Watching the scenery described on the book was different from walking on the way in person, so when Li Fuyao wasn’t satisfied with what he heard of and started to take actions, he found the way was difficult to walk on. Although he was mentally prepared, he felt surprised.
Chen Sheng led him to the way to practice, or rather the branch road. In Chen Sheng’s opinion, the way of swordsmanship was a rugged path, so when he took Li Fuyao to walk, he didn’t brag but told Li Fuyao that it would be difficult to walk on this path in the future.
How difficult it was depended on what he felt, so Li Fuyao was wise and didn’t ask this question.
Therefore, since Li Fuyao agreed to walk on this road, Chen Sheng kept making things difficult for him. This middle-aged man who looked easy-going at ordinary times was serious when he taught somebody swordsmanship.
He told that teenager who didn’t know what swordsmanship was to stab one thousand times with the “sword” in the courtyard on the first day. Li Fuyao’s thin arm couldn’t finish so many times in one day, and the stick was heavy enough. So from dawn to dusk, he just stabbed six hundred times. Chen Sheng didn’t say anything but stood under the eave, watching if the teenager could stab one thousand times.
Obviously, he couldn’t.
Till midnight, the teenager still gritted his teeth and insisted but didn’t finish stabbing one thousand times. Instead, he fell on the ground in the courtyard. Although he got up and continued to wave the sword in the end, he didn’t finish the task anyway. Chen Sheng kept silent. He just told Li Fuyao to stab one thousand times but didn’t say what would happen if he couldn’t finish it. Li Fuyao didn’t ask but just tried his best to wave the sword in his hand.
One didn’t say anything, and the other didn’t ask.
The master and disciple were weird.
On the second day, Chen Sheng told Li Fuyao to walk ten thousand miles. It was a task that couldn’t be completed apparently, but Li Fuyao still put the stick on his waist and walked alone. Till midnight, he just finished one hundred miles. Then the teenager looked at the sky and returned to his courtyard. He went out and then came back after walking two hundred miles, spending one day and night.
Li Fuyao walked without stopping for one day and night, which made his legs soft, but on the third day, he still showed up in the courtyard.
Chen Sheng looked unserious at ordinary times, but when he taught Li Fuyao swordsmanship, he kept silent. He just told Li Fuyao what to do every day. As for whether he could make it, Chen Sheng didn’t mind or say anything.
One and another day passed. On the fifteenth day, Li Fuyao fell on the ground in the courtyard and couldn’t get up. Chen Sheng finally carried him to the bed and fed him a black pill.
Beside the bed, Chen Sheng touched Li Fuyao’s limbs which got stiff because of the excessive movement and finally nodded. The first thing for a swordsman from the human world when he started learning was not to learn how to use a sword but to know a principle.
On the first day, he couldn’t stab one thousand times, and on the second day, he couldn’t walk ten thousand miles. And he couldn’t finish anything in one day in the past fifteen days. It was not embarrassing but normal. Something couldn’t be completed. What did it matter if he couldn’t finish it?
Chen Sheng nodded not because Li Fuyao finally fell into a coma but because he didn’t refuse to do it as he couldn’t make it. Instead, he tried his best to finish what couldn’t be finished. At last he fainted, so his last energy was drained.
Li Fuyao seemed to figure out what “intent” meant.
He tried to do something he could do. Even if he couldn’t do it, he would have a try.
That was a swordsman’s intent.
Li Fuyao didn’t hear Chen Sheng tell him this principle, but when he stood in the courtyard with the sword after opening his eyes, he had understood a lot.
For something, there was no need to explain.
Li Fuyao who started to practice swordsmanship suffered much more than that. Chen Sheng wanted him to understand a principle in the first fifteen days, and the hardships of a swordsman unfolded one by one in front of Li Fuyao in the next month.
It was like a beautiful picture scroll being unfolded slowly.
But he didn’t feel comfortable at all during the process.
The torture made Li Fuyao forget anything else soon. During the period, Mr. Yan from the Yanling Confucian Temple led the little girl to say goodbye, but Li Fuyao didn’t have energy to talk with them. However, Chen Sheng looked at that little girl, lost in thought. The girl named Gu Yuan was also curious about Chen Sheng’s identity as a swordsman. But in the end, she was led by Yan Yu and left here, returning to the Yanling Confucian Temple.
Chen Sheng started to use his sword Qi to refine Li Fuyao’s body.
The sharp sword Qi intruded every acupoint of Li Fuyao’s, like the hair needles stabbing his body. He experienced the painful process.
In addition, when he was attacked by the sword Qi, he had to bring that “sword” to stab in the courtyard. The bitter pain made him stay sober all the time, and also, he stabbed every time with difficulty.
He just stabbed several times, but he had sweat all over.
The ordinary cultivators wouldn’t suffer so much as soon as they started to cultivate, but Li Fuyao chose to practice swordsmanship, so he had to bear it silently.
He was tortured and had no time to think why he would be a stupid swordsman in the world with nothing but a sword.
In the second month, late winter, when Li Fuyao didn’t feel the spring anymore, he felt that his pain relieved.
When he lowered his head and looked at his limbs, he found that he was much stronger than before. Although he still looked thin, he believed that he had changed.
Chen Sheng didn’t talk much these days. He didn’t like drinking, but he was talkative. However, he didn’t talk to Li Fuyao but spoke a lot to Qing Huai. Li Fuyao practiced swordsmanship obediently. Sometimes at night, he would sit with Qing Huai under the eave and watch the stars. Nobody knew if Chen Sheng liked it, but Li Fuyao liked it very much.
Occasionally, they would watch the morning glow or sunset clouds, but in this season, they were not as beautiful as those in summer.
After Li Fuyao practiced swordsmanship for three months, Chen Sheng talked more. He often told Li Fuyao what happened in the demonic land in the north and something about the sages of the three religious sects, but he talked about the Sword Immortal the most.
Li Fuyao could notice that the Sword Immortal was somebody he should catch up with.
However, Li Fuyao who just comprehended the intent sat cross-legged in meditation most of the time when he didn’t need to listen to Chen Sheng’s chat. He had an inward vision on the slight movements of the energy in his heart and patiently led the movements to his meridians, hoping that he would drive the movements out of his body someday. Then the energy movements would turn into the sword Qi, and he would be a swordsman in the Sword Qi Stage.
Chen Sheng said that when he reached the Sword Qi Stage, he would be indeed on the way of swordsmanship.
When Li Fuyao asked how many days Chen Sheng had practiced before reaching the Sword Qi Stage, the latter smiled proudly, “Only one year.”
As Chen Sheng said, he was a rare genius on the Sword Mountain in the past one hundred years, so it was natural that he made progress so fast, but Li Fuyao didn’t know how much talent he had on swordsmanship, so he had no idea how many days he would need.
But since he didn’t even have a sword yet, it must be a long way to go.
…
One day, after dusk, Li Fuyao finished practicing and then sat on the stair under the eave, staring at the sunglow in a daze. Chen Sheng was nowhere to be found. Qing Huai came over and sat next to Li Fuyao. Looking at this girl, Li Fuyao grinned and asked, “To be honest, I always want to ask you a question. As the demon race, you don’t have a good relationship with the swordsmen. Why did you tell me to learn swordsmanship?”
Qing Huai replied indifferently, “I thought you can figure it out.”
Li Fuyao was surprised, “Is it as I thought?”
Qing Huai nodded and sighed. “What else can it be if it’s not?”
Li Fuyao was speechless and thought it turned out that she was a sociable girl.
Qing Huai ignored him and took out a green bead, throwing it to him, “We have agreed before.”
Li Fuyao received that demon core and asked, “How can I use it?”
Qing Huai responded casually, “The simplest way is to eat it, but in your stage, you will probably explode and die.”
“…”
Li Fuyao was rendered speechless and thought even if he wouldn’t explode and die, he wouldn’t eat this demon core. As for the stage, Chen Sheng had said directly that he needed to walk step by step, and it was not a good way to depend on something. But since it was given by Qing Huai, Li Fuyao wanted to keep it.
The two sat on the stair for long, and soon there were lots of stars in the sky.
Li Fuyao raised his head and looked at those stars, thinking, “This is our first time to talk seriously since the last few months. Why not talk more?”
Even though he thought like this, he didn’t talk much.
But after staying silent for a while, Qing Huai said, “There will be a Daoist assembly in Liangxi in late spring. I will leave here these days and go to Liangxi to challenge that gifted Dao cultivator.”
Li Fuyao knew about it, so he just nodded, “Oh. Be careful.”
Soon he asked cautiously, “Do you have anything else to say?”
Qing Huai mocked, “What do you want to hear?”
Li Fuyao waved his hand awkwardly, “In fact, I have only one friend, you, so I am worried about you.”
Qing Huai turned to glance at him and smiled.
In the distance, Chen Sheng was lying in a big willow tree. With his capability, he certainly knew clearly what was happening in the courtyard. He had a headache facing these two teenagers and shook his head, murmuring, “Silly boy.”
“Li Fuyao, I am going to Liangxi, but I can walk with you to the border of Yanling. Get ready, and we will set out in a few days.”The next morning, as soon as Li Fuyao stepped out of his room after waking up, he saw Qing Huai. She said that with no emotion, which surprised him.But Qing Huai didn’t speak much and turned to leave after that. Chen Sheng was sitting on the stair and looking at Li Fuyao.Li Fuyao thought for a while and soon came to sit next to him.Chen Sheng was not that kind of old tutor who would like to explain something with a long speech. On the contrary, he was best at killing demons or people with a sword.Otherwise, why would he have killed that big demon in the Revelation Stage with a sword alone?So when Li Fuyao was sitting beside him, Chen Sheng didn’t keep anything from him but said straightforward, “You are in a very low stage, and I am afraid you will suffer on the way. It ha
On the third day after Chen Sheng left, Li Fuyao packed up and closed the courtyard door.Standing at the door, Li Fuyao carried a large bag and laughed in a low voice, “Maybe I won’t come back in the future. In the past, I always thought Baiyu Town is really small and I could wander everywhere in a short time. But now I am unwilling to leave here.”Qing Huai had nothing in her hands and ignored him. She just held her chest with both hands and looked the small courtyard up and down.After they walked less than one hour, they would go out of this town. Li Fuyao turned his head and looked at this small town for the last time under the morning sun and then left.There was an official road outside Baiyu Town, and it was the only way to the outside world, so they chose this road. The Sword Mountain was on the border between Yanling City and Dayu, and it was in the north of Dazhou Empire. Therefore, on this trip, Li Fuyao planned to walk
The young scholar was going to the ghost Zhuyu Town, which made Li Fuyao’s expression a bit unnatural. Finally, Qing Huai had some interesting ideas. Then they returned to the Zhuyu Town. On the way, it was obvious that the young scholar’s spirits rose. He was talking all the way. And he just let Li Fuyao know the ins and outs of the matter.It turned out that the young scholar had a girl friend who grew up with him together. The two originally loved each other. They had already made a deal that they waited after the scholar went to the capital to take the examinations and then they got married. But no one knew why the woman married far away to Zhuyu Town after the scholar left the village. The scholar returned from the exam and learned of this. So he raised a machete in preparation for coming to Zhuyu Town to grab his girlfriend back.Speaking of this, Li Fuyao really admired the young scholar. But because he made Qing Huai stop and go to Zhuyu Town, Li Fu
In everybody’s opinion, it was not a small matter to break a mansion’s gate for no reason. A mansion’s gate was the dignity of a family. After being embarrassed, that family wouldn’t look happy anyway.But now, what happened was that Qing Huai broke this mansion’s gate and entered it boldly, while nobody in the large mansion came out to stop her.Li Fuyao was petrified. Seeing that Qing Huai was going to get out of his sight, he hurriedly stood up and jogged to catch up with her. She had told him that Zhuyu Town was not safe, and he didn’t dare to get away from her.But he turned around and glanced at Huang Jin who sat on the stair in a daze. Li Fuyao quickly pulled him up and followed Qing Huai into that mansion.They rapidly walked a few steps and passed a short path. Li Fuyao finally saw Qing Huai’s back in front of a pavilion. He heaved a sigh of relief and stopped. Huang Jin took deep breaths and asked in a low voice, “Mr. Li,
Huang Jin was obviously not a man who was disloyal to love, and he was not even a bad man. He studied hard for so many years in order to be outstanding. And the reason was that he did it for this female ghost in red in front of them and wanted her to live a better life after marrying him.Thus, Huang Jin could bring a machete which he had never used to snatch a bride in Zhuyu Town. It was rare for a scholar to pick up a machete, but Huang Jin didn’t care for the sake of this woman. However, when he faced death, he might be willing to die, but as somebody asked abruptly, he would be scared. So it was not his fault to shake his head.But women didn’t like to listen to reasons, and perhaps this female ghost didn’t like to, either.Li Fuyao grabbed the machete and looked at the female ghost whose face turned ferocious. He cautiously kicked Huang Jin’s back, but the latter didn’t stand up after coming back to reality. Huang Jin just stared at the fe
On the roof of a house in this mansion in the deep of an alley, Qing Huai who disappeared as soon as she entered the mansion was sitting and looking at the pavilion in the distance with a smile.Next to her, there was a young woman in a cloth dress whose face was pale but looked peaceful. In the daytime, she still held an oil paper umbrella and covered herself under it. Now she was sitting idly on the roof with Qing Huai, a teenage girl dressed in black clothes.After Qing Huai called “idiot”, the woman whose name was Hehua showed a faint smile. Seeing that Qing Huai still didn’t plan to leave after calling, she asked in confusion, “Qing Huai, why don’t you go to help him?”Qing Huai looked emotionless, “I have to let him experience the danger in the human world. Otherwise, such a boy from a small town would be bullied when he is out.”Hehua covered her mouth and chuckled, thinking, “Qing Huai, you look so young. Why do you speak l
After leaving Zhuyu Town, they continued to walk northward. These days, Huang Jin was in low spirits obviously. After getting out of that mansion, he didn’t carry that machete on his back, and it was replaced with that umbrella, so the machete was on Li Fuyao’s back.It was ridiculous for a swordsman to carry a machete on his back. Although in Chen Sheng’s opinion, Li Fuyao was an unpresentable swordsman, he was a swordsman anyway. However, Li Fuyao had special feelings for this machete which was with him when he fought the first fight in his life, so he didn’t say anything.The three continued on the official road. Huang Jin walked quickly behind the other two but didn’t raise his head. This scholar took part in the first test of the imperial examination in Shaoliang City this year and learnt the news that the woman got married. Then he gave up the next tests and came back home in a hurry. According to the rules in Dazhou, he couldn’t attend the imperial e
After parting with Huang Jin, Qing Huai and Li Fuyao walked much more quickly. After one day, they left the official road and came into a large provincial city. Earlier, Li Fuyao bought a map of Dazhou on the way and knew that this city was not ordinary. When the first emperor of Dazhou established the country, he had risen from here. After Dazhou was established, this provincial city named Yamen had a new awkward-sounding name, Yanshi. Now, Yanshi City and the capital city Shaoliang were the most important cities of the country. And the local people even called Yanshi the second capital city in secret. It could be seen how significant Yanshi City was in Dazhou.After they entered the city, Li Fuyao thought they would buy some food and continue to walk, but Qing Huai wasn’t in a hurry and insisted on having a rest for one night. Li Fuyao looked at Qing Huai helplessly. He certainly couldn’t defeat her if they fought. But except fighting, if he tried to reason her, he wo