Chapter 312 – Polishing the Blade on a Tranquil Sea; Formless Nine by Nine Formless Blades - Part 2
“How mysterious...” The madam exhaled.
Her brothel might fly the flag of the Tang Sect, but real patrons were scarce, and the jianghu in Cloudpeak Province was complex. West of Sword Mountain, the Tang Sect and old clans jostled; east toward the Central Plains lay patchwork powers, each hiding its own masters.
Why so many powers had crept in, the madam couldn’t say, perhaps tied to the chaos brewing back in the Jade Capital.
True giants from the Central Plains disdained this poor frontier, yet plenty of veterans looking for a quiet retirement drifted here instead, seized a mountain, and played local lord.
Come to think of it, the Tang Sect itself had risen only five years ago. Rumor said its enigmatic matriarch hailed from the Central Plains. Her connections were sky-high, methods unfathomable, and a legion of elites stood behind her. That was how she carved out half the realm in one sweep.
The madam had already made up her mind. This chef was almost certainly another of Tang Sect’s hidden experts—come in name to cook, in truth to enjoy an easy life. Offending him would be suicide, while winning his favor might well turn the Springcharm Palace into the safest haven in town.
˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙
Upstairs, Siqin drifted in on the sweep of her long skirt, a jar of wine balanced at the curve of her hip. She wasn’t being wanton; she had simply read the signs. The youth in front of her was handsome, capable, and clearly of high standing. And she was simply trying to climb.
Li Yuan simply sat down and drew White Serpent from his sleeve. He pressed his ancestral seal to his heart and channeled heavenly thunder through his veins, pushing through into early fourth rank. Then he set the zither on the table and began to carve. It was clearly an antique, but merely adequate in his eyes.
His whole mind was focused on the blade.
When learning the blade, the first thing you learned was simply exerting force. Then came drawing force from the whole body—muscle, tendon, every shred of strength flowing as one, merging the whipping force with the through force.[1]
After that was utilizing the blood, channeling shadow blood with your will. This was the heart force. A spirit artifact was forged through a connection of source blood, and blood answered thought.