The woman spoke out from within the cave, Yin Long's suicidal determination at the very least leaving a crack in her exterior. But what a shame it was that Yin Long was already unable to hear her. His body was already on the very brink, the lack of food and water was threatening to shut down his organs. As such, to make him last just a little bit longer, his body started shutting down the unnecessary things one by one.
First was the sense of smell, then came the sense of touch, taste was pointless since he wasn't taking in anything so it too quickly went. Hearing followed not long after, his sight was only maintained because his body prioritized some non-essential organs first. But at this point, his vision was already so blurry that he couldn't really see his surroundings, even without his body shutting it down.
As a result, nothing was left around him. To him, the world right now was just his sword. He couldn't feel it any longer, couldn't see it any longer, but he kept swinging it. He knew it was there, he was there, so he swung it. Move by move he put his life on display, his heart, his soul, his very existence melding into the blade. But before every part of him could become one with the blade, something warm and wet hit him in the face and kickstarted the senses that his body had shut down.
"I said you can stop, and I hate repeating myself pointlessly."
The cold voice was the first sound to reach him when his senses were forced to work again, coming before even the sound of his own heart or the surrounding wind. His hazy vision slowly recovered to reveal the thing that had hit his face and was now sliding down, a finger-thin slice of raw and bloody meat dropping from his head.
One of his hands let go of his sword and caught the meat before it could hit the ground, it was half as long as his arm so it draped over his hand the moment he caught it. The black-haired woman had already entered the cave again, but her voice rang in Yin Long's ears.
"Eat. Dehydration past day 15 leaves your throat so cracked and dry that your voice won't properly leave it."
The woman wasn't wrong, Yin Long's throat was already so dry that the vibration that would produce his voice couldn't properly travel through it, it became distorted and twisted into little more than bestial growls. The slice of meat wasn't cooked or seasoned in the slightest, but Yin Long still tore into it as if it was the greatest delicacy.
The blood that flowed down his parched throat from the veins in the flesh tasted like the sweetest wine he had ever had and the metallic taste of the meat was so morphed by his starved tongue that it almost reminded him of the roasted lamb his father made for him when he and Lang Huo turned nine. It was enough to make a man get addicted, but the prerequisite for making even this raw meat taste like this was simply too harsh.
"You...Yeah, I can really tell why that Lan Yun would look so troubled when she's with you."
The voice of Xiao Yin Yu reached Yin Long's ears, her eyes roaming across his body while one corner of her mouth was raised in a complex mixture of bitterness and admiration. Yin Long was strong, that was something she could never deny, she had seen too much of him. But she had also seen how he acquired this strength, and the fact that his own life didn't seem to weigh anything in his own eyes was a good part of how he went about growing so strong.
It had gone good so far, he had pushed through time and time again, rising higher and higher. But what about the day it wasn't enough? What about the day when him viewing his life so lightly caught up with him and finally dragged him down? ...It would be a dark day, that was what Yin Yu thought, it would be a bleak and dreary day where the rain wouldn't cease falling.
"I'm surprised you stuck around... wasn't really much to be gained from wasting your time here."
Yin Long put away his sword as he spoke, his now free hand reaching out and stroking Jin Wang's head while the other hand continued to show the raw meat into his mouth. This was far from enough meat and liquid to sate his hunger and thirst, but the woman had clearly never meant to do that, she had only meant to bring him up to a state where he could talk. Yin Yu shrugged her shoulders lightly at Yin Long's statement, to which he honestly lowered his head and apologized.
"I decide what I do and don't gain from how I spend my time."
"That's true. Sorry, I spoke wrongly."
Yin Long lowered his head without any shame or reservations, he had been wrong in assuming things about what Yin Yu would gain so it was only right that he apologized. Honesty and sincerity, virtues he presented to not only his sword but also towards those he considered friends, they were also part of the reason he was capable of attracting people.
"I'm going to enter. Follow me or go your own way, the choice is yours."
Yin Long scarfed down the last bits of meat and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand as he spoke. He didn't bring out anything else to drink or eat, the sensation of hunger and thirst still plaguing his body. The pain of thirst was clearly extremely important to this woman's swordsmanship so he didn't want to get rid of it until he had properly learned from it.
Yin Long stepped into the cave after he finished talking, and perhaps as was to be expected, both Jin Wang and Yin Yu followed him into the darkness. The inside of the cave was exceedingly simple, a simple and straightforward path leading directly into the heart of the mountain. But the walls of the cave were as smooth as could be, as if the cave had been carved out using a single devastating attack.
They didn't have to walk for too long before they reached the end of the cave, a dome-shaped cavern that was split in half by a large wall. The half of the cavern that they entered only contained a single stone bed that had been carved out from the wall, a finger-thin plaid sheet covering it. The other half of the cavern seemed to contain a hotspring, the faint scent of sulfur and warm steam reaching them from the opening in the wall.
The ceiling of the cavern was dotted by several holes of varying sizes, rays of light travelling through them to illuminate the barren cavern. The woman sat on the ground a bit away from them, her black hair hanging down in front of her shoulders while her dim blue eyes swept over the three.
"I am a woman of my word, I said I am willing to listen so I will do just that. Speak, what exactly do you desire to learn from me?"
She didn't introduce herself or even toss out an alias they could use to call her, she simply moved straight onto the main point. Yin Long wasn't bothered by this and sat down, crossing his legs and placing his fists on his knees as he lowered his head once more.
"I want to learn how to imbue emotions into my sword. The pain and hatred that your sword sings with, I want to learn the truth behind it."
His voice was imbued with the same maniacal determination that he had used to swing his sword without halt for 21 days, it was as if he was saying that he was willing to repeat it once more should she reject him. He spoke earnestly, but his words made the woman sneer coldly.
"Sings? What a joke, what an insult, don't you dare ever say something like that again. And do you even know what you're asking? You're asking to be taught the essence of a swordsman."
In truth, Yin Long did not know exactly what he was asking for, what sort of realm it was to imbue emotions into your sword. But he wanted to learn, so he asked. He wanted to learn, so he brought himself to the brink of death to show his determination. Yin Long didn't say anything in response to the woman's sneer, but Yin Yu reacted somewhat.
"The essence of a swordsman? So you really do need something special to be a swordsman..."
She had already told Yin Long that the Mountain Guardian of her sect had refused to tell her how to imbue emotions into her sword since she wasn't cut out for being a swordsman. It was a vague reason that neither she nor Yin Long truly understood, but now it seemed like their reason for not understanding wasn't because they weren't at the right level, it was simply because they were missing something. The woman sneered once more at Yin Yu's remark, almost spitting out her first words before she turned her gaze onto Yin Long again.
"You thought you didn't? Did you think that just being able to swing a sword around made you a swordsman? I'll admit, you, you are good at swinging a sword. You didn't put energy into them, but all of the moves you displayed were properly understood and incorporated so you've definitely mastered them, it's enough to make me say that you are even extremely good at swinging a sword."
That was something not even she could deny. All the moves Yin Long had displayed were done smoothly and flawlessly, as if they had always been part of his arsenal. He knew how to utilize them and thus most likely how to chain them together. He could swing a sword, he was very talented at swinging a sword, but that was it.
"But would swordsmen, or spearmen, axemen, bowmen and the like be so rare if that was all it took?"
The woman stretched out her hand as she spoke, picking up a branch that had been laying in what looked like the remains of a small fire, its edge black with soot. But as the woman pointed the branch at Yin Long it felt more like a sword than a branch, he could even feel his skin getting sheared away before the wood even touched his skin.
"Anyone with half a wrist can swing a sword, but a swordsman needs more than that. A swordsman needs energy, understanding, heart, and soul. Only when you have all four of these can you truly call yourself a swordsman. I will remedy my earlier statement, young man, you have the understanding, or at the very least the determination to find the understanding. But as for the last three?"
The woman moved the branch across his body as she spoke, the tip first resting against his dantian, then his forehead, then his heart, and finally just beneath his throat. He could guess what the energy was, the law of swords, and understanding was likely tied to the exact emotion that you wanted to imbue into your sword. But he drew a blank on the last two, heart and soul. But he wasn't deterred, lowering his head and torso once more.
"I desire to learn. If I do not have it, then I will find it. If I can't find it then I will take it from someone else who has found it. Please, enlighten me, please help my sword carve a path to the peak of existence."
The woman didn't say anything for a short while after Yin Long lowered his head, but he could feel her gaze pierce into his lowered head. Cold fury and hatred, enough to swallow the entire world, that was what he felt in her sword and her gaze. But for a tiny split-second, as she looked at him, he could feel those emotions wavering complexly, a cruel sense of wistfulness surfacing, only to be squashed in an instance as she started to talk.
"...There are three types of swordsmen in this world, the Worldheart swordsmen, the Woehowl swordsmen, and the Solerealm swordsmen. But to better understand their core, it would be better to call them Natural swordsmen, Unnatural swordsmen, and Unfettered swordsmen."
Yin Long raised his head as the woman started to talk, engraving everything she said into his mind, even pushing aside the intense hunger and thirst he still felt. He had succeeded in convincing her with his determination, but there was no telling how much she would be willing to show or for how long she would be willing to show it off so he couldn't miss anything.
Yin Long hadn't heard about these swordsman classifications before, but then again he had never heard that swordsmen were a separate type of sword-users so that was only to be expected. The woman didn't continue to give more of an explanation after she spoke about the classifications, her gaze hardening coldly.
"I have thrown away my name long ago, all that remains is Hongzai. I am a Woehowl Swordsman, an unnatural one and thus someone who can be considered to follow the demonic path. If you still desire to learn from my sword and step onto the path of a demon, then I will show you, just once, what it means to drive a nail into the world."
It went against the world so it was unnatural, it went against the natural laws so it was demonic, that was a Woehowl swordsman. This was not a universe where demonic things were viewed kindly, the existence of the Netherworld made sure of that. But Yin Long was willing to even take in and use Netherworld energy for his own goals, his soul was parasitic and took in everything around it for him to use, the path of the demonic had always been the one most suited for someone of his skills and insane determination. As such, he didn't hesitate to lower his head once more and utter a single word.
"Please."
