Chapter 7: Practicing Sword in Water

  Kong Zuo may not have the best physique, but his brain is very useful. As his master would say, he has a talent for remembering things at a glance. The Taohuaxuan Sword, although complex and intricate, Kong Zuo had already memorized its basic framework after watching Mo Xiu practice it twice. Moreover, he was already familiar with the first nine moves, having learned them previously.

  Normally, if he were to practice once, he wouldn't need to exert much effort and could go through the 81 moves in a very short time, but today it seems somewhat difficult.

  After finishing the Er Fen Gui Yuan sword technique, he didn't stop and continued to practice the Tai Huang Xuan Yue sword. When practicing the first move, his movements were unusually clumsy, and by the second move, it was like a child learning sword techniques for the first time, with the pine branch in his hand not knowing where to point. When he practiced the third move, there was a "crack" sound, and the pine branch in his hand, which had become like a piece of purple jade, burst open again. After the pine branch burst open, Kong Zhuo's remaining half of the pine branch did not lose momentum, and slowly finished practicing the third move. A hint of joy flashed across Kong Zhuo's eyebrows, but his body suddenly fell straight to the ground.

  "I've broken through the Kidney Meridian of Foot Shaoyin!" This was his last thought before he fainted!

  Kong Hu Cu was a lucky one. What he had just gone through was considered the most miraculous and rarest enlightenment process in the cultivation world.

  At the same time, he was also unfortunate. After others suddenly enlightened, they all became immortals and Buddhas, while his sudden enlightenment only allowed him to peek at the ultimate principle of swordsmanship from outside the door, opening a gate for his future sword path towards infinity. However, he still stood at the starting point, wanting success would require effort.

  Genius is composed of 99% hard work and 1% luck, but often that 1% luck is more important than the sum of 99% effort. Today, Kong Zhan can be said to have been lucky enough to get that 1% luck, stealing that 1% heavenly opportunity. However, the road ahead still requires effort, as for whether he will put in the effort or not, that's another story.

  But in fact, what made him the happiest was not that his understanding of swordsmanship had reached a level that his peers could not match, but another thing. His congenital purple energy broke through the Foot Shaoyin Kidney Meridian, which is another main meridian of the second layer of congenital purple energy. Breaking through the Foot Shaoyin Kidney Meridian means that his congenital purple energy has completely stabilized in the second layer and can impact the Great Perfection Realm. In this way, his congenital purple energy cultivation among the top ten inner door core disciples is enough to be ranked in the top four.

  The ten disciples' cultivation of the Innate Purple Qi varied greatly, but the main reason for this disparity was not due to their innate talents, but rather the time they had spent in the sect. The eldest senior brother, Chang Yue, had been in the sect for over thirty years and his cultivation of the Innate Purple Qi had already reached the seventh layer, allowing him to wield a sword and fly into the sky with ease. Five years ago, he had gone down the mountain to gain experience and had quickly made a name for himself in the cultivation world, earning him a reputation as one of the top cultivators among his peers.

  Although there were ten core inner disciples in the Luo Fu Sect, none of them considered Chang Yue to be their peer, and he naturally didn't deign to be grouped with this bunch of younger disciples. Furthermore, since he had gone down the mountain five years ago, his relationship with the others was somewhat distant.

  Among the remaining nine disciples, the one with the strongest cultivation was Lin Yu Feng, the second disciple of Ling Jia Shang Ren. He had entered the sect twelve years ago and his cultivation of the Innate Purple Qi had already reached the third layer. He was also extremely skilled in the sect's sword techniques, making him a formidable opponent.

  Next to Lin Yu Feng was Lu Wan, whose cultivation of the Innate Purple Qi was similar to Kong Zhong's, having broken through the Foot Shaoyin Kidney Meridian and reaching the second layer, with only a small difference in their fire levels. In terms of sword techniques, he was also slightly inferior to Lin Yu Feng.

  As for the others, due to the time of entry, their standards are mostly similar to Kong Zhan's before. In terms of innate purple energy, only two people have not entered the second layer. One is Zhou Xue, a girl who often eats barbecue with Kong Zhan. She has insufficient innate talent and is young, so her cultivation in innate purple energy still lacks some firework. The other one is called Chen Mu. Chen Mu's situation is a bit special. Due to his unique talent, he cultivates not the innate purple energy but another method. It is said that its wonder is not under the innate purple energy, but because of the shallow cultivation time, his actual strength is also slightly inferior.

  In addition, there is another person who cannot be ignored, Fang Shao Bai.

  Fang Shaobai is a swordsmanship prodigy, so it's no wonder that Ling Jia accepted him as his closed-door disciple. With his innate purple energy cultivation barely entering the second layer, his mastery of sword techniques has already reached a level comparable to Lu Wan's. Compared to Kong Zhuo before today, purely in terms of swordsmanship, he could only admit defeat, but now it's uncertain.

  As soon as Kong Zhuan fell down, it was a whole three days and three nights. When he woke up again, he looked around and found that he had already stunk.

  At this time, he was also unclear how long he had been lying here. Anyway, when he woke up, he only felt his stomach rumbling with hunger, and his intestines were growling. Since he could remember, he had never been so hungry before.

  It's all his own fault, he has been living in that small independent house for a long time, and except for his master, no one else pays attention to him. Now that his master is gone, only he is left, and the fellow disciples who usually get along with him are all busy practicing to prepare for the Mountain Gate Conference. Even Zhou Xue and Fang Shaobai, who have the closest relationship with him, are also tied up by their own masters to practice, where do they have time to come and play with him?

  He struggled to his feet, and his entire body felt like it had been dislocated. It was possible that after he fainted, a rainstorm had passed through the area, covering him in mud and leaving him smelling foul. He didn't even bother to look for food, instead diving headfirst into a nearby pond to wash off the grime. After cleaning himself up, he washed his clothes in the pond and used his innate purple energy to dry them before putting them back on. He then hunted two rabbits, hastily filling his stomach before preparing to rush towards the mountain gate. After all, he had no idea how long he had been unconscious, or if he was already late for something important.

  But just as he was about to lift his foot and leave, suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him.

  It's also this kid's recent good luck, high IQ, or maybe it's just a coincidence, but the most likely reason is that the old heaven overslept for two days, and Kong Zhuo's spiritual intelligence suddenly opened up, and he thought of the situation in the water earlier.

  He usually wouldn't mind, from childhood to adulthood, the feeling in the water has always been like this, there is resistance in the water but it's also a natural thing. However, now, Kong Zhuan was practicing swordsmanship before he fainted, although he had been unconscious for three days, when he woke up, the residual warmth of the sword moves in his mind had not dissipated, and he was still in the state of practicing and comprehending swordsmanship. Therefore, no matter what he encountered, he would always intentionally or unintentionally think about it from the perspective of swordsmanship. Now, his idea is, if I can practice my sword skills as smoothly in the water as on land, how would that be?

  Having an idea, of course, is to try it out. The result of the trial was a dismal failure. At the bottom of the water, not to mention using a sword, even making a move with that twig was extremely difficult.

  "Whoosh!" His head emerged from the water's surface, he swam to the shore and spat out a big mouthful of water. "Huff, I seem to have been too impatient. Master said that when doing things, one must proceed gradually and in order."

  Crawling out of the water, Kong Zhuo didn't even bother to use his purple energy to dry off his clothes again. He began to ponder on his own, "In that case, I'll start with something simple!"

  ————————————————

  September 10th, the sky is clearing up

  Ten thousand miles without clouds floating

  In the depths of the Luofu Mountains, which stretch for thousands of miles, a sudden burst of cloud and mist spreads out like brocade. The peaks of the mountains emerge from the white clouds, resembling a plate of white jade cream. In the midst of this, dozens of jade shoots burst forth, extremely beautiful to behold. Looking back towards the northeast, it is still bright and clear, with a red sun being supported by the highest peak, as if embracing or holding it, truly a wonder of the mortal world.

  The ancient and secluded bell rings out, stirring up ripples in the clouds.

  "Open the mountain gate!" In front of the tall and majestic gate, two burly men shouted at the top of their lungs, their voices carrying far away with the sound of the bell.

  In front of the mountain gate of Luofu Mountain, a large square has already gathered thousands of people. These are all the disciples who were accepted this time. Among them, some lucky ones or those with good foundation will become inner door disciples after the opening ceremony. The luckiest few may even be favored by Luofu Wujian, a famous swordsman in the world, and become his disciple or be favored by his fellow apprentices to become core inner door disciples. Their future prospects will be boundless. But for now, everything is still unknown.

  In front of the mountain gate, after two big men shouted, a thin old man wearing gray clothes and a middle-aged Confucian scholar walked out from under the archway. They stopped in their tracks before the crowd of thousands. The old man didn't seem to have anything unusual about him, but the eyes of the middle-aged scholar sparkled with sharpness, and wherever his gaze fell, everyone felt as if they were being seen through.

  "Come in, everyone!" After scanning the crowd with his eyes, the middle-aged man said lightly, but his voice was clear and reached every ear.

  As his voice fell, the two burly men in front of the gatehouse turned their bodies to either side, took a big step forward, and stood sideways, making room for what was originally only enough space for two people to pass through.

  The mountain gate of Mount Luofu

  It's open!