A beauty's picture: ten years of sharpening a sword

  Qīng Shuǐ gazed out, lost in thought, wondering when he could achieve the unity of man and sword, and the harmony between heaven and man. He snapped back to reality, shaking his head: "I still have to start from scratch, I've never practiced swordsmanship before, and in my past life, I didn't have any exceptional talents either. I did practice Tai Chi fist and Tai Chi sword, but it was just a superficial exercise, and I only went through the motions!"

  Below is a detailed breakdown of the hooks, hangs, points, picks, thrusts, lifts and chops mentioned above, with in-depth explanations of the exertion of force, positioning, postures and breathing techniques. At the bottom there is also an illustration showing small figures holding long swords in the most basic sword techniques postures.

  "This most basic sword technique is so complicated, how can those advanced sword techniques be practiced?" Qing Shui felt that this "Basic Sword Technique" was absolutely not as useless as it seemed on the surface.

  Qing Shui would practice with his hands, substituting them for swords, whenever he saw a diagram accompanied by the introduction method. He held a book in one hand and followed the descriptions of hooks, hangs, dots, picks, thrusts, sweeps, and chops, practicing each move repeatedly before cycling through them again.

  Time slowly slipped away unnoticed, but in the Purple Jade Immortal Realm, there was no night, so Qing Shui's state was like that of a madman, as if he had entered a state of frenzy.

  "Without being obsessed, one cannot succeed; whatever you do, if you put in a crazy effort, there is no such thing as failure!"

  Qīng Shuǐ is not lacking in perseverance and fortitude, and can also endure hardship. With the super memory transformed by the Yin Yang diagram, learning new things is still very fast. Now with a clever mind, ample time, and sufficient willpower, what can't be accomplished?

  "The Basic Sword Manual" is not thick at all, compared to the other three it's really too thin, and the explanations are all very basic things, making it easy to understand and remember.

  "Learn and apply, great skill appears clumsy, only speed does not break, return to nature!"

  Qīng Shuǐ looked at it, except for the last sentence returning to nature, similar to understanding and not understanding. The other few sentences still knew the meaning, theoretically connecting with reality, in what situation to use how, specifically how to use, looking at the timing, geographical advantage, as well as harmony among people, this is learning to apply.

  Great skill appears clumsy, saying that swordsmanship should not simply pursue elegant techniques. The more advanced the swordsmanship, the more ordinary and unremarkable it looks, but it can achieve its ultimate goal the fastest. When cleverness reaches a certain level, it looks clumsy instead.

  Only speed is invincible, in the previous life, Qing Shui already knew that speed is power. The world's martial arts are only fast and not broken, as long as the speed is reached, it can break through all things in the world. Unfortunately, speed is just a relative concept, who can say they are the fastest?

  As for the last one who seems to understand and return to nature, he doesn't know which level of swordsmanship is being talked about. Is it that after mastering sword techniques, pretending to be a B is returning to nature, or is it talking about a kind of sword intent?

  Sword intent! Qing Shui thought it was very distant!

  After finishing reading the book, Qing Shui closed his eyes and felt it with his heart, feeling the use of several basic movements in "Basic Sword Techniques", against the enemy, and changing!

  After a long time, Qing Shui opened his eyes. Indeed, no matter how high one's sword skills were, they were all based on the "Basic Sword Techniques"!

  "Is that to say that even if one masters the Basic Sword Techniques to the extreme, they can still achieve the power of advanced sword techniques?" Qing Shui thought to himself.

  The barbecue and dry rations have been finished, Qing Shui can only go out to hunt, walking out just as the sky is dawning, Qing Shui can stay in the Purple Jade Immortal Realm for fifteen days each time, Qing Shui usually goes in three times, after the last time he enters until he is kicked out.

  A month has passed and Qing Shui learned a lot in this one month, the most important thing being to be among heaven and earth, feeling the heart of heaven and earth.

  The bigger a person's heart is, the more things he can hold in it. A frog at the bottom of a well will never know that the world outside is much more wonderful and much bigger than the bottom of the well.

  Killed a wild boar, prepared for over ten days and finally confronted the wild boar. The wild boar was shaved, its belly opened, and all internal organs, blood, intestines, etc. were removed and discarded, even the pig's head was thrown away!

  "What a waste! How unvirtuous!" Qingshui self-deprecatingly seeks pleasure!

  It's okay, this wild boar is not big but very sturdy, looks like it's all tense and tight, except for a thick layer of pig skin there is no fat meat. For some time now, the most eaten by Qing Shui has been the wild boars, especially those four big pig hooves. In order to be able to eat delicious pork hoof meat, Qing Shui did not go hunting for wild boars and came back to experiment on how to make it taste good.

  It's barely passable now, at least the meat is better than elsewhere, that's what Qing Shui feels.

  Eat a big pig's trotter, put the remaining trotters and roasted meat into the Purple Jade Immortal Realm. Qing Shui picked up the firewood stick next to him and cut it into three feet three inches long!

  Re-entering the Purple Jade Immortal Realm, Qing Shui had already mastered the substitution of his hands for swords, skillfully utilizing hooks, hangs, points, thrusts, stabs, sweeps, and chops. Now, with a wooden staff over three feet long in hand, he could wield it with ease, as if it were an extension of himself. After all, Qing Shui's arm and hand flexibility, as well as his techniques, wrist movements, and even each finger, had been honed to the extreme during his practice of the Ling Jian Fist.

  Moreover, almost all of the sudden enlightenment was absorbed by these arms, so practicing swordsmanship is also a matter of half the effort and a thousand miles in one day!

  "Ten years of sharpening the knife, one hundred years of sharpening the sword!"

  Swordsmanship is vast and profound, Qing Shui deeply understands that to practice sword skills well, one needs not only talent but also time. However, Qing Shui isn't worried as he has the Purple Jade Immortal Realm, which guarantees him sufficient time!

  The sword follows the body as it moves, and when applied, it should achieve unity between the sword and the body, the body and the breath, and the breath and the spirit. Qing Shui may not fully understand, but he can also somewhat sense some of it.

  Control the sword with breath, breathing and swordsmanship must also be coordinated well, and body movement must also be coordinated. As for the integration of breath and spirit, I still don't know how to do it like Qing Water.

  But now it's not necessary at all, Qing Shui is still mainly focusing on speed, accuracy and ruthlessness, especially speed!

  You now have the power, and you can rely on your own strength to defeat ten wills. If you can be faster, it would be like adding wings to a tiger!

  Quick! Green water has been trying various sword angles, arcs, etc. to achieve this quick word.

  Like this, Qing Shui began the simplest and most tedious practice, drawing his sword and sheathing it, with the main focus being on Qing Shui continuously practicing the thrusting technique of this sword move!

  This move requires speed, so fast that it's dazzling and impossible to defend against!