Sanguine… Slash.
An ability he first sensed, and created during his match against An Nu, which allowed him to cut his chest and bissect him at the same time.
"The killing cut is hidden behind the Qi Wave, utilizing the brute force of Physical Arts to cut the opponent and hiding the strike within a cloud of thick killing intent to through them off, ingenious but…" Elder Tai Yu dissected the move instantly as he calmly raised a single finger, "It's still incomplete."
As Shou Xin's strike was about to meet the Elder's finger, he sensed something horrible and his heart shook for a moment.
"Too bad." The Elder took that instant to shatter the strike with his single finger, a concentrated killing intent covering it and shattering the cloud which hid the true killer strike, thus weakening the move and throwing off Shou Xin's heart causing the blade to hesitate making it a simple thing to read and dodge.
Yet the Elder had instead chosen to destroy the strike entirely.
"You have a great balance between Sword, Body and Soul, however, if one is broken, the cycle which keeps you afloat breaks apart as well. You are like a gambler betting everything on each strike, leaving nothing to fall back to, it is a ruthless to oneself, more so than to the enemy," Elder Tai Yu said, "This Way of the Sword, your way, has the opportunity to be powerful. As you are, if you chose to kill you could match a late Second Chain Expert, however Three chain is simply too far."
"Do I… have talent for the sword?" Shou Xin asked cautiously.
"None." Elder Tai Yu replied nonchalantly.
"Ah!" Shou Xin felt crushed instantly.
"However, your instincts are extremely sharp which is why, you who have no talent in any established Sword Methods are however… in your own unorthodox method which heavily relies on instinct and hard work, a genius." Elder Tai Yu ruffled Shou Xin's hair.
"Thank you, Elder!" Shou Xin smiled brightly as it was the first bit of praise he had ever received though it felt a bit… backhanded?
But, he did not care.
As he was thinking of such things, Elder Tai Yu glanced down at the naked blade in Shou Xin's hand, the Sea Spring Sword.
Peeking at it, he could almost see the faint reflections of the countless lives it had been used to take as though the sword was screaming.
"Say, young one, the sword in your hand, would you mind coming to the Tai School and allowing myself to forge with it?" Elder Tai Yu looked back to Shou Xin, "It is a fine blade, but it is full of resentment and grudges, it may one day even curse you as the steel itself has become Flesh Metal."
"Flesh Metal?"
Elder Tai Yu nodded.
"Flesh Metal is what steel and iron turn into when they've been used to take a sufficient number of lives. It is the cusp of being able to become a spiritual weapon, an Artifact. However, Flesh Metal is very rare as normally spiritual materials are made directly into Artifacts, for a regular weapon to arrive at this point… the number of lives it's taken must be great."
Elder Tai Yu looked behind Shou Xin, his eyes growing cold.
"Give him the Sword Stone, trashcan." Vienna's voice rang out calmly as he drank from his gourd.
"Hey, you-!"
"He's already figured it out, drop it." Vienna passed Shou Xin and stood before Elder Tai Yu.
"Yes, Master." Shou Xin frowned.
"A chaos being has ascended into a corporeal form, taking up the name of a deity and using a child as it's pawn," Elder Tai Yu looked down at Vienna coldly, "It's distasteful."
The villa in the mountains was instantly vaporized by the explosion of Elder Tai Yu's Sword Intent and Law Qi shooting out like fine blades cutting it down to the smallest pieces.
Vienna stood two steps from him receiving the pressure head on as he wiped the fine liquor from his lips.
"I asked him for this!" Shou Xin stabbed the Sea Spring Sword into the earth to maintain himself, "He even tried to leave, but I had him stay!"
The elder stared at Vienna who shrugged, "The brat challenged me, said I couldn't make him into a master, that I was scared."
Elder Tai Yu's frown lightened and soon enough the immense pressure which directly cut apart a large portion of the mountain side vanished.
"Hahaha, is that so?" He smiled kindly, "Deities are quite eccentric. Our Tai School's Sword Deity Nu Fu is the same."
"Oh?" Vienna's pupils shrank, "Nu Fu, so this is where he ran off to! I thought he'd gotten killed after so many centuries on his mountain. I will visit him."
"Ah? You know our deity?"
"We go way back, a few centuries ago we were rivals but then he became a ruler in the land between skies," Vienna replied nonchalantly, "I will go fight him, for old times sake. Ah, while I'm gone, take care of the trashcan, if he dies at least make sure to retrieve the body in tact."
"Thanks master, really great." Shou Xin spoke calmly, a great, generous smile on his face.
He sheathed the Sea Spring Sword.
"Hm? You think it's wrong for me to leave?" Vienna commented, "You're already a First Chain Expert with the strength of a peak Second Chain despite having the talent of an earthworm and even that is an insult to earthworms, haven't I worked enough? Besides, that damned instincts of yours which seem to have gobbled up any real talent are doing leaps and bounds of work, you've already managed to create two synergistic techniques using them. The Talentless Sword Art, treat it as a basic technique and practice everyday."
Sanguine Sword Steps.
Sanguine Slash.
He had indeed created two techniques, though the implication of this had just hit him.
"Once those two techniques reach a more completed state, you will be at a place to challenge the Second Chain." Elder Tai Yu commented from the side, "As your master has said, your talent is terrible in all things, only your instincts stand out. Focus closely on the chains within your Inner Sea."
Shou Xin hesitated for a moment, but did as he was told.
It had been a while since he had submerged his consciousness into his Inner Sea, and so the sudden change from the sunlight outside and the darkness within his Inner Sea was abrupt to say the least however that did not last as his vision quickly cured.
Before him was his Mound, a thick foundation of pure Primeval Qi.
Within it lay his soul, a small blob.
And atop the mound, at it's peak, the Sanguine Sword Law.
Countless chains wrapped around it almost completely blocking it out, yet, only eight of these chains were large enough and thick enough to make him wonder.
He remembered his purpose in being here.
His pupils shrank.
"...gorgeous." The words leaked from his mouth unintentionally.
The thick chains which were coiled around the Sanguine Sword Law had changed, their looks becoming closer to flood dragons whose colors popped out at him like a sudden explosion!
His breath became a little thinner at the sheer magnitude of these flood dragons, their beautiful golden scales.
Yet, as the beauty of it all had set in, he felt a chill.
Golden eyes.
One of them was awake and restless, it looked at him with it's golden gaze.
Shou Xin knew, in the depths of his heart, that this was the second chain.
He also knew that the moment he locked eyes with it, it would ignite a battle.
His instincts told him that it was yet too strong.
Soon enough, his mind flowed out from his Inner Sea.
"What did you see?" Elder Tai Yu asked kindly as he stood by the exit of the now flattened villa.
"A golden flood dragon."
The Elder froze in his tracks and Vienna half turned around.
"That's not a funny joke, young one." Elder Yu said with a shifty smile.
"He's not joking," Vienna intervened, "He's just that terribly unlucky."
"What? What is it?" Shou Xin stepped forward.
(Henceforth Elder Tai Yu = Elder Yu for politeness/Uncle Yu for closeness and ease of use.)
Vienna shrugged.
Elder Yu looked at him coldly before turning back to Shou Xin.
"Your master is terrible. I will teach you," Elder Tai said benignly, "There are different forms of chains for a Cultivator. Most chains are 'Mortal', which are the weakest and yield the regular increase in strength of ten times. After that are 'Beast' chains, which may vary, but on average increase ones strength instead of ten times, to eleven but it is ten times as difficult to break making it not worth it. The last one is 'Divine' chains…"
Shou Xin's expression slowly began to fall.
"...though the world knows them better as 'Curse' Chains. The only reason divine was originally used was because over a millennia ago, the Great Ancestor had found a child with those chains and thought it was a blessing, if he could break through, he would be unparalleled, however, even the Great Ancestor could not do it. The child died breaking the third chain. Little is known of such rare chains, but divine is given for its strength and flood dragons which govern it, but curse is the truth of it. I'm sorry."
"What is the increase in strength?"
"Hm?" Elder Yu raised a brow, surprised at Shou Xin's calm reaction, "It is said that one's strength would increase by fifteen times in an all around fashion."
Shou Xin slowly nodded.
"I won't be able to use it properly due to my small soul, as well, isn't that right, Master?"
"Correct. You will have no choice but to make it become more, and more dense so your soul can use it." Vienna, who had at some point turned back into a cat, sat in a tree.
Shou Xin quietly nodded and began walking.
Elder Yu quietly watched his retreating figure, a sigh escaping his lips.