already seeped into my internal organs. Even with the antidote, I'd need several days to recover. Without it, it'll probably take me months." Shan Xu shook his head.

"Still, I'm much better now. I'd say I've recovered about thirty or forty percent of my strength!" Shan Xu stood up and continued, "Now I'll explain the 'Twelve Story Building' to you, Brother Shi."

"Why don't you rest a little longer? There's no need to rush!" Shi Feizhe said, looking at him wobble unsteadily as he struggled to stand.

"By chance, I once saved someone, and he taught me this sword art."

"Afterward, the sword art drove a wedge between me and a friend. Then someone else saved me, and I made a new friend. After I taught him the sword art, he and I fell out too!"

"Brother Shi, you're the sixth friend to save my life!" Shan Xu said slowly.

???

Shi Feizhe's face was full of question marks. What kind of bizarre sword art was this?

And did it really come with a bonus karma of being betrayed by friends?

Like some kind of "Green-Hat Saber"?

From what Shan Xu said, after someone taught him swordsmanship, five friends had betrayed him in a row—and five friends had also saved him in a row.

The friends who saved him became the friends who betrayed him, over and over in a cycle.

"Could it be that you're the problem?" Shi Feizhe couldn't help saying after hearing Shan Xu's story.

Don't blame everything on the sword art. Maybe you're the problem!

You people—can't you ever look for the cause in yourselves?

You never take the blame for anything!

"Perhaps only when the 'Twelve Story Building' is truly passed on will my friends stop betraying me," Shan Xu said to himself, his head lowered.

"Clearly, you're just terrible at choosing friends!" Shi Feizhe said. "Friends are there to betray you, brothers are there to sell you out! Why not make fewer friends?"

"But in this martial world, without three or five close friends, without a single confidant, how lonely it is to stand all alone!" Shan Xu said with a deep sigh. "The world is so vast, yet in this martial world, there's only you."

"No one cares about you, no one understands you, and no one knows you. It's as if the martial world is the martial world, and you are you."

"To live a whole life so utterly alone—how lonely is that!"

"Brother Shi, you're probably still young. You don't understand that feeling yet."

What the hell would I know? You're just a textbook case of having too much time on your hands and feeling empty and lonely!

"Why not find yourself a sweet young lady? Then you won't be lonely!" Shi Feizhe advised. "Stop making friends. Every friend you make is trying to hack you to death!"

For people with too much time on their hands, the remedies were either working nine-to-nine, six days a week, or finding a woman.

"How do you know I haven't made friends with any female heroes of the martial world?" Shan Xu suddenly countered.

"Well..."

"They hack even harder!"

"..."

What kind of problem with the sword art? Eight or nine times out of ten, the problem was you!

You were a poor judge of character, unlucky in your choice of companions, and too trusting. And your swordsmanship was so exceptional it made people jealous.

It would be stranger if nobody tried to harm you!

"Brother Shi, listen carefully! The sword is the blade of the heart, and the heart is what lies within the sword..." Shan Xu drew his long sword, explaining the art as he demonstrated the moves.

Swordsmanship was different from ordinary cultivation methods—or rather, swordsmanship, spear techniques, and Blade Techniques were different from ordinary cultivation methods.

Ordinary cultivation methods trained the body and opened the "Blood Qi Barrier"; one visualized a deity and perfected the "Spirit Barrier." Finally, "Blood Qi Spirit" merged into one and manifested true qi. The true qi took on different attributes depending on the deity one visualized.

With the martial arts one practiced, one could fight barehanded with fists and kicks, or pick up a weapon and fight with it. It was all very flexible.

If that was the case, why were there separate sword arts? Because sword arts and similar martial arts were different from the rest.

Take the "Twelve Story Building," for example. It used several sets of sword forms to train the body and open the "Blood Qi Barrier." Then one visualized the sword within one's heart and honed it, turning the "spirit" within into a gleaming long sword. In this way, "Blood Qi Spirit" became one; body and spirit united, and person and sword became one. Only then was it true "swordsmanship"!

The person was the sword, and the sword was the person!

True qi was sword qi, and sword qi was true qi!

Different weapons symbolized different temperaments and dispositions, perfectly embodying the practitioner's "spirit"—no less than a deity.

Take the sword, for instance: it was a sacred weapon of antiquity, supreme and precious, revered by both humans and gods.

Arts like the "Great Sky Demon Saber" and the "Fire Phoenix Weeping Blood Spear" worked on the same principle.

After understanding this, Shi Feizhe gained new insight into the "True Origin Sword Finger Technique" he practiced. Did practicing the Sword Stance mean making one's form like a sword and turning the body into one? That would explain why the true qi in his body could become sword qi.

"Brother Shi, come dance the sword with me!" Seeing how engrossed Shi Feizhe was in learning, Shan Xu was overjoyed. He decided he would teach Shi Feizhe until he mastered it!

Only after someone had personally taught him did Shi Feizhe understand how different it was. Until then, he'd been muddling through and guessing, trying his hand at practicing. He'd swallowed plenty of things whole without properly understanding them.

Now Shan Xu had not only explained every detail of the "Twelve Story Building," but had also corrected Shi Feizhe's sword forms and movements as he learned, making them far more precise. Shi Feizhe had truly gained a lot.

One was willing to teach, the other willing to learn. It wasn't until the moon was high overhead that Shan Xu finished passing on the entire art.

"Brother Shi, if you practice diligently from now on, you'll surely make great strides in the 'Twelve Story Building'!" Shan Xu said with satisfaction as he watched Shi Feizhe.

After teaching the "Twelve Story Building" to someone else, he wouldn't be betrayed by his friends anymore!

Was it the person who was the problem, or the sword art? It had to be the person!