Chapter 281: Early Peak
“Glittering Wukui!”
Suddenly, Xiao Chen opened his eyes. His right hand moved and the snow-white blade of the Lunar Shadow Saber gave off a dazzling light in the dark night.
The first move of the Wukui Saber Technique was executed.
A purple tree branch of the ancient divine Wukui Tree appeared from nowhere and turned into saber Qi. It was fired at a small tree in the courtyard, its speed as fast as lightning.
The five-meter tall small tree was immediately shattered; its fragments filled the sky and scattered everywhere in the courtyard.
“Wukui Transforms to Qi!”
The second move of the Wukui Saber Technique was executed. Immediately, an entire divine Wugui Tree appeared from nowhere and turned into several dozen strands of purple saber Qi, and struck all the fragments of the tree in the air from earlier into powder.
“Qi Breaks Wukui!”
Xiao Chen shouted and executed the third move of the Wukui Saber Technique. Immediately, the purple saber Qi that filled the sky quickly gathered together and formed an extremely sharp saber Qi.
Under the direction of Xiao Chen, the sharp saber Qi entered the ground. A hole that was about as wide as the length of a finger appeared on the ground immediately.
This saber Qi was extremely condensed; there were no cracks around the edges, it was extremely smooth. It was comparable to the saber Qi fired by a regular peak Superior Grade Martial Saint,.
“Ka ca!”
Xiao Chen withdrew his saber and looked at the scenery in the courtyard. He revealed a faint smile. The foundational moves of the Wukui Saber Technique were already much stronger than the first ten moves of the Lingyun Saber Technique.
Of course, that was not to say that the Lingyun Saber Technique was inferior to the Wukui Saber Technique. The Lingyun Saber Technique was a peak Earth Ranked Saber Technique as well. If someone could perfectly merge the state of mountain and state of cloud together and execute the Lingyun Saber Technique, it would be comparable to the Wukui Saber Technique.
It could only be said that the Wukui Saber Technique was more suitable for Xiao Chen. In his hands, the might of the Wukui Saber Technique would be stronger than the Lingyun Saber Technique.
Because Xiao Chen was currently in the Yun Clan, he did not dare to cause too much commotion. When Xiao Chen executed these three moves, he did not infuse the state of thunder. He had also only brought out a tenth of his strength.
However, if the state of thunder was infused and all of Xiao Chen’s strength was used, it would be obvious what kind of might these three moves could achieve.
Xiao Chen spent some time comprehending the states of these three moves again. After a while, he practiced the three moves some more. Xiao Chen did not intend to practice the latter six moves before practicing the first three to Great Perfection.
The foundation was the foundation, it had to be firm!
Slightly past midnight, Xiao Chen stopped practicing with the saber and entered the bedroom. He took out a Medial Grade Spirit Stone was prepared to used it in his cultivation.
Xiao Chen sat cross-legged on the bed and grasped the Spirit Stone in his right hand. Then, he closed his eyes and circulated the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation.
“Boom!”
The instant the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation circulated, without giving Xiao Chen any time to adjust, the huge amount of Spiritual Energy in the Medial Grade Spirit Stone surged into his meridians like a gushing river.
A horrifying Essence immediately saturated Xiao Chen’s meridians. It gushed around within the meridians; it was like a wild horse galloping around without care. Xiao Chen frowned slightly and felt some pain.
Xiao Chen sank his consciousness down and did his best to control this surging Spiritual Energy. After a long time and plenty of effort, Xiao Chen finally managed to tame this wild horse, making it become more gentle.
After some time, Xiao Chen successfully circulated it by a small cycle and poured it into the purple Qi whirlpool.
“Ti da! Ti da!”
The purple Qi whirlpool spun rapidly, and drops of translucent liquid Essence dripped down quickly. This immediately replenished a quarter of Xiao Chen’s Essence.
Xiao Chen maintained his calm and focus as he continued to circulate the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation. The Spiritual Energy of the Medial Grade Spirit Stone poured in without stopping. It was only completely drained when Xiao Chen circulated it five great cycles.
The purple Qi whirlpool became larger and its color deepened.
The Purple Thunder Divine Incantation circulated for another great cycle and the Spirit Stone was cast aside by Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen stopped cultivating and opened his eyes. Then he said, “One Medial Grade Spirit Stone is equivalent to me to cultivating for half a month. No wonder Medial Grade Spirit Stones are so precious.”
And this was how Xiao Chen spent his days in the Yun Residence. He would practice his Saber Techniques during the day and use the night to cultivate with the Medial Grade Spirit Stones.
Yun Kexin would come and visit almost everyday. Aside from chatting, they would spar with each other. This was something that Xiao Chen needed. Since he had just learned the Wukui Saber Technique, he needed someone to practice it on.
After they spared, the two of them would discuss their insights on the Martial Techniques used in the spar. The thing that caused Xiao Chen some surprise was that Yun Kexin had a very deep understanding of the theories of Saber Techniques.
Yun Kexin had some unique insights on the Wukui Saber Technique which were very helpful to Xiao Chen. When the two of them worked together, Xiao Chen progressed very quickly in the Wukui Saber Technique.
Within seven days, Xiao Chen practiced the first three moves to Great Perfection. Although it was still far from Complete Perfection, he felt assured in practicing the killing moves, which were the fourth to sixth moves.
Half a month went by in a similar fashion. Xiao Chen practiced the three killing moves to the peak of Small Perfection. Their might was stronger than Xiao Chen had imagined previously.
If it was infused with the state of thunder, it would be comparable to the Lingyun Saber Technique’s Everlasting Startling Cloud and Twisting Road Around Peak. As for the last three sure-kill moves, their might would definitely be incomparable to these.
In slightly more than twenty days, Xiao Chen exhausted a total of thirty Medial Grade Spirit Stones. The amount of Essence his body could contain increased everyday. Within a month, Xiao Chen’s cultivation was firmly stabilized at the early peak of Medial Grade Martial Saint.
On this particular day, Xiao Chen had just finished practicing the Wukui Saber Technique. He looked up at the blazing sun above and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He said, “It is time I left. I hope that person has not left yet, otherwise, all my efforts would be wasted.
Outside the courtyard, Yun Kexin slowly walked over with a flask of wine and two wine cups. She sat down at the stone table and filled the winecups. Then, she smiled and said, “Bon Voyage!”
Xiao Chen revealed a faint smile and sat down. He picked up a wine cup and emptied it in one gulp. He said, “That’s strange, how did you know I would be leaving today?”
Yun Kexin filled up Xiao Chen’s wine cup again and said, “I said it before. I am a good judge of people. I noticed something off with your expression yesterday.”
Xiao Chen drank some more wine and said, “That’s right, when will you be returning to the Heavenly Saber Pavilion?”
When Yun Kexin heard this, a trace of a hard-to-detect loneliness flashed in her calm eyes. She took a sip of wine and said, “I won’t be going there frequently in the future. I am now the successor of the Yun Clan. My priorities now lie with the Yun Clan.”
Xiao Chen noticed the tone of loneliness in Yun Kexin’s words. He remembered something and he asked, “That’s right. I have something I been meaning to ask you. As a women, why are you so interested in sabers? Furthermore, you have a deep grasp of the theories.”
Xiao Chen’s question was quite sudden but it was a valid and appropriate question. Most women in the Tianwu Continent would choose to use swords.
This was easy to explain. The grace and unconstrained nature of a sword was more suitable for the disposition of a women. Hence there were more women in the Misty Sword Sect than there were in the Heavenly Saber Pavilion.
Furthermore, even though some women learned the saber, they would not look into the deeper meaning of Saber Techniques. There were very few women who could commit to Saber Techniques with their whole heart like Yun Kexin did.
The insights and opinions Yun Kexin had of Saber Techniques could even put Xiao Chen to shame. Hence, Xiao Chen had always been curious about this.
When Yun Kexin heard this question, she revealed a smile on her delicate face. She said, “It is just in my character. I loved the saber since I was young. Then, when I heard stories of bladesmen, I made up my mind to become a bladeswoman.”
“After that, I came to the holy land of bladesmen. Unfortunately, the Heavenly Saber Pavilion now is different from the Heavenly Saber Pavilion of the past. I did not get to see any real bladesmen.
Real bladesmen? Xiao Chen felt it was strange, Could bladesmen be classified as real or fake?
Yun Kexin explained, “The bladesmen I am referring to are the ancient bladesmen. Do you know why the sword came before the saber?”
Yun Kexin continued to speak without waiting for Xiao Chen to answer, “This is because the sword is an object of rituals. It represents righteousness, uprightness, and nobility. Hence, it was known as the ancestor of a hundred weapons. Only people with an impressive soul are worthy of being called swordsmen. Unfortunately, there were too few people who could achieve that sort of ideal. Most of them were pretentious snobs, people who used the name ‘swordsman’ to do hypocritical things.
“Later on, there were some people who knew they could not achieve this ideal but they did not want to blemish this name. Hence, the saber was born.
“The saber is different from the sword. The saber is a truly vicious weapon; it is a vicious weapon that exists to kill. There were no restrictions of convention or taboos binding it. It was a weapon that allowed one to reveal their true selves.”
After Xiao Chen heard Yun Kexin’s introduction, he was deep in thought. He could feel that he was about to find an answer to something that had been bothering him for a long time.
Xiao Chen’s interest in this topic could not help but grow bigger. He asked, “According to what you said, if the saber was just a vicious weapon, then all five thousand disciples in the Heavenly Saber Pavilion should be bladesmen.”
Yun Kexin shook her head, “Wrong. Vicious weapon is just the superficial meaning of the saber. It does not mean that killing someone with a saber will make you a bladesman. Instead, it requires one to have some pride in their heart, to not fear power and grovel before those with it.
“This is a kind of brilliance. It can be hidden and withdraw but will never vanish. Otherwise, one would not be able to reveal their true self and would simply become a murderous demon. That is worse than being a hypocrite.”
Yun Kexin paused for a while and poured herself more wine. Then she smiled faintly at Xiao Chen as she said, “Actually, I envy you. The first time I saw you, I discovered that you were different from the other Heavenly Saber Pavilion disciples. In the end, my guess was correct.
“Up until now, the pride in your heart has not weakened. Instead, it became even sharper and more stable. Someday, this will become a treasured saber; it will become your Saber Soul. At that moment, you will be considered a true bladesman.”
Xiao Chen’s expression turned grave. It felt like he had made an intimate friend. This was the first time he had met with someone who understood how he felt this well.
Xiao Chen placed the wine cup on the table and smiled gently. He said, “Then, in your opinion, within the Great Qin Nation, only a few people are qualified to be true bladesmen.”
Yun Kexin muttered to herself for a while and smiled, “You think too highly of me. I simply just explained by own understandings. Whether I am right or not, I do not know. However, the people who have impressed me are: the first Pavilion Master of the Heavenly Saber Pavilion, the Thunder Emperor from a thousand years ago, and Nangong Yan, who is currently the commander of the Imperial Dragon Legion.”
As the two of them chatted over some wine, they got more and more engrossed in the conversation. They actually sat there for the entire afternoon drinking. They even became slightly drunk after that.