Outside the house, the rain was dripping gently. There was no need to dig the lake today.
Li Shiyin curled up on the sofa, leaning against the cushions, using a small bamboo stick to play with Chasing the Wind.
Chasing the Wind was growing very fast, almost changing every day. When he was picked up in the rainy night, he was as small as a kitten, but now after less than a week, he was already as big as a grown cat, and a very sturdy grown cat at that.
He chased after the bamboo stick in Li Shiyin's hand, running from the sofa to the floor, then jumping from the floor onto the tea table. His fierce appearance was as if he had some grudge against the bamboo stick.
Li Shiyin waved the bamboo stick around, and Chasing the Wind chased after it everywhere. The two were having great fun.
"Bang!"
Suddenly, the door to the living room was pushed open from outside. Wet wind blew in from outside, and Li Shiyin looked over to see Qin Ran walk in dripping wet, holding a sword.
"Master, where did you go?" Li Shiyin asked.
Her hand paused. She quickly looked back, only to find that the bamboo stick had been caught by Chasing the Wind. Chasing the Wind slapped it strongly with his two thick paws and bit down with a "crack", breaking off a section of the bamboo.
Such a fierce little thing, she thought to herself, and simply threw the whole bamboo stick to Chasing the Wind.
"Out back..." Qin Ran replied.
He folded up his umbrella, shook off the rainwater outside the door, then brought it inside and left it by the door. He also utilized his cultivation to draw all the rainwater out of his clothes, gathering it into a ball in his hand, and threw that outside as well.
Li Shiyin watched admiringly as her master demonstrated his control over his cultivation power.
"Out back?" she asked.
"The grotto, beside the waterfall..." Qin Ran pointed towards the back of the house, "Danfeng's former grottoes are all over there. There are still some things left in them."
Li Shiyin had seen the grottoes behind the mountain from afar, but had not been there yet. She nodded, seeing the sword in Qin Ran's hand, and said, "This is the sword left behind by the previous seniors?"
"Mm," Qin Ran walked over and casually threw the sword to her, saying, "There weren't many sword users in Danfeng. I tried to find a lower quality spirit weapon that would suit you to practice sensing objects. You can use this sword to practice."
Li Shiyin raised her hand to catch the sword. The scabbard was pitch black with a heavy feel to it, weighing about seven or eight pounds. Drawing out half the blade, the edge was icy cold, with gray speckles on the blade like stars in the night sky.
It was a good sword, but...
"It's so delicate!" she said. The sword was too narrow for her liking.
Closing the sword, she saw the name engraved on the hilt - Qingxing. She asked, "This was some female senior's sword, right?"
"I'm not sure either," Qin Ran came out of the kitchen with a cup of hot water and stood in front of the sofa, facing Li Shiyin. "You can practice sword techniques with any sword, but flying sword techniques require sensing the object first, so you can't just casually develop feelings with a sword, it would be strange. "
Li Shiyin secretly sized up her master. His views on romance seemed so innocent.
She looked back at the Qingxing sword. This sword was not just delicate in appearance, it was also very light...although it already weighed seven or eight pounds.
She shook her head. "I don't like this sword."
"Whether you like it or not, you'll have to bear with it for now. Focus your mind, and once you've learned both combat skills and flying sword techniques, we'll go find someone to forge your personal sword. " Qin Ran said as he sipped his water, "At that time, your personal sword will be forged according to the requirements of the Nine Revolving Celestial Sword Technique."
Since it was just temporary use, Li Shiyin could accept it. Pouting, she said, "Go find someone specifically to forge it? Then I hope my personal sword can be heavier, grander."
"Alright, however you like," Qin Ran finished his water, then asked again, "Which cultivation method did you choose?"
"Drawing Starlight Art," Li Shiyin replied.
Qin Ran nodded. This was not beyond his expectations.
The Drawing Starlight Art was not exactly a sword technique. Rather, it was more like an destructive amplifying art.
As the name suggested, Drawing Starlight involved drawing in starlight onto the sword, thereby obtaining greater combat power. It belonged to the category of close combat methods.
This kind of aggressive close combat method suited Li Shiyin's personality very well.
Whether it was close quarters melee combat or throwing spells from afar, that was just individual personality, there was no good or bad. He made no judgement on it.
"Since you've decided, then hurry up and practice..." Qin Ran said. "Once you've practiced it well, we'll go down the mountain."
"Huh? Go down the mountain!?" Li Shiyin's eyes lit up. She suddenly realized that needing to find someone to forge a sword meant leaving the mountain.
Leaving the mountain, didn't that mean she could go look for her silly brother? She could go home?!
"Yes, going down the mountain, but not to play around. It's to find someone to forge your personal sword." Qin Ran mercilessly doused Li Shiyin's fantasies.
Li Shiyin instantly deflated. "Oh!" she responded.
"Since it's raining today and there's no need to dig the lake, it's best to practice sensing objects. Don't delay any more time," Qin Ran sat down on the tea table facing Li Shiyin, and pointed at the sword in her hand, "Let's start now!"
"Alright!" Li Shiyin sighed, drawing out the Qingxing sword and asked, "How do I sense the object?"
"Sensing an object is the same as sensing qi," Qin Ran explained to Li Shiyin.
"Sensing qi is inside the body, feeling that strand of qi within the body, then according to certain principles, guiding that qi to start cultivating.
"Sensing an object is perceiving the internal structure of the object, allowing cultivation power to be infused into the object. The cultivation power circulates within the object, and the person thereby controls the object..."
Qin Ran was speaking when Chasing the Wind, who was madly shredding the bamboo stick, chased the stick over to this side.
One end of the stick hit the leg of the tea table, while the other end was still being bitten by Chasing the Wind. He seemed oblivious to everything as he continued biting the stick and moving forward, causing the stick to bend and compress, then...
"Crack!"
Chasing the Wind opened his mouth and released the bamboo stick, which snapped back and struck Qin Ran's calf.
"Ow!" Qin Ran painfully sucked in a breath, hurriedly looking down to check. He saw Chasing the Wind, as if nothing had happened, chasing after the bamboo stick as he crawled under the tea table and away.
"Hey there, you little rascal!" Qin Ran angrily grabbed Chasing the Wind and gave his innocent little face a gentle slap, then placed him on the tea table next to himself and pointed at him, "Sit still!"
Only now did Chasing the Wind seem to realize he had done something wrong, sitting there aggrieved.
Qin Ran picked up the playful bamboo stick and held it like a sword, horizontally in front of Li Shiyin's eyes.
"Use your mind to find the internal principles of the object, then according to those principles, infuse cultivation power into it..." As he spoke, his cultivation power flowed from his hand into the bamboo stick. He let go, and the bamboo stick floated motionless in midair. "This is controlling an object!"
Li Shiyin understood. She nodded, holding the Qingxing sword to her forehead and closing her eyes to search for the principles within the sword.
"Do you know what those principles are?" Qin Ran went on.
"They are actually formations! All things have their principles, and those principles are formations. The extraordinary meridians and collaterals in the human body, the five viscera and six bowels, the organs, limbs - their layout is a formation. The pathways of cultivation techniques are formation diagrams. The circulation of cultivation power within the body follows certain formation principles, and the circulation of cultivation power within a sword also follows certain formations... A flying sword, the forger must have set formations within it!"
Li Shiyin's internal cultivation power emerged from her dantian out to the Qingxing sword.
After a while, she let go, and the Qingxing sword floated motionless.
She had succeeded in sensing the object!
"This is simply natural talent!" Qin Ran shook his head and sighed admiringly. It was undeniable.
He had given Li Shiyin a profound yet easy to understand explanation of the deepest theory behind flying sword techniques, but he dared to guarantee that Li Shiyin definitely didn't understand it. Yet...
She could just do it, and accomplish it very simply and easily. This was called natural talent.
He looked down to see Chasing the Wind crouched beside him, watching the flying sword floating in front of Li Shiyin's forehead with rapt attention.