Nighttime.
Stars dotted the sky.
Xu Xiaoshou had only slept until the middle of the night before waking up again.
He didn't wake up because he was nervous about the semi-finals tomorrow. Definitely not!
He grabbed his sword and stepped into the yard.
He silently stood in the yard. The wind was quiet amidst the cicadas and frogs, and Xu Xiaoshou was even quieter.
"Now is a good time to practice my sword techniques…"
Xu Xiaoshou thought back to the sword techniques that he'd learned over the last few days.
Sword Technique Expertise was completely unlike his other passive skills. It wasn't at all like Strengthen or Sharpness, which had directly granted him new abilities. Instead, Sword Technique Expertise gave him insight into other abilities.
Xu Xiaoshou had to consolidate these insights on his own.
He slowly closed his eyes.
At this moment, everything in the yard seemed to tremble slightly.
The fake mountain, the spiritual pool, the newly-built house…
He thought back to Zhao Qingteng's Formless Great Cold, which was the technique that had made the greatest impression on him during the entire tournament.
But not just because of how powerful or high-level the technique was.
It'd made a deep impression on him because it was the first time he'd seen someone separate their Sword Will from their body and imbued it into snowflakes.
This way of using Sword Will had widened his horizons.
Yes, he was secretly learning his opponent's technique now.
He was stealing Zhao Qingteng's Formless Great Cold.
Even though he couldn't conjure snow, would he be able to imbue his Sword Will into other natural objects since Zhao Qingteng could imbue his into the snow?
The wind blew past him, and Xu Xiaoshou seemed to become one with his surroundings. The pebbles on the ground started to tremble violently.
Patter!
Patter!
Xu Xiaoshou abruptly opened his eyes. The pebbles suddenly rose into the air as if they were floating snow, and his Sword Will soared.
"Hah!"
He slashed his sword forward. The scene of a crashing snowy mountain appeared in his mind, as though his attack had severed the environment!
Within his field of vision, the pebbles vibrated violently before crashing onto the ground.
"Hm…" he thought.
"That's all??"
Xu Xiaoshou's expression darkened. Why was it so different from what he'd imagined?
"Huff!"
"Fortunately, no one saw that…" he thought.
"Otherwise, I would've embarrassed myself."
He calmed himself down slightly and realized that it wasn't easy to secretly learn from someone.
However, this kind of sword technique that could imbue natural objects with his Sword Will seemed to have a lot of potential.
"At its core, it's also a way to battle with Sword Will…"
Xu Xiaoshou lifted his sword and paced around, his thoughts running wild under the dark sky.
This kind of training method felt similar to the time when he'd mulled over how to battle without using spiritual techniques and fight purely using his Sword Will.
"Move according to your heart's desires? Move as one with the sword?"
An image appeared in his mind. Multiple opponents were falling as fallen leaves rose into the air. It was then replaced with the image of a strike of a sword gathering tens of thousands of swords back to the source.
What kind of imagery would he reach if he continued on this path?
Xu Xiaoshou was a little moved. He knew that he didn't have great talent. After three years, he'd only managed to learn one stroke from the White Cloud Sword Technique.
However, he'd gained a better understanding of the Sword Will following the appearance of the Sword Technique Expertise.
Since that was the case, couldn't he try walking down this path?
The mainstream method of a swordsman was to pair his Sword Will with spiritual techniques to unleash terrifying damage output.
However, what Xu Xiaoshou thought to do was to battle purely using his Sword Will.
This was a path that was destined to be different from the rest. He didn't know if he would ultimately stray from the correct path or forge his own style within the mainstream.
"Sigh!"
Xu Xiaoshou shook his head. The latter was too difficult. He should take it one step at a time!
"Let me first think about how I should approach the semi-final tomorrow…"
His Innate-stage physical body had been exposed to the world. Everyone knew about it. He would lose half the initiative if his opponent put distance between them.
Only Hiding Pain could turn the tide of the battle in his favor tomorrow...
Xu Xiaoshou had an odd look on his face. Why does the topic always return to my Sword Will no matter what I think about?
He fell into deep thought.
He'd managed to create many different patterns of Fleeting White Clouds after the technique was magnified by his Sword Will.
Sword Web Style, Modified Sword Style, Reverse Sword Style…
The former two felt natural. It was the natural application of his Sword Will. As for the Reverse Sword Style…
Xu Xiaoshou looked at Hiding Pain in his hand.
This style had been the result of a stroke of inspiration in the middle of a crisis during his battle with Zhao Qingteng. It was more about combining his Sword Will with the sword itself.
During that time, he felt that Hiding Pain had come alive!
"Sword Telepathy?"
That also seemed like a way of imbuing Sword Will into another object. However, Hiding Pain was closer to him, which was why it worked.
Xu Xiaoshou suddenly had an idea: he could imbue Hiding Pain with his Sword Will and launch a counterattack. However, was that all he'd be able to do?
No!
Xu Xiaoshou's eyes flashed. If he could perfectly control Hiding Pain with his Sword Will, wouldn't he master the legendary Sword Soaring Technique?!
Even…
Flying on a sword?!
Flying was something only an Innate-stage fighter could do. He was only Spiritual Cultivation Level Eight. Wouldn't the crowd be extremely startled if he managed to fly on his sword?
"Let's try it out!"
Xu Xiaoshou recalled his battle in the afternoon and infused his Sword Will into the blade of Hiding Pain.
"Buzz…"
A long howl was heard, and Hiding Pain started to tremble slightly.
Xu Xiaoshou was startled. The black sword in his hand didn't feel like an inanimate object. It seemed to have some form of spiritual intelligence.
"Great!" he thought.
"This means I've already developed a relationship with it."
Xu Xiaoshou tossed Hiding Pain and pointed upward with two fingers.
"Rise!"
He seemed to see a vision of the black sword soaring in the air, but the sword behaved like an ordinary sword and fell onto the ground after he threw it.
Clank, clank, clank!
Xu Xiaoshou's expression was dark as charcoal. The black sword constantly struggled on the ground, as if it'd been forcibly used by someone.
"That's not right," he thought. "It wasn't like this in the afternoon!"
"Could it be that I didn't throw it with enough force?"
Xu Xiaoshou picked up the sword and once again imbued it with his Sword Will. Then, he fiercely tossed the sword.
Whoosh!
Flames surrounded the body of the sword as it shot toward the horizon!
Xu Xiaoshou cheered. Sometime later, he sensed the excited Sword Will again and immediately summoned his sword back to him.
With a whoosh, a black dot appeared on the horizon, fiercely slashing toward Xu Xiaoshou.
Xu Xiaoshou was startled. He wasn't encapsulated within an ice sculpture. Wouldn't he become a second Zhao Qingteng if he got hit by the sword?
Thinking about this, he quickly jumped, wanting to stand on the sword's blade and fly into the air.
In the end, Hiding Pain was too fast. It slipped past under his legs and instantly tripped him.
Boom!
Clang!
The two of them fell onto the ground at the same time, and the surroundings became dead silent.
"Darn it, I don't believe this!"
"Again!"
Xu Xiaoshou tried out the technique again. He was definitely going to master the legendary Sword Soaring Technique tonight!
In the end…
Boom!
Clang!
"We continue!"
Boom!
Clang!
…
Stubbornness is a kind of poison. The night sky troubled Xu Xiaoshou.
Sometime later, when Xu Xiaoshou threw the sword again, he finally realized that the black sword wasn't psychic.
The only time the sword became truly excited was when it flew to its limits and was called back by Xu Xiaoshou.
In other words, the "Reverse" in the Reverse Sword Style meant that the black sword was only truly psychic during the reversal process.
This made Xu Xiaoshou fall silent for a long while as he tried to understand what the difference between throwing the sword and having it return was.
But he couldn't figure out the reason.
"This darned Reverse Sword Style…"
"I should've called it the Sword Soaring Technique!"
Xu Xiaoshou decided to skip the throwing the sword step, and pointed the tip of the sword toward himself and imbued it with Sword Will.
"Buzz!"
The body of the sword immediately started to get excited, and Xu Xiaoshou immediately felt the life within the sword.
He turned the sword around and pointed it toward the sky.
"Buzz…"
The life force reduced to just a sliver.
He turned it again.
"Buzz!"
He turned it again.
"Buzz…"
Xu Xiaoshou was speechless.
"What kind of principle is this?" he thought. "It only has spiritual intelligence when it's aimed at me?
"I think you want to kill your master!"
Xu Xiaoshou couldn't believe this and continued turning the sword around.
"Buzz!"
"Buzz…"
"Buzz!"
"Buzz…"
Xu Xiaoshou's expression darkened, and he angrily tossed Hiding Pain. "Darn it," he thought. "There's something wrong with this sword!"
Whoosh!
The black sword once again flew toward him.
Xu Xiaoshou was speechless.
Cursed others. Passive Points +0!