Chapter 9 The Stars and Scenery

Watching the scenery described on the book was different from walking on the way in person, so when Li Fuyao wasn’t satisfied with what he heard of and started to take actions, he found the way was difficult to walk on. Although he was mentally prepared, he felt surprised.

Chen Sheng led him to the way to practice, or rather the branch road. In Chen Sheng’s opinion, the way of swordsmanship was a rugged path, so when he took Li Fuyao to walk, he didn’t brag but told Li Fuyao that it would be difficult to walk on this path in the future.

How difficult it was depended on what he felt, so Li Fuyao was wise and didn’t ask this question.

Therefore, since Li Fuyao agreed to walk on this road, Chen Sheng kept making things difficult for him. This middle-aged man who looked easy-going at ordinary times was serious when he taught somebody swordsmanship.

He told that teenager who didn’t know what swordsmanship was to stab one thousand times with the “sword” in the courtyard on the first day. Li Fuyao’s thin arm couldn’t finish so many times in one day, and the stick was heavy enough. So from dawn to dusk, he just stabbed six hundred times. Chen Sheng didn’t say anything but stood under the eave, watching if the teenager could stab one thousand times.

Obviously, he couldn’t.

Till midnight, the teenager still gritted his teeth and insisted but didn’t finish stabbing one thousand times. Instead, he fell on the ground in the courtyard. Although he got up and continued to wave the sword in the end, he didn’t finish the task anyway. Chen Sheng kept silent. He just told Li Fuyao to stab one thousand times but didn’t say what would happen if he couldn’t finish it. Li Fuyao didn’t ask but just tried his best to wave the sword in his hand.

One didn’t say anything, and the other didn’t ask.

The master and disciple were weird.

On the second day, Chen Sheng told Li Fuyao to walk ten thousand miles. It was a task that couldn’t be completed apparently, but Li Fuyao still put the stick on his waist and walked alone. Till midnight, he just finished one hundred miles. Then the teenager looked at the sky and returned to his courtyard. He went out and then came back after walking two hundred miles, spending one day and night.

Li Fuyao walked without stopping for one day and night, which made his legs soft, but on the third day, he still showed up in the courtyard.

Chen Sheng looked unserious at ordinary times, but when he taught Li Fuyao swordsmanship, he kept silent. He just told Li Fuyao what to do every day. As for whether he could make it, Chen Sheng didn’t mind or say anything.

One and another day passed. On the fifteenth day, Li Fuyao fell on the ground in the courtyard and couldn’t get up. Chen Sheng finally carried him to the bed and fed him a black pill.

Beside the bed, Chen Sheng touched Li Fuyao’s limbs which got stiff because of the excessive movement and finally nodded. The first thing for a swordsman from the human world when he started learning was not to learn how to use a sword but to know a principle.

On the first day, he couldn’t stab one thousand times, and on the second day, he couldn’t walk ten thousand miles. And he couldn’t finish anything in one day in the past fifteen days. It was not embarrassing but normal. Something couldn’t be completed. What did it matter if he couldn’t finish it?

Chen Sheng nodded not because Li Fuyao finally fell into a coma but because he didn’t refuse to do it as he couldn’t make it. Instead, he tried his best to finish what couldn’t be finished. At last he fainted, so his last energy was drained.

Li Fuyao seemed to figure out what “intent” meant.

He tried to do something he could do. Even if he couldn’t do it, he would have a try.

That was a swordsman’s intent.

Li Fuyao didn’t hear Chen Sheng tell him this principle, but when he stood in the courtyard with the sword after opening his eyes, he had understood a lot.

For something, there was no need to explain.

Li Fuyao who started to practice swordsmanship suffered much more than that. Chen Sheng wanted him to understand a principle in the first fifteen days, and the hardships of a swordsman unfolded one by one in front of Li Fuyao in the next month.

It was like a beautiful picture scroll being unfolded slowly.

But he didn’t feel comfortable at all during the process.

The torture made Li Fuyao forget anything else soon. During the period, Mr. Yan from the Yanling Confucian Temple led the little girl to say goodbye, but Li Fuyao didn’t have energy to talk with them. However, Chen Sheng looked at that little girl, lost in thought. The girl named Gu Yuan was also curious about Chen Sheng’s identity as a swordsman. But in the end, she was led by Yan Yu and left here, returning to the Yanling Confucian Temple.

Chen Sheng started to use his sword Qi to refine Li Fuyao’s body.

The sharp sword Qi intruded every acupoint of Li Fuyao’s, like the hair needles stabbing his body. He experienced the painful process.

In addition, when he was attacked by the sword Qi, he had to bring that “sword” to stab in the courtyard. The bitter pain made him stay sober all the time, and also, he stabbed every time with difficulty.

He just stabbed several times, but he had sweat all over.

The ordinary cultivators wouldn’t suffer so much as soon as they started to cultivate, but Li Fuyao chose to practice swordsmanship, so he had to bear it silently.

He was tortured and had no time to think why he would be a stupid swordsman in the world with nothing but a sword.

In the second month, late winter, when Li Fuyao didn’t feel the spring anymore, he felt that his pain relieved.

When he lowered his head and looked at his limbs, he found that he was much stronger than before. Although he still looked thin, he believed that he had changed.

Chen Sheng didn’t talk much these days. He didn’t like drinking, but he was talkative. However, he didn’t talk to Li Fuyao but spoke a lot to Qing Huai. Li Fuyao practiced swordsmanship obediently. Sometimes at night, he would sit with Qing Huai under the eave and watch the stars. Nobody knew if Chen Sheng liked it, but Li Fuyao liked it very much.

Occasionally, they would watch the morning glow or sunset clouds, but in this season, they were not as beautiful as those in summer.

After Li Fuyao practiced swordsmanship for three months, Chen Sheng talked more. He often told Li Fuyao what happened in the demonic land in the north and something about the sages of the three religious sects, but he talked about the Sword Immortal the most.

Li Fuyao could notice that the Sword Immortal was somebody he should catch up with.

However, Li Fuyao who just comprehended the intent sat cross-legged in meditation most of the time when he didn’t need to listen to Chen Sheng’s chat. He had an inward vision on the slight movements of the energy in his heart and patiently led the movements to his meridians, hoping that he would drive the movements out of his body someday. Then the energy movements would turn into the sword Qi, and he would be a swordsman in the Sword Qi Stage.

Chen Sheng said that when he reached the Sword Qi Stage, he would be indeed on the way of swordsmanship.

When Li Fuyao asked how many days Chen Sheng had practiced before reaching the Sword Qi Stage, the latter smiled proudly, “Only one year.”

As Chen Sheng said, he was a rare genius on the Sword Mountain in the past one hundred years, so it was natural that he made progress so fast, but Li Fuyao didn’t know how much talent he had on swordsmanship, so he had no idea how many days he would need.

But since he didn’t even have a sword yet, it must be a long way to go.

…

One day, after dusk, Li Fuyao finished practicing and then sat on the stair under the eave, staring at the sunglow in a daze. Chen Sheng was nowhere to be found. Qing Huai came over and sat next to Li Fuyao. Looking at this girl, Li Fuyao grinned and asked, “To be honest, I always want to ask you a question. As the demon race, you don’t have a good relationship with the swordsmen. Why did you tell me to learn swordsmanship?”

Qing Huai replied indifferently, “I thought you can figure it out.”

Li Fuyao was surprised, “Is it as I thought?”

Qing Huai nodded and sighed. “What else can it be if it’s not?”

Li Fuyao was speechless and thought it turned out that she was a sociable girl.

Qing Huai ignored him and took out a green bead, throwing it to him, “We have agreed before.”

Li Fuyao received that demon core and asked, “How can I use it?”

Qing Huai responded casually, “The simplest way is to eat it, but in your stage, you will probably explode and die.”

“…”

Li Fuyao was rendered speechless and thought even if he wouldn’t explode and die, he wouldn’t eat this demon core. As for the stage, Chen Sheng had said directly that he needed to walk step by step, and it was not a good way to depend on something. But since it was given by Qing Huai, Li Fuyao wanted to keep it.

The two sat on the stair for long, and soon there were lots of stars in the sky.

Li Fuyao raised his head and looked at those stars, thinking, “This is our first time to talk seriously since the last few months. Why not talk more?”

Even though he thought like this, he didn’t talk much.

But after staying silent for a while, Qing Huai said, “There will be a Daoist assembly in Liangxi in late spring. I will leave here these days and go to Liangxi to challenge that gifted Dao cultivator.”

Li Fuyao knew about it, so he just nodded, “Oh. Be careful.”

Soon he asked cautiously, “Do you have anything else to say?”

Qing Huai mocked, “What do you want to hear?”

Li Fuyao waved his hand awkwardly, “In fact, I have only one friend, you, so I am worried about you.”

Qing Huai turned to glance at him and smiled.

In the distance, Chen Sheng was lying in a big willow tree. With his capability, he certainly knew clearly what was happening in the courtyard. He had a headache facing these two teenagers and shook his head, murmuring, “Silly boy.”