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墨書 Inktalez
A day later, Lufan finished the remaining Primordial Meat, successfully expelling two strands of impurities from his muscles, making them more vibrant.
However, this was where it stopped; to continue his cultivation, he would need to hunt again.
Hunting was necessary, but Lufan also needed to take his time to contemplate the process of refining meat; he couldn't be too impatient.
As the saying goes, too much is as bad as not enough. While being vigorous and diligent is important, one must not overlook the intermediate processes and insights. Otherwise, it could lead to an unstable foundation, creating significant obstacles for future breakthroughs.
Moreover, Lufan's current cultivation speed was already quite fast; he could cover what an average person would in a month in just a day. He needed to carefully ponder the changes in his body; otherwise, it might affect his ability to control his realm. If he couldn't fully master his own power, it would be a loss.
Temporarily slowing down his cultivation pace, Lufan did not intend to waste this time. He thought about his internal skills, which included the Northern Darkness Divine Skill for defense and Iron Cloth Shirt along with Horizontal Thirteen Guardians for body techniques. However, he still lacked an effective means of attack.
Previously, he had successfully killed the Black-hearted Tiger and ambushed the robber known as Mouse. This demonstrated his exceptional intellect and composure but also highlighted that he lacked a powerful offensive technique when facing enemies head-on. Thus, he could only rely on the advantage of surprise with a dagger.
But this was not a long-term solution; ambushes could only work once. If faced with multiple enemies, after one strike, he would have to flee, which ultimately wasn't viable.
Although at that time his circumstances did not allow him to cultivate any sharp martial arts—no matter how extraordinary they were, they wouldn't yield much power in his hands; he might not even be able to break through an enemy's skin.
However, now that his strength had significantly increased and he possessed the unnamed dagger—a divine weapon—he could enhance his offensive capabilities.
The question was what martial art to choose; this required careful consideration.
With the unnamed dagger in hand, Lufan decided not to consider unarmed martial arts for now and focused on weapon-based techniques in his mind.
In Lufan's mind, all martial arts manuals existed in a peculiar way; they appeared as books. Normally, only their titles were displayed, and unless Lufan actively touched them, their contents would remain hidden and would not interfere with his thoughts.
This was somewhat akin to folders on a computer; one could only access the content by clicking on the folder.
The unnamed dagger was about one foot long and resembled a short sword. Therefore, Lufan decided to select a martial art from the sword techniques category.
Speaking of sword techniques, there were countless options in Lufan's mind. After all, there were many sword users in Jin Yong's novels, with sword techniques being diverse and dazzling.
However, for those ordinary sword techniques, Lufan did not pay them any mind; he directly selected the few sword techniques that he remembered to be the most powerful.
"Taiji Sword," "Six Meridians Swordsmanship," "Dugu Nine Swords," "Yue Nu Jian," and "Evil-Repelling Sword Technique"—in the end, Lufan chose the five sword techniques he deemed the strongest.
After a moment of thought, he suddenly felt a chill in his heart and quickly discarded the "Evil-Repelling Sword Technique."
His hands trembled; it was definitely a moment of weakness! How could he have chosen that technique? Lufan shook his head, trying to rid himself of that memory.
Then he focused on the remaining four sword techniques, selecting them one by one.
First, he dismissed "Six Meridians Swordsmanship." While this martial art was indeed powerful, it hardly resembled a sword technique and had overly demanding requirements. Not only did it require prior training in "One Yang Finger," but it also necessitated exceptionally deep internal energy to use. This was precisely Lufan's shortcoming; with his current internal strength, even if he were completely drained, he wouldn't be able to produce any significant results.
Next, he ruled out "Yue Nu Jian." This ultimate technique of the sword god Aqing should be extremely formidable, but it seemed more suited for women. Moreover, it felt somewhat deceptive; it appeared that only Aqing could unleash its full power. Just look at how weak Han Xiaoying, one of the Jiangnan Six Monsters who used it later, became.
That left only "Taiji Sword" and "Dugu Nine Swords." Looking at these two extraordinary sword techniques, Lufan felt conflicted.
Indeed, both techniques would be immensely powerful when mastered to a high level, and they both seemed to emphasize overcoming with no moves rather than relying on moves. In this regard, their principles were somewhat similar.
One focused on using softness to overcome hardness, stillness to control motion, and defense to replace offense, ultimately leading the enemy to defeat themselves without a fight—very much in line with the idea of winning without battle.
The other emphasized offense over defense; it was all about attacking with no room for defense. In fierce combat, one would exploit the enemy's weaknesses relentlessly, following a path of breaking through myriad techniques with a single strike. With a sword in hand, nothing in the world could withstand its power.
Thus viewed, the two sword techniques appeared to be opposites—one offensive and one defensive, one hard and one soft, representing two extremes.
Lufan felt torn and unsure about which to choose because he did not know which would suit him better.
As for learning both, that thought never crossed his mind. As the saying goes: too much ambition leads to failure. Both of these sword techniques were extraordinary; mastering even one would be exceedingly difficult. Attempting to cultivate both—especially when their philosophies were contradictory—was simply unrealistic.
To master numerous sword techniques would require reaching an exceptionally high level in one's own swordsmanship first. Lufan had barely even stepped into the realm of swordplay; one could say he didn't even know how to walk yet. How could he dare dream of such lofty aspirations?
After careful consideration, Lufan ultimately chose "Dugu Nine Swords" and abandoned "Taiji Sword."
This naturally has its reasons.
First, he does not like the Taiji Sword style, which is all about defense and slow, soft movements. What good is being an old turtle? A man should confront his enemies head-on; if they are foes, he should directly defeat them to the point where they can no longer take care of themselves.
Secondly, the Taiji Sword does not align with his current mindset. Right now, Lufan needs to continuously improve his martial arts skills with vigor and determination; a bold and relentless attitude is what he requires most, while the defensive nature of Taiji Sword does not suit him.
In contrast, Dugu Nine Swords is different. The techniques, the approach, the momentum—just thinking about it makes Lufan feel invigorated. This is the swordsmanship that young people should learn.
Lastly, it seems that Taiji Sword places a heavy emphasis on comprehension. Although it appears that anyone can practice it, if one cannot grasp the principles of Taiji and lacks a solid foundation in internal energy, learning it seems to be of little use.
One can see that there are many practitioners of Taiji Sword from the Wudang Sect, but very few are truly formidable. Lufan feels somewhat lacking in confidence regarding his own comprehension; this style is too esoteric for him.
On the other hand, Dugu Nine Swords is different. While it also requires comprehension, at least its practice has certain patterns to follow, which he feels he can attempt.
More importantly, this sword technique can still exhibit impressive power even without internal energy support. For instance, when Linghu Chong had completely lost his internal power, he was still able to blind so many people with a single strike; this demonstrates its formidable might and suits Lufan's situation perfectly.
Moreover, Dugu Qiubai has always been one of Lufan's most admired figures. Learning his sword techniques would be a great honor for him.
Thus, he made up his mind: he would learn the Dugu Nine Swords!
Once he decided, without hesitation, Lufan focused his consciousness on that book and began his studies.
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