Just Watch

Suddenly, a faint crack sounded within him.

The Spiritual Power that had lingered at First Realm Level Three for so long seemed to find an outlet. It surged through his meridians and broke through the none-too-sturdy barrier in an instant.

There was no earth-shaking spectacle, no agonizing struggle.

It all happened naturally, as though the moment had finally come.

Gu Chengming froze, then felt the unmistakably stronger Spiritual Power flowing through him, along with a refreshing sense of ease from head to toe.

First Realm Level Four.

He had broken through.

The bottleneck that had plagued this body for three years had been crossed during an utterly ordinary afternoon of cultivation, as casually as if it were nothing.

Gu Chengming clenched his fist and felt the new strength within him.

It was only a small step, but for him, it was an entirely new beginning.

[Hundred Bones Ming watched you break through and let out a long cry in his heart.]

[Hundred Bones Ming Favorability +3]

[Current Favorability: 25]

[Hundred Bones Ming thought: My fate is mine to command, not heaven's.]

[Gu Chengming, show me your limits!]

For fuck's sake, was this meme ever going to end?

P.S. Here's the third update.

Same as before, meow: another update when recommendation votes hit a thousand.

Chapter 25: Just Watch

Meanwhile.

Ever since Elder of the Ministry of Works Liu Enchuan returned from Gu Chengming's little courtyard, his good mood had been plain for all to see.

The face he usually kept stern had thawed like ice in a spring breeze. The passing steward disciples exchanged looks and whispered among themselves. Had the Elder of the Ministry of Works made some great breakthrough in cultivation lately? Or had some fortunate opportunity fallen into his lap?

In a sense, he really had found a treasure.

The first thing Liu Enchuan did upon returning to the Department of Merit was pull up every record on Gu Chengming.

When he learned that Gu Chengming had not claimed any resources in his three years since joining, he thought, Just as I expected.

If Gu Chengming had been painstakingly tempering his Sword Intent without seeking resources, it made much more sense that he was still at First Realm Level Three after all this time.

In his excitement, Liu Enchuan had even considered taking him as a disciple.

He had already begun planning the disciple-acceptance ceremony in his head, imagining how he would show off before the other elders.

But once he calmed down, he snuffed out the idea.

Liu Enchuan might have been the Elder of the Ministry of Works and a Third Realm cultivator, but he knew his own capabilities.

Most of his cultivation had been built up with time and resources. His swordsmanship was practiced, but "practiced" was all it was. He had long since lost the keen edge that drove him to push forward.

Teaching an ordinary disciple would be one thing, but Gu Chengming was a piece of uncut jade...

"Forget it."

Liu Enchuan sighed and shook his head.

"If I forced him to become my disciple and taught him my middling ways, I'd only lead him astray and ruin a fine piece of jade."

A talent like this needed a true Great Cultivator to guide him.

As he thought this, hearty laughter came from outside the hall.

"Junior brother, I hear you've been in good spirits these past couple of days. Has something good happened?"

His voice arrived before he did.

A moment later, an old man in gray robes stepped inside. His hair and beard were white, but his face was ruddy.

He was the Great Elder of Huiyuan Gate and Liu Enchuan's senior brother, Ren Wencai.

"Senior brother, you're here."

Liu Enchuan hurried to his feet to greet him and personally poured him a cup of Spirit Tea.

"I wouldn't call it good news. I just discovered something interesting and was hoping to hear your thoughts."

They sat down and chatted briefly about recent affairs in the sect.

Ren Wencai took a sip of tea. Seeing Liu Enchuan look torn between holding his tongue and showing off, he could not help laughing.

"Come on, stop keeping it to yourself. What has made you this happy?"

Seeing that the moment had come, Liu Enchuan stopped teasing the answer.

He set down his teacup, his expression turning serious.

"Senior brother, do you believe someone could have a low cultivation level yet fight above his realm through swordsmanship, with an understanding of the Sword Dao far beyond ordinary people?"

Ren Wencai paused, then laughed.

"Surely you're joking, junior brother? Fighting above one's realm is uncommon, but it does happen. But someone at a low realm whose understanding of the Sword Dao far exceeds others? That..."

It might have been possible in another sect, but with the Wenjian Sect's cultivation methods, one's Sword Dao and cultivation levels were closely linked.

"I didn't believe it at first either."

Liu Enchuan gave a wry smile, then recounted Jiang Lu's report and how he had visited Gu Chengming under the name "Liu En" to test him. He left nothing out.

As he described Gu Chengming's swordsmanship, which clung to its opponent like a disease eating into the bone, and that final strike as elusive as an antelope hanging its horns, wonder still rang in Liu Enchuan's voice.

"If I hadn't relied on my deeper cultivation to force a change in my move, I might have thoroughly embarrassed myself."

When he had heard the whole account, the smile gradually faded from Ren Wencai's face. Thought took its place.

He knew his junior brother's character well.

Liu Enchuan had always been practical, even somewhat rigid. He was certainly not one to exaggerate or make empty claims.

If he spoke this strongly, and had even lowered himself to test Gu Chengming in person, then the matter was almost certainly true.

Seeing his senior brother's interest, Liu Enchuan struck while the iron was hot.

"Senior brother, the boy is extraordinarily gifted, and his character is rarer still. I know my own learning is too shallow to teach him. But you're different. You've spent a hundred years immersed in the Sword Dao. If you took him as your final disciple and guided him carefully, he would surely become a pillar of our Huiyuan Gate!"

Liu Enchuan had worked it all out.

If his senior brother took Gu Chengming as a disciple, Gu Chengming would be his martial nephew. By a generous reckoning, that made him one of their own. Why let a good thing flow into someone else's fields?

To his surprise, Ren Wencai pondered the suggestion for a moment, then slowly shook his head.

"No."

"Why?" Liu Enchuan froze, then asked urgently, "Is his realm too low for you, senior brother?"

"Not at all."

Ren Wencai waved a hand.

"Junior brother, you see one side of it, but not the other."

"If what you say is true—that he has gone three years without claiming resources, willingly tempered his Sword Intent at a low realm, and developed swordsmanship that flows as naturally as if born that way—then the path he follows may not be an ordinary one."

Liu Enchuan looked puzzled. "What path is it, then?"

Ren Wencai drew a deep breath and slowly spoke four words.

"Ancient Bitter Sword."

"Bitter Sword?"

Liu Enchuan knitted his brows. The term was unfamiliar to him.

Ren Wencai nodded and explained slowly.

"Among ancient sword cultivators, some drew in the essence of the sun and moon, while others tempered themselves with heavenly materials and earthly treasures. The Bitter Sword lineage, however, walked a wholly different path."

"Its teaching went: the more the body suffers, the firmer the will; the lonelier the heart, the sharper the sword! This was no method of forging a weapon, but an art of tempering the heart to attain the Dao, using boundless hardship as a whetstone to hone that spark of Innate Spiritual Clarity Sword Intent within."

At this, Ren Wencai looked at Liu Enchuan.

"Cultivators of this lineage often advanced extremely slowly at first. They might go years, even decades, without progressing an inch. Others looked at them and saw rotten wood and stubborn stone. In truth, they were gathering momentum. They were nurturing their swords."

"And once they reached that critical point..."

Ren Wencai paused, a trace of remembrance flashing through his eyes.

"The Wenjian Sect once had a Great Cultivator who trained this way. He broke through three major realms in a single night. As the saying goes: 'Tribulations Abound, Sword Sings.'"

Liu Enchuan knew whom his senior brother meant: the true cultivator known as the Life-Defying Tribulation-Slaying True Monarch. Looking back over the Wenjian Sect's history since its founding, that man had left a bold, vivid mark upon it.

He swallowed, his throat suddenly dry.

"Senior brother, do you mean... Gu Chengming is following that man's path too?"

"Almost certainly."

Ren Wencai stroked his beard, looking profoundly assured.

"If someone took him as a disciple in the usual way and taught him a Cultivation Method, it would disrupt his Dao Heart instead. For a Bitter Sword seedling like him, the best way to teach him is not to teach him at all. Let him find enlightenment in hardship and hone himself in desperate straits."

Liu Enchuan nodded again and again, a chill of belated fear running through him.

"Thank goodness I didn't act rashly. As expected, senior brother, you've seen far more of the world than I have."

If he had taken Gu Chengming as a disciple on a whim, fed him pills every day, and forced him to practice flashy sword moves, wouldn't he have become the man who smothered a genius?

But then Liu Enchuan frowned again, worry showing on his face.

"Everything you say is right, senior brother. But however powerful the Ancient Bitter Sword is, it depends on a sudden awakening after a long accumulation of effort. And right now... the sect's Disciple Assessment is almost upon us."

Liu Enchuan pointed at the report on the table.

"The assessment has a strict requirement. Anyone whose realm falls short is eliminated outright. Gu Chengming is only at First Realm Level Three. No matter how skilled he is with a sword, he won't pass under the rules. If he's expelled, won't all this talk of the Bitter Sword and sudden enlightenment come to nothing?"

Ren Wencai merely smiled calmly and waved a hand.

"Don't worry. I'll think of a way."

Liu Enchuan was horrified to hear that.

"Senior brother! Don't do anything reckless!"

He lowered his voice. "An Inner Sect Elder will personally oversee the Disciple Assessment. If we're caught showing favoritism and cheating, how will Huiyuan Gate ever hold its head up in the sect again? We'd lose all face!"

"What sort of person do you take your senior brother for?"

Ren Wencai could not help laughing at the sight of his junior brother acting as though disaster were imminent.

He reached out and patted Liu Enchuan's shoulder, signaling him to calm down.

"Rest assured. I won't show favoritism or cheat."

"Just watch."

P.S.:

Returning the recommendation for a good friend's book. It's a wonderful, warm, healing Bocchi the Rock! fanfic.

Synopsis:

The guitar hero Hitori Gotoh had fallen.

After a disastrous attempt to form a band, he had developed serious psychological scars and wanted nothing more to do with anything related to bands.

Then, one day, he discovered an extra pink hammer snake in his room—

Hitori Gotoh: "...?"

Hitori Gotoh: "Ah... ah... h-hello..."

Hitori Gotoh: "Ah... hello..."

Things were awkward for a while.