Teaching

Yan Ke thought it over for a long time before finally deciding to work with Ling Ji. He knew her illusion arts were formidable, so he wanted her to teach the disciples how to face and dispel illusions.

Mount Grand Mystery also had several disciples highly gifted in illusion arts. He could have Ling Ji properly exchange pointers with them and temper their illusion techniques.

After hearing his plans, Ling Ji wanted to tamper with things while spending time with those disciples, but Yan Ke had long been prepared. He branded a master-servant contract onto her soul.

Yan Ke was the master, and Ling Ji was the servant.

No thought Ling Ji had could escape Yan Ke. So long as she harbored even the slightest intention of harming Mount Grand Mystery, Yan Ke could make her beg for life yet be unable to die.

Feeling the brand upon her soul, Ling Ji bitterly regretted why she had been so foolish that afternoon as to drug Qin Xiaoran. If not for that, she would not have been exposed. She would still be Mount Grand Mystery's little princess, cherished by everyone!

Chu Moqing brought Feng Wuhen back to Nine Heavens Peak and had him wait by the cliff. He returned to his cave residence and took out a pitch-black wooden sword made from Black Ironwood.

"This was personally carved for me by my master when I first became his disciple. After I could no longer use it, I kept it all this time, thinking that if I ever took a disciple in the future, I could give it to him directly.

The sword intent I cultivated in the past still remains within it.

You can study it carefully; it will make it easier for you to find your own sword intent in the future."

Black Ironwood was the heaviest wood in the cultivation world. Even a wooden sword made from it was heavier than ordinary blades found in the mortal world.

Feng Wuhen took the sword Chu Moqing handed him. Caught unprepared, his wrist sank under its weight. Before he had begun drawing qi, he might not even have been able to lift it.

Now that he was at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer, he could lift objects weighing several hundred jin. These forty or fifty jin were still easy enough for him.

Chu Moqing summoned the Azure Tide Sword nurtured within his dantian and demonstrated the basic sword techniques for Feng Wuhen. "There are only ten basic sword techniques. Remember them clearly: thrust, lift, cut, point, snap, intercept, twist, sweep upward, wipe, and lead.

I'll guide you through each of these movements later.

For this period of time, your task will be to practice every basic technique a thousand times each day.

Once your body becomes familiar with these movements, learning sword arts will become much easier.

Aside from swinging your sword every day, you must also hold a hundred-jin stone lock in your hands and maintain a horse stance for one shichen every day. This is to train your lower body and arm strength."

Bing Ling listened from the side, then sighed. "Good thing I'm not a sword cultivator. If I had to train like this every day, I'd turn into a dead Phoenix before long.

Say, Momo, aren't you being far too harsh on Little Feng? If he follows what you said and finishes all that in one day, won't he be exhausted to death?"

Hearing this, Chu Moqing knocked him on the head. "It's not as serious as you make it sound. I trained like this back then too, didn't I? Aren't I standing here perfectly fine now?"

Bing Ling covered his dazed, struck head. So angry that he stamped his foot, he gave a huff, transformed into his Phoenix form, and flew toward the back mountain of Nine Heavens Peak.

Chu Moqing ignored him and led Feng Wuhen through the basic sword techniques once more. "Starting tomorrow, train according to what I just told you. For now, read the books I gave you first and gain a rough understanding of the cultivation world.

If there's anything you don't understand, remember to ask me next door."

Feng Wuhen nodded to show that he remembered. After Chu Moqing left, he went over the sword techniques he had just been taught once more before sitting down and taking out the books Chu Moqing had given him.

The first book he read was the Cultivation Guide. Since he needed to gain a general understanding of the cultivation world first, this book was the most suitable.

As he read, he forgot the time. It was not until the brilliant golden sunset had turned into a bright moon hanging high in the sky that he realized night had fallen. He put away the books, picked up his wooden sword, and returned to his cave residence.

Food had already been laid out on the table in his cave residence. Chu Moqing had gone down the mountain to the Dining Hall to buy it while Feng Wuhen was reading.

When the Dining Hall disciples saw the Sword Venerable arrive, they were so excited that they forgot to keep eating and all looked up at him. They desperately wanted to go speak with the Sword Venerable, yet did not dare. They could only watch as Chu Moqing suddenly appeared, then suddenly left carrying a food box.

They watched that food box with envious eyes.

Chu Moqing had practiced Grain Avoidance for hundreds of years and had not eaten for many years. If he had come to the Dining Hall carrying a food box, he had definitely brought it back for his disciple. They were deeply envious of that senior brother they had never met.

Looking at the food in the room, Feng Wuhen's heart warmed as well. This was the first time he had spent most of the day outside, only to return home to hot dishes and warm rice.

He treasured the meal and finished every dish on the table. Then he washed the plates, returned them to the food box, washed up, and went to bed.

The next day, he rose at the beginning of the hour of the Rabbit. He picked up the Black Ironwood sword beside his bed, went to the cliff from the day before, and began swinging it.

Someone at Chu Moqing's cultivation level had long since replaced sleep with meditation. Every sound Feng Wuhen made as he woke and went out to practice his sword reached his ears.

He got out of bed and stepped out of his cave residence just in time to see Feng Wuhen practicing swordsmanship beneath the rising sun.

The golden sunlight seemed to drape Feng Wuhen in a magnificent robe. Under the sun's rays, his shadow fell upon the ground, and man and shadow appeared to dance together in graceful flight.

"The force behind your strikes is still too weak. When sword cultivators draw their swords, they must pour their intent into them rather than swing stiffly like this. Like this."

Chu Moqing took the wooden sword from Feng Wuhen's hand. With only a light swing, he severed a tree some distance away cleanly at its waist.

Feng Wuhen stared, dumbfounded. He knew perfectly well that the wooden sword had not been sharpened.

A wooden sword had cut down a tree from so far away, slicing it in two at the waist. This must have been what Chu Moqing meant by pouring one's intent into the sword.

Feng Wuhen's comprehension was excellent. He understood what Chu Moqing meant after seeing it only once.

Taking the sword back, his next swing was entirely different from before. The rigid wooden sword seemed to gain sentience in an instant.

Every one of Feng Wuhen's strikes was far sharper than before. Naturally, they could not compare to Chu Moqing's casual stroke just now, but for someone who had only begun practicing, reaching this level was already quite impressive.

Chu Moqing casually set down a tea table, then sat on a meditation cushion and watched Feng Wuhen practice his sword while sipping tea.

Only after practicing each of the ten sword techniques a thousand times did Feng Wuhen put away his sword. By then, he was so exhausted that he could no longer move.

Chu Moqing walked over, wrapped one arm around his shoulders, and slipped his other arm beneath his knees, lifting him into his arms.

Feng Wuhen's eyes widened in an instant as a chaotic torrent of thoughts poured toward Chu Moqing.

[Ah! Master is carrying me. So embarrassing, but I'm so reluctant for it to end.

This is the first time anyone has carried me since I learned to walk. This warm feeling must be what Goudan and the others called a father's embrace, right?]