To Use Its Edge, First Blunt Its Sharpness
[At 80, by lifting something heavy as though it were light, you mastered Light Sword Intent; by lifting something light as though it were heavy, you mastered Heavy Sword Intent; by combining hardness and softness, you mastered Light and Heavy Sword Intent!] [At 85, through the Fast Sword Technique, you mastered Fast Sword Intent; through the Taiji Sword, you mastered Slow Sword Intent; through the Illusory Sword Art, you mastered Fast and Slow Sword Intent!] [At 90, through movement exercises, you mastered Movement Sword Intent; through stillness exercises, you mastered Stillness Sword Intent; by combining movement and stillness, you mastered Movement and Stillness Sword Intent!] [At 100, through Life-Seizing Swordsmanship, you mastered Demonic Sword Intent; through Bodhidharma Swordsmanship, you mastered Buddha Sword Intent; through the Precept-Breaking Saber Technique, you mastered Demon and Buddha Sword Intent!] [At 110, you integrated Life and Death Sword Intent, Light and Heavy Sword Intent, Fast and Slow Sword Intent, Movement and Stillness Sword Intent, and Demon and Buddha Sword Intent into the Taiji Sword Domain. You gained a profound understanding of what it meant for one yin and one yang to constitute the Dao, and reached the realm of following your heart's desires without overstepping the bounds!] [At 120, you collected all kinds of swordsmanship, cultivated all kinds of sword intents, and tried to integrate them all into the Taiji Sword Domain. Your strength increased with each passing day!] [At 130, your study of sword intent had reached a transcendent, saintly level. You needed only one glance at the vast majority of sword technique manuals to awaken their sword intent. With the support of Mount Wudang and the favor of the Great Ming Dynasty, you mastered ninety-nine percent of the world's sword intents!] [At 140, you had lost interest in the swordsmanship of the jianghu. You began traveling the mortal world and comprehending heaven and earth, gradually reaching a realm where all things under heaven could serve as a sword. You used the Taiji Sword Domain to contain the sword intent of heaven and earth, and your Taiji Sword Domain advanced into the Heaven and Earth Sword World!] [At 142, the Emperor Jiajing was obsessed with pursuing immortality and collected vast quantities of menstrual blood from palace maids to refine pills, causing more and more maids to die of hemorrhaging. Unable to endure it any longer, more than a dozen palace maids plotted to kill the Emperor Jiajing, instigating the Ren Yin Palace Coup that shook the world. The Emperor Jiajing escaped this calamity by sheer luck and ordered all the palace maids involved to be executed by slow slicing. More than two hundred palace maids were implicated and beheaded. Fearing a repeat of the incident, Empress Fang tried to persuade the Emperor Jiajing to stop refining pills, but the Emperor Jiajing was so consumed by his pursuit of immortality that he could not free himself and would not listen to any advice!] [At 143, Empress Fang tried to find Zhang Sanfeng and have him persuade the Emperor Jiajing to stop refining pills. But Zhang Sanfeng was like a divine dragon whose head could be glimpsed but never its tail; unless he chose to appear, no one could find him. Empress Fang had to settle for the next best thing and ask you to persuade the Emperor Jiajing to stop refining pills. Since the Great Ming imperial family had repeatedly shown you favor, you truly could find no reason to refuse, so you agreed to Empress Fang's request!] [At 144, drawing on the Sixth-Transformation Pill Refining Technique from the National Martial Arts world, you concluded that the pill refiner favored by the Emperor Jiajing was a fraud who deceived the world to steal fame. Through all kinds of theoretical analysis and numerous scientific experiments, you proved that the pill refiner had not made immortal pills that prolonged life, but poisonous lead-and-mercury pills that caused heavy metal poisoning and a slow death. The Emperor Jiajing ordered the execution of the pill refiner's nine familial clans, and his trust in you grew with each passing day!] [At 145, you proposed the idea of nourishing the body with medicinal cuisine and dietary supplements, entrusting it to the Imperial Medical Institute for careful study. This was very much in keeping with the Emperor Jiajing's expectations for an elixir of immortality, and he appointed you Imperial Preceptor!] [At 146, you received the blessing of the Great Ming Dynasty's national fortune. Your Heaven and Earth Sword World gathered the sword intent of all living beings, gradually forming the Three Sword Realms of Heaven, Earth, and Man!] [At 147, you discovered that the Three Sword Realms of Heaven, Earth, and Man dispersed your power, and your realm in the sword Dao declined instead of advancing. You began pondering how to break the deadlock!] [At 148, you encountered Zhang Sanfeng again. Zhang Sanfeng marveled at your Three Sword Realms of Heaven, Earth, and Man and praised you as a swordsman without equal throughout the ages. However, he said that your sword Dao had gone astray, and that a true swordsman should concentrate boundless power within himself. You fell into thought!] [At 149, you thought of how the great Dao was simplicity itself. You first downgraded the Three Sword Realms of Heaven, Earth, and Man into the Primordial Sword Domain, then downgraded the Primordial Sword Domain into Chaos Sword Intent. You surpassed the limits of the Grandmaster Realm and broke through to the Celestial Person Realm!] [At 155, Zhang Sanfeng was only one step away from shattering the void, but his lifespan was nearly exhausted. You recalled stories in Earth's online novels of two peerless masters fighting a life-and-death battle, shattering the void, and ascending to the immortal gate together. You decided to help Zhang Sanfeng ascend in broad daylight at the Wudang Golden Summit!] [At 156, Zhang Sanfeng was the strongest under heaven, while you had an unrivaled cheat. You joined forces and finally opened the immortal gate, ascending together in broad daylight!] [Based on your life, please select a Dao Fruit-] [Strength at the Celestial Person Realm] [Immaculate Golden Pill] [Taiji Sword]
Without a second thought, Mo Wenjian chose strength at the Celestial Person Realm.
Mo Wenjian instinctively reached out to claim the Dao Fruit, but at the critical moment, he suddenly pulled his hand back.
He had cultivated that strength at the Celestial Person Realm from scratch after crippling his own martial arts.
If he claimed the Dao Fruit directly, he would inevitably first cripple his own martial arts and then be infused with strength at the Celestial Person Realm.
That meant Mo Wenjian's current Innate True Qi would simply go to waste, which clearly went against the traditional virtue of thrift.
Mo Wenjian decided to follow the approach he had taken in his simulated life and put his Innate True Qi to use rather than waste it, then claim the Dao Fruit.
The Eastern Arrival Hall was not large, and Mo Wenjian soon found Zhu Zhanshan.
Zhu Zhanshan was practicing Two Forms Swordsmanship, and he looked extremely diligent.
A hardworking little brat was always liable to make a favorable impression.
With a smile as refreshing as a spring breeze, Mo Wenjian walked over to Zhu Zhanshan with a genial expression.
"Your Imperial Highness, have you heard of the Wedding Dress Divine Art?" Rather than state his purpose directly, Mo Wenjian first laid the groundwork.
"Greetings, Senior Brother. Please forgive my ignorance, but I haven't heard of the Wedding Dress Divine Art!" Zhu Zhanshan hurriedly put away his sword and respectfully gave Mo Wenjian a cupped-fist salute.
"Bitterly, she hated stitching gold thread year after year, making wedding dresses for others to wear. On the surface, the Wedding Dress Divine Art looks like a way to cultivate a body full of True Qi and give it all to someone else!" Mo Wenjian stopped suddenly at that point.
"Since that's how it looks on the surface, what truth lies beneath?" Zhu Zhanshan gazed at Mo Wenjian, his eyes full of curiosity.
"Only through grinding does a treasured sword gain its edge. To use its sharpness, you must first blunt its edge. That is the true essence of the Wedding Dress Divine Art!" Mo Wenjian paused, then continued, "The first time you cultivate True Qi, it suffers countless setbacks and hardships in the course of opening the eight extraordinary meridians, smoothing away its rough edges and blunting its sharpness. You pass that True Qi on to someone else, then cultivate again from the beginning. The True Qi cultivated the second time skips the process of opening the eight extraordinary meridians, so it suffers no setbacks or hardships and remains sharp as a bared blade!"
"Though I'm young, even I can tell that the Wedding Dress Divine Art is absolutely worthy of its name!" Accustomed to his status as an imperial grandson, Zhu Zhanshan instinctively offered an assessment.
"Would you be willing to accept all my True Qi?" Mo Wenjian looked at Zhu Zhanshan and smiled. "If you inherit all my True Qi, with good luck you might be able to open all eight extraordinary meridians at once. With bad luck, perhaps only the Heaven and Earth Mysterious Pass will remain. Follow my example and cripple your martial arts, then start cultivating from scratch. You can save the time it takes to open your meridians and become an innate expert within three to five years!"