Pathway

Ju Feng arrived at the opened library an hour before the library time was over, and quickly went to the book shelves. He was only trying to see if he could find anything to study that night. And if not, he would come back another day, probably the following day. However, he didn't want to just leave empty handed.

As he was glancing through the books, he saw the one captioned, 'ANCIENT SWORDS'. Generally, cultivators would have good knowledge about the weapons of old, but for him, he didn't know much about that aspect of history. He wasn't much interested in weapons until he began seeing the beauty and deadliness of swords in the hands of mother and grandparents. Hence, he was interested in reading the book. He quickly informed the librarian who made a vanishing copy for him.

That night he was planning on reading the book, but was lost in meditation after eating one tiny blue crystalline rock. Since his dantian and meridians had been expanding painfully rapidly, he had to quickly circulate the Chi. He was circulating and meditating that he forgot about himself, and slept in that position.

The following morning, all the house elders would be giving their first lecture to the new disciples. After getting dressed in the new sect robe, Ju Feng headed towards the study hall of the house of light. Arriving at the big area, he searched for some time before locating it with a sigh of relief. There were five disciples in the hall already, and with him making six. Only two other disciples remained to arrive.

"Hello."

He said as he looked for a seat

"Hello."

"Hey"

Some replied in flat tones while others just kept to themselves.

Ju Feng gave himself a nod. He was doing great. He only needed to continue keeping his calm. With time we would all come to know ourselves more. That was what his family told him. Isn't it?

The other two disciples arrived few minutes later, and were soon followed by the house of light's sect leader, elder Cao Wang Xiu. She was a tall, beautiful and powerful woman, wearing a white silk robe. Looking at her, any young cultivator would feel the knowledge of light radiating from her. With a trace of smile, she looked calmly at the new disciples, from one face to the other.

"As you are already aware, my name is elder Cao Wang Xiu. I am the leader of the house of light. Now, as I welcome you all to the house of light, I want us to be friendly and courteous to one another by standing up one by one, and introduce yourselves to your fellow disciples. Let's start from the right."

"Yang Yaozu, house of light."

"Liu Ning Hong, house of light."

"Su Pei Jing, houses of light."

"Ding Wenyan, house of light."

"Lin Cheung, house of light."

"Lin Da Xia, house of light."

"Ju Feng, houses of light."

"Hu Ren Xiang, house of light.

"Excellent. You all represent the house of light. So, let your light shine brighter together. Learn from the others, plan with the others begin with what they have, build on what they know. Of the best leaders when the task is accomplished., everybody will remark that they have done it themselves together. Who understands others has great knowledge; one who understands himself has wisdom. Mastering others requires patience; mastering the self needs strength. You are all welcome once again.

Elder Cao Wang Xiu stared at them thoughtfully.

"Let me start by asking you this, what is a sword?"

"Okay, you, Lin Da Xia."

She pointed at the girl with bright blue eyes, who was eager to answer.

"A sword is a bladed weapon longer than a knife for cutting, slashing or thrusting."

Replied the girl with the deep blue eyes, Lin Da Xia.

"Yes, Da Xia. Considering the physical meaning, you are very correct. But what if you now look at it spiritually, what will be the true meaning of a sword?"

Beaming with smile, elder Cao Wang Xiu asked with a raised brow.

"Today, I will tell you. Sword is a symbol of purification. It pierces the spiritual soul of physical bondage to release a path to an ethereal and enlightened freedom. Sword as an extension of our beingness, cutting away the contamination of ignorance from our souls, in order for the souls to achieve universal insight. The very power of life and death, heavens and terra. When your soul is purified by the sword you wield, you will become one with your sword, and then, you will become one with the universe."

Elder Cao Wang Xiu paused to watch their faces, and smiled before continuing.

"Remember, sword is a part of our existence as sword artists. And that it purifies our souls in order for us to gain enlightenment. Now, let us see what we know about light. Light is the first phenomenon of existence, it was with light that the Alperon, the core of the universe was formed. Light means true life, it purifies our beingness, removing contamination from our entities. And when we combine sword with true light, what becomes? When we combine two sources of purification, what exists? When we combine two forms of life and death, what do we get?"

Elder Cao Wang Xiu materialized her sword which hung in the mid-air in front of her, radiating brilliant white light. The brilliance was gradually increasing until the whole study hall was filled with blinding white light, making the disciples covered their eyes in fear. Then, the brilliance began to decrease, and the sword eventually returned to its original form before disappearing again.

"That was the combination of sword intent and true light. And it was just a tiny little fraction of what I can make it produce."

"What?"

They shouted at once.

"You'll see for yourselves sooner than you think. Study hard and practice harder, and you will find it easier than you imagine. We will stop here for today and continue three days from now. There are manuals and texts in the library, you can check them out if you want. See you then."