372 Intellectual Sword Part Two

Chen Changsheng had originally wanted to ask just what the heck did theessence of the path of the sword have to do with how great Wang Po and Xue He’sblade techniques were? However, after seeing Su Li’s angry appearance, howcould he dare say that, so he replied sincerely, “Yes.” “Then let me continue. The spirit of the path of the sword is about ‘one (一)’.” This time, while saying the word ‘one’, Su Li stressed it, so as a result, itsounded very much like ‘one hundred million (亿)’. TL: One (一) and one hundred million (亿) sound similar in Chinese, with just adifference in stress of tone. Chen Changsheng asked seriously, “You are saying… cultivating the path of thesword requires one to be single-minded?” Su Li thought about it and said, “Yes and no.” Chen Changsheng thought about it and said, “Then… is it yes or no?” Su Li stared into his eyes and said, “Anyway, it’s all about the word ‘one’.” Chen Changsheng lowered his head again and said, “Yes.” “I’ve already said that the sword is a lethal weapon, and those who are notSaints should not use it. This actually also means that the sword is also asacred weapon.” Su Li quietly looked at the Heaven Shrouding Sword in his hand. His right handgrasped the hilt, and the index and middle finger of his right hand pinched thesword, slowly sliding past. He said, “Horizontally, the sword is a mountainrange in the flat plains, the metal chains at the bottom of a great river, andvertically, it is a feathered arrow that flies in the sky, a drop of rain fromthe sky. To point down means that it wants to open the ground to see the abyssof the Yellow Springs, and to point up is to… burn the heavens.” “The reason why it is like this is because of its shape, because of itsintent.” “The shape of the sword is one (一), and the intent also needs to be one (一).” “Only with the shape and intent fusing can the spirit also become one.” “No matter how many sword styles you know, it is still not as great astraining one sword style to the limit.” “Even if you have tens of thousands of swords, you can only choose one swordfrom within.” Su Li said while looking at Chen Changsheng, a deep meaning hidden within hiswords. Chen Changsheng seemed to be in deep thought, and he really was in thought—thepoints that Su Li had raised on the path of the sword was not new. There weremany similar records in the Daoist Canon, but it just did not match with whathe thought. Su Li said, “Of course, in the very beginning, it is still good to learn alittle more, to broaden your insight before choosing the most suitable style.It won’t be so much that it’ll dazzle you. Just like when I was fifteen, I knewso many sword styles that I couldn’t even remember all their names, which waswhy I had accomplishments later on. Anyway, it’s just some activities likelooking at mountains or lakes. It’s rather complicated, understand it to thebest of your ability.” Chen Changsheng did not need to seriously think about it and he understoodmost of it. It was just that teachings at such a level were a little too great,and they were matters for later. But, what was he going to do now, knowing thatthe assassin was currently hiding in the night, and not knowing how many morepowerful opponent he would meet on their journey to the south. It was evenpossible that countless experts were hurrying towards them right now. Su Li looked at him and said, “Speaking about the battle in detail, yoursituation is a little weird. You clearly have a lot of true essence, but forsome reason, your output in battle is instead really terrible.” Hearing this, Chen Changsheng admired Su Li so much that he could almostprostrate himself on the ground. In the capital and the Garden of Zhou, he hadbeen teased or taken pity on for his true essence for being too thin. Only SuLi could see where his true problem lay. This was indeed a very troublesome problem. He thought of Luoluo, Nanke andthose people with special bloodlines, who used their endless amounts of trueessence to carry their fame. He envied them very much. It was just that theproblem was involved with the problems of his meridians in his body. He wasunable to explain it too thoroughly, and so he could only silently wait for SuLi’s next words. “The greatest feature of the Star Condensation Realm is the existence of theStar Domain. If one wanted to break through it, perhaps they would use an evengreater cultivation level to forcefully suppress it, use sword energy to crushit or use enough true essence to forcefully attack one point. Your level ofcultivation is not enough, and the true essence output from your sword moves isalso not enough. Even if your dagger is sharp enough, it is unable to enter theworld of someone else.” Su Li glanced at Chen Changsheng’s dagger. He said, “Fortunately, most of theStar Condensation experts have undeserved fame, and their Star Domains are farfrom perfect. They all have weaknesses and flaws. If the opponent does notmove, perhaps he can use his level of cultivation and bearing to cover up theweaknesses and flaws, but once he starts moving, they can definitely be seen.As a result, what you need to learn the most right now is how to see theweakness of an opponent in the Star Condensation realm.” Chen Changsheng thought about the battle in the morning and said, “Just likehow you saw through Xue He’s flaws?” “Correct, but if you really wait for the opponent to move and then see it, itwill often be too late. As a result, according to your current cultivation, thebest method is to calculate beforehand, and choose a few locations even if youhave to guess.” “How do you calculate?” “Age, cultivation, body strength, body state, the move that has the highestchance of being used, the features of their Star Domain, how much true essence,background sect or school, customs that they follow, features of the geography,eating habits, marital status, number of children…” “Senior, what has it got to do with their marital status and the amount ofchildren they have?” “Those who are married will obviously be slightly less courageous, and theirbody strength will be slightly weaker.” “Then what about the number of children?” “If they just had a kid, that person will definitely be powerful and difficultto defeat, because he would have too many things that he is attached to andunwilling to let go of.” “What if he has seven children?” “That person will also be very terrifying, because it is very possible that hedoesn’t fear death.” “...so speaking of it this way, being married for too long will make youextremely fear death?” “You speak typical words of the inexperienced and those that lack knowledge.Just what is terrifying about the opponent? I fear that you think of suicideevery day.” “...Senior, we are talking about important stuff, so please stop makingtrouble without reason.” “Who’s the one making the trouble?” Su Li indeed was not causing trouble. He gave Chen Changsheng thirty-sevendetailed examples. No matter if it was age, cultivation, body strength, bodystate, background sect or school or skin tone, they all carried importance inbattle. According to what he said, if Chen Changsheng was able to learn thissword style, he would be able to see the flaws of a Star Condensation opponentvery easily. The sword style did not have any moves, and did not require certain levels oftrue essence or cultivation. It only required intelligence and great abilitiesin calculation, giving the sword-user an all-seeing mind that could see throughthe world. As a result, it was called the Intellectual Sword. The night passed slowly and the stars remained in the sky. Su Li treated thesword as a brush, writing and drawing on the ground by the lake. He explainedthe connections and changes that these things that seemed completely unrelatedcould bring. Chen Changsheng slowly accepted the ideas regarding theIntellectual Sword, and listened with great attentiveness and seriousness. Hismind constantly thought quickly, unwilling to miss a single sentence or even asingle word. Finishing the explanation of the Intellectual Sword, Su Li lay down betweenthe two furry deer and started sleeping. Chen Changsheng sat by the lake. He did not sleep because he could not sleep. Before his eyes were a series of densely packed words and extremelycomplicated calculation processes. He was good at forcefully memorizing things. However, his ability in thisaspect was really ordinary. Without enough intelligence, how could he learn the Intellectual Sword? He was unable to grasp this sword style that seemed easy but was actuallyextremely complicated.