Blind Spot
Chapter 705: Question 648 Four

Chapter 705: Question 648 Four

The Fu Family had always harbored plans to unify all the major clans and families around them and establish their own sect.

However, every family had their own schemes, and so they had never been able to achieve this.

In recent years, the Fu Family seemed to be losing patience, and their actions had grown increasingly bold.

This also forced the other families to start forming strategic alliances to jointly counter the Fu Family.

"The pressure from Fu Qingchen is getting stronger, and there are faint signs of external forces behind him. The Family Head has to do this out of necessity,"

Li Chengyi listened quietly by the side.

At the same time, a firm concept about the fundamental point began to take shape in his mind.

’If I simply use vitality and life force, there might be big problems. But if I use growth and change to determine the fundamental point, or use the chance of survival to determine it...’

He pondered this while his parents were discussing his marriage.

It was not long before his father seemed to ask a question.

Li Chengyi agreed without much thought. After all, he knew that in the future, when he had grown up, he would be the one to make his own decisions.

Whether he agreed now or not had no impact on the future.

After dinner, his parents called Li Chengyi to the second courtyard, the central courtyard.

"What I excel at is the Emerald Sea Sword Technique, one of the sixteen elite martial arts of our clan. Your mother is skilled in her family’s Qunyu Technique, but due to family restrictions, if you learn the Qunyu Technique, you can only achieve the first three levels. Therefore, the most suitable for you is still the Emerald Sea Sword Technique that I practice,"

"Then let it be the Emerald Sea Sword Technique," said Li Chengyi.

Seeing his son’s indifferent expression, Gong Shanqinyang’s mouth twitched.

Although they were destined to be non-combatants in the future, wasn’t it a bit wrong to be so careless?

"The Emerald Sea Sword Technique is moderate and balanced, without the risk of going berserk. It follows a grand and magnificent path, with the sword casting shadows like roaring waves, primed for strong head-on attacks."

"But its shortcomings are also quite obvious," Gong Shanqinyang sighed. "It has high requirements for strength, speed, precision, and focus. It can be said to be an example of family martial arts that is easy to learn but hard to master."

"I’ll learn this one," Li Chengyi nodded.

"Let’s make it clear that to practice the Emerald Sea Sword Technique, you need to harbor the concept of the Emerald Sea in your heart to cultivate the surging sword intent. So, if you have any doubts, you can go and observe the Emerald Sea outside on the beach; you might gain some insights,"

"Understood."

Next, Gong Shanqinyang began explaining the details needed to practice the sword technique.

The Emerald Sea Sword Technique had nine levels. As a first-class martial art, when practiced to the highest level, it would naturally generate the immense power of raging waves within the body. It was the best family martial art for growing strength and tempering the physique.

Many main branch disciples would first practice one or two levels of the Emerald Sea Sword Technique and then move on to the peerless martial art, the Raging Sun Merging Stars Art.

"Now, watch carefully," said Gong Shanqinyang as he pinched his hand, and a blue True Yuan flew out of thin air, condensing into a pure blue longsword, which he held in his hand.

This display made Li Chengyi’s eyelids twitch.

Just from the sword in the other’s hand, he could feel that it was like a super high-explosive bomb, capable of reducing everything within hundreds of meters to ash if it detonated.

And this was only a common first-class martial art, casually performed by his sickly old dad to teach the child a trick, yet it had such formidable power...

This place... was a bit too strong...

"The essence of the Emerald Sea Sword Technique is layering."

Gong Shanqinyang lifted his sword, pointing it straight ahead.

"The most fundamental base sword move is the entry-level form, ’Drawing the White Line.’"

Swish!

With a flick of his wrist, the blue blade suddenly swept out a white sword light in a fan shape.

At a glance, the sword light looked just like the white surf rolling in from the sea.

"This is ’Drawing the White Line.’ Only by mastering this foundation can you build upon it to learn the subsequent various moves," Gong Shanqinyang said, dissolving the True Yuan sword. Just then, his wife passed a wooden sword to Li Chengyi.

"You try it. Start with the stance; even the way you hold the sword needs to be precise, otherwise you could permanently damage your wrist."

Li Chengyi took the sword and carefully recalled the earlier scene.

"It doesn’t look too difficult," he said aloud.

"It’s not difficult, but it still requires careful practice. You have to practice until you can perform this move freely from any angle and in any position," Gong Shanqinyang replied with a smile.

This child, just like he had been back in the day, was ambitious and liked to talk big.

To think that it had taken him a full three days to thoroughly master this move back then.

"Understood. I will practice well," Li Chengyi nodded.

He picked up the wooden sword and started to pose, but right from the start, he got the stance wrong and Gong Shanqinyang stepped forward to correct him.

"The Emerald Sea Sword Technique is based on this move, constantly doubling and layering up. Each level you ascend, the power and coverage double, with considerable frontal attack power. Each breakthrough grants you an increase in bodily strength, making the foundation building very cost-effective. So, make sure not to slack off,"

"What happens when you layer it to the ninth level?" Li Chengyi suddenly asked.

"Er... The ninth level is certainly very powerful, but since the creation of this sword technique, no one has ever reached the eighth level, let alone the ninth," his father replied.

"Why is that?"

"Because this technique has too many limitations, it demands an extremely high-quality weapon, and the... difficulty of cultivation is also immense. Most people give up after only reaching the second or third layer. Furthermore, the ninth layer’s power described in the sword technique is far inferior to that of peerless martial arts, so naturally everyone prefers to spend their time on those peerless arts."

Gong Shanqinyang sighed.

"After all, a person’s life is a mere century or so. Cultivating one martial art requires decades, starting from a young age to lay the foundation. If too much time is wasted, one’s potential for that lifetime is set," he added.

"How long would it take to reach ninety percent perfection?" Li Chengyi asked again.

Gong Shanqinyang looked at his son’s serious face, hesitated for a moment, but still answered.

"Around fifty years. Even after mastering it, one would only be a common first-rate expert greatly weakened without a sword."

"I understand," Li Chengyi nodded.

"If you understand, then begin," the other said.

With his powerful comprehension aided by the Flower Language Technique which tripled his fearful understanding, he actually grasped the essence of the technique in a blink of an eye.

But this was of little significance, because the main purpose of learning the basics of the sword technique was not just to master it, but to absorb the power from the outside world and fuse it to temper one’s True Yuan.

The Emerald Sea Sword Technique cultivated a special power called Sea Essence, similar to inner strength but somewhat stronger, as well as gentle and resilient. It nourished the body, enhanced one’s recovery abilities, and increased muscle and bone density.

This suited Li Chengyi’s taste quite well.

Only after accumulating enough Sea Essence and completing the corresponding sword move’s cultivation could one advance to the next layer.

From this perspective, the martial arts here seemed to have a taste of the combination of inner and outer strengths from Midlane.

Soon after mastering the basic sword techniques, Li Chengyi immersed himself once more in the efforts to skillfully draw in the white lines.

Every day after his literary classes, he would return home to practice alone.

Occasionally, his parents would be present to offer a pointer or two, but they were mostly absent. Only the maid, together with his younger brother and sister, would dart around nearby.

Time slowly passed by.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month had passed.

In the Gong Shan Family’s literary class, the teacher brought out some books but did not start the lesson as usual. Instead, he waved towards the outside.

Soon, several little girls shyly walked in and sat down in the empty seats of the classroom.

Li Chengyi noticed this time that the girls in the class had been leaving gradually.

Was this to make space for these little ones?

"Starting today, we have new students joining our literary classes. They are not from our Gong Shan Family, but from other families of the same standing, coming to exchange knowledge. Let’s welcome them," the teacher encouraged, leading a round of applause.

All the children followed and clapped their hands as well.

Li Chengyi noticed one of the girls sitting in front of him, wearing a black waist-cinching dress with a strange, spider-patterned belt and odd purple-red eyes.

"My name is Han Zongdi, you’re Gong Shanzhu, right?" The girl, close to ten years old and a head taller than Li Chengyi, seemed to carry an odd, beast-like aura.

"Yes, you know me?" Li Chengyi asked without changing his expression, still pondering over using a concept as a base to establish dimensions.

"Yes, we’re going to get married in the future and sleep together," Han Zongdi said with a mischievous smile, revealing sharp, beast-like teeth as a faint scent of blood spread from her.

"I don’t want to get married, especially not with someone from a weak branch like you."

A branch?

Li Chengyi was stunned. "You’re not from a branch?" He looked back at her.

"I’m from the main line, the Han Zong Family’s main line," the girl said with a smile.

While Li Chengyi was talking to the girl, Gong Shanqinyang was furiously arguing in the courtyard in front of the family ancestral hall.

"Have you all gone mad!!? You want me to betroth Zhu Er to that little blood beast, Han Zongdi!?! Father! This can’t be your idea, right!?"

In the courtyard, including the Family Head, all the high-ranking members were present, more than a dozen people gathered, sitting in scattered chairs.

Gong Shanqinyang stood alone, his face flushed with rage, staring at his father and siblings.

"Han Zongdi is from the main line. Having her betrothed to your son Zhu Er is, in reality, him climbing up," said the eldest son, Gong Shanqinhong, as he leisurely sipped his tea.

"Why don’t you mention what she did before!?? Why should my son take such a risk!?" Gong Shanqinyang shouted angrily.

Han Zongdi, previously raised by a beast, had bitten her first fiancé to death moments after their betrothal. During her second engagement, she severely wounded her betrothed, nearly beyond recovery. And it was the same with her third, though the injuries were lighter due to early precautions.

Finally, unable to bear it, and after repeated beatings and restraints failed, the Han Zong Family, upon discovering her bloodline was mutated and not purely of the main line, simply arranged for her to be betrothed to the Gong Shan Family.

And now it had landed on Li Chengyi’s head.

"The eligible children of the Han Zong Family are just so. There is no doubt about this matter."

The Family Head Gong Shanrong glanced at his son, and with an aura of long-accumulated authority, he intimidated Gong Shanqinyang, making him nearly tremble and drop to his knees.

"None of the other main line children are appropriate, and the branches are too distant, your eldest son is the most suitable. That’s enough. Next topic," Gong Shanrong said indifferently, firmly settling the matter.

This strong elder with hair that seemed to burn like the sun, emitting dazzling brilliance, held absolute sway over the entire family. Once he had decided, anyone who dared to object would face a severe beating at best, or at worst, expulsion and the nullification of their martial arts skills.

The Han Zong Family didn’t like Han Zongdi, but he had a liking for her temperament. Besides, Han Zongdi’s bloodline and potential were strong, which was enough to boost the family’s prestige, and that was all that mattered.