20 The Way of the Sword

The morning sun rose once again, bringing with it a warm light that brightly shone upon the earth marking the beginning of a new day. Suddenly, a wisp of scarlet-golden colored light from an obscure area seeped through the sparse mountain ranges flowing throughout the morning mist.

A young man was seated in a crossed-legged position at its origin. He had a muscular physique built on top of a slender form, and, due to his tall and straight body, he gave off an aura full of heroic spirit.

"Yawn..."

After exhaling a mouthful of Essence energy, Feng Yu's aura soon retracted, making his whole body very comfortable.

"Whew, I'm finally at the peak of 7 Tier Body Training realm. To think it would have taken me less than a week of training with the gathering array. Now, let's take a quick look" While smiling satisfied, Feng Yu wiped the sweat from his forehead. He then began to inspect his body by sending a wisp of his consciousness within his inner body's core. Inside his body, his bones were utterly transparent as if transformed into the purest crystals with bright golden streaks, and his internal organs were more than half suffused with a golden hue.

"Perfected Bone Refinement and almost Half Perfected Organ Strengthening. The 'Nirvana Flame Cultivation Technique' truly is one of a kind to make my organs comparable to that of a peak 8 Tier while at the peak of 7 Tier. Ha! If I were to fight you again Fu Ling, I wonder if you would be able to force me to inspire my bloodline. Hmm, I shouldn't be too arrogant. It would be hell if she were to manage a fusion with three of those strange seals," While thinking about his previous encounter, Feng Yu quickly cleared his strayed thoughts and took out 'Black Lightning' from his storage ring.

"Partner! It looks like I may have the means to repair you after all." Feng Yu smiled as he recalled all of the information, he had browsed through during his cultivation session for the past week. Within his sea of consciousness, an old manual hovered. It glowed with a sharp aura that seemed to permeate his entire being slowly changing his nature to that of a sword.

If one looked at the side of his aura pulse, they would notice a very small sword. It was transparent in color and roughly the size of about 1.5 inches. Streams of sword qi flowed from the manual towards this translucent sword and there will be a small improvement regarding the size and color of the sword.

"My Sword Seed is growing slowly just from the Aura of this Ancient Sword Manual, but the quickest way to make it mature is to practice and comprehend the Way of the Sword. The <Sword Foundation Tactics> Manual states that to become a master of the sword, one must first understand the sword. One must know more than just the techniques and become capable of wielding the sword as if it was an extension of oneself. This state is known as 'Man and Sword Becomes One.' In that state, one would be considered to have taken the primary path of a sword cultivator. The further one progresses, the taller their sword seed will grow and a sword seed with the height of 10 inches could only be achieved by those who have achieved 'One with Sword.'" Feng Yu pondered as he looked at the situation within his inner consciousness.

"If I want to repair 'Black Lightning,' then I have two methods. One is forging, which would require comprehensive knowledge of blacksmithing skills. The other would be to assimilate with the sword, making it my Primary Life Weapon. Hmm, fine then. Based on the techniques of the <Sword Foundation Tactics> Manual, I can make two swords as my Life Weapons. Since it is so, I may as well make you my first life weapon. Even if your materials aren't the best, I can always find better metals to help you upgrade at a later time." After thinking carefully for a bit, Feng Yu finally made his decision. He bit his finger and dropped a bit of blood on the sword, following which, he drew a few seals with his lightning essence channeling his power towards his sword.

Fwooossshhh!

Crackle! Crackle!

Suddenly, the pieces of black lightning started to hover in the air as sparks of lightning began to dance on top of their surface.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

After a couple of seconds, all of the pieces soon transformed into a beam of light and flew into Feng Yu's sea of consciousness resting themselves below the sword seed that was slowly growing. The pieces then began to connect themselves as a small stream of sword qi flowed from the seed towards the sword resting below it.

"Now time to start practicing these set of sword forms," After seeing the situation of his sword, Feng Yu felt satisfied. He began to review the stances of the <Sword Foundation Tactics> manual.

"The Sword can be divided into three main stances: Attack Stance, Défense Stance, and Control Stance. These can further be broken down into simple styles such as Sword Unsheathe, Sword Advance, Sword Slash, Sword Plunge, Sword Deflect, Sword Guard, Sword Shed, Sword Fade, Sword False Edge and many more. Attack Stance pursues extreme offensive power with speed. Défense Stance pursues the act of parrying with balance, and, finally, the Control Stance pursues the epitome of elusive movement with unpredictable techniques. A true swordsman doesn't pursue one aspect but aims at balancing all three stances. Ha! So exciting to try new things. Let's begin…" With that said Feng Yu looked around the environment for a bit and soon found a flat wooden stick at the corner of some shrubbery beside a tall tree.

After quickly walking over and picking it up, he instantly assumed the basic attack stance for the sword, holding the flat wooden stick as a sword at his waist side while imagining it inside of a sheath.

With his eyes closed, he began to sense and visualize the movement of the sword, unsheathing technique, carefully analyzing the amount of sword force that was gathered and unleashed. Suddenly, he moved…

Fwooossshhhh!

With a flash of light, the flat piece of wood transformed into a blur as it flashed across the base of the towering tree that required at least 3 to 4 men to wrap their arms around. Shortly afterward, the blur of the piece of wood reappeared back at Feng Yu's waist side as if it was slowly sheathing itself.

CRASH! BANGGGG!

The towering tree that stood in the field soon fell to the floor, causing the earth to vibrate for a short period as the dust scattered through the misty air.

Opening his eyes, Feng Yu looked at the massive stump in front of him that looked as if something with uneven edges had sliced it. He said, "Hmm, for a piece of wood it's not bad, but it seems I won't be able to fully grasp the essence of the techniques without a real sword, I'll wait a bit for my sword to repair itself before I continue practicing once more."

Upon finishing his statement, Feng Yu quickly got back into a crossed-legged posture and focused his consciousness into his mind.

∞∞∞

Another two weeks soon passed by in the blink of an eye, and the time remaining for the selections was now less than two weeks.

Shing! Shing! Shing!

Bang!

Suddenly, three illusive beams of light flowed out in an arc throughout the mountain range. Following which, a succession of trees was soon felled in their wakes. Each of these tree stumps was cut in a fashion that one could only see created by the finest and sharpest of metals, leaving a clean, smooth surface.

Swoosh!

A figure appeared on top of a fallen tree, his red hair dancing in the wind along with his clothing. It was holding a black sword in his right hand that gave off an ominous glint. In front of him was a field of dense fallen trees, broken boulders, and scared hills.

"Black Lightning is as sharp as ever. I even feel that it has exceeded its past sharpness. The <Sword Foundation Tactics> Manual holds right, as it seems that only by infusing my insight into these foundational arts, could one genuinely master the basics of swordsmanship. My Blurry Mantis Palms has now transformed into the Blurry Mantis Sword followed by my Blazing Sword Wave. Now, I only need to create a technique that can embody my Lightning Flash Steps movement skill as its essence. I believe that once I've managed to achieve that, I may be able to break through to the realm of 'One with Sword." Thinking about his recent progress with the sword, Feng Yu felt proud as his current sword seed has now grown to a height of 8.9 inches with his cultivation at the initial stages of 8 Tier.

"It's time I leave this place and head back home." Feng Yu said as he looked around reluctantly. After this period, he had begun to feel a sense of belonging to the mountain range.

Soon, however, his vision turned sharp as his gaze fixed towards a particular location within the mountain range.

"However, some matters need to be settled beforehand." He thought as a dense amount of killing intent radiated the area, and a sharp energy slowly gathered within the field.

Flash!

He vanished in a flash of light traversing 150 meters in an instant. Strangely enough, there was no sound of thunder after his use of the technique which was a sign of those who have reached the True Success Stage of the <Lightning Flash Steps>.

Soon his form appeared in the distance as he made his way to the final confrontation of his training journey.