Chapter 5: Practicing the Sword
Curator Maia silently and carefully examined every part of the stone sculpture "Dream Awakening," as if bewitched. "Yale, it's been two full hours." Reynolds took out his pocket watch from his bosom and glanced at it. Yale shook his head and said softly, "Don't rush, let Uncle Maia take a good look. Since Uncle Maia is the head curator of the Prux Hall, he must be a descendant of Master Prux. I believe his appraisal skills are definitely very high. I wonder what level the third brother's work has reached." Reynolds also nodded slightly.
After nearly three hours, Curator Maia straightened his back and let out a long sigh. "I heard this stone sculpture is called 'Dream Awakening'?" Curator Maia inquired. Yale nodded and said, "Yes. The third brother named it himself." Curator Maia nodded gently, then took another good look at the stone sculpture "Dream Awakening." He exclaimed in admiration, "I have to say, your brother 'Linley' is absolutely a genius in the world of stone sculpture, a genius comparable to Master Prux."
"Although his work has a slight gap compared to Master Prux in terms of stroke carving, in terms of the soul of the work, it is absolutely on par." Curator Maia marveled. "Stroke carving?" Yale asked in confusion. Curator Maia nodded and said, "Yes. However, this work has a few minor flaws, but it also has astonishing strengths."
"The flaws are a slight lack of precision in handling some concave and convex surfaces and smooth curves. But your brother Linley's work, when viewed as a whole, is very coherent. That visual effect is absolutely comparable to several of Master Prux's works. Most importantly, this piece is very large in size." Curator Maia sighed in admiration. "A masterpiece that will be passed down through generations requires astonishing effort in every single part. One careless mistake could lead to the failure of the entire work. It's very rare to be able to carve a human-shaped stone sculpture. Linley carved five pieces, and what is most admirable is that the five pieces have five souls, yet the meaning is coherent. If my guess is correct, your brother Linley must have experienced a heartbreak." With Curator Maia's discerning eye, he naturally understood what these five stone sculptures meant.
"'Dream Awakening,' to be able to carve such a work is truly astonishing." Curator Maia couldn't help but praise it a few more times. "Curator Maia, what level do you think my brother Linley's work is? Can it match Master Prux's works?" Reynolds asked.
Curator Maia frowned slightly. "Actually, I'm a bit uncertain too. Let me put it this way: the carving skill of this work can only be considered at the expert level. In terms of coherence, it is comparable to Master Prux. But there is one most special thing—"
"The carving strokes of this work are very crisp and clean. From start to finish, the five stone sculptures can be said to be a perfect whole. That carving style is unique and independent. I have never heard of or seen anything like it before." Curator Maia exclaimed in admiration.
Yale asked urgently, "Uncle Maia, what level is this work exactly?" Curator Maia said helplessly, "I can't be sure either. According to traditional appraisal methods, this work should be considered a master-level piece. At least the unique charm and soul are beyond doubt. His carving technique has already expressed that charm."
"Traditional appraisal methods?" Yale and Reynolds looked at Curator Maia in confusion. Curator Maia nodded and said, "Traditional appraisal methods are the methods recognized by everyone over countless years. But I feel... Linley's work, when viewed, is perfectly complete, with no sense of deficiency whatsoever."
"The existence of stone sculpture is originally for people to appreciate. The viewing effect determines everything. It can be said that Linley may not be considered a stone sculpture grandmaster, but the price of this work will probably be very high, enough to rival the top ten stone sculptures." Curator Maia said with a smile.
Not a stone sculpture grandmaster, yet a stone sculpture work could enter the 'top ten.' This was indeed an unprecedented strange matter, but Curator Maia had to admit that this event was likely to happen. "Oh." Yale and Reynolds nodded.
In fact, this was a shortcoming of the flat knife school of carving. After all, using only a flat knife to carve some concave and convex surfaces and smooth curves was not as good as using specialized tools. The effect Linley achieved with the 'flat knife' might be comparable to an average stone carving expert, but compared to a stone carving master, there was some deficiency in stroke handling.
However, the flat knife school also had other advantages, such as 'coherence.' Also... when others carved, they constantly changed tools. But the carving of the flat knife school required the 'earth magician' to merge his mind with heaven and earth to carve. This kind of carving could actually increase mental strength.
"What about Linley himself?" Curator Maia inquired. Yale shook his head and said, "The third brother is, after all, a magician. He spends most of his time on training. He should still be in the Warcraft Mountains undergoing hard training. I'm not sure when he will return."
"Then, Yale, can you agree on Linley's behalf to let our Prux Hall sell this work?" Curator Maia proposed. "No." Yale said bluntly. "Without the third brother's consent, I can't make a decision." Curator Maia frowned and continued, "What about an exhibition? It shouldn't be a big problem to let our Prux Hall exhibit it, right? After all, Linley's past stone sculpture works were all exhibited and sold at our Prux Hall."
Yale knew very well the significance of this work to Linley. It represented a painful past relationship. Whether Linley would agree to exhibit it was hard to say, and he didn't want to put Linley in a difficult position.
"No. I'm only responsible for safekeeping. As for exhibition, selling, etc., we'll wait until the third brother returns." Yale said firmly.
In the Warcraft Mountains, for a full two months, Linley had been completely immersed in the 'Purple Blood' soft sword. The 'Purple Blood' soft sword was the best weapon Linley had ever seen. In terms of sharpness alone, ordinary level 6 magical beasts couldn't withstand it. But sharpness was just a small characteristic of the 'Purple Blood' soft sword. The advantages of the Purple Blood soft sword were—soft and hard at will, extremely fast, and containing a baleful aura. Yes, a baleful aura. Linley had discovered this when using the 'Purple Blood' soft sword to kill some magical beasts. The material of this Purple Blood soft sword should contain a strange power. When a sword strike was made, it would naturally emit a peculiar baleful aura.
This baleful aura was very similar to dragon might, though not as terrifying as dragon might. But in battle, this bit of baleful aura could have a very good effect.
Night. In a pack of several hundred wind wolves in the Warcraft Mountains, each wind wolf stared at Linley with its green, glowing eyes, howling madly and charging at him one after another. Linley, like drifting wind, moved quickly and gracefully through the wolf pack, and in his hand was a long sword flowing with a cyan light.
After being infused with wind magic power, the Purple Blood Divine Sword moved even faster, and its trajectory became even more erratic when swung, with the wind offering no resistance.
"Whoosh!" In the darkness, a streak of purple flowing with a cyan light flashed rapidly. Its trajectory was erratic and strange. With each flash, one or two wind wolves were directly split in half. Wind wolves were only level 4 magical beasts. Among these hundreds of wind wolves, the slightly stronger ones were level 5. The two wind wolf leaders were only level 6. Linley was currently in human form, possessing the strength of a level 6 warrior. In truth, even a level 7 warrior wouldn't dare to fight hundreds of wind wolves. After all, a good man can't withstand a crowd. The wind wolves' claws were very sharp. Even Linley's body would bleed if caught by a claw, unless he entered the 'Dragonization' state.
Roar! A wind wolf leaped rapidly, opening its bloody maw. Swoosh! The Purple Blood Divine Sword flashed, and the wind wolf was split in two from its forehead to its tail. The Purple Blood Divine Sword was simply too fast, so fast that all the wind wolves could only see the afterimage of the sword. When Linley had killed over a hundred wind wolves without a single scratch, this large pack of wind wolves finally became terrified. They were fearless of death, but they wouldn't engage in meaningless death.
Awoo~~ The two wind wolf leaders, who had been hiding in the back, raised their heads and roared. All the wind wolves let out low howls and immediately retreated swiftly. The mournful howls of the wind wolf pack came from afar, clearly indicating that too many of their companions had died this time, and they had gained nothing.
Linley moved his hand, and a purple shadow flashed. The Purple Blood Divine Sword coiled around Linley's waist. "Dealing with them doesn't require unleashing the 'Purple Blood's' true attack power." Linley's robe had traces of bloodstains, which were the blood of the wind wolves. During the slaughter with the wind wolf pack, from beginning to end, Linley's Purple Blood Divine Sword was kept straight. To deal with a pack of wind wolves, simply relying on 'speed' and sharpness was enough. But if the 'Purple Blood' Divine Sword was made to be straight at times and curved at others, its attack power would be multiplied several times.
"Boss, you're getting more and more powerful!" Bebe jumped excitedly onto Linley's shoulder. Linley smiled: "You're not weak either." He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Linley looked around at the Warcraft Mountains, then at the three bundles on his shoulder. Over these two months, while studying the usage of the 'Purple Blood' Divine Sword, another result was that Linley now had three bundles full of magic crystals.
"Two months. My attack power using the Purple Blood has temporarily reached a bottleneck. If I want to increase it further, I can only increase my arm and wrist strength." Over these two months, Linley had studied various aspects, from drawing the sword, to thrusting, slashing, chopping, and parrying. Linley's goal was—to be faster, to strive for the utmost speed. Coupled with his understanding of wind elements, Linley was able to better comprehend the mysteries of swordsmanship. Just now, hundreds of wind wolves had surrounded him, yet they hadn't touched Linley at all. That was an achievement. In the past, Linley wouldn't have dared to imagine that he could reach this level.
"Having reached a bottleneck, staying in the Warcraft Mountains won't be of much use. I'll go back first."
Morning. The morning sun shone on the earth. Linley, with the Purple Blood soft sword coiled around his waist, three bundles of magic crystals on his back, and wearing a dark robe stained with traces of blood, walked to the gates of Ernst Academy. Bebe was standing on his shoulder. "Finally back." Seeing Ernst Academy, Linley felt a sense of peace in his heart. Ernst Academy and the Warcraft Mountains were two extremes. Here, no one dared to kill recklessly, and the atmosphere was very good. But the Warcraft Mountains were a world of magical beasts, where the strong ruled and the weak were eliminated, with killing possible at any moment.
"It's Linley." The gate guards of Ernst Academy naturally recognized Linley, a famous figure in the academy, and didn't stop him.
Linley nodded slightly to the guards, then stepped into Ernst Academy. Walking on the academy streets, many Ernst students who were on their way to class saw Linley and whispered among themselves.
"It's Linley. Look, he still has bloodstains on him. He must have just returned from the Warcraft Mountains. I heard he went to the Warcraft Mountains last year and didn't even attend the end-of-year assessment. That's four months now. Staying in the Warcraft Mountains for four months, that's really impressive."
"Dixie reached level 6 magician in the end-of-year assessment last year, but Linley didn't take the test..."
Listening to the murmurs, Linley just smiled and walked towards his dormitory. At that moment, Yale, Reynolds, and George were coming out, preparing to go for breakfast.
"Ah, third brother! You're back!" Reynolds was the first to shout excitedly.
Yale, Reynolds, and George immediately rushed over excitedly, and Linley looked at his three brothers with a smile.