Qi Tianchen’s hand froze in midair with his teacup, the tea sloshing and nearly spilling over.
He looked up at Chen Zui, his eyes filled with complete surprise.
“You want to choose a sword?”
Chen Zui nodded, his expression completely calm.
Qi Tianchen set the teacup back on the low table, his brow furrowing slightly.
He remained silent for a few breaths, as if weighing whether he should speak his mind.
The young man before him was a genuine spear grandmaster.
For him to suddenly say he wanted to choose a sword would strike anyone as strange.
“Young Hero Chen,”
Qi Tianchen’s voice deepened slightly.
“This old man said as much at Mirror Water Villa: you have done a great service for Furnace-Listening Pavilion, and I am willing to throw the full weight of our pavilion into forging a magnificent spear for you.
This is no mere politeness.
If you feel the wait would be too long, there are several fine spears with prestigious lineages in the Arsenal Pavilion. Though they might not rival something newly forged, they certainly would not disgrace your cultivation.
Do you... truly wish to choose a sword?”
Chen Zui met his gaze and was about to speak, but Qi Tianchen raised a hand to stop him and continued speaking.
“The people this old man keeps in Jinyang City sent back word saying that you broke through two realms in a row while watching the battle.
Could your sudden desire to select a sword be because you gained some insight into the Way of the Sword?”
Chen Zui was slightly taken aback, but before he could answer, Qi Tianchen’s face darkened.
He picked up his teacup, took a sip, and set it down heavily on the table with a sharp clatter.
“Young Hero Chen, this old man is decades older than you, so I won’t beat around the bush with my words.
Over thousands of years of the Martial Dao, remarkably brilliant talents have been as plentiful as carp crossing a river.
Yet there has never been anyone who cultivated two paths simultaneously and reached the peak.
Do you know why?”
He extended two fingers and tapped them on the low table.
“First, human limits exist.
On the path of the Martial Dao, the higher you go, the more single-minded you must be.
You have immersed yourself in the Way of the Spear for many years, fighting your way from the Inquiry Realm all the way to the Wind-Riding Realm. The breakthrough of every single realm is closely tied to your comprehension of the spear.
If you divide your attention now to the Way of the Sword, the two sets of insights will entangle each other. At best, it will stall your progress; at worst, it will lead to qi deviation.
Second, your mindsets will conflict.
The sword demands a sword heart, while the spear demands spear guts.
The sword moves with agile lightness, while the spear strikes with fierce force.
These two directions are not impossible to combine, but to harmonize them, you must expend twice the effort to refine them.
By the time you manage to clear both paths, your peers will have long ascended to heights beyond your sight.”
He paused, his tone softening slightly, yet becoming all the more earnest.
“With your character and sense of responsibility, you already possess the air of someone fit to establish a new sect.”
Qi Tianchen leaned forward slightly, his eyes fixed on Chen Zui.
“Young Hero Chen, you have already achieved true mastery on the Path of the Spear.
In terms of cultivation, you are a Wind-Riding Realm grandmaster.
In terms of spear techniques, you have fused multiple spear intents into a style of your own.
In terms of experience, you personally witnessed two Sword Immortal duels and forcibly snatched a gift from the Heavenly Dao from right between them.
With these three combined, looking across the entire martial world, there is absolutely no one who can match you on the Path of the Spear.
So long as you do not stray from your course, your future achievements will far surpass the Wind-Riding Realm.
The Boundless Realm is well within reach, and you might even touch the threshold of an Earthly Immortal.
Though the path ahead on the Way of the Spear is difficult—with fewer and fewer predecessors to look up to the higher you ascend—
—the road itself is wide.”
He leaned back, resting his crossed hands on his knees, and sighed.
“However, if you think that because the Way of the Sword is flourishing and producing Sword Immortals left and right, you ought to join in on the excitement, then you are gravely mistaken.
Precisely because swordsmen throughout the world are as plentiful as carp crossing a river, every single person who manages to claim a slice of that glory has climbed up over the bones of thousands of fellow practitioners!
For you to abandon the spacious Path of the Spear just to squeeze onto that single-plank bridge is by no means a wise move.”
Chen Zui listened patiently until he finished, then let out a light laugh.
“Senior has misunderstood.”
He raised his teacup to moisten his throat before speaking in an unhurried manner.
“I am not choosing a sword to tread the Way of the Sword.”
Qi Tianchen raised an eyebrow and remained silent, waiting for him to continue.
“I made too much of a splash in Jinyang City.”
Chen Zui set down his teacup.
“Snatched fragments of the laws of heaven and earth right in front of two Sword Immortals, and endured Qingyangzi’s self-detonation under the gazes of thousands of onlookers.
How do you think the martial world will view me once this news spreads?”
Qi Tianchen stroked his beard, making no reply.
News of Jinyang City had long since spread across the world. The name Chen Zui had gone from obscurity to the primary topic of conversation on every street and alley.
A twenty-two-year-old Wind-Riding Realm grandmaster who broke through two realms in a row while observing a duel, and survived the self-detonation of a Boundless Realm expert.
With all these labels pinned on him, keeping a low profile was almost impossible.
“I am a laid-back person, and I don't enjoy being gawked at by crowds,”
Chen Zui spread his hands, looking entirely nonchalant.
“In the past, I had no attachments in the martial world. I went wherever my feet took me and was used to living freely.
Now, wherever I go, people recognize the spear in my hand.”
He reached out and touched the empty spot on his back where his red-tasseled spear used to hang.
“As luck would have it, the spear is broken.
The new spear Furnace-Listening Pavilion promised to forge for me will take some time.
In the meantime, I can’t exactly wander the martial world empty-handed.
Carrying a sword for self-defense won’t draw attention, and it’s convenient.”
Reaching this point, he smiled, a touch of playfulness in his tone.
“Besides, I personally witnessed the battle between Sword Immortal Shen and Sword God Lü over the Eastern Sea.
That kind of sword path, that level of mastery.
No matter how arrogant I might be, I wouldn't be so delusional as to think I could still compete with the world's swordsmen for a living after witnessing those two strike.
That wouldn't be ambition—that would just be having no brains.”
Silence descended upon the tearoom for a few breaths.
Qi Tianchen stared at him, then suddenly burst into hearty laughter, his voice vibrating so strongly that ripples formed on the tea in their cups.
He shook his head as he laughed, wrinkles fanning out at the corners of his eyes, washing away all traces of his former sternness.
“What a splendid way to avoid trouble!”
He pointed at Chen Zui.
“I spoke all those grand truths just now, only to find I was worrying for nothing.”
He stood up, casually straightened his sleeves, and gestured to Chen Zui.
“Since you have already entered the Wind-Riding Realm, wielding ordinary weapons with the force of a grandmaster will be more than enough to handle most situations.
A sword it is, then. It's not as if you're using it to contend for number one under Heaven anyway.
Come along, follow this old man to the Arsenal Pavilion.”
Chen Zui rose to his feet and followed.
Exiting the tearoom, they traversed two corridors and rounded a bamboo grove before Furnace-Listening Pavilion's Arsenal Pavilion came into view.
It was a three-story stone building constructed entirely of bluestone, lacking a single window and featuring only a heavy iron door at its front.
Densely packed talismanic runes were carved onto the iron door, glowing with a dim light under the rays of the setting sun.
Qi Tianchen raised a hand and pressed a palm against the door. The runes lit up one after another before extinguishing in turn, and the iron door emitted a deep rumble as it slowly opened inward.
“Step inside.”
Qi Tianchen took the lead and stepped across the threshold.
Chen Zui followed behind him and stepped into the Arsenal Pavilion.
And then, he froze.
Rate on N.U.
