Chapter 2: Aim for the Skies
Dawn.
In the training grounds of the Mirror Lake Meng Manor, Liu Qiyue was practicing her archery skills while Meng Chuan was practicing his saber arts in a corner.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
His saber arts were ethereal, bizarre, and unpredictable.
Furthermore, he was extremely fast. This was one of the best swift saber arts that mortals could learn—Falling Leaf Saber.
When he was six, he had undergone the family's tests and was confirmed that he was the most talented in the swift saber arts. He loved to cultivate the swift saber because… it was fast!
After practicing the basic saber arts for two years at home, his father—Meng Dajiang—sent him to one of the eight major Dao Academies in the Eastcalm Prefecture when he was eight years old. Although the dean of the Mirror Lake Dao Academy—Ge Yu—was of average moral character, he was the fastest at using the saber in the entire Eastcalm Prefecture!
Meng Chuan had honed his basic saber arts to perfection when he was nine. His foundation was solid, and he was taught a good saber art—Wind Chasing Saber.
At the age of eleven, he had cultivated the Wind Chasing Saber to perfection. The dean then personally taught him his best saber art, the Falling Leaf Saber.
At thirteen years old, he achieved the Greater Mastery stage for Falling Leaf Saber, and became one of the members of the Dao Academy's Mountain River Pavilion. Mountain River Pavilion only accepted the most outstanding disciples out of thousands of promising disciples in the entire Mirror Lake Dao Academy. Even now, Mountain River Pavilion only had 22 disciples.
Now, he was fifteen years old.
Unfortunately, my Falling Leaf Saber is still only at the Greater Mastery stage. I haven't perfected it yet. Meng Chuan stopped, scrutinized the saber in his hand, then frowned. How can I figure out the secret technique of the Falling Leaf Saber and reach the first major realm of saber arts—the Unity realm?
All skills, regardless of what they involved—saber, sword, spears, etc—had major realms.
The first major realm was Unity. It referred to the fusion of one's body, heart, and skills into one that allowed one to unleash unimaginable might.
The second major realm was known as "Force," and the world was filled with such forces! The mountains had mountainous forces and water had aqueous forces. The usage of saber arts that required one to have similar worldly, terraneous, and elemental forces, gave rise to the Saber Force. For those who used swords, there was Sword Force. All of this implied a higher realm.
Yet, Meng Chuan remained at the foundational stage after so many years. Of course, he had honed his foundation to the limit. His saber arts were only one step away from reaching the Unity realm.
But the final step… was the most difficult!
Even in all of Eastcalm Prefecture, there are very few people who can reach the Unity realm. Meng Chuan knew this very well. Only by reaching the Unity realm would one be considered a true expert. Otherwise, they will only be mediocre.
The mediocre—even if they had plenty of Quintessential Energy—were nothing more than target dummies with greater strength and speed.
They would be killed the moment they clashed with a true expert.
According to the Falling Leaf Saber's description, it's divided into eighty-one stances. As long as one hones the 81 stances to a state of perfection, they will naturally be able to grasp the secret technique: Third Autumn Leaf. It will also be equivalent to reaching the first major realm of the saber art—Unity. Meng Chuan was rather lost because the entire manual only described the Unity realm with a short paragraph.
There was no other description. Even the moves were unrecorded.
"Naturally be able to grasp the secret technique" was too ambiguous. His Falling Leaf Saber had achieved Greater Mastery for two years; But, despite cultivating diligently every day, why hadn't he been able to "naturally" figure out the secret technique?
Mortal cultivation is divided into five stages: Foundation Establishment, Internal Tempering, Marrow Cleansing, Mortal Shedding, and Impervious. To reach the Impervious realm from the Mortal Shedding realm… one has to hone their saber or sword skills to the Unity realm. Only when body, mind, and technique are truly united can one integrate all the powers in the Mortal Shedding realm, allowing for a breakthrough to the Impervious realm in one fell swoop. In a large family clan, sufficient pills are provided, so reaching the Mortal Shedding realm isn't difficult. But very few can reach the Impervious realm!
He started establishing his foundation when he was six.
He stepped into the Internal Tempering realm at the age of nine, and Marrow Cleansing at twelve. According to his estimates, he should be able to reach the perfected Marrow Cleansing realm around June. This sort of speed was considered average among the core disciples of a Godfiend family clan. A lazy person like Yun Qingping had also reached the Marrow Cleansing stage at the age of fifteen thanks to her plentiful consumption of valuable pills. Her progress was considered rather slow.
Mortal cultivation had five main realms: Foundation Establishment, Internal Tempering, Marrow Cleansing, Mortal Shedding, and Impervious.
Further up was the Godfiend realm.
The gap between the Godfiend realm and the Impervious realm was like a chasm!
Becoming a Godfiend was extremely difficult. In the past century, only a few people in Eastcalm Prefecture became Godfiends.
I swore before my mother's grave that I must become a Godfiend in this life. I shall slay demons and avenge my mother. He stopped practicing and looked at the saber in his hand. He had been ignorant as a child, but he now knew the difficulty of becoming a Godfiend. However, he refused to give up no matter how difficult it was. I have to master the Saber Unity realm as quickly as possible. In the future, I will need to master the second realm, Force. Only then will I have some hope of becoming a Godfiend.
Suddenly—
"Chuan'er." A rotund figure walked into the training grounds.
Meng Chuan turned around. "Dad."
The middle-aged man in front of him had a smile on his face. This was his father, Meng Dajiang. He ran a restaurant—the biggest restaurant in Eastcalm Prefecture. He was also destined to be the next clan leader of the Meng family.
Meng Dajiang was extremely powerful. He was one of the small handful of people who were considered the strongest under the Godfiend realm, and he also cultivated saber arts. Furthermore, he was a Impervious realm expert that attained Saber Force. But as a forty-seven-year-old, his chances of becoming a Godfiend grew increasingly slim!
"Uncle Meng." Liu Qiyue also walked over.
"The 3rd of March is Jadesun Palace's Demon-Slaying Meet, right? Qiyue is a sharpshooter, so Blazing Sun Dao Academy will definitely reserve a spot for you." As Meng Dajiang spoke, Liu Qiyue nodded happily. Meng Dajiang looked at his son and asked, "Chuan'er, what about you? There are only three spots for Mirror Lake Dao Academy's Marrow Cleansing disciples. Are you confident about obtaining one?"
"I'm not confident." Meng Chuan knew himself. He said, "There isn't much difference between the top ten disciples of the Dao Academy at the Marrow Cleansing stage. I have some hope to vie for it, but the chances of failing aren't zero. If I can figure out the secret technique of Falling Leaf Saber, I'll definitely have the confidence. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to figure it out. Dad, do you have any special tricks to cultivate the secret technique?"
"Haha, your dean is the best swift saber expert in Eastcalm Prefecture. He will teach you what's necessary," said Meng Dajiang with a laugh. "As for the secret technique, I think it's just about having more practice. More practice might lead to you figuring it out."
Meng Chuan felt helpless.
There was no trick.
"Don't harp on it. Among your generation in Eastcalm Prefecture, nobody in the Marrow Cleansing realm has figured out the secret technique." Meng Dajiang laughed. "In the Meng family, I'm the most outstanding member of my generation; yet, it took me until I was nineteen before I figured out the secret technique."
"However, according to legend, Patriarch Zhang grasped the secret technique at the age of thirteen, allowing his sword art to reach the Unity realm." Meng Chuan sighed.
"Patriarch Zhang is the only person in the last hundred years of Eastcalm Prefecture that managed to become a disciple of the Archean Mountain. It was also because of this that the Zhang family became the leader of the five major Godfiend clans in Eastcalm Prefecture," said Meng Dajiang. "Don't be too anxious. Our Meng family's Patriarch Yushan from five hundred years ago only figured out the secret technique at eighteen. However, didn't he become a Godfiend at eighty years old? Even if he was a late bloomer, he still became a Godfiend."
Meng Chuan obviously knew his family's history.
When he was young, his mother would tell him stories about the development of Godfiends. He would also pester his parents for more!
Other than painting, he loved listening to stories the most as a child.
His parents had bought many storybooks about the famous Godfiends in history and took the time to read them to him.
"Mom, one day, I will become a Godfiend as well," murmured Meng Chuan.
…
That afternoon, Meng Chuan arrived at Mirror Lake Dao Academy. This was because the dean was personally teaching saber arts to one of the classes. As the dean, he only needed to teach once every five days.
A two-hour lesson of saber arts came to an end.
There's still no way to make a breakthrough.
I really don't know when my saber arts will reach the Unity realm. Meng Chuan walked through the Dao Academy. He spent almost every day thinking about the Falling Leaf Saber's secret technique to the point of almost going mad.
When he passed by an empty area, he heard angry shouting.
He looked over.
Lecturer Ma had broken out into a tirade at a group of youths.
"Aim for the skies; not doing so will only result in mediocrity. Do you understand?" Lecturer Ma shouted angrily. "I'm telling you to learn from the good, not the bad. Doing so will only exacerbate matters! If you don't reach the Marrow Cleansing realm, you will be unsuccessful for the rest of your life. If you reach the Marrow Cleansing realm, you will have to serve the military at 20 years of age to fight demons. If you don't sweat now, you will bleed in the future and lose your life. Barely half survive military service! Are you hoping to die on the battlefield or return in glory?"
"Look, that's the Meng family's Meng Chuan. He managed to reach the Greater Mastery stage of the Falling Leaf Saber at thirteen and entered our Mirror Lake Dao Academy's Mountain River Pavilion. The dean even teaches him personally! There are no shortcuts to mastering saber arts, only hard work. I heard that Meng Chuan spends several hours cultivating at home every day. What about you guys? Have you reflected on yourselves?"
"Aim for the skies; not doing so will only result in mediocrity. I want you to learn from Meng Chuan, understand?"
Under the shouts of Lecturer Ma, the group of youths did not dare breathe.
As he roared, Lecturer Ma smiled at the passing Meng Chuan. Meng Chuan nodded with a smile in return, but his eyes suddenly lit up before he hurried home.
…
Upon returning to his manor, Meng Chuan immediately went to the study.
"Aim for the skies; not doing so will only result in mediocrity. If I want to learn, I have to learn from the best!" Meng Chuan mumbled to himself. His eyes brightened, and he became increasingly excited. If I want to learn from someone, I should learn from the strongest Godfiends! Learning from the strongest existence in history is what aiming for the skies is!
The invincible experts who managed to leave their names in history had mostly passed away, but their biographies remained in circulation even after thousands of years!
Their biographies contain their thoughts.
Meng Chuan raised his head and looked at the books on a bookshelf. Dad and Mom read many Godfiend stories to me when I was young. They bought me many books.
He casually picked up a book and flipped it open.
The book described Godfiend Deng Feng who had dominated an entire era. According to the records, Deng Feng grew up in the mountains and had never received any education from a famous master. His only relative died just after teaching him the Saber Drawing Stance. He practiced eight hours a day drawing his saber. He drew his saber ten thousand times without learning any other techniques.
Living alone in the depths of the mountains, this continued for twenty years.
By the time he left the mountains, he came to the outside world without knowing much. With strength at the Marrow Cleansing realm, just drawing his saber was enough to kill a Impervious realm expert. His saber art had already reached an inconceivable level. Once news of this spread, the legendary Archean Mountain immediately took the initiative to recruit him and made him a disciple. This caused him to embark on the path of a Godfiend.
…
The book was very long, and it recorded many stories after Deng Feng became a Godfiend. These had won the respect of future generations.
In terms of cultivation matters, little was mentioned. The only mention was "eight hours a day, drawing his saber ten thousand times for twenty years."
This was the most important line in this book for Meng Chuan.
Even if an expert uses a saber art slowly, two hours is enough to draw a saber ten thousand times. Meng Chuan frowned. Yet, he spent eight hours every day, which means that every saber move channels his strength; he puts his heart and mind into it before he draws the saber! One after another… every saber move will accumulate power before erupting. Only by doing so ten thousand times will it take eight hours.
Putting his heart and mind into it? Practicing the same move? Through sheer numbers?
Meng Chuan held a brush in front of his desk and recorded it down before reading another Godfiend's biography.
He needed to learn from the numerous Godfiend biographies to find the similarities to achieve the potency of a Godfiend.
Aim for the skies; not doing so will only result in mediocrity.
If he wanted to learn… he had to learn from the best!
He had to study from all the invincible Godfiends throughout history!
"Uncle Qian," Meng Chuan suddenly called out.
"Young Master." A voice sounded from outside.
"Bring two people with you and buy all the Godfiend biographies on the market for me! There's also the educational material from some powerful Godfiend families. Buy one of each for me. Make haste!" said Meng Chuan.
"Alright, I'll go now," replied Uncle Qian immediately.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone