Chapter 151: Blade of the World (2/2)
”Ah, that's how Elder Xiang is. Quite the eccentric, he won't teach someone until they've reached a level where he feels like they are worth teaching”, said Bai Ying.
”But he just said I was worth guiding?” Ming Yue found this a bit strange.
”There's a difference between teaching and guiding. Now then do you still want to explore the city? Its getting dark so the night markets are opening up.”
Ming Yue declined and instead returned to Elder Shen's hall. As she did not have her own home yet, she stayed with Elder Shen. Albeit, when the illusion of the peaceful island revealed a spacious but very cluttered workshop, she was quite surprised to say the least.
Her declining resulted in the three animals going off on their own, most likely to feast on the many delicacies that the night market offered.
Ming Yue did not mind, feeling very excited in reading the manual that Elder Xiang gave her. The manuals she had were either of little use or were strange and too difficult for her to comprehend. Outside of these books, she had only herself and some minor teaching from various experts to go off of. But with this, she had a clear path to improving her skill with the sword.
She opened the book upon reaching the little house and started reading.
”Path of the Sword.”
”Throughout the ages, many swordsman sought the ultimate path of swordsmanship. With determination, they paved the way, finding common ground among each other which led to a culmination of several millennia of knowledge and experience. What was born from this is now known as the Sword Sage Path.”
”This path is split into six stages: Mortal Sword, Blade of the World, Sharpness of One's Soul, Return to Simplicity, Realm of a Hundred Swords, The Sage's Sword. Each stage is more difficult than the last. Of these six, many are blocked by ”Return to Simplicity” due to it's incredibly confusing nature...”
Ming Yue read the manual late into the night. Even if she could not comprehend much, it was all interesting to read. Still, she did manage to understand a few mysteries regarding sword techniques.
The next day, she woke up quite early and felt excited.
Next to her, Hei Yue and Xiao Yin rested next to her with expressions of satisfaction after a night of eating.
Upon reading the sword manual, she quickly realized that she had long mastered the stage of the Mortal Sword and stood at the beginning of Blade of the World.
After all, the mortal sword focused on the physical control of one's blade. This was something she had more or less perfected through battle. Her next step was to improve her control of energy, something that Blade of the World focused on.
She left Elder Shen's hall and walked outside to one of the training fields. As the sun had barely come out, there were few that trained as early as her.
”Blade of the World, a stage that requires one to feel the movement of the world's force. But what is the energy of the world? It is everything within it, the wind, the rumbling of the ground, every small movement is part of the world. To reach this stage requires one to connect their blade and themselves to the energy around them. Split the wind before you even cut through it, break stone before you even touch it, this stage does not focus on brute strength but through the control of energy.”
Ming Yue felt that this stage was within reach. In fact, based on the introduction given, she thought of her first technique. One strike, where she infused her energy into her blade, where her focus was at its greatest, this technique was what allowed her to end battles quickly. It was something of a sure-kill move. She never gave it a proper name but she remembered the sensation. It was a feeling of being able to cut everything in her path, whether it was steel or stone.
It wasn't brute strength or explosiveness but rather an insane amount of control. Presently, she had good control of her own energy but in regards to the energy of her surroundings, this was harder.
Ming Yue was merely guessing but she believed that if she could achieve that state once more, she would be that much closer to achieving Blade of the World. She stood still with her sword drawn and closed her eyes, trying to feel the power in the air.
From a distance away, Elder Xiang watched her.
”Interesting...” he thought.