Outside Song Family Mountain City, at the riverside dock.
Li Su sat on the ground with a jar of wine beside him, gazing quietly at the river that flowed from the west to the east.
He had been practicing the Narcissus Blade Formula for over a month.
With his extremely high level of cultivation and the added advantage of his unimaginable world talent, Li Su's comprehension was just as Heavenly Blade had predicted—he possessed nine out of ten talents in the world.
In terms of enlightenment, once Li Su has a foundation, he can climb higher.
Besides, there's a master swordsman standing right in front of me?
For Li Su, swordsmanship was naturally a natural and effortless skill.
In fact, Heavenly Blade) misunderstood one thing.
That means Li Su's Narcissus Blade Art has not reached its limit; to improve, he needs to reach the Dao.
Rather, he was already standing at the threshold of the Dao of the Sword. The gate to the Dao was completely unobstructed before him. If he wanted, he could push open the gate of the Narcissus Blade Formula and touch the Dao of the Narcissus Saber.
This is undoubtedly terrifying.
Even in the world of Twin Dragons, there are many grandmasters, and some are even monstrous, like Xiang Yutian, who has lived for hundreds of years.
To say that one can break through the barrier simply by standing at the threshold of the Tao and having the will to do so is an exaggeration.
But that's just how Li Su is.
Under the weighted system of the world, his talent is so unreasonable that he can open the door to a realm that ordinary people cannot reach in their entire lives with his own will.
That's why Li Su stopped and hesitated.
Although the Heavenly Blade only transmits the Narcissus Blade Art, not the Heavenly Blade Way, the principles of sword cultivation are contained within it.
The art of swordsmanship!
The principle of Heavenly Blade is very simple, just as it is written in the novel: apart from the sword, there is nothing else!
The Heavenly Blade Asking Blade, revealing the very principle of the Heavenly Blade—simple and direct, yet incredibly difficult to contend with.
Having studied the principles of the Heavenly Blade, Li Su, standing before the Narcissus Saber Dao, hesitated. Was this his blade? Was this his Dao?
The Narcissus Saber technique is also quite good.
The Water-based Blade, imbued with the principles of water, flows with a continuous, unbroken momentum, like surging, endless waves.
If he were to enter the realm of martial arts, he could probably achieve a state similar to Ning Daoqi's, where his True Qi seemed inexhaustible, his swordplay uninterrupted, and his True Qi ceaseless, like the ever-flowing waters of the east.
But is this one's own path?
Sitting by the river, Li Su couldn't help but ask herself a question, feeling unusually hesitant.
His swordsmanship is good, but this sword, this way of doing things, is somewhat different from what he thought and believed.
Your heart is in turmoil!
A light, melodious voice rang out; it was Shi Feixuan.
She was no longer the disheveled woman she was two days ago. After all, Shi Feixuan was still the same Shi Feixuan. After a brief moment of confusion, she quickly adjusted her mindset, and her spirit once again soared to the state of Sword Heart Clarity.
Although Qin Mengyao was the only one from Mercy Voyage Sword Studio to successfully complete the Death Barrier in Huang Dashu's book, and Shi Feixuan clearly failed, you can't say that Shi Feixuan was inferior.
After all, Lang Fanyun and Pang Ban during the era of "Overturning Clouds and Rain and Rain" were too monstrous. They had not only touched the Dao, but merged with it, and were only a hair's breadth away from breaking through.
Looking back at the Twin Dragons era, apart from Xiang Yutian being able to self-destruct, the three grandmasters, even Heavenly Blade Song Que, were still quite far behind.
It's not that the three grandmasters were less talented than them, but rather that they lacked the right environment.
Let's not even talk about Ning Daoqi and Heavenly Blade; the two are destined not to provoke each other.
In his later years, Bi Xuan became obsessed with power, and his martial arts skills declined.
Fu Cailin? With so many people praising him, and living in such a small place as Goguryeo, it's already quite an achievement that he could become a grandmaster. To go any further? That's just wishful thinking.
As for the Evil King? His spirit was completely shattered; not only was his body broken, but he couldn't even maintain his cultivation level.
Therefore, it's not that the characters in Twin Dragons lack talent, but rather that their compatibility doesn't reach the level of Lang Fanyun and Pang Ban.
Shi Feixuan is not bad; she has exceptional talent.
After recovering, her energy and spirit not only did not weaken, but were noticeably stronger.
" Sword Heart Clarity? That's amazing! And it can even read minds?" Li Su smiled, pointed her finger, and flipped the wine cup over, letting a wisp of sake fall into it.
"I can only faintly sense that your Dao realm is unstable; I can't say it's telepathy." Shi Feixuan sat down next to Li Su with grace and composure, picked up the sake Li Su had poured, and took a sip.
"I thought you would say that monks don't drink alcohol."
" Feixuan is still practicing Buddhism while still having hair; she only observes the precept of not drinking, not that she cannot drink."
Shi Feixuan swirled the wine cup in her hand, a surge of emotions welling up within her, emotions she had never felt before, which quickly faded away. She said, "After being expelled from the sect, Feixuan's heart was in turmoil, and she felt like nothing mattered anymore. However, First Tower, your wine seems different from the wines of the martial world?"
"Just call me Xiang Li. I've nurtured this wine with my True Qi. My master once left me a Earth Scripture with a unique brewing method. The drinker will have different feelings depending on their state of mind." Li Su smiled and said, "My father-in-law finds the wine as strong as a knife, piercing his throat and heart. My second uncle, Song Zhi, on the other hand, finds it smooth on the palate but burns in the heart as it goes down."
"I never imagined that such a miraculous method of brewing existed in the world."
Feeling the surge of emotion within her just now, Shi Feixuan couldn't help but exclaim in amazement, " The Evil Emperor truly lives up to his name, and his successor is no exception."
"Ha, he's just a stinky old man. As for me..."
Li Su raised his wine cup and took a sip. "I originally didn't plan to enter the martial world. I only intended to live a peaceful life in the small village where I was born. But my father forced me to make a blood oath, leaving me no choice but to enter the martial world. In fact, at that time, I just wanted to fulfill my father's wish and then retire. But then a local gang got their hands on my father's business. I got angry and killed them. I felt that the world was about to descend into chaos, so to protect my family, I casually built the First Tower. It was just a coincidence, a twist of fate?"
Shi Feixuan turned her head, her eyes gleaming with a strange light, and looked at Li Su, saying word by word, "If anyone else had said this, Feixuan wouldn't have believed a single word, but coming from Brother Xiang's mouth, there's absolutely no way to refute it."
Thinking of this, Feixuan couldn't help but feel a sense of self-mockery. "Wasn't Mercy Voyage Sword Studio Sect a case of 'their own creation trap'?"
"It could be a coincidence, or it could be an inevitability."
Li Su shook his head and said, "Fate is a long river, flowing from west to east. Everyone is in it, but you are the force formed by the river flowing downstream. Therefore, whenever a wave appears, a wave will inevitably appear, and you must react. The only difference is that you suppressed the others, while you failed to suppress mine."
Shi Feixuan was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh, her whole body trembling and tears streaming down her face.
"I always thought that Mercy Voyage Sword Studio was observing the overall situation and orchestrating the events. But after what you said, Brother Xiang, I realize that we have always been a part of this whole thing. From the moment I went to see my master and he sent people, we were no longer orchestrating the events, but were being swept up by the tide of events and had no choice in the matter."
Li Su smiled. It was the first time Fan Qinghui had attacked him, and he quickly understood why.
If you can't control it, you might as well eliminate it.
Fan Qinghui, in order to realize her grand plan of unifying the world, wanted to conquer the south from the north, which would inevitably lead to a clash with the First Tower. Although the First Tower did not contend for supremacy in the Central Plains, it was unknown outside the Central Plains, otherwise it would not have been able to advance so far as to Burma.
Given its connection with the South Ridge, the idea of unifying the area south of the Yangtze River is just a matter of whether or not such a thought exists.
She couldn't just sit idly by, nor could she afford to gamble, so she had no choice but to take action.
"Brother Xiang, what were you thinking about just now?" Shi Feixuan calmed down, poured herself a cup, and drank it in one gulp.
"The Way, the Way of the Sword!" Li Su didn't hide anything and said directly.
"The Way of the Sword? Brother Xiang, you've learned the sword?" Shi Feixuan exclaimed in surprise. She had heard of the Dao Heart Demon Seed Technique, the number one martial art of the Demon Sect Dao Heart Demon-Planting Technique. Moreover, the Cihang Sword Manual of Mercy Voyage Sword Studio Mercy Voyage Sword Canon Sect was actually created by Di Ni after she had read the Dao Heart Demon-Planting Technique.
Others may not know it, but it is indeed written in the sword manual.
Furthermore, according to Shi Feixuan's understanding, the Dao Heart Demon-Planting Technique is undoubtedly the only martial art in the world that truly has the stage of breaking through the void. Leaving aside the Longevity Formula, which is not a martial art, the only other technique involving breaking through the void besides the Dao Heart Demon-Planting Technique is the Nothingness God of War Record.
Instead of Dao Heart Demon Seed, yet focuses on the sword? And at the level of swordsmanship? This is no simple matter of drawing parallels.
Li Su smiled and waved her hand.
In an instant, the sword energy surged, cleaving through the Vast Sky and carving a ten-zhang-long sword mark directly into the river in front of him. Most astonishingly, the sword energy did not stop, and the river water did not merge.
Without a doubt, the Blade of Touching the Dao is only one step away from the threshold.
Shi Feixuan stared blankly at the river that had finally calmed down after a long time, and couldn't help but exclaim in shock, "Brother Xiang's martial arts talent makes even Feixuan a little jealous!"
Li Su smiled and said, "I'll accept this compliment."
"Brother Xiang, you understand the Dao of the sword, and you have clearly reached the threshold, but you haven't entered it. If Feixuan's feeling is correct, it's not that you can't push open the door, but that you are 'unwilling'? Although this is hard to believe." Shi Feixuan took a breath, turned her head, her eyes sparkling, and said with a hint of surprise.
"This sword technique is the Narcissus Blade Art created by my father-in-law. It was created by observing water and is undoubtedly a top-tier sword technique in the martial arts world. Once it touches the Dao, although the direction is different, it is still the ultimate sword technique."
Li Su nodded and smiled, "Although it may sound a bit pretentious, I don't feel any joy towards this knife or this method."
Shi Feixuan paused for a long while, clenching her fists involuntarily, her eyes filled with complex emotions. After a long while, she finally spoke softly, " Feixuan isn't boasting, but I've always been the envy of others in the martial world, admiring my talent. But looking at Brother Xiang now, I suddenly understand the feelings those martial artists have for me. And what's most outrageous is that Brother Xiang, you were right at the door, ready to push it open and enter, yet you stopped, simply because you felt it wasn't suitable? Brother Xiang, are you a bastard child of Heaven? Otherwise, how could you comprehend a path that's clearly unsuitable for you? And how could you stand at the door and push it open whenever you wanted? How unfair is this Heavenly Way?"
Seeing the girl's expression that looked like she wanted to beat him up, Li Su's lips twitched. After all, it was a talent-weighted bonus, several hundred percent. If he could still be the same as an ordinary person, he might as well find a hole and bury himself.
However, girl, I advise you to be kind. You can't beat me, so there's no doubt I'll beat you back. You should know your little bottom still deserves a slap from me.
Shi Feixuan seemed to sense something, her pretty face flushed slightly, and she glared at Li Su without hesitation. "You're being very rude."
Li Su gave a dry laugh and looked away. He had no choice, after all. He had already sworn a blood oath, and his inner fire was burning brightly. They had just fought a hundred rounds yesterday...
Shi Feixuan took a breath, suppressing the strange emotions rising in her heart, and looked at Li Su, saying, "Brother Xiang, have you seen the swordplay of the Mercy Voyage Sword Canon?"
"Hmm?" Li Su was taken aback and shook her head.
The Consort Shi spoke abruptly, "The * Mercy Voyage Sword Canon * is based on five key principles: 'Qi governs the spirit, mind, and heart,' namely ' Sword Qi Yangtze,' ' Sword Rules Heaven and Earth,' ' Sword Spirit Universe,' ' Sword God Without Self,' and ' Sword Heart Clarity.'"
"You?" Li Su was startled. What did this girl want?
With a wave of her jade hand, Shi Feixuan drew the Colorless Void Sword, which rang out with a clang.
She leaped up and landed on the river, flashing her sword and saying, "Although my skill level is not as high, I, Feixuan, am confident in my talent in swordsmanship. I humbly request Brother Xiang's guidance."
With a single stroke of the longsword, its Sword Qi soared into the sky.
"This is the Sword Qi Yangtze!"
The sword spun, its Sword Qi receded, its intent soaring into the sky. With a single strike, it seemed to steal the light from heaven and earth, leaving only the Colorless Void Sword standing alone in the world.
"This is the Sword Rules Heaven and Earth!"
One sword, one sword, and another.
"This is the Sword Spirit Universe, this is the Sword God Without Self, and this is the Sword Heart Clarity!"
Having finished everything, Shi Feixuan leaped up and returned to the dock from the river. As she sheathed her Colorless Void Sword, she channeled her True Qi to summon the remaining wine from Li Su into her hand. "Consider this your reward. Feixuan is very much looking forward to seeing what kind of insights Brother Xiang will gain after further studying the Mercy Voyage Sword Canon, and what level he will reach."
After saying that, a smile appeared on her face—the first smile since arriving in Song Family Mountain City. It was like a hibiscus in bloom, or a peony in full bloom, as if the Shi Feixuan of the past had returned.
She rose and vanished in an instant.
Li Su sat blankly on the dock for a long time before she came to her senses.
Under normal circumstances, it is very difficult to steal other people's martial arts skills. The way of circulating qi and the method of its operation are all internal and cannot be seen.
The five sword techniques Shi Feixuan used just now were different. She reversed them and displayed the contents to Li Su, essentially showing him the core of the Mercy Voyage Sword Canon.
Good heavens, this is truly something else! Is this how you repay a favor by using your sect's martial arts?
but.
Li Su slowly closed her eyes and began to recall the five sword techniques that Shi Feixuan had just used.
Qi, spirit, feeling, forgetting, merging.
interesting.
Having learned the art of the sword, and with his thoughts expanding, Li Su captured the vibrations, forming a sword with his fingers, and emitting an extremely subtle wisp of sword light from his fingertips.
The way of the sword, the way of the knife...
I see!
A smile appeared on Li Su's face. He took a breath and said, "Swordsmanship and knife skills are not important. My heart is the Dao, my heart is the Dao, my heart is the sword. I control the sword with my heart and drive the Dao with my spirit!"
As soon as the Primordial Spirit stirred, the True Qi of the Dao Heart Demon Seed began to fluctuate, capturing the Narcissus Saber Intent and integrating it into the mind, with the fluctuation as the foundation, the blade intent as the core, and the essence, energy, and spirit interacting within it.
Forging swords with heart!
Clang!
With a sharp cry, Li Su's sword intent exploded on the dock, and the next moment a round of sword light shot into the sky, the sword energy piercing the Yunxiao.
Vortex! Vortex! Vortex!
The fierce blade light spun across the heavens and earth, and then slashed across the river surface.
Swish!
With a loud bang, the enormous river, ten zhang long, was cut in half. Unlike before, when it directly exposed the riverbed below, it actually sliced the entire river in two. The strength of the blade energy and the intensity of the blade intent were endless and dominated everything.
Looking at the incomparably powerful sword energy, Li Su laughed loudly, "It originated from the Narcissus and was perfected by the Sword Manual?"