Have You Learned It Before? Or Are You Truly Gifted?

If no one believed him, then he could only prove it with his strength.

Lin Feng took the wooden sword from the maid Yue'e and began performing the Basic Swordplay.

Lin Feng executed every move and stance of the Basic Swordplay flawlessly, as though he had copied them straight from the manual.

When Lin Feng reached the tenth move, Mr. Hong, who had been sitting with his eyes closed, twitched his ears.

Mr. Hong's familiarity with the Basic Swordplay had reached an unimaginable level. He could tell just by listening whether Lin Feng's Basic Swordplay was correct or not.

He had not expected Lin Feng to remember the first ten moves without a single mistake.

Lin Feng quickly reached the fiftieth move.

Mr. Hong finally opened his eyes.

He could hear that Lin Feng had correctly performed the first fifty moves of the Basic Swordplay.

Remembering the first fifty moves after watching someone perform them once was already the mark of a genius.

Yue'e, standing nearby, was also stunned by Lin Feng's performance. Her eyes widened, filled with disbelief.

When Lin Feng reached the hundredth move—

The calm, ancient-well-still eyes of Mr. Hong suddenly shone with life.

Who would have thought that he could pick up a martial arts prodigy just by coming to some little mountain village to nurse his wounds?

When Lin Feng finished the full one hundred and eight moves of the swordplay—

The maid Yue'e was so shocked that she could hardly believe it. She covered her mouth with a hand, feeling as though she were dreaming.

She had never imagined that the hunter brother who delivered meat to their home every day possessed such talent.

Brother Lin Feng had remembered all one hundred and eight moves of the Basic Swordplay after watching them only once, and he could even perform them without error.

Compared to Brother Lin Feng, she was a pig.

Mr. Hong found it somewhat hard to believe as well. Frowning, he asked, "Have you learned the Basic Swordplay before?"

Lin Feng shook his head. "No. Before this, I'd never even heard of it."

Mr. Hong still seemed somewhat unconvinced.

The talent Lin Feng had displayed was one in a million.

Mr. Hong did not believe such a coincidence could exist.

He had casually come to some small mountain village to recover from his injuries and casually picked out a young hunter, only for that hunter boy to be a one-in-a-million martial arts prodigy.

Mr. Hong wanted to test him again.

"Yue'e, demonstrate the Heart Nourishing Swordplay once more. Xiaofeng, watch carefully. When she's done, demonstrate it yourself."

Lin Feng thought, What, do I really look that unlike a genius?

This was another test.

Test away. Every test meant teaching him another martial art anyway.

Lin Feng handed the wooden sword to the maid Yue'e.

Holding the wooden sword, Yue'e began to perform the swordplay.

The Heart Nourishing Swordplay was also a foundational swordplay of the Sword Sect, but it was not spread as widely as the Basic Swordplay. Only inner disciples of the Sword Sect learned the Heart Nourishing Swordplay.

This time, the maid Yue'e moved much faster as she wielded the sword.

The Heart Nourishing Swordplay had three hundred and sixty moves, and performing it once took quite a long time.

Seeing Yue'e perform the Heart Nourishing Swordplay so quickly, Mr. Hong instead shook his head.

The Heart Nourishing Swordplay was a High-grade Martial Art, but it was not meant for fighting. It was meant to nourish the heart.

The people of the Sword Sect did not like sitting in meditation, so they created the Heart Nourishing Swordplay.

Performing the Heart Nourishing Swordplay was equivalent to people from other sects sitting in meditation to cultivate their inner strength. It had to be slow to be effective.

The Heart Nourishing Swordplay was also jokingly called the Meditation Swordplay by Sword Sect disciples.

This also made the Heart Nourishing Swordplay extremely difficult to cultivate.

Nearly all young disciples stopped at the first level of the Heart Nourishing Swordplay.

Only older disciples with steady temperaments could cultivate the Heart Nourishing Swordplay to the second or third level.

Even Mr. Hong himself had only cultivated the Heart Nourishing Swordplay to the fourth level.

Since the founding of the Sword Sect, only the founding ancestor who created the Heart Nourishing Swordplay had cultivated it to the ninth level.

The successive sect masters of the Sword Sect had reached no higher than the seventh level, showing just how difficult the Heart Nourishing Swordplay was to cultivate.

Some elders in the sect spent their entire lives studying the Heart Nourishing Swordplay, yet at most stopped at the seventh level.

After the maid Yue'e finished performing the Heart Nourishing Swordplay, fine beads of sweat had already seeped from her forehead.

From beginning to end, Lin Feng watched Yue'e perform the Heart Nourishing Swordplay with great care.

Once Yue'e finished, information about the Heart Nourishing Swordplay appeared under the martial skills section of his attribute panel.

Heart Nourishing Swordplay (Moves) (High-grade) (Not Yet Initiated)

Seeing that line of text, Lin Feng's heartbeat could not help quickening. He had not expected the Heart Nourishing Swordplay to be a High-grade Martial Art.

He had encountered a High-grade Martial Art so quickly. He absolutely had to cling tightly to Mr. Hong's thigh.

Mr. Hong noticed the change in Lin Feng's heartbeat.

Mr. Hong thought Lin Feng was feeling guilty.

"Yue'e, give the sword to Xiaofeng."

Lin Feng accepted the sword and hesitated for a moment.

Should he perform all three hundred and sixty moves of the Heart Nourishing Swordplay? Would performing them all make him seem a little too heaven-defying?

The maid Yue'e was also somewhat expectant. It had taken her more than a month just to memorize the moves of the Heart Nourishing Swordplay.

If Brother Lin Feng remembered it after watching it once, would that not make her seem too stupid?

Mr. Hong felt certain that Lin Feng could not remember the moves of this swordplay.

This swordplay was much harder than the Basic Swordplay.

Back then, it had taken him three days to become proficient in this swordplay.

Moreover, he suspected that Lin Feng was not extraordinarily talented at all, but had learned the Basic Swordplay before.

He wanted to see exactly how many moves Lin Feng could remember.

Lin Feng hesitated for only an instant before making his decision. Since he was going to play the genius, he might as well play the part to the end.

Lin Feng began performing the Heart Nourishing Swordplay.

He wielded the sword very slowly, like an old man practicing tai chi.

Yet this slowness was precisely what was required to practice the Heart Nourishing Swordplay.

The reason those young people in the sect could not practice the Heart Nourishing Swordplay well was because they could not slow down.

Within those slow movements, one needed even greater focus and care to experience the merging of sword and body, to feel the rhythm and cadence of the swordplay.

This method of practice not only helped improve one's swordsmanship, but also gradually calmed a person, relaxed body and mind, and brought them into a state where inner and outer became one.

It was Lin Feng's first time performing the Heart Nourishing Swordplay, and he did so without the support of any cultivation method, yet it seemed as though he had already grasped the true essence of the Heart Nourishing Swordplay.

The maid Yue'e no longer knew how to describe Lin Feng's talent.

It was Brother Lin Feng's first time practicing the Heart Nourishing Swordplay. How did he seem to perform it even better than she did?

Mr. Hong watched Lin Feng practice the swordplay without saying a word, until Lin Feng had completed all three hundred and sixty moves of the Heart Nourishing Swordplay.

He now even suspected that Lin Feng had practiced the Heart Nourishing Swordplay before.

He very much wanted Yue'e to perform another swordplay to test Lin Feng, but he also felt that would be going too far.

After thinking it over, he decided there was no need to rush into testing him.

They had plenty of days ahead of them.

A long road tests a horse's strength; time reveals a person's heart.

If Lin Feng could achieve initiation in the Basic Swordplay within a month, then he would teach him the Yin Yang Swordplay he had created himself.

He had never passed this swordplay on to anyone. Lin Feng definitely could not have learned it before.

Mr. Hong felt that perhaps he was overthinking things.

His whereabouts certainly had not been exposed, and no one could have arranged matters in Xiaohe Village beforehand to plot against him.

Perhaps his destined master-disciple bond had truly arrived, and Heaven had sent him a genius disciple when he was at his most downcast.