The storm in Jincheng raged like a wildfire, while Hou Niao was so immersed in his Soul Realm that he could not pull himself away, because, heaven have mercy, he had encountered another Sword Soul!
A Sword Soul far weaker than the first, but still an existence he could not match.
He named this Sword Soul Sword Two, in commemoration of the help Sword One had given him.
Sword Two's soul body was considerably stronger than Sword One's, which was why Hou Niao had only encountered him now, but his understanding of swordsmanship could not compare to Sword One's.
When Hou Niao crossed swords with him, he could return one strike for every three he took, leaving him at an absolute disadvantage. Still, he was not completely incapable of putting up a fight; at least he could struggle on death's doorstep. If he used the same methods he had against Sword One and relied on the strength of his soul body to win, passing this hurdle probably would not be difficult. It would simply mean relying on his ability to take a beating and using his soul-body energy to scrape together an opening.
But he did not want to do that. A month or so had passed between his two encounters with Sword Souls. Once he dealt with this one, who knew when the next would appear? That would not benefit his sword training.
So he decided to defeat Sword Two fair and square, openly and honorably, no matter how long it took. For the time being, he would stop here rather than advance any farther.
The process was arduous, but also joyful. Here, he could comfortably test his newly learned principles of Quanzhen Swordsmanship through actual combat. This was what he truly wanted.
He was willing to do so