DipNovel Chapter 62: The Starting Point of the Path to the Peak
Chapter 62: The Starting Point of the Path to the Peak
At six o'clock in the morning, the sound of blades slicing through the air echoed precisely in the courtyard of Jiangnan Pavilion.
This is Lin Yun's third day at the elite training camp. He has basically adapted to the rhythm here—getting up at five o'clock every morning, practicing swordsmanship in the courtyard for an hour, then having breakfast, spending the morning studying various teaching materials and combat videos in the resource room, attending swordsmanship and movement training classes in the afternoon, and training in the gravity room in the evening.
The days were fully scheduled, with not a moment wasted.
"Lin Yun, your basic swordsmanship is already quite good." Ning Yan stood in the center of the training room, arms crossed, his gaze sharp as a knife. "But you're still far from being a 'professional'."
"Specialization?" Lin Yun asked, somewhat puzzled.
Ning Yan took a training knife from the weapon rack and casually twirled it. The blade drew a clean, sharp silver arc in the air, without any unnecessary movements.
"The realm of swordsmanship is divided into four levels: basic, specialized, perfect, and artistic conception." Ning Yan's voice was calm and powerful. "Basic means you can swing the sword, cut and stab, with standardized movements and no basic mistakes. Specialized means your understanding of the sword has reached a new level, every movement is precise and accurate, the power, speed, and angle are just right, without any waste."
He paused, then continued, "Perfection means your swordsmanship has become an instinct; you don't need to think, your body can react perfectly. At this level, every move you make flows smoothly and effortlessly. As for the realm of intent... that's an even higher level. When you reach that realm, your sword is no longer just a sword; it's an extension of your will, a bridge connecting you with heaven and earth."
Lin Yun listened attentively, memorizing every word.
"Your foundation is good, but you're still a step away from specialization." Ning Yan looked at him. "Do you know why?"
Lin Yun thought for a moment: "Because my swordsmanship is too varied and lacks a systematic approach."
"That's right." Ning Yan nodded. "You've learned basic sword techniques, the Thunder Blade of the Ninefold Thunder Blade, and now you're learning the Phantom Sword Technique. The way these sword techniques generate power, the angle of attack, and the rhythm changes are all different. You haven't integrated them yet, so you can only unleash about 70-80% of the power of each sword technique."
He walked up to Lin Yun and took the training knife from his hand: "For the next period of time, I won't teach you any new sword techniques. You should practice the basic sword techniques, the Thunder Blade, and the first move of the Phantom Blade technique a thousand times each day. Only when your body can instinctively make the correct reaction can you learn new ones."
"A thousand times?" Lin Yun was slightly taken aback.
"Too much?" Ning Yan raised an eyebrow, his tone laced with hostility.
"Not much," Lin Yun shook his head. "I'll finish practicing."
Ning Yan glanced at him, a slight smile playing on her lips: "Then let's begin."
Lin Yun took the training knife, took a deep breath, and began the tedious practice of basic knife techniques. Chopping, thrusting, parrying, sweeping, pointing, picking, snapping, intercepting, slashing, blocking, parrying, blocking—twelve basic knife techniques, each of which had to be performed with standard precision and without any superfluity.
Once, twice, three times...
Sweat dripped from his forehead, soaking his training clothes. His arms began to ache, and his wrists started to go numb, but Lin Yun didn't stop. He knew Ning Yan was right—his swordsmanship was too varied, lacking a unified foundation. Only by mastering the basics could he truly integrate the essence of various sword techniques.
Meanwhile, Panlong World's body was also undergoing the same training.
In the grove behind Ernst Academy, the moonlight was like water. Lin Yun's other body held a fine iron short sword, practicing basic sword techniques over and over again. The combined effect of practicing in both worlds was several times greater than that of practicing in a single world.
The afternoon's body movement class was taught by Teacher Liu Jing.
Liu Jing is one of the top movement masters in the training camp. It is said that he has reached the perfect level and even touched the threshold of the artistic conception level. He is in his forties, tall and slender, with a thin face. He walks almost silently, and his whole body is like a falling leaf, light and elusive.
"The realm of movement techniques, like sword techniques, is also divided into four levels: basic, subtle, perfect, and artistic conception." Liu Jing stood in the center of the training room, his gaze sweeping over the dozen or so students present. "Most of you are still at the subtle level, and a few of you have just touched the threshold of perfection. There is still a long way to go before you reach the perfect level."
His gaze fell on Lin Yun: "Lin Yun, how long have you been practicing your subtle movements?"
"It's been over a month," Lin Yun replied truthfully.
"More than a month..." Liu Jing nodded slightly. "From subtlety to perfection, it's a huge hurdle. Many people can't get over it in their entire lives. Your movements are already very precise, and your center of gravity is very stable, but you're still missing something—fluidity."
"Smooth?" Lin Yun asked, somewhat puzzled.
Liu Jing walked to the open space in the center of the training room and began his demonstration. His body moved swiftly across the space like a leaf fluttering in the wind, each movement seamlessly connected to the next, without a moment's pause or hesitation. His figure left afterimages in the air, as if countless versions of him were moving simultaneously.
"Precision means making every movement precise and accurate." Liu Jing stopped, his breathing steady, as if the intense exercise he had just undergone was merely a warm-up. "Perfection means making every movement seamlessly integrated with the next. Precision is the foundation, but fluidity is the soul."
Lin Yun nodded thoughtfully.
He tried to practice according to Liu Jing's demonstration, but he could never achieve that smooth feeling. There was a tiny pause between each movement, only a fraction of a second, but it was this pause that made his movements seem stiff and lacking in the beauty of flowing water.
"Don't rush it." Liu Jing patted his shoulder. "Breakthroughs in movement techniques take time; you can't rush them."
Lin Yun nodded and continued practicing.
But he knew in his heart that if he followed the conventional method, it would take at least a few years, and sometimes more than a decade, from meticulous attention to perfection. He couldn't wait that long. He needed a faster method.
That evening, Lin Yun sat cross-legged on the floor of the cultivation room, closed his eyes, and switched his consciousness to the Panlong World.
In the grove behind Ernst College, the moonlight was like water. His other body opened its eyes, stood up, and picked up a fine iron dagger.
In the world of Swallowed Star, the cultivation of movement techniques and swordsmanship is a process from the outside in—first practice the movements, then the feeling, and finally, one can touch the essence. Martial artists, through thousands upon thousands of repetitions, allow their bodies to memorize every movement, enabling them to react instinctively in battle. As for deeper levels—such as laws or artistic conception—those are realms that only a very few geniuses can touch after reaching extremely high levels of cultivation.
But in the world of Panlong, everything is reversed.
Here, the laws are omnipresent. Mages perceive the laws through meditation, and warriors comprehend them through battle. Lin Yun has accumulated considerable understanding of the laws of lightning, wind, and light under Delin's guidance and through actual combat. Especially with the laws of lightning, he has already touched the threshold of "momentum."
What if he could apply the fragments of laws he comprehended in the Panlong World to the sword techniques and movement techniques in the Swallowed Star World?
This is the reverse reasoning method.
The cultivation path for ordinary martial artists is: rigorous practice of movements → formation of instinct → touching the essence → comprehending the laws. But what Lin Yun wants to do is the opposite—first comprehend the laws, and then use the laws to drive his movements.
This is similar to solving a math problem. An average student needs to start from the given conditions and deduce the answer step by step. But Lin Yun already knows the answer; all he needs to do is work backwards to solve the problem.
This is undoubtedly infinitely easier.
But easy doesn't mean it can be achieved overnight. Comprehending the fragments of the laws takes time, and transforming those laws into actual movement skills requires repeated practice. Lin Yun understood this very well, so he set himself a goal—half a month.
Over the course of half a month, through comprehending the laws of the Panlong world, they deduced the movement techniques and sword techniques of the Swallowed Star world.
For the first three days, Lin Yun felt almost no progress.
Every night, he would immerse himself in the understanding of the laws of lightning in the Panlong world. The speed, burst, and resonance of lightning—those mysterious sensations—appeared and disappeared in his consciousness. But when he switched to the Swallowed Star world and tried to transform these insights into actual power techniques, he found that his hands and feet simply wouldn't obey his commands.
"That's not right." Lin Yun sheathed his sword and frowned.
Theory is theory, and practice is practice. Knowing the answer to a problem doesn't mean you can write out the correct solution process. While working backwards is easier than working forwards, it still requires a lot of trial and error and adjustments.
He did not give up. On the fourth night, he changed his strategy—instead of trying to break through all at once, he broke down the fragments of the law into tiny nodes and tackled them one by one.
The "speed" element in the lightning-based laws corresponds to the first and second levels of the Ninefold Lightning Blade. He has already mastered it.
The "burst" in the lightning-based laws corresponds to the third level. He has already mastered it.
The core of the fourth layer is "resonance"—allowing the four forces to erupt simultaneously at the same frequency, rather than arriving one after the other.
"Resonance..." Lin Yun repeatedly cast lightning magic in the Panlong World, feeling the superposition of different frequencies as lightning struck. Then, he switched to the Swallowed Star World and tried it out, one strike at a time.
One failure, two failures, ten failures, a hundred failures...
On the fifth day, he vaguely caught a glimpse of something. The fourth force was no longer completely out of control as before, and occasionally it could overlap with the first three. Although it was not stable enough, it at least proved that the direction was correct.
On the sixth day, he successfully executed a four-fold superposition of four strikes.
On the seventh day, the success rate increased to one-third.
At the same time, the reverse engineering of the Phantom Blade Technique was also underway.
The core of the Phantom Blade Technique is "illusion" and "speed." Speed corresponds to the profound mysteries of the wind element, while illusion corresponds to the profound mysteries of the light element. Lin Yun comprehended the speed of the wind and the changes of light in the Panlong World, and then swung his blade again and again in the Swallowed Star World.
He had stabilized his "One Sword, Two Shadows" technique and began to launch an attack on "One Sword, Three Shadows".
By the end of the first week, his success rate for the fourth level of the Ninefold Thunder Blade had reached 50%, and he could occasionally achieve the "One Strike, Three Shadows" technique. Although he was still far from "stable," his progress was clearly visible.
In terms of movement techniques, his progress was faster than his swordsmanship. His understanding of the "agility" of the wind element allowed him to grasp the meaning of "fluidity" more deeply. He no longer thought about how to take his steps or how to shift his weight, but instead closed his eyes and imagined himself as a gust of wind.
He goes wherever the wind blows.
By the seventh day, Teacher Liu Jing was surprised to find that Lin Yun's movements had begun to exhibit a "flowing and graceful" quality. Although he had not yet reached the perfect level, he had already touched the edge of the threshold between subtlety and perfection.
From the eighth to the tenth day, Lin Yun entered a bottleneck period.
The success rate of the fourth level of the Ninefold Thunder Blade technique is stuck at 60%, and it just won't go any higher. The Phantom Blade Technique's three shadows with each strike appear and disappear without any pattern. Although his movement technique has improved significantly, he's still just one step away from true perfection.
He wasn't in a hurry. Bottlenecks are things you can't break through the more you rush.
On the night of the eleventh day, he did something unusual in the Panlong World—no longer passively comprehending the laws, but actively using lightning magic to "attack" himself. Bolts of lightning shot from his fingertips, striking his body, and the intense electric current caused his muscles to instinctively contract, relax, and then contract again.
In that instant when he was struck by lightning, he "felt" the true meaning of resonance.
It's not about the accumulation of power within the body, but rather the frequency of that power. When the frequencies of the four forces reach a consensus, they resonate, and the power is not simply added together, but multiplied.
He switched to the Swallowed Star world and gripped his battle sword tightly.
"boom!"
With a single slash, four crisp sounds almost perfectly overlapped, making the walls of the training room vibrate. The fourth level of the Ninefold Thunder Blade had finally stabilized.
On the twelfth day, he began to focus on mastering the Phantom Blade Technique.
This time, he used the "refraction of light" technique from light magic. He cast light magic in the Panlong world, causing light to refract and creating illusory images. Then, he incorporated this understanding of "illusion" into his swordsmanship.
With a single slash, three sword shadows separated from the blade, each striking in a different direction. The sword shadows were so solid and lifelike that they were almost indistinguishable from the real thing under the light.
One slash, three shadows—success!
On the thirteenth day, he continued practicing until the stability of the "One Sword, Three Shadows" technique reached over 90%.
On the fourteenth day, he launched his assault on the Five Shadows with One Blade. The threshold of the second level of the Phantom Blade Technique is Five Shadows with One Blade, which is several times more difficult than the first level. In the Panlong World, he repeatedly comprehended the fusion of the light and wind laws, combining "speed" and "illusion".
One failure, ten failures, fifty failures...
On the night of the fourteenth day, he unleashed his first Five Shadows Strike. Five shadows separated from the blade simultaneously, and although they only lasted for less than half a second before dissipating, it was truly a single strike of Five Shadows.
On the fifteenth day, he continued to consolidate his technique until the stability of "One Sword, Five Shadows" reached more than 70%.
The breakthrough in movement techniques came more naturally.
As he practiced his swordsmanship, his understanding of the laws of wind deepened. The flow, gentleness, and elusiveness of the wind naturally seeped into his movements. He began to stop consciously controlling his steps and instead let his body instinctively follow the guidance of the wind.
On the fifteenth day of the movement technique class, Instructor Liu Jing allowed the students to practice freely. Lin Yun closed his eyes, sensing the faint airflow in the training room, and then began to move.
His steps were as light as the wind, his body like a leaf swaying in the breeze, darting swiftly through the training room. Each movement flowed seamlessly into the next, without a moment's pause or hesitation. His figure left afterimages in the air, as if countless versions of him were moving simultaneously.
Smooth.
It's not about speed or accuracy, but about fluidity—each movement is a natural continuation of the previous one, without pauses or hesitations, with body and will in complete unity.
The training room fell silent. The other trainees stopped what they were doing and stared at Lin Yun's figure, their eyes filled with shock.
Liu Jing stood in the center of the training room, arms crossed, quietly watching Lin Yun. A hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, which quickly turned into admiration.
"Stop," Liu Jing said.
Lin Yun stopped, slightly out of breath.
"Perfect level." Liu Jing walked up to him, looked him up and down, and said, "Your movement technique has reached the perfect level."
A gasp of amazement rippled through the training room.
On the afternoon of the fifteenth day, we had a swordsmanship class.
Ning Yan stood in the center of the training room, arms crossed, his gaze fixed on Lin Yun.
"It's been half a month, how's your basic swordsmanship coming along?"
"Would you like to take a look, Teacher Ning?" Lin Yun asked.
"Draw your sword."
Lin Yun took a deep breath and drew his training knife from his waist. He didn't use any fancy techniques; he simply slashed out with his knife.
"boom!"
A dazzling blue light erupted from the blade, and four crisp sounds almost perfectly overlapped, making the training room windows vibrate. The four forces acting on the blade simultaneously made it a whole level stronger than it had been half a month ago.
Ning Yan's pupils suddenly contracted.
He stepped forward, picked up Lin Yun's training knife, examined it carefully, looked at Lin Yun's wrist and arm, and then remained silent for a long time.
"The fourth level of the Ninefold Thunder Blade is stable." His voice was a little hoarse. "When did you break through?"
"These past two weeks," Lin Yun answered truthfully, "have only completely stabilized the day before yesterday."
Ning Yan stared at him for a long time before slowly speaking, "The fourth level of the Nine-Fold Thunder Blade technique involves four layers of power stacked together, resulting in 3.5 times the force. Many people cultivate for years or even decades without reaching this level. How long have you been practicing the Nine-Fold Thunder Blade technique?"
"Less than four months."
The training room fell silent for a moment. The other trainees all turned to look at Lin Yun, their eyes filled with shock and disbelief.
"How's the Phantom Blade Technique?" Ning Yan asked. "How's the first level coming along?"
Lin Yun raised his sword again. This time, he didn't use the power of the Nine-Fold Thunder Blade, but instead used the power generation technique of the Phantom Blade Technique.
The blade sliced through the air, and five sword shadows simultaneously separated from it, each slashing in a different direction. The sword shadows were so realistic that they were almost indistinguishable from real swords under the light.
The training room was deathly silent.
Ning Yan stood motionless, watching the five sword shadows gradually dissipate. His lips trembled slightly, his eyes filled with disbelief.
"The second level..." His voice trembled slightly, "...one strike, five shadows...when did you manage that?"
"It's been the last two weeks," Lin Yun said. "It only stabilized last night."
Ning Yan remained silent for a long time. He walked to the window, turned his back to Lin Yun, and braced his hands on the windowsill, his shoulders heaving slightly.
"Teacher Ning..." Lin Yun said somewhat uneasy.
"Let me catch my breath." Ning Yan's voice was a little hoarse. "I've been teaching swordsmanship for so many years, and I've never seen... never seen anyone break through the Ninefold Thunder Blade and Phantom Blade Technique at the same time within half a month."
He turned around, looked at Lin Yun, and a complex look flashed in his eyes: "Your talent is the best I've ever seen. But talent is just a stepping stone. What truly takes you further is hard work and perseverance. I hope you don't waste your talent."
"I won't," Lin Yun said solemnly.
Ning Yan nodded: "Keep practicing. First, perfect the fourth level, then master the second level of the Phantom Blade Technique. Once you've mastered those two, I'll teach you something new."
"Thank you, Teacher Ning."
As night deepened, the training camp was bathed in the tranquil moonlight.
Lin Yun sat cross-legged on the floor of the cultivation room, closed his eyes, and simultaneously immersed his consciousness into two bodies.
In the world of Swallowed Star, his Nine-Fold Thunder Blade broke through to the fourth level, his Phantom Blade Technique broke through to the second level, and his movement technique broke through to the perfect level. All of these advancements were achieved in just half a month.
In the Panlong world, his understanding of the laws of lightning, wind, and light was constantly deepening. Those fragments of laws, like shining stars, twinkled deep within his consciousness, guiding his direction.
Half a month of practicing the reverse method allowed him to deeply appreciate the advantages of cultivating in both worlds simultaneously. It wasn't a simple addition, but a multiplication. The cultivation systems of the two worlds mutually reinforced and promoted each other, enabling his progress to far exceed that of ordinary people.
But Lin Yun knew that this was just the beginning.
The fourth level of the Ninefold Thunder Blade Technique is five levels away from the ninth. The second level of the Phantom Blade Technique is seven levels away from the ninth. The perfect movement technique is just one step away from the realm of intent. And above the realm of intent, there are domains and laws.
He still has a long way to go.