Chapter Six: The Beginner's Sword Technique

  Summer has gone and autumn has arrived, three months have passed in the blink of an eye.

  Hmph!

  In front of the lush green grave, a snow-bright sword light flashed by like lightning and pierced straight into a copper coin hanging on a thick wooden stake ten steps away.

  The sword tip suddenly pierced into the center of the square hole of the copper coin.

  The sword light converged, and Qin Yun's figure appeared. He grasped the Qinghua Sword in his hand, his eyes extremely focused.

  Compared with three months ago, the boy has grown a lot taller, and his eyebrows have lost some of their childishness, looking more like an eighteen or nineteen-year-old young man.

  He drew out his long sword, a look of satisfaction on his face. The basic sword move, the final thrust, had finally been mastered today.

  The basic sword technique has 12 forms, the first is difficult and the latter is easy. Qin Yun spent half a month mastering the initial form of drawing the sword, after grasping the characteristics of the sword, the following forms such as sweeping sword and breaking sword became much easier.

  He stood guard in front of Qin Yang's tomb, practicing the basic swordsmanship for three months, regardless of scorching sun or torrential rain, uninterrupted. He mastered all twelve sword styles to the requirements of the sword scripture, during which he shed countless sweat.

  From being completely ignorant to catching a glimpse of the doorway, Qin Yun's progress was astonishingly fast. To think that others had been practicing swordsmanship since they were young and still needed to put in years of effort to reach this level.

  Apart from his talent and hard work, it is also inseparable from the accumulation of ten years of bitter practice. Wu Mai's punches are connected to the air, and the four limbs are full of energy. With a solid foundation in sword skills, learning naturally becomes twice the result with half the effort.

  With a wave of his hand, the Qinghua sword danced in the air, its blade slicing through the air with a low whistle, as if cheering for Qin Yun's progress.

  In these three months, Qin Yun has been accompanied by his sword. Although due to the level of his strength and the internal energy cultivation method he practiced, he still hasn't opened up all the meridians in his hand, unable to infuse his energy into the sword, but after accumulating day by day, until now, using the Qingfeng Sword is as smooth as an extension of his arm.

  Unconsciously, he and this Qinggang sword in his hand had a flesh-and-blood connection.

  Qin Yun didn't know that this feeling was called "sword sense" in the world of swordsmanship, and it was one of the important standards to measure a swordsman's innate talent.

  Some people have practiced for many years, even tens of years, but can only say that they are extremely familiar with the sword, yet somehow unable to produce a sense of the sword. Their achievements in the way of the sword can only stop at being a swordsman or a knight, and cannot continue to advance.

  In less than three months, Qin Yun had cultivated a sense of sword presence, which he acquired without anyone's guidance. His innate talent in the way of the sword was undeniable, but for now, he remained unaware of it.

  Sheathing his Qingfeng Sword, Qin Yun wiped away the sweat on his forehead and arrived at the edge of the icy lake.

  After entering autumn, the cold pool became even more desolate and chilly. He took off his upper garment as usual, sat cross-legged on the rocky edge of the pool, and began to cultivate the Scarlet Flame Heart Technique.

  As the heart secret turned, Qin Yun's true energy in his dantian began to churn and surge, with one after another of true yang flames leaping out and hovering above his dantian, rapidly rotating.

  The true yang flame is the sublimation of the red flame's true energy, a true fire requires the consumption of a large amount of true energy, and how much true fire can be condensed at one time is the most intuitive display of the level of the Red Flame Heart Technique.

  One, two, three... seven true yang flames appeared quickly, but Qin Yun didn't stop his heart mantra. After a brief pause, another true flame burst out.

  Eight blossoms, nine blossoms!

  Nine true fires formed a perfect circle, swirling to form a ring of fire, representing that Qin Yun had cultivated the Chi Yan Heart Technique to the highest fifth realm - Jiuyang Juyan.

  True fire merged, transformed into a scorching hot flame that surged into the martial pulse, rushing straight to the four limbs and the sea of consciousness.

  After the true Qi enters the four limbs and reaches the top, it will naturally return to the Qihai. This cycle of circulation can repeatedly flush and wash the martial meridians, allowing them to expand continuously and bear more impact from the flow of true Qi.

  While learning sword techniques, Qin Yun did not neglect to cultivate his internal energy and heart formula, but instead worked even harder than before. The meridians that had been opened up were now as thick as chopsticks, compared to the original hair-like thinness.

  However, he did not have a higher level of internal energy and mental method, so he still did not know how to open up other main meridians.

  This is normal, but unlike other warriors, the true energy that enters the sea of consciousness does not return and is swallowed up completely.

  To be precise, it was not the Sea of Consciousness that swallowed up the true energy, but rather the Five-Colored Divine Stone that dwelled within the Sea of Consciousness.

  That day, after a fierce battle with the red-bearded giant, Qin Yun once again cultivated his heart technique and inner vision of the sea of consciousness. He found that above the colorful divine stone, an additional dark yellow symbol had appeared.

  The runes were constructed with a complexity and mystery that was extreme, Qin Yun fundamentally did not understand the meaning they represented, only vaguely understanding that they should have originated from the Five-Colored Divine Stone, because the surface of the divine stone had countless similar golden runes.

  When he was about to drive the true energy into the sea of consciousness, the five-colored divine stone suddenly produced a strong suction force, absorbing all the crimson flame true energy that he had cultivated with great difficulty. The symbols on top of the divine stone seemed to come back to life from withering away, slowly becoming bright and dazzling.

  After a period of repeated experimentation and exploration, Qin Yun finally figured out the function of this divine stone glyph.

  It gains power by absorbing Qin Yun's true energy and can burst into powder under his mental control.

  Once the talisman is crushed, Qin Yun's consciousness will undergo a tremendous change, his eyes, ears and senses becoming extremely acute.

  In the state where the runes take effect, he can easily see the veins of a leaf on a big tree 100 steps away, can clearly see the flapping wings of a bee flying in front of his eyes, and even predict its flight trajectory in advance!

  This feeling was extremely strange, as if time around him had slowed down a lot, and he could see through everything.

  Qin Yun finally understood that at the critical moment of life and death when he was fighting against the bearded giant in the forest, he inadvertently unleashed the power of the divine stone talisman, not only dodging a fatal blow but also taking advantage of the opportunity to severely injure his opponent.

  However, the effect of the Divine Stone Rune can only last for ten breaths at most. After that, the rune will re-condense in the sea of consciousness and require him to continuously input true energy to nourish it until it turns golden yellow before it can be used again.

  Although Qin Yun's experience in martial arts is shallow, under Qin Yang's careful guidance, he has been influenced by osmosis for ten years and understands many common senses of martial arts.

  He had never heard of such an ability before. This unexpected five-colored divine stone that fell into the sea of consciousness was absolutely a treasure.

  An innocent man is not guilty, but if he carries a jade tablet, he will be guilty!

  Qin Yang had told him this truth many times through many examples, telling him that people's hearts are treacherous, so Qin Yun decided to bury the secret of the Five-Colored Divine Stone in his heart and not tell anyone, slowly exploring it by himself.

  Now, his training in both martial arts and swordsmanship has reached a bottleneck, and continuing to stay here would no longer offer any possibility of improvement.

  It's time to leave! Qin Yun slowly opened his eyes, and a hint of determination flashed across his dark pupils.

  Two days later.

  Qin Yun knelt in front of Qin Yang's grave and kowtowed three times, silently reciting in his heart: "Grandfather, I'll come back to mourn for you after I master the sword skills and rescue Mother!"

  Behind him stood a large crowd of people, all villagers from Shanglie Village.

  They came to see Qin Yun off.

  "Stone grandfather..." Qin Yun stood up, with red eyes and said to the old village chief: "My grandfather's grave is left to you to take care of!"

  "Don't worry, even if I die, I'll have my sons and grandsons take care of you!" The old village chief patted his chest and made the promise.

  He patted Qin Yun's shoulder and sighed, "Yun Xiaozi, Shanglie Village is too small for you. It's right that you left to make a name for yourself outside, but remember to come back often, this place will always be your home!"

  "Yes, yes, you must come back when you have time!"

  "We will take good care of your grandfather's grave!"

  "Best, next time come back with your wife!"

  Everyone burst out laughing, diluting the sorrow of parting.

  These villagers have seen Qin Yun grow up and many of them regard him as their own child, now that Qin Yun is going out to gain experience, they naturally feel a little reluctant to part with him.

  Looking at these kind-hearted people, Qin Yun's heart couldn't help but surge with a warm current, and he nodded vigorously: "I definitely will!"

  The auntie from the neighboring house stuffed a dozen hot eggs into Qin Yun's backpack, along with the villagers' warm regards, and Qin Yun jumped onto the village horse cart.

  The horses that pulled the carts were spoils of war from when they had eliminated the horse thieves, and three were left in the village to be used for plowing fields and transporting goods, making it much more convenient to travel between villages.

  The old village chief and others saw them off all the way to the village entrance. The horse carriage took Qin Yun further and further away from this small village where he had lived for over a decade.

  This time he went through mountains and rivers, Qin Yun still didn't know how many hardships and dangers, life-and-death tests were waiting for him in the future!

  ………

  After a journey of less than half a day, the carriage carrying Qin Yun arrived at Da Jing Town.

  Dajing Town is tens of miles away from Shanglie Village, with convenient water and land transportation, and it is quite prosperous. There are thousands of households in the town, which can be compared to a small city.

  Qin Yun was not the first time to come to Da Jing Town, he had been here many times before with villagers, selling hunted animal skins and bones, exchanging for rice, flour, grain and oil, and daily necessities, and was still relatively familiar with the town's environment.

  When he arrived at Dajing Town, Qin Yun got off the horse cart and bid farewell to the villager who drove the cart. He then headed straight to the dock in the north of the town.

  To the north of Dajing Town, a large river flows quietly from west to east, with merchant ships and fishing boats shuttling back and forth. From time to time, cargo-loaded boats dock at the shore, presenting a busy scene.

  Qin Yun came here to take a boat to Guiyang County and participate in the October Qin family's return flow selection.

  Only through his clan, he had the possibility and opportunity to enter the Tiancheng Sword Sect to learn the Supreme Sword Dao; otherwise, relying solely on himself, he wouldn't even know where the Tiancheng Sword Sect was, let alone be acknowledged by them.

  However, although Qin Yun had been to Da Jing Town many times, this was his first time traveling far away from home and he didn't know how to take a boat.

  Just as he was thinking of asking someone, a strange and eerie voice came from beside him.

  "What? Isn't this the young master of the Qin family from Shang Lie Village? How did you end up here, are you looking for a porter job?"

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