Imperial henchmen? My divine skills are all hacked versions.

The courtyard was covered in white snow.

The stone slabs of the corridor were completely covered by snow, with only a narrow path swept out in the middle.

Shen Weiya stood in the center of the courtyard, dressed in a moon-white outfit with tight cuffs, silver silk armor around her waist, and her long hair tied up high.

The longsword twirled in her hand, cleaving through the swirling snowflakes; the sword light and snow light intertwined, creating a scene as graceful and elegant as a painting.

When she saw Xu enter, her eyes lit up for a moment, but then she remembered something, straightened her face, looked away, swung her long sword sharply, cutting a snowflake in half, and turned her back to him.

Xu Xian raised an eyebrow slightly, not caring, and placed the remaining pot of Shaoxing wine on Mo Feichang's table.

Mo Feichang sat under the old locust tree, with a piece of Xuan paper in front of him, one corner of which was wet from the snow. He held a brush in his hand, his brows furrowed into a deep frown.

"Master Si, this is a ten-year-old Shaoxing wine from Taibai Tower, a gift for you. It's cold, have a couple of sips to warm yourself up."

Mo Feichang looked up from the poem manuscript, her gaze lingering on his neck, and she raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Your neck... got bitten by a mosquito? The mosquitoes at Taibai Tower are quite vicious; they only bite the Baihu (a military unit).

Shen Weiya, with her sharp ears, immediately sheathed her sword and ran over.

  

She leaned closer to Xu Xian's neck and saw a small, faint red mark on it.

She gave a cold laugh, holding her sword, and took a step back.

"What a huge mosquito!"

Xu Xian immediately realized what was happening, reached up and pulled his collar up a bit, chuckled dryly twice,

"There are many mosquitoes at Taibai Tower, and it's impossible to avoid them."

Mo Feichang picked up the newly written poem on the table and handed it to him, "A new poem, please appreciate it."

Xu Xian took a look and saw a poem about snow written on the paper. The gist of it was "Snowflakes flutter like goose feathers". The second half of the poem talked about the soldiers on the frontier and the country. It ended with "Don't say that the snow will disappear when spring comes".

The tones and rhymes were all wrong, the parallelism was all by luck, and the rhyme was all by faith.

"What a beautiful poem! Excellent!"

"Where is it good?"

"this.."

Xu Xian's eyelids twitched. "Um... well... anyway, it's great!"

Mo glanced at him sideways. "How does it compare to what you wrote at Taibai Tower last night?"

Xu Xian was taken aback, met his gaze for a moment, and then turned to Shen Weiya without hesitation, "Your Highness, I'll practice swordsmanship with you!"

Shen Weiya was secretly pouring wine into a cup while holding the wine jug. When she heard this, she looked up, her cheeks still puffed out.

She swallowed what was in her mouth, wiped her lips, and drew her sword to stab.

Xu Xian raised his sword sheath and blocked the attack.

Her sword tip struck the scabbard, but a gentle force neutralized its impact, causing it to slide to the side.

Her first sword strike missed, but she immediately followed up with a second, a diagonal slash, a horizontal cut, a straight thrust, and a backhand flick, the sword light dancing.

Xu Xian dodged left and right in the sword net, the Eight-Sided Sword not even being drawn from its sheath, only occasionally raising his hand to block.

She stabbed him dozens of times, but couldn't even touch the hem of his clothes. Finally, in a fit of anger, she threw the sword to the ground, put her hands on her hips, and shouted.

"I'm not fighting anymore! You're not going to give me any leeway! I'm going to kill you!"

Xu Xian chuckled, "Your Highness's swordsmanship is actually very good. It's fast, the angles are tricky, and the changes in moves are swift. It's just that you lack practical combat experience..."

"However, if Your Highness really wants to learn, I do have a set of Holy Spirit Sword Techniques, which I figured out myself."

Upon hearing this, Shen Weiya immediately became interested.

"You figured it out on your own? You, a mere cultivator at the Meridian Opening Realm, figured out swordsmanship on your own? Is that more reliable than your master's doggerel?"

"At least the tones are correct."

Mo's coughing came over.

Xu Xian took the longsword from her hand, the tip pointing diagonally to the ground.

"The Holy Spirit Sword Technique has five forms: Sword One, Sword Two, Sword Three, Sword Four, and Sword Five."

"It's not a repetition of basic sword moves, but a practical combo evolved from basic sword moves..."

Xu Xian drew his sword and demonstrated, executing five sword techniques in one smooth motion. The surging sword energy cleaved the snowflakes in two. The icicles on the old locust tree were swept away by the sword wind, falling to the ground with a clattering sound.

Shen Weiya looked down at the sword in her hand, then looked up at Xu Xian.

"A cultivator at the Meridian Opening Realm can comprehend this kind of swordsmanship? Are you lying to me? Are you actually at the Bone Tempering Realm? I'm going to kill you!"

"Your Highness, please stop fooling around..."

Xu Xian smiled.

"A genuine Meridian Opening Realm cultivator. I just opened my Ren Meridian last month, with Lord Mo personally helping me open it. If I were in the Bone Tempering Realm, I wouldn't have needed to dodge so many of your swords just now. I could have just stood there and let you cut me without you even being able to touch me."

Shen Weiya sheathed her sword, took two steps forward, and looked up at him.

"Then I want to learn!"

Xu Xian nodded. "Here's the sword. First, practice each of the five moves individually until you're so familiar with them that you can use them without thinking. Then practice the combos. The rhythm of the combos is more important than the individual moves."

"When to stab, when to prick, when to cloud—it all depends on feel. Once you reach a certain level, it's all about instinct!"

Shen Weiya took the sword and walked to the center of the courtyard, beginning to parry the moves as Xu Xian had just demonstrated.

The first time, after stabbing, the tip of the sword almost cut off his own hairpin.

The second time, I used too much force and couldn't control myself...

The third time...

Each of the five moves is fine individually, but when combined, they become chaotic and overwhelming.

She bit her lip and did it again, twice, three times... By the sixth time, her wrists were so sore she couldn't lift them anymore.

She thrust her sword into the snow, turned and glared at Xu Xian, "How did you fight with Jian Er? Stand closer and show me."

Xu took a few steps closer, reached out from behind her, gently grasped her wrist with his right hand, and supported her shoulder with his left.

Then, gently drawing an arc with her wrist, I explained in her ear as I drew... The movements were very light, and the voice was very close.

Shen Weiya could feel the warmth of his chest through her clothes, and her face flushed slightly. Her heart started racing, and her mind went blank.

Mo Feichang, who was standing to the side, took in the whole scene, raised his eyebrows and looked at the two of them, surprised by Xu Xian's boldness.

Shen Weiya was a princess, and Xu Xian was a subject. According to the rules, a subject was not allowed to even touch a princess's sleeve, but he did not speak to stop him because his gaze was drawn to the five sword techniques that Xu Xian had taught him.

He was also a master of swordsmanship, so he naturally saw the extraordinary nature of the Holy Spirit Sword Technique. The five moves seemed simple, each one an evolution of basic sword techniques, but when the five moves were put together, they contained a sword intent that he had never seen before.

If you look at this sword technique separately, it is similar to the fourteen basic sword techniques taught by Mo Feichang, but when combined, it is more powerful and purer than his sword technique.

This is not something that the Inspection Department can teach, nor is it something that someone who has only studied swordsmanship for a few months at the Meridian Opening Realm can easily comprehend.

...

After leading her through the competition, Xu Xian laughed.

"Has Your Highness remembered?"

"Your Highness?"

"Ah... I've got it, I've got it!"

Shen Weiya sheathed her sword, turned around and glared at him.

"Why are you standing so close to me! How dare you be so disrespectful to this princess! I'll have your head!"

"Your Highness, would you like me to teach you step by step, or should I teach you from a distance? If I teach you step by step, we'll inevitably have to get close. If I teach you from a distance, Your Highness can practice on your own. Don't blame me if you can't learn it."

Shen Weiya stood there biting her lip for several breaths before shoving the sword into his hand.

"Continue teaching, but don't get too close, keep this distance!"

Xu Xian smiled and nodded, took the sword and stepped back, then demonstrated Sword Five again, moving very slowly.

Shen Weiya finally saw it clearly this time, and did it again in the same way. The tip of the sword drew a beautiful arc in the air, and the force of the slash was controlled just right. The residual force of the sword collapsing was discharged into the ground along the blade, and the snow under the feet was shaken up.

She turned to Mo Feichang, "Master, did you see that?! I've learned it!"

Mo Feichang nodded, holding his teacup, but his gaze fell on Xu Xian, as if he were deep in thought.

Shen Weiya practiced a few more times and gradually got the hang of it.

She became more and more excited as she practiced, her sword flashing through the snow. The five moves of the Holy Spirit Sword Technique became smoother and smoother. Her face was flushed, whether from the fatigue of the sword moves or from the embarrassment of the hands-on instruction she had just received, it was hard to tell.

When they had practiced for the thirteenth time, Xu Xian called for a stop.

"Your Highness has already mastered these five moves. Further practice will focus on refining the details. The essence of the Holy Spirit Sword Technique lies not in the moves themselves, but in the rhythm of the combos."

"Knowing when to be fast, when to be slow, and when to change tactics—these are things that can only be learned through actual combat. Your Highness, you will gradually become proficient through more sparring in the future."

Shen Weiya nodded slightly, sheathed her sword, clapped her hands, walked to the stone table, and plopped down next to Mo Feichang.

She picked up Xu Xian's wine pot from the table, poured herself a cup, tilted her head back, and gulped it down, coughing twice from the fumes of the alcohol.

Then he put down his wine glass, leaned back in his chair, and gazed at the swirling snowflakes outside the eaves.

"Wow, so much snow!"

Xu Xian stood behind her, watching the snowflakes slowly drift down from the sky, landing on the old locust tree, on the bluestone slabs, and on Shen Weiya's hairpin.

"If Your Highness wishes to practice swordsmanship again next time, I am always ready to accompany you."

Shen Weiya didn't turn around, and gave a soft hum.

"Next time, you're not allowed to teach me hand-in-hand. If you dare touch my wrist again, I'll kill you!"