Ten Years of Practicing the Sword, Astonishing a Celestial in One Morning

Jun Ao turned his head, staring firmly at A’San, a warning carrying inside his gaze: “Correct, what I used just now was precisely true qi!”

That dark-skinned face of A’San was completely filled with shock, and he stammered as he asked: “Heir, you, don’t you have no dantian? Where did this true qi come from?”

“This is my secret,” Jun Ao lowered his voice, “you are not permitted to tell anyone, did you hear me?”

“A’San understands! A’San understands!” A’San nodded his head like pounding garlic.

Jun Ao narrowed his eyes: “Right, what did you see just now?”

A’San gave a start, his eyeballs spinning around for a turn, suddenly having a blank look on his face: “I… I didn’t see anything at all! Right, heir, what are you doing staying in the room by yourself?”

The moment these words left his mouth, A’Qing behind him could not resist rolling her eyes…

She was standing here as such a large living person, could it be that this A’San’s eyes were blind?

Jun Ao, however, nodded his head with satisfaction: “Very good, seeing nothing is precisely correct. Go on down.”

A’San ran as if granted a grand amnesty, turning his body around as he ran, that speed being even faster than a rabbit.

Closing the door with a bang sound, Jun Ao rubbed his hands as he turned toward A’Qing, a bad smile hanging on his face: “Shall we continue?”

A’Qing said with a red face: “Heir, it’s better to forget it, A’San saw it after all…”

A’Qing ran extremely fast, her dress hem tripping a bit on the threshold yet she did not stop, disappearing at the far end of the corridor in the blink of an eye.

Jun Ao stood at the doorway, his hand still maintaining a stretched-out posture, a face filled with stifled frustration.

The fire inside his heart went up-up-up, having nowhere to vent.

He turned his body around, taking down a second sword from the wall.

There were three swords in total, and the Jinghong Sword had already been taken away by Mei Yingxue.

This second sword was not as famous as the Jinghong Sword, but was instead a very ordinary sword.

The reason why it was hung here.

Was because Jun Ao came here in the year he was eight, saw the Jinghong Sword on the wall, and said the Jinghong Sword was too lonely.

Therefore he hung up this sword.

Later Mei Yingxue said, Father’s sword also needs to be hung here.

In this way, the second sword you hung will no longer be ordinary…

Holding the sword, Jun Ao walked out of the room door.

The moonlight inside the yard was just right, spilling a ground of silver-white.

Tonight’s night wind still carried a cool intent, blowing upon his face, slightly pressing down that burst of dry heat.

He took a deep breath, closing his eyes.

Then, he raised the sword.

It was still that set of Jinghong Sword Techniques, practiced for over ten years, and the opening, transition, and closing posture of every single form were carved into his bones.

The blade tip cut through the air, sending out fine hissing sounds, with no sword qi and no brilliance, being just the most simple and unadorned sword moves.

The first form “Jinghong First Appearance”, the second form “The Wild Goose Leaves a Sound”, the third form “White Rainbow Pierces the Sun”…

One move and one form, meticulous in every detail.

Mother had said: A person can have no dantian and can have no true qi, but cannot lose that burst of breath inside the heart.

You can be a mortal, but you cannot be willing to be ordinary.

Therefore this sword, he practiced for over ten years.

Even if he could never practice out sword qi, even if it was always just a flashy display.

Having finished using the ninth form “The Long Rainbow Passes Through the Sky”, the sword momentum should transition to the tenth form “A Single Glimpse of the Jinghong”…

This was the watershed of the entire set of sword techniques, the first nine forms being the foundation, and the tenth form only just starting to touch upon the true “sword intent”.

Jun Ao’s wrist flipped, the sword body deflecting diagonally.

But at the exact moment the blade tip was about to deflect yet had not deflected, that familiar sluggish feeling came again.

The sword momentum instantly froze in midair.

He tried three times, and all were the same.

He withdrew the sword, standing on his spot panting for breath.

Sweat trickled down along the corner of his forehead, not out of tiredness, but out of stifled frustration.

In the far midair, Li Hanyi stood emptily in the air, the true qi beneath his feet condensing into a patch of thin cloud.

Huai’an stood at his side, supported by the true qi, her gaze falling upon that figure practicing the sword time and time again inside the yard.

“Teacher,” Huai’an asked in a soft voice, “he has no true qi, why does he still practice the sword?”

Li Hanyi looked at Jun Ao, his gaze complex: “Because he has a breath of air in his heart.”

“A breath of air?”

“His mother is Luo Jinghong, the number one sword celestial under heaven, and his father is Jun Lin’an, the Zhennan Prince who awes the Great Wu. While he himself…” Li Hanyi paused for a moment, “is instead a ‘useless person’. Therefore he has a breath of air in his heart—a breath of being unreconciled, unconvinced, and unwilling to accept his fate.”

Huai’an seemed to understand yet not completely understand.

She had excellent talent since childhood, entering the Fifth Realm at eighteen, being a rare genius that the imperial family had not produced in a hundred years.

She did not understand what flavor a “useless person” was, and did not understand the despair of clearly exhausting all of one’s strength yet still being in vain.

“I still do not understand.” She shook her head.

“Because you haven’t experienced it.” Li Hanyi said faintly, “Princess, you were born at the clouds’ end, so naturally you will not understand why a person struggling in the mud would do useless work time and time again.”

Huai’an fell silent.

On the roof of the other side, A’Shui sat holding her knees.

She looked at that figure inside the yard, one time, two times, three times… the tenth form could consistently not be used out.

“He started practicing the sword again.” She muttered to herself in a low voice, “Practicing for over ten years, he still has no true qi. True enough… how can a person without a dantian possibly have true qi.”

There was a trace of regret inside her tone that she herself had not sensed.

A’Shui remembered when she first saw Jun Ao, he was only seven years old.

At that time she had just been brought back by Luo Jinghong, covered in injuries, shrinking in the corner of the wall not daring to make a sound.

It was Jun Ao who came over carrying the medicine bowl, saying with a giggle: “Big Sister, drink the medicine, it’s not bitter.”

Later she became a Jinghong Guard.

Watching him grow up day by day, watching him being pointed at behind his back because he had no dantian, watching him practicing the sword until he shed his strength every time, yet never shouting a stop.

Sometimes she would think, if the heir had a dantian, what realm should he be at now?

At least… he should also be at the Sixth Realm, right?

Just as she was thinking, A’Shui’s face suddenly changed color.

Almost at the same time, the pupils of Li Hanyi in midair also sharply constricted…

A smear of knife light tore through the night color without any sign, rising violently from the roof opposite, shooting straight toward Jun Ao inside the yard!

The knife light was extremely fast, fast to the point that the naked eye could only capture a single afterimage.

The knife qi was bitter and sharp, and everywhere it passed, the air sent out an ear-piercing sharp howl.

This single knife strike was going for the purpose of taking a life!

A’Shui did not even think, her figure rising violently!

But she was blocked by a single human figure!

Making her unable to strike to save Jun Ao.

The knife light had already arrived three feet behind Jun Ao…

Right during this spark-striking-flint moment, Jun Ao inside the yard suddenly moved.

He did not look back, and did not even turn around, only his wrist flipping, the sword stabbing out in reverse from beneath his armpit!

This sword strike did not have any flashiness, being just the most simple reverse stab.

Yet the timing and angle of the blade tip stabbing out were wonderful to the absolute limit…

Exactly pointing upon the weak point of the knife light.

“Clang—!”

Gold and iron chimed together, sparks splashing in all directions!

The knife light was pointed askew by three inches by this sword strike, brushing past Jun Ao’s shoulder as it passed, cutting open a hole on his sleeve with a chi-la sound.

The remaining momentum of the knife qi did not decrease, slashing upon the stone table inside the yard, the stone table splitting into two halves in response to the sound.

Only then did Jun Ao turn around, standing holding his sword, his gaze cold and sharp.

It was not until this time that the sound of breaking through the air came…

That knife strike was too fast, faster than the sound.

Upon the top of the wall not far away, a young man appeared.

Having the appearance of twenty years old or so, his countenance cold and strict.

He held a katana, staring at Jun Ao without uttering a single word.

Jun Ao’s sword strike just now… was not right.

The intelligence said Jun Ao had no dantian and was a mortal.

But the timing and force of that sword strike were absolutely not something a mortal could use out.

Especially when the blade tip hit the knife light, he clearly sensed a burst of pure true qi…

Although it was very weak, it indeed existed.

Jun Ao, however, broke out into a sweat of cold fright.

Just now, if it were not for the Myriad Soul Banner inside his body providing him a burst of true qi far exceeding the Third Realm.

That single knife strike of the man would have been enough to take his life!

…

In midair, Li Hanyi protected Huai’an behind him.

In front of him, a black shadow likewise surfaced slowly.

That person had his entire body wrapped inside black clothes, only revealing a pair of eyes.

In his hand he held a narrow and long Japanese katana.

“A Japanese ninja.” Li Hanyi’s voice was ice-cold, “Daring to come to the Zhennan Prince’s Mansion to commit assassination, what great audacity.”

The black-clothed person did not speak, only staring at Li Hanyi.

Then he wanted to draw his knife!