True Solution of the Sword Dao

After signing the contract with Yuan Yonglong, Lin Fei, in her capacity as an investor, had a detailed talk with him and generally learned about his family situation.

Yuan Yonglong, as a Martial Artist who had practiced Swordsmanship all his life, actually had no other skills to make a living with. Previously, he worked at a construction site doing physical labor, earning a meager salary to get by. His wife, who had been quite beautiful in her early years, directly divorced him and married a classmate who had made a fortune, leaving Yuan Yonglong to raise their twin children, a boy and a girl. Yuan Yonglong had raised the two children with difficulty, and he had abandoned the thought of passing on his family’s Martial Arts. Given his current situation, which was already so difficult, he naturally did not want his children to grow up and struggle as he had. However, things took an unexpected turn when he had an accidental encounter with one of Master Fei’s disciples, marking the first time he entered the real Martial Arts circle as a prominent folk Martial Artist. It was at this time that Lin Fei approached Master Fei in search of someone to teach at the Swordsmanship Club, and he was directly referred.

The two sat in the reception room, where Lin Fei asked a staff member to brew two cups of green tea. The hot water, freshly poured from the water dispenser, infused into the tea leaves, immediately sending up tufts of white steam. In front of each of them was a cup, with tendrils of steam rising persistently.

"So you mentioned earlier that you’ve taken on disciples?" Lin Fei asked, leaning slightly forward on the couch.

"Yes, I thought I could make a living with the sword techniques I’ve practiced for many years, but the training hall I opened closed after less than two months. The expenses simply outweighed the income," sighed Yuan Yonglong. "These disciples were keen to learn swordsmanship when I took them on."

"Why don’t you just call them right now, have them come over, and we could arrange the contracts today? That is, I’m not sure about your disciples’ family circumstances or their willingness to come over," said Lin Fei, taking a sip of green tea after gently blowing on it.

"Of course, they’re willing!" Yuan Yonglong couldn’t hide his joy, "Their families are not well-off. These days, the children of the wealthy lack such perseverance... ah, I don’t mean you," Yuan Yonglong stopped himself, realizing that the person in front of him came from a wealthy family. He promptly cut himself off.

"It’s fine. My family isn’t considered wealthy; the Swordsmanship Club is under my foster grandfather’s name," said Lin Fei, unconcerned. "Actually, you do have a point. Now that material conditions have improved and life is better, naturally, there are few who are willing to practice these seemingly useless national arts. It’s partly a matter of perseverance, and partly because firearms are so overwhelmingly powerful. No matter how well you train, you can’t compete with guns." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Yuan Yonglong’s expression darkened slightly. He wanted to counter, but he knew that what Lin Fei said was the truth.

After chatting casually for a few more minutes, Yuan Yonglong became somewhat restless. He had been eager to call his children and disciples earlier, asking them to come over. Judging by the time and distance, they should be arriving soon.

"Since I’m going to learn swordsmanship from you, from now on, you are my teacher," Lin Fei said with a smile, raising her tea cup.

"I dare not, dare not," responded Yuan Yonglong, also lifting his cup.

"Don’t you know any other talented folk Martial Artists with real strength? Our Swordsmanship Club may nominally focus on swordsmanship, but we welcome true masters. Now that the martial arts of Hua Nation are in decline, if we don’t revitalize them, the term ’national arts’ will soon only be found in archives," Lin Fei earnestly said.

"Well, I’ve always been alone, not really in contact with others..." said Yuan Yonglong, a bit embarrassed.

"If that’s the case, then never mind. We can take our time to find them later," Lin Fei said with slight disappointment. Originally, she had established the Swordsmanship Club just for her own training, but unexpectedly, she had unearthed such a national arts master, which was a pleasant surprise. She now entertained the idea of gathering national arts masters under one roof for mutual exchange and learning, establishing a powerful independent organization, one that belonged solely to her.

Regarding the future, that red-haired Psychic who had killed her in her previous life, she had already asked Sis to collect all the data on male Psychics with that characteristic. Despite not wanting to deal with the perverted Sis, she currently had no intelligence channels in Europe and America. The data in the club was often incomplete or confidential, and requesting it was troublesome. As for Lin You, Lin Fei had a general understanding of his capabilities. Although she hadn’t paid too much attention, he must have at least an ’F’ rating. She had no intention of changing Lin You’s path. The future was too uncertain, and minimizing her own impact was vital for gaining an advantage in the later situation.

Ever since the crisis with Yan Shi was resolved, Lin Fei truly saw the fundamental difference between the strong and the weak. In her view, even a strong person like Yan Shi couldn’t be considered truly powerful. His weaknesses were too apparent.

Strength is not just about power; one’s spirit must also reach a certain level. Everyone has weaknesses, but the difference is that the strong will bury theirs deep beneath their strongest point. The weak are like lambs, both body and soul mere fodder for the strong to trample. All of humanity shares the same body structure, with similar physical qualities—so why, using these identical bodies, do different individuals have such vastly different levels of power?

Lin Fei suddenly remembered a saying, though she couldn’t recall which powerful person had spoken it.

No one can bind our footsteps, except our own hearts.

*************

By the time Yuan Yonglong’s disciples and children arrived, an hour had already passed. A total of five young people, three males and two females, entered the reception room in succession. They were all dressed simply, but neatly. They appeared to be in their late teens to early twenties.

Yuan Yonglong stood up and swept his gaze over the relatives neatly standing before him. The two children, obediently standing to the far right, both had the same height of 1.5 meters and similar frames. Their faces inherited the beauty of their mother’s features, the difference being one had a ponytail, while the other had short hair. Both were dressed in the red and white school uniform, which didn’t seem to be from a local school.

The other three disciples all wore neatly arranged gray practice attire. Some places on the practice clothes had different shades, clearly patched many times with cloth of similar colors. The two male disciples appeared to differ, with the one on the far left seeming more mature and composed, while the other was somewhat more impetuous. Nevertheless, both were decently handsome. The sole female disciple had delicate features, with faint traces of makeup visible between her eyebrows, and her sense of style had a bit of a tomboyish feel to it. But at that moment, she, too, wore a serious expression like the others.

"Master!" The three disciples cried out in unison.

Yuan Yonglong pointed to Lin Fei, who was standing by his side, and said, "This is..." He paused, unsure of how to introduce her.

Lin Fei stepped forward on her own initiative. "Hello everyone, my name is Lin Fei. I admire Master Yuan’s swordsmanship immensely and have just received Master’s permission to teach me Dragon-Intent Swordsmanship."

Upon hearing this, the three disciples immediately understood Lin Fei’s identity—a pampered scion, unused to hardship, probably wanting to learn swordsmanship just to show off. Among the three, except for the more mature-looking male student, the other two flashed a hint of contempt in their eyes. Yuan Yonglong had taken on a few such students before, all of whom couldn’t endure much hardship and left as soon as it became too much.

Although Yuan Yonglong had similar thoughts, Lin Fei held a status similar to that of a boss here, at least till now; everyone else seemed to follow the young man’s commands. So, even if he didn’t care much internally, it was important to treat Lin Fei with respect on the surface.

"From today on, Lin Fei will be your senior brother. Call him senior brother!" A thought struck Yuan Yonglong and he immediately spoke it aloud.

Lin Fei was taken aback; he hadn’t expected Yuan Yonglong to come up with this idea. This was basically securing his commitment in advance. Even if he was just a pampered rich kid who couldn’t endure hardship, with this title, it would be difficult for him to back out later without losing face, and he would likely take extra care of them. This title immediately signified a closer relationship between him and the four disciples before him.

The three disciples seemed not to have caught on, but the more impetuous-looking male student hesitated, then quickly understood and respectfully called out to Lin Fei as senior brother.

The other two were still catching up. The female disciple seemed somewhat unconvinced and was about to speak up when she was promptly pulled back by the more composed male student.

"Xiao Yun!"

"Senior brother, why should he..." The female student started to say, but seemed to realize something, and finally, grudgingly, along with the male student beside her, called out "senior brother."

Lin Fei shook his head slightly and looked towards the last, more composed male student, his gaze clearly different now. Being able to stay so calm and collected, his thoughts were not bad either, and he seemed to command considerable respect among his fellow disciples. It was likely he wasn’t lacking in strength either.

"This is a promising young talent," he thought to himself. Among them, this once-oldest disciple made the best impression on him.