I was the first person here in the past ten years? Lin Yun’s heart jolted. The old man’s words made him feel a chill run down his spine for some reason. If he couldn’t resist the zither music, would he become a corpse under the lake? If his mind was really affected by the music back then, would he run amok and die the moment he jumped down?
He had a feeling that the answer was something he couldn’t accept. Thinking about it, Lin Yun had a rough guess of the old man’s identity. No matter what, there was no question about the old man’s strength. Since the old man was willing to answer his question, then this meant that he had achieved his goal at the very least.
“Senior, can I ask you if there’s another stage above complete mastery in sword techniques?” Lin Yun asked the question that plagued him for a long time.
“There is,” said the old man. “Everyone knows that there are four stages to every martial technique, the initial, lesser, greater, and complete mastery. It's even a decent achievement for anyone to achieve greater mastery.”
The old man revealed a mocking smile and he continued, “There aren’t many who can reach complete mastery and there are even fewer who can even contemplate something above complete mastery. They were all ignorant fools trapped in the painting. You, on the other hand, are almost out of it since you managed to come this far.”
“The stage above complete mastery, the manifestation stage?” asked Lin Yun. He seemed to have grabbed onto something as he looked at the old man waiting for more explanation.
“You’re right in a way. Walking out of the painting to achieve perfection is also called the manifestation stage.” The old man didn’t care if Lin Yun understood his words. He carried on after taking a sip of tea, “In a nutshell, manifesting it for your own use. No matter how powerful a sword technique is, it’s still something created by others. So you have to manifest it for your own use and turn it into yours. Do you understand now, brat?”
“But it’s futile for me to tell you that. Even if you know about it, I’m afraid that you won’t…” The old man sneered and he stopped talking.
“You’re saying that I won’t be able to achieve it even if I know? If I can’t walk out of the painting, how will I be able to make it my own…” Lin Yun sensed what the old man was about to say.
“As the first person who made it here in ten years, you’re not too stupid. That’s what I meant,” smiled the old man.
Lin Yun didn’t say anything else and cupped his hands before he left. He went to the heart of the lake. Since he was already aware of the path ahead of him, then he had to see if he could comprehend it.
Lin Yun looked around before he closed his eyes. When the old man saw this, he stroked his beard with a faint smile. He took a liking to Lin Yun, who gave it a try immediately regardless if he could reach it.
But walking out of the painting wouldn’t be easy. It required reaching complete mastery in the technique before breaking through it to reach a new height. This meant that the slightest mistake could result in Lin Yun being crippled.
He was similar to that other brat back then, who refused to believe that he couldn’t achieve it. He also had no idea what that old brat was doing in the Sword Burial Woods now. When the past flashed in the old man’s mind, he frowned his brows and went to sleep.
Standing on the lake, Lin Yun was absorbed in comprehending the Aquaselenic Sword. He was focused on breaking down the moves in the Aquaselenic Sword. Images started to appear before his eyes. It was images of him performing the Aquaselenic Sword.
There were eighteen moves in the Aquaselenic Sword, but he broke it down to a hundred. As time slowly passed, more afterimages began to appear.
Three days later, the plump old man woke up and his face changed when he looked at the centre of the lake. He was immediately jolted awake when he saw the spiritual radiance emitting from Lin Yun that enveloped him like a cocoon.
“This…” The plump old man was shocked. He clearly never expected this scene.
On the other hand, Lin Yun paid no attention to his surroundings because he was fully absorbed in breaking down the Aquaselenic Sword. He sat on a rock as he watched his afterimages beneath him. Occasionally, he would flick his finger to erase the afterimages.
His afterimages began to disappear one after another. He was breaking through the boundaries of the Aquaselenic Sword he practiced and was recreating them from scratch, turning it into a martial technique that belonged to him. The water was still the water and the moon was still the moon, but his sword was different.
“This should be enough.” Lin Yun nodded his head when he had nine afterimages left. When Lin Yun opened his eyes, the cocoon that surrounded him had shattered.
When the cocoon disappeared, Lin Yun emitted a bright radiance. He waved his sword and summoned a tree branch from the island.
Spring and Rain, Converging Rivers!
This initially had five moves, which represented five intents of the Aquaselenic Sword, but he broke them down and combined them into one. When he swung his sword, it felt like the fine rains had gathered together to form a river. He had forsaken the variation in this attack and combined all the power into one.
From this moment onwards, the Aquaselenic Sword only had one intent—dominance. When Lin Yun’s sword aura emitted out, it covered the lake in a majestic fog.
Torrential Wave!
The sword rays flashed out on the lake like a sword dance. If anyone was within it, it would be good enough if they could remain firmly on the ground, not to mention grabbing the sword rays.
Lin Yun swung out six swords, each with different changes. But every sword contained an intent, the dominance and loneliness like the moon.
Luminous Moon!
It was the same radiating moon, but it was completely different from the usual one. A wisp of violet sword ray created a purple moon. When the moon appeared, Lin Yun’s figure had disappeared, leaving behind a radiating moon that tore apart the lake.
The sword ray’s path created a long gulf and Lin Yun’s figure only appeared after the moon was gone. He didn’t disappear for real, but the radiance from the moon had overshadowed everything else.
Myriad Frost!
Moon Reflection!
Lin Yun performed the two ultimate moves. After reaching the manifestation stage, the two attacks had changed completely, but it was a perfect match with his sword intent. It felt as though the Aquaselenic Sword was created by him.
But Lin Yun felt that it wasn’t enough. He stood on the lake, and he fell into deep thought. When he was done executing the moves, he had a feeling that he could improve even further and take the Aquaselenic Sword to the extreme. But the inspiration was vague and he couldn’t grasp it completely.
But just when the inspiration was about to disappear, Lin Yun suddenly heard zither music. His eyes suddenly lit up and he instantly comprehended his inspiration. Along with the zither music, Lin Yun swung out the tenth move of the Aquaselenic Sword that belonged to him.
The surface of the lake exploded and a water tornado was created. The sky suddenly became dark and Lin Yun’s boundless sword intent streaked through the horizon with a terrifying aura that felt suffocating. With this sword, he would shatter the heaven and clouds, and only this sword would exist for eternity like the moon.
Lin Yun put away his ‘sword’ and he muttered to himself, “Let’s call this move… Heavenly Cloud Shatter.”
This was a move that completely belonged to him.
“You have hidden yourself deeply and I misjudged you,” said the old man in an unhappy tone.
Lin Yun smiled in response. He had pondered over the Aquaselenic Sword for three months and his comprehension had already reached the point of overflowing. He was just one step away. He might seem to have achieved the manifestation stage in three days, but no one knew what he went through over the three months in the Repent Cliff.
“Why would I challenge the abyss if I wasn’t confident?” Lin Yun said with a tone that was brimming with confidence. At the same time, his tone also contained a wisp of bitterness that only he knew.
He sat down in the pavilion and expressed his gratitude to the old man. Without the old man’s music, Lin Yun knew that he wouldn’t be able to comprehend the tenth sword. If he really missed that inspiration, then he might have missed the chance to comprehend Heavenly Cloud Shatter for the rest of his life. After all, an opportunity only appears once and you have to grasp it well.
The old man nodded his head indifferently, but he didn’t seem to be too interested.
“Senior, you said that you’ve been here observing flowers for ten years. But why haven’t I seen any flowers on the island?” Lin Yun asked.
“It cut it down with one sword,” he responded
“Why?” asked Lin Yun.
“It’s as you said. The more beautiful the flower, the more it will emphasize how ugly the person is. So I cut it down,” said the old man.
His words left Lin Yun in deep shock. This meant that the old man wasn’t really here to observe the flower, but was here to comprehend his sword for ten years. He comprehended for ten years and he cut it down with a sword. Did the old man feel that his comprehension for the past ten years was wrong? But even if it was, that was still his effort for the past ten years. This was the reason why Lin Yun was shocked that the old man cut it down.
“Senior, do you regret it?” asked Lin Yun.
“Haha. You don’t regret your killings, so why should I regret cutting down a flower?” The old man placed his cup down and smiled, “You don’t have to worry about me. Think about yourself instead. You’ve disappeared from the Repent Cliff for three days, which is equivalent to escape. Lil’ Plum won’t be able to save you if you don’t make it back at dawn.”
Lin Yun’s face changed and he turned around. The lone peak was so high that it pierced into the clouds. Back then, he only thought of how he should get down and not how to get back up.
The old man looked at Lin Yun with a playful smile.