Chapter 44: Personal Choices
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
“But the Twenty-three Swords Skill is too, too dangerous… ” Meng Qi didn’t know how to describe it. He had learned about it in the comics in his past life, but the Dominator of Samsara in the Six Realms had only briefly introduced it. Meng Qi could not show his deep understanding of the move.
Originating from the Sacred Spirit Swordsmanship of Fengyun, the Twenty-three Swords Skill could only be displayed when the user gave up his life. It was a sword art of the heart, soul, spirit, and will. When it was used, all senses came to a standstill and everything would remain stationary. Nothing could escape from its power.
It was a very powerful skill, but did have one major weakness, its requirement of death. And this was the exact point that Meng Qi thought inappropriate.
Sure, it had been many years since Meng Qi had read those comics, so his impression might be wrong due to declining memory. Meanwhile, it had been exchanged from the Dominator of Samsara in the Six Realms, so the reliability of its originality still remained a question.
With so many things on the Exchange List, Zhang Yuanshan and Qi Zhengyan hadn’t noticed the “Sacred Spirit Swordsmanship”. Meng Qi and Jiang Zhiwei stared at him in bewilderment.
Wearing a smile, Jiang Zhiwei said, “Little monk, it’s quite a coincidence that we want the same skill. Don’t worry. I want the sword script to study the changes of moves. The concentration and dispersing of the weapon will polish my sword skills. I won’t be controlled by the ‘Sacred Spirit Swordsmanship’. If I could one day acquire the Twenty-three Swords Skill, instead of mere practice and imitation, I would try to learn its law and ration to understand the sources of the sword of heart, the sword art of soul, the insensitivity of senses and the abnormity of time.”
It was clear the Dominator had mentioned the dangers of the Twenty-three Swords Skill in his introduction. Jiang Zhiwei knew what Meng Qi meant. But without such dangers, the Twenty-three Swords Skill had to be worth more than four thousand Karma points. However, the acquisition of it would be uncertain after the exchange.
“Lady Jiang, as you have made your decision, let’s convert it.” Since Jiang Zhiwei’s words were very reasonable, Meng Qi nodded his head thoughtfully.
There was still a long way to go for the exchange of the Twenty-three Swords Skill.
The decision of a natural swordsman could not simply be changed. Jiang Yuanshan took out the Script. After reading the introduction on the “Sacred Spirit Swordsmanship”, he frowned slightly but soon smoothed his brows and said, “This is a good swordsmanship. Few skills can compare with the Twenty-three Swords Skill.”
Jiang Zhiwei gently rubbed her Sword of the Sun-Penetrating Rainbow with a smile and said, “But the divine skills don’t have so many strict demands. First, I want to exchange the first eighteen moves of Sacred Spirit Swordsmanship to study the essence of Sentimental Swordsmanship and then continue to study it in the future.”
Holding the Scripts, she stood up and returned 20 Karma points to Zhang Yuanshan. And then, she walked to the light pillar at the center and inserted the Sword of the Sun-Penetrating Rainbow into it.
It was strange. After the insertion, the Sword of the Sun-Penetrating Rainbow was floating in mid-air and surrounded by Qi.
The light and fissure disappeared, but the Sword of the Sun-Penetrating Rainbow remained bright.
“It’s a real buy at 30 Karma points.” Jiang Zhiwei happily took back her cherished sword. Turning to them, she said, “It needs 200 Karma points for the Sentimental pat of Sacred Spirit Swordsmanship. I’m going to exchange the ‘Universal Hatred Sword to practice with my remaining 70 Karma points.”
The “Sacred Spirit Swordsmanship”, failing to be completely divided into First Sword, Second Sword, Third Sword etc., could only be exchanged partially, that is, the Sentimental Part, the Heartless Part, the Twenty-three Swords Skill, the Twenty-three Swords Skill Destroying Six Realms and so on.
Worth 60 Karma points, the “Heaven and Earth Common Hatred Swordsmanship” was the showpiece of the 108 Swords of the “Incomplete Heaven and Fragmented Earth” Sword-enshrining Tower. Jiang Zhiwei had been interested in the swordsmanship of “Binglie Sec” for quite some time.
“Lady Jiang, are you going to only exchange for sword art?” Meng Qi asked with confusion.
“Don’t you need the Devine Skill Elixir?”
“Different from other skills, the method for practicing Sacred Spirit Swordsmanship is to watch sword skills of various sects. I learned and then forgot them to build my sword-will. The stronger it is, the faster my inner force grows. What’s more, my ability in concentrating acupuncture gains victorious advances. Since my aim is to practice, the exchange of sword skills is faster and safer than elixirs.” Jiang Zhiwei said frankly. Anyone who knew about Sword Washing Pavilion could get that point.
Finishing her words, she reached the small pillar and took out a grey script and several thin pieces of paper.
“Who’s next?” She asked with her shining eyes on the swordsmanship script.
She planned to keep 10 Karma points for accidents, such as needing a medical remedy before completing the main task.
“Senior Brother Zhang, what’s your choice?” Meng Qi had already made his choice in his heart, so he wasn’t anxious.
Zhang Yuanshan muttered, “To be honest, I always believed in the Tao of Concentration. Too many skills mean little to me. After all, my current sword skills are enough. Therefore, except for the Heavenly Acumen Pill, I don’t know what to exchange for now.”
Having concentrated acoustic-related meatuses, he was ready to open the acoustic meatus.
“The Tao of Concentration?” Struck by a thought, Meng Qi recalled the words of Gu Xiaosang and said, “Senior Brother Zhang, why don’t you build yourself up?”
“What?” Zhang Yuanshan asked doubtfully.
Gu Xiaosang had once said that Zhang Yuanshan hadn’t grasped the essence of two elemental divine skills of the Zhen Wu Sect. Her words inspired Meng Qi.
“Senior Brother Zhang, I remember that most divine skill scripts can be divided into Qi-cultivation Chapters and Enlightenment Chapters. I suggest that you exchange for the Qi-cultivation Chapter of your main skills. Once you’ve been imbued by the Dominator of Samsara in the Six Realms, try to tell the differences between it and your everyday practice, attempting to change accordingly to strengthen your basic skills.”
“The Buddha’s Palm and Jietian Seven Skills of the Sword and some other scripts don’t have the division of Qi-cultivation Chapter and Enlightenment Chapter because they are contained in each palm and move. Also, they can be directly transformed from other skills without difficulty and improve on the original foundation.”
Zhang Yuanshan stood there gawking for a while, then suddenly clapped his hands. Pacing excitedly, he murmured, “How come I didn’t think of this. How come I didn’t think of this… ”
His excitement drew Jiangzhi Wei’s attention from her Sacred Spirit Swordsmanship script.
After pacifying his mood for a while, he solemnly made an obeisance by cupping one hand in the other before his chest and said, “Thanks, Junior Brother Zhen Ding. Your advice visualizes my hope to solve my serious troubles.”
Since Zhang Yuanshan had finished that period, more practice would not result in flimsy foundation. On the contrary, by comparing and finding problems, he could both learn from practice and get the Gist of Trueness to remove the potential danger of a failure of enlightenment to Dharma Access.
“It just came to me. My casual advice couldn’t deserve such serious etiquette, Senior Brother Zhang.” Meng Qi said with a smile.
“It deserves, it definitely deserves it! Although I’m good at Tai Ji Defense, my major practice is the elemental chapter of True Martial Seven-Seven Cutting Scripture. For some reason, it’s harder to improve as I continue my practice. Fortunately, there is the World of Samsara.” Zhang Yuanshan couldn’t wait to get into the light pillar for his exchange.
It seemed that he had more expectations and enthusiasm for the World of Samsara.
Mengqi thumbed through the Script, finding that the True Martial Seven-Seven Cutting Scripture was organized by four chapters: Qi-Cultivation, Enlightenment, the Exterior Realm and the Realm of Dharmakaya. Without extra chapters, the Hundred-day Foundation Period had no major differences from other scripts.
The Qi-Cultivation Chapter needed 100 Karma points, the Enlightenment Chapter needed 1,000, the Exterior Realm Chapter 20,000 and the Realm of Dharmakaya Chapter 200,000.
Which meant Zhang Yuanshan should expect to spend at least 200 Karma points for a direct exchange.
Surrounded by glowing sunlight which sparkled like fireflies, Zhang Yuanshan felt like he was in paradise.
After a while, the sun’s rays disappeared. Zhang Yuanshan stepped out with a smile and flourishing spirit. He said, “It turns out that I have been misguided for so many years, which was hard to realize. 200 Karma points is really a bargain.”
With the Heavenly Acumen Pill in his hand, he left 20 Karma points for a rainy day.
“Practicing the True Martial Seven-Seven Cutting Scripture, Senior Brother Zhang is good at defense. Lady Jiang has strong sword will and good sword art which enhance each other. And their choices this time are an improvement on these two aspects. Therefore, we’d better not replicate each other’s choices.” Meng Qi said to Qi Zhengyan.
In a very short time, Meng Qi could clearly define himself as the “MT” in online games where they practiced Thwart Kung Fu to trigger attacks and find opportunities for others, but he couldn’t find the exact position of Qi Zhengyan.
This was not a big problem. The real trouble was that their team was now lacking in long-distance attackers, talents in mechanisms and concealed weapons and so on. But he had to accept the reality that their weak team only had four people who could not be distracted. Kung Fu required concentration.
Qi Zhengyan nodded. “Junior Brother Zhen Ding,” he said. “Are you going to improve your Thwart Kung Fu?”
Meng Qi frowned and said, “I want so much, and before I entered the World of Samsara… ”
He told them about the secret path, Zhen Guan and the awards of Bodhi Yard. There was no need for hiding.
“It’s unbelievable that two worlds have the same secret path… ” Zhang Yuanshan commented, surprised.
“No wonder you could find the secret passage… ” Yan Zhengyan was also astonished.
Thinking, Jiang Zhiwei frowned slightly and said, “There may be some relation, but our small amount of knowledge hinders our understanding.”
Though after exhaustive thinking, they couldn’t figure out anything. So they had to change the topic. With a laugh, Zhang Yuanshan said, “According to the practices of Shaolin, the award of Bodhi Yard must be the right to choose the Qi-Cultivation Chapter of non-skills from 72 kinds of ultimate arts under Shaolin Kung Fu. My advice is to choose the Invincibility Skill or Vajra Body Defending Divine Skill instead of other Qi-Cultivation Chapters of other Thwart Kung Fu.”
“Well, I have to complete my Crippled Move of Ananda Oath-breaking Bladesmanship and collect all the Pearfeather Storm poisonous needles.” Meng Qi told them his plan. “I don’t think Eight Divine Steps can meet my needs now. It remains to be seen whether I can spend some Karma points to get One Hundred Divine Steps. If there are Karma points left, another bladesmanship may be a good choice.”
Qi Zhengyan looked at the needle box he’d picked without disguising it.
“You have a good plan to meet your urgent need. If you don’t have enough Karma points, I can lend you 10 but you will have to pay me an interest rate of 4 for 9.” Jiang Zhiwei joked.
Zhang Yuanshan nodded. “I can lend you some too,” he said.
Since the remaining Karma points were for emergencies, to collect some handy scripts and instruments wasn’t a bad choice.
Qi Zhengyan thought for a while and said without any expression, “At an interest of 1 for 5.”
“How long will you make fun of it?” Meng Qi walked towards the light pillar and stepped into it, pretending to be angry.
“It requires 110 Karma points to compete the first move, ‘Peace Quietude Split’ of Ananda Oath-breaking Bladesmanship. It is equal to the skill which is exchanged, so there is no need exchanging extra Karma points.”
“The completion of ‘Pearfower Storm Needle’ needs 50 Karma points.”
“‘Eight Divine Steps can be upgraded to ‘One Hundred Divine Steps’ with 40, thanks to your former understanding of it.”
“Exchange or not?”
The voice of the Dominator of Samsara in the Six Realms filled his ears.
Meng Qi was glad that the cost was less than he had expected, especially the cost of the improvement of “Eight Divine Steps”.
Therefore, without any hesitation, he chose to exchange.