The morning wind carried threads of chill.
It swept up the dampness of morning dew and washed over Lu Wu-bing.
A half-round red sun leaped from the clouds at the horizon.
"Ha..."
Lu Wu-bing thrust out with his sword.
His entire body suddenly shuddered.
Ripples spread simultaneously across his skin and hair.
Within Orchid Fragrance Courtyard, a deep, distant rumble of thunder sounded, there yet not there.
The ripples followed wherever the sword edge passed, merging into the wind and spreading in every direction, shaking the bamboo leaves until they rustled.
"Two hundred thousand sword thrusts... Since awakening the Heaven Rewards Diligence fate, eighteen whole days have passed, and I've practiced two hundred thousand sword thrusts."
Lu Wu-bing stopped practicing and stood quietly where he was.
His heart filled with boundless emotion.
The insights gained from every thrust had finally, upon reaching the critical point, transformed into a long scroll of life.
A streak of light merged into his mind and carved itself into his soul.
[Forty years a bitter cultivator, the green serpent beneath his sleeve longs to become a dragon.]
At that moment, it was as though he had truly practiced swordsmanship for decades, practicing only one stance, only one sword.
One sword gave birth to ten thousand swords; ten thousand swords returned to one sword.
Lu Wu-bing felt as though a lifetime had passed. Looking again at this "old companion" in his hand, he found it incomparably familiar.
The sword was no longer merely a sword. It was a habit, a persistence.
It was his life.
Lowering his head to look at the Changfeng Sword, Lu Wu-bing sighed inwardly.
This sword could not truly be called a fine sword. His father, Lu Changfeng, was not much of a sword lover either. He cherished the silver needles in his hand far more than any blade.
At most, this blue-edged sword called the Changfeng Sword was only slightly better than the standard weapons commonly found in the martial world.
Holding this longsword, Lu Wu-bing had traveled thousands of miles, crossing mountains and ridges and enduring battle after battle. Although he rarely clashed blades head-on with his opponents, this sword had inevitably suffered some wear.
He had already spotted three chips the size of grains of rice.
That did not matter.
After completing two hundred thousand sword thrusts, under Heaven Rewards Diligence's utterly unreasonable reward, he not only felt that the sword had fused with his flesh and blood, like another arm of his own.
It had also formed an inseverable bond with his spirit.
That sense of affinity was like an old friend who had spent decades at his side, their understanding resting in their hearts, their lives entrusted to one another.
"So this is what a perfected thrusting sword technique feels like."
Lu Wu-bing stepped forward, and sword light flashed faintly.
This time, it was neither a streak of white silk nor a point of dazzling light, but thunder in his palm, transforming into a halo.
"Buzz..."
He could distinctly sense that the sword tip seemed to have pierced through a thick barrier.
As the thunderous sound rang out, another arc of light formed around the blade.
Wherever the arc passed—
Bamboo branches and leaves silently shattered into powder.
A point of piercing wind shot three feet straight from the sword.
With a pfft, it pierced through the bamboo stalk as though passing through a sheet of thin paper.
At this moment, he could not only clearly sense the distribution of force along the sword body and the weight of force within the sword's momentum.
He could even sense the streams of air stirred by the sword move, squeezing, colliding, bursting, and roaring...
"Not only has the sword speed nearly doubled again, its force has become more condensed. As the strength of my blood, muscles, sinews, and bones is completely unified, I can also mobilize all of my Dripping Water Force internal energy.
"Beyond those two forces, there is another spiritual ripple hidden deep within my mind, invisible and untouchable.
"It, too, has attached itself to the sword.
"This ripple carries the flavor of pressing onward without retreat, of being indestructible and unstoppable.
"This is a true transformation in swordsmanship. Without spiritual will bolstering it, it would be impossible."
After trying another two thrusts, Lu Wu-bing roughly understood what Sword Draws Thunder truly was.
It was the breaking of the sound barrier.
It was entirely different from the sword howl produced when internal energy clung to the blade.
One was the sharp sound of cutting through wind.
The other was moving far faster than sound, smashing through layer upon layer of resistance.
Having practiced thrusting swords for so long, he understood very clearly that once swordsmanship reached the ultimate speed, gaining even a fraction more speed was as difficult as climbing to heaven.
Especially when the speed of an accomplished swift sword was doubled once more.
The increase in might brought by speed alone was an utterly terrifying thing.
"It gives me the feeling that no matter what stands in my path, I can pierce through it with one sword..."
Though it was clearly the same sword move, it already felt completely different.
It was an elevation from technique to intent, a transformation from the mundane to transcendence.
The thrusting sword stance had now reached complete perfection, with no more secrets remaining in his heart.
Lu Wu-bing silently felt the harmonious intent in his heart, as though every thrusting technique under heaven lay within it, and another strange insight arose.
"Huh? I barely practiced it, yet this Flowing Wind Returning Snow has somehow become both spiritually and physically complete. Has it stepped into the Proficient Realm in a single stride?"
Of the Thirteen Life-Snatching Swords, Lu Wu-bing had expended countless painstaking efforts on White Rainbow Pierces the Sun.
He had simply had no time to practice the other twelve swords.
Originally, he had planned to gain the ability to protect himself, become completely safe, and only then shift from specializing in one technique to developing comprehensively.
Yet once the thrusting sword stance reached perfection, he could look down from the heights. When he performed the other twelve sword forms again, they felt effortless and natural.
The previous sword had still been at the Familiar Realm, but by the next sword, he had already grasped its true essence and stepped into the Proficient Realm in one stride.
To reach mastery, he might still need to practice diligently and allow his body and spirit to adapt to the sword move.
But reaching the Proficient Realm could be accomplished in the blink of an eye.
That was already an extraordinary thing.
After trying Flowing Wind Returning Snow, Lu Wu-bing performed Looking Back at the Moon, Autumn Leaves Before the Hall, Parting Waves Chasing Waves... and discovered in astonishment that they were all the same.
"The gains are too great. How much time will this save me?"
Of the thirteen sword forms, one had reached perfection, while the other twelve had all become proficient...
If Senior Sister Xiaolan learned of this, she would probably be so envious that her eyes turned into little rabbits.
Haha.
Lu Wu-bing laughed soundlessly and let out a long breath.
In truth, he had just been struggling to choose.
After perfecting the sword intent, should he continue cultivating White Rainbow Pierces the Sun? Or turn back and practice the other sword forms?
Now, there was no need to worry.
All sword arts and sword forms were ultimately interconnected.
It was not as though practicing thrusting swords offered no help at all with sweeping, cleaving, or other sword techniques.
In truth, all sword forms complemented one another, pushing each other forward together.
A sword was ultimately only a method of wielding a weapon.
"After perfecting my swordsmanship, if I use the Heaven Rewards Diligence talent to forcefully practice the thrusting sword stance again, I can actually make White Rainbow Pierces the Sun break through once more..."
After sensing the realm of his swordsmanship, Lu Wu-bing practiced the thrusting sword stance again and found that he had begun gaining strands of insight once more.
In other words, the progress bar had started moving again.
Only this time, the experience required was rather excessive.
Excessive to an absurd degree.
"Could it be that I can break through to the next realm? Senior Sister Xiaolan never mentioned whether there were further levels. Well, perhaps she does not know either.
"Still, breaking through after reaching perfection has clearly surpassed the limits of existing swordsmanship. I'll call it Limit Break."
This time, he needed to reach four hundred thousand instances of wholehearted sword practice.
That meant another two hundred thousand times.
It was not really that many.
If he spent three shichen, six hours, practicing swordsmanship every day, he would only need twenty-four days to break through.
But...
After thrusting a few times with perfected sword intent, though he had not used his full strength, Lu Wu-bing still sensed something amiss.
"My body's strength is still a little lacking."
Before you continue