Swordsmanship

After Song Huangting and Mu Xingchui both acknowledged Qin Lian's importance to the Pure Yang Sword Sect, their discussion came to an end.

Qin Lian led the two into a room beside the Heavenly Splendor Treasure Tree and took out a tightly wrapped, sword-shaped object. "Supreme Elder, the Heavenly Extreme Sword is inside."

"The Heavenly Extreme Sword!"

Alongside the delight in Song Huangting's eyes was a trace of wariness.

Seeing this, Qin Lian warned him with utmost gravity, "This object is dangerous. The moment you look at its star patterns, you'll be dragged into an illusion of slaughter. If you cannot struggle free of the illusion, killing intent will corrode you, robbing you of your reason..."

He continued quickly, "Even if you can struggle free, over time, the endless slaughter and death will utterly twist the wielder's values and perceptions, turning them into a monster indifferent to life, even unmoved by life and death, without a shred of humanity left."

"How could I not know the dangers within the Heavenly Extreme Sword? Who knows how many martial prodigies this Demon Sword's power has ruined? Ye Hui, the First Manor Lord of Ten Thousand Swords Manor, is the best example."

Song Huangting spoke gravely.

As for talent...

He reckoned Ye Hui was no less gifted than himself.

But...

"With the current situation, wind is sweeping through the tower before the mountain storm. The Heavenly Martial Bureau clearly intends to take advantage of Grand Preceptor Wen's blazing ascendancy to uproot all nine of our factions with the crushing force of thunder..."

The Supreme Elder said heavily, "I know full well that the Heavenly Extreme Sword holds terrible danger and horror. But if I cannot break through to Martial Saint, Chunyang will inevitably meet the same end as the Azure Blood Sect, and, more recently, the Tyrant Blade Sect, Ten Thousand Swords Manor, and Penglai Sea Pavilion."

Rather than be forced back step by step and strangled once there was nowhere left to retreat, it was better to stake everything on one attempt while there was still room to maneuver.

"Supreme Elder, the situation may not be beyond saving yet."

Mu Xingchui urged him, "Ten Thousand Swords Manor is already fighting to save itself. Over at Overlord Blade, I doubt Liu Wuya will sit and wait for death either. And our Chunyang now has Grandmaster Qin as another hidden card. Why not contend with the Heavenly Martial Bureau first, and only take that risk when we truly have no other choice?"

Song Huangting glanced at Qin Lian, pondered for a moment, then nodded. "You're right. The Heavenly Extreme Sword... I'll study it a little for now, without borrowing its power to try to comprehend the great secrets of the human body and fathom the mysteries of creation."

Hearing Song Huangting's words, Qin Lian breathed a small sigh of relief.

Though he was only refraining from cultivating with the Heavenly Extreme Sword for the time being...

Every day Chunyang's tallest mountain remained standing added another measure of stability.

"We'll return to the sect now. As for the Heavenly Splendor Fruit on the Heavenly Splendor Treasure Tree... I'll write a letter to Ten Thousand Swords Manor."

Song Huangting gave a soft snort. "Our Pure Yang Sword Sect mobilized such a force to descend the mountain. Surely we cannot return empty-handed apart from the Heavenly Extreme Sword. This whole tree of Heavenly Splendor Fruit, along with what remains in the various commanderies, will serve as our travel expenses."

"Very well."

Qin Lian nodded.

Having comprehended Divine Intent and attained Second Grade, he reckoned he had a sixty to seventy percent chance of defeating Ye Yingxiong, even though his Great Void Sword Qi was not yet sufficiently developed.

But...

If he could obtain the Heavenly Splendor Fruit easily, he had no wish to fight anyone to the death.

Song Huangting and Mu Xingchui came and went in haste, soon departing with the Heavenly Extreme Sword.

As for Qin Lian...

He settled down, practicing his swordsmanship and techniques while waiting for the Heavenly Splendor Fruit to fully ripen.

Having suffered a hidden setback at Qin Lian's hands, Ye Yingxiong did not dare return for a little Heavenly Splendor Fruit.

They seemed to tacitly accept that the Heavenly Splendor Treasure Tree belonged to Qin Lian and the others of the Cloudmist Peak lineage, leaving them to wait on the mountain for its fruit to ripen.

Time flashed by...

Three months had passed.

That day...

Qin Lian practiced the Liuhe Duzun Sword Art diligently.

At a certain moment...

His blade suddenly quivered.

Immediately afterward, a sensation unlike anything he had ever experienced welled up within him.

Looking at the sword in his hand, Qin Lian suddenly felt as though a peculiar connection had formed between him and the weapon.

The sword seemed to have become an extension of his arm.

As he wielded it through his sword techniques, his control, responsiveness, and execution all climbed to entirely new heights.

"This change..."

Qin Lian quickly diverted part of his attention to examine the golden light in his mental world.

[Liuhe Duzun Sword Art perfected. The six directions share one wind; Sword Qi follows the heart. Gaps filled and deficiencies remedied. Trait activated-Swordsmanship (2/2)]

A new trait...

Or rather, a new innate spell-Swordsmanship!

He savored it carefully, his eyes growing ever brighter.

"Not only can it enhance my use of sword techniques, it can also improve my talent for swordsmanship... Most importantly... this is the foundation of every Sword-Controlling Technique in the world!"

Sword-Controlling Technique!?

Qin Lian examined the sensation carefully. The next moment, the sword in his hand danced once more.

After briefly familiarizing himself with the feel...

Whoosh!

The sharp sword cleaved through the air!

Qin Lian hurled the sword from his hand. As his True Qi circulated, the blade, which had shot dozens of meters away, actually turned a circle under the linked guidance of his True Qi and Divine Intent and flew back into his hand.

This marvel immediately filled Qin Lian with delighted surprise.

"Sword-Controlling Technique!? It really is the kind of Sword-Controlling Technique I imagined!"

Though it was still far from truly controlling a sword to take someone's head a hundred li away.

Still, making a sharp sword fly out and return within dozens of meters-such a method...

"Could be called the Hundred-Step Flying Sword."

Qin Lian delightedly practiced his swordsmanship, experiencing his newfound understanding of it.

"With the [Swordsmanship] trait, even ordinary sword techniques can turn decay into wonder in my hands. If I use the Nine Heavens Sword Forms and Liuhe Duzun Sword Art against Ye Yingxiong... my odds of victory should be eighty to ninety percent... Hmm, a fighter of that caliber is bound to have a hidden card for staking his life against mine. Let's call it eighty percent."

An eighty percent chance of victory...

Was still a little low.

"Unfortunately, I perfected the Chasing the Wind and Pursuing the Sun movement technique over a month ago, yet still failed to activate the [Wind Riding] trait."

He glanced at the notification that had flashed through the golden light at the time...

[Chasing the Wind and Pursuing the Sun movement technique perfected. Tread the void and ride the wind; chase the wind and pursue the sun. Gaps filled and deficiencies remedied. Trait activated-Wind Riding (2/3)]

I can only make up the difference with the Nine Heavens Embracing the Moon Movement Technique.

The thought passed through his mind.

Fortunately, with the foundation laid by the Vertical and Horizontal Art and the Chasing the Wind and Pursuing the Sun movement technique, his progress in the somewhat similar Nine Heavens Embracing the Moon Movement Technique was rapid.

He surveyed the points of starlight within the golden light.

[Purple Cloud Art (minor attainment 54/100), Great Void Sword Qi (beginner 98/100), Great Sun Visualization Diagram (not yet begun 47/100), Nine Heavens Embracing the Moon (minor attainment 63/100), Chi Xiao Treasure Canon · Upper Part (minor attainment 21/100)]

"Thanks to the Great Void Visualization Diagram, which I've already perfected, my progress in Great Void Sword Qi during this time has been second only to Nine Heavens Embracing the Moon."

Qin Lian turned his blade.

The True Qi within him condensed, and under the Divine Intent of the Great Void Visualization Diagram, which embraced all things and transcended all things, the Sword Qi within him abruptly burst out of his body.

As this strand of Sword Qi cut through the air, he soon sensed something.

There was a problem...

With his execution of the Sword Qi.

"It's the [Swordsmanship] trait!"

The keen perception this trait bestowed detected the flaws in his sword practice and actively helped him correct the shortcomings of this sword art.

At once, Qin Lian followed that corrective perception and resumed practicing Great Void Sword Qi.

His figure, Sword Qi, and Divine Intent freely interwove and swept across the air.

At a certain moment...

Whoosh!

Sword Qi cleaved through the air, its chilling edge instantly shearing the branches and leaves off a shrub more than ten meters away, sending wood chips flying.

"Sword Qi leaves the body and cuts down enemies three zhang away. Great Void Sword Qi is complete."

A smile appeared on Qin Lian's face.

Great Void Sword Qi was a sect-defining sword art.

Minor attainment in a sect-defining sword art already put his progress on par with Divine Intent Grandmasters who had broken through to Second Grade only a few years earlier.

This [Swordsmanship] trait was even more wondrous than he had expected.

It had directly transformed him from an ordinary sword practitioner sustained by his aptitude into a true swordsmanship genius.