Hou Niao went down to the first floor and respectfully addressed the old cultivator sunning himself with his eyes closed. "Senior, how many sword manuals can I take from the third floor at once?"
Without raising his head or opening his eyes, the old cultivator replied, "There's no limit! But do you think taking them all is appropriate? Can you practice that many? They won't breed if you take them home! Three or five at a time will do. Come back and exchange them once you've mastered them. As long as you don't die, these things will always be yours. What are you being so greedy for? Will you stop living once you've learned them all?"
Hou Niao walked away with his face covered. Those words were all too true. The Hidden Sword Pavilion was right here; it wasn't going to run away.
Returning to the third floor, he unhesitatingly selected three sets of sword techniques: [Linked Strikes to Slay Generals], [No-Return Sword], and [Short Thrust].
He hadn't chosen them at random. Like the three sets of sword techniques Daoist Wang had given him, all six shared one characteristic: they pressed forward without looking back and would not stop until death!
Systems of sword techniques had their own particular characteristics. His sword fight with that Sword Soul had taught him one thing profoundly: rather than seeking completeness first, he should first seek the ultimate, pursuing one aspect to its furthest extreme before turning a corner onto another path.
As the sword formula said, the art of sword combat was the art of balance. Find balance between fast and slow, heavy and light, movement and stillness, the illusory and the substantial, and mastery of the Sword Dao would follow.
But there was a question of sequence here. Learn speed first, then comprehend slowness. That order could not be reversed. Otherwise, learning slowness first was simply offering someone your head. How foolish!
By the same reasoning, he had to learn heaviness before lightness, movement before stillness, substance before illusion. Reverse the order, and he would end up with the flashy posturing of a stage performer-pleasing to the eye, but useless!
The foundations of these six sets of sword techniques lay in speed, weight, movement, substance, ruthlessness, viciousness, dirty tricks, ferocity... Daoist Wang truly lived up to his standing as an outstanding Quanzhen disciple. His choices were thoroughly practical, precisely the most useful sword techniques for a beginner.
Only after refining these sword techniques, delving deeply into them, and mastering them thoroughly would it be time to speak of Taiji's softness, Three-Part Light and Shadow's illusion, and Kunwu's stillness. That was the true expert's path to learning the sword.
This process would take a very long time, so cultivators could only select a few sets of sword techniques to practice. No one could live amid slaughter forever, hovering between life and death every day. However strong their luck, they couldn't keep jumping into rivers without getting their shoes wet.
But he was different. He had just such an opportunity!
Very few people would truly devote all their energy to these sword techniques, either. They had a better, more practical, longer-ranged choice-spells!
It was a question of trade-offs, of how to bring out the greatest fighting strength. Rather than refining sword techniques to a godlike level, it was better to combine sword techniques with spells. After all, not everyone had a talent for the sword.
Hou Niao didn't know whether he had a talent for the sword, either, but he had a perfect environment for honing his sword skills. Wouldn't it be a pity not to use it?
He was a pragmatist. So far, the way to gain the greatest fighting strength was to keep improving his sword skills without limit. It was that simple.
If the Soul Realm had been better suited to using spells, he would have chosen spells without hesitation. He was that opportunistic.
As for spells, he hadn't even looked at them. He feared that once he did, he wouldn't be able to resist practicing a trick or two, and would then set off down the same old road everyone else took.
His instinct told him that if he was going to do something, he had to take it all the way. Otherwise, he had no future!
Besides, his time was limited. Where would he find the time to cultivate both spells and swordsmanship? He would only end up neither fish nor fowl, knowing a few tricks in everything and mastering nothing.
Deep in his heart, he also harbored a small, selfish thought: since he had come to the Quanzhen Demonic Sect, naturally he should learn what they did best. As for spells, however formidable Quanzhen's spells were, could they be as badass as the Daoist Sect's? Once he had persevered for a few years and completed his undercover assignment, he would have plenty of time to study profound spells back in the Anhe Daoist Sect. Wouldn't that be wonderful?
A perfect plan. The only thing he hadn't considered was that he might plunge headfirst into the pit of swordsmanship and never climb out again.
It took him six hours to finish his first selection of cultivation methods and techniques at the Quanzhen Sect's Hidden Sword Pavilion. That was relatively long among all the newly admitted disciples; his foundation was too weak, his cultivation realm too low, and his exposure to cultivation too brief.
Leaving the Hidden Sword Pavilion, he encountered another acquaintance, Gu Weixin. He was with several other Daoists, apparently having finished their business and preparing to leave.
Delighted to see Hou Niao, he greeted him warmly. "Junior Brother Hou, I knew you would join Quanzhen. And here you are!"
Hou Niao didn't mind associating with these people, either. He had thought it through: their shared hometown was an objective fact. Since he couldn't escape that connection, he could only let things take their course, rather than shunning them like snakes and scorpions and arousing suspicion instead.
He replied courteously, "Senior Brother Gu, we'll be cultivating as fellow disciples from now on. I'll be relying on your help."
Gu Weixin laughed heartily. "Come, come! Let me introduce you to a few senior brothers from Anhe. We're all guests in a foreign land. We ought to see more of one another and help each other along."
Gongcheng Yi, Tao Ji, and Wanshouqi all came from Anhe and admired the Quanzhen Sect's bearing. Of course, only they themselves knew how much truth there was in that.
In this Xiuzhen world, cultivation was difficult. The higher one climbed, the narrower the road became. Resources were limited, and constraints lay everywhere. Rogue cultivators had it especially hard. Without an affiliation, their future achievements had no guarantee. Nor was the Anhe Daoist Sect so easy to enter. They did not assess sword gall, but they did judge one's Dao heart...
Thus, the reality was that cultivators whom Shan Kingdom's Quanzhen disdained would try their luck in Anhe, while minor cultivators whom the Anhe Daoist Sect thought nothing of would seek opportunities in Shan Kingdom. It could be considered a kind of circulation of Xiuzhen talent. Most were driven by the need to make a living cultivating. To speak of how much unwavering loyalty they had toward their sects was a joke.
Loyalty required a process: contact, adaptation, integration, sublimation... until finally they regarded the sect as home.
The Quanzhen Sect understood this very well, too. It would therefore observe these cultivators through their trials, using time to change their convictions until they became true Quanzhen sword cultivators.
"Junior Brother Hou, we were just going to find a restaurant to give Senior Brother Gong a farewell meal. Why not join us?"
Hou Niao was surprised. "A farewell meal? Didn't they say our specific assignments would only be made in a month? It's only been a few days..."
Seeing the awkward expressions on the other disciples' faces, Gu Weixin knew they were unfamiliar with Hou Niao and somewhat displeased that he had arbitrarily invited someone along to their drinking gathering. To cultivators, what they ate and drank didn't matter. What mattered was whom they gathered with.
A thousand cups were too few with a kindred spirit; half a sentence was too much without common ground. At a gathering like this, only very familiar friends could feel at ease. Suddenly adding a stranger, even someone from the same hometown, was another matter. These few were hardly the only people from Anhe among the newly admitted disciples.
"Junior Brother Hou here has ties to the Commandant Prefecture..."
Gongcheng Yi and the others suddenly understood. In the Quanzhen Sect, having a friend in the Commandant Prefecture was extremely useful. Who knew when he might be an enormous help? Even though they had only just joined, the reputation of the Quanzhen Sect's internal disciplinary organization already thundered in their ears.
How could anyone always walk the straight path throughout their cultivation? A horse wouldn't grow fat without night grazing; a man wouldn't grow rich without outside windfalls. Who could guarantee they wouldn't get into some sort of trouble in the future?
They immediately grew much warmer. Without giving Hou Niao a chance to refuse, they clustered around him and headed straight for Jincheng's most famous restaurant.
As the verse went:
...No one passed the thatched dwelling; the brushwood gate stayed shut all day. In wine, joy arose; amid power, rank and leisure showed. A few stalks of bamboo for friends, a thousand layered mountains in a painting. Better to return at last, and think no more of coming back to the dusty world.