Zhou Zhiruo nodded seriously. “I will remember. I will be careful in everything from now on and will not trust others easily.”
Miejue nodded in satisfaction.
As a teacher, Miejue’s requirements for disciples were actually not very high.
She merely hoped that the disciples under her would turn their hearts toward the righteous path, respect their teacher and the dao, and not disgrace the sect.
In terms of talent, Zhou Zhiruo was not as good as Gu Shaoan.
But in other aspects, Zhou Zhiruo made Miejue quite satisfied.
Right after, as if thinking of something, Miejue suddenly looked at Gu Shaoan.
“You were born with Innate Sword Bone, and your strength far surpasses your peers. With the Bodhi Exquisite Pill enhancing your merit while increasing your strength, you are in no way inferior, and perhaps superior, to Song Qingshu. As your teacher, I am not surprised by this. But I did not expect that, after such a short time since your entry, you could cultivate the 《Willow Catkin Swordplay》 and 《Divine Dragon Three Appearances》 to such a level.”
“Your performance today has truly astonished your teacher.”
These were not empty words from Miejue.
Recovering the Heavenly Sword and obtaining Wudang’s 《Wudang Nine Yang Skill》 certainly filled Miejue with joy, but what delighted her most was still the talent Gu Shaoan had displayed.
The Heavenly Sword was, after all, only an external force.
The Internal Energy Cultivation Method also required disciples to cultivate it themselves.
Moreover, the 《Emei Nine Yang Skill》 was not inferior to the 《Wudang Nine Yang Skill》, yet over these years it still fell short of Wudang.
Ultimately, the reason was that Emei had not produced someone who, like Zhang Sanfeng, could shoulder everything and lead Emei to rise.
And Gu Shaoan’s performance today, for Miejue, brought her far more than the simple satisfaction of holding her head high.
It was also a deep and profound comfort.
This was the Emei she had guarded with painstaking effort and exhausted thought, finally revealing a fresh sprout, a hope for the future.
What Miejue now intended was to spare no effort to protect this tiny flame of hope until it gradually grew into a wildfire that swept across the land.
Gu Shaoan shook his head and said, “The road ahead for your disciple is still long. At present I have only entered the beginner threshold of the Martial Way. How could I be worthy of such praise from Master?”
As if already accustomed to Gu Shaoan’s steadiness, Miejue gave a light smile and shifted her gaze to the Heavenly Sword in her hand.
Her right hand gently stroked along the sword scabbard, her thoughts unknown.
At the same time, Gu Shaoan’s attention was also on the Heavenly Sword in Miejue’s hand.
To be more precise, it was on the sword hilt of the Heavenly Sword.
Others did not know, but Gu Shaoan was clear about the secret of the Heavenly Sword. He even knew how to open the Heavenly Sword and take out the Treasure map hidden within it. （This refers to the setting in the revised edition.）
Because both the Heavenly Sword and the Dragon Slaying Saber were peerless divine blades, with the Dragon Slaying Saber in particular made entirely of Black Iron and extremely hard to damage, near the hilt of both weapons there was a section cast from Soft Iron. Using the other weapon, one could slowly cut into it and take out the iron piece hidden inside, on which the Treasure map was recorded.
However, although Ancestor Guo Xiang passed down to successive sect leaders the secret that the Heavenly Sword contained a Treasure map, she also said that to take out the Treasure map, one still needed to obtain the Dragon Slaying Saber.
Although Gu Shaoan knew another method, how could he bring this up to Miejue?
If the secret could not be revealed, then Gu Shaoan would not be able to access the Martial Arts contained within, much less cultivate them.
In the world of Martial Arts, there was no formal ranking system.
Their strength depended on the person who used them.
But the height of the intention at the time a Martial Art was created also decided its upper and lower limits.
This was the difference between superior Martial Arts and inferior Martial Arts.
And the 《Nine Yin Manual》 and the 《essence of the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms》 could be called top tier even when viewed across the entire Martial World.
They were profound and subtle, far surpassing the Martial Arts currently within the Emei Sect.
If he could cultivate them one day earlier, Gu Shaoan’s strength could make that much more progress.
If he devoted himself to cultivation for ten years, relying on Gu Shaoan’s talent and the effect of the 【Enlightenment】, his strength could be ranked among the first-class masters of the Martial World.
The importance of this was self-evident.
However, after thinking for a while, Gu Shaoan still could not come up with a suitable reason to reveal the secret hidden within the Heavenly Sword.
For the moment, Gu Shaoan did not know how he should resolve this problem.
Perhaps because he was slightly lost in thought, Miejue also noticed Gu Shaoan’s gaze and could not help but smile inwardly.
Two hours later, beside a stream, once a spot was chosen and at Juechen and the others’ signal, the group that had been hurrying on the road finally came to a halt.
As the Horse Carriage stopped steadily, Miejue opened her eyes and suddenly raised her hand to pat Gu Shaoan on the shoulder.
“Let us go.”
Just as Gu Shaoan was preparing to cultivate, he froze slightly.
In the past, whenever the Horse Carriage stopped, Miejue had never interfered with him and always let Gu Shaoan arrange his own affairs.
This was the first time she had taken the initiative to tell Gu Shaoan to get off the Horse Carriage with her.
Though he did not understand, Gu Shaoan still nodded and rose to his feet.
After getting down from the Horse Carriage, Miejue did not remain where it had stopped. Instead, she led Gu Shaoan along the stream for nearly half a mile.
When they finally stopped, Miejue turned around and, as she did, raised her left hand and actually tossed the Heavenly Sword in her hand toward Gu Shaoan.
Catching the Heavenly Sword thrown by Miejue on instinct, Gu Shaoan was momentarily stunned.
Before he could speak, Miejue said, “Try it.”
Although he did not understand Miejue’s intention at this moment,
Gu Shaoan was not one for wasted words. After letting his gaze wander briefly over the Heavenly Sword in his hand, he thrust the Cheng Xin Sword, which he had been holding in his left hand, into the ground, then took the Heavenly Sword he had just caught into his left hand.
Compared with the Cheng Xin Sword, the Heavenly Sword was clearly heavier.
At the instant his right hand gripped the sword hilt and exerted strength, the additional effect of 【Drawing Sword Like a Rainbow】 let Gu Shaoan immediately assess the Heavenly Sword’s condition.
Excluding the weight of the sword scabbard, the sword body alone weighed seven jin and thirteen liang, with a sword edge of three feet seven inches.
His arm tensed, and with a clear, ringing cry like a phoenix singing across the Nine Heavens, a bone-chilling cold gleam suddenly lit up the streamside.
The sword body was long and straight, its color not a glaring snow white, but a deep, condensed dark blue-green, as if it had gathered the essence of ten thousand ages of ice.
As Gu Shaoan infused his Internal Energy into the Heavenly Sword, a peerlessly sharp aura spread invisibly outward with the Heavenly Sword as its center. The water plants by the stream that were slightly closer actually broke apart in utter silence.
“What sharp Sword Qi.”
Sword Qi was unique. After a sword dao master’s Internal Energy transformed into True Qi, it could, nurtured by their own swordplay, become incomparably sharp.
Gu Shaoan had yet to cultivate True Qi and, relying on Internal Energy alone, could not let it leave his body.
But once infused into the Heavenly Sword, it could actually cause the Heavenly Sword to spontaneously generate Sword Qi, allowing that Sword Qi to likewise become a blade of attack.
So extraordinary a weapon was truly worthy of being Emei’s greatest treasure.
Perhaps delighted by the discovery, once he sensed the Heavenly Sword’s peculiar nature, Gu Shaoan no longer hesitated. His body moved slightly, and his opening move was the 《Willow Catkin Swordplay》.
However, this time it was completely different from before.
With a light rotation of his wrist, the sword moves still seemed as gentle as flowing water.
But the True Qi clinging to the spine of the sword, when it touched the invisible resistance of the air, instantly triggered the Heavenly Sword’s supremely pure and indestructible Sword Qi.
Chi—chichi—!
Several faint yet incomparably clear sounds of breaking air rang out.
With the flexible sway of the sword body and its circling, drawing motions, those originally formless and intangible “willow strands” suddenly carved several fine, twisted, near-transparent waves of Sword Qi into the void.
It was like ripples spreading across a still water surface after a pebble was cast in, except these ripples were composed of incomparably sharp Sword Qi.
Watching the 《Willow Catkin Swordplay》 unleashed through the Heavenly Sword, Gu Shaoan could not help but feel his heart quake.
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