Free Web NovelAfter Elder Han He left.
“Elder Shang Wu, do you have any arrangements for Li Mo these past few days?”
Ying Bing asked.
Shang Wu slightly narrowed her almond eyes, thought for a moment, and said:
“Besides cooking, there’s nothing particularly important.”
“Then I’ll trouble you to lend him to me for three days.”
“I want him to study swordsmanship with me for three days.”
Ying Bing said softly.
After all, she was not Li Mo’s Master.
If she wanted to teach him something, she still had to ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) ask the ‘rightful owner’ for permission.
“Xiao Bing’er, I trust your swordsmanship, but three days... he won’t learn much, will he?”
Shang Wu nodded in agreement, then became a little curious.
“I have this.”
Ying Bing took something out of her sleeve.
Three sky-blue incense sticks.
“Spiritual Resonance Incense? The Sect Master even gave you this? How generous...”
Shang Wu’s almond eyes widened slightly, clearly aware of the item’s value.
This was not a product of the Eastern Wasteland Region.
Instead, it originated from the Central Divine Continent, made by grinding a rare treasure called Spiritual Resonance Wood into powder, and then refining it with other precious Materials.
Lighting this item to comprehend Martial Arts could greatly enhance one’s intelligence.
However, Spiritual Resonance Wood grew slowly, only an inch every three hundred years, so its production was extremely scarce.
The Sect’s current remaining stock should not be much, and it was left by the first Ancestral Master, saved by successive Sect Leaders from the bare minimum.
Giving Ying Bing three at once was enough to show how much she was valued.
Shang Wu scratched her head, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
It seemed she had only given her disciple two Martial Arts manuals and then freeloaded off him for food and drink...
“Wait, you mean you’re going to use the Spiritual Resonance Incense on Xiao Mo?”
Shang Wu came back to her senses.
“Mm, this item is useless to me if I keep it.”
Ying Bing nodded.
“Alright, then I’ll leave it to you.”
“Tsk tsk... This kid is quite lucky.”
Shang Wu smiled and nodded in agreement.
It was fine if she didn’t use the good stuff; it was the same if her disciple used it.
.....
“Learn swordsmanship from you?” ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
Li Mo had just opened another Meridian.
Eleven Meridians, and his Small World had expanded by a few more feet.
Then he saw Ying Bing push the door open and enter.
“Mm, come down with me.”
Ying Bing’s expression was serene; after speaking, she turned and went downstairs.
“What’s suddenly gotten into her...?”
Li Mo scratched his head, seeming to understand.
The Ice Cube wasn’t one to be good with words.
She hadn’t spoken about the matter under the Clear Abyss, but she definitely remembered it in her heart.
That’s good.
With the Ice Cube around, he could save a lot of Martial Arts Comprehension.
Knowing that he wasn’t cut out for sword practice, Xiao Li didn’t intend to completely give it up.
Besides, he currently had no other Martial Arts to practice.
...
The open space of Autumn Water Pavilion.
In the bronze censer, green smoke curled upwards.
The scent of this incense, upon smelling it, gave a feeling of clear-headedness and active thought.
Li Mo knew this was good stuff.
“From Major Achievement to Perfection means you have truly made the Martial Arts your own, no longer bound by Moves.”
“You might even no longer need to rely on sword Moves.”
“Similarly, any sword Move is approaching a true meaning of the Sword Dao; if one understands one, they understand a hundred.”
Ying Bing joined her fingers and lightly brushed them across a bamboo stalk nearby.
Immediately, traces of crane feathers appeared on it, but they were not fiery red; instead, they were ice-blue.
Li Mo’s eyes widened slightly, inevitably amazed.
‘Fire Crane Thousand Feathers’ had actually been transformed into ‘Ice Crane Thousand Feathers’ by the Ice Cube.
This indicated that she had completely understood and mastered this profound sword art.
And he hadn’t even seen her practice it.
“The Transcendent state of your sword art should allow you to freely control the timing, quantity, and position of force bursts.”
“You can even transform a thousand feathers into one, concentrating them into a single point, like dripping water piercing stone.”
No sooner had she spoken. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
Crack—
One of the crane feathers suddenly exploded, its power ten times stronger than a single burst.
“What you need to do now is to forget ‘Moves’.”
“Pick up the sword.”
“Okay.”
Li Mo took out the Azure Steel Sword, which was covered in chips.
He was about to make a Move when a cool, soft small hand grasped his, followed by the faint fragrance of a young girl wafting over.
Ying Bing held his hand tightly.
Li Mo: “!”
This felt different from when he jumped into the Clear Abyss.
At that time, in freefall, his mind was blank; he had no time to think about anything else.
Now...
“Don’t get distracted. I’ll only guide you once.”
A clear voice sounded by his ear.
Truly, hand-in-hand teaching.
Even her disciples in her previous life, many of whom were astonishingly talented, she would at most give them a few pointers.
Ying Bing had never taught anyone so seriously before.
“Okay.”
Li Mo composed himself and began to learn seriously.
A quarter of an hour later.
Ying Bing released his hand and stood silently beside him.
She somehow produced a ruler and looked at him calmly, her red lips parting slightly:
“Practice.”
Li Mo: “.....”
The Ice Cube’s meaning couldn’t be that if he practiced incorrectly, she would hit his palm with the ruler, right?
Five minutes later, Xiao Li got his answer.
It wasn’t his palm.
“I’m this old, and you’re still spanking me!”
Li Mo protested, covering his backside.
It didn’t hurt, though.
But it was embarrassing!
“Hahahahaha!”
Shang Wu laughed so hard she doubled over, rolling on the lounge chair, tears streaming from her eyes.
Ying Bing remained unmoved, lowering her gaze and saying: “Forget Moves. You just used a sword Move again. Force originates from the ground and is released through the Meridians. You can achieve it without sword Moves.”
She didn’t mention the backside incident at all.
Just, no discussion.
Alright, alright.
If I, Li, don’t show a little something, you really don’t take me for a cheat, huh?
Martial Arts Comprehension, activate!
【Five years of Martial Arts Comprehension successfully injected.】
【First year: You accepted Ying Bing’s guidance, gained enlightenment, and began to diligently pursue the essence of swordsmanship, forgetting the existence of sword Moves.】
......
【Fifth year: Through diligent practice, you have forgotten more than half of the sword Moves, and the first three forms are no longer constrained by shape.】
Good heavens.
With the Ice Cube’s guidance, five years of Martial Arts Comprehension only yielded this much progress.
If he had stubbornly tried to figure it out on his own, who knew how much more it would have cost.
“I’m ready.”
Li Mo picked up his sword and began to practice again.
“You really got it?”
Watching him wield the sword, Ying Bing’s eyes showed a hint of surprise.
However, after only a few sword strikes, Li Mo stopped.
“Um... could you guide me through it one more time?”
“.......Okay.”
Ying Bing was silent for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
And so, the Ice Cube’s Swordsmanship Classroom reopened.
.....
“Wait for me for a bit...”
“I got it! Guide me through it one more time.”
.....
This scene repeated itself.
Ying Bing felt an inexpressible strangeness.
It felt like Li Mo... was both smart and dull?
When teaching, he was clumsy, often requiring her to adjust her guidance, and frequently making what she considered very basic mistakes.
But then, if she let him close his eyes and think for a while, it was as if he had an Epiphany; all those flaws and errors would disappear.
After a while, he would ask her to teach him the next part again.
What she didn’t know was that Xiao Li was conserving his Martial Arts Comprehension.
......
Three days later.
The Ice Cube, who had just Broken Through to the twelfth Meridian, had another dream that night.
She dreamed of the time when she was the Master of the Gui Palace, before she had ascended to Phoenix Heaven.
At that time, the righteous and demonic Dao in Central Divine Continent were locked in fierce combat.
The Dynasty sat back and watched the tigers fight, fanning the flames from the sidelines, hoping for mutual destruction among the Sects.
The Gui Palace was both righteous and evil, rarely interfering in Jianghu affairs, yet it gathered nearly half of the powerful female cultivators from the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, so both sides were trying their utmost to win them over.
However, the Great Yu Dynasty clearly did not want to see the Gui Palace join either side and disrupt the balance.
Thus, the Crown Prince, who was already regent at the time, brought countless betrothal gifts to the Gui Palace, enough to make even major powers envious.
“This Crown Prince wishes to marry the Master of the Gui Palace and forever be in good favor.”
This was not the first time someone had proposed, but it was the grandest gesture.
However, the outcome was no different.
The opponent couldn’t even block three sword strikes.
“This Seat has no interest in the weak.”
People always came to bother her, which was incredibly annoying.
She actually had no interest whatsoever in imperial ambitions, killing, and fighting.
Besides stabilizing the peak of the Martial Dao, nothing else was on her mind.
So, at that time, she should have said something like this.
But later, as it spread, it became:
“The Master of the Gui Palace likes men stronger than her.”
This rumor persisted even when she became the Phoenix Heavenly Empress, though no one dared to challenge her anymore...
“I’ve been dreaming frequently lately...”
“Without reaching the Guan Shen Realm, one ultimately cannot control their own spirit.”
Ying Bing got up and brushed the frost from her shoulders.
The sound of sword dancing came from outside the window, and she propped it open.
Under the sunlight, a young man danced with his sword.
The sword shadows sometimes transformed into hundreds and thousands, and sometimes converged into one.
They expanded and contracted freely, flowing like water, as if an immortal crane was gracefully stretching its form.
Ying Bing watched quietly, the corners of her mouth curving into an arc she didn’t even notice herself.
She should still be considered a good teacher.
Of course, it also had to do with Li Mo’s talent.
It was strange, though.
With guidance, he progressed a thousand miles a day, but without guidance, he was unremarkable.
But all in all.
Stumbling along, his profound sword art actually reached the Transcendent state.
Originally, Ying Bing had thought that reaching Perfection would be quite good.
It could be said that it far exceeded expectations.
Perhaps in half a month, when the System ranks the Geniuses within the Eastern Wasteland Region, she might actually see him in the middle of the list?
