Chapter 40: Today in October is the day Xie Hanyi comes out of seclusion.
In the evening, the sun sets in the west.
The daytime heat gradually subsided as the sunlight dimmed, and the coolness hidden in the mountains and trees spread out again.
After all, we are in the mountains and forests. No matter how hot the summer is, it cannot compare to the coolness of the clouds and mist and the shade of green trees.
But there are always some places where the heat of the day continues.
On the sword stage of Fu Ri Peak, the inner disciples who had joined the sect in recent years were concentrating on waving their swords. Although their movements were slightly different in angle and strength, at first glance, they seemed to be in perfect unison and the speed was exactly the same.
This is a new set of Mingquan sword techniques that they learned after entering the inner sect. According to legend, it was created by a previous leader of Tianyan when he was enlightened by the sound of a spring in the mountains. The moves take into account both offense and defense, and require a basic understanding before practicing. It is one of the required sword techniques for Tianyan disciples after entering the inner sect.
After more than half a year, the dozen or so new disciples have all learned this set of sword techniques. At this moment, they are practicing the moves with their senior brothers and sisters while waiting to be examined by the elders.
The one who came to give guidance today is Fairy Yaojin Jiang Hanqiu.
For the past six months, Jiang Hanqiu had spent most of his time in seclusion at Luoxia Peak. Now that he had just experienced the thunder tribulation and entered the early stage of fusion, he had officially entered the realm of immortality.
Today is her first time to go to Fu Ri Peak to instruct new disciples.
Unlike other elders who would pick people to fight on stage in a conventional manner, Jiang Hanqiu, as the youngest female elder in the sect, has always disliked following the rules. Whenever she wants to instruct her disciples, she always does it unexpectedly.
For example, now, she was watching everyone practicing sword skills while holding a sword, walking through the team, randomly picking people to fight with, all depending on her interest.
Although everyone was so familiar with this sword technique that they could perform it smoothly from beginning to end without even thinking, no one dared to let their guard down with Jiang Hanqiu around.
While dancing with swords, they racked their brains to think about what moves to use to counter the move they were dancing, in case Jiang Hanqiu suddenly jumped in front of them and attacked.
For the brothers and sisters who have been in the sect longer, after several years of tempering, they have gradually become accustomed to such surprise attacks. Although they are bound to be no match for Jiang Hanqiu's moves, they are no longer so caught off guard when dealing with them.
But for the dozen or so new disciples, it was very difficult.
But Jiang Hanqiu just likes to pick on these new guys to start with. After letting the disciples in the back row take the lead, he goes directly to the first row.
Xiao Yan was standing in the front row and was caught off guard by Jiang Hanqiu's sword. He didn't even have time to react and just made a blocking move.
As expected, he was knocked down, covering his butt, rubbing his arms and wailing.
Qi Man and Cen Luo in the back row laughed unkindly.
But before he could finish laughing, Jiang Hanqiu's sword was already in front of him.
"You two are still laughing at him?" She was light and graceful, and when she leaped up, she seemed as soft as a flowing cloud, but when the sword came down, it was as powerful as thunder.
The tip of the sword pointed at Qi Man, and the extended sword intent was aimed at Cen Luo.
Both of them were startled and responded in a panic. One used the fifth move of Mingquan Sword and the other used the seventeenth move of Fengban Liuyun Sword.
Although he managed to take the move and didn't fall down like Xiao Yan, he soon became completely confused starting from the second move, and wavered back and forth between the Fengban Liuyun Sword and Mingquan Sword in a hurry.
Soon, on the fifth move, the two men inexplicably fought each other, were tripped by their respective sword intent, and rolled to the edge of the sword platform in a mess.
Another burst of uncontrollable laughter came from the senior brothers and sisters in the back.
The new disciples had stern faces and no one dared to laugh. They thought to themselves that it was no wonder that rumors said that Elder Jiang was the most difficult of all the elders. So that's why.
They all treated themselves as if facing a formidable enemy, fearing that if they relaxed even a little, they would end up in the same miserable situation as these three people.
Even Hongying, a disciple of Luoxia Peak, is like this.
When it was her turn, she barely made it through three moves, confident that her master would give her some face. She squeezed out some time to admire him and said, "Master is truly amazing! This is the first time I've heard that you can handle two people simultaneously with one move!"
Just now, when Jiang Hanqiu was fighting Qi Man and Cen Luo, he only used one move in each round. He matched the different sword styles used by the two people perfectly and hit the vital points directly.
"This is the basic training of a swordsman!" Jiang Hanqiu was praised in public by his disciple, feeling rather proud. However, he didn't let up his temper at all. "Stop the flattery! Don't think I, your master, will show mercy just because you say nice things. No way!"
Having said that, he no longer bothered with any moves and simply released his spiritual power, knocking Hongying down with the simplest downward chopping movement.
The next few people, whether it was the calm Xu Huaiyan and Yu Cen, the lively Zhao Yueyue and Liang Shiqian, or the well-behaved Xu Lian and Zhou Su, were all beaten down in less than seven moves.
At first glance, there are only two people who are slightly different.
One of them, unsurprisingly, is Zhan Yao.
In the past ten months, she has devoted herself to cultivation. Every day she is either practicing sword or meditating. Last month, she just advanced to the next level, and now, she is in the late stage of foundation building.
Her diligence is obvious to all and exceeds that of most people. Therefore, even when Jiang Hanqiu intentionally used 10% more spiritual power when facing her, she did not show any panic.
In terms of familiarity with swordsmanship and ease of use, although he is far behind Jiang Hanqiu, he is not inferior to other fellow disciples, or even the senior brothers and sisters in the back row, and he is even catching up.
Others could not last more than seven moves, but she lasted a full fifteen moves before being suppressed by the sword's will and defeated.
When Jiang Hanqiu put away the sword, his eyes were full of admiration and pride when he looked at her.
"Look at this, everyone. This is the right level. I think you guys are too lax in your daily training!"
The disciples looked ashamed and reflected for a moment on their lack of effort.
This situation had lasted for four years in the outer sect, and there was no change after entering the inner sect.
Of course, in addition to these, there is another alternative, Mu Fuyun.
Mu Fuyun arrived a little later than the others today, so she stood at the end of the line. When it was her turn, everyone else had already finished their moves and were continuing to dance with their swords while waiting to see how Mu Fuyun would perform.
Over the past six months, we have been attending classes and practicing sword skills together every now and then, and we have gradually realized that she does have some strength, but she just doesn't show it on a daily basis.
Zhan Yao simply turned her head and looked at her directly without looking away.
Jiang Hanqiu did not attack immediately, but stood aside and waited for a while before suddenly attacking when no one could react.
Mu Fuyun, who was dancing with the sword, did not show any sign of panic, and continued to respond calmly.
Some people would subconsciously suspect that she was pretending to be calm, and that she was actually as nervous as the others. But if they took a closer look, they would find that this was not the case.
From the moment the two men's sword intentions clashed, Mu Fuyun was calm.
Her sword style may not be as powerful and aggressive as Zhan Yao's, but in terms of familiarity and application of swordsmanship, she is by no means inferior.
In the face of Jiang Hanqiu's ease, as if the sword skills had been deeply engraved in his bones and blood, Mu Fuyun's response seemed to be without hesitation.
She seemed to have gotten used to this kind of random attack. No matter how Jiang Hanqiu changed or how unexpected he was, she could always use the most appropriate countermeasure without any expression. Therefore, although her attack power was slightly weaker, she could always withstand it.
"It's like she doesn't need to think at all?" Xiao Yan had stopped dancing with the sword at some point and stood there blankly watching their movements.
The others also stopped and stepped aside, leaving the center of the sword platform clear.
Hongying exclaimed in surprise: "Wow, that's amazing!"
Yu Cen puffed out his chest and said, "Junior Sister Mu was able to predict my sword moves before."
Xu Huaiyan nodded: "Yes, Junior Sister Mu was able to point out the details that were not in place in my moves. It can be seen that she is indeed very familiar with these sword techniques."
The senior sister behind also came forward and said: "I think, among you, only Junior Sister Zhan can do this, right?"
Xu Lian's face darkened, and she wanted to retort, but seeing Zhan Yao's expression, she held back.
Zhan Yao didn't say anything, but just folded her arms, frowned and looked at Mu Fuyun intently.
She tried to imagine how she would have responded if she were in Mu Fuyun's position. After some simulations, she was secretly shocked. She had to admit that there were several places where she would have made different choices. Obviously, Mu Fuyun's choice was more reasonable.
If their realms and spiritual powers were similar, I'm afraid she couldn't guarantee that she could defeat Mu Fuyun.
"You're not bad." Jiang Hanqiu suppressed the opponent with his realm, ending the battle with one move. He put away his sword and said to Mu Fuyun, "It seems that Junior Brother Xie has given you careful guidance."
"Thank you, Elder Jiang, for your guidance." Mu Fuyun wiped the sweat from his forehead and stood up from the ground with his hands instead of using the Hengyu Sword. "Master has indeed taught me a lot."
When the other disciples heard this, the scene of Xie Hanyi appearing on the trial stage more than ten months ago and teaching Mu Fuyun sword skills step by step automatically emerged in their minds, and they all showed envious eyes.
After all, who wouldn't want to be taught this by the world's number one swordsman? Even Jiang Hanqiu felt a little itchy.
But Xie Hanyi is different from other elders. He stays in Lingshanze almost all the time. He never taught the inner disciples in the past. Now that he has accepted a disciple, he has no intention of leaving the mountain.
"Alright, today's sword test ends here. You all need to practice hard when you return. We'll be on a sect mission soon. Come back then. If anyone doesn't improve, I'll beat him so hard that he'll run around Tianyan three full laps. Do you understand?"
Jiang Hanqiu gave an order, and Xiao Yan was so scared that he almost fell down again. He quickly covered his butt and arms, straightened his body, and shouted "I heard it".
The others held back their laughter and shouted "I heard it".
As soon as Jiang Hanqiu left, the disciples relaxed and gathered together to continue practicing sword.
"Junior Sister Mu, do you want to join us?"
The one asking the questions was Hongying.
In the past few months, they have been together day and night, and their relationship has become much more harmonious than when they were in the outer sect.
When he had nothing to do, Mu Fuyun would occasionally stay and practice sword with them, but not today.
Today is the day Xie Hanyi comes out of confinement, and she wants to go back and see him early.
After ten months of getting along, she finally figured out that Xie Hanyi spent almost all of his time in seclusion in the cave, and only appeared outside the cave for one or two days each month.
If you count carefully, the first two times I saw him outside the gate happened to be the days when he came out of seclusion every month.
The swamp behind the mountain was probably the farthest place he had ever been since leaving Lingshanze.
As for their subsequent encounters, she could guess without even asking that he must have made an exception just for her.
She didn't know why he had to spend such a long time in seclusion, but no matter what, she didn't want to disturb him. She could only take advantage of these short one or two days to see him more.
In fact, what she said to Jiang Hanqiu just now was not true.
The only time Xie Hanyi gave her face-to-face instruction was when she was learning to fly a sword.
Since becoming his disciple, he left the ice sword in the pool outside the cave as before, allowing her to practice sword on her own. As for Taoism, she was allowed to find classics in the study and library in the cave.
Perhaps because he was too confident, he never mentioned a single word about her cultivation in these ten months.
This is similar to Mu Fuyun's cultivation in Yuya Mountain in his previous life.
The only difference was the master on Yuya Mountain. Since she had never seen him, she even doubted whether he really existed.
However, she naturally couldn't say this. Others would never believe that Taoist Lingshan didn't give her any guidance, and she didn't want anyone to misunderstand him because of this.
"Sorry, I'm afraid it's not convenient today. Let's do it another day."
As she spoke, she bowed to everyone, and without waiting for their reaction, she summoned the Hengyu Sword and flew away.
Some people might think that she was ungrateful and unwilling to get close to her classmates, but Mu Fuyun didn't want to pay any attention to that and just rode the wind and sped towards Lingshanze.
After building her foundation, her sword-controlling skills were much less restricted by spiritual power, and she could fly freely within the sect like other high-level cultivators.
A moment later, Heng Yujian finally brought her to the sky above Lingshanze.
The vast, clear lake reflects the brilliant and beautiful twilight and sunset glow, finally giving this ice-covered world a rich, colorful look.
A dashing figure with a ponytail flew through the air and landed steadily in front of the white figure on the shore.
Her face was full of smiles, her eyes as bright as autumn water curved slightly, and she called out crisply: "Master, I'm back."
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