I began to understand the myriad things by chopping wood

Chapter 192: Time Passes Without You While Cultivating

Xie Yuan looked at Song Qingping who was staring at him with sharp eyes. His mind raced, but his face remained calm as he answered respectfully:
"My disciple's name is Zhang Shan."

Song Qingping hummed, still looking him up and down. After a long while, Xie Yuan felt uneasy, and suddenly asked:
"Who taught you to practice sword like this?"

"Eh? Well, the sword techniques were all taught by the instructor, and then I figured it out on my own."

Xie Yuan was unsure of what Song Qingping meant, and answered slowly.

Song Qingping snorted:
"You have a good talent, but you are practicing swordplay blindly! Hey, don't you usually correct your disciples?"

The second half of his sentence was about teaching.

The instructor came forward and bowed very respectfully, saying:

"Master Song, Zhang Shan has just officially entered the outer sect. He was in the menial service yard before, so he may have practiced more on his own and many of his habits have not been corrected."

"The servants' quarters..."

Song Qingping paused and shook his head:

"Such a good seedling is actually sent to work in the menial department? You Yunshan Sword Sect are really powerful!
"Look at this kid, his arms are long and his body is straight, his eyes are calm, his spirit is perfect and his hands are very stable. He should practice sword. He just practiced your Yunshan sword style, and the fluency of the transition between moves is not what you should have when you are a beginner. He can practice like this in the servants' yard. This is what I call talent. But -

"You are brilliant in the details, but you have no idea about the whole thing! You have a good grasp of the details of the moves, but you always do something weird, which completely ruins the charm of the sword moves. I was wondering where you got your "brilliant ideas", but it turns out that you were just practicing blindly in the menial yard!
"It's because I didn't have a master to teach me when I first started, so I just figured it out. If I see you make a mistake in your steps when you're backslashing, I'll break your legs. And..."

Song Qingping immediately commented on several of Xie Yuan's moves, hitting the nail on the head - he just pointed out the imperfections that Xie Yuan had deliberately made.

Seeing that Song Qingping had noticed his disharmony, Xie Yuan heaved a sigh of relief, but also became alert.

His acting skills were already excellent and his Heavenly Hidden Technique was also extraordinary, but it was still easy to be exposed in front of the Grandmaster of the Flying Dragon Ranking.

Actually, Yunshan Sword Sect originally had no Grandmaster on the Flying Dragon Ranking except for the Sect Master. The Sect Master was always elusive, and Xie Yuan was very steady. Who would have thought that Song Qingping would not only stay but also show off...

Xie Yuan put on a teachable expression, demonstrated a few moves, and finally got back to normal.

Seeing that he understood everything, Song Qingping nodded again:
"He does have talent. If your Yunshan Sword Sect can't teach him, this kid can come back to Hidden Sword Pavilion with me."

"Why, you still want to poach our disciples?"

A cold voice came.

"Senior Sister Luo, I was just joking. How could I possibly take your disciples away?"

The outer disciples nearby were already envious of Song Qingping for talking so much to Xie Yuan, and then they heard him praising Xie Yuan continuously, even talking about poaching him. Regardless of whether it was an exaggeration or not, it was obvious that they recognized his talent very much!
For a moment, the outer disciples all felt as if they had eaten lemons, and their expressions when looking at Xie Yuan were extremely sour.

Xie Yuan bowed quickly:

"Thank you, Grandmaster Song, for your kindness. I have benefited a lot from it."

Song Qingping saw some talent in him, which instantly attracted people's attention... This won't do, he needs to keep a low profile in front of the Grandmaster.

It was said that the Sword Sect was originally looking for the person who had previously sparred with Yao Tianchuan, who was either a disciple or a senior. Song Qingping's stay here seemed to be to relive the old times with Luo Shuang, but perhaps he was also waiting for an explanation.

When I saw him coming just now, I almost thought I was discovered by him. Fortunately, my acting skills and the art of concealment are good enough, and this greasy master focused his main energy on pleasing Luo Shuang and didn't really care much about his disciples, so I was able to get away with it for a while.

Song Qingping looked past Xie Yuan and looked at Lin Cheng again, frowning:

"You Sword Sect... you really don't discriminate in your teaching. The talented ones are used as menial servants, while those who are not talented enough to be menial servants are used to practice swordsmanship. This person has grown up, but his aura is not clear. He is definitely not qualified to be a menial disciple in the Hidden Sword Pavilion!"

After hearing this comment, Lin Cheng's face turned pale and he lowered his head silently.

Xie Yuan and the instructor beside him both frowned. The instructor stepped forward and said respectfully:
"Master Song, our Sword Sect has its own standards for selecting disciples. Lin Cheng's talent is a little lacking, but his character is excellent. Both I and other outer sect instructors believe that there is no problem for him to come and practice swordsmanship."

"So the disciples of your Yunshan Sword Sect cannot compare to us."

Seeing that the instructor dared to contradict him, Song Qingping got angry and forgot his goal, and spoke in a sarcastic tone.

A cold voice came from behind:
"Song Qingping, do we need you to comment on our sect's disciples? You value aptitude over character, and that's why you, the Cangjian Pavilion, are getting worse and worse than us."

After hearing this, Song Qingping's face changed.

These words were rather ruthless, and the outer disciples became nervous, thinking that the two masters were going to quarrel. Unexpectedly, Song Qingping's expression suddenly became flattering:
"Senior Sister Luo is right. That's why I have been defeated by you for so many years!"

"Hmph." Seeing Song Qingping approaching with a licking face, Luo Shuang snorted softly, glanced at the outer disciples and Lin Cheng, and said lightly:
"Don't listen to his nonsense and practice well."

"Yes, Elder Luo!"

Lin Cheng bowed seriously and said loudly.

The two masters left together. The outer disciples, who were holding their heads high, all breathed a sigh of relief and excitedly discussed Song Qingping's instructions just now.

Xie Yuan moved closer to Lin Cheng and patted him:
"Don't pay attention to what that pretty boy said."

Lin Cheng was stunned for a moment, opened his eyes wide, and whispered nervously:
"Junior Brother Zhang, how dare you say that about the Grandmaster of the Flying Dragon Ranking?"

"Haha, he's not here after all."

Xie Yuan also reacted, and then he remembered what a lofty term and status Grandmaster was in the eyes of martial artists.

Not to mention the Grandmasters on the Flying Dragon Ranking, even if the disciples were scolded and criticized by ordinary Grandmasters, they would not even dare to talk about them behind their backs.

Grandmaster is not just a noun. In the eyes of warriors, the word Grandmaster carries weight.

However, Xie Yuan's sense of hierarchy was not as strong as theirs. In addition, he had come into contact with many young and talented female grandmasters along the way, and they had lived together for so long...

Especially with Mu Chaoyun, after spending every day with her, he felt that this master was nothing but a young refugee girl who looked at him every day and brought him food. He had to buy her clothes and bathe her himself. What was the big deal?

Mu Chaoyun was not here, Xie Yuan was bold and brave, and completely forgot who was sleeping on the floor all day; but even if he remembered, it would be fine, because he just couldn't beat her, so he let her go, after all, taking care of her is not serving her. When one day he can beat her, and then live under the same roof, there is a room... It's not that he can't go there!
In general, Xie Yuan admired the Grandmaster's cultivation, but apart from his cultivation, he did not feel that he was inferior to others.

Seeing Xie Yuan was willing to speak for him despite the disapproval, Lin Cheng was moved and whispered:
"Thank you, Junior Brother Zhang, but it's okay. As Heaven moves forward, a gentleman should constantly strive to improve himself! A few words are nothing.

"Besides, the instructor and Elder Luo both spoke for me. With you, I feel more motivated to practice martial arts in the sect."

Xie Yuan nodded. Luo Shuang seemed cold, but she was obviously someone who cared about the sect and the disciples. It was not surprising that she scolded Song Qingping directly.

Although Instructor Sun is far behind the Grand Master in both strength and status, he still dares to refute the Grand Master in person on behalf of his disciples, which is admirable.

The Yunshan Sword Sect is indeed a clean and upright place, and it is a good place. No wonder Mu Chaoyun recommended that he come here to practice.

I had a lot of thoughts at that time, but I didn't expect that I would end up here by chance. I can only sigh that life is unpredictable.

Now that he was here, he might as well make the best of it. Anyway, practicing here was faster than down the mountain, and there were good techniques like the Sword Qi Jue, not to mention that one could comprehend the Black Heavenly Book in the Sword Wind Rock Crack. Xie Yuan decided to stay here for the time being.

After all, he is a formal outer disciple of the Yunshan Sword Sect, not a guy like Song Qingping.

Instructor Sun knew that the disciples had gained a lot from the guidance of the Grand Master and were very excited, so he disbanded the group practice early to let them experience it on their own.

The disciples dispersed, and many of them secretly cast their eyes on Xie Yuan, thinking secretly that he was worthy of being a disciple who had climbed up from that huge servants' courtyard so quickly, and his talent was indeed extraordinary, and even Song Qingping had a favorable eye for him.

It's really annoying that he has such great talent and works so hard...

Of course, even the Grand Master of the Tianlong Ranking was not able to notice Xie Yuanlu's talent in person. It was just a small part that he accidentally revealed, and he didn't want to reveal it at all.

Xie Yuan returned to his room and thought silently:

"Song Qingping has been wandering around Yunshan Mountain all day, and no one knows when he will leave. We have to be careful. It's not easy to pretend to be a swordsmanship rookie in front of the swordsmanship master. In the future, besides being extremely careful, we have to see where he is... Really, doesn't he have a sect of his own? The Sword Sect just lets him wander around here, what if he gets a glimpse of the secrets? There is that thing on the Sword Peak.

"In that case, Yunshan Sword Sect probably doesn't know the truth about Sword Peak, otherwise they shouldn't have allowed Wei Dong and Song Qingping, the masters of the outer sect, to come up the mountain and get so close to Sword Peak."

Xie Yuan let out a breath, thinking of the sword wind, the black book, the perfect basic sword technique and the powerful Nine Styles of Cloud Dragon, as well as the peerless sword techniques displayed by the two masters during the sword debate - the Floating Light and Shadow Sword and the Calming Sea and Tide Sword Technique, which shook mountains and destroyed cities, and changed the color of heaven and earth.

He was a little bit ready to move.

"Recently, I feel like everyone is looking for a 'mysterious master'... When the rumors die down a bit, I will go to the crevice every day to get some fresh air. If I don't persist, I'm afraid I'll have to wait until the next time I can get the 500-point Black Book.

"There are also Yunshan Sword Qi Jue, Yangshen Gong, Yunlong Nine Styles... I can't practice enough! I'm addicted to practicing, but I'm worried that the day is too short and there's not enough time!"

Xie Yuan took root in the outer sect, practicing day and night without stopping. He discussed swordplay with his like-minded roommate Lin Cheng every day, and promoted the outer sect, immersing himself in the improvement of his cultivation.

He was so absorbed in his practice that he didn’t notice the passing of time. When the first snow fell on Yunshan Mountain, he realized that two months had passed in the blink of an eye.

(End of this chapter)