Chapter 135 — The Circling Sword Stance
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Imperial Preceptor Jingping appeared before the Hall of the Imperial Academy and said with a smile, "Grand Libationer, then I shall presume to overstep.
" Fu Yuanqing followed behind him, looking this way and that, and frowned slightly: "Which one is my young junior brother?
" Shen Mu had undone the Thousand Mechanisms Poison on the Empress Dowager's body, and he had borrowed the insect eye to see Shen Mu's face; but there were too many people here, and for a time he could not pick out where Shen Mu stood either. The young Patriarch smiled and said, "You used to come now and then to serve at the Directorate of Education and lecture the scholars; it is only these last few years that you have not come.
It cannot be called overstepping. Please.
" Imperial Preceptor Jingping walked to the steps, swept a look around, and said, "The Grand Libationer's hospitality is hard to refuse. Today I shall open the platform and speak on the sword — only for two days, and of nothing else.
" Libationer Bashan muttered under his breath, "Was it not three days?
" The young Patriarch shot him a glance: "The Daoist sect has blockaded our academy's gate, and only for three days; half a day has already passed. If Imperial Preceptor Jingping lectures for three days, the daylily will have gone cold.
" Libationer Bashan sighed, "It was hard enough for Imperial Preceptor Jingping to come and lecture at all, and yet he cannot speak for even two days more. What a pity. .
. For Imperial Preceptor Jingping to open the platform in person is the equal of the Tathagata preaching the sutras at Great Thunder Roar Temple, of the Daoist Sovereign transmitting the dharma, of the Dark Demon Cult's Leader conferring empowerment. How rare is that?
" Imperial Preceptor Jingping paced slowly down from the steps and said unhurriedly, "What is a sword? Is a sword fixed in form, fixed in nature? I think not.
Some say the sword has a thousand and ten thousand moves; others say the sword has only fourteen — thrust, lift, cloud, chop, cleave, point, burst, hang, flick, wipe, sweep, brace, intercept, flourish.
Nonsense! " As he came down, the many scholars below suddenly felt a pressure, as though a sword of incomparable keenness hung above their heads, about to cleave and not yet cleaving; that unmatched momentum seemed about to tear open their bodies, their spirit embryos, their consciousness, their very souls! "If the sword is fixed, then it is no longer the Dao.
The Great Dao has no bounds — how could it have only fourteen moves? " He stepped down one step at a time, and the pressure grew stronger and stronger, yet his voice remained calm and level; then suddenly his voice was like sword after sword stabbing into their eardrums: "The sword — why can it not be sound?
Why can it not be light?
Why can it not be color?
Why can it not be primal qi? Why can it not be a single glance?
" His gaze swept across the faces of the scholars below, and who knows how many of them could not help drawing their swords and holding them up to block — and blocked nothing at all; they broke out in cold sweat.
Imperial Preceptor Jingping smiled slightly: "So it seems — is the sword still only fourteen moves?
" Cold sweat sprang out on Shen Mu's forehead; only now did he understand how formidable Imperial Preceptor Jingping was.
The village head had taught him the fourteen most basic sword techniques, and Shen Mu had turned those basic techniques into numbers; any sword move, once he had seen it, he could reproduce. At the time, Shen Mu had thought this was the utmost limit of the sword.
And now Imperial Preceptor Jingping had clearly struck out on a path of his own from the foundation of the traditional swordsmanship, developing that traditional swordsmanship further. His thinking was broader, and so he had created basic sword stances beyond the fourteen!