Chapter 113
Sparring
Six months later, Tobias pulled the shattered pieces of Hun Fen's mountain back together, undoing the destruction that teaching her caused. Hun Jia and Hun Fen watched in awe as stones rolled up the mountainside, returning to where they had broken free, fusing back into the mountain without a trace that they had ever parted. Tobias left the peak flat, giving him somewhere to teach and spar with Hun Fen.
As a cold wind blew through the mountains, Hun Fen stood before Tobias holding the wooden training sword he'd carved from the branch of a wild willow. She'd asked to wield the sword made from his ancestor's, but Tobias gently rejected the request. He wasn't concerned she would harness its dao, that ship had sailed. He was trying to placate Hun Jia.
She was concerned he was spoiling her daughter.
She didn't understand how cultivators thought. Tools for cultivation, no matter how expensive, were not considered luxuries. Despite disagreeing with her, Tobias held back, giving Hun Fen a simple wooden training sword he made one evening.
The sword contained enough of his understanding of sword dao to be considered a treasure. If a Swordmaster were to get their hands on it, they would consider it their pride and joy, gaining insights into the dao of the swords they might never have gained.
However, despite the sword Tobias had given Hun Fen, teaching her to use it had not been going well.
His first lesson taught her all the sword stances. It hadn't triggered any deeper understanding of sword dao. His second lesson explained how these stances were related to various strikes, parries, and blocks, covering the fundamentals. This had also gone well.
However, the moment he showed her the most basic forms, problems arose. From his movements and explanations, Hun Fen experienced a cascade of dao comprehensions, deepening her dao enlightenments. Deepening her enlightenment didn't cause her to go into a trance like it would with most cultivators; all it did was cause her to do was strengthen and then lose control of her dao, unleashing a new aspect with every action.
Tobias barely escaped the first time this happened.
Each additional form he taught her led to further insights and deeper comprehension, and it took days for her to regain control of her sword dao, but once she did, her control was better than before. Tobias had slowly worked his way through the basics with her, but never once crossed blades.
It hadn't been safe.
She lacked the necessary control and restraint, but more importantly, he lacked an understanding of her limitations. After over a year of working with her, Tobias felt he finally understood what she was and wasn't capable of.
Tobias held up his wooden training sword, ready to try something new. "Today, I am going to teach you a sword dance."
Hun Fen scrunched up her face because she had been hoping they were going to spar. "What's a sword dance?"
"It is a series of movements and forms that express sword dao. These are not for use in combat, but for comprehending sword dao and how it interacts with those who wield it."
Hun Fen frowned. "How is that different from what you have been teaching me?"
"I've been teaching you mortal sword forms, and from those forms, you have been comprehending sword dao on a deeper level. This is not how most do this, because mortal sword forms do not base their movements in sword dao, but in their mortal understanding of the art."
"I still don't see how it's different?"
Tobias paused, trying to think of another way to explain it, but couldn't come up with an answer. For Hun Fen, being pointed in the right direction was enough for her to progress her dao. She didn't need more. A sword dance was only necessary for cultivators who couldn't grasp what she could. In many ways, it was the same lesson but spelt out more clearly.
"It isn't different," Tobias eventually admitted. "But for those who don't have your ability or connection to sword dao, it is necessary for them to understand what you already do."
"Oh." Hun Fen thought for a moment. "But if I already understand what you're going to teach me, I won't learn anything. Won't that make this lesson pointless?"
"That's exactly what I'm hoping will happen."
Hun Fen gave Tobias a petulantly confused expression. "You're teaching me a lesson where you don't want me to learn anything."
"I'm teaching you a lesson that I don't expect you to learn from, but if you do, it will teach me something important about your limitations."
The sword dance Tobias intended to perform only encompassed things Hun Fen had already learned. If her dao didn't deepen from the dance, then Tobias was confident he could safely spar with her. If her dao grew, it would be a major problem, and Tobias expected it would be another three or four years before they could safely return to the Silver Blossom Pavilion.
"Oh."
"I'm going to perform a sword dance for you now. I want you to watch as closely as you can and then copy it once I'm safely away."
Hun Fen was a natural dancer. You only need to show her the steps to a dance once, and she could go off and practice on her own, coming back only after she had mastered them.
Tobias lifted his sword into the starting position and changed his stance. He had captured the sword dances of dozens of sword saints, fusing them into a deeper understanding. It was not a better understanding, but one that sat at the core of what they did. It was without embellishment or attachment to their dao path or cultivation.
It was pure and sterile.
Against a true sword saint, Tobias knew he would always lose. They took what he knew and made it their own. Against anyone else, he would come out on top, because his understanding of the fundamentals went much deeper than theirs could possibly be.
He was a fake sword saint.
At one point, he thought he would never be able to improve his understanding beyond the mortal realm, but as his understanding of sword dao had grown, his skills had improved. He was a poor substitute for an actual sword saint, but he could lay Hun Fen's foundation better than they could. It was enough for her to create her own sword art.
Tobias's sword dance was a mortal sword dance.
He went through the mortal motions, giving his entire focus to his actions, expressing the dao of the sword with every fibre of his being. If a mortal were to look upon him, they would think he was mad for learning something so ridiculous and out of touch with reality, but for cultivators and sword saints, there was a deeper meaning, one like the Blossoms taught with their lessons.
Tobias emerged from his focus state and turned to see Hun Fen staring at him with undisguised disgust. It was like she'd interpretive dance for the first time.
"That was so ugly," she said indignantly. "Do I have to do it that way?"
Tobias shook his head. "You can do it anyway you like, so long as you capture the dao of the sword within your movements. Let me get away, and then you can begin."
Tobias summoned his flying sword and leapt into the air, travelling to the other mountain. The mountain cave he'd carved into the rock was much larger than when they arrive containing multiple bedrooms, a library, sitting rooms, and even a playroom for the girls.
Despite the improvements, they still spent most of their time outside, so Tobias had created a pavilion and garden. Lung Mei was cooking skewers over coals, maintaining the spell that let Hun Jia see his lessons.
Hun Jia bowed as Tobias landed outside the pavilion. "I apologise for my daughters' rude words."
Tobias shrugged as he stored the sword and walked up the steps. "Any sword saint would say the same. I took no offence."
Tobias sat, and Lung Mei handed him a skewer of spiced wild goat, watching Hun Fen through her spiritual sense. "Do you think she'll pull it off, Master?"
"Yes." Tobias turned and projected his voice to Hun Fen. "You may begin."
They watched in silence as Hun Fen replicated his dance, making it beautiful. The dao of beauty surrounded every action but was more clearly conveyed than anything her mother had ever managed to achieve.
Tobias lost himself to the dao whispers of beauty, gathering insight after insight that had eluded him. When she finished, Tobias knew he was on the edge of his first comprehension. He told her to continue practicing while he mediated.
When he opened his eyes half an hour later, her sword dance had changed, expressing a different aspect of beauty than the one before. Hun Fen was growing her understanding of both daos through exploration. Tobias studied this just as intently as the first dance and then returned to mediation. This happened over and over again as he pieced together the dao of beauty.
It was nearly sunset when he opened his eyes and saw Hun Fen shouting at him that she was hungry and bored. Lung Mei sat beside him in the lotus position, meditating on the dao of beauty, oblivious as he had been to Hun Fen's shouting.
Tobias leapt onto his flying sword and went to collect Hun Fen.
Hun Fen jumped on the moment he stopped beside her, unafraid of the thousand-foot drop. The glare she gave him reminded him of the time he was late picking his daughter up from soccer practice.
"Where were you?"
Tobias headed back. "I was meditating on your sword dance."
She dropped the glare and smiled, hugging his waist as the ground rushed past. "Did I help you understand something?"
"Your sword dance is as beautiful as any of your mother's lessons. Were you trying to imitate her dao?"
"Your sword dance was so ugly I had to make it beautiful. I couldn't stand it. But I didn't know how to do that, so I let her dao guide me. It didn't feel right, though. It was pretty, but wrong. Do you know why?"
"You were borrowing too deeply. When you copied your mother, you incorporated aspects of her tea ceremonies into your sword dance. These aspects didn't belong."
"That doesn't feel right."
Tobias slowed their flight before landing outside the pavilion. "The other reason could be because you were borrowing her dao instead of infusing your own understanding into your dance."
Hun Fen hopped off. "But I don't understand the dao of beauty. I can only copy."
"Do you remember when I first started training you and gave you lots of different objects to create dao slashes with?"
Hun Fen groaned. "Do I have to do the same with the dao of beauty?"
"You already are. Your sword dance was inspired by your mother's tea ceremony. Tomorrow, you can try to strengthen that aspect. It will likely give you more insights. After that, we can add the other Blossoms lessons."
Hun Fen giggled. "You just want to capture what I know."
Tobias chuckled and ruffled her hair. "I won't deny it. But it will also help you. If you don't expand your understanding, you won't be able to make the dance beautiful. Then you will have to copy my ugly movements when I show you a higher form of my sword dance."
Hun Fen screwed her face up. "Eww."
"Did my sword dance teach you anything?"
Hun Fen nodded. "It showed me how everything fit together. I had all the pieces, but they weren't all in the right place. Everything is much clearer now."
"No dao insights or comprehensions?"
"No comprehensions, but a few small insights."
She had learned to tell the difference, and Tobias trusted her instincts. He had hoped she would gain nothing, but a few small insights weren't the worst outcome.
"Good. We're done for the day."
Hun Fen remembered to cup her hands and bow before racing over to hug her mother and share everything that she had done.
Tobias began preparing dinner by hand, applying the insights and commprehensions from the dao of beauty to his actions. Doing everything beautifully did not slow him down, except when he didn't understand how.
The dao of beauty did not surround him like the Blossoms, but his actions were closer to the ones they had taught him, and that made him happy. Perhaps one day he would be able to give a hug the way they could.
***
A sword dance was an expression of how a cultivator and sword dao interacted. It was akin to watching a painter prepare their paints and move their brush across the canvas. It was raw technique and skill without tangible results. It served no purpose beyond self-expression and teaching others.
Tobias could only perform sword dances up to the core realm and not the peak of the core realm, either. However, his foundation realm sword dance was more than enough to cause Hun Fen to lose control of her dao for a week, and the core realm dance caused her to lose control for over a month. Each dance triggered insights and deep comprehensions growing her base without making her stronger. She could now curve her dao slashes and deflect others back, which required additional rounds of training before they continued.
Tobias held up his training sword.
Hun Fen grinned.
She had been waiting over a year to spar with him, and it was finally going to happen. Her stance was perfect, and so was her grip. She was aware of her strengths and weaknesses, but that wasn't the same as knowing how to fight.
"You may begin," Tobias said.
Hun Fen rushed toward him, legs a little longer than when her training had begun. She offered a perfect swing to break his guard. The action would have made blade masters weep with envy. Tobias twisted his wrist and deflected her strike. He then tried to gently tap her belly with his blade. A dao block prevented him from hitting her.
Tobias knew this would happen.
Hun Fen was a living sword, which offered both offensive and defensive assistance. A mortal wielding a sword would never be able to harm her.
Hun Fen immediately stopped, mouth dropping open in shock. "You beat me."
Tobias smiled. "Experience matters when it comes to sword play, and I have tens of thousands of years of mortal experience."
Her eyes widened. "How old are you, Teacher?"
Tobias chuckled. "Old, but not that old."
Hun Fen stared at him, confused. "Then how do you have that much experience?"
"I gathered my experience from sword dao storms. It isn't as effective as if I practiced myself, but there is so much of it that it doesn't matter. As I train, that experience will help me develop in my own direction."
"I didn't understand any of that."
"I cheated."
"Oh. What did I do wrong?"
"Nothing. You just fought someone better than you."
"But I'm a sword saint."
"Even sword saints need to train to grow their skills. Let's go again. This time I'll attack first."
Tobias moved back to the starting position and then lunged, giving her the opportunity to step to the side and counter. He blocked the counter and gently flicked her belly with his finger, which wasn't blocked by her sword dao.
Hun Fen glared. "You flicked me."
"You didn't block it."
"How am I supposed to block a flick?"
"With your sword."
Tobias reached out slowly and tried to flick her. She placed her blade in the way and giggled. Tobias moved his hand to her shoulder and flicked her again. This time, a dao block protected her.
Hun Fen looked down and frowned. "How did that happen?"
"You blocked my flick with your sword, so you learned that this was within your capabilities, which influences your thoughts, which influenced how your dao protects you."
"So, no one can ever flick me now?"
Tobias flicked her other shoulder.
Hun Fen rubbed her shoulder. "But you just said that I can block flicks."
"The flick I gave your sword was the same flick I gave your shoulder. The second flick was different. Eventually, you will learn how to consciously control this effect, allowing you to be protected from all sorts of threats, but until you do it is very dumb. It can't easily differentiate between one flick and another."
"Can you teach me how to control it?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"I don't know how you are doing what you are doing. You are walking the conscious dao path, but you lack the cultivation to walk this path, so you don't have proper control over your dao. How you can do what you do is beyond my understanding and goes against some of what I thought I knew. I believe you'll eventually work it out for yourself."
Hun Fen raised her sword. "More sparring, less flicking."
Tobias fought her again, but poked her instead.
Hun Fen scowled as she rubbed her kidney. "I don't like it when you do that. I can't block it."
Hun Fen rarely got upset, so Tobias took her complaint seriously. "Why not?"
"I don't feel like I'm in danger, so I don't react until after you flick or poke me."
"You think it's a problem with your instincts. They tell you one thing, but the rules of our sparring matches require you to do another."
Hun Fen nodded.
"Is it okay if I punch your hard enough to hurt?"
Hun Fen shook her head, looking frightened. She was still a child, and while she wanted to learn the sword, she wasn't a warrior.
Tobias softened his tone. "It will only be once, and if you don't block it, I won't do it again."
Hun Fen screwed up her face and bit her bottom lip. "Fine."
They began a back-and-forth, but this time Tobias tried to punch her in the face.
Hun Fen effortlessly ducked under his punch and stepped back, giggling. "That was so much easier. Keep doing that."
They spent the morning testing what worked and what didn't. Tobias noticed that she improved more quickly when he took the offensive and guided her actions and reactions. When she went on the offensive, she would set the tempo, and this became problematic because she couldn't challenge him. He was always able to block and counter her, making it more difficult to guide her. As the day turned into evening, her offensive ability began to improve. The openings she had in the morning were no longer there, allowing her to counter his counter. Her footwork naturally shifted when she needed it to, and she didn't overextend herself.
Tobias called it a day as the sunset, summoning his flying sword. "Did you have fun?"
Hun Fen nodded as she stepped on the sword behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Why didn't I have any insights or comprehension?"
"Because I made sure you didn't learn anything new. You were learning how to apply what you already know."
"Does that mean it's safe for me to go home now? I miss the Blossoms."
Tobias heard the yearning in her voice.
"Not yet. We need to do this for a few more months for me to be certain."
"And then I can go home?"
"Then you can go home."