Chapter 629: Preaching the Sword (I)
All attention fell upon the forty-two participants. They were all seated and no one jumped up immediately to take the lead. Some were contemplating while others were glancing at their competition. A few seemed eager to answer but held themselves back with great difficulty. This was the first event of the first session and nobody wanted to make a fool out of themselves.
As for the four so-called geniuses, none of them showed any eagerness to be first. Huang Yaoying sat there with his arms crossed, a casual smile gracing his handsome face. He seemed unworried as if he was relaxing in a backyard garden instead of being in front of such a huge audience. Ming Yuqi wasn't so brazen in comparison. Instead, she sat serenely with her eyes closed in meditation as if she was bored.
The pair of Tang Liang and Deng Lun also struck an interesting contrast. The scholar was diligently reading from a scroll that was probably wholly unrelated to the current event while the devilish girl was busy whittling a small chunk of red-hued wood as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world. Both of them acted as if would rather be anywhere else.
Zhou Ziyun took all of this in with some level of amusement. She didn't think these geniuses would be so pretentious. But with a background of a wealthy and noble family, even if it was one that belonged to an insignificant trade city, she understood the importance of public spectacle, of putting on a good show. And for that, the geniuses had to let the dumber people go first. Only then would they be able to display the absolute gap that existed between them.
After a short pause, someone stepped up to the challenge and stood up.
That person was a short-statured young man with above-average features. He cupped his fists in a martial salute and spoke clearly, "Since nobody else wants to be the first one, then I will do it. Friends from the Falling Leaf Sect. This one is named Fu Huxin, disciple of the Red Forest Alliance which calls this Forest District our home. I will point out some flaws I see in your Falling Leaf Sword Dao and I hope you will not be offended."
The ten guests returned the greeting and indicated that they would be fine with anything that was thrown at them.
"Very good." Fu Huxin nodded and said, "Your Falling Leaf Sword Dao is a decent sword style in general. It has a large number of sword routines and forms applicable to many different situations. Cultivating this sword style creates a good foundation for those seeking the Dao of the sword."
He paused as his expression grew serious, "However, the limit of your sword is clear. It is too slow. In a battle between swords, regardless of technique or strength, the one who wins is often who is the fastest. An offensive sword can be broken with speed. A defensive sword can also be broken with speed. Even before seeing your performance, just by looking at your secret manual, I could tell that the moves within them had no emphasis on speed... My suggestion is this. Practice all of your moves at double the pace and see what happens. I predict that you won't be disappointed."
Fu Huxin finished and sat down. His preaching of the Dao of the sword was met with skeptical looks from the ten guests. It was one thing to increase one's speed a little. But double was asking too much of many cultivators.
The oldest of the bunch stepped forward once again and raised his sword, "Thank you, young prince. I will try it according to your idea."
He twirled his weapon and went into a combat stance. With a surge of spiritual energy, he launched into his well-practiced routine but at twice the ferocity. His sword became a faint blur as his body spun about the meadow. Occasional flashes of sword intent shot out from rapid attacks with much greater strength than before.
Zhou Ziyun watched with transformation with some trepidation. Speed was indeed the king. There was no falsehood in Fu Huxin's words. Speed was an integral part of the way of the sword. The only problem was stamina as increasing one's speed by one-fold would require a multiple-fold increase in exertion. However, the increase in power did not reach one-fold and was perhaps around half. She felt that speed wasn't the most optional way to improve this mortal sword art.
True to her analysis, the old man didn't last very long. He came to a stop, gasping for air. Sweat covered his face and his entire body was slightly wobbly. Speed was good but it wasn't good if the body could not keep up.
At this point, another participant stood up and strode to the center of the meadow. It was another young man with a much more confident expression. He began by immediately refuting Fu Huxin's advice previously, outlining the exact points Zhou Ziyun was thinking about with regards to speed, how it exerted too much energy for not enough return, how the Falling Leaf Sword Style could not be improved by much just with speed.
Instead of speed, this second person preached that the sword style lacked a powerful attack, a finishing blow that could be used against strong opponents. All the moves of the sword style were average in strength had lacking killing power. After all, the way of the sword was one of killing, slaying enemies with one's sword, and forging a bloody path through the world.
Those words reminded Zhou Ziyun of the might of Dugu's Tenth Sword. That sword art had only a few moves but each one was supreme in effect and killing power. But that was something created by a sword saint, an untouchable genius of the immortal world.
One could talk about sword intent and killing power in front of such immortal sword Daos but in front of an ordinary, mortal sword style, such things were a little too much.
The old man from the Falling Leaf Sect thought the same. He accepted the preaching but couldn't do anything about it. He was just a normal cultivator in the mortal realms. He had no idea how to increase the killing power in his sword nor did he have any idea how to create an all-powerful attack out of nothing. Before today, as far as he knew, his Falling Leaf Sword Dao was his entire world.
The person that had stood up arrogantly sat back down with a red face. This preaching convention wasn't so simple that anyone could blabber nonsense and impress the crowd. Without proper analysis, many ideas would fall into the same trap as the first two. It wasn't enough to simply know about the theories behind the sword, they had to correctly apply it towards a specific sword style, not spout generic bullshit.
After this, a third person came forward and then a fourth.
All the while, Zhou Ziyun's mind was constantly working, analyzing, and deducing. She felt that she had a unique idea that could be viable but she wasn't sure. It had come to her all of the sudden like an epiphany. If she was with her master and her sisters, she would have blurted it out immediately. But in front of so many people and four touch competitors, she held back and decided to not say anything.
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