Chapter 40: Chapter 40: The Green Edge Sword
Seeing Su Yanru’s challenging expression, Shi Xiaole felt a sense of helplessness, but also a hint of excitement. After all, Su Yanru was far more proficient in the Flying Phoenix technique than he was. Receiving her guidance would undoubtedly speed up his progression.
Relaxing, Shi Xiaole began to circulate his internal power and commence practicing.
Sinuous as a startled swan, agile as a gallivanting dragon - these descriptions were not an exaggeration for Shi Xiaole. His movement, combined with his blue outfit, once again dazzled the two maids.
Su Yanru was equally captivated.
From the moment Shi Xiaole took his first step, Su Yanru sensed something was amiss. By the time he was halfway through his routine, the shock Su Yanru felt was beyond words.
Spirit Integration at a minor achievement level! How did he do it? If it weren’t for the fact that she had just given Shi Xiaole her secret manual this morning, she would have suspected that he had already learned it before.
"Aunt, I have some questions..."
After finishing his practice, Shi Xiaole proposed his doubt. However, Su Yanru was dazed for a moment before suddenly grabbing Shi Xiaole’s ear in a lightning-fast move.
Remembering her earlier demeanor, Su Yanru felt a surge of embarrassment. But after Shi Xiaole pleaded for mercy, she giggled proudly: "Lele, you truly exceeded my expectations. Considering your talents, you can be considered top-tier even in the Cloud Triangle."
"Cloud Triangle?"
With an aloof glance, Su Yanru regained her authority as an elder, explaining, "Qingxue state consists of 358 cities, among which ten core cities form the ten major regions."
"The region we belong to is composed of 25 cities, and it’s collectively known as the Cloud Triangle region."
Shi Xiaole nodded, remembering Su Yanru’s words, he asked, "Are there many powerful young martial artists in the Cloud Triangle region?"
"Of course. There are 25 cities, with 200,000 young martial world followers in each city, that’s 5 million people in total. You can find a monkey even in a pigsty."
"The martial world of the Cloud Triangle has divided young martial artists into three tiers. The third tier comprises those with Hidden Qi above the seventh level, who can contend with average practitioners in the nine-tier Hidden Qi."
"The second tier requires the Hidden Qi to be above nine-tier, and they should be able to fight off competitors from the Qi Absorption Realm. Your Sect Master from the Huajian Sect belongs to this level, but he is considered one of the weaker ones within it."
"As for the first tier, they must have reached the Qi Absorption Realm and be under the age of 20. As far as I know, only four individuals meet these criteria and are commonly referred to as the Four Outstanding Youths of Cloud Triangle."
Listening to this, Shi Xiaole was taken aback.
If judged according to this classification, his current abilities could only rank him at the third level at most. Competition was indeed fierce.
With the Grand Wuxia System at his disposal, coupled with his own talent and circumstances, Shi Xiaole felt a certain pride and complacency deep within his heart, even if he didn’t want to admit it.
However, his aunt’s words shattered this pride and complacency.
Just within the Cloud Triangle, there were so many young martial artists who were better than him. And compared to the vast Flying Horse Dynasty, the Cloud Triangle was just an insignificant corner that was not worth mentioning.
From this, it could be seen how daunting the strength of the martial world was.
As for him, Shi Xiaole, he was just starting from the beginning. What was there to be arrogant about?
"Lele, although your strength can only rank you in the third-tier for now, your talent is definitely top-tier. Given time, I believe you have a glimmer of hope to catch up with the Four Outstanding Youths of the Cloud Triangle."
A glimmer of hope?
Shi Xiaole felt somewhat unwilling to accept this, but quickly channeled this disapproval into a burning fighting spirit.
"Don’t worry, aunt. I will work hard."
Su Yanru nodded in satisfaction. If Shi Xiaole could establish a foothold and make a name for himself in the Cloud Triangle, she would probably wake up laughing even in her dreams.
After further encouragement, they agreed to have lunch together at noon. With a lot of work to do, Su Yanru, the building’s leader, left the courtyard.
In the following days, whether because he was stimulated or not, Shi Xiaole found himself more focused.
As a result, on only the third day, he achieved major success in the Flying Phoenix technique, shocking Su Yanru and leaving her speechless.
Apart from the Flying Phoenix technique, Shi Xiaole hadn’t let go of other martial arts either.
The more he practiced martial arts, the better he got. Although some moves had already reached their limit, it didn’t mean he could slack off. He might break through if he persisted.
God rewards the hardworking ones.
One day, Shi Xiaole thought of the hardly-used Huashan Sword Technique. After demonstrating it, a profound realization suddenly welled up in his heart.
"If Shape Mimicry is the basis, and Spirit Integration enriches it, and Transformation Phase makes Spirit Integration concrete, is there no new martial arts realm beyond Transformation Phase?"
Shi Xiaole was stunned as if struck by lightning.
Due to his limited knowledge and experiences, Shi Xiaole was only aware of the three martial arts realms - Shape Mimicry, Spirit Integration, and Transformation Phase. However, both intuition and logic told him that Transformation Phase was not the ultimate stage.
From that day on, Shi Xiaole started to focus on the Huashan Sword Technique. Repeat after repeat, whether it was a hundred, or a thousand times...without any gain, he simply made use of some martial arts from the Golden Phoenix Tower to exchange for the time to practice in the system.
Two days in the real world translated to a 72-hour period in the system.
Shi Xiaole didn’t know how many times he had practiced the Huashan Sword Technique. He felt dizzy, with all the movements and techniques filling his mind.
At some point, he casually swung his sword, producing an eerily euphoric momentum like a hermit on the summit of a mountain, or an adventurer braving dangerous peaks.
"This is a new stage, a stage stronger than Transformation Phase".
Shi Xiaole was immensely shaken, thrilled to have opened a completely new door.
Time quickly arrived on the seventh day.
"Lele, come with your auntie for a stroll in the Dark Alley."
This bright and early morning, Su Yanru showed up at his doorstep and suggested.
Shi Xiaole had been practicing relentlessly these days, particularly having deepened his level of understanding of the Huashan Sword Technique, he decided to relax, especially as his aunt was so excited to go; he certainly didn’t want to dampen her spirits, and thus nodded his consent.
Dark Alley, the Martial World was bustling with comings and goings.
Unlike ordinary marketplaces, as this was the territory of martial artists, there hung an inexplicable sense of oppression in the air. An ordinary person stepping in here would likely feel discomfort right away.
With a mysterious look, Su Yanru led Shi Xiaole on a zigzag path to a weapon shop.
"Miss Su, I presume this is Young Hero Shi who seized the first place amongst the disciples of the Golden Phoenix Tower, heh heh, as expected an impressive figure."
The shop owner obviously recognized Su Yanru.
In his memory, this stunning beauty had never come out alone with a man, hence the identity of this young man dressed in green was self-explanatory.
"Shopkeeper Hu, do you have the item I requested?"
"Upon Miss Su’s orders, old Hu here would not dare to slack."
With hearty laughter, Shopkeeper Hu fetched a long box from underneath the counter, and within it, revealed a formidable yet unadorned three-foot long sword.
"This sword, named Qingfeng, is forge using top-quality iron ore as the primary material, fused with a gram of coral iron from the East Sea, making it a low-ranking exceptional sword."
Shi Xiaole was taken aback by what he heard, unable to help but take another look at the Qingfeng sword.
In this world, weapons are similarly classified into several grades like martial arts, namely mundane, exceptional, spiritual, and divine.
Mundane weapons, as self-explanatory, are regular weapons most commonly sold in the marketplace that are considered decent as long as they can cut through wood.
Exceptional weapons, however, are different. These types of weapons are often crafted with a small amount of rare materials, enhancing their quality, thus making them more sharp and fearsome.
It’s said that a low-ranking exceptional weapon could achieve a sharpness level of cutting a hair blown onto it.
A mid-ranking exceptional weapon could effortlessly cut through iron.
A high-ranking exceptional weapon is indestructible, even after a thousand battles.
Moving upwards to spiritual weapons, it’s not something an ordinary person could imagine. These types of weapons often possess mysterious powers that can augment a martial artist’s strength, effortlessly overcoming and killing adversaries of higher ranks.
As for divine weapons, they still existed in the realm of legends, rarely seen in the Martial World.
Shi Xiaole hadn’t expected that the unadorned long sword lying before his eyes was actually a low-ranking exceptional sword.
"What are you waiting for? Pick it up and give it a try."
Su Yanru nudged Shi Xiaole, urging him with a blink of an eye.
Shi Xiaole looked at his aunt full of anticipation, his heart filled with an indescribable sentiment. Taking a deep breath, he picked up the Qingfeng sword from the box.
Unexpectedly, the Qingfeng sword which appeared heavy and unadorned was actually light, even a person with weak strength could carry it effortlessly.
Cling!
The precious sword was unsheathed, a glimpse of greenish cold light radiated out, dazzling Shi Xiaole for a moment.
At that moment, a strand of loose hair at his temple was blown by the wind onto the blade of the Qingfeng, and was silently cut off.
It cut through a hair blown onto it, what a good sword!
Every swordsman loves his sword. Although Shi Xiaole was not a pure swordsman, he was frequent in practicing sword arts and naturally, he felt affectionate towards swords.
At this instant, Shi Xiaole sudden fell in love with the Qingfeng sword. Not because the sword was sharp, but he felt that it was a perfect match to his temperament.
Upon seeing the expression of Shi Xiaole, Su Yanru knew what he was thinking and laughed, "Shopkeeper Hu, thank you for your trouble this time."
"Not at all, rather I should thank you, Miss Su, for patronising old Hu’s business."
They had walked quite far from the weapon shop, yet the emotions in Shi Xiaole’s heart were still churning. He turned and asked, "Auntie, why are you being so good to me?"
A low-ranking exceptional sword, it must be worth a fortune.
Shi Xiaole vaguely remembered that the Huajian Sect Master’s sword which he carried was a low-ranking exceptional sword, it was purchased with his savings accumulated over more than a decade, amounting to a hundred thousand taels of silver.
Although Su Yanru, the owner of the Golden Phoenix Tower, could have most of her expenses, such as cultivation resources and daily commuting costs, accounted for by the Golden Phoenix Tower, when it came to personal matters, she still had to pay for them out of her own pocket.
Particularly Su Yanru’s annual allowance was just thirty thousand taels of silver. As one could imagine, the cost of this Qingfeng sword was quite a burden for her.
"Lele, you are the only relative of Auntie. If I don’t treat you well, who else should I treat well?"
Su Yanru said casually.
Those words were like an arrow of feathers, piercing Shi Xiaole’s heart with shock and moved emotions.
After observing the exquisite profile of Su Yanru in silence, Shi Xiaole made a solemn vow to himself. From then on, he was going to use his own power to protect this woman, he would never allow her to suffer even the slightest harm.
While Shi Xiaole and Su Yanru were out and about, an unexpected group of guests showed up at the Golden Phoenix Tower.
"I heard that your Golden Phoenix Tower has recently chosen a top disciple, tell that brat to roll out here and have a contest with me, Master Wang!"
Surrounded by a group of people, a young man faced the crowd of the Golden Phoenix Tower, licking his lips and laughing.
