Unity of Man and Sword
The training ground on the mountain behind the estate.
A child in close-fitting black clothes stood in the training ground, holding a longsword. Though it was called a longsword, it was twenty centimeters shorter than a normal sword to suit his height. Three years had passed. Qie Qiong had practiced the sword for three years and had only just turned six, but thanks to this world and his cultivation of the Thunder's Five Transformation Technique, he was already over 1.45 meters tall. In a few more years, he would definitely surpass his height from his previous life.
Qie Qiong stood with his sword, slowly breathed out, and assumed his stance. With a flick of the longsword in his hand, he began his daily practice. The Seventy-Two Earth Fiend Swords changed in unpredictable ways. After three years of practice, he was already highly proficient in it, yet perfection still seemed nowhere in sight.
Qie Qiong could actually sense that his swordsmanship was on the verge of a breakthrough, but he also felt as though something was still missing. He could not say exactly what it was.
Qie Qiong stopped practicing and looked at the specially made longsword in his hand. He was exceptionally proficient in every move, so why could he not find that feeling of perfection? He had also asked Qie Yunzhou, but Qie Yunzhou had said, "Only when you truly comprehend the Dao for yourself can it be considered true Unity of Man and Sword, the realm of a swordsmanship master."
Unable to make sense of it, Qie Qiong could only repeat the sword moves of the Seventy-Two Earth Fiend Swords over and over, searching for the feeling he wanted.
After finishing his morning sword practice, he ate lunch and continued his training in the afternoon. In the afternoon, he sparred with his training partners, two Heaven Rank Knights. Of course, their weapons were all unsharpened. As for the alchemical dummies, by his sixth month of sword practice, he had already reached the point where he could casually strike wherever he wanted.
"Same rules as always. No Dou Qi. Show me your full strength. Once you help me break through, you can claim an intermediate-grade Dou Qi cultivation method or an item of equal value." Qie Qiong looked at the two Heaven Rank Knights before him, one dressed in black and the other in white.
"Haha, then be careful, young master," the man in white said with a laugh.
A Heaven Rank Knight held the final rank of the Mortal Level, the last rank before becoming a Transcendent. Even in the Thunder Empire's army, such a person was somebody whose name carried weight.
Anyone who earned military merit in battle against the two great empires could apply to become a noble. Among the common people, they were also known as the noble reserve. Of course, few succeeded.
Obtaining an intermediate-grade Dou Qi cultivation method in the army was just as difficult as becoming a noble. Naturally, it was highly attractive to Heaven Rank Knights.
Ever since Qie Qiong began practicing the Seventy-Two Earth Fiend Swords, apart from the first half year, he had sparred and trained with the two of them every day. They were all too familiar with him. Both understood that if they had not already been Heaven Rank Knights, and had instead been at the same realm as the young master, neither of them would likely have been his match. Naturally, there was no question of them holding back because of his young age.
The two men slowly advanced on Qie Qiong, longsabers in hand. Both stared at him as though he were not a six-year-old child, but an enemy who could take their lives at any moment.
Qie Qiong stood where he was, watching them approach.
The man who had just spoken suddenly charged forward, swinging his longsaber at Qie Qiong. In nearly the blink of an eye, he was already in front of him.
Qie Qiong sidestepped the blow and thrust straight at his wrist, intending to disarm him. The man stepped back, and they began countering each other's moves.
The two exchanged hundreds of moves, but neither could do anything to the other. Qie Qiong had the advantage in swordsmanship, being one step away from Unity of Man and Sword. The Heaven Rank Knight, meanwhile, had the physical advantage: Dou Qi had already nourished all the sinews, bones, and muscles in his body at Earth Rank, to say nothing of Heaven Rank.
The man in black watched for a while, then silently moved to Qie Qiong's other side. He closed in, his saber taking an unconventional path as it slashed diagonally toward Qie Qiong's right side.
Yet Qie Qiong merely made a few slight retreats and movements where he stood. Those seemingly subtle shifts of his body were enough to make many of their attacks come to nothing.
"Hahaha, young master, your movement technique and swordsmanship are as formidable as ever. You're nearly a match for some Silver Moon Knights." The man in white laughed, exchanged a glance with his companion, and attacked again.
This time, they worked together in perfect harmony. The white-clad knight's moves were wide and sweeping, while the black-clad knight's blade darted in from tricky angles. Their attacks left no gaps, and the pressure on Qie Qiong abruptly increased.
Facing their combined assault, Qie Qiong felt the strain. After all, one of them alone had already been evenly matched with him. Pressed like this, he could only defend and push his swordsmanship to its limits.
Clang!
Saber and sword collided.
Qie Qiong suddenly realized that the two men's saber techniques were actually identical. Though one was wide and sweeping and the other's saber technique was unpredictable, their moves were the same.
"So that's it!" Seeing this, Qie Qiong suddenly burst out laughing. He finally understood why, despite practicing the Seventy-Two Earth Fiend Swords until it was identical to the manual, he had still been unable to achieve Unity of Man and Sword.
The Unity of Man and Sword he had pursued so desperately did not lie in copying the moves in the manual. That was merely someone else's Unity of Man and Sword, not his own. Just as people on Earth said, "A thousand readers have a thousand Hamlets," a single manual could contain more than one kind of Unity of Man and Sword. Each person's should be different.
The moment he understood, it was as though he suddenly sensed the sword itself in his hand through its blade. At that moment, the sword in his hand abruptly ceased to adhere strictly to the routines of the Seventy-Two Earth Fiend Swords.
The specially made longsword first struck the longsaber in the black-clad man's hand, then Qie Qiong sent his sword forward, thrusting it straight into the man's chest.
With Qie Qiong's comprehension of Unity of Man and Sword, he, who had been struggling to hold on, "gravely wounded" one man in an instant. With one man struck down, the other was defeated within a few exchanges as well.
"Hahaha, congratulations, young master, on achieving Unity of Man and Sword."
Both were Heaven Rank experts and had enough discernment to see that their young master's swordsmanship had broken through to the same level of technique as a Silver Moon Knight's. They offered their congratulations repeatedly. Even the black-clad knight, who had barely spoken before, looked excited.
They were excited not only because Qie Qiong had comprehended Unity of Man and Sword, but also for themselves.
After all, as long as Qie Qiong broke through, the two of them could obtain an intermediate-grade Dou Qi cultivation method. They had originally thought it would take at least seven or eight years. Though Qie Qiong had been only one step away from Unity of Man and Sword, that step was harder than going from the basics to major accomplishment.
Qie Qiong was excited too. The feeling of Unity of Man and Sword was better than anything he had ever known, something he had never experienced in his previous life.
"I must also thank you both for sparring with me these past few years. Now that I've broken through today, you can each go to the Dou Qi Pavilion after you return and choose any intermediate-grade Dou Qi cultivation method you like," Qie Qiong said with a hearty laugh.
"You two can head back first. I still have to finish today's training. Now that I've broken through, your time as my sparring partners has come to an end."
The two looked at each other and said in unison, "Yes, young master!"
Now that Qie Qiong had achieved Unity of Man and Sword, the two Heaven Rank Knights realized they could no longer serve as his sparring partners, so naturally they would not need to come again. They were happy too, having achieved their goal.