'One hundred and fifty… One hundred and fifty-one…' without any loss of poise or any mistake in his posture, a young disciple swung a blade repeatedly without stop, practicing the basic strokes everyday without fail, everyday feeling like he understood the nature- The essence of the sword better.
After reaching five hundred, he stopped and stared at the side of his weapon, his face and fierce crimson eyes reflected back at him.
'The progress his great, but my understanding only increases for that particular kind of sword…' he was holding a straight sword with two sharp edges, from his perspective carried over from his old world, this was the 'basic' kind of sword, but one that was well-balanced and plenty capable in many situations.
Xiao, at least since becoming the protagonist of this story, might not have changed much in mind, but his body was completely different, even at the beginning when he had been rather scrawny, this physique had always been full of vitality and truthfully illogical strength, the real reason was merely that this was the body of the story' protagonist, but the in-lore reason was because Xiao was the last heir of the Chen clan, and was exceptionally talented in his destroyed family's way of cultivating.
His lineage predetermined him to being great, as all of the great clans, without exceptions that he was aware of, were very protective of their lineage and bloodline, not wanting for to be diluted by the blood of what they viewed as lesser than them, otherwise, their descendants would grow weak, or in other words, they would be closer to mundane people.
In this world, the noble clans who had stood the test of time for a while were literally better than the common folk, they were born stronger and smarter, being talented was expected, or it would be more accurate that their benchmark for what was 'average' was on a completely different level than others, what would be called a genius amongst peasants, would be merely average amongst the clans.
It was just how it was, the untalented were rare amongst such noble bloodlines, and as such, Xiao had an inherent advantage, even with his cultivation talent sealed, he had been much stronger than he should have been, it had been difficult to adapt upon taking over this body, but now, he was fully confident that he had complete control over it.
"Deep in thought again, huh? You really should consider looking at the ladies like you stare at this sword, I swear, I feel like I should hide in the pendant and cut off my senses when you do this" the emerald spectre said, staring out of the window, looking over the Myriad-Arm Sect from a high elevation.
They were currently in the hall owned by Elder Gang, after all, Xiao had still managed to get the script on the right track and get the old man as his mentor and master, Gang was not too hard to convince, he was the sort to accept even average disciples, as a former peasant, he knew that hard work was to be valued and that sometimes, a gem could be made out of most common materials.
Though, the old man wasn't around right now, for a reason that Xiao had not expected as the original story had not bothered to expand on it, but one would have to be a fool to not have noticed by now that Elder Gang and Elder Ku Xing definitely had something going on.
Or at least, there used to be something going on, Senior Gang would have slips of the tongue way too often about that woman, she was just living rent free inside of his head for some reason, thankfully, Xiao wasn't confronted to her in person again.
"Master… Do you think I can defeat Edrick with the power I wield?'
"Pretty hard to say when I never even saw the guy fight, but don't sell yourself short, you are incredible already, and perhaps you'll get a breakthrough or slight enlightenment until the tournament comes up" the ghost stroked his beard with a smile.
'Mmh…'
Xiao was practicing basic cultivation techniques at the moment, their name wasn't important as they were all lesser to the one he was working toward obtaining, which was the technique of his lost clan.
Although not all clans had one specific cultivation technique that only they practiced, most did have, and they were amongst the most powerful techniques one could find.
The Xing had the Pain Sutra, the Zhenniao had the Poison Sutra, and the Chen used to be known for the Weapon Encyclopedia, the clan's founder was said to have stumbled upon images and writings depicting two supreme beings, a lord that wielded every weapon in existence and was the uncontested best in their usage, and a champion that was said to have created a battle style that implemented everything possible into it, creating a style that was simply without flaw and without counter.
This inspired him to create the Weapon Encyclopedia, which was based on the lord, the only attempt that bore fruits out of their efforts, it was simple, it was a weapon cultivation technique that encompassed every weapon, without exception, from the experimental to the useless, one that mastered this technique would master all weapons.
The ancestor deemed the technique a failure as it was nowhere near what the lord was capable of, 'mastery' had become a word of utmost importance to the founder, once knowing what this mysterious figure's mastery was, all that was below seemed amateurish.
Xiao had no idea how true that story was, or what in damnation those two beings were, but the technique itself was incredible, it wasn't just something that allowed to wield any weapon like a master, but a weapon cultivation technique that outclassed all others as well, you could become a better swordsman with it than with a purely sword-focused technique.
The Weapon Encyclopedia was also in part why XIao was so easily growing better at wielding his sword, although he had never cultivated or laid eyes on it, his lineage was just so well-attuned that some of its prowess manifested whenever he was holding a weapon.
"Why do you seem to worry about this anyways? I thought you were planning on befriending him? Just giving him a good fight will work in that case… Are you afraid of what he'll ask of you if he emerges victorious?" spoke Chengzhe, twirling his eyebrows at Xiao "I bet that he will just force you to agree to the offer he made last time"
'Well, I do worry about this, but I just really want to get the sword back, it's both a family heirloom and a powerful artefact, it's a weapon perfectly attuned with my family's cultivation technique, not getting it back would be a tremendous loss'
'And would also make progressing through the storyline incredibly difficult…' he added without sharing the thought to the old ghost.
"Ah yes, I had forgotten about this…"