Perhaps because of this news, Li Guanyi remained silent for a while, while Murong Longtu seemed casual and carefree, smiling as he said, "Since the time has been agreed upon, just waiting isn’t much of a thing."
"These days, watching you busy, wandering together in the Martial World, it’s somewhat comforting to the heart. Now, I just feel my hands itch, eager for a fight."
"That day when I saw Wang Tong, he was brimming with grandeur. I almost couldn’t resist using One Sword to cut off his soaring Vast Righteous Qi, but then I thought, if it were cut off, it wouldn’t be beautiful."
Murong Longtu took a sip of wine, picked up a book beside him, and handed it to Li Guanyi. After receiving it, Li Guanyi opened the book, only to find it was an album of paintings. The brush strokes were calm and leisurely, depicting landscapes, clouds, everything he and Li Guanyi had seen on their journey.
At this moment, with Li Guanyi’s Martial Arts, he could faintly perceive within the landscapes a towering Sword Intent, or a vast and majestic aura. It could also be casual and carefree, like a babbling stream.
This is, Sword Intent!
Murong Longtu tipped his head back and drank, smiling gently, "What I have cultivated in this life, mostly varied and diverse, is because my Murong Family has been renowned for sword casting through generations, so I had to use a sword to make a name in the world."
"When I first used the sword, I didn’t seek deep understanding, thinking that as long as it could kill people and avenge, anything could count as a Sword, why care about so many rules? Martial Arts likewise, feeling the moves in the Sword Manual were rigid and dull, lacking meaning."
"Thinking the moves in the Sword Manual were all Fixed Forms, all wrong."
"Later, as I gradually grew up, avenged some enemies, and formed some grudges."
"Yet, I felt, the Sword must have the shape of a Sword. By then, I had Martial Arts experience, had killed enemies in the Martial World, also made mistakes, nearly cut down in a confrontation, at this point I re-read the Sword Manual, understanding that the moves I thought rigid, were all tried by swordsmen with their lives."
"At that time, I felt each move in the Sword Manual was exquisite, not a bit wrong."
"But later, I realized, they were still wrong."
"Those swordsmen who wrote the Sword Manual, weren’t as good as me."
"So after many times, looking again now, the moves in the Sword Manual are all correct, yet there’s an endless aftertaste, just a pity."
"I left this Swordsmanship’s Divine Charm hidden in these paintings, you can imitate them well in the future, whenever you feel the Charm in the painting is wrong, it’s a step forward, when you feel the painting is right, it’s another step, at last when you feel the painting is just a painting."
"Perhaps you’ll have about seventy percent of my Martial Arts at this moment."
Murong Longtu smiled in regret, softly said, "What a pity."
"Your talent is good, and you have a Divine Weapon I don’t know about."
"In the end, you won’t reach this step."
Li Guanyi said, "Grandpa’s swordsmanship is after all the best in the world."
Murong Longtu laughed.
"Not the best in the world."
"Should be the best through ages."
"As for future generations, whether anyone can surpass me, it’s hard to say, I hope there are, I feel there are." He drank and said, "If not, the Martial World would be too lonely."
Li Guanyi looked at this album of paintings, there was even himself within.
Murong Longtu poured himself a drink, "After the sword match, the Sword Manual is yours. The Murong Family is for Qiushui. I know you don’t plan for the future to have aristocratic families, Murong Family won’t have much land, will pass down sword crafting, zither sound, casting skills."
"If you wish to make the Cultivation Technique public, you can take everything from the Murong Family Book Collection Tower."
The old man’s voice was unhurried.
Li Guanyi blurted out, "Grandpa!"
He said it out, then suppressed his emotions and said, "Alright, not compete?" Knowing the answer when he spoke, but his feelings made him say this.
Murong Longtu looked at him kindly, laughed:
"Really childish words."
"Your Master Wang Tong, could he ignore the Academy’s crooked ways? Gongyang Su Wang, could he suppress the Academy’s academic gatekeepers for a hundred years? Zu Wenyuan, could he rely on his Prediction Skills to live carefree all his life?"
"Just, we are unwilling."
Murong Longtu reached out to touch Li Guanyi’s head, said, "No matter how much good in the world, it’s no match for feeling truly happy, you’ll understand eventually, no... you already should."
"Hundreds of ships race, thousands of rivers meet the sea."
"This is the trend of the world, and the hearts of you and me."
"How could it be so easy to turn back when said?"
The Old Swordsman sighed, "Coming all this way, wouldn’t turn back, because what we seek in this life is only that one endpoint, precisely because of such grandeur, monks say turning back is difficult, letting go is hard."
"But wouldn’t turn back and letting go make it non-existent?"
"There was a monk who loved debating, I once talked with him, he spoke of turning back as the shore, boundless bitter sea, I asked if letting go meant non-existence, he said this heart is empty and clear, indeed not existent, I thrust with a sword, he dodged swiftly."
"I laughed at him for clutching at life, seems he hadn’t let go."
"The monk ran away covering his face, never argued scriptures again."
"Proving sixty years of bitter cultivation is not as good as the sword in my hand."
Murong Longtu stood up laughing, "I also know this is just a muddled headlong debate, a peripheral method, the Buddhist Taoist scriptures have their reason too."