Chapter 93 - Old Man (2/2)

KRONG!

He then drew in another thunderbolt, it struck down from the upper air above Swords Gate, the window lattices of the Knowledge Teaching Pavilion shuddered and threatened to deafen the ears of those around, "The second passage is, 'Thunderbolts - fire of the heaven. Thunder that moves upon the land baptized by the sun .' The thunder refers to the lightning, and their movement is characterized by Yang and an indomitable toughness. There are natural totem carvings intrinsic to the thunderbolts, grasp the air of the lightning, the Yang and the toughness in them ... and then you would have grasped the quintessence."

Each and every one of the disciples had their own enlightenment; the thunderbolts continued striking down perpetually right at the young teacher's atman, but he seemed impervious to the ferocious destructive force of the thunderbolts , rather, they were extracted by him for the refinement of his atman.

The disciples quickly settled down and attentively studied the thunderbolts, trying their utmost to understand and glean the abstruse profundity of the two passages while they corroborated their understandings with each other.

Not far away from them, Elder Pu was surprised and contented, he covertly nodded, then turned and left, This child, his Dao pedagogy is even better than mine, what a good seedling in the field of teaching. After his class, there won't be an insignificant number of these little disciples that will go on to grasp the quintessence of the [ Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill ]….

Zhong Yue wholeheartedly taught the upper house disciples, not long later, a number of them have successfully grasped the quintessence; and after another few moments, there were more upper house disciples to have also succeeded.

An hour had passed before Elder Pu finally returned, he smiled and said, "Junior Martial Brother Zhong, that person agreed to help, come, follow me!"

Zhong Yue rejoiced as he quickly followed behind and asked, "Elder Pu, how should I address him?"

Elder Pu hesitated, he pondered for a moment and answered, "Just call him 'old man', don't worry about addressing him in any other ways."

Old man? What is this weird form of address?, Zhong Yue was baffled.

"Old man doesn't have many rules or customs, but he holds an exalted seniority in Swords Gate, it would be unwise if you were to offend him."

Elder Pu led Zhong Yue into the inner hall, he then flew in the air above Swords Gate for a period of time. There were mountains abound on the Swords Gate Mountain, ridges and valleys wreathed around the mountainside; not long after, they alighted onto the ground and hiked past a few mountains and arrived in front of a steep precipice. From the top to the bottom of the precipice, its color was entirely jade-white as it was indeed an unearthly huge clump of fine jade!

The air around turned warm and gentle as they walked to the side of the precipice, the rays reflected sheened their skins white.

"This is the Yu Jade Ridge of Swords Gate, the old man is waiting for you in there."

Elder Pu stopped down, he smiled and said, "You should go in now."

Zhong Yue thanked him and walked forward along the path, there were marble pillars made of jade beside the road engraved with all sorts of art; on some were beasts, and on others were carved celestial beings, floras and also mythical creatures.

Regardless of the engravings, they were all made of totem carvings, inanimate items but real and genuine-looking nonetheless.

After a while, the distinctive sounds of sculpturing could be heard, he followed the sound to its source to find a wizened and ashen-haired elderly man sculpting a dazzlingly beautiful woman that was about the same height as an adult. But she does not look like one from the human race as she had three heads accompanied by a pair of wings; her countenances were stunningly beautiful, one impish and elfin, one solemn and dignified, and another demure and sweet.

The air around the elderly man was old and bleak, like the twilight that slowly faded away in the dusk; in between his fingers flitted a Sword Qi, thin like a thread. It was revolving around the huge jade stone sculpture, even carving out the finest details of the tiny feathers.

Zhong Yue waited patiently, the sculpting speed of the elderly man was very slow, no one could possibly know when he would complete the sculpture.

A few moments he waited, and Zhong Yue thought to himself, Elder Pu would not bring me here without rhyme or reason, there must be something that I've missed. The old man has devoted all his attention to the sculpture, he won't be stopping anytime soon. Could it be that he wants me to look at him sculpturing, could this be the way to eliminate the hidden danger of bypassing the Spirit Nurturing stage?

He meticulously scrutinized the elderly man's sculpting skill, it appeared ordinary and mundane at first, but slowly, the nuanced abstrusity revealed itself to him, and he was greatly moved. The elderly man's Sword Qi moved around with the vigor of a dragon and the agility of a snake, even the finest textures of the feathers began to resemble nature itself. It was as if they were in fact, natural totem carvings!

Wait a second! This will of sword….

Zhong Yue's heart quaked, the abstruse totem carvings and the sculpture of the dazzling beauty receded from his vision. The only thing left reflecting in his eyes ... was the Sword Qi, thin like a thread of spider's silk in between the elderly man's fingers.

It frolicked waltzed about freely, it elicited the scene of a man splashing ink around unrestrained to his own heart's content. The Sword Qi danced around in a regular and ordered pattern and yet, what was reflected in Zhong Yue's sights was a chaotic scene of Swords Qi piercing through the heavenly firmament!

These disordered Sword Qi were the ones he once saw in the sword token – old and archaic like the ancient pines with dried branches and withered twigs protruding all around. Although the elderly man's hands were sedated and steady and the Sword Qi was also controlled and ordered; the carvings in the sword token and the sculpturings of the elderly man contained the same and exact will of sword!

HHe was the one who carved the [Geng Jin Sword Qi] sword token Qiu Jin'er gave to me!

Zhong Yue then suddenly understood it all, he focused all his concentrations and gazed at the Sword Qi as it danced around like flowing waters with the abstruse sword's will in it, it was as if he was looking at a peerless swordsman brandishing his sword.

The ostensible scenery to the others would appear as an elderly man sculpting, but to him, he could see the Sword Qis that were crisscrossed splitting the heavenly firmament!

The Sword Qi was free and unconstrained, boundless to any form, nimble, versatile and unpredictable; it made him think of the sword marks like tousled grass in the sword token. The mutual corroboration of the image in his mind and the scenery before his eyes benefited him a lot.

Unknowingly to him how long has passed, Zhong Yue suddenly regained his consciousness; at this time, the elderly man has already finished his sculpture, he has kept away the Sword Qi that was flowing in between his fingers. Zhong Yue cast his gaze over to the jade sculpture, for a moment there he almost thought that the sculptured goddess has come to life, fluttering her sleeves and danced gracefully, her beautiful countenances smiled coquettishly, and in his ears he could hear the titterings of the goddess and indistinct chatters.

"Zhong Shan Clan member, you've been staring at it for so long, you must have some understandings of your own in mind? Why don't you try and sculpt something?" The elderly man smiled and said.