Archean Eon Art c1-766
Page 4
They would be killed the moment they clashed with a true expert.
According to the Falling Leaf Saber’s description, it’s divided into eighty-one stances. As long as one hones the 81 stances to a state of perfection, they will naturally be able to grasp the secret technique: Third Autumn Leaf. It will also be equivalent to reaching the first major realm of the saber art—Unity. Meng Chuan was rather lost because the entire manual only described the Unity realm with a short paragraph.
There was no other description. Even the moves were unrecorded.
“Naturally be able to grasp the secret technique” was too ambiguous. His Falling Leaf Saber had achieved Greater Mastery for two years; But, despite cultivating diligently every day, why hadn’t he been able to “naturally” figure out the secret technique?
Mortal cultivation is divided into five stages: Foundation Establishment, Internal Tempering, Marrow Cleansing, Mortal Shedding, and Seamless. To reach the Seamless realm from the Mortal Shedding realm… one has to hone their saber or sword skills to the Unity realm. Only when body, mind, and technique are truly united can one integrate all the powers in the Mortal Shedding realm, allowing for a breakthrough to the Seamless realm in one fell swoop. In a large family clan, sufficient pills are provided, so reaching the Mortal Shedding realm isn’t difficult. But very few can reach the Seamless realm!
He started establishing his foundation when he was six.
He stepped into the Internal Tempering realm at the age of nine, and Marrow Cleansing at twelve. According to his estimates, he should be able to reach the perfected Marrow Cleansing realm around June. This sort of speed was considered average among the core disciples of a Godfiend family clan. A lazy person like Yun Qingping had also reached the Marrow Cleansing stage at the age of fifteen thanks to her plentiful consumption of valuable pills. Her progress was considered rather slow.
Mortal cultivation had five main realms: Foundation Establishment, Internal Tempering, Marrow Cleansing, Mortal Shedding, and Seamless.
Further up was the Godfiend realm.
The gap between the Godfiend realm and the Seamless realm was like a chasm!
Becoming a Godfiend was extremely difficult. In the past century, only a few people in Eastcalm Prefecture became Godfiends.
I swore before my mother’s grave that I must become a Godfiend in this life. I shall slay demons and avenge my mother. He stopped practicing and looked at the saber in his hand. He had been ignorant as a child, but he now knew the difficulty of becoming a Godfiend. However, he refused to give up no matter how difficult it was. I have to master the Saber Unity realm as quickly as possible. In the future, I will need to master the second realm, Force. Only then will I have some hope of becoming a Godfiend.
Suddenly—
“Chuan’er.” A rotund figure walked into the training grounds.
Meng Chuan turned around. “Dad.”
The middle-aged man in front of him had a smile on his face. This was his father, Meng Dajiang. He ran a restaurant—the biggest restaurant in Eastcalm Prefecture. He was also destined to be the next clan leader of the Meng family.
Meng Dajiang was extremely powerful. He was one of the small handful of people who were considered the strongest under the Godfiend realm, and he also cultivated saber arts. Furthermore, he was a Seamless realm expert that attained Saber Force. But as a forty-seven-year-old, his chances of becoming a Godfiend grew increasingly slim!
“Uncle Meng.” Liu Qiyue also walked over.
“The 3rd of March is Jadesun Palace’s Demon-Slaying Meet, right? Qiyue is a sharpshooter, so Blazing Sun Dao Academy will definitely reserve a spot for you.” As Meng Dajiang spoke, Liu Qiyue nodded happily. Meng Dajiang looked at his son and asked, “Chuan’er, what about you? There are only three spots for Mirror Lake Dao Academy’s Marrow Cleansing disciples. Are you confident about obtaining one?”
“I’m not confident.” Meng Chuan knew himself. He said, “There isn’t much difference between the top ten disciples of the Dao Academy at the Marrow Cleansing stage. I have some hope to vie for it, but the chances of failing aren’t zero. If I can figure out the secret technique of Falling Leaf Saber, I’ll definitely have the confidence. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to figure it out. Dad, do you have any special tricks to cultivate the secret technique?”
“Haha, your dean is the best swift saber expert in Eastcalm Prefecture. He will teach you what’s necessary,” said Meng Dajiang with a laugh. “As for the secret technique, I think it’s just about having more practice. More practice might lead to you figuring it out.”
Meng Chuan felt helpless.
There was no trick.
“Don’t harp on it. Among your generation in Eastcalm Prefecture, nobody in the Marrow Cleansing realm has figured out the secret technique.” Meng Dajiang laughed. “In the Meng family, I’m the most outstanding member of my generation; yet, it took me until I was nineteen before I figured out the secret technique.”
“However, according to legend, Patriarch Zhang grasped the secret technique at the age of thirteen, allowing his sword art to reach the Unity realm.” Meng Chuan sighed.
“Patriarch Zhang is the only person in the last hundred years of Eastcalm Prefecture that managed to become a disciple of the Archean Mountain. It was also because of this that the Zhang family became the leader of the five major Godfiend clans in Eastcalm Prefecture,” said Meng Dajiang. “Don’t be too anxious. Our Meng family’s Patriarch Yushan from five hundred years ago only figured out the secret technique at eighteen. However, didn’t he become a Godfiend at eighty years old? Even if he was a late bloomer, he still became a Godfiend.”
Meng Chuan obviously knew his family’s history.
When he was young, his mother would tell him stories about the development of Godfiends. He would also pester his parents for more!
Other than painting, he loved listening to stories the most as a child.
His parents had bought many storybooks about the famous Godfiends in history and took the time to read them to him.
“Mom, one day, I will become a Godfiend as well,” murmured Meng Chuan.
…
That afternoon, Meng Chuan arrived at Mirror Lake Dao Academy. This was because the dean was personally teaching saber arts to one of the classes. As the dean, he only needed to teach once every five days.
A two-hour lesson of saber arts came to an end.
There’s still no way to make a breakthrough.
I really don’t know when my saber arts will reach the Unity realm. Meng Chuan walked through the Dao Academy. He spent almost every day thinking about the Falling Leaf Saber’s secret technique to the point of almost going mad.
When he passed by an empty area, he heard angry shouting.
He looked over.
Lecturer Ma had broken out into a tirade at a group of youths.
“Aim for the skies; not doing so will only result in mediocrity. Do you understand?” Lecturer Ma shouted angrily. “I’m telling you to learn from the good, not the bad. Doing so will only exacerbate matters! If you don’t reach the Marrow Cleansing realm, you will be unsuccessful for the rest of your life. If you reach the Marrow Cleansing realm, you will have to serve the military at 20 years of age to fight demons. If you don’t sweat now, you will bleed in the future and lose your life. Barely half survive military service! Are you hoping to die on the battlefield or return in glory?”
“Look, that’s the Meng family’s Meng Chuan. He managed to reach the Greater Mastery stage of the Falling Leaf Saber at thirteen and entered our Mirror Lake Dao Academy’s Mountain River Pavilion. The dean even teaches him personally! There are no shortcuts to mastering saber arts, only hard work. I heard that Meng Chuan spends several hours cultivating at home every day. What about you guys? Have you reflected on yourselves?”
“Aim for the skies; not doing so will only result in mediocrity. I want you to learn from Meng Chuan, understand?”
Under the shouts of Lecturer M
a, the group of youths did not dare breathe.
As he roared, Lecturer Ma smiled at the passing Meng Chuan. Meng Chuan nodded with a smile in return, but his eyes suddenly lit up before he hurried home.
…
Upon returning to his manor, Meng Chuan immediately went to the study.
“Aim for the skies; not doing so will only result in mediocrity. If I want to learn, I have to learn from the best!” Meng Chuan mumbled to himself. His eyes brightened, and he became increasingly excited. If I want to learn from someone, I should learn from the strongest Godfiends! Learning from the strongest existence in history is what aiming for the skies is!
The invincible experts who managed to leave their names in history had mostly passed away, but their biographies remained in circulation even after thousands of years!
Their biographies contain their thoughts.
Meng Chuan raised his head and looked at the books on a bookshelf. Dad and Mom read many Godfiend stories to me when I was young. They bought me many books.
He casually picked up a book and flipped it open.
The book described Godfiend Deng Feng who had dominated an entire era. According to the records, Deng Feng grew up in the mountains and had never received any education from a famous master. His only relative died just after teaching him the Saber Drawing Stance. He practiced eight hours a day drawing his saber. He drew his saber ten thousand times without learning any other techniques.
Living alone in the depths of the mountains, this continued for twenty years.
By the time he left the mountains, he came to the outside world without knowing much. With strength at the Marrow Cleansing realm, just drawing his saber was enough to kill a Seamless realm expert. His saber art had already reached an inconceivable level. Once news of this spread, the legendary Archean Mountain immediately took the initiative to recruit him and made him a disciple. This caused him to embark on the path of a Godfiend.
…
The book was very long, and it recorded many stories after Deng Feng became a Godfiend. These had won the respect of future generations.
In terms of cultivation matters, little was mentioned. The only mention was “eight hours a day, drawing his saber ten thousand times for twenty years.”
This was the most important line in this book for Meng Chuan.
Even if an expert uses a saber art slowly, two hours is enough to draw a saber ten thousand times. Meng Chuan frowned. Yet, he spent eight hours every day, which means that every saber move channels his strength; he puts his heart and mind into it before he draws the saber! One after another… every saber move will accumulate power before erupting. Only by doing so ten thousand times will it take eight hours.
Putting his heart and mind into it? Practicing the same move? Through sheer numbers?
Meng Chuan held a brush in front of his desk and recorded it down before reading another Godfiend’s biography.
He needed to learn from the numerous Godfiend biographies to find the similarities to achieve the potency of a Godfiend.
Aim for the skies; not doing so will only result in mediocrity.
If he wanted to learn… he had to learn from the best!
He had to study from all the invincible Godfiends throughout history!
“Uncle Qian,” Meng Chuan suddenly called out.
“Young Master.” A voice sounded from outside.
“Bring two people with you and buy all the Godfiend biographies on the market for me! There’s also the educational material from some powerful Godfiend families. Buy one of each for me. Make haste!” said Meng Chuan.
“Alright, I’ll go now,” replied Uncle Qian immediately.
Chapter 3
Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon
Meng Chuan carefully read the biographies. Many of these were written by large clans about a particular ancestor of theirs for publicity! Some of them were independently written by commoners because the Godfiend in question was truly famous. Some of the most famous Godfiends’ biographies had dozens of versions. Some sects had voluntarily written down biographies for Godfiends. The most exaggerated ones were the autobiographies. The Godfiends who wrote those hoped that their descendants would remember their deeds.
These biographies are mainly telling stories. Sometimes, only a few sentences in one book are useful to my cultivation. It’s even possible that I can’t find anything useful in a single biography. Also, some of these stories are highly credible and some are less trustworthy. They need to be classified accordingly.
Meng Chuan came from a Godfiend family clan after all. With the guidance of Mirror Lake Dao Academy’s system, his foundation was very solid. His top-notch saber art had reached the Greater Mastery stage, and he was only a step away from reaching Unity.
With such a foundation, he was better equipped to distinguish the utility of each biography.
In one of the biographies, Meng Chuan saw a maxim from the North Sword Emperor that was directed towards his descendants. Not putting your heart and mind into sword practice makes one merely a slave of the sword. Only by putting your heart and mind into training will you become the master of the sword.
As he stared at these words, he pondered. The descendant that North Sword Emperor gave pointers to was a Seamless realm expert. The latter’s sword technique should have reached Unity at the very least. He should have put his heart and mind into it during his usual training, but the North Sword Emperor still said that… Clearly, he didn’t consider the Seamless realm expert to have put his heart and mind into his cultivation.
…
Meng Chuan continued reading the Godfiends’ biographies.
Occasionally, the maxims left behind by a particular Godfiend or certain deeds led to Meng Chuan speculating.
To normal people, it was only a story.
But in the eyes of someone looking for inspiration, one could see the reasons behind the strength of Godfiends.
One skill to eat your fill; one skill to kill. All you need is one skill without the frills. This was a quote from one of the biographies. It came from a conversation between a powerful Godfiend—Fiend Saber Wei Feng—and his disciple three thousand years ago. There were a total of fifteen versions of Fiend Saber Wei Feng’s story sold in the Eastcalm Prefecture.
Amongst them, there were similar sayings to “one skill to eat your fill; one skill to kill. All you need is one skill without the frills.” Meng Chuan also recorded this down.
Apart from the biographies, he also valued the family teachings from the famous Godfiend family clans.
Family teachings were left behind by Godfiends. Generally speaking, they were matters Godfiends believed were extremely important.
The more he recorded, the more shocked he became.
Aim for the skies; not doing so will only result in mediocrity. It’s indeed right to learn from the most powerful Godfiends in history! However, the biographies are just the tip of an iceberg. Without a strong foundation, it’s very easy for one to go astray. Meng Chuan realized this because he noticed that many family’s teachings emphasized one’s cultivation foundation.
All members of the family were to enter the Dao Academies and receive a complete education in cultivation.
This was because the Dao Academies were established by the oldest sect in the world—Archean Mountain. They were in every large city in the Great Zhou Dynasty, and all Dao Academies’ education system was established by Archean Mountain. Only by cultivating in the Dao Academies could one have a solid foundation.
Of course, it only taught him the basics. His saber arts were only one step away from reaching the Unity realm. The Dao Academy had taught him all he needed in his seven years of cultivation. What he needed was to figure things out himself now.
My foundation is sufficient. What I need now is the final step to make a breakthrough. Much of what I’ve recorded today has inspired me. However, there’s no rush. I’ll read through these books briefly before consolidating them. I need at least three Godf
iends to have shared similar cultivation principles before I consider them trustworthy.
…
Day after day, Meng Chuan gathered and consolidated knowledge in ever-increasing amounts. He also included the “Immutable Laws” of Mirror Lake Dao Academy—they were cultivation rules that Archean Mountain had set in stone.
The combination of the two allowed Meng Chuan to understand even more.
It’s done.
In the evening, Meng Chuan looked at his notebook and smiled. These five days have been more important than the past five years of my cultivation. Meng Chuan looked at the notebook in excitement. He now had a clearer understanding of cultivation.
The first commandment of cultivation emphasized the extreme importance of one’s foundation. It was akin to the foundation of a house. Entering the Dao Academy and undergoing a complete cultivation system was the best choice.
The second commandment emphasized frequency. No matter how much one imagined inwardly, it couldn’t be compared to cultivating ten thousand times! Sayings like drawing one’s saber ten thousand times and repeating Sanguine Shadow Thrust daily were mentioned by twelve Godfiends.
The third commandment was one skill to eat your fill! It was similar to the second commandment; he only needed one skill to kill enemies. If he cultivated one skill to the extreme, it would be more useful than cultivating ten other relatively powerful killer moves.
The fourth commandment involved the difficulty of cultivation. Even if one endured hardships and grit their teeth to cultivate, they would only be novices! Only those who truly enjoyed and immersed themselves in cultivation and carefully studied the profundity of each move, could become a grandmaster.
He also understood the true meaning behind the North Sword Emperor’s words “not putting your heart and mind into sword practice makes one merely a slave of the sword. Only by putting your heart and mind into training will you become the master of the sword.” The typical cultivator trained hard, but this wasn’t them putting their heart into it. To truly enjoy the swordplay, be obsessed with it, to abandon everything external, and completely indulge in training like a crazed demon would one become a grandmaster. Otherwise, one would only be a novice.