“In the Dao of the hundred weapons, be it the sword or the saber, there are three levels of mastery to them, form, force and intent.”
The Saber Emperor’s voice continued sounding, “By form, it means the stance of the saber techniques. This is the most superficial of the mastery levels and as long as a cultivator is willing to practice diligently, they will be able to attain proficiency and utilize it naturally.”
“Force is the second level and is rather abstract. It could be understood as the force of the qi, aura or sound and it’s not something that everyone can achieve. Some people spend their entire lives without understanding the meaning behind the idea of force.”
“At the level of force, the might of your saber technique will be even mightier, reaching a whole new tier of mastery!”
“The third level is intent. Similar to sword intent, the saber has saber intent as well. Simply put, this is the realm of one’s intent and it’s formless and ethereal. A single slash can contain the might of the universe! The obscurity of the intent realm can only be understood after one cultivates their Essence Spirit.”
One had to be at Nascent Soul realm at the very least if they wanted to achieve the third level of mastery. For now, Su Zimo did not have to think about that at all.
Right now, all he had to do was master the first two levels of cultivating saber techniques.
Whipping out Blood Quencher, Su Zimo recalled the five stances performed by the Saber Emperor and began practicing on the mountain peak.
As the Saber Emperor had said, even though there were only five simple stances, executing a perfect version of even one of them was extremely difficult!
At the same time, Su Zimo finally understood why the Saber Emperor had to lay down a test as such.
The Sea Calming Manual’s requirement on one’s physique was way too high!
Although Countercurrent was a starting move, a person’s arm would explode if their physique was not strong enough!
Even after lesser mastery of the Orifice Clearing section, Su Zimo could only use it while channeling his bloodline.
That single slash required every single muscle on his body to move!
Of course, that was not the only difficulty to executing a perfect version of the stance.
There must not be any deviations to the degree of his motions, the timing and angle of his slash as well as the strength used. Any single mistake and the saber technique would not be able to be executed.
Su Zimo practiced repeatedly.
Fortunately, he had experienced Countercurrent, Raging Tides, Vortex and Ripple personally while crossing the spirit sea and they were comparatively simpler to understand.
After ten days of not resting and sleeping, Su Zimo could finally manage to perform the first four stances.
Although he was not entirely familiar with the first four moves, a little inexperienced in fact, he had still succeeded.
However, during this period of time, no matter how Su Zimo adjusted, recalled and practiced, he could not perform the final stance, Sea Calming.
Although it was a simple slash, Su Zimo could not do it no matter what.
He was not discouraged. According to the Saber Emperor, Sea Calming was the essence of the Sea Calming Manual and the world would be one’s oyster if they could comprehend it!
What sort of a level was that?
It was most likely beyond everything that Su Zimo knew.
In that ten days, apart from Su Zimo, there was also a burly man on the peak, watching Su Zimo practice silently without saying a single word.
After ten days, when he saw that Su Zimo was able to perform the first four stances of the saber technique completely, a look of comfort finally flashed through the burly man’s eyes.
“Very good, you are very good.”
The Saber Emperor nodded and his voice gradually dimmed. At the same time, his figure faded rapidly and disappeared from the world.
Retracting his saber, Su Zimo bowed deeply in the direction where the figure of the Saber Emperor disappeared.
The next moment, the saber mountain collapsed and the spirit sea evaporated.
Standing on thin air, Su Zimo felt a sense of sadness fill him.
After imparting the Tidal and Sea Calming Manual, the final traces of that supreme paragon of the ancient era had disappeared from Tianhuang Mainland as well.
On the shore, many cultivators looked at the scene unfold with shock and remained silent for a long time.
The Saber Mountain Spirit Sea disappeared before their very eyes at a visible speed!
The saber mountain crumbled into rubble and the spirit sea dried up, with spirit qi returning to nature.
From this day forth, the Saber Mountain Spirit Sea no longer existed in Tianhuang Mainland!
It was fortuitous that everyone managed to witness it.
Descending on the ground, Su Zimo fell into deep thought, pondering about the second level stated by the Saber Emperor, force!
Under normal circumstances, there was no need for Su Zimo to try and comprehend the second level since he was still very amateurish with the first four stances and had yet to achieve the first level.
However, he felt a sense of déjà vu towards the comprehension of force.
Back when he was studying in Ping Yang Town, Su Zimo often practiced calligraphy.
In calligraphy, there was a saying of the nine forces, relating to the movement of the brush tips and the way of writing.
The nine forces were about mastering the landing, reverse, hiding of the tip, protecting the body, weakening the stroke, raising the brush, the ending stroke and the horizontal finish. Even without the guidance of a master, one can arrive at the sweet spot of calligraphy as long as they practiced diligently.
In reality, the forces mentioned by the Saber Emperor as well as the nine forces of calligraphy were rather similar.
In the world, there were many theories that were interconnected.
That was also what the common saying in the cultivation world, all things come together, meant.
Under normal circumstances, ordinary cultivators wouldn’t be able to comprehend the meaning of force, much less attempt at that level, without first familiarizing themselves with their saber techniques.
However, Su Zimo was a scholar before entering the cultivation world and had studied the nine forces of calligraphy before.
The concept of force was not one that Su Zimo was foreign with.
Therefore, he attempted to comprehend the meaning of force before he was familiar with the saber techniques of the Sea Calming Manual, trying to grasp at something.
Closing his eyes, Su Zimo entered an indescribable state of bliss.
This was an extremely rare state of enlightenment.
He would definitely gain something the moment he awakened!
After the Saber Mountain Spirit Sea vanished, Su Zimo had already attracted everyone’s attention.
When he entered the enlightenment state, everyone was in an uproar.
Entering that state right now was definitely trouble rather than blessing for Su Zimo!
There was no one around Su Zimo to protect him and any external stimulation could disrupt his enlightenment process, putting his efforts to vain!
Furthermore, that was secondary.
The most important thing was that someone was out to take his life!
Since the heavens want you to die, you can’t blame me!
Bai Yu smiled sinisterly and in a flash, pulled out a cold gleaming saber from his storage bag, speeding towards Su Zimo.
When he approached, Bai Yu slashed horizontally.
That slash was not fast nor was it strong. Furthermore, it did not have any killing intent at all.
Bai Yu was worried of alarming Su Zimo who was in his enlightenment state, changing the current situation.
He wanted to kill in stealth!
Su Zimo’s eyes were still tightly shut, as if he had not realized that danger was knocking right on his door!
At the sight of that, many cultivators shook their heads and sighed.
Initially, Su Zimo was the envy of many after obtaining the Saber Emperor’s inheritance.
However, who would have thought that he would die in the blink of an eye – at the end of the day, fate had played a trick on him.
Bai Yu smirked in glee when he saw that the blade was about to slice Su Zimo’s throat.
“You’re still going to die in my hands even if you’ve obtained the Saber Emperor’s inheritance!”
Bai Yu sneered.
Just as the blade was about to cut Su Zimo’s throat, the latter’s figure suddenly retreated without warning and narrowly avoided that fatal strike!
“Hmm?”
Narrowing his gaze, Bai Yu’s expression changed.
