Chapter 108: Waterfall Swordsmanship
Rushing Thunder Flash large success didn’t mean that Lu Xuan was finished cultivating it. On the Equipment Pavilion’s third floor, he didn’t only get the Rushing Thunder Flash martial skill, he also picked up the Xuan Iron Sword Tactic.
Closing the cave’s many arrays, Lu Xuan walked out.
Seeing Lu Xuan approach, Deacon Li was obviously somewhat surprised. In the past ten days, Lu Xuan’s cultivation time was very steady. Based on normal patterns, Lu Xuan still shouldn’t have come out until much later.
“Junior brother Lu, could it be that there is a problem with the arrays? It seems like your time is not up yet?” Deacon Li asked warmly.
“That’s not the case. This time, I came to ask senior brother if the Five Elements Caves had a water-type array? A waterfall type would be optimal.”
In the Xuan Iron Sword Tactic’s notes, the expert who had created the Xuan Iron Sword Tactic had given a method of cultivating the Xuan Iron Sword Tactic, which was to find a place with a waterfall to cultivate. Whenever they had practiced to the point of splitting the flow with one sword stroke, then they would have achieved the Xuan Iron Sword Tactic large success.
When he had seen this, Lu Xuan couldn’t help but be a bit fascinated. One sword stroke to cut apart a waterfall. How powerful of a step would he need to reach. Just thinking of it he felt a bit excited. Since the expert had such a deep unwavering attitude, Lu Xuan naturally also wanted to find a waterfall to see whether or not he really could do as the expert said, using one sword stroke to split the flow after reaching Xuan Iron Sword Tactic large success.
“Waterfall?” Deacon Li blankly stared, and then recovered. It seemed like junior brother Lu was no longer cultivating a movement martial skill and was now cultivating a different martial skill.
“There are waterfalls, however, it wasn’t created by a water-type array but is an actual waterfall. This waterfall originally was in the sword faction’s back mountains, but for the convenience of disciple cultivation, it was diverted over here. The entire Five Elements Caves only has that one. Normally it’s very popular, especially for spear and axe faction disciples who like waterfall cultivation the most.”
Hearing this, Lu Xuan couldn’t help but frown. Since it was popular, it seemed like he wouldn’t be able to continuously cultivate for a few days in a row as he had imagined. It would probably be difficult. He wouldn’t be able to get it each time.
Deacon Li was watching his expression, and seeing that Lu Xuan seemed to have an awkward look, he naturally knew what he was thinking. He immediately smiled and said: “Although it’s hard for others to grab it, if junior brother Lu wants to use it to cultivate, I can help you a bit. From now on, I’ll reserve the time from 9am to 3pm. At that time junior brother can directly access it.”
(TN: 辰时 is apparently from 7-9am and 申时 is 3-5pm)
Lu Xuan immediately became happy. He indeed had found someone capable. If Deacon Li could help him reserve the time first every time, then naturally it couldn’t be better. For the five hours was the usual five hours that Lu Xuan came to cultivate. Deacon Li naturally remembered his clearly.
(TN: Yes, the original says five, so I’m not sure which of the hours ought to be changed because evidently my source must have been somewhat wrong or the author messed up)
(EN: 9-11 train, 11-12 lunch,12-3 train – There’s your five hours)
“Thank you very much senior brother,” Lu Xuan cupped his hands toward Deacon Li and said. Perhaps it was only a small effort on Deacon Li’s side, but for Lu Xuan it was incredibly important and could save him no small amount of time.
“Haha, don’t mind, don’t mind. My sword faction already hasn’t had a genius for many years. It’s rare for such a talent like junior brother Lu to appear. I’m just acting as a senior brother, naturally I will do all I can to help.” Deacon Li sighed a bit. The reason he was taking so much care of Lu Xuan was one part wanting to build relations, and the other part was indeed for the sword faction. He had stayed in the sword faction for multiple years and had deep feelings for it. Although he had always wanted to raise the name of the sword faction, regrettably, his own talent wasn’t good enough. This hope naturally could only be placed on Lu Xuan.
Although Deacon Li could help him reserve cultivation time, he naturally couldn’t allow him to not pay contribution points. Lu Xuan transferred 2500 contribution points, reserving ten days time in a single breath.
However, right now the waterfall was being used by someone. Lu Xuan wouldn’t be able to enter it for a while. Deacon Li also couldn’t help with that. After waiting a full hour, Lu Xuan was able to go ahead after the waterfall was no longer occupied.
The waterfall’s location was in the furthest back cave of the Five Elements Caves. Before even entering, at the cave entrance, Lu Xuan heard a deafening rumbling noise. It was the sound of the waterfall’s huge water flow crashing down.
Entering the cave and closing the cave door, Lu Xuan then looked towards the waterfall. The waterfall was about seven or eight meters wide and came crashing down from a height of ten zhang, it looked like it could blot out the sky and cover up the earth. The silver river that fell from it was a magnificent sight.
Below the waterfall was a cold pool continuously accepting the water flow from the waterfall, and in the cold pool at the bottom of the waterfall was a large rock. Under the constant beating of the waterfall over the years, it had long since become extremely smooth. This large rock probably wasn’t just an ordinary object. As the saying went, dripping water wears through stone. If this was an ordinary rock, this large waterfall’s beating would probably have long since smashed it to pieces.
Pulling out the xuan iron sword, Lu Xuan took a deep breath, made a big jump and immediately arrived on the large rock. The purpose of putting the rock there was for martial artists to land their feet there and was the best place to welcome the waterfall’s beating force.
The ten zhang high waterfall’s beating force was enormous!
An enormous water flow suddenly came down, welcoming Lu Xuan with a frontal attack. It felt like a thousand jin of force. He had just arrived on the large rock when he was caught off guard and became unsteady for a moment, and then he was directly sent flying by the water flow.
Fortunately Rushing Thunder Flash was already at large success. Lu Xuan who had been hit away quickly steadied his body. Rushing Thunder Flash circulated. His body suddenly charged forward and once again returned onto the large rock.
But this time, Lu Xuan already made preparations. Soul force circulating, he made his body tightly stick to the large rock to prevent being sent away by the water flow again. At the same time, soul force entered into the xuan iron sword. Slowly raising it up, he followed the method described by the Xuan Iron Sword Tactic. The first step was to practice the word stable. To use an heavy sword like the xuan iron sword to kill enemies, first one needed to be able to swing the arms so that you could hold it steady under the waterfall’s powerful rush. Then after breaking away from the waterfall, there wouldn’t be any hindrance using the heavy sword.
Powerful water flow pounded Lu Xuan’s body, wave after wave, continuously beating on the xuan iron sword. Every time, the sword tip was continuously beat down, Lu Xuan would once again forcefully raised it up, continuously resisting the water flow. No matter what, he firmly held onto the xuan iron sword.
Although it was a bit awkward, Lu Xuan didn’t mind it. This was only his first time practicing. He had long since had this sort of expectation. On the other hand, if he could achieve the Xuan Iron Sword Tactic’s requirements on his first try, that would be abnormal. The world had always upheld a certain rule, that was the higher the cost, the greater the reward would be. The harder the Xuan Iron Sword Tactic was to learn, the more it proved its power.
While stabilizing his body and maintaining his sword up, Lu Xuan’s soul force continually slipped away. The first time, after supporting it for half an hour, his soul force was exhausted. Putting away the xuan iron sword, he used Rushing Thunder Flash to leave the cold pool. Lu Xuan sat down cross-legged and began to recover his soul force, preparing for the next round of practice.