Lord Shadow

Azief heard the sound of the sword and he shakes his head.

He waves his hand and the Immortal Sword Hut door opens up like it was being struck by a violent wind.

Xi Feng who was hacking the air, practicing the sword art was startled. He stops his movement, with a guilty expression and bow respectfully to Azief

Azief look at him, with that cold gaze.

‘You are still confused’ Azief said. Xi Feng look downcast and he nodded like he understands what Azief is trying to say

‘I am, Master. I could not let it go’

Azief hold the sword near his bed and sighed. He looked back at Xi Feng and said

‘You can’t practice the Flowing Sword Arts by hacking the air unless you already understand the essence of the swordsmanship of the Flowing Sword Arts. If you understand it, the one you would be fighting would be the changing course of the wind. Then you will flow with it, blocking the wind and flowing with it and you naturally change its course. But now, what you are doing is simply hacking into air. Even a ten-year-old child could do what you did’

Xi Feng look down on the ground.

‘You are still…weak’ Azief said and there is only silence.

Xi Feng understand what his master is saying to him. He wanted revenge. And like his teacher said, taking revenge could only be done by strong people.

The weak could not take revenge. And he is still weak. He did not complain or argue with his master.

There is the debt of life he owed to his teacher but there is also the fact that his teacher treated him like a true disciple.

His teacher may look cold in the surface, but after spending three season with him Xi Feng could see there is a beating warm heart under that cold exterior.

His teacher face was handsome that even the most beautiful pleasure lady in the Zhaohua Pleasure House could not compare.

But his master face was also cold and radiates this coldness that could chill one heart.

From his eyes and his expression, it was like he was the Heavens, and he looked at all life with disregard and treated them with indifference.

He looked haughty and arrogant and yet at the same time one would fee that he had the right to look at the world like that and his haughty and arrogant look is fit for him and no one would find anything wrong with it.

But his teacher had a warm heart though he tries to hide it.

Xi Feng saw it in many occasions.

They are the only two people in this mountain.

When noon came, he would come to his teacher hut and roasted a few game he caught on the forest or one of the chickens he had.

If not that he would go down the mountain and bought some foods from the nearby village under the footpath of the mountain.

His teacher rarely smiles but his teacher was sincerely teaching him. Under his guidance, he has mastered five moves of the Flowing Sword Arts.

His teacher rarely gave compliment but he is rarely angry too.

He teaches him patiently and kindly, explaining things when it should be explained but also spoke in mysterious allegory so that he could find the answer for himself.

He remembers his master said to him once when he tried to emulate his master demeanor and even tries to imitate his sword arts.

‘If you become me, you are not me’ He only said this and since then as he ponders on that sentence, there is still something he thinks that he missed.

That sentence seems simple but when he thinks about it he felt like he was having a headache. He asks himself what does his master means when he said if he becomes him, he would not be him. Who would he be then?

But he never tries to imitate his teacher again.

Xi Feng had met many powerful expert and he even met some grandmaster expert in his journey from Yong to Silhae.

But each time he tries to offer himself as a disciple to all of those grandmaster and master of martial arts, they would always say that he is lacking.

Some say that his talent is lacking, some say that he is too rigid and some of them say that he could not be taught.

When he said these thing to his master, his master laugh and replied with

‘There are some people who could not be taught, that is true. But sometimes maybe the teacher doesn’t know how to teach and mistake that as the student fault’

Xi Feng was shocked to hear it and he ponders at his master words. His master continued

‘He said that you are lacking? Hmph’ he snorted

‘If the student is lacking, then the teacher could try to instruct until the lacking part is no longer lacking. If a teacher knows that his student is lacking, that mean the teacher knows the problem with their student. Since he knows, then he could teach the student to fix it instead of whining and trying to make up excuse that one is lacking. Xi Feng, if he was sincere then that means he is an inferior teacher. If he lied, then that means he is not someone you should respect’

Xi Feng nodded and his master continued, the disdain in his tone is apparent

‘Talent is lacking?’ Smiling his Master then said

‘Talent is not everything. It helps you in your journey of martial arts but it is not everything. To others it might be a problem. But to me, it is nothing. The important thing is Will, perseverance and desire’

‘And true, sometimes that is not enough. You could have all the will and perseverance but still failed. But if you have no talent and you have a desire and goals to work toward, even though you knew you could not reach the top, if you have the Will, while I could not guarantee that you would be at the top, at least you won’t be at the bottom. Because there is a lot more people that gives up before taking that first step. If you could not even take the first step, then you never have a chance from the very beginning. But if you take that one step, life could be unpredictable. At least, if you take that first step, you at least have a chance no matter how slim that chance is. A chance of 00000.1 is better than zero chance’

His teacher once said that to him when he doubted himself and it was then he could see that his teacher truly treats him like a disciple.

He never felt this feeling of teacher and students.

Even when he was in Heaven and Earth Gate Sect, even though he as a teacher, it was not sincere and they teach him because that was their obligation.

He is still grateful toward them but it is clearly a different kind of gratitude that he felt comparing his former teacher of his former sect and the gratitude he has in his heart right now toward his master.

He had been grateful and he doesn’t want to let him down. And that is why he didn’t take back when his teacher is scolding at him.

Azief shake his head and said

‘You are not suitable to learn the Flowing Sword Art Swordsmanship. At least not the one you have learned before. But…. I could modify it to suit your need. It would not be perfect and it will be flawed but it will slowly help you understand the Flowing Sword Art essence of freedom. Do you want to learn it?’

He asks

Xi Feng was silent for a while and then kneeling on the snow, he nodded

‘I want to learn it Master’

‘I could not show you all of it since my foot has not yet recovered’ Azief holds the sword on his hand and he smiles.

The moment he holds it he felt a connection between him and the sword. It is not that the sword has any souls, it was he that possess soul

He rarely uses his sword. He uses his fist and when he uses his sword, it would be more like the flying type.

With his ability to control the energy around him he could make anything fly and not only swords.

Having that kind of ability in his arsenal, he never has any tendency to use his sword to slash, to cut, or to hack when he could do all that with his hand

To Azief, holding a sword with his hand instead of using energy shot or using the powerful law is not as fast. It could even be considered to be clumsy.

But Azief had also understand something. Only when a sword in in a person with a will, could it be truly considered a sword.

A sword that is not hold by the hand of a swordsman is nothing but a long sharp metal. He smiles as he looks at Xi Feng.

‘Look carefully!’ Then he lifted the sword

***

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