Chapter 381: Burn, My Sword (Part 1)
Chen Changsheng was not entirely accurate. At the final moment of the Grand Examination duel, he had only prepared to use the last form of the Li Mountain Sword Art, but had not actually executed it. However, the key to the last form of the Li Mountain Sword Art lies in intent. Gou Hanshi perceived his intent and withdrew, so saying he had used that sword strike was not incorrect.
Su Li was well aware of what the last form of the Li Mountain Sword Art signified, so he found this youth increasingly difficult to understand. But since Chen Changsheng understood this sword strike and had used it, the greatest obstacle to learning the Burning Sword was no longer an issue.
The Burning Sword was a sword technique, but also a method of circulating true essence. It was a means Su Li had tailored for Chen Changsheng based on his observations over these past days.
The quantity or efficiency of a cultivator's true essence output depends on the speed of starlight combustion and the width of their meridian channels, with a certain upper limit. The higher one's talent, the better their aptitude, the faster the starlight combustion speed and the transmission speed of true essence. For talents like Xu Yourong and Qiu Shanjun, with their bloodlines, meridian restrictions could be disregarded entirely. As long as they had enough starlight in their bodies, they could output true essence endlessly.
Chen Changsheng had no shortage of starlight in his body, and his inner observation was flawless. His biggest problem was that his true essence channels were far too narrow, and many of his meridians were severed, making his true essence output efficiency extremely low.
As a generation's sword master, Su Li's most remarkable trait was his understanding of the world, far beyond ordinary people's scope. His methods for solving problems were surprisingly unexpected yet ultimately the most reasonable.
He did not focus on the quantity of Chen Changsheng's true essence, nor did he attempt to solve his meridian issues. Instead, with a fearless approach, he placed the hope of solving the problem directly on the method of starlight combustion.
Of course, the one who needed to take risks was Chen Changsheng. The one who needed to be fearless was still Chen Changsheng.
"There are many ways or forms of combustion. Generally speaking, one emphasizes moderation and balance, melting starlight into clear water, letting thoughts trickle drop by drop, so that the flow can be sustained. But this sword strike requires you to burn true essence in a more violent manner."
Su Li looked at him and said, "Like countless wood shavings sealed in a confined space. Suddenly, a spark appears, and those shavings ignite almost simultaneously, releasing immense heat and power, like an explosion."
Listening to his words, Chen Changsheng imagined that scene in his sea of consciousness and nodded.
"The method of deflagration can help your true essence instantly rise to a certain level, breaking through your chaotic meridians, allowing this sword strike's lethality to reach a barely acceptable level."
"I understand," Chen Changsheng said. "But what does this have to do with the last form of the Sword Art?"
Su Li looked into his eyes and said, "Countless streams of true essence burn simultaneously in your body, like an explosion. It might illuminate the wilderness through the sword's momentum, blinding your opponent's eyes. But the more likely outcome is that it will directly burn you into an idiot or blast you to pieces. If you cannot have the resolve to face death, you will never complete that final step."
Chen Changsheng sensed a faint reaction from the strand of separated soul of the Black Dragon within the short sword. He recalled the scene of inner observation in the underground cave at Beiqiao and felt a surge of emotion, thinking that everything that had happened before had meaning.
Remembering Su Li's reaction when he said he knew the last form of the Li Mountain Sword Art, he refrained from telling Su Li that he had experienced similar situations many times. Though young, his attitude toward life and death had already become weathered.
Su Li thoroughly explained the moves and sword intent of the Burning Sword, then said no more, leaving Chen Changsheng to comprehend on his own. He then gazed at the mountain wilderness in the twilight and the green grass across the stream, remaining silent.
That assassin might be in that green grass right now.
Chen Changsheng did not rush to comprehend the sword. He rubbed coarse salt onto the cleaned fish, then hung it over the fire to roast. Since he was certain the enemy was always there, the campfire was no longer a concern. Accompanied by a faint burnt aroma, he followed Su Li's gaze to the green grass across the stream. After a moment, he shook his head, thinking that assassin was incredibly patient, following them for so many days without ever striking. Zhe Xiu might manage it, but he himself absolutely could not.
That assassin, always hidden in the mountain wilderness, was a tremendous pressure on both him and Su Li. Both were well aware that at some moment, that assassin would surely appear—just not when.
"Just as you said, Senior, if you keep waiting like this, even if you wait until death, you'll never find an opportunity."
Chen Changsheng silently addressed that famous assassin who had never shown his face. "Because Senior is teaching me the sword. I will grow stronger, and by then, you won't be able to kill us."
After a simple but delicious dinner of fatty white fish and sorghum rice, Su Li leaned against the spotted deer with his eyes closed, resting. Chen Changsheng cleaned up, walked to the stream bank, sat down, and formally began to comprehend the sword.
He looked at the green grass across the stream, thinking of the vast snowfield within his body. That snow was the starlight he had tirelessly gathered day and night, the initial form of true essence, the source of all combat energy.
Now, with just a slight movement of his divine thought, he could ignite that entire snowfield—even the lake above the snowfield that enveloped the Spirit Mountain—turning it into an endless stream of power and spirit. But this sword strike demanded he not do that, because that method of combustion was still too gentle, not violent enough. The speed of converting starlight into true essence was too slow.
The Burning Sword—the key lay in the word "burn."
It required a violent, resolute, self-immolating combustion.
Chen Changsheng sat by the stream, silent, watching the twilight fade, watching the stars cover the sky, until dawn arrived again.
He spent an entire night finally learning to use his divine sense to settle on the snowfield without igniting those snowflakes, but instead using that formless power to make the snowfield fluffier, until the snowflakes left the ground and danced again in the sky.
The morning sun emerged, red clouds filled the mountain wilderness, and the stream water turned entirely red.
Looking at the green grass across the stream, which seemed to be burning, Chen Changsheng's hand slowly left the sword hilt.
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On the third day of learning the Burning Sword, at a tea stall beside an official road, Chen Changsheng and Su Li encountered the third assassin on their southward journey. That assassin was Li Pingyuan, a northern magnate with countless loyal dead men under his command. It was said this man had unclear connections with the bear tribes in the snowfields that secretly sided with the demon race. Perhaps for this reason, he had more accurately judged Su Li's southward route than others and waited for them here.
Because this matter was too important and too urgent, the northern magnate Li Pingyuan had only brought his most loyal dozen or so subordinates. But even so, they already made this small tea stall feel crowded.
There were no customers in the tea stall. A faint smell of blood lingered. The stove for boiling tea had long gone cold, as if it hadn't been lit for days. The owner was likely already dead, though no one knew where the body was buried.
Chen Changsheng sat at the tea table, looking at the bowl of tea with a strange odor, silent, lost in thought.
"Congratulations," Su Li said, looking at him. "Killing this man, I believe you won't have too much psychological burden."
...
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(The next chapter will be very, very late—unimaginably late—but it will definitely come.)