A Blade of Grass Severing Sun, Moon, and Stars

Su Changyu was stunned.

He had walked the path of the sword for twenty years. He had begun practicing swordsmanship at eight, and the strongest sword cultivator he had ever seen could only split a massive boulder with one strike.

A blade of grass severing sun, moon, and stars?

How ridiculously pretentious was that?

Using a blade of grass to cut down the sun, moon, and stars in the sky—he did not even dare imagine such a scene.

Pretentious.

Utterly pretentious.

Good. Very good. Damn good.

That line was excellent. It belonged to Su now.

After secretly drawing in a sharp breath, Su Changyu's expression did not change in the slightest. He regained his composure and looked at Ye Ping again.

This little junior brother was clearly cut from the same cloth as him.

They were both little masters of pretentiousness.

This was not good news.

If the Qingyun Dao Sect only allowed one person to be pretentious, then that person had to be him.

No one was allowed to steal his position as the pretentious Eldest Senior Brother, no matter who it was.

"Junior Brother, the path of cultivation values steady progress. You are aiming too high."

Su Changyu spoke, his words carrying a trace of reproach.

In an instant, Ye Ping lowered his head, looking somewhat flustered.

"I spoke without thinking. I hope Senior Brother will not blame me. From now on, I will never speak carelessly again."

Ye Ping was a little flustered. He had thought such words would earn him praise, but he had not expected his senior brother to reproach him instead.

In that instant, Ye Ping suddenly understood.

In Su Changyu's eyes, he was merely an ordinary new disciple, a mundane disciple. How could he possibly know so much? A blade of grass severing sun, moon, and stars? Such words could not possibly come from the mouth of a newly initiated disciple.

So he truly had spoken recklessly.

Yet when those words were spoken, Su Changyu shook his head.

"That is unnecessary. I understand that you have lofty ambitions. I only hope you will proceed step by step and build a solid foundation. If you gain further insights later, you may tell Senior Brother, but do not speak of them carelessly before others, lest you invite trouble. Understand?"

Su Changyu said.

How could such a pretentious line go unspoken? If you did not say it, how would I act pretentious while roaming the world later?

You could say it, but only to me.

Su Changyu thought to himself.

"Enough. Senior Brother has already learned of your talent. Now I will teach you true swordsmanship."

Soon, Su Changyu stopped wasting time.

He lightly jumped down from the boulder, looking incomparably nimble.

Upon hearing this, Ye Ping became even more excited.

True swordsmanship?

Peerless swordsmanship?

Ye Ping was thrilled.

He was delighted and filled with anticipation.

Su Changyu did not utter a single unnecessary word. Holding the Three-Foot Green Edge Sword, he flicked out a sword flower, then stared at the ground, closed his eyes, and remained silent for a long while.

After the time it took an incense stick to burn, Su Changyu suddenly made his move. His longsword carved a Sword Mark into the ground.

For a moment, stone chips flew everywhere, and then a straight Sword Mark appeared upon the ground.

Huff!

Su Changyu let out a breath.

Then he looked at Ye Ping and spoke slowly.

"Ye Ping, I have engraved peerless Sword Intent into this ground. Do not underestimate this Sword Mark. It bears your Senior Brother's strongest Sword Moves."

"Now, study it carefully and see how many Sword Moves it contains. For these seven days, aside from your daily chores, you must observe this Sword Mark here. Not only must you comprehend the Sword Moves, more importantly, you must comprehend the Sword Momentum within it, and ultimately comprehend the Sword Intent. After seven days, Senior Brother will come assess you and see whether you truly possess talent for the sword."

Su Changyu spoke indifferently.

After saying this, he turned and left, taking not a single cloud with him. As carefree as the wind, he left behind Ye Ping, whose face was full of shock.

Su Changyu left.

He had already departed from the Back Cliff.

An uncontainable smile spread across his face.

He was delighted. Not only had he bluffed this little junior brother, he had also gotten such a pretentious line for free.

It sent Su Changyu's mood soaring beyond the clouds.

As for Sword Moves?

He had merely slashed a random line. If anyone could see Sword Moves from that, then ghosts truly existed.

And Sword Momentum? Sword Intent?

Those were even more impossible. If Ye Ping claimed he could comprehend Sword Moves and sword techniques, there was still some possibility, since Su Changyu genuinely knew them. But Sword Momentum and Sword Intent?

That was simply impossible.

What was Sword Intent?

The intent of the sword path.

Sword techniques were finite, while Sword Intent was boundless. True masters of the sword would form Sword Intent that belonged to them. The more Sword Intent one grasped, the stronger one's swordsmanship became. Put differently, Sword Intent was akin to a kind of enhancement, bestowed upon Sword Moves, and not something ordinary people could master.

Therefore, Ye Ping could never comprehend Sword Intent.

Su Changyu was merely doing this to stall Ye Ping.

Even Qingzhou's foremost sword sect would never have a new disciple comprehend Sword Intent from the very beginning.

This method was indeed somewhat underhanded, but it was a move born of helplessness.

If he were truly made to teach Ye Ping Sword Moves, then honestly, with his few trifling tricks, even he would blush with shame. Teach someone else?

He would be leading a child astray at best.

So rather than teaching nonsense, it was better to let Ye Ping pass some time on his own. At the very least, he would not teach him crookedly, right?

At that thought, the guilt in Su Changyu's heart faded considerably.

Just then.

A figure approached him from ahead. It was Second Junior Brother Xu Luochen.

Su Changyu immediately concealed the smile on his face and called out to Xu Luochen.

"Second Junior Brother."

Su Changyu called.

Hearing him, Xu Luochen immediately turned his gaze toward Su Changyu.

"Eldest Senior Brother, what is it?"

Xu Luochen was somewhat curious, unable to understand why his eldest senior brother had called him.

"Second Junior Brother, tell Senior Brother this: do you know how powerful the pinnacle of the sword path is?"

Su Changyu asked Xu Luochen.

Xu Luochen froze slightly, scratched the back of his head, and looked baffled.

What did the pinnacle of the sword path have to do with me?

I do not practice swordsmanship. I refine pills.

But since his eldest senior brother had asked, Xu Luochen could not refuse to answer. He could only shake his head. "I do not know."

Hearing this, Su Changyu spoke calmly.

"Then Senior Brother will tell you today."

"When true swordsmanship reaches its pinnacle."

"A blade of grass can sever sun, moon, and stars."

Su Changyu spoke with an indifferent expression, his words brimming with aloofness and coldness.

Xu Luochen could not help but freeze.

Although he did not understand the sword path.

Those words did indeed sound shocking.

Especially when paired with Su Changyu's bearing, they inexplicably inspired reverence.

In Xu Luochen's mind, a scene even appeared.

Within that scene, Su Changyu lightly pinched a blade of wild grass, then cut down every star in the heavens.

Hiss!

Thinking of that scene, Xu Luochen could not help trembling all over.

Was that not far too pretentious?

Xu Luochen was stunned.

He was unable to pull himself free from his own imagination.

When Su Changyu saw the expression on his second junior brother's face, he secretly rejoiced even more.

Amazing! Amazing! So damn amazing!

Yet the refinement he had cultivated over the years kept Su Changyu wearing that aloof expression.

Su Changyu said nothing. He simply left, leaving behind Xu Luochen with a bewildered face.

Only after a long while.

Did Xu Luochen come back to his senses, but by then Su Changyu was no longer there.

"Eldest Senior Brother is getting better and better at being pretentious. If I did not know he was utterly useless at swordsmanship, I might have believed him."

"But that line really is pretentious enough—one blade of grass severing sun, moon, and stars."

Xu Luochen muttered to himself, a trace of shock still in his eyes. After all, those words truly carried an air of dominance.

As for Ye Ping.

To be honest, he did not doubt a single word Su Changyu had said.

Ye Ping was only worried that he had never practiced swordsmanship before. After watching for seven days, he might not be able to make out anything at all.

Yet even so, Ye Ping obediently stared at the Sword Mark on the ground.

If he did not try, how could he know whether he had talent or not?

Thus, Ye Ping stared at the Sword Mark on the ground for a full hour.

Honestly, after an hour, Ye Ping had not seen anything at all.

By the end, he even felt restless and irritated.

But just then.

As a cool breeze swept past.

Ye Ping suddenly felt a burst of refreshing clarity.

The next moment, when he looked at the Sword Mark again.

In an instant, a different realization emerged.