The bluestone slabs in the backyard still glistened with the dampness left by last night. Several old locust trees encircled an open space, making it seem like a natural training ground.
Wang Gan gripped the Mountain-Cleaving Saber tightly. His hunched back straightened a little, and his face grew stern. In an instant, his whole presence turned as sharp as a blade's edge.
"The moves aren't difficult. What matters is the momentum and the intent to kill. Watch closely."
Qin Meng held his breath, his gaze fixed intently on him.
"In battle, what matters is channeling your blood and strength. The moves need only be simple and deadly. There's no room for the slightest flourish." Wang Gan assumed a stance as he explained in a deep voice.
"Besides strengthening your body, this saber technique teaches you how to exert force and channel the power of your blood and qi, pouring every bit of your strength into the blade—"
Starting with how to grip the saber, he explained in detail how to circulate his blood and qi and exert his strength. Every word seemed tempered on the battlefield.
When he finished, Wang Gan exhaled and let out a shout, bringing his saber down in a swift arc.
In an instant, saber light flashed through the courtyard. A sharp wind-whistle suddenly rose, carrying the faint rumble of muffled thunder.
The technique followed the methods of battlefield combat through and through—chopping, cleaving, lifting, hacking. Each move was simple yet brutally sharp, without a single unnecessary motion, wrapped in a murderous aura so fierce it seemed to embody slaughter itself.
It was like a fierce tiger bursting from its cage, its ferocity unleashed.
Qin Meng held his breath, his eyes locked firmly on Wang Gan.
He didn't miss a single one of the old man's movements: every step, every shift of his weight, every exertion of his hips and waist, every transition in the saber's momentum.
Those details seared themselves into his mind like branding irons. They also corroborated what he had just been taught, and he instinctively rehearsed the movements in his head.
Half a cup of tea passed in the blink of an eye.
Wang Gan abruptly drew his saber back and stood still. His breathing had grown labored, and he coughed as he panted.
"Cough, cough... I'm old. I'm not what I used to be. Meng, take a turn. Let me see you practice."
Qin Meng suppressed the thoughts churning in his mind, gripped the Zhanma Dao, and stepped into the courtyard.
He focused on recalling the saber moves he had just witnessed, sank into a horse stance, and swung—
At that very moment, something strange happened.
Deep in his consciousness, the dormant Ancient Panel suddenly trembled. It shifted from its upright form, unfolding into a flat screen of light.
Light blossomed, and a translucent figure took shape on the screen. Holding a long saber, it began to demonstrate the moves one by one—
It was none other than the Evil-Slaying Saber Technique Wang Gan had just taught him!
But what shook Qin Meng even more was that the translucent figure performed the saber technique more smoothly and more fiercely than Wang Gan had.
Every movement was precise down to the slightest fraction. The paths of blood and qi circulation, the rhythm of muscular exertion, the secrets and timing behind each shift in the saber's momentum...
It all appeared in a form that was almost "the Dao," so clear it made his scalp tingle. He could even control the speed with a mere thought.
His Golden Finger... had quietly begun to show its power?
"Meng, don't let your mind wander when you're practicing," Wang Gan reminded him from the side.
Qin Meng snapped back to his senses and answered, "Yes." He forced down his excitement and tightened his grip on the handle again, but this time, he didn't blindly imitate.
Instead, he practiced once according to his own understanding, familiarizing himself with the technique. Then he used the translucent figure in the depths of his consciousness as a reference, continually adjusting his movements, breathing, and even the finer details of how he exerted his strength.
At first, his movements were stiff and unfamiliar, capturing the form but not the spirit.
But with that flawless model to guide him—and with the considerable saber expertise he had possessed in his previous life—his progress was astonishingly fast.
The path of the blade through the air grew smoother and more fluid. His steps grew steadier, and he gradually found the rhythm for exerting force through his hips and waist.
Little by little, his movements flowed more freely, and his swings grew faster and faster.
In less than half an incense stick's time, he had already captured seven or eight tenths of the form Wang Gan had demonstrated.
"This... this..." Watching from the side, Wang Gan's eyes widened.
He remembered clearly how long it had taken his grandson, Wang Tieniu, to learn the technique. He had spent three whole days teaching the boy, and even then, the lad had barely memorized the moves.
But Qin Meng—he had only watched once, and Wang Gan hadn't even started correcting him. Yet he had already memorized the moves and imitated them so well?
And what shocked him even more was still to come.
In the courtyard, Qin Meng had become completely immersed in the practice. The power of his blood and qi surged through him naturally, following the saber moves as his mind entered a strange state in which he forgot the distinction between himself and the world around him.
Just then, the light screen of the panel deep in his consciousness changed again.
Another translucent figure quietly appeared.
This figure was unmistakably practicing Qin Meng's own Eight Blade Breaking Techniques, which he had mastered to the Lesser Mastery stage.
The two figures practiced two different saber techniques on the screen at once. At first, the styles remained distinct, but gradually their movements began to overlap and blend.
Certain techniques for exerting force corroborated one another.
Certain secrets of shifting footwork complemented one another.
The ruthless intent of certain killing moves melded together as if they had always belonged—
A familiar yet entirely new, profound understanding surged into Qin Meng's mind like a tide.
His whole body shuddered.
The saber in his hand changed course without conscious thought.
It had the Eight Blade Breaking Techniques' vicious cunning, as well as the Evil-Slaying Saber Technique's fierce, forceful might.
The whistle of the saber wind suddenly swelled, its roar nearly drowning out the sound of Wang Gan's earlier display. Qin Meng's figure was like a vicious tiger pouncing down from the mountains, a savage, baleful aura bursting forth with every swing, chilling the soul.
His ferocity far surpassed what Wang Gan had demonstrated!
Watching from the side, Wang Gan seemed to smell blood. His hand tightened around his saber hilt before he even realized it, his knuckles turning white. A storm was already raging in his heart.
"That murderous aura... Only a veteran who has fought on the battlefield for years could develop it. Could this boy have been born to practice martial arts?"
He gazed at the figure swinging the saber and, in a daze, seemed to see a dust-covered piece of jade shedding its rough outer shell and revealing a dazzling brilliance.
Qin Meng was completely immersed in the world of saber techniques.
He didn't even notice the few lines of pale golden text that quietly appeared before his eyes:
[Unranked Martial Skill: Eight Blade Breaking Techniques, fusing with a Mystic Grade Mid-Tier Martial Skill...] [Eight Blade Breaking Techniques—Lesser Mastery (430/1000) → 450/1000 → 480/1000] [Martial Skill Progress: 47%...53%...61%...]
A mighty force surged endlessly from within him, coursing through his limbs and bones. Qin Meng's movements grew more agile, and his saber technique became more refined.
He didn't know how much time had passed when a sudden, intense emptiness rose from his stomach. He had consumed too much of his blood and qi, and his face was beginning to pale.
Qin Meng quickly lowered his saber and stopped. He hurried over to the basket nearby and took out the oil-paper parcel inside. It contained a boiled Blood-Scaled Deer heart he had prepared beforehand.
He tore open the oil paper and took a big bite.
The meat was coarse and carried a heavy, gamey stench. He forced down his discomfort and swallowed it in a few ravenous gulps.
Not long after the Exotic Beast heart entered his stomach, a scorching warmth unfurled there and flowed through his limbs and bones like spring water. The energy he had spent practicing the saber quickly returned.
"Exotic Beast blood and flesh really are nourishing," Qin Meng muttered. He wiped his mouth and, without another thought, stepped back into the courtyard to practice.
Deep in his consciousness, the two figures on the screen had nearly merged into one.
Saber light rose once more.
This time, his technique had changed completely.
It combined the Evil-Slaying Saber Technique's righteous, forceful might with the Eight Blade Breaking Techniques' merciless slaughter. The two relied on each other, blending together seamlessly.
A vast web of saber light filled the air. Saber qi crisscrossed in every direction, carving marks of varying depths into the ground as dust and gravel flew.
Wang Gan had quietly retreated to the courtyard gate.
Just then, Wang Tieniu returned with a load of bamboo. Grandfather and grandson stood shoulder to shoulder, both staring wide-eyed at the figure in the courtyard. The saber's keen edge left them astonished, and for a moment, they forgot how to speak.
As Qin Meng's understanding of the two saber techniques deepened, his mastery of them grew on the screen, and the fusion progress bar began to climb at a breakneck pace—
[Eight Blade Breaking Techniques—Great Mastery (5/2000)] [Evil-Slaying Saber Technique—Dengtang Realm (1/200)] [Eight Blade Breaking Techniques · Martial Skill Progress: 72%...85%...94%...]
At last, as he mastered both saber techniques, the force surging inside him broke through a certain barrier with a thunderous crash at the peak of one swing.
Like a river bursting through its banks, it poured into his limbs and bones.
His meridians widened. His bones gave off a faint hum, and his muscle fibers quietly grew stronger.
Two lines of pale golden text blazed into view before his eyes:
[Martial skill fusion complete.] [Eight Blade Breaking Techniques has advanced into a ranked martial skill: Evil-Slaying Blade-Breaking Saber]
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