Chapter 72: Chapter 7: The Proud Cat Likes to Be Stroked the Right Way
It’s common knowledge that the Shushan Shangqing Faction is a rather netherworldly sect.
Because Sword Immortals heavily rely on the “breakthroughs and sudden enlightenment at the brink of life and death,” the sect also encourages peer-level sparring among its members.
The most typical rule is that if someone challenges you to a duel and you refuse, you have to compensate with a substantial amount of Spirit Stones.
Such a culture and environment make everyone extremely combative. Even Senior Sister An, with her gentle nature, had to pretend to be vicious and cruel. Otherwise, she’d be taken advantage of like a soft persimmon.
By that logic, Junior Sister Xu would have been better suited for the Shushan Shangqing Faction.
With her competitive nature, whenever she felt unhappy, she could just challenge a junior brother or sister to a duel, easily defeat them, and have her thoughts cleared in no time.
Whereas at Kunlun, where everyone is busy practicing breathing and Qi Refinement, she can’t let loose, which becomes a flaw in her Daoist Heart, right?
It’s all a matter of the sect’s culture!
To this day, Qiu Changtian still remembered when Junior Sister Xu, leading the Asura troops in the Trial Secret Realm of the Pavilion, achieved one victory after another against the celestial opponents.
Back then, her face truly carried a pure smile that came from the depths of her heart.
Now, all that needed to be done was to resurrect that smile for Junior Sister Xu.
“Overturn my Kunlun peers?” asked Xu Yinglian, puzzled for a moment, then starting to feel annoyed, “Are you suggesting I go and overwhelm those junior brothers and sisters weaker than me?”
“Hehe,” Qiu Changtian shook his head with a smile, “Ying Lian.”
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“What?” Xu Yinglian felt a bit uncomfortable being called by her name, and her attention swiftly shifted.
“If you don’t consider cultivation level, just swordsmanship, how do you compare to Third Junior Brother Guan Zhan?” Qiu Changtian asked with a smile.
“…We are about equal,” Xu Yinglian said hesitantly.
“About equal?” Qiu Changtian pressed on seriously, “The Kunlun Sword Technique, compared to the Shushan Swordsmanship or even the secret Sword Control Technique of the Longxi Guan Family, how does it fare?”
Xu Yinglian was silent for a moment, then sighed and said:
“It’s inferior.”
Qiu Changtian bombarded her with questions:
“Since the Kunlun Sword Technique is far less refined than the secret swordsmanship of the Longxi Guan Family, which specializes in the sword path, could it be that Junior Sister has decades more experience in swordsmanship than Junior Brother Guan, which helps you outdo him in battle? Or is it that your swordsmanship talent is so exceptional that Junior Brother Guan simply can’t match you?”
“I…” Xu Yinglian started to speak, then paused before reluctantly admitting, “Regarding just swordsmanship, I might… well, indeed, at the moment I can’t confidently beat Junior Brother Guan.”
“Good!” Qiu Changtian applauded and laughed heartily, “Since that’s the case, let’s find a way to improve your swordsmanship so you can confidently beat him, how about that?”
“Ah, that?” Xu Yinglian became confused.
As Qiu Changtian said, she was not significantly better than Guan Zhan in talent or experience, and was far behind in Sword Control Technique. How could she possibly beat him with swordsmanship alone?
Unless she relied on a Flying Sword!
However, recently Guan Zhan had also obtained a Tenth Rank Flying Sword from the Pavilion’s Trial Secret Realm. I don’t have an advantage in equipment either, do I?
“Are you afraid, Junior Sister?” Qiu Changtian teased with a smile.
“Afraid?” Xu Yinglian blurted out instantly, “How is that possible?!”
Her first instinct was to say “I’m not even afraid of you, how could I be afraid of a junior brother,” but that seemed like self-defeat, and not wanting to undermine her own spirit, she forcefully changed it to “How is that possible?” at the last second.
“Then it’s settled!” Qiu Changtian laughed boisterously, “Ying Lian, don’t sell yourself short; you are a junior sister recognized by me, Qiu Changtian!”
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“I’m not selling myself short!” Xu Yinglian grew irritated and muttered, “Hmph, I’m well aware of my own potential, but you tell me, how can I improve my swordsmanship to definitely beat him?”
“Of course, it’s fencing with me!” Qiu Changtian said loudly.
………
Xu Yinglian clenched her teeth.
When Qiu Changtian used the training method of Lin Duanshan from the Vajra Peak and crushed Xu Yinglian with his extraordinary swordsmanship, pushing her to the limit, her subconscious reaction was to stubbornly hold on for dear life.
Never avoid, never show weakness, never admit defeat.
She performed even stronger than the original Ling Yunpo.
Qiu Changtian silently commended her in his heart, but verbally he said:
“Don’t think about the gap between you and me. What you really need to defeat is the timid, cowardly self inside you that constantly wants to give up!”
“I know that, of course!” Xu Yinglian snapped fiercely.
Concentrating intensely, long hours of controlling the Flying Sword had pushed both her physical strength and will to the verge of collapse.
Yet she still gritted her teeth, mobilizing the little remaining True Qi she had left to continue propelling the Feather Jia Sword to block the attacks from the Jade Smoke Sword.
“Enough,” Qiu Changtian suddenly retracted his Flying Sword, “rest for a while.”
Xu Yinglian, trembling, recalled the Feather Jia Sword, then settled slowly on the piece of bluestone next to her, sitting in meditation to recover her True Qi.
“Next, let’s talk about the problems with your swordsmanship…” Qiu Changtian did not let her rest.
Because the moment this girl had free time, she was prone to wild thoughts.
And with wild thoughts, she tended to obsess over things and then descend into madness.
Therefore, drawing from the Ling Yunpo’s sword training experience, Qiu Changtian planned to subject her to “high-pressure training,” filling up her schedule to the brim to occupy all her time and keep her from overthinking.
Indeed, once they started discussing “the problems with swordsmanship,” even though Xu Yinglian was already exhausted, she still forced herself to start listening attentively.
Although they were both using the Kunlun Sword Technique, relying on his ability to draw inferences about other cases from one instance, Qiu Changtian’s swordsmanship attainment had long since completely overwhelmed her.
Normally, this girl might not be able to accept this reality, “The gap between my senior brother and me is actually this big,” but at this moment, Xu Yinglian didn’t have the time for such thoughts.
She was just listening attentively, like a sponge, eagerly soaking up all the swordsmanship knowledge Qiu Changtian was imparting to her.
Her heart harbored only one firm thought, constantly circling, unable to be dispelled:
I must surpass Guan Zhan in swordsmanship!
And then, find the method to surpass my senior brother!
After several days like this, noticing that his junior sister’s swordsmanship had improved by leaps and bounds, Qiu Changtian declared the training over and took her to challenge Guan Zhan to a bout with swords.
“No Cultivation Level, no Daoist Magic, only swordsmanship?” A bewildered Guan Zhan exclaimed in astonishment.
Just in terms of swordsmanship alone, not to mention Junior Sister Xu, even if you, Senior Brother Qiu, came at me, wouldn’t I easily suppress you?
“That’s right,” Xu Yinglian said coldly.
At this moment, although there were still traces of exhaustion around her eyes and eyebrows, her entire demeanor was like a blade that had just been quenched in water, chillingly sharp.
“Fine,” Guan Zhan laughed coldly as well.
If you’re asking for humiliation, then you can’t blame me.
Hearing that Junior Sister Xu was challenging Brother Guan in swordsmanship, Chen Zhen and the others could not stay put in their retreats either, hastily riding their Sword Light, following Senior Brother Qiu to the scene of the battle.