Chapter 40: Evaluation IV

Since the mist shrouded the night, most houses here were built with very large indoor spaces. The dining hall where they were eating, for instance, was at least two hundred square meters in size—extremely spacious.

Mingde stood in the open space, his right hand hanging naturally, fingertips pointing toward the ground.

“Watch carefully. Clear Wind Sword First Stance — Formless Wind Direction!”

Swish!

His right hand suddenly blurred, producing complex afterimages. Over a dozen afterimages slowly merged like a flower bud.

In the next instant, the bud bloomed abruptly, and a faint white sword light thrust from the center.

Although it was clearly a finger, the sword light he thrust out was like a real longsword, striking the ground in an instant.

Puff!

A black hole of unknown depth appeared on the ground.

Mingde slowly retracted his hand.

“Now watch the second stance, Single Hand Brushing Clouds!”

He waved his right hand casually to the side. Layer upon layer of afterimages reappeared. In the next instant, all the afterimages merged abruptly and then exploded outward.

This time, no sword light was seen, only an invisible wind blowing in all directions.

The next moment, Lin Hui suddenly felt a chill on his neck. He hurriedly turned sideways and saw that Mingde had appeared on his right side at some unknown time, his finger pointing like a sword straight at his neck.

The Mingde who had been standing in front of him just a moment ago slowly faded away as an afterimage.

“Third stance…”

Mingde demonstrated one move after another without holding anything back, thoroughly displaying the Clear Wind Sword Style.

Until the final killing move—Wind Riding Three Points—a total of nine times nine, eighty-one stances, were completely executed.

“Did you see them all clearly?”

“I saw them clearly! But this disciple is dull and doesn’t know how to execute such moves,” Lin Hui said solemnly.

Watching the entire demonstration, he realized the formidable nature of the Clear Wind Sword. This sword style focused on one phrase: caught off guard.

Its characteristic was to launch unexpected and unforeseen attacks, instantly piercing vital points and killing the opponent.

This kind of sword style focused on strangeness, deceit, and risk. However, once it encountered an impeccable, dignified frontal assault, it met its nemesis.

If the opponent was impeccable, the sword couldn’t break their defense. The final result was that, at the same cultivation realm, Daoist Baohe was defeated by Song Zhanlong in just a few moves.

This wasn’t a gap in realms, but a gap in fighting styles. Choosing a risky path naturally exposed larger flaws. Once the risky path was blocked and the flaws were large, the result was a swift defeat.

But this kind of martial art also had its benefits.

That was the “first-sight kill.” Once the opponent failed to react in time, it meant a quick victory.

“To execute moves, one must pay attention to maintaining the state of one’s heart—the State of Mind. This is the mental cultivation method. The mental cultivation of the Clear Wind Sword requires you to maintain a clear state like a mirror-smooth lake surface, clearly weaving the sword moves, compressing them, and then finding an opportunity to explode in an instant!”

As Mingde explained, he reached into the inner pocket of his robe and took out a small black scroll.

“This is the visualization diagram for our sect’s mental cultivation method, used to help disciples experience the state of mind within. You must remember: if the heart is chaotic, the hand will be chaotic. The heart is the root of everything. Keep the heart unmoved, and the sword technique will naturally be orderly.”

Lin Hui took the scroll and slowly unrolled it. It depicted a bright moon over mountain ranges. A sickle-like moon hung high above, releasing silver moonlight that sprinkled over the mountains like silk threads.

A sense of tranquility and relaxation welled up in his heart.

Lin Hui carefully savored this feeling. Slowly, he seemed to vaguely discover that the feeling of continuous execution when he practiced the Seven-Section Quick Sword was surprisingly similar to the artistic conception of this visualization diagram.

As he watched, the sword stances of the Seven-Section Quick Sword inexplicably emerged in his mind one by one.

“Alright. Next, use the Nine-Section Quick Sword and attack me with full force. I will test your current sword cultivation,” Mingde clapped his hands, interrupting Lin Hui’s train of thought.

“Yes.”

Lin Hui straightened his body, held the sword in his right hand, and closed his eyes.

“Nine-Section Quick Sword. This disciple has stepped into the Seventh-Rank of Body Tempering. Please guide me, Teacher.”

“Just use it freely,” Mingde smiled. Progressing to the Seventh-Rank of Body Tempering was indeed a level of genius surpassing even Huang Shan and the others.

Huang Shan and Qiu Yiren’s genius lay in mastering sword techniques, while Lin Hui’s genius lay in Body Tempering.

Both had their strengths.

But it had to be said that talent like Lin Hui’s was easier to overlook. After all, accumulating strength to burst forth later didn’t show any special signs at the beginning.

Thoughts flowed in Mingde’s mind as he watched Lin Hui two meters in front of him, waiting for the opponent to strike.

Ding…

Just then, his expression shifted. He seemed to hear a soft sound like a bell by his ear.

It was as if a silver wind chime hanging under the window was swaying in the wind, gently colliding.

“Nine-Section Quick Sword…” Lin Hui’s voice came with the soft sound. “Phantom Golden Autumn…”

The autumn wind howled, and the wind chimes agitated. In an instant, a series of illusory figures appeared in Mingde’s eyes.

Those were Lin Hui’s figures.

They connected into a line, perfectly forming a coherent phantom from drawing the sword, raising it, to striking.

Chii!!

All the phantoms merged instantly, turning into a human figure that appeared behind Mingde, slowly turning around.

The blade silently stabbed toward Mingde’s back.

Puff!!

The blade stabbed into a thin layer of white light, piercing a small dent into it before finally stopping.

“…!!!” The smile on Mingde’s face had long since frozen.

He had raised his right hand slightly, forming a sword shape, but until the end, he didn’t strike. He simply watched Lin Hui’s move completely and quietly.

In the end, he chose to withstand this sword strike with his internal force. This was to thoroughly watch the entire process of this move without missing a single detail.

He was distracted.

Yes.

The moment Lin Hui struck, he was distracted.

He had never imagined that the sword moves of the Nine-Section Quick Sword could reach such a flawless and perfect level.

That sword light was irreducible, impeccable, as if it were the most correct and perfect trajectory between heaven and earth, making one involuntarily captivated.

Just one look, and Mingde felt that the Nine-Section Quick Sword he had practiced before was wrong.

Not just wrong, but ridiculously wrong!

If practiced like Lin Hui, the power of the Nine-Section Quick Sword would increase by at least half!

“How did you practice this?”

After a long time, Mingde asked in a hoarse voice.

“This disciple practiced according to Teacher’s instructions. Is there a problem?” Lin Hui sheathed his sword and replied.

He naturally couldn’t mention the existence of the blood-red mark.

To be honest, this was also his first time using the Perfected Version of the Nine-Section Quick Sword in a spar. He hadn’t expected his teacher’s reaction to be so intense.

He felt somewhat uneasy.

“Very good. Practiced very well!” Mingde said forcefully, a smile reappearing on his face.

But this smile quickly turned stiff.

How he wished a genius like Lin Hui had appeared ten years ago… If he had grown up then… he might not have failed to stop Song Zhanlong.

Unfortunately, it was too late now…

“You… perform the entire Nine-Section Quick Sword for me once,” Mingde suppressed the shock in his heart and said again.

“Yes!” Lin Hui nodded, raising his hand again to strike.

The sound resembling wind chimes produced by the blade piercing the air rang out again.

Seven afterimages of the Seventh-Rank Body Tempering flashed constantly, executing the brand-new Perfected Version of the Nine-Section Quick Sword time and time again.

After a long while, following Lin Hui’s demonstration, Mingde re-adjusted his own Nine-Section Quick Sword. For a moment, he felt his attack speed increase significantly. Although it didn’t have the eerie attraction of Lin Hui’s perfection that seemed like an illusion, it substantially improved his own strength.

Remember, the Nine-Section Quick Sword was a simplified version of the Clear Wind Sword Style. Now that it was improved, the boost to the Clear Wind Sword Style was also not small.

That night, Mingde didn’t rest. Instead, he constantly adjusted his own sword technique, integrating the new Perfected Nine-Section Quick Sword into himself.

What slightly disappointed him was that no matter how hard he thought and tried, the Nine-Section Quick Sword he executed was far inferior to Lin Hui’s.

He couldn’t execute that sword technique, which was perfect to the point of being mesmerizing and hypnotic, no matter how many times he imitated it.

Fortunately, although he couldn’t imitate it perfectly, even the inferior effect made Mingde feel that his sword attainment had increased by at least several degrees.

Unlike Mingde, who stayed up all night thinking hard, Lin Hui went to the side room arranged by his teacher to rest after demonstrating a few times.

He wasn’t just resting; he was also making adjustments for the next step of the blood-red mark’s evolution.

The next target for the blood-red mark had already been arranged: the newly learned Clear Wind Sword Style.

Having practiced both the Seven-Section Quick Sword and the Nine-Section Quick Sword to perfection, the final destination, the Clear Wind Sword Style, naturally couldn’t be missed.

However, this time, Lin Hui didn’t evolve the whole set together but planned to evolve it move by move.

Lying on his back in the dim bedroom, resting on a hard porcelain pillow, he closed his eyes and quietly watched the red text in his lower field of vision.

‘Clear Wind Sword Style: The main cultivation sword style of the Clear Wind Taoist Temple. Focuses on speed and illusion. The sword technique is strange, deceitful, and thrilling, consisting of a total of eighty-one moves. Continuously perfected by multiple generations of Clear Wind Temple Masters. Evolvable Branches: 3.’

‘Hmm? There are actually three evolution branches?’ Lin Hui was stunned, surprised in his heart.

The Clear Wind Sword Style was already the highest sword art of the Clear Wind Taoist Temple, yet the blood-red mark offered three evolution branches. This was strange.

This reminded him of the inexplicable evolution branches that appeared when he grabbed random things before.

Like the chicken leg back then.

‘Could it be that it’s just like the chicken leg back then?’

A trace of expectation inexplicably rose in Lin Hui’s heart. He quickly concentrated his attention and clicked on the evolution branch column.

Chii.

The blood text blurred, then became clear again.

‘Current Evolvable Branches: 1. Clear Wind Sword Style Perfected Version. 2. Clear Wind Sword Style Purgatory Breath Version. 3. Clear Wind Sword Style Arctic Whisper Version.’

‘I knew it. Just like the chicken leg back then, it still involves Purgatory and Arctic…’ Looking at these three new branches, Lin Hui fell into deep thought.

A moment later, he separated the first move, Formless Wind Direction, and let the blood-red mark evolve it alone.

This time, the branch given by the blood-red mark was only the evolved version of the move itself, changing from Formless Wind Direction to Boundless Wind Direction.

‘Can I only touch other branches if I evolve the whole set together?’ Lin Hui frowned tightly. This conflicted somewhat with his previous plan.

Looking at the branch lines for the full set evolution, any fool would know that the other two, Purgatory Breath and Arctic Whisper, were definitely incredibly powerful, as they were on the same level as the Perfected Version of the Clear Wind Sword Style.

Just look at the Perfected Version of the Seven-Section Quick Sword. The Body Tempering speed was shockingly fast, allowing him, with ordinary aptitude, to pose as a genius.

‘It’s time to choose…’

Looking at the three choices floating in the blood-red mark, Lin Hui fell into hesitation.

(End of Chapter)