Food Fairy Lord

Chapter 454: Letter from the Master

"When swordsmen are young and just starting out on the path of swordsmanship, they look at the vast array of swordsmanship in the world and often want to learn any swordsmanship they find they like. Especially for those of you present, 'learning swordsmanship' is actually a pretty easy thing, so you don't care about it and often want to learn it."

“But when I learned swordsmanship for a while and wanted to move up, I found that I was not so comfortable.”

"Guanchuan and Shanchuan are sweet and weak fruit wines. Anyone can taste them at will. They can be drunk like water and squandered at will. Maichuan and Chaochuan are not so easy to deal with. Some of them are real strong liquors. Few people can drink them, and they can't be drunk often. At this time, you have to choose carefully."

"And when you want to go further, you will often find that no sword is within your reach." The old man looked at them, "【Sword of Will】, each one is like a flower on the mountain top. If you want to learn it, you must grasp its true meaning. At this time, it will require your life experience, your emotional character, and of course, your sword experience and understanding."

"Beautiful places, wonderful wilderness, wonders, and the ultimate scenery. Every step is a chasm. And if you go further up, what about the [Sword of the Heart] and the [Sword of the Way]?" The old man said slowly, "They begin to demand your entire life."

"To learn the Sword of King Mu, one must first master the Eight Horses and Seven Jades; and if one has not mastered the Confucian Sword, the Sword of Yi will be useless."

"Each sword is a reward for the previous level and a foundation for the next level. The destination is the sword of the way. This is the Sword Ladder."

"There are so many sword techniques in the world, and the ones that can be called treasures are as numerous as the sea of ​​smoke, and it is difficult to count them all. However, the life span of a practitioner is no more than a hundred years." The old man said, "What sword technique to learn and why to learn it are questions that every swordsman must answer."

"Not every swordsman needs a Sword Ladder."

"There are countless people who pick up swords in the world, all with their own reasons. Some do it for fame and fortune, some do it to avenge their enemies, some do it to bring honor to their master, and some don't even know why. The 'sword' can help them achieve their goals, and they can pick it up and put it down."

"Only those who learn swords for the sake of swords are my fellow travelers. The road is long and arduous, and the search is endless. In this life, we must see the true meaning of swords and reach the pinnacle of swordsmanship. Since we have come here to ascend to heaven, we must have a ladder."

The old man stood up with his sword in hand, and slowly scanned every face in front of him: "Constructing the sword ladder is the 'enlightenment of the Tao'. From now on, you are all seekers of the Tao. You will spend the rest of your life climbing this sword ladder, learning and understanding swordsmanship, and ascending the stairs to heaven."

Suddenly he tilted his head and said, "Pei Ye, what are you staring at?"

Pei Ye was caught off guard and was shocked: "Dean, Dean."

"Why are you distracted?"

Pei Ye was stunned. He opened his mouth, pursed his lips and said, "Master, I was just thinking that I am the one you said 'learn swordsmanship not for the sake of swordsmanship'."

"When I was learning swordsmanship, I never thought about pursuing the great way of swordsmanship." The young man said frankly, "When I wanted to learn a sword move the most, it was to cut the throat of the enemy in front of me. Later, I practiced swordsmanship diligently, more for the purpose of defeating strong enemies. Although I like swords, I don't like it for its own sake."

There was silence on the field, and Wang Shousi quietly hooked his finger.

The dean is talking about the foundation of the Dao Qihui and the significance of the Xiujian Academy. At this time, you say that you and I have different paths. Doesn't that mean we can only "not work together"?

Pei Ye actually frowned a little. He certainly would not stand up and sing a different tune, but who would have thought that the old man would hit the nail on the head at first sight.

But when this question really came to him, he was too proud to lie.

The dean snorted, then laughed. Suddenly he pointed at him with his eyebrows raised, and said angrily, "That's right, that's why I hate people like you the most!"

He sighed, "Don't I know that there are very few people in the world who are crazy about swords? Daoqihui accepts more than a hundred people every year. How many of them are sincere?"

His eyebrows dropped, but his temperament became sharp: "Because not every swordsman is qualified to build the [Sword Ladder]."

"If there are tens of millions of sword practitioners in the world, there are probably only a few thousand who can be called geniuses, and among them, only one in ten can really complete the sword ladder."

"Those who are obsessed with swords may not necessarily be favored by swords, and you are a rare swordsman in the world, but you don't regard the sword as your life." The old man smiled, "The world is ruthless, it is just like that."

"Daoqihui is not a religion. You must believe in it before we will teach you the true knowledge. What we want is for those who can obtain the Tao but do not know the way and have no swords to climb, to have a grand door. There are always people who forget their desire to seek the Tao after leaving the Sword Academy; but there are also people who come in with worldly intentions, and after leaving, they travel alone around the world, just to fill the next gap in the sword ladder."

The old man looked at Pei Ye and said with a smile: "Although I have devoted my life to it, if you hold the sword in your hand while thinking of other things, I can only curse you, 'Damn God!'"

He opened the lid of the pot, raised his head and took a sip: "Alright, I haven't told you my name yet - my name is Qiu Jizi, I am the head of the Shenjing Sword Academy for thirty years. Today I will repair the sword ladder for you. I must be sincere, and I hope you will be true."

"Let's start with the most difficult one." Qiu Jizi smiled and said with a determined look, "Zhang Chao."

There was some laughter in the arena. The White Ape Cave master's name was always the first one to be mentioned, and everyone had gotten used to it.

As soon as the word "most difficult" came out, Pei Ye began to understand the meaning of "construction".

No wonder the sword ladder varies from person to person. It is obviously determined by what sword the swordsman has learned and what swords he can learn in the future, all of which are influenced by his background, experience, and talent.

For example, Zhang Chao has not learned any sword of mind skills, so the dean must first select a few sword of mind skills that are suitable and easy to learn for him, and then make these sword of mind skills able to lead to a certain path of sword of mind.

But there are only a few swords in the world, which one would he be willing to learn?

How harsh the conditions will be?
What is more important is that the sword heart cultivated through this must also have the possibility of reaching the "Tao".

No wonder the dean has to do this kind of thing. Perhaps only this dean who has been in office for thirty years can know almost all the swords in the world and select a narrow but passable path from them.

The words "the most difficult" were indeed true. Even though Qiu Jizi had already started preparing when he learned the list of names, the two of them still discussed for more than half an hour with frowns on their faces under the table in front of the building.

Finally, Zhang Chao came down holding a book inlaid with jade. It was the "Sword Ladder" carefully written by Qiu Jizi for him. There were three neat characters on the cover, which read "Ape Justice".

After that, it was indeed much smoother. All the sword sects that had the sword of mind inheritance were seeking the path to the "heart sword", and as the best disciples of these sword sects, before they came to the sword academy, their masters had carefully drawn the future direction for them.

This is when Qiu Jizi's real job begins, to use the swords of the world he knows to fill in and optimize this sword ladder, so that the sword student will know clearly what sword to learn next.

Ning Shuhong and Wang Shousi each went over in turn, holding the booklets they brought with them. That was the direction written by their commander. Qiu Jizi copied it and pondered it over, filling in the swords from the Sword Storage Tower one by one, turning it from a concept into something practical.

The sword ladder is indeed a more personal thing, but there is no reason to say that it cannot be disclosed at all. In short, Ning and Wang both showed him their jade books. Ning Shuhong's was named [The Road to Shu is Difficult], and Wang Shousi's was [Fire Fusang].

Both of them have five levels in total, each with its own name, which explains the context in detail, and lists the swords that should be learned in detail in the first two levels.

Pei Ye became more and more confused. The old man said that Zhang Chao was the most difficult. He thought that was not necessarily the case, because Zhang Chao still had a legacy. What he had learned was really little and confusing, but he himself did not understand anything. The old man wanted to build a sword ladder for him, which was really out of nothing.

However, the process was finally completed, and it became increasingly simple as one went on - for example, in Tianshan and Shushan, only the Dao Sword column of the Sword Ladder was not complete, and Qiu Jizi did not go further than the Two Sword Gates, and only filled in some stones and jade from other mountains in the lower three levels.

When it came to Yang Zhenbing, the sword ladder that Bailu Palace gave him was a completely complete thing. Qiu Jizi only repaired it slightly, annotated it, and returned it. "Then. There is only one left." Qiu Jizi stretched, stood up and walked towards the Cangjian Tower, smiling, "Pei Ye, come with me."

Pei Ye was startled and followed him.

The previous twenty-four people had not entered the building yet, so Pei Ye was actually caught off guard.

"Because it's difficult here." Qiu Jizi sighed, "Let's find a quiet place and take it slow."

"I don't have any inheritance, thank you for your concern." Pei Ye said apologetically.

Qiu Jizi looked at him with wide eyes: "You don't have any inheritance?"

"."

Qiu Jizi laughed: "If you don't have the inheritance, then no one else in the world has it."

"It is precisely because your inheritance is so clear and your path is so broad that I have to be extremely careful in building a sword ladder for you." Qiu Jizi shook his wine gourd and looked at him seriously, "Don't let my lack of skills hurt your future."

".I just thought that everyone has the sword ladder given by the master for reference, but I have nothing. It's a shame to trouble you."

"You have it, too."

".ah?"

Qiu Jizi smiled, took out a snow-white letter from his arms and handed it to him. Pei Ye took it in surprise. This was the letter Ming Qitian sent yesterday, which he had already opened and read.

"I studied all night last night." Qiu Jizi sighed with a smile, pulled out a chair for him, and sat down himself.

Pei Ye unfolded the letter.

"Senior Jizi,
It has been a few months since we last met.

I heard that your academy has recently accepted new sword students, among whom there is one named Pei Ye, who is an outstanding swordsman and a rookie. I hope you will take good care of him.

I have already sent him a letter of recommendation, and thinking of the sword ladder, which is a lifelong task for a swordsman, and he is confused about it, I have no choice but to bother him again.

I have been discussing sword skills with him for a long time. I know his sword and often think about this matter. I compiled the sword ladder for him in the past month, and I also asked my master to check it yesterday. There should be no major mistakes.

Please give me a reference.

Qitian, I greet you. "

"And it's the best in the world." Qiu Jizi sighed, "My Master has tested it, so what else do I have to refer to? Let's study it respectfully."

He smiled and opened the attachment with the word "Sword Ladder" written on it and spread it on the table. Pei Ye looked at it and found that it was indeed the familiar handwriting of the woman. This was almost the most handwriting he had ever seen.

The writing was dense and tiresome. When unfolded, the paper was half the size of a table, and the tiny handwriting filled it entirely.

Pei Ye was stunned for a moment before he lowered his eyes to look at the content, only to see that it was also roughly divided into five levels. However, unlike Ning and Wang's books, which became increasingly concise as they went up, the length of each level was almost the same.

"All sword ladders are built on five levels. Clumsy, spiritual, intention, heart, and Tao are intertwined with the realm of swordsmanship." Qiu Jizi said, "You are the opposite of other sword students. The two highest levels of 'heart' and 'Tao' are already clear, while the three lower levels are extremely weak. So this is a process of writing steps according to the answer - do you know what your answer is?"

".It is the last move of "Flying Geese on a Snowy Night", but I haven't seen it yet."

"Yes, I said that you have mastered the sword ladder because this Dao sword is sleeping completely in your heart. This is the fifth step without any hesitation." Qiu Jizi copied the contents of the letter into the blank jade book, "and the path to learn it has been clearly marked for you - you have to learn the following four styles of the heart sword, and then you can hatch this Dao sword."

"And you have already mastered three of the four styles of the Heart Sword, and only the last style, 'Silence of a Snowy Night', has not been completed, right?"

".yes."

What the old man said about "studying all night" was indeed not false. He lowered his eyes to look at the letter, which pointed out his current path of sword practice with incredible accuracy.

"Then this is the key." Qiu Jizi raised his head and looked at him seriously, "This is the end point of our sword ladder today - the snowy night is completed, the sword heart is forged, and once the sword heart is completed, the four swords will naturally all be heart swords. And when the four swords are completed, the Dao Sword will be in sight."

"How do you learn the Sword of Snowy Night?"

Pei Ye was stunned. None of the first three moves he learned were planned. They were all acquired through personal experience and spiritual enlightenment. Before learning them, he had no idea what they looked like.

It is the same now. Although he knows that this sword was born in the "quiet snowy night", he cannot see what it looks like, let alone how to learn it.

"Because you haven't stood at that level, they are too profound and mysterious for you." Qiu Jizi said, and sighed and looked at him, "You are too far away from them, so naturally you don't know how to learn them - so I still wonder, how did you learn the first three moves?"

"."

"But no matter how you learned it, this method won't work now." Qiu Jizi pointed at the letter and said, "Shao Jianjun said that this move is 'After enlightenment, listen to the falling snow quietly. And the precipitation is the most irreplaceable for spiritual enlightenment.' I agree with him."

Qiu Jizi looked at him and said, "No Dao sword can be acquired through spiritual enlightenment alone. This is not a problem of talent, but a problem of the sword itself."

Pei Ye was slightly at a loss, Qiu Jizi said seriously: "Movements, intentions, and hearts are the sword's exploration of a person from the outside to the inside. Between the sword and the person is the realm of sword talent."

"But 'Tao' is not only in people. The Dao Sword is, to some extent, a matter between heaven and earth and man, between the Dao and the heart." Qiu Jizi said, "So when this sword was created, it must have this style. After Huo Ran's enlightenment, one must practice, reason, and experience it with a calm mind."

That’s right, Pei Ye suddenly realized.

"The lone man," the old man had already arrived when he killed the young lady.

For the next eighteen years, the small town lay dormant, with only the “quietness of a snowy night”.

"So if you want to learn this sword, you have to understand its truth in a down-to-earth manner, which is also the process of practicing it." Qiu Jizi moved the inkless pen tip to the third level, "And the true meaning of this sword, Shao Jianjun said it is 'grow feathers', I said it is 'hatching', I think it's about the same. To master this true meaning, we have to pick a few swords of will."

(End of this chapter)