Blade in the Snow

Chapter 19: Practicing the Blade

Xu Fengnian truly picked up the martial arts he had once despised the most. However, before learning the sword, he would first learn the blade.

Naturally, he would learn from the White-Haired Old Kui.

Old Kui had originally intended to leave the Royal Palace to wander the Jianghu. He had long been clamoring that his hands were itchy, wanting to challenge those "Ten Great Masters" who sat on the throne but did little work. After defeating the nine behind the top spot, he planned to spar with the old monster Wang.

Old Kui could not stand that old scoundrel Wang. "If you're number one, just be number one! Why pretend to be number two? Damn pretentious! Detestable!" Yet, when Old Kui, who was gnawing on a lamb leg, heard that Xu Fengnian wanted to learn the blade from him, he burst into wild laughter, spraying chunks of mutton everywhere.

Seeing that the Young Master, holding that fine blade, was not joking in the slightest, Old Kui tossed aside the lamb leg. His large hand, covered in grease, stroked the scarlet giant blade that had hooks driven into his collarbones when he was in his prime. He asked a question: "Why should Grandpa teach you?"

Xu Fengnian replied, "I will ask Xu Xiao to invite Wei Beishan, the master of the horse-chopping blade, to come to Beiliang to spar with you. One every year, until I have mastered the blade."

Old Kui praised, "What a grand gesture!" He looked up at Xu Fengnian, his expression strange as he smiled and asked, "Boy, tell Grandpa why you want to learn the blade. Are the 300,000 Iron Cavalry of Beiliang not enough for you to show off your power?"

Xu Fengnian drew the Xiudong Blade, flicked it lightly with his finger, and grinned: "Those people's spears and blades, in the end, belong to others. I need to find one that fits my own hand."

Old Kui pursed his lips, neither affirming nor denying. He simply instructed Xu Fengnian to lift the Xiudong Blade with one arm and stand for half an hour. The blade body must not tilt. Otherwise, even if they invited the old monster Wang himself, he would not accept this opportunistic apprentice.

As a result, Xu Fengnian persisted for a full hour before fainting on the spot. Yet, the Xiudong Blade never tilted; more accurately, it didn't even tremble.

Old Kui stared blankly at the Young Master lying on the ground. He walked over, pinched the boy's right arm, which was stiff as iron, and clicked his tongue in admiration: "Found a treasure."

In the following days, Old Kui did not teach Xu Fengnian any profound or mysterious techniques. He simply made him repeat four boring movements: straight thrust, diagonal s***h, vertical chop, and returning sweep. Thrust 3,000 times, s***h 3,000 times, chop 4,000 times, sweep 4,000 times.

Old Kui had expected this young master, accustomed to a life of luxury and bells, to ask "why" at least a few times. But Xu Fengnian did not. He simply went to a secluded courtyard at dawn every day to practice, stumbling away late at night, never letting the Xiudong Blade leave his side.

This made Old Kui very depressed, yet also curious. What Xu Fengnian displayed was not just willpower, but also a quite solid foundation in gripping the blade. Could it be that this Young Master had been carefully trained by military generals before? Had he learned the fierce blades of the army as a self-defense technique?

During this period, the deliberate difficulties and the boring practice of gripping the blade served two purposes. Half of it was to make the boy give up knowing the difficulty; there are no shortcuts in the world of blade techniques. The other half was sincere: the primary requirement for learning the blade is to grip it. If one cannot even hold the blade steady, then one is not using the blade, but being dragged along by it. Even if one obtains a huge stack of peerless blade manuals, one can only perform flashy moves that look like embroidered flowers. Once facing an enemy, the only path is death.

The first day of blade practice happened to be during Great Heat (Dashu).

After Great Heat came Start of Autumn (Liqiu).

Xu Fengnian always practiced shirtless. His skin, carefully nurtured by a life of silk and delicacies into smoothness, was tanned into a bronze color, becoming increasingly muscular and strong. If he added a few scars, he would be indistinguishable from a fierce soldier.

Yet, his blade technique was far from entering the mainstream.

After White Dew, Autumn Equinox, and Cold Dew came Frost's Descent (Shuangjiang).

The 4,000 sweeps became 6,000.

Xu Fengnian finally asked his first question: "The blade is the courage of a hundred weapons. It requires grand, sweeping movements, demanding that 'even if a thousand armies and ten thousand horses stand before me, I shall go.' But this returning sweep is a technique of retracting the blade. Why must it be practiced even more?"

Old Kui laughed: "There are too many blade wielders in this world who are not afraid of death. But those who are not afraid of death are the easiest to kill. Even the most powerful returning blade technique in the world cannot escape the character 'sweep' (lue). There is no blade technique that takes lives from everyone indiscriminately. Grandpa's great philosophies were all thought of on the way back after wandering around outside the Hall of King Yan [Hell]. Learn from them."

The Arsenal contained mountain-high piles of blade manuals and formulas, yet from the first day Xu Fengnian started practicing, he never set foot in the Tide-Watching Pavilion, which martial artists of the Jianghu regarded as a holy land of martial arts.

Old Kui was very gratified by this.

The path of the blade, unlike the Heavenly Dao cultivated by that young grandmaster uncle at Wudang Mountain, relies most crucially on water dripping through stone. As for how to select mental cultivation methods to complement each other after achieving a small success, cultivating both internal and external aspects, Old Kui was not worried about that. The Butcher Xu Xiao had plenty of unorthodox methods. The question was: Could the Young Master, accustomed to silk and delicacies, last until that day?

After Start of Winter (Lidong), until Major Cold (Dahan), even when the lake surface froze, Old Kui would take Xu Fengnian to the bottom of the lake to practice the blade. His breath-holding time became increasingly longer. His blade technique still had not entered the hall, but he had first cultivated his aquatic skills.

Recently, several bands of roaming bandits had suddenly appeared outside the city, creating chaos right under the nose of the Great Pillar of State. This was akin to moving earth on the head of the God of Fortune. However, rumors in the city claimed that these groups of suicidal bandits were not trampled into meat paste by the Beiliang Iron Cavalry, but were slaughtered by a blade wielder wearing a ferocious mask.

After marveling at this, the idle onlookers in the city would always add a pitying remark: "It's a shame the Young Master, who has been silent for the past half-year, didn't see it. Otherwise, he would surely reward him greatly." As for the nobles within the city, they were all baffled. Not to mention who that ghostly blade wielder was, where did those bands of bandits come from? Under the rule of the Great Pillar of State, one could not say the roads were free of lost items and peace reigned with song and dance, but to say, as the rumors went, that refugees from the Northern Barbarians had infiltrated Beiliang to stir up trouble—they wouldn't believe it even if beaten to death.

On the 28th day of the lunar month, Xu Fengnian followed the Great Pillar of State to Jiuhua Mountain, the dojo of the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. This time, it was his duty, having undergone the coming-of-age ceremony, to strike the bell.

Removing armor and dismounting to climb the mountain, they spent the night at the Thousand Buddha Pavilion on the summit. By the lamp light, Xu Fengnian took time to read a thick letter sent by the True Person of Longhu Mountain.

Xu Fengnian smiled knowingly. The letter said that when Huang Man'er saw hawthorns covering the mountainside, he carried them back handful by handful to his master's residence for practice, filling the entire courtyard. Fortunately, the highly respected True Person on the mountain dared not scold him, only kindly explaining that hawthorns do not store well after being picked and suggesting he wait until next year to pick them when he comes down the mountain. The result was that Huang Man'er nearly tore the house down.

Xu Xiao had not slept. He walked into the room, glanced at the Xiudong Blade lying horizontally on the table under the lamp, and held another family letter in his hand. This one was from his second daughter, Xu Weixiong. The Great Pillar of State made a bitter face and said, "Your second sister wrote a letter scolding me."

Xu Fengnian asked with a smile, "Just because I'm practicing martial arts and the blade?"

After sitting down, Xu Xiao sighed: "If you keep practicing like this, she might run back from the Shangyin Academy to scold me to my face."

Xu Fengnian didn't look at the letter, but said gleefully: "What did she say?"

Xu Xiao narrowed his eyes: "She asked me to ask you: So what if you are number one with the blade?"

Xu Fengnian thought for a moment and said: "Just reply to her letter saying it strengthens the body and health. At least I won't be drained hollow by beautiful women."

Xu Xiao looked troubled: "Isn't this reason a bit too childish?"

Xu Fengnian said confidently: "To deal with Second Sister, you must use this kind of method. Otherwise, if you try to reason with her, can you win?"

Xu Xiao gave a thumbs-up, flattering him: "This blade training wasn't in vain!"

Morning of the 29th.

Mountain mist filled the air.

Xu Fengnian placed both hands on the hilt of the Xiudong Blade, stopping to gaze into the distance.

After Start of Winter, those bands of bandits were all "wooden dummies" arranged by his father, Xu Xiao, for blade practice. Xu Xiao gave no hints, but Xu Fengnian naturally guessed that they were mostly death-row prisoners from the Beiliang army who had committed grave offenses.

Xu Xiao governed the army with extreme strictness, rewarding and punishing clearly. Even when his adopted son Chen Zhibao violated the law in the past, he was publicly whipped until he became a man of blood. If not for this, the pure-stream scholars in the capital would not have circulated the saying that "Beiliang recognizes only the Liang King's Tiger Tally, not the Son of Heaven's Jade Seal."

These military criminals, temporarily acting as bandits and mountain thieves, had no inheritance of orthodox martial arts. However, their skills were all rolled out from risking their lives on the battlefield. They were powerful and ferocious, possessing the Beiliang Iron Cavalry's characteristic fearlessness in the face of death. They were most suitable for training Xu Fengnian in the straightforward, killing-focused fierce blade technique.

Old Kui personally watched Xu Fengnian kill off three waves completely. After that, he stopped paying close attention, merely giving addresses and letting Xu Fengnian go alone on a single horse with a single blade.

After the first wave, Xu Fengnian was struck by six blades—five light, one heavy. The blow that hit his back was not fatal. Lying in a pool of blood, he still did not let go of his blade. In the end, Old Kui carried him back to the Royal Palace.

For the subsequent batches, Xu Fengnian fought while injured. Old Kui absolutely gave him no opportunity to be lazy or complain. If it were any other expert hired by a royal palace, they would never dare to treat a Young Master, whose status was comparable to imperial relatives, so roughly. Fighting fierce bandits to train a fierce blade; the dangers involved were beyond words to outsiders.

Xu Fengnian closed his eyes and slowed his breathing.

He wondered if it was time to start on internal cultivation? No matter how domineering external blade techniques are, when facing a true master of both internal and external cultivation, they are like a child's play, worthy only of ridicule.

However, internal cultivation emphasizes advancing step by step. Polishing and connecting the various acupoints and meridians within the body is no different from marching troops and deploying formations. Take Wudang, which claims half of the world's internal energy comes from its Jade Pillar. Especially for those Taoist priests with talent, bone structure, and a guiding master, every day on the mountain is a day of cultivation, striving to reach the realm of the Great Dao that resonates with the biological transformation of heavenly mysteries.

Internal energy is not like food; you cannot stuff your belly full of it. Where could Xu Fengnian suddenly produce the precious internal strength that usually requires ten or twenty years of gradual grinding?

Should he go to the Tide-Watching Pavilion to find some unorthodox methods? Xu Fengnian frowned tightly, then opened his eyes. Before him was a sea of clouds; in his ears, the sound of wind through pines. He felt refreshed. For no reason, he thought of the former owner of the Xiudong Blade. He wondered when that White Fox Face would ascend to the third floor? That beauty probably despises that the Xiudong Blade was given to the wrong person?

That year, amidst heavy snow, when White Fox Face drew the blade on the lake, that was the true "Fierce Blade Journey."

Xu Fengnian knew clearly the gap between them was like clouds and mud, but he did not become discouraged. An old man with a missing front tooth who always smiled foolishly had once said: "Passing gas after eating full is quite comfortable, but passing gas one after another, slowly, is even more comforting."

The method he was currently using to practice the blade was the stupidest method.

It was time to strike the morning bell.

Due to his blade practice, when Xu Fengnian struck the bell, the sound was loud and resonant.

In total, the bell rang 108 times throughout the day.

Qi Dangguo, the one who carried the banner against corruption in the Beiliang army, showed an unusual expression. Among the other adopted sons, Yao Jian and Ye Xizhen exchanged glances and smiled, a mix of surprise and joy. The fat ball Chu Lushan almost bulged his eyes out of their sockets. As for the Little Butcher Chen Zhibao and the Left Bear Yuan Zuozong, they were patrolling the border and did not appear.

The group walked down Jiuhua Mountain on foot. Walking side by side with Xu Fengnian, the Great Pillar of State said slowly: "If you truly wish to practice martial arts, there are experts in the mansion who know some unorthodox paths. It just depends on whether you are willing to put down your airs."

Xu Fengnian laughed dryly: "What airs do I have to hold up?"

The Great Pillar of State gazed distantly at Wudang Mountain, narrowed his eyes, and said: "That is good then."