Chapter 135 — The Circling Sword Stance

Imperial Preceptor Jingping appeared before the Hall of the Imperial Academy and said with a smile, "Grand Libationer, then I shall presume to overstep.

" Fu Yuanqing followed behind him, looking this way and that, and frowned slightly: "Which one is my young junior brother?

" Shen Mu had undone the Thousand Mechanisms Poison on the Empress Dowager's body, and he had borrowed the insect eye to see Shen Mu's face; but there were too many people here, and for a time he could not pick out where Shen Mu stood either. The young Patriarch smiled and said, "You used to come now and then to serve at the Directorate of Education and lecture the scholars; it is only these last few years that you have not come.

It cannot be called overstepping. Please.

" Imperial Preceptor Jingping walked to the steps, swept a look around, and said, "The Grand Libationer's hospitality is hard to refuse. Today I shall open the platform and speak on the sword — only for two days, and of nothing else.

" Libationer Bashan muttered under his breath, "Was it not three days?

" The young Patriarch shot him a glance: "The Daoist sect has blockaded our academy's gate, and only for three days; half a day has already passed. If Imperial Preceptor Jingping lectures for three days, the daylily will have gone cold.

" Libationer Bashan sighed, "It was hard enough for Imperial Preceptor Jingping to come and lecture at all, and yet he cannot speak for even two days more. What a pity. .

. For Imperial Preceptor Jingping to open the platform in person is the equal of the Tathagata preaching the sutras at Great Thunder Roar Temple, of the Daoist Sovereign transmitting the dharma, of the Dark Demon Cult's Leader conferring empowerment. How rare is that?

" Imperial Preceptor Jingping paced slowly down from the steps and said unhurriedly, "What is a sword? Is a sword fixed in form, fixed in nature? I think not.

Some say the sword has a thousand and ten thousand moves; others say the sword has only fourteen — thrust, lift, cloud, chop, cleave, point, burst, hang, flick, wipe, sweep, brace, intercept, flourish.

Nonsense! " As he came down, the many scholars below suddenly felt a pressure, as though a sword of incomparable keenness hung above their heads, about to cleave and not yet cleaving; that unmatched momentum seemed about to tear open their bodies, their spirit embryos, their consciousness, their very souls! "If the sword is fixed, then it is no longer the Dao.

The Great Dao has no bounds — how could it have only fourteen moves? " He stepped down one step at a time, and the pressure grew stronger and stronger, yet his voice remained calm and level; then suddenly his voice was like sword after sword stabbing into their eardrums: "The sword — why can it not be sound?

Why can it not be light?

Why can it not be color?

Why can it not be primal qi? Why can it not be a single glance?

" His gaze swept across the faces of the scholars below, and who knows how many of them could not help drawing their swords and holding them up to block — and blocked nothing at all; they broke out in cold sweat.

Imperial Preceptor Jingping smiled slightly: "So it seems — is the sword still only fourteen moves?

" Cold sweat sprang out on Shen Mu's forehead; only now did he understand how formidable Imperial Preceptor Jingping was.

The village head had taught him the fourteen most basic sword techniques, and Shen Mu had turned those basic techniques into numbers; any sword move, once he had seen it, he could reproduce. At the time, Shen Mu had thought this was the utmost limit of the sword.

And now Imperial Preceptor Jingping had clearly struck out on a path of his own from the foundation of the traditional swordsmanship, developing that traditional swordsmanship further. His thinking was broader, and so he had created basic sword stances beyond the fourteen!

"A remarkable achievement — no wonder he is the first man beneath the gods. " Shen Mu could not stop marveling inwardly. Imperial Preceptor Jingping's thinking was far ahead of its time — or perhaps it could not be called ahead of its time; rather, he pushed the age forward, pushed the divine abilities and the Dao arts forward, pushed the people of this age forward! "Therefore, on the foundation of the fourteen basic sword techniques, I have opened up several more moves. These two days, I shall teach you these few most basic sword techniques; of other swordsmanship I shall speak not a word.

" Imperial Preceptor Jingping halted, the smile vanished from his face, and his expression turned grave: "But before that, I want you to forget the form of the sword.

The sword can be light, can be sound, can be color, can be a glance, and so the sword needs no fixed form. It can be long or short, hard or soft; it can attack from any angle.

If you can forget the form of the sword, then you may learn my swordsmanship.

The first move of my swordsmanship: Circling.

" His fingertip stirred, and at once countless threads of primal qi, fine as sword light, came surging out and became a sword pillar that thrust forward: "This is Circling! " This was a move from the Great Six Harmonies Sword Art.

It looked like a thrust, but in truth the sword pillar was woven from countless blades of sword light, and those blades of sword light were forever flowing, forever shifting position! Shen Mu had once seen similar swordsmanship in Qu Ping; only, what Qu Ping had displayed was cleaving.

Thrust and cleave — both looked like basic sword moves, but what formed the core of these basic moves was Imperial Preceptor Jingping's Circling Sword Style.

The Circling Sword Style was still different from the Coiling Sword Style among the fourteen basic stances: the Coiling Sword Style exerted force from the hilt and coiled around the opponent's weapon, whereas the Circling Sword Style gathered power and burst forth in a world-shaking strike.

The greatest difference between Imperial Preceptor Jingping's Circling Sword Style and Qu Ping's was that in his sword pillar every blade of sword light changed differently, whereas Qu Ping's sword control made every blade of sword light change identically — and so he had been defeated by Daozi Lin Xuan, who used a whisk as a sword. Had it been Imperial Preceptor Jingping in his place, he would have been able to block Daozi Lin Xuan's whisk. Not only that — in Shen Mu's eyes, this sword of Imperial Preceptor Jingping's was a single whole.

His sword pillar was composed of countless blades of sword light, every blade an individual, and yet when he thrust with that one sword, it was a single whole; to break this sword of his, one would have to, while contending with the sword pillar, overpower the might of the pillar — only then might one break each blade of sword light within it.

The method Daozi Lin Xuan had used against Qu Ping was utterly useless against him!

"Imperial Preceptor Jingping's fundamentals are as solid as mine — even a little more solid than Daozi Lin Xuan's!

" Shen Mu marveled.

How could such a being exist? He was practically a god of the heavens!

Imperial Preceptor Jingping explained in fine detail the secrets of exerting force in the Circling Sword Style on the steps; his explanation was so meticulous that Shen Mu felt as though the village head were teaching him swordsmanship. The Circling Sword Style was an extension of the basic swordsmanship.

Shen Mu's fourteen basic sword techniques were already incomparably solid, and having gone through the village head's instruction, he had no difficulty learning this Circling Sword Style — one hint and he understood, one word and it was clear; he listened as though drunk. But that was only him.