"Sword-Nourishing Art?" Young Su Xian was a straightforward fellow. Before he had even thought it through, the words had already left his mouth.
"No, it's the Blade-Nourishing Art. How could that flimsy trash, the Sword-Nourishing Art, compare to the Blade-Nourishing Art?" Giant Patriarch said gravely.
Su Xian nodded silently.
Song Shuhang's intuition told him there was a story behind this. Unfortunately, he was in Dream Entry right now. Otherwise, given his personality, he would definitely have found a way to probe the untold story between Giant Patriarch and the Sword-Nourishing Art, while trying his best not to court death.
Giant Patriarch began explaining the Blade-Nourishing Art to Su Xian, claiming that it could help people reach the state of 'Man-and-Blade Unity' more quickly.
There were three ways to nourish a blade.
Nourish it with intent, nourish it with qi, and nourish it with love.
The entire Blade-Nourishing Art was not particularly long. Giant Patriarch finished explaining it in just four hours.
Song Shuhang recalled the whole Blade-Nourishing Art and noticed something.
If he mentally replaced every instance of 'blade' in the Blade-Nourishing Art with 'sword,' the entire text still read perfectly naturally.
That was it!
Song Shuhang felt that he had more or less uncovered the truth.
Could the Blade-Nourishing Art actually be the Sword-Nourishing Art, with the patriarch replacing 'sword' with 'blade' to save face?
Moreover, after listening to the entire Blade-Nourishing Art, nourishing a blade with intent and qi were both easy to understand, but the final step, nourishing it with love, seemed rather out of place, like an inferior addition tacked onto a fine work.
In fact, nourishing a blade with love was similar to the 'Lover-Blade Zen Meditation Method' the patriarch had initially taught Su Xian: treating the blade as a lover and caring for it