Chapter 141: Origin Style

After finishing the three styles, Xiao Zongting was already panting with exhaustion. He sighed and said, "I am truly old!"

Xiao Zongting looked at the Broken Blade Broadsword in his hand and laughed self-deprecatingly: "Old partner, my old bones can no longer hold you!"

Duan Rong stood there blankly. Although Xiao Zongting had already stopped, Duan Rong's mind was constantly replaying the Unnamed Three Styles that Xiao Zongting had just performed.

Xiao Zongting watched Duan Rong standing there, his eyes bright and his expression focused on the void, and knew that he had taken those three styles to heart.

"This child... has aptitude..." Xiao Zongting chuckled softly. Honestly, even if Duan Rong had been completely confused and lost after watching, he would have felt it was normal. Instead, seeing Duan Rong fall into such deep contemplation made him feel astonished.

Xiao Zongting put the Broken Blade Broadsword back into the room, and then he left Duan Rong to stand there in a daze while he limped out of the courtyard.

He still had matters to attend to in the Back Courtyard.

Xiao Zongting walked to the Outer Courtyard, looked at Zhu Xiaoqi, and asked: "Duan Rong is in the Inner Courtyard; do not go and disturb him!"

"Oh." Zhu Xiaoqi did not understand why, but seeing Xiao Zongting's solemn expression, she still agreed.

Xiao Zongting took two steps, then instructed: "And do not talk to him."

"I know!" Zhu Xiaoqi pursed her lips, seemingly finding Xiao Zongting a bit long-winded.

Only then did Xiao Zongting leave the courtyard.

Zhu Xiaoqi looked at Xiao Zongting's back, then glanced through the moon gate at Duan Rong, who was standing there blankly, and said defiantly: "Who would want to talk to him anyway?"

Xiao Zongting left the courtyard, crossed the Martial Arts Arena, and went to the Back Courtyard.

Xu Shouxian, Zhou An, Wang Dean, and Zhu Shicheng were all already being detained separately. Xiao Zongting prepared to go over, pour them a cup of tea, and offer some smiles where necessary; this could at least ease the conflict, as they would have to work together in the future.

Xiao Zongting first went to Xu Shouxian's room; the person standing guard outside Xu Shouxian's door was none other than Xiao Yu.

As soon as Xiao Yu saw Xiao Zongting, she hurriedly asked: "Father! Why were Duan Rong, Lu Feng, and the others called to the Gathering Justice Hall? I saw Lu Feng's face looking as terrible as if his own father had died; what on earth happened?"

"What could have happened? Stand your post! Asking this and that!" Xiao Zongting glared at Xiao Yu and scolded.

Xiao Yu was slightly stunned; Xiao Zongting had not scolded her for a long time. But the more he acted like this, the more Xiao Yu felt that something was wrong. However, she was on duty and could not leave her post, so she just stood there, burning with anxiety...

In Xiao Zongting's courtyard, Duan Rong just stood there blankly, motionless, for a full stick of incense's time.

Zhu Xiaoqi had already stood by the moon gate and looked at him several times; if not for Xiao Zongting's instructions, she would have gone over to call Duan Rong long ago.

"Staring blankly, what are you standing there for? Don't tell me you've gone possessed?" Zhu Xiaoqi muttered while picking vegetables.

Suddenly, Duan Rong drew his Ox-Tail Saber, which startled Zhu Xiaoqi, who was sitting in front of the moon gate picking vegetables.

The Ox-Tail Saber flashed with a cold light, but Duan Rong held the saber up and did not move for a long time.

Xiao Zongting's Unnamed Three Styles had already passed through Duan Rong's mind several times, but when he wanted to try performing them himself, he felt a sense of not knowing where to start.

It was like a dance; you know all the movements, but you cannot find the rhythm.

Without rhythm, or rather, cadence, the movements cannot be strung together.

For ordinary saber techniques, the rhythm is easy to grasp; as long as you practice, the rhythm naturally emerges.

But these three styles were the Origin Style; even when Xiao Zongting performed them, there was a sense of disjointedness.

But that was not truly disjointed; rather, the cadence of these three styles was introverted and hidden, not easily perceived.

Although Duan Rong felt he had nowhere to start, he still bit the bullet and practiced the first style once.

Duan Rong's movements were jerky, making Zhu Xiaoqi, who was picking vegetables in front of the moon gate, cover her mouth and laugh.

Despite this, Duan Rong practiced it again.

And so a third time, a fourth time!

But that sense of not knowing where to start had not diminished in the slightest.

Duan Rong closed his eyes again to contemplate, recalling Xiao Zongting's movements in his mind; Xiao Zongting's performance also had a sense of disjointedness.

But Xiao Zongting's disjointedness and Duan Rong's jerky way of performing were completely different.

Xiao Zongting performed with a cadence, but that cadence was relatively hidden, so it appeared as a sense of disjointedness.

"A hidden cadence does not mean there is no cadence. I just need to find that hidden cadence!"

Duan Rong recalled Xiao Zongting's movements in his mind again, only this time his focus was different.

Duan Rong gradually saw that Xiao Zongting's sense of disjointedness was a deliberate, controlled pause.

Duan Rong's eyes brightened, as if a bolt of lightning had illuminated his heart.

He suddenly realized that the intervals of Xiao Zongting's pauses were actually the openings for changing moves!

"These three styles are incomplete moves! They need to be filled with changing moves in the gaps to become complete moves!"

"In other words, by filling them with different changing moves, these three styles will evolve into different moves!"

"These three styles are just the soul, while their body can be diverse!"

Once Duan Rong understood this, his body suddenly felt a chill. "Xiao Zongting is truly a genius; he was actually able to create such open-ended saber moves!"

"Once you thoroughly master these three moves, you can even turn any saber technique from decay into magic and raise it to a higher level."

In an instant, Duan Rong understood why Xiao Zongting wanted to teach him these three moves at this time. If he could master these three moves in a short period, he could raise his martial arts moves to a higher level, which would give him one more chance to survive when he delivered the gold to the Chaos Burial Mound.

But the premise was that he could master them!

Once Duan Rong understood, he immediately began to perform. Although he had devoured many saber techniques, the one he was most familiar with was still the Five Tigers Flock of Sheep Saber.

He wanted to first try filling the Unnamed Three Styles with the changing moves of the Five Tigers Flock of Sheep Saber.

After repeated attempts, Duan Rong finally disassembled the moves Black Tiger Climbs the Mountain and Leopard Drills the Forest and filled them into the first style.

Although the three styles were fused, the first style of the Unnamed Three Styles remained the soul; it commanded Black Tiger Climbs the Mountain and Leopard Drills the Forest, injecting something new into the original moves.

The fused first style was elusive and strange, and Duan Rong discovered that this move was actually a circular structure.

That is, Leopard Drills the Forest, followed by Black Tiger Climbs the Mountain, then followed by Leopard Drills the Forest...

Cycling back and forth, continuous and unending...

And this was determined by the original structure of the first style...

In the courtyard, Duan Rong began to perform continuously like this; his eyes were focused and excited, the saber light like water, constantly turning...

Just at this moment, Xiao Zongting returned to the courtyard. Seeing Duan Rong amidst a sea of saber light, Xiao Zongting stood there stunned. He had originally planned to return and offer guidance after Duan Rong had contemplated and experimented on his own, but Duan Rong had actually mastered it himself.

"This..."

Watching Duan Rong execute the blade techniques he had created so well, Xiao Zongting felt an indescribable sense of being moved.

Yes, it was being moved!

Because he had wanted so much to pass his things down!

But these three stances were truly too strange, and he had always feared that no one would be able to understand them at all.

Yet Duan Rong had actually comprehended them on his own.

"Kid, the two of us martial arts fanatics are truly of one mind!"

In truth, given Duan Rong's original martial arts realm, it would have been impossible for him to comprehend such strange and bizarre stances.

But he had devoured over ten blade techniques at the Small Success Realm, and during his time escorting goods, he had undergone several life-and-death trials, which had broadened his horizons and deepened his understanding of martial arts.

And these were things that ordinary people could not possibly possess.

In this world, there was no one who would practice over ten blade techniques all to the Small Success Realm!

(End of chapter)