Chapter 526: Chapter 525: The 4th Move of Wind Extreme Sword Technique
In the painting, all it portrayed were a few casually sketched white clouds, with extremely loose strokes. Yet, it was precisely this casualness that highlighted the high level of skill of the artist.
However, what Shi Xiaole saw was not a cloud, but the wind. What else but the wind in the sky leads to such changes in the clouds?
Immersed in the painting for a long time, Shi Xiaole was shocked to realize that his understanding of Wind True Intent had greatly improved.
Seeing the girl smiling at him, her clear autumn eyes seemingly perceiving his every emotion, Shi Xiaole asked subconsciously, "May I know the maiden’s name?"
"I named myself Shui Lingping."
Shi Xiaole frowned slightly upon hearing this.
’Lingping’ implies solitude. Was she describing her experiences or expressing her willingness to be alone?
"In my room, there are many paintings I made for my amusement in my spare time. Would you like to see them all, Young Master?"
Shi Xiaole quickly stood up and said with a bow, "Thank you, miss."
A single painting had enhanced his understanding of Wind True Intent greatly. Shi Xiaole couldn’t help but want to see what the other paintings held in store for him.
The level of Shui Lingping’s painting skills had undoubtedly reached that of a grandmaster. At least in Shi Xiaole’s eyes, he had never seen anyone who could match her in this field.
What was more terrifying was her understanding of what she painted.
Anyone who merely looked at it could easily grasp the message within the painting. But upon further thought, one would find that the painting has countless interpretations, leaving one utterly confused.
A single painting was indeed another world.
The more Shi Xiaole watched, the more amazed he was. He could hardly believe the high level of Shui Lingping’s spiritual realm. He ventured, "Miss, you are indeed hiding your abilities. If you possess martial arts skills, I’m sure you will be the unparalleled expert in the whole world."
Shui Lingping chuckled: "Are you afraid, Young Master?" That playful demeanor in an instant outshone the splendid landscape of Tiantai Cliff.
Shi Xiaole quickly averted his gaze.
With his discernment, he of course knew that Shui Lingping had no internal power and her physique was even weaker than that of ordinary people. But the deeper the interaction, the more unpredictable she seemed. Who knows whether she had concealed her true abilities?
As Shui Lingping leisurely sipped her tea, Shi Xiaole savoried the paintings spread out on the floor. Every brush stroke seemed to inspire his creativity, enlightening him greatly.
By the time he had finished looking at all the paintings, a crescent moon had risen in the sky.
But top of Tiantai Cliff remained as bright as day, offering a stark contrast to the haziness of the outside world, as if it were a corner of a fairyland.
According to Shui Lingping, this was a light-gathering matrix she had created herself after studying many array systems. Listening to this, Shi Xiaole couldn’t help but feel a chill in his heart. Creating an array system was completely different from, and much harder than, learning the array system.
Even a master of the Array System could not create many array systems in his lifetime. Most of them were inherited from their ancestors.
"I am grateful to the maiden today for your gracious help with the paintings, which saved me from needless detours."
Shi Xiaole sincerely said.
With the accumulation of understanding today, he was at least seventy percent sure of making a breakthrough in the True Intent level in the coming year.
Shui Lingping laughed: "Young Master is naturally talented, and has an excellent disposition. My humble paintings are designed merely to provoke deeper thought."
After a slight pause, she continued, "If you are interested, you can try to paint yourself tomorrow, you may have different insights."
"This is by no means a waste of your time, remember all things in universe are connected. Martial arts is no exception. If you also try some other paths while following the path of sword, and think about problems from a different perspective, you might have unexpected gains."
If Shi Xiaole was not unusually composed, he would have been restless.
having comprehended the Heavenly Sword, his sword qi was restrained within his body. How did she know he followed the path of sword?
Shui Lingping seemed to have noticed something and laughed: "People who practice different weapons make very subtly different noises when they move due to weight and posture. I happen to have sensitive ears, so I was able to guess."
Shi Xiaole was amazed.
Her insights was almost comparable to his own. Recalling her suggestion, he said, "I’m afraid it might sound funny, I have never learned how to paint."
Shui Lingping softly responded: "I live alone in the mountains and feel quite bored. If the Young Master doesn’t mind, I’d be happy to teach."
Shi Xiaole paused for a moment, and then earnestly said: "In that case, thank you!"
He had no intention of merely making a polite gesture.
First, Shui Lingping’s proposal was very tempting. He actually wanted to try to comprehend the True Intent from different methods.
Secondly, with her intelligence, she couldn’t be saying something insincere. Waffling would only seem awkward.
...
Fall away from Tiantai Cliff, a refined middle-aged scholar was walking.
"I’ve managed to get rid of the people sent by Young Master Lin. We can proceed now."
Liu Niansheng, with his eyes half-closed, held a coin tightly in his hand hidden in his sleeve while his feet moved slowly towards a certain direction.
"According to the indication of the Heaven-Working Coin, the person should be in this direction."
...
Time stood still in the mountains.
In a blink of an eye, Shi Xiaole had spent a month on Tiantai Cliff.
"Young Master truly is a prodigy. One month with you can equate to decades for ordinary people."
As she lightly traced the painting that had just been finished, Shui Lingping expressed her admiration.
"How can I compare to you, miss?"
Shi Xiaole shook his head.
"Young Master, you’re wrong! If you give up martial arts and dedicate yourself to learning side skills like me, your achievements might not be less than mine."
Shi Xiaole remained silent.
Over the past month, he had put aside swordsmanship to concentrate on learning the art of painting. As Shui Lingping had said, he had discovered a completely different world, his understanding of all things seemed to have changed.
Especially in terms of True Intent.
Watching the wind rise and fall, clouds rolling and relaxing, his spirit seemed to have merged into it, becoming a gust of wind at the end of the world, free, and roaming the four seas.
If the Shi Xiaole of the past would understand the wind from a small, personal perspective, his perspective now had risen to the level of nature, bringing a sense of peace no matter what comes his way.
Moved in spirit, Shi Xiaole drew the Hidden Edge Sword around his waist and began to swing it at the sea of clouds in the distance.
The sword momentum gradually grew from slow to fast, then fast to slow. In the end, the change of pace was no longer restricted, often one moment it was a storm, the next it would be a gentle breeze. The smooth transition between the two was as natural as the wind, serving its own purpose.
"Wind Rises and Clouds Surge!"
All the momentum condensed into one, Shi Xiaole swept out a sword.
The boundless Sword Qi spread out, smashing the sea of clouds within a hundred meters around the Tiantai Cliff into pieces. It took a full ten moments before the shattered clouds re-rolled and gathered.
After a month’s accumulation, Shi Xiaole took a step further, creating the fourth move of the Wind Extreme Sword Technique, Wind Rises and Clouds Surge.
Not only that, but his Wind True Intent also reached the peak of the fourth stage. He had a premonition that perhaps with just one opportunity, the four-stage Wind True Intent would immediately transform into a five-stage Wind True Intent.
By that time, his apparent strength would also reach the intermediate level of a Lord!
"Everyone has underestimated you."
A faint sigh of astonishment came from behind.
In order to win over Shui Lingping, Lian Yi had once gifted her the two latest issues of the collections from the Martial World. Shui Lingping, with nothing to do, had ’read’ them using a self-invented touch method. Naturally, she knew about the genius list on it.
Especially the second issue of the Martial World collection, the Divine Strategy Academy unusually gathered all the talents of the Flying Horse Dynasty, conducted overall rankings, and finally ranked two lists.
One was the list of the top fifty talents of the Flying Horse Dynasty, with natural talent as the reference basis.
The other was a list of young masters of the Flying Horse Dynasty, encompassing all the talents under fifty, with strength as the reference basis.
When the two lists were first released, they caused an uproar in the Martial World with endless debates and discussions. In fact, to this day, people still hold grudges over the rankings.
In Shui Lingping’s view, while Shi Xiaole’s current talent and strength were not comparable to anyone on the list, his most formidable aspect was his keen intuition and a spirit that people couldn’t fathom.
It’s like a spring, you never know where its limits lie, much less predict how far he will go in the future.
"Young Master Shi, there have been people wanting to give you trouble for some time now. Originally, I intended to help. Now, it seems, there is no need."
The surroundings of Tiantai Cliff were full of Array Systems. Within the scope of the Array System, no slight disturbance could escape Shui Lingping’s notice. She had already sensed that someone was trying to destroy her Array System and break into the peak of Tiantai Cliff.
"I apologize for getting you involved, miss. I will send them away."
As Shui Lingping gently pointed, a gap appeared in the array. Shi Xiaole followed the steps down.
In front of the cliff.
"It’s been a month, and that kid hasn’t come down yet. Damn it, a bachelor and a single woman, could it be that something already happened?"
Lian Yi’s face was ashen, his fists clenched until they were creaking.
Whenever he thought about how the target he had been working on for months eventually didn’t benefit him but was instead taken advantage of by someone else, and that they had been together for a month, he felt endlessly wronged and frustrated.
Next to him stood two elderly men. One of them was continuously pointing at the void, trying to destroy the Array System. He was an Array Master whom Lian Yi had invited from the Blood Emperor’s branch.
At one point, the Array System’s aura suddenly faded.
The old man rejoiced, "The array is broken!"
Just as the three of them were about to rush in, they saw a young man in a green robe coming down.
"It’s you, you finally deign to come down?"
Seeing an enemy, your eyes turn red. Almost in an instant, Lian Yi shouted at the elder with a thin face on his left, "Thirteenth Elder, kill him, kill him for me!"
The Thirteenth Elder was a top tier low-level Lord, more than enough to deal with this youngster.
Whoosh.
A black shadow flashed, the Thirteenth Elder was quick, halfway through the air, he had already grabbed the sword that had slipped out of his sleeve and stabbed at Shi Xiaole’s head, like a streak of human-shaped lightning.
But as fast as the Thirteenth Elder was, Shi Xiaole was faster.
No one saw how he drew his sword, they only saw a flash of sword light shooting up, exactly blocking the Thirteenth Elder’s fatal strike.
Not only that, but because Shi Xiaole’s strike hit the Thirteenth Elder’s soft spot, the latter’s right arm went numb, and his entire body was flung back.
"What?!"
Lian Yi and the Array Elder widened their eyes.
"Return to Heaven Whirlkill!"
Upon being repelled by a young man with one move, the Thirteenth Elder suffered a great loss of face. He forcibly stopped his body, like a hawk swooping down, pulling the snow-white rotating Sword Qi around him and attacking Shi Xiaole like a tornado.
This was his killing move.
"Wind Rises and Clouds Surge."
Following his heart’s intent, Shi Xiaole’s sword momentum drastically receded. When the tip of the sword struck, it exploded into a majestic Sword Qi, powerful enough to stir the wind and clouds.
Puff!
The unbreakable tornado Sword Qi was immediately broken open. The Thirteenth Elder fell to the ground, his chest pierced through, lifeless.
A month ago, only by using Demonic True Intent and the Death Claiming Fifteen Sword, Shi Xiaole could kill the top tier low-level Lords. But now, with the Wind True Intent and the Wind Extreme Sword Technique, he had done the same.
