"Masters," said Lin Feng, bowing before Yun Qing Yan's parents and smiling in greeting.
"You all seem as strong as my daughter. Not bad, and rare," nodded Yun Qing Yan's parents.
Yun Qing Yan wasn't happy, she said, "What? I'm their big sister!"
"Big sister? Are you still trying to lead the Yun Club or what? You should be practicing cultivation really hard. Why are you trying to manage a club? You're wasting your time," Yun Qing Yan's mother scolded her.
"No, I joined Lin Feng's club, Tiantai! I'm the big sister," pouted Yun Qing Yan.
"Alright, alright. You're the big sister. So, what are you doing here?" asked Ms. Yun.
Yun Qing Yan's beautiful eyes twinkled and she said proudly, "Mom, I wanted to introduce my friends to you!"
"Really?" asked Ms. Yun, looking at Yun Qing Yan skeptically.
Yun Qing Yan laughed and said, "They're very strong, you see. Lin Feng is incredibly talented. Three months after Lin Feng joined the university, he was already ranked third. He also fought against Ji Wuyou. Ji Wuyou didn't have the upper hand at all. The ceremony is going to start soon, so I was wondering if you could help a bit."
"I knew you wanted something," Ms. Yun sighed. She then looked at Lin Feng and said, "He fought against Ji Wuyou shortly after having joined the university, not bad indeed. However, the elders won't give him face. I can talk to the elders, but I can't guarantee it will work."
"Hehe, as long as you help, that's the main thing," smiled Yun Qing Yan. She looked at Lin Feng and said, "Don't miss that opportunity, if you can go to the remote mountains, you think Tiantai will lack members?" she challenged him.
"You're doing honest work," said Ms. Yun.
"Haha, and what about Ji Chang? He's the worst," said Yun Qing Yan.
"If you were at least half as talented as Ji Chang, I would be happy. You should know that Ji Chang has the potential to become a Champion, many elders think highly of him. He'll become a Champion soon, grand talents mature slowly, as we say. He'll be a source of glory for the university. His group will be more powerful than yours, and he'll become extremely strong," said Ms. Yun. She didn't sound really happy. Yun Qing Yan pouted cutely.
Lin Feng smiled. Her parents were very strict, but not mean.
"Are you both sword cultivators?" Lin Feng asked her parents.
The father looked back at Lin Feng, "Are you a sword cultivator too?"
"Before controlling cosmic energies, sword cultivation was my specialty. Back then, I could condense several sorts of abstruse energies and use different sorts of sword techniques. My attacks weren't bad. Then, I understood cosmic energies and realized that making cosmic energies fuse together was difficult and time-consuming Therefore, I had to stop practicing sword cultivation temporarily. Perhaps you could teach me something?" Lin Feng tried to sound as humble as possible.
"There's something I find strange though. Qing Yan said that you were the third student, but you have the strength of the Zun Qi layer. If you tell me you're hiding your cultivation level, I would be astonished, it would mean you're terrifyingly strong, stronger than me," Mr. Yun noted curiously.
"Back then, when the skies were supposed to cleanse my body with cosmic energies, they stopped, and the gods abandoned me. People said I was an Imperial Kalpa, but I refused to believe that. Even though I wasn't cleansed by the cosmic energies of the earth and the sky and can't borrow them directly, my body seems to have more cosmic energies than anyone else. I don't think I'm an Imperial Kalpa or that the gods have abandoned me. I think it has something to do with my body type," explained Lin Feng. As he became stronger, there were some things he couldn't hide, or, people wouldn't take him seriously and would even think he harbored evil intentions.
"How strange. Show me your cosmic energies," Mr. Yun told him. Lin Feng nodded and released all his cosmic energies, his Qi surging around him. Mr. Yun and Ms. Yun frowned on seeing that he knew several sorts of cosmic energies.
"Are your reserves of cosmic energies sufficient when fighting?" asked Mr. Yun.
"I have more than enough, they never run dry. After battles, I also swallow some cosmic energies from the earth and the sky sometimes," said Lin Feng, skirting the whole truth.
"How strange. Such a body is really rare," said Mr. Yun. He didn't really understand what was going on. He continued, "And what about your sword cultivation? Before you learned cosmic energies, could you condense abstruse energies?"
"Yes, I fused them together in my sword quite often, from four to five different sorts of abstruse energies. I could kill emperors that way," Lin Feng replied evenly.
"Talented!" Mr. Yun nodded approvingly, "You're talented, but as you said, cosmic energies and abstruse energies are different sorts of energies. That's the magic of our planet. If you want to make them fuse together, it's not easy. You can't make cosmic energies fuse together like abstruse energies. However, if you can make cosmic energies fuse together in a sword attack or any other sort of weapon, then your attacks would probably be terrifying."
"However, a sword attack with several sorts of cosmic energies is not easy to learn," mused Lin Feng.
"Of course, especially since the way you control one sort of cosmic energy isn't the same as the others. You understand too many sorts of cosmic energies, and therefore, you must make great efforts and improve the form and the content, especially if you want to study sword cultivation," Mr. Yun said slowly for Lin Feng to understand clearly.
"The form and the content?" repeated Lin Feng, looking pensive.
"Indeed," Mr. Yun nodded. Then, he pulled a hair off his head and gave it to Lin Feng, "Try cutting it in as many pieces as you can using pure sword cosmic energies, and nothing else."
Lin Feng was stupefied. He threw the hair in the air and watched it fall down. No skill nor technique, only pure energy…?
Lin Feng did a knifehand strike in the air, his hand as fast as lightning, cutting through the air.
"Without cosmic energy and without strength, can you cut it?" asked Mr. Yun. Lin Feng stretched his hand out again, he didn't use cosmic energies or strength. When he tried to cut the hair, the hair just flew away and wasn't cut.
At that moment, Mr. Yun suddenly did a knifehand strike in the air, he didn't use any strength or energy. He just used his hand. A streak followed his hand, and the hair was cut in two.
"Form!" A strange expression appeared on Lin Feng's face. By watching Mr. Yun, Lin Feng slowly understood. That was more about sword intent, so the form, cutting the hair into several pieces!
Mrs. Yun didn't even release sword Qi, but Lin Feng could feel the sword intent.
"That's the form, that's what you see. In other words, no cosmic energy. If you try to use a spell like that, it won't work, but sword cultivators are not only interested in spells. When you use spells, you compare your cosmic energies with your opponent. If I have a great spell, skill or technique and you don't, you don't stand a chance;if my cosmic energies are much weaker than yours, then you can easily defeat me," explained Mr. Yun.
Lin Feng started to understand. Strength was the form, cosmic energies was the cause!
"Of course, if you only care about the form and don't study spells, techniques, and skills, then your strength will be limited and you will eventually stop progressing. That way, maybe you can cut the hair into three or four pieces, but in the end your power would still be limited. If your sword intent is high, your attacks also have to be powerful."
Lin Feng listened carefully. Qing Feng and the others were amazed too. Sword cultivators were really strong, Mr. Yun was right!
"That's like my Purple Lake Tank then, I can modify it and improve it because I improved the form. It means the form leveled up, but still, it hasn't become the higher form of intent," murmured Lin Feng. He bowed before Mr. Yun and said, "Thank you very much for your lesson, Master."
Mr. Yun waved and smiled, "You are a smart boy. I've told Qing Yan that sort of thing thousands of times, but she doesn't understand."
"I see," said Lin Feng, carefully not looking at her.
"Alright, come to my sword pavilion. You won't find many sword things in Champion Hall," smiled Mr. Yun, and brought Lin Feng and the others to his celestial palace.