Chapter 340: Sword Heart
Xiao Chen could feel every pulse of the Lunar Shadow Saber, like there was blood flowing within it. Of course, it was not really blood, but the Spiritual Energy flowing within it.
No matter how strong a person was, if they had not comprehended Listening to the Sword and Communicating With It, they would never be able to feel the pulse of a saber.
When Xiao Chen slowly poured in his Essence, he could clearly see his purple Essence flowing within the veins of the saber. With a thought, the saber immediately lit up with a bright purple light.
Withdraw!
With another thought, the purple saber light ceased. There were no delays at all, the movement of Essence was much faster than before.
When Xiao Chen stopped Listening to the Sword and Communicating With It, the Lunar Shadow Saber turned snow-white again. Xiao Chen used Listening to the Sword and Communicating With It repeatedly in this manner.
Earlier, in the dueling ground, Xiao Chen had left immediately after Liu Ruyue spoke to him.
Xiao Chen felt there was something wrong. However, he did not know what was wrong. So he did not have any intention to continue staying at the dueling grounds. Instead, he directly went back to his courtyard to practice this Listening to the Sword and Communicating With It.
If Xiao Chen could quickly master the state of Listening to the Sword, he would be able to enter the state of Controlling the Sword. That would be very helpful in a fight.
Xiao Chen practiced until it was dusk. He only stopped practicing after Xiao Bai returned.
Xiao Chen saw that Xiao Bai’s previously unkempt hair was done up very nicely now. Her hair now parted in the middle and had two pigtails.
The back of Xiao Bai’s hair was tied up in a complicated fashion and ended with a green hair clip. This completely brought out her delicate qualities, completely concealing the seductive side of her.
It looked like Xiao Meng had put in a lot of effort into this. Xiao Bai stood at the side and smiled gently, “Elder Brother Xiao Chen, are you practicing? Xiao Bai wants to practice too. After I practice, I can protect Elder Brother Xiao Chen.”
When Xiao Chen heard that, he thought it would be good, too. After a Spirit Beast changed form, they could cultivate the Cultivation Techniques and Martial Techniques of humans. It was necessary to teach her some Martial Techniques to protect herself.
Xiao Chen had many Spirit Weapons that he had looted from the Jiang Clan treasury in his Universe Ring. He took them out all one by one. There were long sabers, twin sabers, short swords, twin swords, treasured swords, and many other types.
“Choose a weapon first. Just pick whatever you like. After that, I will give you a relevant Martial Technique.”
Xiao Bai looked around in the large pile of Spirit Weapons. Eventually, she picked a two-fingers-wide and 1.7-meters-long sword. This sword was called Heavenly Water, and it was a Superior Grade Profound Rank Spirit Weapon.
“Elder Brother Xiao Chen, I choose this,” Xiao Bai said happily.
Xiao Chen frowned slightly, he had hoped Xiao Bai would choose a saber. That way, it would be easy for him to find Martial Techniques.
The huge Heavenly Saber Pavilion may lack a lot of things, but the one thing it did not lack was all sorts of Saber Techniques. Furthermore, the Heavenly Saber Pavilion was a place where sabers reigned supreme. To a certain degree, swords could be said to be a forbidden item here.
Even the Heavenly Saber Pavilion’s Pavilion Master whose name once resounded everywhere under the heavens only used a sword he carved out of wood when he cultivated the sword in his later years.
Suddenly, Xiao Chen’s eyes lit up. He remembered that aside from the Dragon and Tiger Body Sculpting Art and Great Dragon Tiger Fist, that Pavilion Master had also left behind a Heart Nourishing Universe Sword.
Coincidentally, Xiao Chen could give it to Xiao Bai to use. He rummaged in his Universe Ring for a while before finding that book of Heart Nourishing Universe Sword in a corner of the Universe Ring.
Xiao Chen handed over the secret manual and said, “This secret manual is for you. Take it and read it first. If there is anything you do not understand, you can come and ask me.
The Heart Nourishing Universe Sword was also a peak Earth Ranked Sword Technique. Compared to Xiao Chen’s Wukui Saber Technique, it was very similar in might. After all, the Martial Techniques the previous Pavilion Master used would not be something that could be found at a flea market.
Xiao Bai received it happily. She smiled and said, “Thank you, Elder Brother Xiao Chen! I will go and read it now and learn it within two days. At that time, I will be able to protect Elder Brother Xiao Chen.”
Xiao Chen watched as Xiao Bai left. He revealed a faint smile on his face, This girl is too naive.
Xiao Chen had taken a look at the Heart Nourishing Universe Sword before. There was a total of thirteen moves. Each move was harder than the last. Its difficulty was similar to the Wukui Saber Technique’s.
Back then, Xiao Chen had spent three days before he was able to learn the first three foundational moves of the Wukui Saber Technique. Even until now, he is not very familiar with the eighth moves yet. He did not even have any thoughts on practicing the ninth move.
How could it be possible for Xiao Bai to learn all thirteen moves of the Heart Nourishing Universe Sword within two days?
——
Time slowly passed in monotony. Xiao Chen would practice the Wukui Saber Technique in the morning, and Listening to the Sword and Communicating With It in the afternoon. At night, he would cultivate the Purple Thunder Divine Incantation, making preparations to break through to the sixth layer.
Time was very tight. Unless Xiao Chen needed to rest in order to prevent his fatigue from causing any problems, he would spend all his time on practicing or cultivating.
Xiao Chen put in all this effort, all for the end-of-year inner disciple Ranking War taking place one month from now.
This was so that Xiao Chen could be ready for any unexpected situations, to obtain first place for Qingyun Peak, and to repay Liu Ruyue’s kindness.
——
Six days later, Xiao Chen was practicing the Wukui Saber Technique’s eighth move, Wukui Reveals Heaven. He had been having trouble merging the state and mysterious phenomenon, preventing it from reaching Great Perfection.
“Elder Brother Xiao Chen! I have learned the Heart Nourishing Universe Sword,” Xiao Bai said in high spirits as she rushed over to Xiao Chen.
When Xiao Chen heard this, he felt absolutely flabbergasted. It was impossible. He had never heard of anyone learning a peak Earth Ranked Martial Technique within six days before.
“Demonstrate it for me to see.” Xiao Chen decided to verify the truth of it.
Xiao Bai nodded eagerly and drew the Heavenly Water Sword. She brandished her sword and her petite exquisite figure quickly moved around in the forest.
Following that, Xiao Bai exhibited the Heart Nourishing Universe Sword in the forest. Instantly, the natural laws seemed to become slightly distorted as the sword moved around.
The surrounding trees actually started to move around strangely. However, these trees were as full of vitality as they had before, this was not a mysterious phenomenon.
It was like there were huge changes in the world, space had distorted and created such an effect.
Xiao Chen’s expression started to turn grave. He saw a faint blurry light appear at Xiao Bai’s navel as the sword light moved around. The shape of the light seemed to be the silhouette of a small sword.
“Sword Heart!” Xiao Chen exclaimed in shock.
Qian was heaven and Kun was earth. When the Heart Nourishing Universe Sword was executed, it infused the heaven and earth into the Sword Technique.
[TL note: The universe in the Heart Nourishing Universe Sword is Qiankun in the raws. This word has a few meanings, one is universe, basically consisting of the heaven and earth. Another is Yinyang, because heaven and earth are opposites. The universe in the Universe Ring is Qiankun as well.]
Every move contained the natural laws, and contained the heavenly Daos. When practiced to Great Perfection, they could reverse heaven and earth, truly changing the natural laws.
However, the crux of the of the Heart Nourishing Universe Sword was focused on the two words ‘Nourishing Heart’. The so-called ‘Nourishing Heart’ meant using the power of the Universe to temper out an unrivaled and matchlessly sharp Sword Heart.
As far as Xiao Chen knew, the number of people who could practice the Heart Nourishing Universe Sword to Great Perfection were few. However, there were some Sword Sages who managed to achieve it. They were able to cause the rivers to flow backward with one strike, tear through space and make mountains spin.
However, aside from the person who made this Sword Technique, Xiao Chen had never heard of anyone successfully tempering a Sword Heart using this Sword Technique.
The thirteen moves of the Heart Nourishing Universe Sword were all executed by Xiao Bai in one go. Sword Qi moved all over the forest, causing a countless amount of leaves to fall.
Xiao Bai withdrew her sword and sheathed it. The feeling of distorted space in the forest immediately disappeared. Then, she looked at Xiao Chen’s sullen expression.
Xiao Bai said somewhat nervously, “Elder Brother Xiao Chen, is Xiao Bai stupid? I said I will learn it in two days. In the end, it took Xiao Bai six days to do so. Furthermore, it feels like Xiao Bai still has not brought out its full strength.”
Xiao Chen smiled bitterly to himself, If this is considered stupid, then what exactly are all those “genius cultivators”?
This Sword Technique was only considered to be at the entry-level. This was because the area Xiao Bai could influence with the state of universe was only limited to ten meters around her.
According to the records on the Sword Technique, when a Martial Saint used the Heart Nourishing Universe Sword and practiced it to Great Perfection, they would be able to influence an area of five hundred meters around them.
Xiao Bai was far from achieving that. Furthermore, she had not infused it with its state. Thus, the might of this Sword Technique was greatly reduced.
However, Xiao Bai was able to learn all thirteen moves in six days, and used them in one go, even comprehending her Sword Heart. Such talent was simply horrifying.
All Xiao Bai lacked now was maturity and the comprehension of her own state. At that time, the might of this Sword Technique would reach Great Perfection.
Xiao Chen said softly, “You are not stupid, this is pretty good already. However, you have to continue to work hard. Grow more mature slowly.”
Xiao Bai smiled happily and said, “Really? Then when can I be as powerful as Elder Brother Xiao Chen? By then, when there are bad guys, there will not be any need for Elder Brother Xiao Chen to make a move. Xiao Bai will help you to chase them away.”
Xiao Chen smiled speechlessly. He said to himself in his heart, How can I allow Xiao Bai be the one to protect me? Be it logic or emotional, this should not happen. Letting Xiao Bai practice Martial Techniques is all for her own sake.
As for Xiao Bai’s future, Xiao Chen already had a rough plan in mind. However, he had not told her about it yet.
“You should go back first, don’t overthink this. Remember, do not let others see you practicing the sword,” Xiao Cheng said. Practicing the sword was a taboo in the Heavenly Saber Pavilion, after all.
Xiao Bai nodded and left, feeling delighted; she was clearly in high spirits.
After Xiao Chen saw Xiao Bai left, he withdrew his gaze and said, “Xiao Bai is so amazing. I need to put in more effort so as to not fall behind her. I must completely grasp Wukui Reveals Heaven.”
——
Three days later, Liu Suifeng came to Xiao Chen’s courtyard and told him a piece of shocking news.
After Xiao Chen heard the news, he felt very suspicious. He asked, “You said that the end-of-year Ranking Wars taking place in the middle of next month will be delayed? How come?”
Liu Suifeng seemed somewhat confused, too. He kept scratching his head as he said, “I am not sure why, either. The Elders’ Assembly did not give a reason. The end-of-year inner disciple Ranking Wars has been a tradition since the founding of the Heavenly Saber Pavilion.
“In the past ten thousand years, unless there was something major, I have never of the Ranking Wars being delayed.”
The once-a-year inner disciple Ranking Wars of the Heavenly Saber Pavilion did not just function to check on the inner disciples’ cultivation for the year and maintain a certain level of competitiveness between disciples.
The most important thing was, the Heavenly Saber Pavilion would make use of this opportunity to show off their strength to the rest of the world, preserving their reputation as the top sect in the Xihe Province.
Every year, during the inner disciple Ranking Wars, the Heavenly Saber Pavilion would send out invitations to all the great powers and talented youths in the Xihe Province; they would even invite the court officials.
Their purpose in doing so was to demonstrate the might of the Heavenly Saber Pavilion, maintaining its reputation.
If the Heavenly Saber Pavilion suddenly delayed the end-of-year inner disciple Ranking Wars, it could cause people to think that the Heavenly Saber Pavilion was not able to produce any decent inner disciples, thus delaying the Ranking Wars.
