Cui Zhaoye would usually write a short note and leave it for the other party. Newspapers and publishing houses would soon come calling, and if the sword wielder agreed, her Sword Reviews would be published at once. The latest had been Bian Weiji, Southern Moon Mountain's direct disciple, the day before yesterday. Their swordsmanship really was good, and Southern Moon Mountain was still a relatively fresh school to her.
Her annual trip to the Sword Cultivation Academy, however, was like attending a long-awaited feast.
There would be no pretenders filling out the numbers here. "Good" and "excellent" did not even clear the threshold; only a school's singular best could stand here.
Here, she would not spare a glance for a sweet ice treat, and even an exquisitely carved fruit platter was merely a complimentary appetizer. At such times, what she especially anticipated was something that could truly surprise her, make her soul tremble with delight-something like jade shattering on Mount Kun and a phoenix crying. She wanted to see truly top-flight sword wielders reveal the essence of their "sword" as they clashed point against point. Each would offer a different, wonderful flavor.
Now Cui Zhaoye dipped her brush in ink with great seriousness and filled two separate pages with her most immediate impressions and thoughts on this bout. Once she returned, she would carefully refine them for each sword wielder and write her Sword Reviews. These would not be given to newspapers, but meticulously filed among the materials for her books on swords, available only upon request from the Sword Cultivation Academy and the various sword schools.
"Zhang Chao: weak roots, resilient branches. His temperament is excessively unyielding, bordering on rigidity. There is a deadness to his sword; he would do well to enter the path of the withered sword."