Chapter 17: The Five Realms of Swordsmanship, Three Paths (Part One)

  (Everyone's recommended collection has exceeded 120,000, let's see if it can rush to the top 12 of new people, haha!)

  With a hint of understanding in his heart, Lu Qing closed his eyes and carefully recalled the process of their recent exchange. Whether it was Xuan Qing's moves, changes, or even the intent behind her techniques, they had all reached a level that Lu Qing could only look up to at present. At this moment, taking advantage of the momentum, especially some details that he had never noticed before, were well explained by Xuan Qing. As Lu Qing organized his thoughts, he gained a lot.

  Xuan Qing didn't go to disturb, turned around and came to the front desk, on which a white porcelain tea pot with blue and white glaze was placed. A wisp of white smoke drifted out from the spout, accompanied by a faint and elegant fragrance that lingered in the air above.

  Next to the teapot were two blue jade tea cups, a deep blue like the sea, with fine black cracks on the surface, obviously already prepared. He picked up the two cups and filled them eight-tenths full without overflowing. Suddenly, Xuansu's eyebrows furrowed, he turned around and let out a soft rebuke: "Your realm is not yet sufficient, why be so stubborn?" The voice was soft, but to Luqing's ears it was like a loud bell, almost deafening.

  Eyes opened, and although there was still a faint sense of confusion, it dissipated in an instant. Lu Qing felt relieved, as he had just recalled his exchange with Xuan Qing. At first, everything seemed fine, and he gained new insights from carefully analyzing their moves. However, when he remembered the final move, "Wind Rolls Away the Clouds," he couldn't grasp the trajectory of Xuan Qing's fingertips no matter how hard he tried. His mind became trapped in it, and the more he tried not to think about it, the clearer it became in his mind, but the more impossible it was for him to grasp. If Xuan Qing hadn't discovered Lu Qing's irregular breathing in time, he might have fallen into a state of demonic possession on the spot. Demonic possession would have left him with internal injuries that would take at least a month to recover from, even though his foundation had not yet been established and his cultivation was still shallow.

  At this point, Lu Qing bowed deeply to Xuan Qing and said gratefully: "Thank you, Master, for speaking up to remind me —"

  He waved his hand and said, "It doesn't matter." After finishing speaking, he picked up a cup of tea from the table and handed it to Lu Qing. "Try some, this is the green tea I left over at the end of spring."

  Looking at the warm jade cup in my hand, the tea water inside is light blue, perfectly matching the color of the cup. The faint misty smoke rises, and an indescribable fragrance fills my heart, making me unable to resist taking a small sip. Suddenly, my mouth is filled with a subtle aroma, and there's a natural sweetness in the flavor that makes my mouth water. I couldn't help but take another sip, but this time, there's a change - besides the previous flavors, after the sweetness, there's a hint of subtle bitterness hidden behind, which, although slight, leaves a more lasting impression than the sweetness.

  "This tea—" Lu Qing raised his head and looked at Xuan Qing.

  "This tea..." Xuan Qing lowered his head and gazed at the tea water in the cup, a mysterious meaning flashing in his eyes. "This tea is called Rainy Day..."

  "Rainy day?"

  "Not bad—" He turned and took two steps forward. With his back facing him, Lu Qing couldn't see Xuan Qing's expression at this time, but he heard a faint sigh accompanied by a soft hum: "Rainy days, early is the rain that injures dreams, pitiful fragrant grass——, even more lush——"

  These sentences have been involved since childhood, but as of now, most of them are some ancient five-thousand-year-old period passed down, and nowadays the Sword God Continent has few people who understand it. After all, the sword is the mainstream of this continent, with a history of over 100,000 years, various sword yuan gong and swordsmanship are extremely perfect, so even if you're an ordinary religious citizen, as long as you practice hard, even if you can't cultivate sword yuan gong, you can reach the basic level of a sword slave. So, writing and literature is not something that can be made a living from nowadays, except for some high-level sects or aristocratic families, few people know about it anymore.

  Lu Qing, as the young master of the Lu family and the current head of the household, had a rich collection of treasures accumulated over thousands of years. In his spare time, he would occasionally browse through them, and had also dabbled in poetry. At this moment, Lu Qing detected a hint of sadness in Xuanqing's words, but couldn't quite pinpoint its origin.

  The grand hall fell silent, the candle flames had also returned to calm after the two stopped fighting. After a long time, Xuan Qing turned around, his facial expression was still as calm as ever, except for that deep and mysterious gaze, there was not a single ripple.

  "You have only five years left." Xuan Qing's words broke the previous silence, his tone unusually solemn.

  Lu Qing was taken aback at first, but his expression quickly firmed up. Xuan Qing nodded in satisfaction and said, "I'm glad you have such determination, it's not in vain that your father entrusted me with your training. However... to win five years later, you must reach the level of a Sword Master, this is the minimum requirement."

  "Jian Shi Jie —" Lu Qing murmured.

  He nodded affirmatively and Xuan Qing began to speak: "The five realms of the sword path, the first realm cultivates the sword body, the second refines the sword's origin, the third comprehends the sword soul, the fourth spreads the sword's spirit, and the fifth condenses the sword heart. Each realm has three stages. You are currently at the sword body realm's sword servant stage. I observe that your vital energy is abundant, with a hint of purple energy hidden in your eyebrows and eyes. The fetal breathing stage is nearing its end, and if all goes well, you will be able to successfully lay the foundation within half a year or at most a year."

  "But the path of swordsmanship is fraught with difficulties, and although we strive to seek it out, the more we progress, the harder it becomes to make even an inch of progress. Without great wisdom and determination, it is impossible to achieve anything. It's said that the body of the sword is easy to practice, but the essence of the sword is difficult to cultivate, and the soul of the sword is even harder to form. I think that on the Sword God Continent, with a population of nearly 10 billion, there are only over a thousand true masters who have condensed their sword souls. It can be said that it takes tens of millions of people practicing to produce just one person, and even if you lower your expectations by one level, it's still not easy to cultivate. The saying 'the essence of the sword is difficult to cultivate' is relative to 'the soul of the sword is hard to form'. Therefore..." At this point, Xuan Qing stared intently into Lu Qing's eyes.

  "The Jianyuan boundary is divided into three stages: Jianke, Jianshi, and Jianzhu. After reaching the Jianzhe stage, each stage is further divided into three heavenly positions: small, medium, and large. In other words, in the next five years, you must break through three stages of the sword path boundary, with a total of seven small heavenly positions."

  But upon hearing this, Lu Qing did not show the slightest sign of fear, instead his eyes sparkled with fire, and a surge of fighting spirit rose from his body, causing the candles on both sides to flicker.

  "But that's just my conservative estimate, and it's the most ideal estimate under the assumption that everything goes smoothly," Xuan Qing said with a serious tone, continuing, "Because you will be facing the top ten young masters of our generation from the Purple Mist Sect. They were selected from among over 2 million sect members since they were young and have undergone many years of arduous cultivation. By now, even the weakest among them has reached the Sky Rank of Swordsmen, and in five years, even the strongest will only be thirty years old at most. You could say that each and every one of them is a genius of the highest order, and they are the hope and pride of our generation of the Purple Mist Sect. However, they will also be your greatest obstacle five years later. No one can predict what kind of progress they will make in these five years."

  Listening to Xuan Qing's explanation, Lu Qing also slowly understood his current situation. He wasn't a blindly confident person and was very clear about his own abilities. Among the top ten young masters of that generation, who had weaker innate talents than him? Moreover, he was born at an unfavorable time, they had already started cultivating many years ago. It was already extremely difficult to reach the Sword Master level within five years, let alone surpass them and take the first place in the Five Peaks' Sword Competition five years later. Lu Qing didn't think he had such talent or comprehension.

  "Please help me out, Master." Lu Qing was no fool; since Master Xuan had told him so much at this moment, it was obviously not just idle chatter.

  He looked at Lu Qing deeply, Xuan Qing pondered for a moment and said: "There are three shortcuts. If you can pass through them smoothly, then you will have almost half the chance."

  "Three clauses!" Lu Qing's eyes lit up involuntarily, perhaps things weren't as bad as he thought.

  He glanced up at the dome of the hall, and Xuan Qing's voice was calm: "Don't be too happy, this shortcut is only relative, and it may even involve life danger."

  He paused for a moment, "The first one is Jianchi -"

  "Xuan Chi!" Lu Qing couldn't help but exclaim at this moment, others might not understand, but he was absolutely clear, because Xuan Chi, his family had been hiding one, it was the biggest secret of his family, and after his father Lu Yun's death, Yan Ruyi told him about the secrets of his family one by one. This Xuan Chi was the last reliance of his family.

  Jianchi, the land of pregnant swords and the land of hidden swords. At its center is a low-grade divine sword, surrounded by an area that absorbs the essence of heaven and earth. Countless swords can be placed around it, gathering the essence to nourish the swords through the momentum of "ten thousand swords returning to their origin". Over time, it can even improve the quality of the swords to some extent. It can be said to be a growing armory. In the Jianchi continent, the sword pool is the foundation of a sect's establishment.

  Ignoring Lu Qing's astonishment, "In order to ensure the smooth consolidation of my Purple Mist Sect's position at the Five Peaks Sword Meet five years later and create momentum for the upcoming promotion, our sect master, Jian Hun, transmitted his voice a few days ago, deciding to open the Sword Pool in a year. The top twenty names from each peak's grand competition a year later will enter it for half a year. The heavenly energy there, after being condensed by the Sword Pool formation, is almost ten times more concentrated than outside and its purity is also quite remarkable, greatly beneficial for cultivation."

  Lu Qing's eyes flashed with a hint of understanding, "I understand, I won't let Master down in the big competition a year later." In fact, he had already made up his mind at this moment, although Lu's sword pool might not be comparable to Zixia Sect, it would still be a great help for him in the next five years.

  "This second one is the burial site of my ancestors from the Purple Mist Sect, the Sword Mausoleum!" As he spoke of the Sword Mausoleum, even Xuan Qing's eyes revealed a hint of reverence.

  "Jianzhong is a forbidden place of our Zixia Sect, where only those who have condensed their sword soul and reached the Sword King stage can enter three times in their lifetime. Inside, the swords left behind by our ancestors contain the remnants of their sword intent, which is invaluable for understanding one's own sword intent. I'm almost at the peak of my life, so I'll give you this last chance, but you must first reach the Sword Guest stage to barely withstand the chaotic sword intent within Jianzhong." As he spoke, a hint of imperceptible loss appeared on Xuanqing's face.