When Jiang Li returned after practicing her sword, she saw Lin Zhou lying on a rocking chair counting ants. After hesitating for a moment, she went over and said, "Master, when I was practicing my sword just now, I felt that the sword moves lacked some fluidity. Could you please give me some pointers?"
She has made rapid progress these days, but she also feels that the way of the sword is unfathomable. In particular, Lin Zhou's occasional casual pointers always enlighten her, so she can't help but ask a few more questions.
Lin Zhou didn't even look up, casually glancing at her with the Eye of the Creator—sure enough, a new line of small print appeared in the "Physical Status" section of the panel: [Minor residual damage to the divine soul from reincarnation causes slight stagnation in the flow of spiritual energy, which may affect the comprehension of laws in the long term].
"Oh, you have a minor health issue." Lin Zhou took out a jade bottle from his storage ring and casually tossed it to her. "Here, eat this."
Jiang Li caught the jade bottle, opened it, and saw a pure white pill inside, radiating a gentle glow. The moment its fragrance entered her nostrils, her mind cleared. She paused, then said, "A physical problem? This disciple doesn't feel unwell anywhere..."
She only felt a slight sluggishness when circulating spiritual energy occasionally, and thought it was a normal phenomenon of unstable realm after breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage.
“Just because you don’t feel anything doesn’t mean it’s not there.” Lin Zhou yawned. “You’ve been reincarnated and started cultivating again, so your soul and body aren’t completely in sync. There’s a small blemish left. If you don’t take care of it for a long time, it will be incredibly difficult for you to comprehend the laws in the future. This ‘Concentrating Spirit and Harmonizing Dao Pill’ is just the right thing to do to cure this problem.”
Jiang Li's heart skipped a beat. Her master could see through even the hidden dangers of reincarnation that she herself hadn't noticed?
Without further hesitation, she swallowed the pill. As it entered her stomach, it transformed into a cool, warm current, flowing along her meridians and finally settling into her sea of consciousness. The faint, lingering feeling had truly vanished! Spiritual energy circulated within her body more smoothly than ever before, even clarifying her understanding of the sword path.
"Thank you, Master!" Jiang Li was both surprised and delighted, and her gaze toward Lin Zhou became even more awe-inspiring.
"It's nothing." Lin Zhou waved his hand, remembering the "Emperor's Sword Scripture" given to him by the system. He felt it would be troublesome to teach it, so he simply got up, walked up to her, and gently tapped her forehead with his index finger. "I'm too lazy to explain that sword scripture, so I'll just give it to you."
Jiang Li felt a massive flow of information flood into her mind, all about the profound principles of swordsmanship, from basic sword techniques to insights into the laws, progressing layer by layer, exquisite and unparalleled, a hundred times more complete than the "Emperor's Sword Manual" she had deduced herself! It was the essence of the fusion of the sword principles and sword scriptures rewarded by the system!
She groaned softly and quickly sat down cross-legged to digest the information. Her face flushed from the shock of the information, but her eyes shone with an astonishing brightness.
Xiao Chen, who had just come out of the kitchen, looked on with envy: "Master is so good to Junior Sister..."
Lin Zhou glanced at him: "If you can break through three minor realms in a day, I'll also pass on my skills to you."
Xiao Chen: "..." Forget it, he's afraid he'll be burst by the spiritual energy.
A moment later, Jiang Li slowly opened her eyes, her gaze filled with sword intent, her aura even more solid than before. Just as she was about to thank him, she saw Lin Zhou walk to the corner of the courtyard, pick up a tree branch that had just been broken off by the wind, about two feet long, with a few withered leaves still attached.
"Your swordplay was too rigid just now," Lin Zhou said casually, weighing the tree branch in his hand. "I'll show you a couple of moves, watch closely."
Jiang Li and Xiao Chen were both stunned.
Show off your skills? Using a tree branch?
Didn't Master say he didn't know how to use a sword? And this tree branch... it's not even a decent wooden sword, it's more like a fire poker.
Jiang Li crossed her arms, ready to watch her master "make a few casual gestures," while thinking to herself: her master probably wanted to use the tree branch to explain some principles of sword intent.
The next second, Lin Zhou moved.
With a slight flick of his wrist, the tree branch, carrying a few withered leaves, traced a smooth arc. There was no earth-shattering aura, not even a faint fluctuation of spiritual energy, yet in Jiang Li's eyes, it caused her pupils to shrink—that arc perfectly matched some invisible trajectory in the world, as if it were meant to be that way from the very beginning!
"Whoosh!"
The tree branch leans out to the side, and the wind it generates whips up fallen leaves from the ground. The leaves condense into a sword shape in mid-air and pierce out along with the branch!
Jiang Li suddenly stood up, her breath catching in her throat—she had practiced this move, but no matter what, she could never do it so effortlessly, as if the tree branch was not an inanimate object, but an extension of her body!
Immediately afterwards, the tree branch seemed to come alive in Lin Zhou's hands. At times, it was like a drizzle through flowers, light and agile, without breaking a single blade of grass that touched its tip; at other times, it was like a raging wave crashing against the shore, fierce and domineering, with the invisible sword intent carving intricate patterns into the bluestone ground; and at still other times, it was like the moon reflected in a calm lake, with fallen leaves quietly falling to the ground as the sword move ended, and even the wind stopped.
There were no fancy moves, no overwhelming spiritual power, but every move was extremely precise and contained the purest principles of swordsmanship—a perfect sword move that even Jiang Li, as the reincarnation of the Empress, had never seen before!
She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She felt that her sword practice was like children playing house.
Xiao Chen, standing nearby, was also stunned, still clutching the rag he had just taken from the kitchen, muttering, "Master... Master is... using a tree branch to wield a sword? This is more powerful than any swordsman I've ever seen..."
Lin Zhou practiced for about half a cup of tea's time, then felt his arm getting a little sore. He casually tossed the branch on the ground, clapped his hands, and said, "That's about it. Did you understand?"
Jiang Li finally came to her senses, her cheeks flushed, not from exhaustion, but from excitement. She bowed deeply to Lin Zhou, her voice trembling, "Disciple...disciple understands! Thank you for your guidance, Master!"
So it turns out that Master wasn't incapable of using a sword, but simply too lazy to! She could wield such swordsmanship even with a broken tree branch; if she were to use her rusty iron sword… Jiang Li dared not think any further.
Lin Zhou yawned: "It's good that you understand. You can practice on your own later. My old arms and legs get tired easily from moving them."
He turned and walked toward the rocking chair, not forgetting to complain, "If I had known it would be this tiring, I wouldn't have let you play with it. I would have preferred to take a nap."
Jiang Li watched his retreating figure, then glanced at the unremarkable tree branch on the ground, her eyes gleaming with an unprecedented light.
Just how many secrets does this lazy, unambitious master hold?
Xiao Chen leaned closer to Jiang Li and whispered, "Junior Sister, was Master... a sword cultivator before?"
Jiang Li glanced at him, her tone unusually gentle: "I don't know, but you're not allowed to say that Master can't use a sword anymore."
Xiao Chen quickly nodded: "Mhm!"
Lin Zhou lay back in the rocking chair, comfortably squinting his eyes, and muttered to himself: The sword path rules given by the system are really different. Even just casually practicing them is so tiring... I'm never doing it again next time.
He looked at his two apprentices in the courtyard, one staring blankly at a tree branch and the other bouncing back and forth between the kitchen and the yard, and a barely perceptible smile appeared on his lips.
Taking on apprentices isn't so boring after all.
It's a bit tiring on the arms though.
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