Chapter 102: Talking about Swords

Pei Ye indeed possesses some ability to recognize characters, but knowing "big" does not mean knowing "quail," and being able to read storybooks does not mean being able to read the Five Classics.

And this masterpiece of everyone with concise and profound wording, Pei Ye might have to study one sentence for a long time.

"I, know relatively few characters." Pei Ye repeated embarrassedly.

Ming Qitian was quiet for a while before saying slowly: "Then, you have to learn, right?"

"Hmm... I will try to find someone to learn this month."

Ming Qitian nodded, feeling a little relieved—when she promised Yue Muzhou, she really hadn't prepared to teach people to recognize characters.

"That's good, you try your best to read while learning, just read as much as you can."

"Good."

"Then let's continue to talk about the Opening Door Sword just now." Ming Qitian said, "The "General Theory" divides sword cultivation into five realms: 'Clumsy', 'Spirit', 'Meaning', 'Heart', and 'Dao'. The path of sword cultivation is indeed generally like this."

"I would like to hear... I would like to hear the details."

"'Clumsy' is the realm of proficiency. Using a sword technique, every move and style has no mistakes, and the force and movement are exactly on the point. After long practice, you get the essence of the sword, and you can use it like an arm and finger against the enemy. This is the so-called Clumsy Realm."

"……This is the Clumsy Realm?" Pei Ye frowned, "Then, many people practice a sword technique for ten or twenty years, and that is just this realm?"

"Not bad, they are all in the Clumsy Realm."

"Then there are many people—even the old masters of the third or fourth life—whose sword force cannot be fully fulfilled. What realm are they?"

"The realm of the sword has nothing to do with the realm of cultivation. As long as there are mistakes in the moves, they are all unranked sword hands."

"……Then I have another question, Miss Ming, the difficulty of sword techniques is also different. Some people practice an extremely difficult sword technique and cannot succeed for seven or eight years; another person only practices the Opening Door Sword and can make no mistakes in a few months. Then who counts as the 'Clumsy' realm?" Pei Ye has a habit of getting to the bottom of things.

Ming Qitian shook her head: "The Clumsy Realm is not discussed by learning a certain sword technique. I just gave an example above. Seriously speaking, it is actually a kind of control over the sword. When you are familiar enough, close enough, and precise enough with the sword, you have entered the Clumsy Realm. You will feel that the sword is fitting your body."

"Moreover, for us, there is no truly difficult sword technique. Any sword technique should be learned within six months." Ming Qitian added.

Pei Ye didn't expect that this arrogant sentence also included himself, but the woman's voice had no agitation, just stating it normally, as naturally as handing him a pear before.

And judging by the woman's eyesight of seeing through 【Cloud Sky Covering Eyes Losing Feathers】 across the wall before, this "six months" deadline was obviously based on him.

"Can these realms also be used to divide sword techniques?" Pei Ye said.

Ming Qitian nodded: "It is indeed an unwritten way of division. Where the upper limit of a sword technique is in which realm determines its level."

Pei Ye raised his head and thought: "Miss Ming, I heard that Bai Lugong is famous for its techniques. Are they all Clumsy Realm sword techniques?"

Ming Qitian smiled and shook her head: "Let's just talk about their swords—Bai Lugong's path is an attempt at the top of the sword path. They put their minds to sword techniques, not abandoning higher realms, but precisely wanting to reach the Meaning, Heart, and Dao realms directly through 'techniques'. This is a shortcut that can save long-term accumulation and realization."

Pei Ye didn't quite understand.

Ming Qitian continued: "If you have the opportunity to learn those complicated things of theirs, you will have a sense of disconnection. That is, you can still learn those extremely carved sword moves within six months, but if you want to seek more extreme 'techniques', you will find it extremely difficult—actually, it is because you have already left the Clumsy Realm and are starting to try to jump to the upper two realms."

"Bai Lugong's sword techniques are very mature in reaching 'Spirit' through 'Clumsy', and their wonders can save disciples a lot of effort, so Bai Lugong disciples all possess unique 'techniques'. Reaching 'Meaning' through 'Clumsy' is not too rare, but reaching 'Heart' through 'Clumsy' is few and far between, and reaching 'Dao' through 'Clumsy' seems to have only appeared in the previous generation. There should be no one in the contemporary generation who has succeeded."

Pei Ye opened his mouth slightly and nodded slowly.

This is a famous teacher, this is high-level. The mysterious and majestic martial arts holy place Bai Lugong, the behemoth occupying the Southwest, eating the offerings of the big and small Yun Mountains, wiping the face of Long Jun Dongting, every disciple traveling the world can easily teach those Jianghu heroes to be separated from their bodies.

Now it was dismantled clearly in just a few words.

"Let's continue to return to the theory of realms." Ming Qitian said, "'Spirit', the realm of integration. In this realm, you are no longer just using the sword, but starting to understand the sword. Different sword techniques are no longer so distinct, and the moves are no longer so rigid. Any sword technique is just the use of the sword, so you can use it at your fingertips."

Pei Ye suddenly realized, thinking of what she did when fighting Long Jun the night before.

But in fact, the most shocking part of that scene was not the use of different sword techniques at her fingertips, but the number of those "different sword techniques" that were as vast as the sea.

It can be seen that there is also a gap between the 'Spirit' realms.

"Just as the core of the 'Clumsy' realm is the control of the sword, the core of the 'Spirit' realm is the understanding of the sword. It is not that being able to integrate different sword moves counts as 'Spirit'. Its true meaning is actually 'no move wins over moves'." Ming Qitian continued, "When the 'Spirit' realm goes to the highest, it reaches the peak at the sword move level. You can dismantle moves at will, and there is no more confusion. No matter how high-level the sword moves are, as long as they are still in the 'moves', they are just a sword that is stabbed or chopped in your eyes."

Pei Ye was fascinated by it.

"'Meaning', the realm of emotional attachment." Ming Qitian continued to speak eloquently. She looked high and cold, but in fact, she didn't talk much at ordinary times, and she didn't simplify her words to pretend to be cold when talking to people. Now that she talked about swords, she was even more meticulous and tireless.

"The first two realms are only related to your body, while 'Meaning' involves the realm of 'emotion'. Your mood, your beliefs, your emotions, your realizations, etc., everything can be turned into sword meaning when integrated into the sword, which can be said to have entered the 'Meaning' realm."

"From this realm, your sword begins to carry its own color, not just the use of others' achievements. Therefore, stepping into this realm can be considered as entering the hall in the sword path."

"This realm is the most vast realm, and it is also the sword path ultimate realm for many geniuses. Countless sword path masters spend their whole lives pondering in this realm, and even if they belong to the 'Meaning' realm, the sword path attainments of different people may be worlds apart."

Pei Ye knew at this time that the "can be considered as entering the hall" in the previous sentence obviously carried subjective color.

"As for the 'Heart' and 'Dao' realms, they are too far away, so there is no need to talk about them for the time being."

"Ah? I want to hear it, Master Ming."

Thank you to Boss Du Yi Xi Jiang Yue for the reward! Boss is generous!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 103 =====