371 Intellectual Sword Part One

Even without a path out, he still needed to forcefully leave. He was naileddown by a question, so he still needed to answer it. He looked at ChenChangsheng’s eyes which were full of curiosity and said with an uglyexpression, “White Emperor City… I will go there one day. How can the Mount LiStyle always be left with the Demi-human race? Except who would have thoughtthat Bai Xingye guy would be so shameless, actually getting a wife!” Chen Changsheng thought, just what did marrying and getting a wife have to dowith anything? Only afterwards did he understand what Su Li meant. Su Li sneered, “I am not afraid of Bai Xingye. When I say I can win, I canwin. But the problem is that after he married, the fight becomes two-on-one.Even if you ignored the other factors, it’s still too unfair.” Chen Changsheng thought that if Senior needed to fight two Saints, then evenSenior would feel helpless. Su Li glanced at him and opened his mouth to counterattack, “What has this gotto do with swords? Do you have anything else you want to say?” In the morning, Chen Changsheng used the Mountain Sea Sword and several otherfamous swords. He naturally could not hide this from Su Li’s eyes. He saidnothing for a while, and he narrated the important matters, and only excluded afew details, such as the ten Heavenly Tome Monoliths, the Golden-winged GreatPeng and… that white-clothed girl from the Elf race. “You actually hid so many things from me,” Su Li said with a low voice. Chen Changsheng smiled embarrassingly, and said, “Senior, everyone must havetheir own secrets.” Su Li laughed at him, “Only when you are able to keep the secrets inyour throat can they be called secrets. But are you a person who lies?” Chen Changsheng thought that although he was not good at lying, he still hidmany secrets no one knew, not even Senior. For some reason, he actually becamea little complacent. Su Li suddenly began speaking without any prior signs, “In the journey fromtoday onwards, I can only rely on you, little guy, so I changed my mind. I havedecided to teach you a few moves. Don’t mistake this for a continuation of theconversation in the snowy mountains. I obviously support Qiushan. I’m onlythinking about my safety.” Only now could Chen Changsheng confirm that after blocking Xue He’s blade inthe morning, Senior really did not have the capability to battle anymore.Listening to his explanation, he did not feel it was interesting, and only feltsad. The burden on his shoulders had become a lot heavier—he did not want tosee this unrestrained Senior who dared to swear at the world become so careful,so he wanted to liven up the conversation slightly. “Senior is willing to teach me sword moves because he cares for talent.” He looked at Su Li and said seriously, “Because in the battle in the morning,I demonstrated that I have the qualifications to learn.” Su Li stared blankly and then laughed aloud, “You being narcissistic reallyhas some of my style.” Chen Changsheng thought, this was all caused by Tang Thirty-Six. With just asingle thought, he was no longer unable to suppress his thoughts of the capitaland the people in the capital. Weirdly enough, after leaving Xining Village,although he would always remember his master and Senior Yu Ren, but he wouldthink of them very little. Instead, just spending a few months in the capitalleft him with a lot of thoughts about the capital, thinking about it at leastonce everyday. The great banyan tree in the Orthodox Academy, Luoluo who stood beside him inthe tree, Tang Tang under the tree who would swear at the sunset without stopevery day, Xuanyuan Po who cooked in the kitchen opposite of the lake, GuardianJin in the faraway room, Archbishop Mei who always slept—were they all well?And that lady… lady, lady, Lady Chujian—was she safe? Chen Changsheng changed his thoughts like an arrow. He thought that he neededto return, to return alive, to quickly return… He stood up and seriously bowedto Su Li. He said earnestly, “Senior, please teach me sword moves.” Su Li looked at him and said, “What sword styles do you know?” Chen Changsheng stood up and looked at the lake and mountains that slowly grewdark, as well as the stars that gradually appeared above. He cleared his throatand said, “I know Storms of Mount Zhong Lifts the Earth, Eight Hundred MetalSwords Traverse the Great River, the Orthodox Academy’s Mountain TopplingStaff, the Unequaled True Sword of the Orthodoxy, Thirteen Branches of Poplarand Willow, and the Frost Condensation of the Snow Mountain Sect. I also knowthe Sword of Hithering Light from the Heavenly Dao Academy, the RighteousIntent Sword from the Temple Seminary, the Army Breaking Sword from the StarSeizer Academy, the Three Forms of Wenshui from the Wenshui Tangs with the TangClan Sword, Many Flowers Like Embroidery, Mountain Spirit Splits the Cliff, theMount Li Sword Style, the Welcoming Sword, the Mountain Reversing Sword, theBurning Heaven Sword of Mount Li, Playing Thrice in the Plum Blossom, WhiteCrane from the West, Great Suspense of the Book and Ink from the South StreamTemple…” The lake shore was very quiet, with only the clear voice of a teenagerconstantly sounding. The names of countless different sword techniques floatedabove the water in the night wind, and nobody knew when the voice would stop. Only when the stars had covered up the entire night sky was someone finallyunable to withstand it any longer. “Stop!” Su Li looked at him and said, “Are you speed-reciting?” Chen Changsheng was completely confused and asked, “Senior, what isspeed-reciting?” “The performers in Lin’an City like to crosstalk, and speed-reciting is one ofthe basic abilities that they practice. One of it is like this: The dishes thatI make are roast deer tails, roast bear paws… jade. Why am I telling you this.”Su Li was rather helpless and waved his hand, “Anyway, saying up to there isenough.” What was enough? He had heard enough, and Chen Changsheng also knew enoughsword styles. Chen Changsheng was very obedient and did not continue. He only slightly feltthat he did not express everything. “You youngster… know quite a lot of sword styles.” Su Li said while looking athim. However, there was not just astonishment on his face, and it was a verycomplicated expression. Chen Changsheng said honestly, “I’ve just forcefully memorized them, and amunable to reach mastery. I can’t say I’ve truly grasped these sword styles.” “No kidding! If you wanted to grasp the true meaning of so many styles, youwould need to start practicing six hundred years before you were born.” Su Lilooked at him with no expression, “Also, this is not needed. Only an idiotwould try to learn so many styles.” Chen Changsheng always felt that what Su Li said was scolding at him. Su Li continued, “However, this at least means that your insight on the pathof the sword is broad enough. Then, you should understand what I say today, sodon’t think I’m scolding you.” Chen Changsheng still felt that what Su Li said was scolding at him. Su Li began teaching without any pause or sign, “All of the experts in theworld know that Xue He is not as great as Wang Po. In the morning today, heasked me about it, and you also heard it by the side. He uses seven blades, sothen why can’t he win against Wang Po’s single blade? This has nothing to dowith biting off more than he could chew, and also has nothing to do with beingdistracted. It is the related to the essence of the sword.” Chen Changsheng asked, “What is the essence of the sword?” Su Li pulled out the Heaven Shrouding Sword from the Yellow Paper Umbrella andplaced it across his knees. He pointed at it and said, “What word is it like?” This was the first time Chen Changsheng had observed the famous sword upclose, even though it had actually followed him for a very long time. When hewas looking at it carefully, he heard the question, and without even thinking,he said, “Like the word ‘one (一)’.” Su Li said solemnly, “Correct, the spirit of the path of the sword is about‘one (一)’.” Chen Changsheng stayed silent for a little before saying, “But… Senior, didn’tyou say that the spirit of the path of the sword was about the sword the otherday?”