Eternal Life Begins with Learning

"To practice the sword, you first master the forms and routines. Once you’re proficient with them, you can try to apply them freely and hone your skills in real combat."

"The most important thing is perseverance. If you’re serious about learning martial arts, you absolutely cannot be half-hearted about it."

"Brother Mu, I know."

Xu Yuan nodded vigorously, the look of longing in his eyes a clear sign of his sincerity.

Chu Mu nodded. With a flick of his arm, he raised his blade, and a sensation of wielding it, completely different from before, washed over him.

Chu Mu’s eyebrows shot up, a hint of surprise flashing across his face.

’My strength increased so much after cultivating for just a moment!’

Where before he could clearly feel his lack of Power, now he felt no such deficiency at all as he held the Long Saber, which weighed over ten pounds, steady in his hand.

"Excellent!"

Chu Mu laughed heartily. Though it was only a slight increase in his Power, that small improvement made a world of difference.

After all, his Power had been so insufficient before that he couldn’t even perfectly control the weight of the blade in his hand.

In a real battle, that small a margin was the difference between life and death!

Now that this weakness was shored up, his Combat Power would surely take an exponential leap!

Chu Mu was in high spirits. He performed a simple set of Basic Sword Forms in front of Xu Yuan, and the sharp glint of the blade was so captivating that Xu Yuan couldn’t look away.

After running through the set of Sword Forms, Chu Mu’s exhilaration subsided somewhat. He slowed his movements, explaining each strike and form as he executed it.

Although Chu Mu himself hadn’t been practicing the Sword Technique for long, several months of arduous training, coupled with a few life-and-death battles, had undoubtedly given him considerable experience.

As he demonstrated and explained, Xu Yuan stood to the side, mimicking his movements.

With one teaching and the other learning, both of them gained a great deal.

For Xu Yuan, who was learning a Sword Technique for the first time, the benefits of receiving such detailed, hands-on instruction from Chu Mu were self-evident.

As for Chu Mu, for most of the past half-month while he was recovering, he could only mentally review his previous battles or practice his forms with a small twig.

This half-month of contemplation, the growth in Power from his Body Refining Technique Cultivation, and the renewed understanding he gained from teaching each form—all of it came together.

For the first time in over half a month, the Sword Technique Skill Level on his Light Curtain Panel began to rise visibly.

This session of teaching and learning went on for about an hour before Chu Mu sent Xu Yuan to practice on his own.

Chu Mu walked over to a tree. Before him, hanging from the branches, were several balls.

Watching the balls sway in the wind, his gaze flickered, and a look of deep emotion crossed his face.

’If I hadn’t, on a whim, set up this Hanging Ball Array before going into the mountains to fight those bandits, I probably would have died in my very first battle.’

’Let alone getting promoted and wealthy, and now possessing True Martial Arts.’

Chu Mu subconsciously picked up the Wooden Sword at his side, but then he looked again at the Hanging Ball Array.

After a moment of contemplation, he set the Wooden Sword down and drew the Sword from his waist.

The blade’s edge was chillingly sharp. The balls, woven from mere bamboo strips, were clearly not meant for practice with such a weapon.

But now, Chu Mu moved.

With a flash of his blade, he stepped into the Hanging Ball Array.

The cold blade slashed straight at an incoming ball. One would expect the strike to shatter it, but miraculously, the edge—sharp enough to sever a falling hair—seemed not to have harmed the ball in the slightest.

Upon impact, the ball was deflected, completely unharmed. As he swung his blade again and again, the balls danced around him. Within the array, Chu Mu’s figure moved with the grace of someone passing through a field of flowers without a single petal brushing against him.

But this agility lasted for only a short while before his movements grew stiff. In the end, just as before, he was forced to retreat from the array.

’My Power hasn’t reached Perfection, and also... my reflexes?’

Chu Mu reached out and caught one of the balls. Though it was intact, he could clearly see faint white scratches on the surface of the bamboo strips.

These white scratches were clearly left by the blade’s impact, which undoubtedly meant his control over his Power was still insufficient.

Otherwise, the ball would have been left truly and completely unscathed.

’Lifting the heavy as if it were light...’

Chu Mu was suddenly reminded of a theory from a wuxia novel in his past life.

Lifting the heavy... as if it were light...

The sword weighed over ten pounds. That was the ’heavy’ part.

And right now, he was relying entirely on his Power to control that weight. Although this control had improved as his Power increased, it was clearly still not perfect.

Even if he achieved perfect control, it would still just be him using brute force to manage the blade’s weight, not truly ’lifting the heavy as if it were light.’

Chu Mu frowned. As he understood it, this must be a technique for applying Power, but... what kind of technique could possibly make the blade feel ’light’?

As for his path forward with the Sword Technique, it seemed quite clear, at least for now.

His control over his Power was already approaching Perfection. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

With continued Cultivation of the Body Refining Technique, the final imperfections would be smoothed out, and eventually, he would achieve the state of "One Force Subdues Ten Techniques," gaining complete and perfect control over his Power.

Chu Mu figured that once he reached that point, his Sword Technique should be able to advance to the next stage.

And after that...

’It seems to be this... lifting the heavy as if it were light?’

’But this ’as if light’... How do I make it light?’

Chu Mu subconsciously swung the blade, trying to carefully sense its every nuance.

Slash after slash, he swung it mechanically.

His control over his Power, now approaching Perfection, was certainly enough for him to handle the Long Saber well.

But this kind of control, when considered in the context of ’lifting the heavy as if it were light,’ seemed incredibly rigid.

After all, it was just pure strength overpowering the blade’s weight; it had nothing to do with any real Sword Technique.

This feeling of rigidity instantly reminded him of what he’d felt when cultivating earlier—that sensation of communicating with and stirring the Qi Blood within his body.

That too had been instinctual and rigid at first, but the feeling of it suddenly coming alive had left a deep impression on him.

’To make it ’as if light’... does it have to come alive? Or perhaps, have a Spiritual quality?’

Chu Mu seemed to have an epiphany.

Ever since he started practicing the Sword Technique, he had simply been burying his head in arduous training, performing each form and strike exactly as he had learned it.

He was practicing the Basic Blade Technique taught by the Inspection Office, not *his* Basic Blade Technique.

His own thoughts and intent were absent from the simple Basic Sword Forms.

In other words, it had form but no spirit...

Chu Mu pondered this. He wasn’t sure if he was right or wrong, and it was even possible this was just wishful thinking influenced by his past life’s memories.

But the possibility swirled in his mind, refusing to fade.

Chu Mu wasn’t too concerned about being right or wrong.

With the existence of the Spiritual Radiance Value, his margin for error was much greater than that of an ordinary person.

His learning efficiency was also much higher.

He could afford to try out any possibility, no matter how slim...

Even if he was wrong, the consequences wouldn’t be significant...

...