He then turned back, and continued his quiet recovery upon the rock, leaving everyone dumbfounded save for the young girl which had a sparkle in her eye.
---
Within his Inner Sea, a grand spectacle could be observed as Sanguine Sword Qi, which looked closer to strands of hair, had come together to form weaves and pillars to reinforce the Sword Mound, namely around the top.
Using the illusory image, Shou Xin quietly summoned the Sea Spring Sword and began practicing once again, his gaze focused solely on the Sanguine Sword Law before him and the seven golden flood dragons upon it, one of which had awakened not too long ago and stared at him coldly.
However, Shou Xin did not make any bones of it, and did not look at it.
He swiftly raised his sword, and then let it fall.
Due to the lack of physical strength, and his soul being crippled, he could only practice technique in this space.
---
"Who are you?!" Yui Luo shouted as she fell back behind the guards!
Liu Gang who headed the warriors raised his sword, like a terribly cold breeze in the midst of a freezing day the man before him smiled.
"I am the Sword Deity, Vienna. I am tra-, Shou Xin's master," Vienna said in his human form, "Bow down and worship me, I will then assist in your training!"
"Liar." Liu Gang's gaze was fierce like an untamed beast, "If you were his Master, would he be dead now? Damn it I will fight you!"
Liu Gang kicked the ground hard, charging forward alongside a fearsome battle cry which rallied the other guards.
When everyone in the town had abandoned them, he alone rose up and stayed by them!
How could they dare to bow down to such an imposter?!
"Hmph!"
Vienna raised his eyebrows and time seemed to stop, Liu Gang saw his death ten thousand different ways, his entire being left in a crumpled mess.
The other warriors seemed to have seen it as well as every member of the Shou Clan with the large residence.
It was only at the end, that they saw Shou Xin's figure cast like a shadow being trained, and at the end that they realized the sword technique they'd been cut down by Vienna using was the same as the one Shou Xin had used.
"You useless master!" Liu Gang cried out!
"He died and you come here with your strength to try and gain support!?" Yui Luo screamed as she raised her weak hand, "You are a coward!"
"That's enough!" Vienna's tone dropped the temperature of the area several degrees, "He is not dead or else I would know. I am planning to rescue him, but I need some more power! Will all of you submit to worshipping me, or will you all let him rot away!"
Gods, Deities, Devils and demons, even chaos beings were things the regular person did not know much about but only had an inkling about.
With Vienna's words, they felt a bit strange.
"...If the truth is he is dead, I will make sure a report makes it to the Exiled Court that a rogue deity is tricking mortals and killing innocents." Yui Luo looked up at Vienna cooly, "We will worship you for now, if it means saving our Master."
"You should have agreed from the start." Vienna's gaze carried on the breeze passing over them all one by one, "Only a few trashs, take this technique and go."
He sent out the Talentless Sword Art manuscript into the minds of everyone present directly.
"Now build me a damned shrine."
None truly respected him.
But there was no choice.
---
Seven days a week, one hundred and sixty eight hours, all of it meant the same to Shou Xin, and that was absolutely nothing.
After the first day, Feng Luoyan didn't ask anything anymore, only practicing single mindedly upon stopping the sway of her body as she stood on the field.
Each day, Shou Xin gathered the pure morning Qi and the late night breath, increasing his reserves of Sanguine Sword Qi ever so slightly as he recovered some strength.
Yet, today, on the seventh day, he heard the familiar voice of a girl.
"Mister! I've figured it out!"
Shou Xin slowly opened his eyes, peeking at Feng Luoyan who now stood before him.
He touched her forehead lightly and she did not budge, it felt as if he were touching a cliffside, not a young girl.
"Hm?" His hand travelled up and patted her head.
He slowly stood up and took a fallen branch from beside him.
"Do not use any Qi or special strength."
The two stood in the courtyard, gathering the interest of those around who had mostly already gotten used to the dynamic of the young miss training while the youth lazed.
In a moment, Shou Xin tapped her shoulder, yet she didn't budge.
Then he tapped her chest, and no movement.
Finally after checking her body using the branch, he arrived at the top of her head and very lightly put my pressure on it.
She collapsed instantly.
"This is not control," Shou Xin circled her as she stood up, "This is destruction."
He swiftly struck forward and she attempted to catch the strike, but she was lifted off her feet as she fell back again, incredulously.
"Simply building strong, doesn't mean it's good. You have a strong defense, but when it's broken it's impossible for you to change," Shou Xin circled her once again, "You have made yourself from a human capable of change into a mere cliff. Attack me."
Feng Luoyan did exactly as she was told, "Be careful, Mister!"
Her sway had once again been brought to a single point at the bottoms of her feet, holding her to the earth like a great tree with strong roots, her strike came like a spear stuck in the ground, immovable.
Shou Xin, on the other hand swayed around it like a leaf, his feet dragging along the ground soundlessly, he then appeared behind her.
As she tried to readjust herself, he flicked her forehead and she fell.
"Your new training will be to practice walking."
It had gotten dark now, and he began to head back to his room when Feng Luoyan asked.
"How do you know it's night time if your blind?"
Feng Luoyan's eyes widened in shock as a gentle smile creeped into her vision for an instant.
"Though I am blind, I can see."
---
"Ah!" Feng Wuqing, who stood far away, always watching, always listening felt her heart tense letting out a soft sigh once he was gone, "That's what I said back then…"
Her maids looked at their lovestruck lady and felt bad for her inside, but ultimately, due to her rampages, they did not say a word.
Feng Wuqing remained watching for a small while that was like… an eternity in her eyes.
---
Once night had come into full swing, a shadow slowly walked into the residence, arriving in the courtyard.
"Trashcan, come here." Vienna's voice was low, and demanding.
Soon enough, a youth whose white hair shimmered beneath the moonlight appeared.
"...why have you come now?" Shou Xin asked coldly as his killing intent rose slightly, "You abandoned me."
"Did you expect me to save you?" Vienna sneered, "Our contract is simple, I am to make you a master, by any means necessary, and I will. Now, go and get more people to worship me, in this way I will give you rewards-!"
"Shut up." Shou Xin appeared directly in front of Vienna, his eyes which were fogged as though blind burned with a sharp rage, "I don't want anything you have to give anymore."
"Oh?" Vienna's eyes turned to crescents, "Then, should I take away everything you have as compensation?"
His one hand raised and countless blades began to form out of the air, yet there were no vibrations of power.
"Then take what you have given me." Shou Xin smiled wryly, "The Talentless Sword Art is all you have given me. Everything else I earned through the torture you ran me through. But now that I've sensed death, my arm now useless. Do you think I am the same hopeful child you abused before?"
"I think you are still the same naive trash can." The blades above the courtyard trembled as power slowly began to emerge from them, "If not for me, you would be a powerless executioner till the day you died which means everything you have I have given you, and I can take it all away."
The two who seemed almost like brothers due to their appearances, glared at one another.
Vienna's dark hair with a crimson sheen was like an abyss with bloody walls, and Shou Xin's white hair was like shattered moonlight draping a collapsed star.
These two opposites clashed with their eyes alone.
"You've grown a backbone, but how long will it last?" Vienna's smile darkened as his crescent gaze turned even more sinister, "Call me, and I will appear, but should you call me, it will be admitting that you are mine."
"...Should you ever come to me seeking something again, I will make sure to never give it to you, even if I have to die to make sure it remains that way." Shou Xin coldly replied, his empty gaze carrying a weak Sword Aura.
"So be it." Vienna turned away, a devilish smile lighting his face as he spoke, "Ah, as for those in that little garbage town, I am caring for them quite well."
Shou Xin's pupils shrank and he drew his sword, but Vienna was gone, leaving only a laughing chaos behind.
The night air was filled with a deafening silence.
---
"Stay here and fight a war to elope with my descendant, or, go back and fight a god to save your people. What will you choose?" A faint voice crept out from the center of the Feng Residence.
"Who is it, now?" Shou Xin calmly returned the sword to it's sheath.
"Someone who can make your wishes come true." Eerily it seemed to leak into his mind, the voice echoing obnoxiously within.
"I choose both." Shou Xin said seriously as he returned back towards his room.
"Eh?" The voice seemed a little surprised until, "Kehehehe, they are right. The greedy one calls you greedy, and the kind one calls you kind. I wonder what a ruthless one would say?"
"Whatever you want, I will do it if it means my greed is satisfied." Shou Xin sat within his room cross-legged.
"You could have both, but you would need to sacrifice a great deal." The ancient voice seemingly straight from the past appeared to be smiling, "Defeat the descendant of the Yan Clan who is to wed Feng Wuqing. Reconcile with your master."
"He is not my master." Shou Xin coldly responded, "I will never honor him as such again."
"Then, do you wish for innocent lives to be lost in the pointless struggle he will put them through without you to balance his chaotic insanity?" The voice pricked at him mercilessly, "Is your pride worth their lives?"
"...There is not enough time."
"The higher echelons of my descendants are in an uproar because of a letter that came in recently, supposedly from the Yan Clan which if true, could mean war. Sea Spring is the first place a war of that scale will reach." The voice seemed terribly intrigued at the prospects, "Half a year. At the latest."
He naturally knew what was being implied.
In half a year the authenticity of the letter would be verified or dismissed.
In half a year, there was a decision to be made.
He made his resolve.
"I will save my people, and take Feng Wuqing." Shou Xin said coldly, "Then, my journey may continue."
The voice did not reply.
The night dragged on.
---
"The patriarch has summoned you, come inside."
In the midst of his daily training, Shou Xin heard such words from an almost silent voice.
He did not open his eyes, instead choosing to utilize his sensing technique more as he began to move towards the main residence.