48: Chapter 47 The Journey of Greed 48: Chapter 47 The Journey of Greed Hou Niao descended to the first floor and, facing the old cultivator sunbathing with his eyes closed, respectfully said, “Senior, how many swordsmanship books can I take at most from the third floor?”

The old cultivator, without lifting his head or opening his eyes, replied, “There’s no limit!

But do you think it’s appropriate to take them all?

Can you practice them all?

Those things won’t reproduce!

Just take three to five books at a time, when you’re done, come back to exchange them.

As long as you don’t die, these books will always belong to you.

What’s there to be greedy about?

If you study them all, won’t you stop living?”

Hou Niao, covering his face, walked away.

These words were too true to argue with; the Sword Pavilion was right here, and it wasn’t going anywhere.

When he returned to the third floor, he decisively chose three sets of sword techniques, “Beheading General Chain,” “No Return Sword,” and “Short Thrust.”

His choices were not random; like the three techniques taught to him by Daoist Wang, these six sets of sword techniques shared a common feature—they were relentless, never stopping until death!

The sword skill system had its unique characteristics.

During his sword fights with that Sword Soul, he deeply understood something: there’s no rush for perfection but to seek the extreme in one aspect first, then to take a drastic turn later on.

As mentioned in the sword techniques, the art of sword striking is about balance, finding the equilibrium within speed and slowness, lightness and heaviness, movement and stillness, reality and unreality, and then the great achievement of the Sword Dao would be realized.

However, there is an issue of sequence.

First learn speed, then comprehend slowness.

The order cannot be reversed; otherwise, starting with slowness is simply offering one’s head to the enemy, how foolish!

By the same logic, you must first learn heaviness before lightness, movement before stillness, reality before unreality.

Reverse this and you’re like a flowery martial display on the stage—looks good but is utterly useless!

The essence of these six sets of sword techniques lay in being fast, heavy, aggressive, solid, ruthless, fierce, cutthroat, and grim… Daoist Wang truly was a prominent disciple of Quanzhen, his selected techniques are tremendously practical, especially for beginners.

Only after mastering these sword techniques deeply and thoroughly should he consider the gentleness of Taiji, the elusive shadows of the three parts, and the stillness of Kunwu—that’s the genuine path for adept sword practitioners.

This process would be lengthy, so cultivators could only choose a few techniques to practice.

Nobody lives in slaughter all the time, skirting the edge of life and death—no matter how lucky, you can’t avoid getting wet shoes if you keep leaping into the river.

But he was different, he had this opportunity!

And few would truly devote all their energy to these sword techniques when they had better, more practical, more far-reaching options—magic!

It’s a matter of choice, of how to maximize combat effectiveness.

Compared to training swordsmanship to a Divine State, it’s better to combine sword techniques with magic, as not everyone has a talent for the sword.

Hou Niao didn’t know whether he had a talent for the sword, but he had a perfect environment for training sword techniques.

Wouldn’t it be a waste not to use it?

He was a pragmatist.

So far, the method that had allowed him to achieve the greatest combat effectiveness was to infinitely improve his sword skills—just that simple.

If the Soul Realm was more conducive to the application of magic, he would choose magic without hesitation.

Just that opportunistically.

As for magic, he didn’t even take a glance.

He feared that once he started, he wouldn’t be able to resist practicing a bit of it, and then he’d be following the same old path as the masses.

According to his intuition, when embarking on something, one must go all out; otherwise, there is no future!

Moreover, time was limited.

Who had time for Dual Cultivation?

In the end, he would neither be here nor there—someone who knows a bit of everything but masters none.

Deep down, he also harbored a small selfish thought: since he was at the True Demon Sect of Quanzhen, of course, he should learn their specialty.

And as for magic, no matter how formidable the Quanzhen Magic, could it compare to the spells of the Daoist Sect?

When he completes his years-long mission of laying low, he would have plenty of time to learn advanced magic upon returning to the Anhe Daoist Sect, wouldn’t that be wonderful?

The perfect plan, the only thing he hadn’t considered was that it was also possible to fall into a sword pit and never climb out again.

It took him three hours to complete his first choice of skills at the Quanzhen Sect’s Sword Storage Pavilion, which was quite long compared to all the other new disciples; his foundation was too weak, his realm too low, his exposure to cultivation too short.

Upon leaving the Sword Storage Pavilion, he ran into an acquaintance, Gu Weixin; he was with a few other Daoists, apparently having finished their business, and was getting ready to leave.

Seeing Hou Niao, he was very happy and seemed very friendly, “Brother Hou, I just knew you would join Quanzhen, and it turned out to be true.”

Hou Niao didn’t mind interacting with these people either.

He had realized that the relationship of being fellow townsfolk was an objective fact that couldn’t be escaped, so it was better to go with the flow rather than avoid them like the plague and arouse suspicion.

He politely said, “Brother Gu, as fellow disciples pursuing cultivation, I will need your care in the future.”

Gu Weixin laughed heartily, “Come, come, let me introduce you to a few fellow Anhe brothers.

We’re all strangers in a strange land, so we should socialize more and help each other out.”

Gong Chengyi, Tao Ji, and Wan Shouqi, all three were from Anhe and admired the Quanzhen Sect’s prestige, though naturally, they were the only ones who knew how genuine they were;

In this cultivation world, cultivation is difficult, the path becomes narrower the higher one ascends, resources are limited, hindrances are everywhere, and it is especially hard for loose cultivators; without an affiliation, one’s future achievements are not guaranteed, and the Anhe Daoist Sect is not that easy to enter, they measure not the courage of the sword, but the heart of the Dao…

So, the actual situation is that cultivators dismissed by Quanzhen in Shan Country would try their luck in Anhe, and those minor cultivators not valued by Anhe would seek opportunities in Shan Country, making up a kind of cultivation talent flow; most are driven by the need to make a living in cultivation, and the talk of undying loyalty to their sects is laughable.

Loyalty needs a process: contact, adaptation, integration, sublimation…

until the sect is seen as home.

The Quanzhen Sect understood this well, so they would observe these cultivators as they trained, using time to change their beliefs until they became true Quanzhen Sword Cultivators.

“Brother Hou, a few of us were just about to find a tavern to commemorate Master Gong’s new position, why don’t you join us?”

Hou Niao was surprised, “Commemorate?

Isn’t it said that the specific assignments will only be given in a month?

It’s only been a few days…”

Seeing the embarrassed expressions on a few of the brothers, Gu Weixin knew they were not familiar with Hou Niao, and were unhappy about this unwarranted invitation to drink; for cultivators, what you eat or drink isn’t important, what matters is who you meet?

A thousand cups are too few when with a good friend, but too much when conversation jars.

An occasion like this naturally involves very close friends, and suddenly adding a stranger, even if he is a fellow townsman, won’t do—among the new disciples, there were more from Anhe than just these few.

“This Brother Hou comes from the Capital Commandant’s residence…”

Gong Chengyi and the others suddenly realized that having a friend from the Capital Commandant’s residence in the Quanzhen Sect could be very useful and might be a big help someday.

Even though they had just joined the sect, they were well aware of its internal disciplinary department,

How could the journey of cultivation always be righteous?

A horse that doesn’t eat night grass isn’t fat, a person that doesn’t acquire external wealth isn’t rich, who can guarantee they won’t get into trouble in the future?

The group instantly became much more enthusiastic and didn’t allow Hou Niao to refuse.

Together, they headed towards the most famous tavern in Jin City.

Indeed,

…

where no one passes the thatched huts, the vine door remains closed all day.

In wine there is joy, in power, the leisure of nobility.

A few bamboo sticks for friends, a thousand layers of mountains in a painting.

Isn’t it better to finally return, to not ponder the dusty realm behind?