Chapter 106: Chapter 106: Surprise
TWANG~
As the leisurely notes of a zither reached his ears, Yu Fei opened his eyes, his face pale. His gaze was vacant, like a person waking from a years-long coma, sluggishly observing his surroundings.
After a long moment, the light of intelligence returned to his eyes.
Yan Sea appeared before him with a SWOOSH. After carefully observing Yu Fei’s condition, he said, "You need to rest. I’m not against you continuing your training, but you must ensure you’re in a fit state!"
The zither music faded, and Su Yue emerged from behind the bamboo curtain. She didn’t speak, but it was clear she agreed with Yan Sea.
Yu Fei rubbed his throbbing head and said with a frown, "Teacher, I’m going to get some sleep and recover first."
"Go on!"
The path from mastery to the Perfection Realm of the Sword Nurturing Skill was truly arduous. Even with Su Yue’s full support, Yu Fei was exhausted after just two rounds of nurturing his sword.
Watching Yu Fei leave to rest, Yan Sea and Su Yue sat facing each other, silent for a long time.
At this moment, they were even more nervous than Yu Fei was.
Su Yue pondered for a moment before speaking.
"Once this matter is resolved, my grandfather wants to see you."
Yan Sea grew visibly nervous. "Mr. Tang wants to see me?"
"Yes. He said he wants to ask you about some things concerning your master, Mr. Lanren."
Yan Sea’s emotions churned. Mr. Tang held an exceptionally high status, and his contributions to humanity were immense. Even his own master had been incredibly deferential in Mr. Tang’s presence.
"By the way, I asked him for a Profound Spirit Returning Elixir. Combined with the Celestial King Wisdom Elixir in your possession, the injury to your Dantian can be healed completely, with no lasting side effects."
"Thank you... I feel so guilty!"
Su Yue smiled sweetly. "There’s nothing to feel guilty about. Maybe I owed you in a past life. If you really feel bad, just treat me better from now on."
"Okay! I will!"
They didn’t discuss what would happen if Yu Fei failed, because that outcome was a foregone conclusion.
"My grandfather might come here. He may want to see Yu Fei," Su Yue said casually.
"Huh?"
Yan Sea was stunned. Given Mr. Tang’s status, he shouldn’t have any interest in Yu Fei whatsoever.
"Why... why would Mr. Tang want to see Yu Fei?"
"I told him that Yu Fei is practicing the Sword Nurturing Skill and comprehended Sword Intent after reaching the initial mastery stage. My grandfather was very surprised. He believes that without the aid of Mr. Lanren’s sword domain, it should be impossible to even pass the entry stage of the Green Lotus Sword Nourishing Skill.
Forcibly practicing it would damage one’s soul and turn them into an imbecile. That’s something their research confirmed.
"But the fact that Yu Fei has managed to cultivate it is simply unbelievable!"
Yan Sea shot to his feet. "Are you saying... it’s impossible to practice the Green Lotus Sword Nourishing Skill without my master’s sword domain?"
"Yes!"
Yan Sea’s brow furrowed. "Then what about Yu Fei? I watched him pass the entry stage and achieve initial mastery of the Sword Nurturing Skill step by step... and now he’s even pushing for the Perfection Realm."
Su Yue looked just as perplexed. "That’s why my grandfather is so interested and wants to see Yu Fei for himself."
Yan Sea paced back and forth in the room, looking agitated. "I... I find that hard to believe. If a prerequisite for mastering the Sword Nurturing Skill is being personally taught by my master, then why did he entrust me with passing it on before he died?"
Su Yue gave a wry smile. "Based on what you’ve told me, I think your master was afraid you wouldn’t be able to move on. He gave you an impossible task in the hopes that you would choose to live. He never imagined it would become your obsession. If it weren’t for Yu Fei, you..."
She didn’t finish her sentence. The world works in mysterious, ironic ways.
Yan Sea shook his head. "Even so, I still want to pass on my master’s life’s work. Thanks to Yu Fei, I can finally see a glimmer of hope."
He thought of Yu Fei’s strange talent. ’I won’t tell anyone about this, not even Su Yue.’
’A growth-type talent is unheard of in the entire history of the martial path. Perhaps Yu Fei himself doesn’t even know what other talents he has yet to unlock.’
’I won’t reveal this secret to anyone, and I’ll help him conceal it as much as possible.’
Su Yue looked at Yan Sea’s resolute gaze and was momentarily lost in a memory. ’If not for his stubbornness back then, I would have died on that mission. But this blockhead probably doesn’t even remember it!’
...
During his training the next day, Yu Fei discovered that Su Yue had replaced all the non-load-bearing walls on the east side of the training room with massive, retractable glass windows. At the press of a button, an unobstructed view stretched out before him. When the sun rose, the very first rays of light would stream in.
Jia Yun was bustling about, preparing all sorts of supplies. Soon, she would have to get the medicinal bath ready.
Su Yue was the boss; she handled trivial matters by giving orders or a bit of guidance, so Jia Yun had been extremely busy for the past two days.
"Morning, Miss Yun! Thanks for all your hard work!"
"Morning, Young Master. This lowly servant will go prepare the medicinal bath right away."
Jia Yun pouted, the dark circles under her eyes severe. She had thought being Yu Fei’s exclusive attendant would be a cushy job with good pay. She didn’t expect that while the pay was twenty percent higher, the workload had doubled. ’It’s true what they say,’ she thought, ’a beast of burden that eats more has to work ten times harder. The life of a working stiff is just too difficult.’
Seeing the exasperated Jia Yun, Yu Fei quickly tried to placate her. "Miss Yun, don’t say that. Ms. Su values your abilities. I’ll ask Ms. Su to give you a performance bonus."
Jia Yun grinned. "Now that’s more like it. I guess you have a conscience after all."
With that, she hurried off to get back to work.
He had arrived early today, and Su Yue wasn’t here yet. Yu Fei smeared himself with Cloud Whale Fat, and seeing that Jia Yun had prepared all the materials, he walked over to the eastern window, which offered the best view.
’Time to train!’
Thanks to the lavish resources, Yu Fei’s training progress soared. He suspected very few people in the entire city could enjoy the kind of support Su Yue provided, so he refused to let himself waste a single moment.
The stance practice was second nature to him by now. Once he finished, he resumed his desperate struggle against the third Sword Intent with Su Yue’s help.
After two rounds of confrontation yesterday, he still couldn’t make heads or tails of it, though a few vague ideas were forming in his mind.
The formless Sword Intent left by the Grandmaster was impossible to imitate, offering no clear starting point. But he hadn’t come away empty-handed. Yu Fei felt that he had to comprehend the core of his own Sword Intent through these repeated near-death experiences. Only then would he be able to resist it.
’It’s just so hard...’
Yu Fei slowly regained consciousness. He could barely remember how many times this had happened.
Day after day, his spirit was repeatedly crushed. Each time, Yu Fei relied on his formidable willpower to recover, yet he remained clueless about how to construct the core of his own Sword Intent.
The only silver lining was that his recovery time had shortened. He went from taking over five minutes to wake up to now being able to regain consciousness on his own in about a minute. His mental resilience had grown stronger.
"Let’s take a break!"
Su Yue stopped playing the zither.
For the past ten-odd days, she had witnessed all of Yu Fei’s hard work. He allowed himself no entertainment, no slacking off. ’He’s truly Yan Sea’s student,’ she thought, ’he has completely inherited the ascetic style of Mr. Lanren’s lineage.’
Yu Fei used his sword to push himself up, stretching his stiff and numb limbs.
This Sword Intent didn’t just damage his spirit; after each training session, the Qi Blood throughout his body would also grow sluggish.
"How is it? Have you found an opportunity for a breakthrough?" Su Yue asked with concern.
After accompanying him for about ten days, her mindset had become much more serene. Some things you just had to try your best at and not force the outcome.
Yu Fei’s expression was bitter. "I’m just missing that one trigger, but sometimes a single step can feel like an entire world away!"
BING! Su Yue’s phone chimed.
She checked it and then told Yu Fei gleefully.
"Hold on, I have a surprise for you. I think it might help you find that trigger you’re looking for."
With that, she sent a message to Yan Sea.
"Hey, blockhead, go pick up a package for me..."
