Follow the path of Dao from infancy - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Chapter 16 Mindset_2
 

Li Fu said indifferently, “I use a knife, not a sword.”

“The knife and sword are similar; the difference is not significant,” Li Hao said with a smile.

“What do you know? To train a weapon to perfection, even the slightest difference can lead to infinite variations,” Li Fu said irritably, but then restrained his temper, thinking that it was only natural for this kid, who did not understand martial arts, to see it that way.

Li Hao felt a bit helpless and continued to munch on fresh fruits, with one leg casually crossed over the other, watching Xue’er practice swordsmanship.

“There’s something wrong with your Swirling Style,” he commented.

Halfway through watching, Li Hao casually offered Bian Ruxue some tips, “If you drop your arm a bit lower, it would look better.”

“Don’t talk nonsense; you’re going to distract Xue’er,” Li Fu scolded, frowning.

An amateur advising an expert? That was simply preposterous!

However, Bian Ruxue ignored Li Fu. She was used to Li Hao’s casual suggestions. Even though Brother Hao had not embarked on the path of martial arts, she found that practicing as he suggested always felt smoother.

At that moment, as she lowered her arm and used the Swirling Style again, she indeed felt an understanding and ease in her heart.

Li Fu uttered a light ‘huh,’ not because Bian Ruxue actually followed Li Hao’s advice—after all, the young lady was too compliant with Li Hao—but because, as Li Hao said, a slight change in posture indeed added a bit more fierceness to the sword’s momentum.

He glanced down at the kid who was munching on fruit and sitting with his legs recklessly crossed. Was it a fluke?

Or was he judging by what looked good?

“You need to use force in your waist. For a Swirling Style with a long slash, it’s not just the hands that need force; the waist must drive the arms to swing out,” Li Hao suggested again.

Bian Ruxue nodded slightly, then executed the move several times in a row, finally grasping the essence of it. The sword’s momentum created a breeze, and its power was visibly greater than before.

Li Fu raised his eyebrows in astonishment. One time could be a coincidence, but not twice.

Could this kid actually understand swordsmanship and possess a talent for it?

Although Li Fu was not fond of Li Hao’s disposition, he had to admit that over the past half year, this kid had shown great intelligence, as well as a maturity and wisdom beyond his peers.

Could it be that he actually had a talent for swordsmanship but couldn’t display it because he was forbidden to practice martial arts?

Thinking about this possibility, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of sorrow. If that were true, what a regret it would be!

With Li Hao’s casual tips, Bian Ruxue’s sword technique gradually approached perfection.

There was no helping it. With Li Hao’s understanding of swordsmanship, just by watching for a few moments, he could integrate Bian Ruxue’s superior sword technique into his panel and directly achieve a level of near perfection.

With his perfect-level understanding to compensate for any flaws, he even skipped the ‘perfect’ stage. As long as Bian Ruxue grasped a bit of it, she could achieve a might comparable to perfection.

Next, Li Hao asked the young lady to perform for him the move she had failed to counter during their previous sparring.

Bian Ruxue obediently complied.

Li Hao understood immediately upon watching and even imagined the scene of how his opponent had defeated him.

However, he kept it to himself, considering that Li Fu was there. It wouldn’t matter if he showed a little bit of his understanding of swordsmanship, but getting too detailed would be too freakish.

“This sword move isn’t good-looking. I think the downward slash here should be changed to a sloping chop, and the elbow should be lifted behind,” he said.

“It’s better to switch from chopping to a straight thrust here, and don’t shake your wrist,” he pointed out casually.

Bian Ruxue was puzzled but listened carefully, slowly comprehending Li Hao’s words, and then practiced again according to his suggestions. After several repetitions, she gradually came close to what Li Hao had described.

Li Fu glanced at Li Hao and was now convinced that Li Hao also possessed an extremely high talent for swordsmanship.

Although the kid expressed himself in an amateurish way, merely correcting Bian Ruxue’s form by what “looks good” and “doesn’t look good,” being able to perceive the aesthetic of weaponry at such a young age was a talent in itself.

After all, in the eyes of a genius, some things appear as a different landscape.

Li Fu sighed inwardly, feeling increasingly sorry for Li Hao.

The next day.

The two went to the Eternal Spring Court for their morning visit, and afterwards, Bian Ruxue hurried excitedly to the martial training ground.

After the morning training and lessons at the martial training ground had ended, Bian Ruxue found the young man from the previous day, the one born out of wedlock. Clutching a sword nearly as tall as herself, her little face brimmed with seriousness as she requested another challenge.

Upon hearing Bian Ruxue’s words, the young man couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

The other young men born out of wedlock who were crowding around him also mocked and ridiculed her.

They didn’t dare to provoke the other legitimate children too much, but Bian Ruxue was, after all, not a member of the Li Family by blood; she was only betrothed to someone from the family, and the marriage hadn’t even taken place yet. Besides, that someone in the family was already known as a useless person within the Divine General Mansion, and any one of them would surpass him in the future.

That’s why they naturally disliked the one sitting on a treasure mountain, enjoying endless resources and affection.

“Didn’t Bai beat you yesterday? Haven’t you learned your lesson?”

“Want to stand up for that piece of trash? If you’ve got the guts, tell him to come himself. Bai doesn’t even need to lift a finger, I could take that trash with both hands tied!”

“Hmph, Bai already showed you mercy yesterday and you still don’t appreciate it.”

“You do have talent, but Bai has been training here for eight years. If you want revenge, you might stand a chance in half a year, but by then Bai will probably no longer be here.”

Bian Ruxue bit her lip but continued to stare earnestly at the young man in the middle, “Do you dare or not?”

Her words instantly fired up the young man’s blood qi. The young man called Bai, formally known as Li Dongbai, was one of the three most talented among the illegitimate children at the training ground, with a seventh-grade battle body. Enjoying resources close to those of the legitimate children, he had already stepped into the Zhou Tian Realm.

However, the martial training ground’s regulation for skill competition required that the stronger party suppress their cultivation level to the same realm as the weaker party.

And Bian Ruxue’s current cultivation level was at the tenth level of perfection in the Power Passage Realm!

“Today, I’ll make sure you lose clearly and unmistakably.”

Li Dongbai’s eyes were cold. He hadn’t planned on provoking this girl with exceptional talent. He was simply chatting with his companions about something, and upon mentioning that trash in passing, he had expressed a few opinions and had somehow been sought out by this girl.

Although an illegitimate son, he too had his pride and obviously wouldn’t apologize, thus the competition yesterday.

“Come on!”

Li Dongbai took his position on the stage in the martial training ground.

Soon, the area around the stage was crowded with people, all eager to see the sparring between these two illegitimate young prodigies and that extraordinary talented girl.

On the outside of the arena, the martial training ground’s instructor, that old military veteran, squinted his eyes and smiled, encouraging the spirited competition among these young folks.

A good sword is forged from constant sharpening. Without struggles during their youth, how can they experience setbacks, how can they progress? They certainly can’t wait until they are his age, an old bag of bones, to start fighting for their lives.

Soon, two figures, one large and one small, were locked in intense combat within the arena.

The same scene had been witnessed by the old military veteran just the day before, and today’s difference was not significant, except that Li Dongbai was striking with a few more degrees of ferocity.

“It seems that Xue’er is going to lose again,” thought the old military veteran: “After all, her training is too short. Though she has exceptional talent, she still needs tempering.”

Just then, inside the arena, the figures crisscrossed, and the fiercest sword technique was executed.

With a zooming sound, a sword flew out, tumbling to land outside the platform, where it was skewered in the sand.

The figures on the platform were also frozen in place.

Frozen with them were the cheering and jeering voices from below the platform.

And also, the smile on the face of the old military veteran.