Chapter 72: Advancing

The sword is hailed as the lord of all weapons. A longsword can slay enemies, and a shortsword can defend oneself, but for cultivators, the length, weight, and size of a sword are not the keys to victory. What matters is the person wielding it.

When Senior Brother Zheng Jin gave him the reforged Wind-Folding Fan, he had explained the design behind the reforging. Surprisingly, Zheng Jin actually believed he had a great talent for the sword and even tried to brainwash him.

“You have no talent for the sword? No, no, no. As an artifact refiner, I rarely misjudge people. Junior Brother Wen, you’re still too impatient. You’re in too much of a hurry to cultivate, too eager for quick results, which is why a clever person like you immediately avoided the path of the sword.”

“Because you have a close friend who wields a saber, you know exactly how much time and effort it takes to master a weapon. And as someone with a mutated single spiritual root, you could easily take a much easier path.”

“But Junior Brother, if you take shortcuts, it’s easy to get hooked and lose your way.”

A shortcut? Wen Xu did not think studying arrays was a shortcut. Compared to the sword, it was simply easier for him to pick up. He had to admit one thing: he had the mind of a scholar, and he still had not completely adjusted his outlook on life.

Compared to fighting others hand-to-hand with weapons, he naturally preferred defeating his enemies from a distance.

But Senior Brother Zheng’s brainwashing had worked to some extent. In other words, Wen Xu realized that while he could rely on his friends’ support, if he wanted to win in solo combat, he had better put some effort into learning the sword. Otherwise, he would just be handing his life to the enemy on a silver platter.

Furthermore, the Wind-Folding Fan could be used in tandem with sword techniques and stacked arrays. He, of all people, could not stand letting things go to waste.

In all honesty, Wen Xu considered himself an egoist. He could not comprehend risking his life for the way of the sword or the saber. His childhood experiences made him value his life above all else; only by staying alive could one possess anything.

If he died, all that talk of comprehending the Dao and cultivating immortality would become nothing but a mirage.

After reading over a hundred sword manuals, Wen Xu found it even harder to understand how to comprehend the sword. So, he simply threw all of that to the back of his mind and focused solely on practicing the 《Nine Revolutions Sword Art》.

The 《Nine Revolutions Sword Art》 had only six forms in total, and the moves were simple. During this period, he had practiced them no less than a thousand times a day, long since engraving the moves into his muscle memory. Even if he did not focus his mind, think, or use spiritual energy, as long as he held the sword, he could move as he pleased, and the forms would naturally flow with the movement of the spiritual sword.

For some reason, the combos of the 《Nine Revolutions Sword Art》 had become increasingly smooth lately. Wen Xu even felt as if the sword forms themselves were driving his movements. Yesterday, while practicing, his body and the spiritual sword had even reached an uncanny synchronization in the wind.

The sword forms were completely integrated into the wind. If he had not sensed it himself, he would have thought there was no wind around him at all. The wind had fully attached itself to the spiritual sword, even boosting it, allowing him to execute three or even four consecutive moves in a single breath.

In short, Wen Xu found that his sword had become faster.

This was not boosted by arrays, nor was it driven by spiritual energy. It was achieved purely through his physical strength. The moment he realized this, the wind instantly whipped wildly from his hand onto the blade, which let out a silent, low hum.

He seemed to have, unintentionally, achieved a state of rhythmic harmony with the sword.

The feeling could not be described as wonderful; it was actually very floaty, like walking on the edge of a blade in the clouds. It felt as if the slightest mistake would send him falling, leaving him bloodied and bruised, yet upon closer inspection, it was incredibly stable.

Learning the sword seemed to be something both extremely simple and extremely complex, extremely easy and extremely difficult.

Wen Xu did not understand, but there was no point in overthinking it. He had once asked his master about the way of weapons, but his master had told him that simple basics could be self-taught, while the more difficult comprehension of the Dao depended on oneself. What others taught would always belong to others; even if one adapted it for oneself, it was merely picking up what others had already learned.

In other words, his master would not teach him the way of the sword. Later, he went to talk to Xia Ying, who also said that learning the sword was a very personal path. Unless it was a family inheritance, even a master would only offer pointers on how to practice and study. The deeper aspects had to be comprehended on one’s own.

Wen Xu only half-understood, but in the end, he decided to keep practicing. Perhaps one day, it would suddenly click.

And now, standing on the dueling arena, with his stacked arrays completely countered by his opponent’s spirit-stone-consuming attrition strategy, Wen Xu decided to try using his sword.

This was just an attempt; he hadn’t really thought about what would happen if he lost. After all, compared to the terrifying consequence of losing his life in his past gambles, he didn’t care all that much about winning or losing the Yonglu Mountain Sect Tournament.

“Look! The Wind-Folding Fan has turned into the Zhefeng Sword! Is he going to…”

Bian Chunzhou originally thought Wen Xuxu was going to unleash another instant-kill array, just like he had against Senior Sister Huo Shengyin. But he quickly realized that wasn’t the case at all. Wen Xuxu was genuinely just using a sword.

Was the pay-to-win style really that hard to deal with?

“Breaking it with sheer force… His sword is different now.” Chen Zui’s eyes instantly lit up. “Look, his sword isn’t as hollow as before. Do you see it?”

Bian Chunzhou: “…Isn’t a sword just a solid lump of iron? How can it be hollow? It looks about the same to me. At most, it’s just… fast…”

“Holy crap, that’s fast!” With hand speed like that, he had to have been single for at least a hundred years!

“It is fast, but I think he can go even faster.” Chen Zui’s eyes grew even brighter.

Compared to Chen Zui’s eagerness, Han Yu, who was facing Wen Xu, was not in such a great mood. His opponent had suddenly changed his method of attack, and because the sword was so fast, Han Yu’s spiritual talismans were actually struggling to keep up.

Although his talisman attacks had been defeated before, no one had ever beaten him on speed. He was doomed. He had thought that drawing the Little Grand-Uncle Master this time would give him a slightly better chance of winning.

Who would have thought…

Were geniuses really this unstoppable? He had clearly felt that victory was within reach, but now he couldn’t see a way out at all.

Han Yu took stock of his spiritual energy reserves and realized with great frustration that the war of attrition he excelled at was about to be broken. But he had never heard of the Little Grand-Uncle Master practicing the sword. Could it be… that he had been holding back his strength earlier?

Fortunately, Han Yu had a good attitude. His goal was simply to make it into the top ten, and now that he had achieved it, losing to the Little Grand-Uncle Master was nothing to be ashamed of.

With his mind at ease, he dragged the match out for the time it takes an incense stick to burn before finally being sent off the stage by a single sword strike.

Wen Xu, however, was also exhausted. As a scholar who had previously only wielded pens rather than weapons, high-intensity swordplay was a massive strain on his physical constitution. Although he practiced Body Tempering every day, the gap between him and someone like Chen Zui, who had tempered his body since childhood, was still far too wide.

Fortunately, he had won again.

“If you want to temper your body, I highly recommend going to clear spiritual fields.”

Why was his master suddenly so proactive? In the past, if Wen Xu asked ten questions, he would get one or two replies at most, and sometimes not even a single definitive answer. Sensing a trap, Wen Xu asked, “Isn’t clearing spiritual fields better suited for cultivators with earth or water spiritual roots?”

“Lingyao Peak isn’t picky. Even if I went there myself, they would gladly arrange a whole bunch of… work for me.”

That sounded even more suspicious.

“If you don’t believe me, go experience it for yourself. Clearing spiritual fields is universally recognized in Yonglu Mountain as the task that tempers one’s Dao heart the most. It’s much simpler and less dangerous than going to the trial realms in the back mountains.”

Wen Xu remained skeptical. And yet… his master wasn’t wrong. Technically, every word was true, without a single lie.

Besides, since his master had suggested it, Wen Xu had to go.

He decided that once the final matches were over, he would take on the mission to clear the spiritual fields.

“You’re really going? Then I-” Bian Chunzhou steeled himself. “Then I’ll risk my life to accompany a gentleman!”

Having said that, he looked at Chen Zuizui beside him. This guy had never been a master of facial expressions. Besides… when it came to tempering one’s Dao heart, Chen Zuizui was usually the most enthusiastic. Why was he suddenly so quiet today?

“Hey, why aren’t you saying anything?”

Chen Zui’s eyes darted around. “You guys go ahead. I won’t be joining.”

Huh? He actually refused?

Bian Chunzhou immediately scurried over. “Did you go there behind our backs? How was it? Tell us! We promise we won’t laugh at you.”

Wen Xu nodded in agreement at the right moment.

The naive Chen Zui believed them instantly, his tone carrying a rare hint of complaint. “The spiritual fields on Lingyao Peak aren’t that large. I originally thought I could finish in half an hour. But the senior brother supervising had too many demands. I clearly did exactly what he said, but he claimed I couldn’t understand human speech, that I only grew in size but not in brains, and even said I couldn’t tell XX and XXX apart. He said I was simply ruining the spiritual fields and banned me from taking spiritual field missions in the future!”

Well, that… was actually quite reasonable. After all, other than being sharp when it came to saber practice, even Chen Zui’s cultivation was built entirely on his saber training. If you asked him how much he understood about cultivation theory, he might know even less than a novice who had just entered the early stages of Qi Refining.

“…Impressive. You couldn’t be the first disciple to be blacklisted by Lingyao Peak, could you?”

Chen Zui immediately retorted, “Of course not.”

“You actually went and asked about that?”

“No, the senior brother from Lingyao Peak who scolded me and chased me away told me.”

Bian Chunzhou rubbed his hands together. “Who else is on it?”

“A lot of people. I can’t remember them all, but they’re all written on the bulletin board at the entrance of Lingyao Peak,” Chen Zui said bluntly. “And next to it, there’s some kind of Perseverance Leaderboard, showing cumulative days and consecutive days of clearing.”

Good grief. Bian Chunzhou had always heard rumors about Lingyao Peak but had never actually been there. When he negotiated supplier partnerships for the hotpot restaurant, he had only dealt with Planting Peak.

It couldn’t be helped; Lingyao Peak was focused on precise, detailed research. The cultivation levels there were generally high, mostly starting at the Golden Core stage. There were Foundation Establishment cultivators as well, but supposedly not many.

For those in the Qi Refining Stage, the only way to go up to Lingyao Peak was to take on the mission to clear spiritual fields.

After listening to their conversation, Wen Xu suddenly spoke up. “In that case, I’m actually a bit interested.”

Bian Chunzhou: …The scheming Xu-Xu has appeared!

Meanwhile, all the results for the top ten matches were out. After both Chen Zui and Wen Xu advanced, the internal battle of the outer sect also reached a conclusion. Huo Shengyin proved to be the superior fighter, defeating Li Anqu. However, the most anticipated inner sect battle between Liu and Rong ended with both sides suffering mutual defeat.

As it turned out, both Liu Zheyan and Rong Xiaoling hailed from Beast Taming Peak. Their inability to continue fighting was not because their spiritual energy was depleted, but because their respective tamed beasts had run out of strength. Since no winner could be decided, it was declared a draw.

Considering that their tamed beasts needed rest and recovery, the two decided not to participate in the remaining matches.

The internal battle between Liu and Rong ended somewhat abruptly, but what was even more shocking was that the inner sect senior brother surnamed Shi, who was at the very center of all the gossip, had actually broken through to Foundation Establishment on the eve of the Sect Tournament finals.