373 Polishing the Sword Before the Battle Part One

If one were to view the Intellectual Sword as a topic, the topic would havefar too many starting points, far too many factors, and far too muchinformation. Even just confirming them all would be far too strenuous, not tomention calculating the final outcome. Chen Changsheng decided that it would impossible for him to perform suchcalculations, or at least it would impossible to complete one round ofcalculations in the heat of battle. He even began to doubt that anyone couldcomplete this sort of calculation, except that Su Li's performance in thebattle that morning was proof that at least he could do it. Of course, Su Liwas no normal man, but if he could do it, perhaps it meant that it was possible. The dark lake and the distant mountains were right before his eyes, so he veryquickly broke out of his discouraged and fearful mood. He thought about how theYeshi Step had so many positions, but he knew them by heart and could even usethem. Even if he did not have the talent to calculate and see through thehearts of others, perhaps he could use this somewhat stupid method to reach hisgoal. He did not have the time to perform the calculations in battle, so heshould just simulate countless scenarios in advance, turning these calculationsinto instinct, and perhaps truly saving himself some time. The question was, how would he simulate these countless scenarios? If he wereback at the capital, there would be some possibility, but out here, where wouldhe find so many Star Condensation experts to battle? If he were to fail atthose problems, would he not be killed by his opponents? He realized that there were countless glimmers of stars in the dark lakebefore his eyes. Those were the reflections of the stars. He lifted his head upto gaze at the night sky, only seeing the countless stars on the pitch-blackcurtain of the night calmly looking back. The Human race (the divine race) is the world's most complex subject ofresearch. Because they have different levels of intellect and differentexperiences in life, the changes in their mood and the movements of their mindswill create even more states that vary according to the situation. As aresult, their final outlook will be nothing like another's. They are incrediblycomplex, so we can only compare ourselves with the boundless sky of stars. This was the rueful sigh of regret spoken to the starry sky many years ago bythat most erudite Pope who had contributed the most knowledge to humanity, thenrecorded in the annals of the Orthodoxy. In that generation, there was also alearned demon scholar called Tong Gusi who, when traveling south to SnowholdPass, saw the sky filled with stars, and in his amazement, said somethingsimilar. As he looked up at the stars, Chen Changsheng thought of those words, sensinghis own distant red star that not even the eyes could see. He lifted his righthand and pointed at a certain region of stars in the night sky, then took astar chart down from that place and placed it in front of his eyes—of course,this was just a visualization, not something that actually happened. On that very last night in the Mausoleum of Books, he had taken the lines ofthe seventeen monoliths of the front mausoleum and formed them into a starchart—precisely the one that was in front of his eyes right now. To the entirestarry sky, the star chart was only a tiny part, but upon it were millions andmillions of stars. Before his eyes, they emitted rays of light, some bright andsome dim. They seemed solemn and eternal, serene and unmoving. However, he knew that these stars were incessantly moving. Every one of these stars was a factor itself. The movement of the starsindicated that the stars were changing. Like the increase of age, like thefailing of strength, like the decline of courage, like the gradual onset of theomens of death. If the traces in the starry sky represented fate, then did thechanges in the stars represent how the many elements that decided fate werechanging? The combination of the orbits of the stars was fate. Everything lay withinthem. Not even the Star Domain of a Star Condensation cultivator could surpass thisscope. The movement of the many stars was just like the movement of Qi. Thebrightening and dimming of the stars were like the strengthening and weakeningof Qi. Every single factor, every single piece of information, could find itscounterpart in the orbit of the stars. It was just that those factors were evenmore real, not as profound. In simpler words, those factors could becalculated and observed. If one could make the boundless sky of stars seem simple and concise, if onecould find a way out of the sky filled with stars, one would naturally be ableto find the weak point in a cultivator's Star Domain. However...the starsmoved, and this did not change even when they formed the many factors of acultivator. So how could one obtain that final, clear result? Without using much time, Chen Changsheng understood. Just like the star chart,the position of the star did not mean that the star would always be there.Rather, it was just the place where, over the course of millions and millionsof years, the star most often appeared. It was just a question of probability.A star was most likely to appear at the present position, so the star wasthere. A sword was most likely to pierce at this place, so that was where itwould pierce. A Star Domain would most likely change this way, so that was howit would change. It was very difficult to describe it in words, but heunderstood. Then he began to work on his first problem. In his first time cultivating the Intellectual Sword, he did not slash at aStar Condensation expert, but at the entire sky of stars. He calmly gazed atthe starry sky, countless streams of light flowing in his bright and limpideyes. Each stream of light was a factor or a parameter. He earnestly rememberedeverything in front of his eyes, then began to calculate, until he was caughtin a trance. At five o'clock in the morning, Chen Changsheng opened his eyes. Through theentire night, he had not slept. The positions of the countless stars hadgradually been seared into his sea of consciousness. Those extremely complexcalculations had required countless amounts of spiritual sense and mentalstrength. Yet for some reason, he did not feel exhausted. When his body wasstruck by the morning wind, he even felt refreshed. He had already touched upon the true meaning of the Intellectual Sword. Of course, he clearly understood that for him to truly grasp the IntellectualSword, he would still need many more nights. Su Li was reclining against the warm body of one of the furry deer. He lookedat him with some surprise, then began to chuckle. In the following days, Chen Changsheng continued to observe the starry sky,developing and polishing his Intellectual Sword of which not even a prototypehad yet taken shape. Su Li gave him no further instructions, sleeping verysoundly every night, but he deliberately decreased the speed of their returnsouth. Su Li keenly understood that Chen Changsheng was currently at the mostcrucial stage. If he could truly grasp the Intellectual Sword, perhaps the nexttime he faced off against a Star Condensation expert, he really could catch oneoff guard and obtain victory. Therefore, he would prefer to sacrifice a littleof their speed.  Yes, whether it was Su Li who was passing down the sword or Chen Changshengwho was learning the sword, from the start to finish, they had restricted theopponents they would meet on the journey south to the Star Condensation Realm.This was because cultivators under Star Condensation would not be able to beatChen Changsheng, and if a cultivator above the Star Condensation Realm actuallycame, such as one of those old monsters at the Saint Realm, what meaning wouldthere be in polishing the sword before the battle? If the situation continued to develop like so, perhaps in another couple dozendays, Chen Changsheng really could have borrowed the sky filled with starlightto successfully polish his Intellectual Sword. Regretfully, this world wouldnever give the severely injured Su Li such a long amount of time. Even moreregretfully, Chen Changsheng's opponent finally appeared. With a battle ahead,no matter how one saw it, there was no time for such a painstaking labor aspolishing the sword. For Chen Changsheng to finish polishing his Intellectual Sword, he would stillneed several dozen, or even several thousand, ordinary and uninteresting nightsof deep spring. Two hundred li from Tianliang County, on a barren mountain, anextremely enchanting man appeared. That man was wearing lipstick and wearing adancing dress. He looked just like a dancer. In brief, he was just like Xue Heseveral days ago. No matter how one looked at it, he did not seem like anassassin. Chen Changsheng was rather confused. "Why is it that when they appear, theynever seem like assassins? Or is it that to be considered a good assassin, youcan't seem like an assassin? Is this the creed of assassins?"