Chapter 25: A Clear Sound Appears Amidst a Troubled Heart

"Is that the disciple that girl Lingxiang forced upon the Sect Leader brother?" an old man outside the window said. His beard and brows were white as snow, yet his posture was upright. In one hand he held a whisk as white as his beard, and with the other, he stroked his beard and smiled. "He is quite like her, a little clever ghost."

Hanyang, who was accompanying him, smiled and said, "His disposition is still quite good; no wonder Aunt-Master would send him here."

"Hmm..." the old man nodded. "The son of that Guyang City Lord is very good."

"Is Uncle-Master thinking of..."

"Hey~ his Spirit Root aptitude is still unclear; it won't be too late to discuss it after the inner sect promotion assessment." The old man smiled, his face full of satisfaction.

This person was none other than the second disciple of the former Yuanqing Sect Leader, the current Managing Elder, Qianyuan Zhenren.

"It's just that person..." It was just that the person's brows and eyes were extremely similar to an old friend; could it be...

Qianyuan Zhenren did not finish his sentence. Hanyang asked for the bottom of it, but only received a "it is nothing."

The two turned and left, but Qianyuan Zhenren had other calculations in his heart: this matter must be reported to the Sect Leader brother.

Long Qi had not expected that Xin Yi would actually respond to him, but he had not discovered how he had made his move, which showed that his cultivation was certainly not shallow.

This Chengkai, it seemed, was not as he appeared on the surface; he still had some brains. He had suffered a loss today, so he would certainly not let it go. Since they had already become rivals, he would definitely be at odds with him in the future.

However, after this incident, the four of them had become closer, especially Xin Yi. Although he was still as unsmiling as ever, he could sit with the three of them to listen to them talk, and occasionally he would even chime in.

Yuanqing Sect Outer Disciples must understand Daoist morality, know sword principles, clear away distracting thoughts, and practice concentration; this was the foundation of cultivating the Dao, and the four daily lessons were for this purpose.

Daoist morality was to cultivate the disciples' integration with the Great Dao of nature and their own inner selves, laying the foundation for future study of Dharma Techniques and Mysterious Arts. Sword Formula, meanwhile, was the Martial Dao that practitioners of the Dao must study upon entry, and it also served as preparation for practicing Weapon Formula later on. Therefore, every month, a Martial Arts Tournament would be held to let Outer Disciples spar with one another to verify their cultivation progress.

So-called Dharma Techniques, like the Wave Formula that Lingxiang used, were taught by the sect according to each person's Spirit Root aptitude. However, Dharma Techniques required the practitioner to be able to channel their own Spirit Power into the Great Dao of nature in order to fully exert their Mysterious Arts and Daoist power.

However, not everyone could achieve this, so there was the method of Weapon Formula.

Weapon Formula was a cultivation method opened up for cultivators who could not utilize Natural Force. By means of weapons, Spirit Treasures, and other objects, they would either draw out their own Spirit Power or guide the Natural Force into their bodies, thereby achieving integration.

Only by integrating one's own Spirit Power with Natural Force could one perform Daoist Techniques.

But most Weapon Formula methods had harsh requirements for the cultivator's physical strength, so the stage of Body Tempering and Qi Refining was especially important. Only very few Spirit Treasures were relatively lenient, so Lingxiang used Spirit Vein Water and Spirit Plants to nourish Long Qi's body and store Qi, and his daily water-carrying was to temper his sinews and bones, allowing the power of the Medicine Bath to be fully exerted.

Among these, the Talisman Technique was a type of Daoist Technique that sat between Dharma Techniques and Weapon Formula, and it did not have harsh requirements for the cultivator's physical energy. Although it was unleashed using the power of Weapon Formula, it still required a certain level of Dharma Technique ability to fully exert its Daoist power, which was why no matter how Long Qi practiced, he could not use the Talisman Technique.

Even more strictly, Weapon Formula emphasized the harmony between person and weapon to fully exert Daoist power; if they were not in harmony, the practice would only yield half the result with twice the effort.

Nowadays, the Yuanqing Sect taught Outer Disciples sword techniques using unsharpened Soft Steel Swords. Since the swords were not sharpened, they would not awaken their spirits and were merely dead objects.

The original intention of this move was for these Outer Disciples to gain insights from sword techniques alone. But these swords were too light; some female disciples could still use them smoothly, but some male disciples with a bit of foundation found them slightly difficult.

Although Long Qi was born into a family of swordsmen, he had suddenly encountered a disaster when he was young, so he had only practiced Red Fist techniques since childhood. He did not understand sword techniques to begin with, and he always misjudged the force used for the sword; in this half-month, he had already broken three swords.

Although it was said that practitioners of the Dao did not necessarily have to use swords—just like Nezha who used the Universe Ring and Fire-Tipped Spear, or Erlang Shen who used the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Blade—that was mostly only after Foundation Establishment that there was room for choice.

The reason why sword techniques were taught at the beginning of Dao cultivation was because sword techniques covered various methods of wielding weapons such as stabbing, lifting, chopping, and cutting, which could mostly be applied when changing weapons later. Moreover, the sword was the gentleman of weapons, a realm pursued by those who cultivated the Dao.

Seeing that the day of the Martial Arts Tournament was approaching, even Zhao Wuyang, who had the weakest cultivation, could wield his sword like flowing water, but Long Qi still could not grasp the method of wielding the sword. He practiced sword every day until sunset, and the more he practiced, the more irritable he became.

Among the four, although Xin Yi had the highest cultivation, it seemed that his understanding of the Sword Formula was somewhat flawed; every time he practiced the sword, he would always chop the sword straight down, as if he were playing with a saber.

These two wielded their swords with such brute force that it made Liu Xia, who was watching from the side, terrified. Whenever they practiced swords, he would always pull Zhao Wuyang far away, fearing that these two would accidentally harm an innocent person if they were not careful.

That night, the four were practicing swords together in the backyard of the house. As they practiced, they saw Long Qi throw his sword down, sit on a large rock to the side, and say sullenly, "This damn sword technique is so powerless. If I used this move while subduing demons, I'm afraid the sword wouldn't even be out of its sheath before I was torn to shreds by the demon. It's so useless, I might as well not practice it!"

Xin Yi deeply agreed, so he put his sword away and sat down on the large rock as well, sighing deeply—practicing the sword was not easy!

Seeing this, Liu Xia and Zhao Wuyang also stopped their practice and sat over.

"Seeking the Dao was never an easy task. If you don't even have the perseverance to overcome these difficulties, how can you walk further on the path of the Dao?" Liu Xia wiped his sweat and advised.

"My mother often taught me that when Heaven is about to place a great burden on a person, it must first frustrate their spirit, exhaust their sinews and bones, and starve their body. I think that since the ancients put 'frustrating their spirit' first, it must be the easiest thing to break a person."

Unexpectedly, Zhao Wuyang could say such reasoning at such a young age. Xin Yi lowered his head and pondered for a moment after hearing this, then raised his hand to pat his head.

Long Qi naturally understood the reasoning, but he did not know why he could not calm his heart these days, as if something was missing, and there was always a hollow feeling in his heart.

He had been wandering the streets since he was a child; he had never had such a feeling. This made his heart chaotic and unable to focus on his practice.

Just as he was so irritable that he could not control himself, a clear voice broke in.

"I don't remember teaching you to retreat in the face of difficulty and give up halfway!"

The three were all startled, not knowing where the voice came from. They looked around for a long time but found no one.

When Long Qi heard these words, his heart could not help but pound—he was all too familiar with the person who had come!

"Stop looking, I'm up here!"

Everyone looked up and saw a person standing on the roof of the house. She had her long hair lightly tied with a jade hairpin, wore a wide-sleeved flowing cloud robe, and had a Universe Bag slung around her waist. As the wind blew, the small bell on the bag tinkled.

It was Lingxiang!