Seeing the Dao Lord narrow his eyes as if about to fly into a rage, Fang Jueqian didn’t even have time to savor the feeling before scrambling out of the Dao Lord’s embrace, flushing red as he apologized:
“I am sorry, Husband. I did not stand right just now and accidentally crashed into you.”
Su Nisheng let out a cold laugh. Surprisingly, he didn’t say much else, simply telling him to continue.
Fang Jueqian was extremely nervous inside, his brain short-circuiting for a moment as he couldn’t remember what was supposed to happen next.
Fortunately, under the Dao Lord’s death glare, inspiration struck. Starting from the beginning and relying on sheer muscle memory, he finally managed to run through the previous set of movements smoothly.
“Stop. You got this part wrong.”
After Fang Jueqian executed a few more moves, the Dao Lord stepped forward once again to help him adjust his posture, while guiding him on the key points of the sword technique: “The sword intent of the Rushing Torrent Sword Technique lies in being endless and unceasing.”
Feeling the touch on his shoulders and waist, Fang Jueqian had prepared himself mentally this time, finally avoiding a repeat of the tragic left-foot-tripping-over-right disaster.
Yet he couldn’t help gazing at the profile of the Dao Lord who was lowering his head to adjust his body, his head spinning. That feeling was just like the screen instantly switching from 1080P to 4K, with superlative, amazing clarity and lighting that anyone who saw it would praise.
“You must first imagine yourself as a rushing, surging great river. Everything in your path is smashed to splinters and flattened, completely unstoppable. Repeat what I just said.”
Fang Jueqian instinctively blurted out: “Repeat what I just said.”
“What?”
“What?”
The Dao Lord instantly grew displeased, radiating waves of cold air. Realizing things were taking a bad turn, Fang Jueqian racked his brain to recall. Perhaps people always managed to unleash hidden potential in life-or-death moments, because Fang Jueqian actually managed to remember it.
Flushing red, he stammered: “It is unstoppable, smashed to splinters and flattened, completely unstoppable, wherever it passes, like a great river.”
Su Nisheng sneered:
“Why don’t you start reciting it backwards from the very last character?”
Fang Jueqian froze, then pulled a bitter face and began to parrot the words:
“Unstoppable, smashed, splinters, flattened, flattened, splinters, smashed, unstoppable. Wait, no, it is flattened, splinters, smashed.”
Su Nisheng’s mouth twitched when he started reciting, but he didn’t stop him, letting Fang Jueqian continue his painfully awkward parroting.
Until Fang Jueqian touched his head, deeply realizing that human memory had its limits, especially since he hadn’t been listening very closely in the first place, he said with embarrassment:
“I am sorry, Husband. I cannot remember the rest.”
“Heh.”
Fang Jueqian secretly glanced at the Dao Lord’s expression, guessing that the Dao Lord was mostly dissatisfied, and mustered the courage to say:
“I am sorry, Husband. I should not have been distracted just now. For the rest of the time, I will study diligently and will not let down Husband’s cultivation and sacrifice, nor will I intentionally take advantage of you.”
As for unintentional parts, well, there was no helping those. Fang Jueqian added inwardly, since that was something he couldn’t control anyway.
“Mm?” Su Nisheng looked at him with an unpredictable expression. “What did you say?”
Fang Jueqian waved his fist: “I will study hard from now on!”
“The sentence before that.”
“Will not let down Husband’s cultivation and sacrifice?”
“The one after that.”
“Nor will I intentionally take advantage of you?” Fang Jueqian repeated blankly.
“So, you acting stupid just now was you intentionally taking advantage of me?” Su Nisheng said blankly.
“No! Absolutely not!” Fang Jueqian reacted instantly, hurriedly explaining, “I was not acting stupid! Nor was I intentionally taking advantage of you. That was just a figure of speech, not something that actually happened in the past.”
He flushed red as he babbled out a long explanation, growing more and more muddled until he no longer knew what he was saying:
“Anyway, roughly like that. Husband, please do not misunderstand! Besides, taking advantage of you should mean me touching you, not you touching me. How can being touched be considered taking advantage? At most it is half and half, I am contributing too!”
After blurting all of that out in one breath, Fang Jueqian suddenly froze.
Wait, what did he just say?
He looked at the Dao Lord in despair.
The Dao Lord smiled slightly: “You are contributing too?”
Fang Jueqian fell silent for a long moment, before finally nodding heavily and choking out:
“Yes, I am contributing my intelligence.”
And my integrity.
The Dao Lord seemed to chuckle, then told him to continue.
Fang Jueqian never expected to escape with his life. While feeling immensely grateful, he was also somewhat terrified. During the subsequent sword form drills, he kept making mistakes out of nervousness at first, only to be lazily reminded by the Dao Lord beside him:
“Are you thinking about contributing again?”
Swallowing hard, Fang Jueqian sped up as if someone had hit triple speed, rapidly churning through all the moves.
When the set of sword forms finally concluded, he looked somewhat apprehensively at the Dao Lord.
Yet he saw a smile lingering on the youth’s lips: “Continue.”
Fang Jueqian’s vision swam as he tremblingly started over from the beginning.
This restart, however, was entirely different from before. From somewhere, the Dao Lord had picked up a broken tree branch, gently brushing it across his shoulder or arm whenever he made a mistake.
Fang Jueqian’s operating memory was rather small, capable of handling only one task at a time. The moment someone interrupted him, he would blank out, casting a look of aggrieved resentment at the Dao Lord.
“Continue.”
Fang Jueqian could only let out a choke of despair, biting down hard and swallowing his tears.
Noticing his reluctance, Su Nisheng couldn’t help scoffing:
“What? Unwilling to go half and half with a tree branch?”
Even a clay figurine had three parts of temper when bullied!
Feeling that as a dignified, upright man, he could not allow himself to be oppressed like this without losing all dignity, Fang Jueqian tried his best to express his dissatisfaction.
He let out an indignant huff, turning his head away:
“No. I am just a little tired.”
“Oh?”
The Dao Lord finally discarded that hateful tree branch, stepping closer until he stood right before him.
Hearing the footsteps and sensing someone closing in beside him, Fang Jueqian stubbornly refused to turn his head to look at him. In fact, if not for the fear of adding fuel to the fire, he would have closed his eyes altogether.
Right now, Fang Jueqian felt like Tang Seng being seduced by a demon. No, more like Tang Seng trapped in Women’s Country.
The Queen of Women’s Country was beautiful, dignified, alluring, affectionate, noble in status, and even willing to lower her pride to tempt and lure him:
“Holy Monk, oh Holy Monk, open your eyes and look at me. I cannot believe your eyes are completely empty.”
Yet even the bold Queen of Women’s Country hadn’t directly touched him with her hands!
Feeling like a rabbit whose sore paw had just been stepped on, Fang Jueqian nearly jumped in place. Stiffly, he looked down at the pristine white hand resting upon his shoulder, while a voice that was both lazy and charming poured into his ear:
“You do not like the tree branch. Do you want me instead?”
Dao Lord, aren’t you being a bit too shameless?
Feeling the heat and breath radiating near his neck, Fang Jueqian swallowed hard against his better judgment. His survival instinct kicked in, making him shake his head frantically as he actively wriggled free from the Dao Lord’s arm, flushing red as he emphasized:
“I am here to attain the true scriptures.”
“Mm?”
“No wait, I mean I am here to win first place in the academic examination! Husband, I am sorry, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have been so stubborn earlier, and you don’t need to waste time testing me anymore. I know what I am supposed to do!”
Su Nisheng withdrew his hand, the smile on his lips fading slightly: “You really know?”
“Of course, crystal clear! I will definitely not embarrass you, Husband!” Fang Jueqian raised both hands in a vow.
Su Nisheng quietly scrutinized him for a moment before finally returning to normal, adopting his usual indifferent tone:
“Very well. Since you have realized your mistake, I will not continue making things difficult for you.” Yet just as Fang Jueqian heaved a sigh of relief, the Dao Lord asked: “What did you mean by attaining the true scriptures?”
“It means. It means I will definitely win first place! By passing the tests given by the Dao Lord and everyone else, I will prove my strength!”
The Dao Lord smiled half-heartedly: “So attaining the true scriptures meant that.”
Fang Jueqian nodded his head like pounding garlic: “Right! That is exactly what it means!”
“Heh, then why aren’t you hurrying up and continuing?”
One had to admit, human potential truly was a massive treasure vault. Terrified like that by the Dao Lord, Fang Jueqian didn’t dare to harbor any distracting thoughts.
Pouring twelve points of focus into his practice and guided by the Dao Lord, he finally managed to drill the Rushing Torrent Sword Technique until the Dao Lord grudgingly uttered a barely passing.
The Rushing Torrent Sword Technique was a relatively rare water-type offensive sword art. Legend had it that when practiced to an advanced stage, the true form of a raging river would manifest beside the caster, unleashing a sword strike with unstoppable waves capable of crushing cities and shaking the heavens.
Naturally, given Fang Jueqian’s current strength, let alone manifesting a true form, even summoning a faint phantom image beside him was already considered quite remarkable.
Therefore, Fang Jueqian was exceptionally thrilled by the gentle, babbling little stream appearing beside him. Having practiced this sword technique for so many days, this was the very first time a phantom image had materialized, prompting him to enthusiastically express his gratitude to the Dao Lord.
The Dao Lord, however, looked down on his little stream with utter disdain: “Just this? You must practice much harder from now on. Going into a duel like this will make me lose face.”
Fang Jueqian had no choice but to grievance-ladenly remind him:
“Husband, have you forgotten? Did you not forbid me from telling outsiders that you taught me?”
Su Nisheng thought about it, looking as though a heavy burden had finally been lifted as he relaxed immensely:
“That is true. If no one knows, it does not matter. Just make sure you never tell anyone. I cannot afford to lose that face.”
Deciding not to entangle himself further with the Dao Lord over this matter, Fang Jueqian recalled the descriptions in the Rushing Torrent Sword Manual and yearned deeply for that sword intent resembling a rushing, torrential river. He earnestly pleaded:
“Husband, could you demonstrate it? I also want to see what this sword technique looks like when practiced to an advanced stage.”
Su Nisheng paused, then let out a cold laugh with his hands tucked into his sleeves:
“Let me demonstrate? Do you have any idea how long it has been since I last drew my sword?”
This was clear disdain, implying Fang Jueqian lacked the qualifications to have him demonstrate it.
Having a favor to ask, Fang Jueqian kept his tone sweet as he begged him, saying countless flattering things and exaggerating how crucial the Dao Lord’s demonstration was for his comprehension of the true sword intent.
After being pestered for quite a while, the Dao Lord finally allowed himself to be persuaded, grudgingly agreeing to make a move just this once.
Fang Jueqian was just about to hand his sword over when he saw the Dao Lord wave a hand dismissively:
“Watch closely. I am only teaching you this once.”
The moment those words left his lips, Fang Jueqian’s vision suddenly blurred.
When he opened his eyes wide again, he was shocked to see endless, overwhelming sheets of ice shards filling the entire sky, connecting upward like a reverse waterfall all the way into the unreachable night sky.
And the night sky itself had been poked straight through with a massive hole, revealing the lush, shadowed shapes of mountain peaks and trees just outside the barrier.
“Apologies. Didn’t hold back in time and poked a hole through it.”