For Shen Lian, seeing something for himself was more convincing than hearing it.
Despite not believing Mister Su's talk about swordcraft triumphing over all, Shen Lian could not do anything about it.
Mister Su did not mean to change Shen Lian's perception, but his talk was a mere illustration of his attitude towards swordcraft. There was no point in taking the path of swordcraft if one did not believe that it could bring one to the pinnacle.
At the end of the day, all these spells and supernatural powers, they did nothing more than facilitating the mastery of Daoism.
The moonlight flew like water and slowly took shape in Mister Su's hand.
There was more than moonlight - a long sword formed in Mister Su's hand. It was yellowish and looked like Nephrite Jade. The sword was around ninety centimeters long and it looked natural from the top to the bottom.
Every part of the sword including the sword hilt looked highly realistic, it was impossible to tell that it was different from an actual sword.
He held the sword in his hand and thrust it forward, a scene that was indescribable with words alone.
The sword aura that was as fine as gossamer appeared out of thin air.
The sword gleam was coming at Shen Lian at a high speed, but it was still within his reaction range. He fished out his sandalwood sword and aimed it precisely at the heart of the sword gleam.
The entire process of taking out the sword and attacking with it was seamless and natural.
However, the gleam disappeared before it reached the tip of Shen Lian's sandalwood sword.
It was as though the sword aura that was as fine as gossamer reached the end of its power, and was but a spent force.
Shen Lian found it strange. Right at this moment, he heard a clang. He turned his head to find a sword mark five foot behind him.
That was obviously the work of the sword gleam earlier.
"This is called 'Being and Non-Being of Sword Aura'. With your existing cultivation experience, it is something that you can briefly learn. It might even save your life in a time of emergency," Mister Su said flatly.
Without prior knowledge, the disappearing sword aura was definitely something that was hard to defend against.
In Jianghu, those who can muster sword aura would be considered highly skilled. To be capable of mustering a disappearing sword aura would definitely be a lot harder.
Shen Lian believed that practice made perfect.
If he was not able to master it after practicing for a thousand times, he would practice for ten thousand times. If he realized that he was not on the right track, he could always troubleshoot.
Mister Su activated the skill - Being and Non-Being of Sword Aura - in such a casual manner.
Shen Lian knew that he had to put in a lot of hard work to even get the hang of it.
Regardless of how intricate it was, all of the sword crafts in this world were confined to such categories; split, chopped, cut, stitch, pick, hooks, pierce, wear, wiping, sweeping, point, collapse, hanging, and cloud.
These fourteen techniques formed the basis of swordcraft, and they were the building blocks to any variation.
Even if one were to kill someone from hundreds of miles away with a flying sword, the skills that he will be using would still be a variation of these fourteen techniques.
The Being and Non-Being of Sword Aura took shape in the meridians inside of its user's body.
The inner Qi from the cinnabar fields would pass through certain meridians in the body, and it would take its shape by utilizing the tip of the sword as the medium.
The traveling of inner Qi and the condensation of the sword aura were the simplest step in the entire process.
Though, Being and Non-Being of Sword Aura only took shape after the inner Qi traveled through a total of thirty-five acupoints.
The hardest part would be the pierce.
The cold and absolute pierce was an important finishing touch and was of utmost significance.
Being and Non-Being of Sword Aura gave the impression that it had disappeared abruptly, but it was all due to the abstruse track of the piercing.
However, Shen Lian did not have enough experience to understand and the fundamental truth about the abstruse track, what more to explain it.
Upon mastering the charm of the piercing, the sword aura would enter into another space-time and exit from another place.
The mysterious space-time was not something easy to comprehend. The sword aura involved the mysteries of space-time, and all Shen Lian had to do was to replicate the process in order to activate the skill.
If the rest of the cultivators in the world were to find out about this, not only would they be in awe, they would be in fear of the true extent of Mister Su's capabilities.
It was just as the formula of nuclear fusion, every student in secondary school would be able to understand it. However, the scholar who came up with the formula was in an entirely different league of his own. His impressive scholastic achievement was something that the masses admired from afar.
Shen Lian had not reached the point where he could understand the importance of Being and Non-Being of Sword Aura yet.
Every time he pierced with his sword, his movement got neater and cleaner.
His stance was almost the same as that of Mister Su, but one could still tell the difference between the two.
The angle and speed of piercing were almost identical.
Shen Lian readjusted the inner Qi within him as he pierced according to the track.
However, after he emitted the sword aura, he could not find the tempo to make it disappear.
He was very patient. He did not blindly reproduce the pierce. Instead, with his spirit, he felt the difference of every pierce and the change in the sword aura.
It was a dry and boring process, but it was not a process that he should skip.
It was just as behind every scientific discovery, there were repeated calculations and endless experiments.
When one was completely absorbed in performing a task, one would find oneself short of time.
Besides eating and drinking, Shen Lian did not even bother with sleeping.
As his psyche was strong enough to support him, he did not have to sleep in a long time.
Shen Lian lost track of how many times he swung his sandalwood sword. The surface of the sword was bumpy and rough. It looked old and broken.
Shen Lian had an unkempt appearance, his previous delicate and pretty face was nowhere to be seen, and his eyes lost its luster.
As he pierced into the empty air, no howling of the sword could be heard, and there was no noticeable breath.
Shen Lian felt as the sword became part of his body, it was as though the sword grew meridians of its own and was part of his blood and flesh.
The feeling was unique.
Blood and flesh could nourish the soul, and the soul could feed the blood and flesh in return.
He formed an indescribable connection with his sandalwood. He did not feel like he was a different entity from the sword, but it was not as though they had become the same entity either. There were traces of him within the sword, and the converse was true too.
The pierce was not something that could be put into words.
The gossamer-like sword aura emerged from the tip of the sword; it appeared out of a sudden and faded away slowly. Sands and dust were flying on top of the loess faraway, and the deep mark made by the sword could be seen clearly.
More importantly, the Eight Extraordinary Meridians within Shen Lian had been unblocked. The inner Qi was circulating smoothly without blockage.
He heard the blood coursing through his veins, akin to a long river flowing freely.
The joy that he felt from the clearing of blockage could not be described with words.
Shen Lian heard a crisp bout of applause.
"Not only that you have cultivated the sword aura within half a month, but you have also mastered the way of forging alchemy," Mister Su spoke after appearing out of nowhere.
As Shen Lian had previously unblocked both of his Governor vessel and Conception vessel, Mister Su was not surprised by him attaining a never-ending flow of Qi. Furthermore, he had seen geniuses who were born with their hundreds of meridians unblocked.
As for Shen Lian mastering Being and Non-Being of Sword Aura, it was all within Mister Su's expectation. Seeing how he had taught him the method of cultivation, so long as Shen Lian put in his hours, he would be able to master it sooner or later.
However, he was surprised by Shen Lian's unintended success in forging the instrument.