The saber move recorded in this Nameless Saber Manual had a name—Gentle Wind Slash. The "wind" in its name meant speed. To master this slash, the key could be summed up in a single word: fast!
Draw the saber fast—so fast the opponent has no time to react, so fast their eyes can't even track it. The moment the blade leaves its sheath, it takes a life!
Gentle Wind Slash, Gentle Wind Slash. A gentle wind caresses the face; you see the wind, but not the blade.
To achieve a fast draw speed, one needed immense explosive power. The second factor was impelling the saber with qi to make it even faster.
Zhaang Ye had been practicing with his saber under the waterfall for over two months, and his explosive power was already quite formidable. What he needed to practice now was impelling the saber with his qi.
Impelling the saber with qi, as the name suggested, meant using True Qi to drive the saber in his hand, making it faster and more powerful. Zhaang Ye's Comprehension was far greater than before. After reading it just once, he had committed the key principles of the Gentle Wind Slash to memory. In the time that followed, he practiced while contemplating the Saber Technique, and he soon grasped its essentials.
"Gentle Wind, Gentle Wind Slash... Draw with strength, guide with qi, become the wind! HAHA!" Zhaang Ye laughed heartily, leaping up. He landed in the pool with his saber in hand and began unleashing dozens of slashes with the Thick-Backed Saber.
For the first few dozen slashes, Zhaang Ye looked like he was just chopping wood. But after another ten or so, his arm seemed to vanish. The Thick-Backed Saber moved as if guided by a light wind, its speed reaching an extreme, leaving no trace behind.
'Yes, this is the feeling!' Zhaang Ye sheathed his Thick-Backed Saber, a thrill of delight in his heart. 'Though aptitude is paramount in the Martial Dao, Comprehension becomes more and more important in the Late Stages. My Comprehension is good right now. If I add diligence to that, I'll definitely be able to forge my own path!'
...
Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, Zhaang Ye had practiced his Saber Technique under the waterfall for another two months.
At the edge of the massive waterfall was a huge, bluish rock. On top of this rock, Zhaang Ye stood holding a long Thick-Backed Saber, his feet moving in a strange Footwork Technique as he slashed again and again into the cascading water.
The waterfall, dozens of meters high, crashed down on him, relentlessly pounding his head, shoulders, legs, and back. Water may be the softest thing in the world, but when it plummets from such a height, the current is incredibly fierce. Practicing his saber beneath the waterfall was as difficult as training with several hundred pounds on his back!
Zhaang Ye withstood the pressure of the waterfall, swiftly executing over three hundred slashes. After that, his speed began to slow, the qi and blood in his body seethed, and his skin turned a strange shade of red.
"Three hundred six, three hundred seven! Three hundred eight! HAAH!" Zhaang Ye roared as he delivered the final three slashes. With a push of his feet, he leaped out of the waterfall like a fish, gasping for fresh air.
After a long while, his turbulent breathing finally calmed.
Over the past two months, Zhaang Ye had gradually mastered the essentials of impelling his saber with qi. He trained for longer and longer periods, and his draw speed grew faster and faster. By now, Zhaang Ye could unleash three hundred and eight slashes in a single breath, like a hurricane. His speed was like a wisp of gentle wind, the blade and the waterfall merging into one, making it impossible to distinguish where the blade ended and the waterfall began.
Guiding the saber with qi, drawing the blade like the wind. Having reached this stage, Zhaang Ye's Gentle Wind Slash had reached the Minor Achievement Realm. However, he could vaguely sense that he was still some distance away from the Saber Technique's Great Success Realm.
This distance wasn't about a lack of practice, but a kind of indescribable Realm. Saber Techniques also had their own Realm. If one couldn't enter that state, no amount of training would be of any use.
After his Saber Technique Cultivation reached the Minor Achievement Realm, Zhaang Ye emerged from his state of single-minded saber practice. While continuing his Saber Technique training, he also began to practice the Jinghong Technique.
Time passed slowly, and before he knew it, the flood season had arrived.
The flood season, as the name implies, was when the river's water level surged. During this period, the volume of water pouring over the waterfall grew larger and larger, gradually threatening to become a mountain torrent.
With the arrival of the flood season, it became increasingly difficult for Zhaang Ye to practice his saber under the waterfall. But this difficulty spurred his progress, and his Saber Technique improved daily. Zhaang Ye vaguely felt that his Saber Technique was only a hair's breadth from the Great Success Realm. If he could just have an epiphany about the final key, he would immediately break through to the Great Success Realm.
One day, as Zhaang Ye was practicing under the waterfall, he suddenly felt a tremor in his Meridians, and the True Qi throughout his body began to circulate on its own. Zhaang Ye was startled for a moment, then overjoyed. He quickly leaped out of the water and sat cross-legged on a large rock.
The True Qi started from his Dantian and began to flow through his Meridians with a slow but unstoppable momentum. It completed several small Circulations, and with each one, Zhaang Ye felt the purity of his True Qi increase slightly. On the ninth Circulation, he felt a jolt run through his entire body as the True Qi burst through several previously blocked Meridians. Afterward, the True Qi within him surged with vigorous life, cleansing his body once over.
When the True Qi had completely returned to his Dantian, Zhaang Ye finished his practice and stood up. He glanced down at himself and saw that another layer of black filth had appeared on his body at some point. Seeing this grime, he couldn't help but laugh. "True Qi Body Refining, hehe. To think I've already reached the Mid-stage Martial Arts Second Layer so quickly!"
Having entered the Mid-stage Martial Arts Second Layer, Zhaang Ye felt his strength increase once again. He couldn't resist drawing his Thick-Backed Saber and performing a few slashes in the empty air.
Zhaang Ye had made those slashes casually. But after he did, a strange sense of enlightenment suddenly washed over him. He keenly sensed that the few slashes he had just performed were different from his usual Saber Technique.
'They were the same moves, so why did they feel so different?'
Zhaang Ye closed his eyes, recalling the feeling of practicing his saber under the waterfall.
Other people practiced by simply following a Cultivation Technique. But since Zhaang Ye had fused with the memories, he was no longer satisfied with just that. As he cultivated, he was always pondering the principles contained within the Martial Art, calculating and simulating the optimal moves. For example, when practicing the Gentle Wind Slash, Zhaang Ye had been constantly correcting the angle, speed, and force of his draw from the very beginning, continuously comprehending and perfecting its secrets.
It was precisely this constant calculation and contemplation that allowed Zhaang Ye's saber practice to advance by leaps and bounds, enabling him to sense the most subtle transformations in his draw and execution.
Suddenly, Zhaang Ye let out a long laugh. "Gentle Wind Slash, Gentle Wind Slash, haha! This technique was born from the gentle wind itself. To achieve this Saber Realm, I have to be in a gentle wind. I've been practicing under the waterfall this whole time. Although I've cultivated my saber speed to its peak, I could never find the Clear Wind Blade Realm. No wonder I couldn't get my Saber Technique to Great Success!"
Enlightenment dawned on Zhaang Ye. He entered a wondrous state as the True Qi in his body surged through a peculiar Meridian and into his Thick-Backed Saber. As the True Qi flowed, Zhaang Ye faced a gentle breeze and executed several slashes. SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH.
The heavy Thick-Backed Saber seemed to merge with the gentle wind. In the air, only the faint glint of the blade could be seen, with no sign of the blade's shadow.
A dozen or so leaves drifted down. The moment they entered the range of Zhaang Ye's Saber Technique, they were instantly shredded by an invisible, Powerful Qi. As it turned out, when Zhaang Ye executed the Gentle Wind Slash, his body was surrounded by streams of Powerful Qi. The instant the leaves touched this Powerful Qi, they were immediately torn to pieces by its formless, intangible force.
Gentle Wind Slash, Gentle Wind Slash. A gentle wind caresses the face; you see the wind, but not the blade. At this point, the Gentle Wind Slash that Zhaang Ye had been cultivating for months finally reached the Great Success Realm.
Now that his Gentle Wind Slash had reached the Great Success Realm, Zhaang Ye quickly discovered another problem: Replenishing Qi.
The Gentle Wind Slash was indeed powerful, but executing it consumed an immense amount of True Power. With Zhaang Ye's current Cultivation, performing two slashes in a row would completely exhaust his True Power.
'Replenishing Qi, Replenishing Qi! How can I replenish my qi faster and execute more Gentle Wind Slashes in one breath?'
This question deeply troubled Zhaang Ye.
Zhaang Ye tried increasing his training volume to improve his physical conditioning. This method proved effective. After more than a month of practice, he could execute three Gentle Wind Slashes in a single breath.
Although he had made progress, Zhaang Ye wasn't satisfied. While practicing his Gentle Wind Slash, he also dedicated some of his energy to cultivating the Jinghong Technique. The Footwork Technique recorded in the Jinghong Technique was called the Startled Swan Step. It emphasized being "as graceful as a startled swan, as supple as a swimming dragon." At its peak, one could tread on snow without leaving a trace, or cover a thousand miles in a day when traveling. Among Low-level Techniques, it was considered a very fine Body Technique.
After practicing the Startled Swan Step for over a month, Zhaang Ye, relying on his astonishing calculation abilities, tried to use the Footwork Technique to drive his Gentle Wind Slash.
Zhaang Ye's method was a great success. After more than twenty days of integration, he could now unleash six Gentle Wind Slashes in a single breath. Compared to the two he could manage before, it was a threefold improvement.
The days passed one by one.
Zhaang Ye cultivated and contemplated. As his mastery of the Footwork Technique and its integration with his saber grew, the number of Gentle Wind Slashes he could execute in one breath also slowly increased.
On this day, Zhaang Ye was in the midst of an invigorating saber practice session when he suddenly sensed the light above him dim and the sound of the wind change. An unknown object was plummeting from the top of the waterfall, dozens of meters high, straight for his head.
It wasn't the first time debris had fallen down with the waterfall. His heart remained calm as he brandished his Thick-Backed Saber and sent a Gentle Wind Slash straight at the unidentified object.
Zhaang Ye practiced this Gentle Wind Slash hundreds of times every day. After so long, he had thoroughly grasped its essence. His execution was as natural as if it were second nature. Debris falling from the waterfall, like massive logs or rocks, would be cleaved in two and sent flying far away by his Gentle Wind Slash.
Though this slash was performed casually, its power was still considerable. With a loud CLANG, the unidentified object falling from the sky was instantly sent flying dozens of meters by Zhaang Ye's blade, landing heavily on the bank.
'Huh? What in the world is that? My slash can split a thousand-pound log in two, but this thing is completely unharmed!' Astonished, Zhaang Ye sheathed his saber and ran to the riverbank, heading for the unidentified object.
When he got a clear look at the unidentified object, Zhaang Ye froze.
It turned out that the thing he had just sent flying with his blade was a person. This person had just taken a direct hit from his saber and hadn't been split in two!