After Elder Hanhe left.
"Elder Shangwu, do you have any arrangents for Li Mo these next few days?" Ying Bing asked.
Shang Wu slightly narrowed her almond-shaped eyes, thinking for a mont before replying,
"Aside from cooking, there’s nothing particularly pressing."
"Then may I trouble you to lend him to for three days?"
"I’d like him to train with in swordsmanship for that ti." Ying Bing spoke softly.
After all, she wasn’t Li Mo’s master.
If she wanted to teach him anything, she still had to seek permission from the ‘proper authority.’
"Little Bing’er, your swordsmanship is certainly trustworthy, but three days... won’t he learn very little?"
Shang Wu nodded in agreent, though she was still sowhat curious.
"I have this."
Ying Bing withdrew an item from her sleeve.
Three sky-blue sticks of incense.
"Spirit Resonance Incense? The Sect Leader even gave you this? How generous..."
Shang Wu’s almond eyes widened slightly, clearly aware of the item’s value.
This was not a product of the Eastern Wasteland Domain.
Rather, it originated from the Central Divine Province, crafted from a rare treasure called Spirit Resonance Wood, ground into powder and blended with other precious materials.
Lighting this incense while ditating on martial techniques could double one’s comprehension.
However, Spirit Resonance Wood grew exceedingly slowly—only an inch every three hundred years—making its yield incredibly scarce.
The sect’s current reserves couldn’t be much, remnants from the founding patriarch’s era, painstakingly preserved by successive generations of leaders.
For Ying Bing to be given three sticks at once spoke volus of the esteem in which she was held.
Shang Wu scratched her head, feeling a little embarrassed.
It seed all she’d done for her disciple was hand him a couple of martial manuals and freeload off his cooking...
"Wait, you an to say you’re going to use the Spirit Resonance Incense on Little Mo?"
Shang Wu snapped back to attention.
"Mn. This item is of no use to otherwise."
Ying Bing nodded.
"Alright, then I’ll leave it to you."
"Tsk tsk... that boy really has so luck."
Shang Wu grinned as she agreed.
If she hadn’t gotten to use the good stuff, her disciple benefiting from it was just as well.
......
"Learn swordsmanship with you?"
Li Mo had just unblocked another ridian.
Eleven ridians now—his small world had expanded by a few more zhang.
Then Ying Bing pushed open the door and entered.
"Mn. Follow downstairs."
Ying Bing’s expression was serene as she spoke, then turned and descended without another word.
"What’s gotten into her all of a sudden..."
Li Mo scratched his head, then seed to realize.
The ice block wasn’t the type to mince words.
The incident beneath the Clear Abyss—though she hadn’t spoken of it—must have weighed on her mind.
Fine by him.
With the ice block around, he could save himself a lot of effort in martial comprehension.
Knowing he wasn’t a natural with the sword, Young Li had no intention of abandoning it entirely.
Besides, he didn’t have any other martial techniques to practice at the mont.
......
The open grounds of Autumn Water Pavilion.
From a bronze censer, pale blue smoke curled upward.
The scent of the incense alone carried a clarity that sharpened the mind and invigorated thought.
Li Mo knew this was sothing extraordinary.
"From mastery to perfection represents the mont you truly make a martial art your own—no longer bound by its forms."
"At that point, you need not even rely on sword techniques."
"Similarly, every sword technique is but an approach to the true essence of the sword’s path. Understand one, and a hundred others will follow."
Ying Bing pressed two fingers together and lightly brushed the side of a bamboo stalk.
Imdiately, a mark appeared—not the fiery red of crane feathers, but an icy blue.
Li Mo’s eyes widened slightly, unable to hold back his amazent.
‘Thousand Feathers of the Fire Crane’ had been transford by the ice block into ‘Thousand Feathers of the Ice Crane.’
This proved she had completely internalized this high-tier sword technique.
And he’d never even seen her practice it.
"The pinnacle of your sword art should grant you full control over the timing, quantity, and placent of its force."
"You could even condense a thousand feathers into one—focusing all into a single point, piercing stone like dripping water."
The mont her words fell—
Snap!
One of the crane feather marks abruptly exploded, its power ten tis greater than a single strike.
"What you must do now is forget the ‘techniques.’"
"Pick up your sword."
"Alright."
Li Mo drew his battered, notched steel sword.
Just as he prepared to move, a small, cool hand clasped over his, followed by the delicate fragrance of a young woman enveloping him.
Ying Bing held his hand firmly.
Li Mo: "!"
This was different from the sensation of leaping into the Clear Abyss.
Back then, free-falling had left his mind blank—no room for wandering thoughts.
But now...
"Don’t lose focus. I’ll only guide you once."
A clear, crisp voice sounded by his ear.
True hands-on teaching.
Even in her past life, among her disciples—so of extraordinary talent—she had never offered more than a few words of advice.
Ying Bing had never taught anyone with such dedication before.
"Got it."
Li Mo steadied his mind and began learning earnestly.
Fifteen minutes later.
Ying Bing released his hand and silently stepped aside.
In her grip now was a ruler of unknown origin, her gaze tranquil as she looked at him. Her vermilion lips parted slightly:
"Practice."
Li Mo: "......"
Did the ice block an that if his form was incorrect, she’d whip his palms with that ruler?
Five minutes later, Young Li got his answer.
Not the palms.
"I’m a grown man! Since when do people get spanked on the butt?!"
Li Mo clutched his backside in protest.
It didn’t hurt.
But the humiliation!
"Pfft—HAHAHAHA!"
Shang Wu laughed until she nearly toppled off her reclining chair, tears streaming from her eyes.
Ying Bing remained unmoved, lowering her gaze as she said, "Forget the sword forms. You just used them again. Power originates from the earth, flows through your ridians—you don’t need sword forms to achieve the sa effect."
Not a single word about the butt incident.
No room for negotiation.
Fine, fine.
If I, Li Mo, don’t flex a little, you’ll really think I’m not a cheat, huh?
Martial insights, activate!
[Five years of martial insights successfully injected.]
[Year One: Under Ying Bing’s guidance, you gained enlightennt and began striving to grasp the essence of swordplay, letting go of the forms.]
......
[Year Five: Through relentless practice, you’ve forgotten nearly half the sword forms, no longer constrained by the first three stances.]
Damn.
Even with the ice block’s pointers, five years of martial insights only got this far.
If I’d brute-forced it alone, who knows how long it would’ve taken.
"I’m ready."
Li Mo picked up his sword and began practicing again.
"You really got it?"
Watching him swing the blade, a flicker of surprise passed through Ying Bing’s eyes.
Yet after just a few moves, Li Mo stopped.
"Uh… could you guide through it one more ti?"
"......Fine."
After a brief silence, Ying Bing nodded in agreent.
And so, the ice block’s swordplay mini-class resud.
.....
"Wait for a sec..."
"Got it! Now guide through it again."
.....
This scene repeated over and over.
Ying Bing felt an indescribable strangeness.
It was as if Li Mo… was both brilliant and dense?
During instruction, he was clumsy, often needing corrections, even making mistakes she considered embarrassingly basic.
But when left alone to ponder for a while, it was like an epiphany—all those flaws and errors vanished.
Then, monts later, he’d ask her to teach him the next part.
What she didn’t know was this:
Little Li was just saving up on martial insights.
......
Three days later.
On this night, the ice block, who had just broken through to the Twelve ridians, dread again.
She dread of the ti when she ruled the Cassia Palace, before ascending as the Phoenix Heaven Empress.
Back then, the conflict between the orthodox and demonic factions of the Central Plains was raging.
The imperial court watched from the sidelines, fanning the flas, eager to see the sects weaken each other.
The Cassia Palace walked the line between righteousness and evil, rarely interfering in martial affairs, yet it gathered nearly half the realm’s most powerful female cultivators. Thus, both sides fought desperately to win them over.
But the Great Yu Dynasty clearly didn’t want the Cassia Palace tipping the balance by joining either side.
So the Crown Prince, already acting as regent at the ti, arrived at the Cassia Palace with betrothal gifts lavish enough to make any major faction drool.
"This Crown Prince wishes to unite in matrimony with the ruler of the Cassia Palace, forging an eternal bond."
This wasn’t the first marriage proposal she’d received, but it was the grandest.
Yet the outco was no different.
The suitor couldn’t even withstand three strikes.
"I have no interest in the weak."
People kept disturbing her—it was endlessly irritating.
Truthfully, she had zero interest in power struggles or bloodshed.
Beyond securing her place at the pinnacle of martial arts, nothing else mattered to her.
So that must have been what she said back then.
But as rumors spread, it morphed into:
"The ruler of the Cassia Palace prefers n stronger than her."
This tale persisted even after she beca the Phoenix Heaven Empress, though by then, no one dared challenge her anymore...
"Lately, I’ve been dreaming often..."
"Without reaching the Observation Spirit Realm, I still can’t control my own mind."
Ying Bing rose, brushing frost from her shoulders.
Beyond the window, the sound of swordplay drifted in. She pushed open the shutter.
Under the sunlight, a young man danced with his blade.
The sword’s shadow sotis fragnted into hundreds, sotis rged into one.
Fluid, effortless, like an immortal crane stretching its wings.
Ying Bing watched quietly, the faintest smile curling at her lips—one she didn’t even notice herself.
She supposed she wasn’t a bad teacher.
Of course, Li Mo’s talent played a part too.
Strangely enough, $2ith guidance, he progressed by leaps and bounds; without it, he seed utterly ordinary.
But all in all, $2espite the stumbles, he’d actually mastered this superior sword art to perfection.
Ying Bing had initially thought reaching completion would be impressive enough.
This far exceeded expectations.
In half a month, when the system ranked the Eastern Wasteland Domain’s geniuses, she might actually see his na sowhere in the middle tiers?
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