Chapter 90: Like a Bamboo

“You want me to practice?”

He slowly blew the jade flute in his hand. After a while, he said, "If you don't practice Gao Shan Shou, then with your current sword moves, you can't threaten Kuang Heng at all."

Jiaoran didn't quite believe it, "Is it true?" Last time, she thought about fighting desperately and injuring him so badly that he needed to find Shunxing to replenish his energy and blood. She had been practicing diligently for so many days, so it's not like she would never make any progress.

"You don't understand how powerful he is. You haven't seen it before."

Jiao Ran said, "Of course I have seen it. Last time at Huiying Inn."

This person has so many names. When he first joined Huiyingmen, his name was Feiwu. Later he left and became famous in the world of martial arts. He was also called Fenghuangchu. It was not until she came to Miaojing that she realized that all of them were fake. His name is Kuang Heng, Kuang as in upholding justice, and Heng as in eternity.

She scratched his name in the dirt of the flower field and thought to herself, "So, is this Kuang Heng a good man or a bad man?"

But she didn't dare ask Zhu Su, because Zhu Su would definitely call her stupid. It was obvious that he was a traitor and a thief who stole the secret book. Zhu Su also said that her mother's death was related to him, and he had previously deceived Mu Jin to plot against her in the secret passage.

Every incident shows that this person is unforgivable.

However, Jiaoran couldn't help asking.

She always felt that everyone had his reasons for doing evil.

As expected, Zhu Su showed a dissatisfied expression, "Untimely kindness will kill you."

"I just want to know the truth."

"The truth is, sooner or later one of you will die by the other's sword."

"Does he want to kill me too?"

"Is this important to you?" He asked her to remember clearly, "He killed your mother, and you should have avenged her."

"It was Mingguang who killed my mother. You can't just rely on your empty words."

"Your mother, like you, possesses Qilin blood. She fought on the battlefield, and even the most severe injuries she sustained were able to slowly recover. Unless her lifespan was at an end, she could not be killed by mortal weapons. You have the blood of a divine servant flowing through your bodies, and the gods will protect you."

"You're lying. Mingguang said she killed my mother."

"Do you think she's qualified alone?"

"But I remember very clearly that the person in purple was killed by Mingguang. I can almost conclude that the person in purple is my mother."

"Mingguang is just a mortal. No matter how sharp the weapon in her hand is, she can't kill Chai Ying. The weapon she used to kill Chai Ying was given by Kuang Heng. Otherwise, how do you think she was able to kill Chai Ying?"

"I don't understand. Since you said we are the descendants of the Phoenix Chick, why would he kill his own bloodline?" "You can ask him yourself when the time comes."

Jiao Ran asked, "He didn't practice Gao Shan Shou, and neither did I. So are there really worlds of difference between us?"

"Even if he doesn't practice, he's already practiced for thousands of years. As for you, let alone a hundred years..."

"If he kills me, I'm going to die by his hands, right?"

He sighed, "You have the Skinny Dragon Sword, and I... I can help you with your moves, so you don't necessarily have to die."

"You know exactly what I mean. After you defeat me, go find the Takayama Shou. I'll teach you how to practice it to make up for your youth and lack of internal strength."

"But you said that I am also the bloodline of the Fish-Dragon Wonderland. In this case, wouldn't I also be unable to see the secret book?"

"You're not yet. You and Kuang Heng are not the same. He was originally from the Fish-Dragon Wonderland, so of course the restriction works on him, but not you. Your bloodline is no longer pure, so it won't work on you."

"Go and master the Takayama Shou technique, challenge him, and then let him die with your sword!"

"No one can be sure that I can kill him." Jiaoran said dejectedly.

"You came here to help me do this."

Hearing him say this, Jiaoran felt a little scared, a fear that she couldn't describe. She felt that there were too many secrets about Kuang Heng that she didn't know. At the same time, the person in front of her was also unfathomable. It was difficult enough to see through the heart of a mortal, let alone see through the heart of an immortal.

She found herself always living between contradictions and pain, and she could not blindly follow others, even if what they said made sense at the moment.

She suddenly felt very tired.

Everything and everyone is complicated.

For example, if Mingguang had killed A'niang, then Zhou Zhi must have been the one who instructed Mingguang. But why would she send her own child to take her place, leaving Mu Jin to grow up alone in the Governor's Mansion? Even when the phoenix chick showed signs of dying, she knew to find a living person to draw blood from. Could she have known all along that the Governor's Mansion was a dangerous place? That made even more sense. She knew exactly what that place was, yet she sent her own son there, while raising the daughter of her enemy by her side.

Is it just guilt? She felt guilty for killing Chai Ying, so she treated her so well. But no matter how much guilt she felt, a mother would not push her child into the fire with her own hands. Maybe she really didn't know what the Governor's Mansion was, and wanted to use a cat to replace the prince, so that Mu Jin could live a better life.

"what's on your mind?"

“Nothing, just sleepy.”

"Then go to sleep. Get enough rest before you wake up."

"Where will we fight tomorrow?"

"Love Grave Forest."

"How many moves can I take from you tomorrow?"

He was silent for a moment, "Until you defeat me."

After a long moment, he said, "It's useless for you to block my moves more than ten or twenty times before. What you need to do is to be able to block any of my moves, including my last one."

"What's your last resort?"

"Wait until you have the ability to hold out until my last move."

"You mean after all these days, you still have some tricks you haven't used up yet?"

"good."

“Are your moves endless?”

He wanted to say something, but in the end he said nothing.

"It seems you'll never run out of moves."

He finally couldn't help but say, "Everything in the world is changing. The killer move that can break my swordsmanship is naturally changing as well."

His martial arts are indestructible and impeccable.

Jiaoran began to get excited. What he said proved that he thought she could defeat him.

Because she felt that Zhu Su actually wanted to tell her directly how to find the flaws, but he was worried that if she couldn't figure it out on her own, she would ultimately not be a match for Kuang Heng.

I don’t know how much time passed after that.

The look in his eyes as he looked at her gradually showed some appreciation and pride.

He handed her the Shoujiao Sword and told her that from tomorrow on, she could fight him with the sword.

He asked Jiaoran, "If you still can't kill your enemy with the Skinny Dragon Sword, and are killed by him instead, what will you think in the moment before you die?"

The moment before death?

Jiaoran didn't know.

“Maybe it’s someone I cherish in my heart.”

He glanced at her and said, "Then take this as your belief."

"What belief?"

"The will to survive and the will to defeat the opponent."

A flash of inspiration came to Jiaoran.

The sword moves must be exquisite, but at the same time, the swordsman's faith, the warrior's persistent endurance, and belief are also the secret to supporting her to never stop swinging the sword.

"But you can't dwell on this all the time. Only use this faith when you feel you have no hope left and have exhausted all your life's work. Otherwise, you wouldn't dare to draw your sword in the first place."

"Do you know the true subtlety of the Skinny Dragon Sword? Where is it?"

"I have no idea."

"Is it the fastest sword in the world?"

"Why do you feel that way?"

"The only martial art in the world that cannot be defeated is speed."

He shook his head helplessly, "Come with me to a place."

Love Tomb Forest.

This place is somewhat similar to Chai Che's Qianlin Garden, with continuous bamboo forests that seem to have no end.

The green bamboos in the forest have grown again, and the dead bamboos have fallen.

"Why did you bring me to the bamboo forest?"

"I brought you here because I wanted to tell you that the highest level of swordsmanship is nothing more than this, like a piece of bamboo."

Jiaoran didn't understand the deeper meaning of his words.

He continued, "Just think of your swordsmanship as a bamboo. Imagine the growth of a bamboo in your mind: roots, branches, leaves, and a trunk. The changes in your swordsmanship are simply in response to the changing seasons, growing with the flow."

This principle is too profound, and Jiaoran still cannot understand the relationship between bamboo and sword.

"You must understand that a bamboo can only grow if it has roots. When it grows up, it will produce new branches and leaves. If you can't follow the way of nature, then these bamboos can't be considered real bamboos at all. Similarly, if your swordsmanship can't follow the changes of nature, then it's not real swordsmanship either. This is what is meant by 'Tao follows nature'."

Jiaoran could only comprehend the moves that she had performed over and over again, with success or failure. If she was asked to imagine and explore deeper martial arts, she would find it very difficult.

She only wanted to know one thing: how to win.

But Zhu Su did not answer.

He left her alone in the bamboo forest to think, and told her not to stop until she figured it out.

At dawn, Jiaoran was so tired that he fell asleep in the bamboo forest.

The little dragon in the bamboo forest crawled past her quietly, without disturbing her sweet dream.

When he woke up again and returned to the hut, Jiaoran saw him carving a wooden stick.

It is in the shape of a sword.

A three-foot-long sword without a blade.

The tip of the sword dropped, and he stood up and said to Jiaoran, "You used the Skinny Dragon Sword to defeat me who used the Wooden Sword."

The Shoujiao Sword is a divine weapon. Whenever her sword collides with his wooden sword, a section of the wooden sword will definitely be cut off.

"Why don't you change to a sword that can fight against the skinny dragon?" Jiaoran suggested to him.

A light boat floats on the surface of Longtan.

He looked at the wooden sword in his hand and said, "No need, this one will do."

As he spoke, he stabbed out with his sword.

It was clearly a sword carved from an ordinary piece of wood, heavy and dull.

But as long as he has a sword in his hand, any sword seems to come alive in his hand.

Even with a wooden sword, his moves were as natural as flowing water and falling flowers.

Many people in the martial arts world look fierce when they fight, but when he holds the sword, he is nonchalant. In the blink of an eye, he has launched dozens of killing moves, but there is still no murderous look on his face.

But his sword was full of evil spirit.

The water flowing under your feet seemed to have an evil spirit.

His moves are endless, just like a stream that can never be stopped.

In her eyes, his swordsmanship was incredibly fast.

Later, he asked her not to listen to the sound of his sword breaking through the air, but to listen to the sound of flowing water under her feet and the sound of wind blowing through bamboo leaves in the distant bamboo forest.

Jiaoran didn't understand what he meant, but still did as he was told.

One day later, in Jiaoran's eyes, his sword suddenly became much slower.

Although he was still changing, he did not seem unpredictable. In her eyes, his moves no longer seemed random and disorganized.

Three days later, she suddenly felt that Zhu Su in front of her had become another self.

All his sword moves became her sword moves.

She stared blankly.

In the blink of an eye, when the sword was about to reach her, she suddenly understood.

I felt like I knew where to put the eye contact on the blind dragon.

Then she swung the sword naturally.

The setting sun broke through the thick clouds, and the golden sunset glow poured out, echoing the golden-handled Thin Dragon Sword in her hand.

The planks of the ship vibrated strangely from the falling of something.

Jiaoran looked down and saw that it was his wooden sword, broken into pieces.

Originally, even if her skinny dragon chopped him with his wooden sword, it would never come out in good shape.

But today, she actually cut his sword.

The broken wooden sword was still rolling, but the water in the dragon pond suddenly stopped.

The sunset seemed to be completely still.

The water stopped flowing and the bamboo forest became silent.

She interrupted his change of tactics.

Just then, Zhu Su asked her, "Now, do you understand?"

Jiaoran shook his head.

He sighed, it seemed as if there were only the two of them in this wonderful place.

"Did you hear the wind?"

"No."

"Running water?"

"No."

"So what did you hear?"

"When exactly are you asking me?"

"The moment you cut my sword."

Jiao Ran thought back to what happened just now, "No, I couldn't hear anything."

He smiled. "That's death."

"die?"

Jiaoran fell into deep thought. The victory from that sword just now brought death.

With a snap of his fingers, the water began to flow again and the wind began to blow again.

"I don't understand. The water has stopped flowing, change has ceased, death has ceased, and all is silent. What do you want me to understand?"

“Follow nature.”

Jiaoran began to feel a little scared, afraid of death.

It turns out that the power of death is so great that it can destroy all life.

"Life and death are relative and unpredictable. All things that change between life and death cannot be completely controlled by any external force. If anyone really claims to be able to control everything, they are dreaming."

They stared at each other, and Jiaoran heard him say, "When you can follow nature, and see the Skinny Dragon Sword not as a divine weapon, but as a part of your body, and the enemy before you as nothing more than your shadow, you need to understand your own weaknesses, and realize that all things in the world are empty, then you will achieve enlightenment.

There were only these two people in the world standing by each other.

He asked her, "Do you understand now?"

"Um."

"You can go now."

"Leave? Leave now?"

"right."

"Shouldn't I still defeat you?"

"No need, you've already defeated me."

"It was just a coincidence."

Zhu Su chuckled, "There have never been any coincidences in my life."

"You mean, I've already defeated you?"

"From the beginning to the end, all you have to do is understand the way of the sword, not defeat me."

"Then why did you say that?"

“Take the top and you will get the middle; take the middle and you will get the bottom; take the bottom and you will get nothing.”

"So you want me to choose the hardest one and defeat you?"

"It wasn't me you defeated just now, it was you you defeated just now."

Confused, Jiao Ran was puzzled, "From the beginning to the end, I never defeated you?"

"The one you want to defeat is not me, nor Kuang Heng, but yourself."

"Myself?"

"To be precise, it's you in the past, you in the present, and you in the future."

In the blink of an eye, there was no one around Jiaoran, only himself was left.