Chapter 346: Meeting Feng Haoran
Chapter 346: Meeting Feng Haoran
ZOOOOOM!
Zhou Mei felt a strike directed straight towards her neck the next instant, and acting solely on her instincts, she immediately raised her sword to the likely position of contact to block Yi Chen’s impending strike.
However, to her surprise, before their swords could even make contact, Yi Chen’s sword curved around hers, and the next second the tip of his blade was pointing right at her forehead.
"..."
"How about now? Were you able to tell the direction of my sword this time?"
"I-I wasn’t."
Zhou Mei shook her head with a surprise evident on her face. This time she was clearly able to tell that Yi Chen hadn’t changed the speed of his sword at all, and despite that, she still wasn’t able to block it.
"That’s because my mind was empty throughout, and that’s the reason why you couldn’t see my sword’s flow."
Yi Chen retracted his sword the next second.
"I...still don’t understand." Zhou Mei said with a deep frown on her forehead, "Just how can one attack when they have nothing going on in their mind...isn’t that humanly impossible?"
Hearing the question he had already anticipated, Yi Chen smiled subtly and asked, "Tell me, can a sword think?"
"Hm? Of course not! That isn’t possible." Zhou Mei answered.
However, because of her being wrong earlier, she couldn’t help but second-guess her response.
’...Could I be wrong? Can a sword really think?’ she thought as a trace of hesitation soon formed on her face.
Luckily for her, she wasn’t wrong this time.
"Correct." Yi Chen nodded, hearing her words, and continued, "A sword doesn’t think. It just strikes. Therefore, to hide the sword’s flow you must become a sword first."
"Become a sword?" Zhou Mei couldn’t help but frown intensely when she heard those words.
"Indeed." Yi Chen nodded his head and continued, "It is only when a person achieves this part that they become capable of completely erasing their sword’s flow.
You attack but not target.
You follow but not seek.
You strike everywhere and nowhere all at the same time.
Therefore, when your strike finally connects, your opponent is completely overtaken by surprise for he thinks while you don’t. And that’s the reas-"
It was only at this moment Yi Chen noticed the intense confusion that was evident on Zhou Mei’s face and couldn’t help but shake his head.
’Looks like I got a little carried away today...’
Patting Zhou Mei’s shoulder, the next second he said, "Don’t fret over it too much. I was just giving you a glimpse of what the future has for you, so just relax, as you have more than enough time to understand all these concepts."
As he said those words, he glanced up at the sky that had started to turn orange. "It’s getting late, so I’ll be going now."
Turning to face her again, he continued, "Like I just said earlier, don’t think over it too much and just let these concepts rest in your mind. When the time is right, everything will naturally start making sense to you, alright?"
"Mhm... alright."
Zhou Mei nodded obediently. However, the subtle frown on her forehead made it evident that she was still trying to make sense of his words.
Seeing this, Yi Chen shook his head and said, "Starting tomorrow, instead of these boring concepts, I’ll teach you some sword moves which will visibly raise your swordsmanship skills by a large degree."
"Really?!" Zhou Mei immediately exclaimed when she heard those words.
"Of course." Yi Chen nodded and said with a smirk on his face, "So, look forward to tomorrow."
Seeing that her mind was finally clear, he nodded to himself before waving his hand at her while slowly retreating a few steps back, "See you tomorrow then, Little Mei."
With that said, he soon turned around and left towards the residence’s front side, only to find a few minutes later that a carriage was already waiting to pick him up.
’Looks like one of the staff noticed me when I left Zhou Mei’s side...’ Yi Chen thought with a subtle smile and soon got inside.
Meanwhile, Zhou Mei had still not left the duelling ground and was currently immersed in swinging her sword as she muttered to herself with each swing.
"...become the sword...become the sword..."
She kept muttering again and again as she soon got covered in sweat. However, those actions of hers in the end bore no fruit as she was forced to quit a few moments later from disappointment.
"It’s alright... As Brother Chen had said, I still have a lot of time to learn this, so there’s no need for me to hurry," She muttered in an attempt to console herself as she left the duelling ground with slightly slouched shoulders.
Just a few seconds had passed since Zhou Mei had entered the residence when two figures who had been present at the duelling ground for a while now made themselves visible.
One was Zhou Mei’s father, Zhou Tian, while the other was an elderly man who too had his cultivation at the Second Core Building Stage.
"Father... is it really possible? He’s so young..." Zhou Tian couldn’t help but mutter while looking at the man next to him.
"Your understanding of the sword has still not reached the desired level, so it’s natural for you to doubt it...but I’m certain. The moment he said those words, I could feel my comprehension increasing greatly.
That young man...he’s already reached the stage of Becoming the Sword."
The elderly man said seriously.
A few moments passed by as his gaze remained fixed in the direction Zhou Mei had just left.
Turning towards Zhou Tian, he soon said, "Men like him are almost impossible to find in the entire continent... if he agrees, then when Mei’er reaches a suitable age, tie them together. Having a familial connection with someone with such potential will naturally benefit the clan.
Moreover, it also seems that Mei’er thinks well of him, so she won’t be too against that idea even if her feelings somewhat change over time."
"Y-Yes Father..." Zhou Tian answered with a forced expression.
He wanted to give Zhou Mei the option to decide. However, hearing his father’s words, he knew that it wouldn’t be possible anymore.
Taking a deep breath to stabilise his thoughts, Zhou Tian continued, "I’ll let him know when the time is ripe."
"Yes, do that. Meanwhile, help him in as much capacity as you can. You said he already has the status of an Honorary Member, right? Use that to provide extra benefits to him when he’s at the Heavenly Azure Dragon Sect..."
The elderly man said.
It was obvious that he wasn’t concerned about the entrance test at all.
From his perspective, it was only natural for the Heavenly Azure Dragon Sect to accept someone like Yi Chen lest they were blind.
"I understand, father." Zhou Tian noted everything in his mind before bowing to his father and taking his leave.
Half an hour later, the clattering of the wheels finally came to a stop as Yi Chen stepped out of the carriage a few moments later.
Looking at the sun in the sky, he assumed that the time was still around five in the evening.
"Qin Yao should be practising with his spear right now, I guess..." Yi Chen muttered to himself as he made his way towards the door and pushed it open.
Inside, as he had thought, Qin Yao had his sweat-covered top wrapped around his waist as his spear, which was coated with menacing red Qi, skilfully moved from one place to the next.
However, Yi Chen’s eyes soon fell behind Qin Yao’s figure towards the Banyan tree.
There were three figures present there.
Out of the three, one was sitting on the platform around the tree and was calmly sipping a cup of tea while the other two were standing on his two sides vigilantly.
Yi Chen and the three of them noticed one another at the same time, and it was at that instant that a loud exclamation rang out in the courtyard.
"Yi Chen!"
Feng Haoran immediately put down the cup of tea and, with an excited expression, rushed towards Yi Chen.
Hearing his loud voice, Qin Yao immediately stopped his movements and turned towards the door, only to see Yi Chen’s presence.
"So, Brother Chen’s back..." he lightly muttered to himself while watching Feng Haoran rush past him to meet Yi Chen.
"You’re back! How was your visit to the Zhou Clan?"
Tightly grabbing onto Yi Chen’s shoulders, Feng Haoran asked with elation evident on his face.
All this while he only knew that Yi Chen had some relation with Manager Gao, so this morning when he got the message from Zhou Tian regarding Yi Chen’s affairs at first, he was filled with disbelief.
This disbelief soon turned to utter glee a few moments later as Yi Chen’s position in his mind ended up being escalated even further!
Therefore, in the afternoon after meeting the guards that had been sent by Zhou Tian, he rushed towards the manor with beaming joy evident on his face and had been waiting for his return ever since.
Meanwhile, seeing Feng Haoran’s appearance, a momentary glint appeared in Yi Chen’s eyes for less than a fraction of a second before being replaced with a bright light as a cheery smile formed on his face.