Discussing Martial Arts

The Tang family was in disarray today, suffering severe losses. Fortunately, the Tang family was not destined to perish. The sword furnace was attacked by evil martial arts masters, but with Shen Bai's help, losses were greatly reduced. On the other side, with Xia Ci's assistance, the Tang family successfully overcame the crisis of destruction.

However, Tang Tianyuan had died, the family head Tang Tianhao was deeply poisoned, and many high-ranking members were either injured or dead. Under these circumstances, they had no choice but to push the somewhat carefree young master Tang Buyi to step up and stabilize the situation.

Fortunately, few people knew about Tang Tianyuan's situation, so the Tang family wasn't thrust into the center of public opinion. From another perspective, the Tang family could be said to have gained a blessing from misfortune, as the news of many evil martial artists trying to steal the sword would soon spread, adding another layer of rare publicity to the emergence of the Wugou Sword.

Xia Ci stayed at the Tang family for three days.

The reason for the three-day stay was because Shen Bai only had three days before he had to leave.

During these three days, Xia Ci and Shen Bai were almost inseparable, constantly exchanging martial arts knowledge. Both benefited greatly, and when they parted, they still felt there was more to discuss. However, Shen Bai had urgent matters to attend to and could stay for only three days.

"Ah, Brother Xia, if I had known I would meet you, I wouldn't have agreed to duel with Mo Buyao from Lingyun Manor," Shen Bai said regretfully in a pavilion at the Tang residence. "It's just a pity that I had already arranged to duel with Mo Buyao. I originally sought to duel Mo Buyao to find my true martial intent, but how could dueling Mo Buyao compare to exchanging ideas with you? What a shame, what a shame, but I cannot break my promise!"

Shen Bai had been challenging martial arts masters across the jianghu for several years. Recently, he had arranged a duel with Mo Buyao, the young master of Lingyun Manor, one of the leading powers in Linjiang Prefecture. That's why he had come to Zhushan County to retrieve the sword for his master on the way.

This matter had been arranged long ago, and reputation was most important in the martial world.

Even though Shen Bai was very reluctant to leave, he had to go.

Xia Ci smiled slightly and said, "There's plenty of time ahead. We'll have many opportunities in the future."

"Yes, yes, yes, plenty of time ahead."

Xia Ci's martial realm was higher than Shen Bai's, but not as high as Shen Bai's master. He was only slightly better than Shen Bai, just at a level that Shen Bai could relate to. The guidance Xia Ci could provide was something even a grandmaster couldn't give.

Of course, this wasn't to say that Xia Ci understood martial arts better than Ye Liuyun, but rather that Ye Liuyun's level was too high. The guidance he could provide for someone at Shen Bai's stage wasn't as practical as what Xia Ci could offer.

And Xia Ci gained a lot from Shen Bai as well.

Shen Bai was personally taught by a grandmaster of the Canglan Sword Sect. The martial arts secrets he knew were things most people couldn't access in their lifetime. He possessed the most top-tier and complete martial arts knowledge system, which was extremely helpful for Xia Ci, who was self-taught.

Furthermore, Xia Ci had saved Shen Bai's life, and Xia Ci was also interested in befriending Shen Bai, this promising grandmaster's disciple. Hitting it off immediately, the two quickly established a relationship, and their martial arts exchange went very smoothly. When they parted, they exchanged contact addresses to continue corresponding through letters.

...

The sky was clear and the sun was shining brightly.

On the main road, Xia Ci sat in the carriage while Xia Xiayin was responsible for driving, slowly leaving Zhushan County. Shen Bai and his junior sister each rode a horse, heading in another direction.

Tang Tianhao and Tang Buyi personally escorted them out of the city. The Tang family had arranged people to specifically escort the Xia siblings, but Xia Ci had declined.

"Brother, are you going to become famous in the martial world?" Xia Xiayin asked.

"Why do you say that?" Xia Ci replied.

"Because you killed Flying Dragon!" Xia Xiayin said.

Xia Ci smiled and said, "Killing a Flying Dragon hardly counts as becoming famous in the martial world. It's not like killing an evil grandmaster. However, among the bounty hunter community, some reputation will spread. Yan Sanniang's side will definitely promote it intentionally, so there will be some attention, but it can't be called fame throughout the martial world."

Xia Xiayin said, "But it will be soon. You'll definitely become famous in the martial world soon, after all, you're even more powerful than Shen Bai. Shen Bai is already very famous, and since you're stronger than him, you'll definitely soon be more famous than him!"

"Uh, you can't say it like that. Shen Bai is very strong, and we haven't actually competed, so it's hard to say who's stronger," Xia Ci said.

"No," Xia Xiayin said, "Shen Bai himself said you're stronger than him. Your realm is higher than his. Your internal and external skills have both reached the realm of transformation, while he only has half a step of sword intent."

Xia Ci smiled and said, "The directions are different, so how can realms be compared? Moreover, realm is not directly related to combat capability. A person's combat strength depends on the depth of their martial arts and their own understanding of the martial arts they practice."

"Hmm... I don't understand."

Xia Ci explained, "Martial arts cultivation has different stages. For example, right now, you're primarily practicing the Mysterious Heart Saber Technique, still in the first stage. You need to find ways to practice diligently to master the Mysterious Heart Saber Technique, also called reaching the realm of transformation. When you reach this realm, it means you've mastered the Mysterious Heart Saber Technique to perfection and can use it as naturally as moving your fingers.

Next, if you don't have other more powerful martial arts, you can only continue to cultivate the Mysterious Heart Saber Technique. But since you've already mastered it, where else can you improve? That's the second stage—comprehending personal will, taking the saber technique from basic learning of skills and moves to another level, imbuing the saber technique with personal will. At that point, won't your realm be very high?

But think carefully—our Mysterious Heart Saber Technique, in the martial world, is at most second-rate. Even if you practice a certain move to perfection and imbue it with the highest will, it may not necessarily be stronger than a first-rate martial art that has reached the realm of transformation, let alone a grandmaster-level martial art.

As for Shen Bai, he practices the grandmaster Ye Liuyun's ultimate skill, the Cloud Flowing Sword Technique. This sword technique emphasizes intent over form. Once the intent within is used, its strength is hard to estimate. Additionally, grandmaster martial arts are very difficult to cultivate. Generally, the higher the level of martial arts, the more profound and difficult to cultivate they are, and the more powerful the comprehended intent will be. Even if it's only half a step, it's hard to gauge."

Xia Xiayin seemed to half-understand and asked, "So is it stronger to cultivate internal energy and techniques, or to cultivate true martial intent?"

Xia Ci shook his head slightly and said, "There's no distinction between strong and weak. Whether the cultivation direction is different, or the martial arts are different, to determine strength, you can only have a fight. Whoever wins is stronger. Not to mention different directions—even people who cultivate the same martial art will each have their own comprehension. It's even possible for one martial art to manifest multiple core understandings. Additionally, whether it's saber techniques, sword techniques, lightness skills, hidden weapons, and so on, there are all kinds of methods. Who can say which is the strongest?

Overall, there is no strongest martial art, and no strongest cultivation direction—only the strongest person!"