Book 24 Chapter 21

Limits, and Beyond

-Is there a test in the unsolicited statement?

"Master, teach me a sword technique."

"Swordsmanship? You're talking in your sleep in broad daylight. There's no such thing, are there, you silly apprentice?"

"No?"

"None."

"No hidden swords, no tricks of the trade, no such thing? Eh, boring."

"Boring? What's the point of learning swordsmanship when your taste buds are good enough? What are you going to do with radishes? I don't understand."

"You never know, you might lose your lightning rod, or it might get stolen, or something like that, and you'll have to use your sword, and you can't use it unless you know how to use it."

"You could just throw it."

His answer was simple.

"It's not cool."

"If you win, you'll be fed, and if you lose, you'll die. What's the use of a man who's stolen the secret treasure of a monk? You're too thick."

"Wow, you're really fierce, are you a real master?"

"Do you want to check it out?"

Master asked, raising his fist.

"No, I think you're definitely a master."

The master stroked his beard for a moment, lost in thought, then said.

"Hmm, come to think of it, I don't have one. Swordsmanship."

"I thought you said you didn't have one?"

"Not in the non-lightning martial arts."

"So you're a martial artist from another sect, like the Amifa next door?"

"No. It's a little stronger than that. Though it depends on the caster's abilities."

"What kind of sword is that?"

"For practice."

"For practice?"

"Yeah, for practice. Now that you mention it, I'll show you. It's a mountain to climb, and I'm getting there."

He snapped the branch of the tree next to him, roughly trimmed it, and held it in his hand.

"Now, be careful, or you'll die."

It was a rambling statement, but I meant it. But this is too much too soon.

"Now, wait a minute, I thought you said this was just for practice?"

"Yes, it's for practice. Here's how it works. Nobu performs a certain sword technique. You use your lightning sword to block it. How's that for simple?"

"Hmm, that sounds simple enough."

But something keeps nagging at me. It's ominous.

"Yeah, but I'm telling you, you're not going to be able to stop this with what you've learned so far."

"Now, wait a minute, you're asking me to die, and that's just one more life lost, one more valuable disciple."

"Why? There's only one way to do it."

"What is that?"

"All you need to do is learn a new aura. A new word that will allow you to break through Nobu's swordplay. Based on what you've learned so far, how about that? Simple, right?"

"Go, is it as simple as that?"

"It's simple. Disciple, you can do it! Don't worry."

"Don't say that with a look on your face like you don't believe you can do it at all."

"Question and answer dance!"

"That, that nonsense!"

"Okay, here we go."

"Okay, stop! Stop! Stop! No, no, no!"

And the boy was enveloped in darkness.

* * *

"I almost died back then."

At the time, I felt like I was looking at a field of flowers and a clear river flowing in the distance. Luckily, I survived. I came close to death many times after that. I didn't think it was possible to create a new aura in one go. But the master said it was possible, and he pushed his student until it was.

"I'm surprised you're still alive.

But he lived anyway, and he learned those tiresome rituals. He was capable of anything when pushed to the limit, and it was likely that he had inherited his training from his master.

Yan Bi raised his sword and pointed it at the seven scars. To demonstrate a sword technique that he had learned naturally after being beaten by his master, a technique that was originally created as a means to master the advanced aura of Virgo Dao. It was the only sword technique he had ever learned from his master.

Qi Shanghui also felt the momentum of Yun Che's sword stance. It wasn't a beginner's stance. There was a naturalness to it, as if he'd been holding the sword for a long time. At the very least, it was much more natural and deeper than when he had swung the umbrella earlier.

He was eager to test his achievements, and he couldn't think of a better opponent to do so than the lowly Yeonbi. Whether it was a man or a woman was irrelevant to him now. His skills were real.

"I'm going to have to call it a day."

"I agree."

They both knew they were on their last legs. It had been a long time since he had met someone who had pushed him to the limit, even in terms of Yeonbi.

The two men said nothing. Words weren't necessary at this point; they knew what the other was going to do through accumulated experience and instinct.

"Last job!

'The last thing I did was put everything into it.'

'The day I wield that sword, I surpass myself!'

"I am the new me.

'I'm not a 'fugitive' anymore!'

'The lost me is found today!

Qi Shanghui gripped the twin swords he had buried in his past and tried to forget. An invisible power seemed to extend from the hilts to the four winds.

"When have I ever been so true to myself?

A sensation he hadn't felt in the entirety of the last nine years, a strong conviction that this place was firmly rooted in the existence of the country he now called home, dominated his entire being.

"Yes, this is me!

These two swords were the surest proof of who I was. But what a fool I had been to leave them in the coffin, nailed to it. For years I had been a shell of myself. Now, in this moment, by taking up the twin swords again, it was as if his soul had returned.

"Thank you, for forcing me to confront my past again."

"You're welcome."

"In return, I'll show you the best techniques in the Murim."

"I'm tired of seeing the best of the best."

He wasn't listening to Yeonbi at all.

"You're never going to stop this."

Qi Shanghui said as he struck a stance with his twin swords.

"You don't know that until you try."

Then Qi Shanghui shook his head and said.

"You don't need to try it, it's such a rudimentary thing."

Ch'ien-shang-hsien truly thought so. He had made all the preparations. His body and mind were attuned to performing only one dao.

"It's about time.

Yunbi took a deep breath. He was about to walk a tightrope between life and death. Ahead of him was a place he had never been, for it was beyond the limit. Whether death or life awaited at the other end, he could not tell now.

"Okay, let's go!

The blackness faded from Diligence's corundum eyes, and they began to shine like a golden sun.

Shhhhhh.

Moments later, a cloud of dust rose up around the Yeonbi, concealing its body. This was to keep the crowd from seeing what was about to happen.

Bam!

Finally, the phoenix ring on Yun Fei's right wrist opened with a heavy clang. And then,

Thump!

Soon the weight was too much for him and he fell to the ground.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

"……!"

A soundless scream erupted. The moment the phoenix ring was released, Yun Bi nearly fainted. His entire body felt like it was being torn apart. The power that he had barely managed to hold back poured into his body, and it was wild and fierce. Every muscle and blood vessel in my body screamed in response to the force, which was anything but gentle, and I felt like I would shatter under its weight. My vision turned bright red. My heart was pounding like crazy. It felt like it would explode at any moment. An unbearable pain was eating away at my nerves. My whole body was shaking like a madman.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I felt like a small man standing helplessly under a huge waterfall. I felt like a leaf swept away by the mighty current of the Yangtze River.

In the red field of vision, the seven scarlet lips move, but you can only see them moving, not hear them. My hearing is blown. I need to say something back……. My tongue is paralyzed. I want to scream, but I can't find my voice.

All I had done was open the gate, and that alone was enough to kill me. I was surprised my limbs hadn't been ripped off yet.

"It was reverse, shi…… me… chin, jit…….

He wanted to laugh, a self-deprecating laugh, but even that didn't work. The razor-sharp claws of the beast seemed to tear at every inch of his body.

'Already…… stone can kill…… is…… not…….'

He had to find another means to survive. Before this furious rush obliterated his existence. Before it left not a speck of dust behind.

Don't go against it.

In this flow…….

We're past the point where you can stop it by resisting it. Trying to stop it will only make it crumble like a sandcastle.

Instead of going against the flow, he surrendered himself to it, and made way for it to flow better. Then the things that were in the way were shattered, one by one, against the turbulence. Each time, intense pain tormented her. Finally, the flow reached her brain.

Boom!

Something exploded in my head.

And Yeonbi was left in the dark.

Sensation, space, and time disappeared in it.

And…… eons of time have passed.

In a world without time and space, Yunbi woke up. The sun was still hanging in the sky, and to his surprise, he was still alive, not dead.

No matter how much water was stored, there was a limit. After a while, the raging torrent slowed down to a trickle, then a steady stream. It was still a powerful flow, but it was no longer the raging torrent of a rainy season river.

"But that was just yesterday, right?

The concept of time was muddled.

"What just happened? What did I see and feel?

My memory was a jumble of tangled threads.

"What the heck just happened to me?

I couldn't quite understand it. I tried to explain it in words, but it didn't work. But the fact remained that something had happened.

I tried moving my finger around.

Moved!

This time, I tried wiggling my toes.

Moved.

Raise your gaze.

Heard.

The scarlet tiger hadn't attacked yet and remained in its stance.

'Why haven't they attacked yet? They've had plenty of time.

But from his posture and momentum, it didn't seem like that much time had passed.

'It felt like an eternity, and then…….'

Time in this world seems to have come to a standstill.

It was a shallow thing to do. At least it was a good thing. If I'd been attacked in the middle of a confrontation with an explosive jinni, I'd never have made it out alive.

At last, the Dao of the Seven Sigils stretched out. It seemed very slow. There didn't seem to be any change, and it seemed like this could be easily avoided. But it was strange. He was clearly moving his body to evade, but the distance between himself and the dao was the same. In fact, they seemed to be closer than before. I thought I had dodged, but the distance hadn't changed. I didn't detect any change in the slowly approaching blade. It felt like the blade was chasing me relentlessly. It was like a ghost that I could never shake off.

"This!

Suddenly, Yunbi realized the roads that were flying toward her life.

'It's a psychic sword! It must be.'

No, in this case, it was a knife, so it should be called a deep knife.

"Gotcha!

As soon as Qi Shanghui posted his good news, a black sword protruded out of nowhere and intercepted Dao's trajectory.

Stunned, Qilin looked at Yunfei. His eyes glowed a strange golden color.

"I'd be remiss if I thought that was the end of it."

"Is there any way?"

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a sword for a sword. Something like that."

A black sword, embroidered with beautiful silver patterns, was pointed straight at the approaching Seven-Scarred Dao.

The positive and negative electrodes are touching at a point smaller than a speck.

The almost unthinkable has happened.

"No way!"

The Yeonbi replied.

"Makes sense."

"When did he realize he had been tricked by his master?

I think it was after I'd gotten down about a dozen times.

"Sabu, you tricked me!"

The master's sword method was both a sword method and not a sword method.

The training was for a great sword, so there was no formality to it. The sword goes where the mind wants it to go, and that's the essence of a deep sword. If you only think about the outcome, the body automatically figures out the process. It would be unconscious, to be precise, so it was impossible to break that sword essence by enhancing the power of ordinary herbal food. The nameless sword method had no form, but it was just as free.

You couldn't break the code by making the technology more complicated; you had to break the code by breaking another code, and only then could you break the code.

The only way to break the sword technique that unfolded at will was to unleash the lightning at will. At the same level, another variable would determine victory or defeat: pure strength.

Nameless Sword (無名劍).

That was the swordplay that Yun Bi was performing now. It had no name. It didn't need one. There was no place for it in the texts that conveyed the visions of the Viridian Way. But it was necessary for other reasons, and in the end, no one would give it a name, yet it was indispensable to the process of ascension.

Blindsight.

It was a discipline designed to prepare you for the next stage of your life, which is called the deep sword.

Two men clashed in a life-and-death struggle. A tremendous impact swept through the air. So powerful was it that the surrounding stones and dirt were swept upward in the aftermath, concealing the whereabouts of the combatants.

The crowd was stunned. Some booed. Some shouted that it didn't make sense that they couldn't see the most important moment. But the protests didn't seem to settle the dust. The crowd could only wait with sweaty hands.

"This can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening!

"No way! No way! No way! No way! No way! No way!

Distrust sprouted in the back of his mind as Yan Bi interrupted his last confident move. His cultivation was certainly profound, but now it was tainted by distractions. An uneasiness sprouted in the back of his mind, eating away at his entire being like black ink. His confidence in his last move was shattered.

He was no longer confident in his dao. Suspicion arose that he might be unfinished, and that suspicion became a great darkness, engulfing his dao, and the natural flow of the natural dao was interrupted.

I had to clear my mind and be confident, and I wasn't. That's where the difference came in. Yeonbi's brilliant golden eyes looked directly into the wavering pupils of the seven scars.

"Your faith has been broken, then I'll take this match!"

Nameless Sword of Righteousness.

Thunderbolt (墨雷殺).

Yan Bi's sword became a thunderbolt of black and silver, raining down on Qi Shanghui. His distrustful twin swords were no match for this slash.

He was swallowed up in a torrential downpour of black and silver lightning.