Ch. 101Devil's Training at the Cliff's Edge, Ling Yun's Moment of Enlightenment
Chen Xin trained Ling Yun to control his sword by challenging him to cut one of three wind-tossed threads without touching the others or the pine tree. Ling Yun succeeded after learning to read the wind, but Chen Xin left him facing a harder ten-thread challenge for the next day.
- Chen Xin ordered Ling Yun to cut the middle of three red threads without damaging the other threads or the pine tree, and Ling Yun's first attempt froze all three.
- Chen Xin explained that Ling Yun relied too much on his Water-Cooling Sword's cold and on his speed and senses instead of precise sword control.
- After repeated failures left Ling Yun's wrist swollen, Xiao Wu and Dugu Yan brought him lunch and urged him not to overwork himself.
- Ling Yun used Aura to study the wind and the threads' movement, then cut the middle thread cleanly with a controlled thrust.
- Chen Xin assigned Ling Yun a new challenge: cut one designated thread from a group of ten during a raging gale without harming the other nine.