I flew on a sword at the magic academy

Chapter 72 Sword Control

With all students having mastered the method of Qi cultivation, today's lesson can be considered a complete success.

On the way back, Shi Daohan's face was beaming with smiles, looking very happy.

On the contrary, Kalman, who was following behind her, looked sullen.

"Master, those people slandered and cursed you before, why are you still teaching them?"

"So that's why you've been looking so gloomy all day."

Shi Daohan chuckled and said, "I once met an old man who divided all living beings in this world into four categories. The first category is what we call ordinary people. These people are numerous, and individually they are insignificant, but if they band together, they can turn the world upside down."

"Those students are the first type of people. They are shallow-minded and have limited knowledge, so they are easily swayed by rumors and follow the crowd."

"I am the prime suspect in Professor William's death. Even without conclusive evidence, they have already decided that I am the murderer. So once the first person stands up to condemn me, a second and a third will join in. That's just going with the flow."

"Of course, Fiona is also right. They just want to vent their negative emotions. They don't really care about the truth. They just enjoy the sense of superiority of standing on the moral high ground to criticize others."

Kalman looked dazed, trying hard to understand what Shi Daohan was saying.

"These headless flies will blindly follow anyone who takes the lead. It all depends on which direction you lead them. They curse and insult me ​​because they blindly follow due to limited understanding. It's pointless to argue with them about these things."

With his hands behind his back and his steps unhurried, Shi Daohan gave off an ethereal and unfathomable feeling.

She looked up at the starry sky and slowly said, "I teach them the way of cultivation not only so that the legacy of our ancestor can spread in this western land, but also so that I can try to guide them from the first type of people to the second type."

"The second type of person?" Kalman asked curiously.

"This type of person is called a 'true person.' They possess extraordinary skills and abilities, but they don't know why they live. This is what it means to have skills but no principles. They may live more comfortably than most people, but they cannot escape the troubles and worries of ordinary people."

"This third type is called a wise person. This type of person is skilled and virtuous, and knows what they want most. However, because this type of person has great desires in life, it is difficult for them to realize their wishes. They often fall into a predicament and cannot extricate themselves."

"The fourth type of person is a saint. Such people are extremely rare. They have enough ability and means to realize what they want in their hearts and only seek the perfection of merit in their lives."

After listening to Shi Daohan's explanation of the four categories of people, Kalman was deeply shocked and asked, "Then, Master, which of these four categories are you?"

"Me?" Shi Daohan pondered for a moment and said, "I guess I should be considered a third type of person."

[So I must be the first type of person, right?] Kalman thought to himself.

After all, the second type of person, who has skills but no principles, must first have exceptional methods and abilities, which is clearly not the case for him now.

"Go to bed early tonight, and I'll teach you how to fly on swords tomorrow morning," Shi Daohan said with a light laugh.

"Flying on a sword? Really?!"

Kalman's face showed excitement and exhilaration.

Shi Daohan nodded and said, "Today, everyone has successfully opened up the internal energy channels and has a foundation of magical power. It's time to teach you something real."

The next day at noon, after lunch, the students arrived early at the open-air plaza of the Hishiji Mansion, having all heard that they would be learning sword flying that day.

As the sun shone high in the sky, amidst the eager anticipation of the students, Shi Daohan arrived from afar, riding a sword.

"One peach wood sword for each person." Shi Daohan took out a pile of peach wood swords from his storage ring and had Kalman distribute them.

She herself held a peach wood sword, but did not summon her natal flying sword.

Seeing her sword-wielding posture, all the students followed suit, holding their peach wood swords upright in front of them.

"Everything has a spirit. Even a cold, lifeless block of iron can be given life and connected to the mind. But that realm is still too far from you. Today I will teach you a method of controlling objects so that you can use it for now. Today's lesson is called 'Controlling Objects'."

The students below listened attentively, but their faces were blank, clearly not understanding what Shi Daohan meant.

"Calm your mind and try to channel your inner energy into the peach wood swords in your hands."

All the students followed Shi Daohan's example and pointed to their foreheads, but they didn't know how to mobilize the magical power circulating within their bodies.

[You already know the method of breathing exercises and how to draw qi into your body, but you still don't know how to mobilize the power of the microcosmic orbit?] Shi Daohan was somewhat speechless, but still patiently explained: "Activate the mental technique I taught you yesterday and get the microcosmic orbit running."

However, she soon realized a very serious problem: these people could get the mental cultivation technique running, but the scriptures of the technique were written in Chinese characters, and these people did not know the true meaning of them.

This is like knowing how to eat, but not knowing where the food comes from.

Shi Daohan thought about what to teach in tomorrow's class and decided to teach them Chinese characters!

Without understanding the meaning of the scriptures, one will ultimately remain an outsider even after studying them.

"The mental cultivation method operates, circulating throughout the body, controlling spirits and objects, just like this..."

Shi Daohan flicked his finger, sending a beam of light flying onto the peach wood sword in his hand.

"Clang!"

With a sword's cry, the peach wood sword in her hand flew out of her grasp, swirling and turning in the air until it hovered in mid-air in front of her.

Shi Daohan lightly touched the ground with her toes and leaped up, landing gracefully on the three-foot-long peach wood sword. Her clothes fluttered and her long hair danced in the wind, drawing envious glances from everyone below.

Kalman was the first among them to learn the basics. After seeing Shi Daohan's demonstration, he also activated his internal energy and threw the peach wood sword in his hand into the air.

However, the peach wood sword did not last long; it only spun once in the air before falling to the ground.

"Why did this happen?" Kalman looked at the peach wood sword on the ground with a frustrated expression. He had clearly done it according to Shi Daohan's instructions, but he didn't know why he had failed.

"You're too impatient." Shi Daohan came closer and said softly, "Calming down is the key. You're restless and eager to show yourself in front of everyone. You can't calm down, so even if you can mobilize your internal energy, it's useless."

Having his thoughts exposed, Kalman pouted somewhat guiltily, "I didn't mean to show off in front of everyone."

He actually felt a kind of pressure in his heart, worried that as the eldest disciple, he would fall behind others and disappoint his master, so he couldn't calm his mind.

But how could his little scheme escape the discerning eye of Shi Daohan?

"The road ahead is long and arduous."

Shi Daohan smiled, patted his shoulder, said this profound and enigmatic remark, and then left.

"It's just the first time trying, so don't worry about losing face if you fail. If you don't succeed the first time, try a second time. If you don't succeed the second time, try a third time. Every failure is laying the foundation for success," Shi Daohan encouraged everyone.

"Haha, I did it!"

A surprised exclamation came from the crowd.

A student successfully activated his internal energy circulation, attaching a wisp of magical power to the peach wood sword in his hand, causing it to levitate.

However, before he could even step on it, the peach wood sword trembled and fell to the ground.

However, being able to do this already made the surrounding students very envious, because they were all stuck at the first step and unable to mobilize the magical power circulating in their bodies.

Kalman ignored the surrounding noise, sat cross-legged on the ground, placed the three-foot-long peach wood sword across his lap, and silently circulated his inner energy.

After a long while, he opened his eyes, pointed a finger at the peach wood sword, and then raised his finger and hooked it upwards.

"Clang!"

Guided by his thoughts, the peach wood sword seemed to be held up by an invisible hand, slowly levitating more than half a meter off the ground.

Kalman took a deep breath, stepped onto the peach wood sword, and wobbled as he maintained his balance and flew forward.

Because of his limited magical power, he only flew three or four meters on his sword before feeling as if his body was exhausted, and he fell from mid-air with a "thud".

"Now you know how important magic is, right?" Shi Daohan walked over with a smile.

Kalman nodded. Ever since Shi Daohan taught him the Fire Manipulation Technique, he had known how important magical power was to a cultivator.

"Master, how can I increase my magical power?" Kalman asked.

"One word—[Cultivation]." Shi Daohan pointed a finger at his chest and abdomen and said, "This place is called the Purple Mansion. It is a secret realm for storing magical power. As your realm improves in the future, this secret realm will become more perfect, and your magical power will become more profound."

"The Purple Mansion Secret Realm..." Kalman nodded as if he understood but not quite.

Two hours later, many students had successfully taken to the air on their swords. Although they were all wobbling and looked a bit out of place, they had at least managed to fly.

"Haha! Now I can fly on a sword too!"

"Thai Cool!"

"I can fly faster than you!"

Several people chased each other, trying to see who could fly faster, but soon a series of screams and cries of pain rose and fell.

All of them fell from mid-air, their magic power exhausted, looking disheveled, which made the students watching burst into laughter.

"Flying on a sword is just one way of controlling objects. Once you've mastered it, you can control other objects as well," Shi Daohan said to the students.

"You mean you can control other things? You mean you can control anything?" a student asked in surprise.

"That's correct in theory."

Shi Daohan nodded, and then added, "However, the amount of mana consumed varies depending on the quality of the individual. For example, flying on a sword consumes mana in a way that is visible to the naked eye. You fell down after only flying a short distance on your swords just now, precisely because of insufficient mana."

With your current level of magical power, it's definitely unrealistic to expect you to lift a boulder weighing a thousand pounds.

At first, the students did not know what magic power was used for. They only felt that after drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and refining it, their bodies were full of power. Now, after hearing what Shi Daohan said, they finally understood the use and importance of magic power.

"Magic is the foundation of everything, and it has many uses. I will find time later to teach you some basic and easy-to-learn spells," Shi Daohan said.

Upon hearing this, the students below cheered excitedly, showing great interest in Shi Daohan's course.

"Alright, that concludes today's lesson. Those who haven't yet learned how to fly on a sword, please ask other students for help. I will check your progress tomorrow."

After saying this, Shi Daohan left with Kalman.

On a tall building in the distance, Dean Donaldson and a group of high-ranking officials from Horagaka College stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, watching all of this.

"If this continues, all the students will run off to her to learn those so-called immortal arts and Taoist techniques. How many of them will still want to learn our magic?" an academician said with a gloomy face.

Another academician chimed in, "I think it won't be long before our Horagaka Magic Academy is renamed Horagaka Immortal Cultivation Academy, or even Horagaka Shushan Branch! Dean Donaldson, what are you thinking?"

"I know what you're worried about, but more than two thousand years have passed since the gods of heaven passed down the magic spells. It's clear that our Western magic has withstood the test of time. Eastern magic and Taoist arts are indeed very attractive, but they cannot shake the foundation of magic," said Headmaster Donaldson.

If their foundations were so easily shaken, Western magic would have long since vanished into the river of time. How could it have been passed down and continued for thousands of years?

"I think Dean Donaldson is right. There are different cultivation systems all over the world. A system that has been able to continue for nearly a thousand years can be said to have withstood the test of time and will not be easily shaken in its foundation," the Libyan academician also expressed his thoughts.

"Leaving aside cultivation systems, there are so many religions in this world, haven't they also gone abroad and spread all over the world? Although different religions have different ideas, their purpose is to persuade people to do good. There is no reason for any religion to be intolerant of another."

"Whether it's Eastern immortal techniques or Western magic, both are paths to becoming stronger. Which path people choose is their own choice, and we cannot control that."

"If one day their Eastern magic and Taoist arts truly replace our Western magic, then it can only be said that our Western magic has been abandoned by the times," Headmaster Donaldson said in a calm tone.

(End of this chapter)