Chapter 345: The Realm of the Flying Sword |
In the middle of the night, Lin Twin Fish got jolted awake by a huge crashing racket outside. She stumbled out to check. The bamboo house Wu Changgeng had just finished fixing up had collapsed.
She was a little surprised. “What happened?”
Wu Changeng had bits of bamboo and leaves hanging all over him and looked baffled. “Maybe one of the poles wasn’t fastened right?”
“It’s really late,” she said. “Why don’t you crash in the sect master’s courtyard for the night?”
Wu Changeng shook his head. “Forget it. None of the materials are damaged. I’ll just rebuild it.”
Lin Twin Fish could only rub her cheek. “All right, then hurry up…” She stepped forward to help gather the scattered bamboo frames.
Nothing more was said that night. Early the next morning, after the mist blanketing the mountains finally burned off, it turned into another bright, sunny day. After getting a proper scolding from Liu Xiaolou, the goose and the cat finally behaved themselves. Breakfast returned to something resembling normal. The three people and two beasts sat around the wooden platform, loudly slurping down spirit rice porridge cooked with Golden Ring Honey, paired with all kinds of stir-fried bamboo shoots, mushrooms and wild greens from Qianzhu Ridge. Everyone ate heartily and felt thoroughly satisfied.
After they finished eating, Wu Changgeng fished out two spirit stones from his sleeve. He handed one to Big White and one to Little Black as an apology. Only then did the two beasts finally stop grumbling. With contented little whines, they each clamped a basket full of pots, bowls, and utensils in their mouths, then leaped off the cliff and headed down to the Wuchao River bank. They didn’t come back to bother Wu Changgeng anymore.
Lin Twin Fish started asking about the sights around Wulong Mountain. Liu Xiaolou casually ran through the nearby spots for them. Ghost Dream Cliff, Half-Acre Gorge, Dragon-Horse Falls, and a few others. He also mentioned the Sky Pit Drum, that huge sinkhole where a demon vine had once grown. That last one really piqued Lin Twin Fish and Wu Changgeng; they got instantly curious. So the two of them decided, why not? Let’s go take a look.
And the two of them wandered off down the mountain, leaving Liu Xiaolou alone on the wooden platform. He settled back in, closed his eyes, and sank into comprehending the core principles of the Yellow Dragon Sword Art.
Thinking back to his brief sparring match with Wu Changeng the day before, the two flying swords had traded only three moves before Liu Xiaolou’s Three-Mystery Sword was knocked out of the air. The gap between them was honestly pretty big. Sure, Wu Changeng was an expert in the late stage of Foundation Establishment, two whole levels above him, but losing that badly and that fast still hit Liu Xiaolou hard. It woke up a strong sense of urgency and made him feel that training with the flying sword could not wait.
But the thing was, cultivating a flying sword was slow, grinding work. It demanded constant effort, and steady persistence was key.
It's not that sudden enlightenment sword cultivators did not exist. On the contrary, they really did. Liu Xiaolou just knew for a fact that he was not one of them. He was an ordinary, run-of-the-mill, rogue cultivator, nothing more. So for him, the only proper path was diligent practice, day in and day out.
The sword follows the central path of Wu and Ji. Earth is the ruling element, with water as its chief support. Sit facing due south, close the eyes and steady the spirit. Visualize sword qi turning yellow within. White qi attends it, black qi nourishes it. As the three qi transform, they manifest together. Above, they connect with Heaven; below, they sink into the abdomen. The true yellow becomes round and whole, like an egg, calm and effortless, letting all things order themselves. The Dao Lord presides. By taking the numinous formula to conceal one’s presence, the eight directions are transformed, the hundred spirits set to work. Sweet springs well up from the earth, auspicious stars hang in the sky. A yellow dragon rises into view, divine essences flourish, awe and harmony are born. The four barbarian quarters submit, and peace reigns under Heaven.
The core principles were really that simple. According to Liu Xiaolou’s own understanding, they could be divided into roughly three stages.
The first stage was to cultivate the Three Qi of white, black, and yellow, with yellow as the core. White qi serves it, while black qi feeds and sustains it.
The second stage was much more obscure. It seemed to involve refinement and manifestation, along with ideas like nonaction and natural balance. As for the details, those could only be grasped and put into practice once you actually reached that level.
As for the final, third stage, it was so abstruse it bordered on the absurd. It talked about upholding the Dao by truly grasping the meaning of the Great Dao, yet never stating it outright. In short, you had to know it and not know it at the same time, to cultivate the sword within a haze of vagueness and ambiguity. Do that, and a whole string of miraculous effects would supposedly follow, and so on and so forth.
Put plainly, it meant this: you swing a sword, and you do not even know where you are striking, or who you are striking. And yet, somehow, you hit the target anyway. After that, the whole world gets swept clean. That is the ultimate path of the Yellow Dragon Sword Art.
At present, Liu Xiaolou was still in the stage of gently nurturing his flying sword and maintaining visualization. In the outline, this was the part described as “closing the eyes and steadying the spirit.” He was still working on “visualizing sword qi turning yellow within,” and had not yet reached the first stage of the Three Qi.
It could really be considered a preparatory phase before the first stage.
At this level, the flying sword could move in and out freely, attack and return at will, but it was still just ordinary sword technique. There were no effects bound to it yet. All it could rely on was the raw power of the Three-Mystery Sword itself to injure an enemy.
Only after entering the first stage would abilities begin to augment the flying sword. That first-stage enhancement was known as: One Sword Transforms into Three Qi.
Sounded pretty high-end and honestly felt good to hear. And that’s exactly what lit a fire under Liu Xiaolou. His mind started running wild with all sorts of grand possibilities. This gave him all the motivation he needed to keep cultivating.
The only question was when he would finally see the first signs of Qi Transformation.
Anyway, progress was progress. Over these past three months, the work he’s put into his flying sword definitely paid off in a big way. Now the sword moved in and out so much smoother, almost like it’s part of his body. Attacks land cleaner, defenses feel way more natural and instinctive. He’s finally starting to feel like he’s actually controlling the thing instead of just waving it around.
Yesterday’s defeat, in particular, gave him a much deeper understanding of Wu Changeng’s effortless command of the flying sword.
That kind of effortless ease seemed to fit perfectly with the Yellow Dragon Sword Art. From another angle, it confirmed the core principle of the Yellow Dragon Sword Manual: Indifferent and non-acting, and all things take care of themselves. That’s why Liu Xiaolou only cultivated for a few hours and already felt himself improving.
The Three-Mystery Sword shot out from his butt, accompanied by a dragon’s cry. For now, only Liu Xiaolou could hear it, and he was not sure whether it was real or just an illusion of perception. The sword arced through the air with a few sharp turns, then split into five branches, nimble as fingers. They could close into a claw, clench into a fist, or spin at crazy speed, razor-sharp and seriously deadly. The thing was anything but ordinary.
Having so much fun, Liu Xiaolou had the Three-Mystery Sword grab a bamboo tube, dip it in red clay, and chase after Big White and Little Black, writing characters on their bodies as it went. Both Big White and Little Black were a single, pure color from head to toe, which made them perfect practice surfaces for calligraphy.
The chase threw all of Qianzhu Ridge into chaos. The goose was flapping and honking like crazy, and the cat darting everywhere in a panic. everything was in an uproar. Liu Xiaolou was having the time of his life, laughing the entire time.
Just as he was hot on the chase, the Three-Mystery Sword whipped around in a loop in mid-air. Then it slipped back into Liu Xiaolou’s butt.
Liu Xiaolou got curious and wandered over to the little courtyard gate, eyes fixed on the mountain path leading up.
A scene came through from the Ghost Banyan. Someone else was coming up the mountain.
By now, the Ghost Banyans had accepted Liu Xiaolou’s instructions and no longer attacked visitors climbing the mountain on their own. They would only strike if Liu Xiaolou gave a clear order.
The person making the climb was looking around with obvious curiosity, taking in the scenery of Qianzhu Ridge as he walked, and before long, he arrived in front of the bamboo grove courtyard.
He wore a blue robe and looked middle-aged, about forty at first glance, but Liu Xiaolou knew his true age was fifty-five.
The visitor was none other than Han Gao, elder brother of Han Jiuqian and head of the Second Branch of the Han family of Dafeng Mountain.
Strictly speaking, Liu Xiaolou did not have much contact with Han Gao. He was not as close to him as to Fourth Master Han, and even less so than to Han Jiuqian. Still, when Liu Xiaolou had taken his leave of Dafeng Mountain, Han Gao had shown him great respect, agreeing with everything he said and giving him plenty of face. The whole exchange had felt warm and pleasant, leaving Liu Xiaolou with an especially good impression.
It had been less than half a month since they parted, so Han Gao’s visit came as something of a surprise.
“Haha, Brother Han, what brings you all the way to my Wulong Mountain so suddenly?” Liu Xiaolou said with a broad smile. “This is a happy surprise. Ever since we last parted, I’ve been thinking about you.”
Han Gao cupped his hands as he strode forward, laughing as well. “Worthy Brother Xiaolou, it’s been days since we last met, and I’ve missed you dearly. I even went to Ghost Dream Cliff earlier and stayed there for several days, but never saw into you. I was just about to leave when I happened to look down from the mountaintop and thought I saw someone coming out from your side of the mountain. So I decided to come take a look. Who would have thought I’d actually find you here!”
Liu Xiaolou apologized. “This is entirely my fault. I usually go to Ghost Dream Cliff every few days, but just happened to have visitors come to the mountain, which delayed me. I made Brother Han wait for several days for nothing. Come, come. Let me serve you some tea as an apology.”
Han Gao laughed. “So those two really were guests of yours, Worthy Brother Xiaolou? If not for them, we truly would have missed each other. Haha.”
Liu Xiaolou had originally suspected that Han Gao might be the third guest elder. Now he was finally certain that this was not the case.
Fragrant tea was served, and the two sat facing each other on the wooden platform. Han Gao looked around in all directions, praising the place without reserve.
When he finally finished admiring everything, Liu Xiaolou asked, “Brother Han, since you’ve come up the mountain, may I ask if there’s some difficulty troubling you? If so, please tell me, and the two of us can think it through together.”