The woman brushed off Yin Long's party brusquely, turning away and entering the cave that had been dug into the mountain. She hadn't even spared them a second glance, she had simply cursed them out and then went on to disregard them. It was expected that she would reject Yin Long's request, but the way she did it still made Xiao Yin Yu's lips twitch slightly.
"Well...That could have gone better. She seems very...straightforward, you probably don't need to take it to heart."
She was trying to offer some words of comfort, Yin Long didn't seem like the type of person that had been cursed at to have no aptitude before. And for good reason, the more she saw of him the scarier he became, he was a bottomless wellspring of surprises and strength, each battle he engaged in pushing him at least half a step forward. But her words seemed to almost fall on deaf ears, the gleam in Yin Long's eyes not dimming in the slightest.
"You two can just wait here or move around as you wish, I'm the one trying to learn things so there's no need for you guys to waste your time with me."
He spoke quite casually to his two companions before he stepped forward and headed for the cave. He was determined to have this woman teach him, but he wasn't so blinded by that desire that he dragged in Yin Yu and Jin Wang. Especially Jin Wang, there was nothing he could learn from this so him waiting here alongside Yin Long would just be wasting his time.
Yin Long strode through the last stretch of forest and quickly reached the small clearing around the mountain, the cave in front of him stretching so far into the mountain that he couldn't see its true depth. He could probably stretch his senses out to peer into its depths, but he wasn't sure if the woman would be able to sense him so he stopped himself.
Not even the distance between them could stop Yin Long from feeling the cold hatred that seemed to suffuse the woman's entire being. Thanks to that, he also knew that her eyes were currently locked onto him, his spine tingling. But his movements didn't falter in the slightest, he sat and crossed his legs, placing a fist on each knee and lowering his head and torso in a respectful greeting.
"I am Yin Long, an unaffiliated wanderer. I humbly request to learn from your swordsmanship so that I may improve my own skills. But as you've already made clear, you have no desire to teach the untalented, nor do you have a desire to let us loiter around. If you think me untalented, then so be it, perhaps I really am in your eyes, the world is unbelievably large after all. But if my talent isn't enough to sway you, then I will bet on my determination."
There were no traces of arrogance or pride in Yin Long's voice, he wasn't the slightest bit bitter or annoyed at the fact that the woman had called him talentless. Even Yin Yu was a bit taken aback by the way Yin Long acted right now, he truly was humble and respectful, filled with nothing but a desire to learn from the woman's technique. It was a stark contrast to how he had treated the Swordsoul Guardians, but after giving it a bit of thought she realized that it was only logical.
It wasn't like he could engage in a battle with this woman, she'd just massacred him without him being able to learn anything. And with the Swordsoul Guardians, being humble and respectful like this would never have worked so his approach was the most logical, the one that was most likely to lead to him learning something new.
"There is no point in doing something so pointless. You cannot learn anything because you do not understand, no amount of 'determination' can change that."
Yin Long didn't remain seated after he finished his declaration, ignoring the woman's response and rising from his seated position while bringing out his crimson sword. He exhaled heavily once as he grasped the sword and then started to swing it, starting from the most basic of techniques, the slash, the chop, the stab.
To Yin Long, just swinging his sword could become cultivation, it would draw in the surrounding Qi and guide it into his body. But now, as he swung his sword, he purposefully prevented the Qi from entering his body. In fact, he was expelling a bit of his own Qi with each swing, each move of his blade bringing him one step closer to emptiness.
There was no sound from within the cave, Yin Long even felt that cold pair of eyes slide away from him. But he didn't stop his movements, repeating the basic techniques again and again, as if he had returned to his childhood and was working on engraining them into his core. By the time he had repeated the three fundamental techniques close to 100 times each, the last bit of Qi in his soulsea had been spent.
His chest felt stuffy and his head was hazy now that all his Qi was gone, but this was only the start. His moves slowly changed, moving from the three fundamental techniques and onto the sword technique he had gotten quite a while ago, the rapier technique he had been gifted by Deshi Jiu shortly after he had first left the Lang clan. He would have used the techniques Bai Xiang taught him first, but Bai Xiang never actually taught him any proper techniques so he had no choice but to skip that part.
He didn't put any Qi into the techniques since he didn't have any at the moment, he performed them one by one using only his physical energy. Once he finished displaying the rapier technique, he moved onto the greatsword technique that Deshi Jiu had gifted him, following that one up with the whip sword technique he had gotten from Deshi Jiu.
He went through them one by one at a slow pace, repeating the fundamental techniques once he finished performing the three techniques. He then moved on to the techniques he had learned while he stayed in Heron's Ascension Dojo, both the Buddha Dances In the Rain and the myriad of other techniques he had read up on in his time there.
Once he displayed all of those techniques, he repeated the fundamental techniques, his robe already sticking to his body, almost see-through thanks to how drenched in sweat it was. After that, he performed the techniques he had read up on during his short time in Thousand Blades Hall, technique after technique passing through his mind and flowing into his body. And finally, once he finished performing those techniques, he repeated the fundamental technique.
These were the marks of his life, the things he had studied and encountered. Hours, days, months of his life, all of it flowing from his head to his body, slowly revealing themselves as he moved. By the time he finally finished displaying the last technique from Thousand Blades Hall and repeated the fundamental technique again, three days had passed.
The presence of the woman in the cave seemed to keep the Demonic beasts in the area at bay, only the more mindless ones like the ants would dare to barge into her territory. As such, Yin Long could freely display his techniques even throughout the night, the only time he ever stopped was during the second-long interval as he changed from one technique to the next and had to correct his posture.
He hadn't absorbed any Qi during this time, nor had he eaten or drank anything so his body was starting to complain. Cultivators could go long periods without eating or drinking, but all of that was on the basis that they had Qi to replace what the food and water would give them.
So not only had he emptied his Qi and was running on empty, but he was also pushing his body to the edge of exhaustion while also fighting with hunger and thirst. But even so, his voice, which had broken up slightly due to his exhaustion, hadn't lost any of its vigour and determination.
"That was my life. It may not have been long or accomplished, but it is mine and I am proud of every single part of it. One day it will expand and grow longer, the display more varied and fantastical, but for now this is the best I can do, the best I can understand."
He spoke to the quiet cave, his back tingling for a second as he felt a gaze sweep over him. The gaze didn't linger on him for long, nor did Yin Long try to say anything to make it move back onto him. He simply raised his sword and started to swing it again, repeating the fundamental techniques close to 100 times and then moving onto the other techniques he had displayed previously.
He moved through them all one by one again, a small groove forming in the earth as he repeated the same steps over and over again. The earth became moist with his sweat, until finally, his body had no more sweat to give. His arms and legs screamed in pain from the overexertion, his stomach protested against the lack of food, and his dried out throat found it hard to just draw in a breath. Each breath was also painful, the wind brushing against the dry parts of the throat and irritating it.
Jin Wang and Xiao Yin Yu hadn't left the area despite Yin Long saying that they could do whatever they pleased, one was guarding solemnly at his side while the other looked on somewhat dumbfounded. As she looked at him swing his sword without end, Yin Yu realized that she had underestimated Yin Long's determination and sincerity towards the sword.
There was nothing but him in his sword, no foreign desire or underlying scheme, he swung his sword purely to improve it, to improve himself. And to reach that goal, he would be willing to even torture himself like this, forcing himself to a state that could only be described as close to death, all for the mere chance at improving his sword.
It was insane, really, you could even call it foolish and suicidal, it was a desire that could easily lead to his death. But even so, Yin Yu couldn't pull her eyes away, there was beauty in that insanity, a heart-throbbing beauty that could make you forget all about the other words that could be used to describe it.
She recalled that Yin Long had once told her that someone described him as being born for the sword, and looking at this, she believed it whole-heartedly. It had nothing to do with talent or skills and everything to do with dedication and sincerity, his heart was the blade, and the blade was his soul. If anyone deserved to hold a sword, to bring a blade to the very peak of existence, then it would be that foolish and insane youth that was ceaselessly swinging his weapon.
And at the same time, she also understood a part of what Yin Long was doing, what he was thinking. The emotion contained within the sword scars this woman had left in her wake was pain, the pain of thirst, a dying land devoid of water, a crying child willing to slit its own wrists and drink its own blood.
The woman said that Yin Long couldn't learn anything because he did not understand, something that no amount of determination could change. And indeed, Yin Long did not understand the pain of thirst, he had never been forced to go for extended periods of time without water or the like. And so he swung his sword, drained his Qi and overdrew his physical strength, he stayed in constant motion to accelerate the process and force out every ounce of water in his body.
He did not understand thirst, but he would. He would swing his sword again and again until there was nothing left, until his body begged him to end his own life to bring an end to the thirst. He would display his life and determination without stop, all the way until he understood thirst, understood the pain of the dying land and the crying child.
And so he repeated the techniques, each swing of his sword pushing him deeper into pain, each swing of his sword engraving the moves into his very bones. And by the time he reached the 21st day, his eyes were already so blurry that you couldn't even see his pupils any longer, his skin pallid while the outline of his bones was revealed by his sickly thin body. He truly seemed as if he was willing to continue this until it led to his end, his desire drowning out even his survival instincts. But it was also at this time that the woman's voice rang out from within the cave, marking the third time that she had spoken to Yin Long.
"Stop. You can enter... I will at least be willing to listen."
