Body Tempering

So, how could water and fire coexist?

Very simply—he only needed to change where water and fire existed.

Hide the fire within the water. As long as the pressure inside the water was high enough, like in the deep sea, excessive pressure could raise water's boiling point. The fire would not evaporate the surrounding water, and water and fire could coexist perfectly.

Bian Chunchou felt that cultivation needed to respect science, but there was no need to be so particular about it. It could be materialistic, or it could be a little idealistic. Spiritual energy was not a product of science, so it could accomplish things scientific experiments could not.

So what he needed to do now was find a point of balance for his "Waterborne Flame" technique—a balance where both his Fire-Water Spiritual Roots could flourish.

Wasn't this just conducting experiments? Bian Chunchou thought. At last, I'm in my comfort zone!

While Bian Chunchou, lost in enlightenment, kept testing the balance between water and fire in his mind, Wen Xu's patience in the outside world was nearly exhausted. What was meant by a blockhead? He had never had much of a concept before, but now he had seen one.

That head was growing, alive and well, right atop Chen Zui's shoulders.

"Didn't you gain even the slightest insight when you saw the technique?" Wen Xu was baffled. Wen Xu did not understand. Wen Xu was profoundly shaken.

Chen Zui scratched his head, thinking, A thing is a thing, a peg is a peg—why did there have to be insight? Cultivation is so hard. No wonder Mother refused to teach me and insisted on driving me out of the house to study at Yonglu Mountain.

"No. Why must there be insight?"

Wen Xu: ...

"Don't you think techniques are terribly complicated? They explain so much, just like my mother's cooking—flashy and all over the place, yet it still turns out so awful. Is there any need for that? Better to just take a Grain-Repelling Pill."

Wen Xu pressed a hand to his forehead. "Then is it possible that if it were not your mother cooking, but the greatest chef under heaven, the same preparation could produce the most delicious delicacies?"

Chen Zui had his own unique line of reasoning. "But if he were the greatest chef under heaven, even the simplest ingredients could become the most delicious delicacies in his hands."

At last, Wen Xu had managed to draw something out of him. He called Chen Zui's name very seriously.

"What is it?" Chen Zui looked up.

"So, when you cultivate techniques, do you want to become your mother? Or do you want to become the greatest chef under heaven?"

Chen Zui thought, Become Mother? Absolutely not. She'd beat me to death.

Become the greatest chef under heaven? No, either. I can't cook at all.

So he said, "Why should I become someone else? I'll only be myself. I only want to walk my own path of the blade."

Right. He only needed to be himself. Since he could not understand it, then he would simply stop looking at it!

"I'm going to practice my blade."

After tossing out those words, Chen Zui swiftly vanished from before Wen Xu. Judging by his hurried steps, when they next met, his cultivation would surely have made a breakthrough.

That was right. Wen Xu had discovered that ever since he wore the ribbon his master had given him, even if he secretly opened his eyes to observe others, as long as their cultivation had not surpassed his master's, they would not notice his gaze.

Moreover, no one seemed to have noticed that the ribbon carried the power of an Integrated Body Great Talent.

This was practically a cheating artifact for helping Wen Xu pretend to be blind, but Wen Xu had no intention of opening his eyes to interact with others. First, he did not like seeing other people's faces. Since he could not remember them, they always reminded him that his eyes were different. Second, he was a cautious person. What if? He liked to take everything to the extreme.

Besides, a cultivator being unable to see did not affect normal life or cultivation. To Wen Xu, this was what he liked most about cultivation. And cultivators' divine sense was unique; once he cultivated divine sense in the future, he could use it to distinguish others and would no longer need to deliberately observe everything about them.

Wen Xu greatly anticipated the day's arrival. Therefore, he would cultivate with every ounce of his strength.

**

Bian Chunchou was still cultivating in enlightenment and would not wake anytime soon, so Wen Xu first went to the Scripture Repository Tower on the neighboring Disciple Peak to look for sword arts.

Unless cultivators truly followed the path of the sword, most would not deliberately comprehend sword intent. Yet swords were indeed weapons well suited for cultivators beginning their path, so sword arts became the choice of most cultivators who were not sword cultivators.

Wen Xu was a scholar, and an accomplished one at that. Naturally, he had also studied the Six Arts of a Gentleman.

The Six Arts of a Gentleman were rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics. Of course, the academy did not require students to master every one of them. No matter how talented Wen Xu was, he could not excel in every subject, but he truly was quite good at archery, and his sword dances were not bad either.

The standard for "not bad" was the beauty of flowery fists and embroidered kicks, not any so-called lethality.

Basic sword arts were all kept on the second floor of the Scripture Repository Tower. Wen Xu swiped his disciple token to enter, went upstairs, and quickly found the sword arts related to wind. Most of the sword arts here were arranged according to the Five Elements. Single-element sword arts were placed on the far left, while sword arts usable by all five elements were on the far right. Looking up, there were truly... so many sword arts.

Wen Xu took one look, then silently closed his eyes. Wind and Water Rising, Golden Sand and Scattered Rocks, Wind-Breaking Sword Art, and so on and so forth. For the first time, he found reading jade slips terribly exhausting.

Yonglu Mountain truly deserved its reputation as a great sect with generations upon generations of history. Its foundation was indeed deep and rich.

After spending most of the day, Wen Xu finally selected two jade slips that suited him relatively well. One was the Wind-Breaking Sword Art, which used a sword to command the wind. The other was rather special. It was not really a sword art at all, but a jade slip explaining how to use wind to set up formations.

He thought, could the two be combined? Use a sword to command the wind, use the wind to set up formations...

"Is the Windfold Fan not easy to use?"

Wen Xu gave a startled "Hoh!" He truly had not sensed the newcomer approaching.

"My apologies for startling you, Little Martial Granduncle. It was my fault." Zheng Jin apologized with his mouth, but his actions showed not the slightest sincerity. He even leaned closer to examine the jade slips. "Little Martial Granduncle, your idea is very good, but..."

Body Tempering

Wen Xu tensed and stepped back. "But what?"