“I always feel like your Peak Master is a few strings short of a lute; just take his words with a grain of salt.”

As Fairy Lingyue spoke, she seemed somewhat dispirited as she crawled into the gourd, followed by a yawn, “Taiping, I won’t be accompanying you tomorrow morning. You go on your own.”

“Mm, there’s no need to trouble you with such a trivial matter, Sister Lingyue.”

Xu Taiping nodded.

Although Fairy Lingyue’s divine essence had recovered somewhat, she was still in a remnant soul state and needed ample rest every day, or it would cause damage to her spirit.

“At dawn, around the hour of Yin, I might as well practice the Danxia Technique for an extra two hours tonight. When it’s barely light out, I’ll head straight to Moon Scooping Lake.”

As Xu Taiping thought this, he walked back to the Fan Tower.

With his current cultivation level, a sip of Dragon Gall Wine would keep him awake for several nights without any issue.

……

The next day, early morning.

As agreed, Xu Taiping arrived at Moon Scooping Lake at the break of dawn.

Since the lake wasn’t far from Qi Yue Pavilion, he didn’t hire a Spirit Bird with merit points and instead ran up the mountain, taking it as practice for his strength and movement technique.

“Why hasn’t Elder Sansan arrived yet?”

What puzzled Xu Taiping was that he had been waiting on a large rock in the middle of the lake until the sun was fully up, yet Elder Sansan mentioned in the Peak Master’s letter had not arrived.

However, as he was idly looking around, he suddenly noticed a large wooden plaque hanging on the cliff wall by the waterfall to the west of Moon Scooping Lake.

Out of boredom and curiosity, Xu Taiping leaped up and landed lightly on the cliff, then climbed the protruding rocks like a nimble monkey, quickly reaching the wooden plaque.

Upon closer inspection.

Xu Taiping found that the wooden plaque was actually nailed to the cliff with a rusty longsword.

And on the plaque was a line of elegant large characters—

“If thou wishes to learn my sword technique, thou must first follow the Heart Technique mantra inscribed on this plaque, and thrust this sword into the cliff wall at least three thousand times, for ten consecutive days, not one thrust less.”

“If I have matters in the future, I shall leave a plaque here; if thou hast matters, thou may also leave a plaque here.”

Signed, Hermit Sansan.

“It really was left by Elder Sansan.”

Xu Taiping said with some surprise.

Then, he first pulled out the rusty longsword and made a mark on the cliff wall, then holding the wooden plaque with the Heart Technique mantra, he leaped down from the cliff and landed back on the large rock with a “plop.”

Xu Taiping didn’t mind too much that Elder Sansan hadn’t shown up, figuring that the cultivator must have had urgent matters to attend to, after all, they too needed to cultivate and couldn’t always be there to teach him.

“Let’s take a look at this sword Heart Technique first.”

Xu Taiping then sat cross-legged on the large rock and began to carefully read the unnamed sword Heart Technique inscribed on the wooden plaque.

It was called unnamed because Hermit Sansan didn’t mention the name of the technique, but from his description, it was clear he had great confidence in it.

“It’s not particularly difficult.”

After reading through it several times, Xu Taiping tried it out a few times, then relaxed.

For Xu Taiping, who had already practiced many techniques, this Heart Technique mantra was not too complex.

But he soon realized that even with the mantra mastered, controlling the flying sword to levitate through the air with the sword technique was much more difficult than he had imagined.

It felt like when he first practiced the Danxia Technique with his Mortal Bones; there was always a sense of having strength but not being able to exert it.

He guessed it was still the limitation of his Mortal Bones body.

“With my current state, I should be able to overcome it, even if it takes twice or even three times longer.”

Xu Taiping thought this as he began to repeatedly try to make the rusty sword float.

Perhaps it was due to his long experience in cultivation, or maybe it was the support of his cultivation from the Gazing Abyss Realm, but after trying for a full hour, Xu Taiping finally managed to control the rusty sword to fly to the marked spot on the cliff wall.

“Splash!”

But before Xu Taiping could rejoice, the sword fell uncontrollably from the air and plunged straight into the lake.

After many attempts, the result was always the same: after leaving a scratch on the cliff, the flying sword would lose his control and fall into the lake.

Xu Taiping couldn’t yet control the sword in the water with his sword technique, so each time it fell, he had to dive into the lake to retrieve it.

Despite this, Xu Taiping was undeterred.

Unlike when he initially practiced the Danxia Technique, which required Bone Cleansing Elixir, he was now relying entirely on his own strength to practice this sword technique, so even a small improvement was enough to excite him.

Thus, he continued the cycle of sword control and retrieval.

In the blink of an eye, the sun was setting, and he finally managed to complete the three thousand thrusts set by Elder Sansan before nightfall.

“Three thousand and… one thrust.”

After pushing his spirit to its limit and marking the cliff with the three thousand and first scratch, Xu Taiping finally ended the practice session contentedly.

“Phew… I’ll go back and soak in the Pore-Opening Elixir while practicing the Danxia Technique. For the next couple of days, I’ll put the other techniques on hold.”

As Xu Taiping thought this, he picked up the rusty sword from the ground, picked up the wooden plaque, and walked down the mountain, still practicing the Shadow Wind Step as he went.

“After a few more days of practice, my sword control speed should improve.”

He thought to himself.

If it weren’t for the fact that the daily practice of the Danxia Technique couldn’t be interrupted, he would have liked to consolidate today’s sword practice achievements further.

……

Not long after Xu Taiping left.

An old man riding a flying sword appeared on the cliff, stroking his beard while counting the marks on the cliff.

This old man was, unsurprisingly, Hermit Sansan.

“Three thousand and one thrusts? Mediocre. If you truly have the will, give me three thousand three hundred thrusts. What skill is there in one extra thrust? I’ll come again tomorrow. If you still lack ambition, I can’t be bothered to teach you.”

The old man snorted coldly, then turned and flew away on his sword, disappearing into the night.