I just arrived in the States, so this is the first time seeing what my release schedule looks like from here. I didn't realise it was Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday here. That's got to be the weirdest schedule on Patreon. Chapter 132
The Insights of the Sword Blossom
Tobias sat with his disciples outside his clan's hidden realm, watching Hun Fen undergo her core realm tribulation. Ming Dia Lu rested her head on Tobias's lap, using him as a dao focus to study her sister's ascension. Lung Mei lounged on her bed, which she'd carried out so she could relax. And Hun Jia sat to the side with a notebook studying what Ming Dia Lu. Tobias would have been studying with her, but today Hun Fen held his full attention. Tobias had never seen a mortal goddess undergo a tribulation or an ascension go so smoothly. Even Peace Master So could not claim to have it so easy.
Hun Fen sat in the sky, legs crossed, in the lotus position, cultivating and gathering heavenly dao as she compressed her core while glaring at the heavens. She did not swear. She did not curse. She did not challenge the heavens like other cultivators had to. And yet her glare was enough to cause the heavens to go to war with her.
Tribulation bolts rained down from all directions, filling the dark sky with violent light. The bolts only came as close as she allowed, stopping at the point where the tip of her sword would rest if her arm were fully extended. She was blocking the assault with her dao, daring the heavens to do more. It was like she was holding a grudge.
However, the heavens could not touch her. They could not bar her way to them. Their tests were for mortals, not for a mortal goddess. For her immortality was assured. And yet, the heavens acted out, as if fearing her rise.
Tobias considered them wise for fearing her.
Whatever they had done to her in her past life, they would regret. The cultivation method he had created for her was unlike anything else in the cultivation world. Like Lung Mei, it incorporated true body-cultivation methods to enhance her physique. It carried the weight of countless paths stealing unconscious dao from all aspects of life to open her eyes to paths she could not see. And it enhanced her abilities to cycle and manipulate chi in a way that would cause almost any other cultivator to explode.
Despite the complexity of her cultivation method, it had only taken her a day to master the exercises needed to expand and strengthen her meridians for establishing her foundation. The only part of that day which surprised Tobias was Hun Fen requiring more than a single attempt to master some of his exercises.
For Hun Fen, this was unheard of.
For Tobias, it gave him a certain amount of pride to know that he had created something worthy of her natural talents.
While mastering the exercises took a day, consuming the mountain of pills needed to establish such a complex foundation had taken an entire season. For any other cultivator, the pill toxicity would have been crippling. However, Hun Fen merely parried away the pill toxicity with her dao. And when she could not parry it away, she cut it from herself. When she could not cut it from herself, she blocked it. Tobias had tested whether she was capable of this decades ago, which was the only reason he had given her such a hazardous cultivation method.
Ming Dia Lu suddenly frowned as she watched her sister begin to show the first hints of a golden core. She turned her gaze to Tobias. "Master, why didn't you give me a cultivation method which would allow me to form a golden core?"
She was clearly upset.
Tobias didn't take his eyes off Hun Fen, gathering dao insights exposed by her tribulation, which had eluded him for decades. "Forming a golden core requires a cultivator to meet certain prerequisites. They must have a foundation or body that can withstand heaven's punishment and the talent to form a flawless core despite it. They also need patience. I estimated that you would have needed to remain in the foundation realm for two centuries to form a golden core, so I decided it was better for you to move ahead."
Ming Dia Lu turned to Hun Jia. "Why don't you have a golden core then?"
"An academic understanding of cultivation is not enough," Tobias replied. "Hun Jia would have died of old age before she was ready to form a golden core."
Hun Jia looked over and smiled. They had talked about this at length years ago. She had never regretted his insistence that she could not wait. And never loved him any less for leaving her weaker.
"Knowing what I know now, I should have waited," Ming Dia Lu grumbled.
Hun Jia raised an eyebrow in annoyance, losing her smile. "Do you trust your master so little that you believe he would allow you to limit your potential?"
"No. I'm just saying."
"You are saying you believe your master would allow you to harm yourself through ignorance. You should have more faith in him."
Ming Dia Lu sat up because of the scolding tone, turned, and bowed to Tobias. "This one apologises for her poor choice of words, Master."
Tobias inclined his head, accepting the apology. "You are far too old not to think before you speak. You are also far too old for me to punish. So, I will give you a lesson regret. The reason I allowed you to form your core when you did is that my clan holds the only remaining supply of miasma crystals. When you are ready to form a golden core, we will simply destroy your current one and replace it with the one you will need."
Ming Dia Lu's eyes widened, and then she turned to Lung Mei with hope written across her face. Lung Mei's core was poorly formed, and reaching the nascent soul realm with it was nearly impossible.
Tobias smiled and nodded. "Lung Mei' clan's body cultivation method has too many imperfections for me to currently remove it. Once I've finished correcting her foundation, I'll be able to safely remove her core and reestablish her foundation so she can form a golden core."
Ming Dia Lu glared at Lung Mei, openly annoyed now. "Why didn't you tell me that was why you have been taking all those pills?"
Lung Mei rolled over on her bed, stretched like a cat, yawned, and then turned to Ming Dia Lu. "Master told me they would help with my foundation, so I took them. "I didn't know that was the reason I was taking them."
"You've been taking cultivation pills without knowing what they do?"
"Master knew what they did. I trust him enough not to question his decisions."
"Are you saying I don't trust Master?"
"Wasn't that what you were just scolded for?"
Hun Jia chuckled. "I believe you're supposed to be watching Hun Fen undergo her tribulation, not talking about who got scolded or when and how you will form your golden cores."
Ming Dia Lu sighed as she turned around and lay down, resting her head on Tobias's lap again. She was barely in place before another question came to mind. "Is this why so many members of your clan have golden cores? You destroyed their cores so they could create a better one."
"If you bothered to read outside your interests, you would already know this," Tobias replied. "You can find the book Xu Ling, and I published about this in our clan's library."
Ming Dia Lu turned to Hun Jia. "Are you going to destroy your core and form a golden core in the future, too?"
Hun Jia shook her head. "I've exceeded the lifespan of a foundation realm cultivator. I cannot use the method you and Lung Mei will use. Your master and I are working on another method."
"There's another way to form a golden core?"
"Not yet," Tobias replied. "Where hoping studying how you use me as a dao focus to understand more complex subjects will allow us to create one."
"How will using you as a pillow lead to a new way of creating a golden core?"
Hun Jia smirked. "When you dual cultivate with someone, your daos mingle, giving you insights into each other's dao understanding. You are dual cultivating with your master but only allowing his dao to mingle with yours."
Ming Dia Lu bolted upright, face flushing with embarrassment. "I am not dual cultivating with Master." Ming Dia Lu slowly turned to Tobias. "Am I?"
Tobias continued to watch Hun Fen. "You are."
"How could you let me keep doing this!"
Hun Jia laughed. "There is nothing improper about what you are doing. We've learned from studying you that dual cultivation is grounded in the dao of intimacy. The shortcut to this dao is sex, but it is not the only path to dual cultivation. He is your master. You are his disciple. This is an intimate relationship. And it is a relationship which allows for the exchange of knowledge. This is what allows you to use him as a dao focus to study. Hun Fen does the same thing you do, but she does not need to be in contact with him to do so."
Tobias reached out and gently grabbed his disciple's shoulder, guiding her back to his lap. "Until recently, our understanding of dual cultivation was limited. Now we understand that dual cultivation can use anything that brings those who care deeply for one another closer together, actions which express the intimacy of your relationship. From studying you, Hun Jia and I have learned to do what you do by holding hands. Admittedly, neither of us is anywhere near as good as you are, but this has already proven how wrong our thinking has been when it comes to dual cultivation."
Ming Dia Lu frown. "So, you don't have to have sex to dual cultivate?"
"It's still the most effective method we have. However, we believe that has more to do with our limited understanding of what dual cultivation is, rather than it being the most effective method."
Ming Dia Lu turned to Hun Jia. "How will this lead to you gaining a golden core?"
Hun Jia smiled. "We believe that the pinnacle of dual cultivation is two becoming one. The dao I have gained will become his dao, and the dao he has gained will become mine. When we separate, we will take the other's gathered dao with us. This should lead to me forming a golden core as the heavenly dao within him is part of the dao he has gained."
"Is that really possible?"
Tobias nodded. "Theoretically."
Ming Dia Lu pouted. "How soon do you think you will figure out how to do that? Using you as a pillow is embarrassing now."
Tobias chuckled. "You always said you wanted to do something that would make me study you the way I study your sister, and now that you have, you want me to stop."
"I never said I wanted you to study how I accidentally dual cultivate with you."
Hun Jia laughed. "If it makes you feel any better, we're studying how your sister dual cultivates from a distance."
"That does not make me feel better."
Tobias shared a grin with Hun Jia. "Think about it this way. The sooner we understand what you're doing. The sooner we understand what your sister is doing. And once we understand that, we'll understand how we can teach you to dual cultivate with me without having to use me as a pillow."
"But I like using you as a pillow. Your understanding of the dao of beauty makes you the most comfortable pillow that could possibly exist."
Tobias laughed. "You sound like I've spoiled you, Princess."
Ming Dia Lu grinned and opened her mouth.
Tobias fed her without a second thought.
***
Now that Hun Fen had entered the core realm, Tobias was finally ready to give up on rebuilding his sword dao foundation. The insights he had gathered from the dao storm all those centuries ago seemed to have completely stripped him of the ability to rebuild his foundation. He'd tried using every grade of clone he could, but none of them made a difference. He was a false sword saint. He could replicate what they could do, but he could not replicate their understanding. And if Hun Fen could not see a way to fix this, Tobias was certain that continuing to train would just be a waste of his time.
Hun Fen was laughing at the edge of his dojo as Tobias finished his sword dance, coming to a controlled stop. "Master, you are the most beautiful fraud I have ever seen. Even now, I can barely tell that you can't comprehend the living sword."
Tobias sheathed his sword and sighed. He'd both hoped and feared that she would see he was a fraud. Her words had dashed any remaining hope he had that his understanding of his condition was wrong.
Tobias turned to his disciple. "It's the benefit of being a Blossom. It changes my dance just enough that only you can see I don't truly understand why I'm doing things the way I'm doing them."
Hun Fen grinned. "Master is wrong."
Tobias frowned, confused by her reply. "About which part?"
"You don't understand sword dao, but you understand the individual insights which make up your enlightenment."
"I don't see your point."
"My point is, maybe you should stop trying to apply them to sword dao and try to apply them to another weapon. If you can obtain dao enlightenment for another weapon, perhaps you will understand why you can't rebuild your foundation for sword dao."
"I have no interest in fighting, and that sounds time-consuming."
Hun Fen pulled out her folding fan, flicked it open, and swung it at him, unleashing a restrained dao slash. Tobias wielded the false living sword within him to block the slash and save his home from destruction.
Hun Fen continued to grin. "Master, you use your folding fan more than anyone else I know. See if you can meditate on its dao to obtain the weapon version of its dao enlightenment like Senator Lee."
"I'd rather give up. It's clear to me now that I can't fix my foundation and that I also don't have to. I can still progress in the living sword, and that's all I need to refine your cultivation method and spar with you."
Hun Fen sent another dao slash his way. "As the Sword Blossom, I cannot let you ruin my reputation, Master."
Tobias chuckled.
Hun Fen smirked and lowered her fan. "I truly think trying to achieve dao enlightenment for another weapon will help you. I'm not sure what it will teach you, but I've found reaching enlightenment for other weapons helpful for progressing my understanding of the living sword."
Tobias frowned again. "When did you achieve dao enlightenments for other weapons?"
"When we visited Cloud City, and you went off to check on the elders further up the mountain."
Tobias had only been gone for an afternoon.
"You said you were going off to explore."
"I explored and discovered that the Cultivation and Science Academy had programs for achieving dao enlightenment for several weapons. I shrouded myself, watched the more advanced lessons, and achieved dao enlightenment with the spear, shield, glaive, axe, and staff. Each one offered me a different view of what I already understand through sword dao, helping me see where I can take my understanding. It expanded my foundation without changing it."
Tobias pulled out his folding fan. "Can you guide me?"
Hun Fen shook her head. "For it to be a proper dao enlightenment, I believe you have to reach it on your own."
"Why on my own?"
"Stealing the insights of countless sword saints is how you ended up as a fake living sword. Obviously, this must be where you went wrong."
"I didn't really steal them," Tobias said, a little indignant.
"What would you call it then?"
Tobias thought about it for a moment. "I confiscated them."
Hun Fen froze and then groaned. It was a long and drawn-out groan filled with years of regret. When it should have come to its natural end, she kept going.
Tobias eventually stopped her with the question he knew she wanted him to ask. "You know what I did wrong, don't you?"
She grinned again. "Yes, Master."
"What did I do wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Then why don't I have your depth of insight?"
"Because you're living out your dao path, Master, which is why you could confiscate so many insights to begin with."
"I'm not following."
Hun Fen raised her hand, motioning to the dojo. "This palace was built for an immortal magistrate, and you feel more at home here than anywhere else I've seen you, because despite everything you've accomplished, you are still a magistrate at heart. You study heavenly laws. You make sense of them to others. You protect the weak. You enforce justice. You have lots of reasonable justifications for your actions. However, those justifications still add up to you living the life of a magistrate."
"I understand that, but I still don't follow."
"All those centuries ago, you did what a magistrate does when they are confronted with the ill-gotten gains of criminals. You confiscated them. You confiscated the sword dao of countless sword saints and their personal understanding of how they used those swords."
"I still don't follow."
Hun Fen huffed out a breath, already annoyed with him for not being able to understand her explanation. It was one of the reasons she was a terrible teacher. "Master, you've taught me the heavens don't differentiate between sword dao and an actual sword, so why would an immortal magistrate be any different. You've been carrying around criminals' confiscated swords for centuries, while expecting to be able to use those swords as well as they could."
Tobias groaned because it made sense. "You're saying, I've been cleaning and polishing someone else's sword and wondering why I can't use it as well as they can."
"Exactly."
Tobias summoned his understanding of sword dao in the form of a dao sword. He looked at the shape of the blade, ignoring its dao entirely. The blade didn't look right. It was flawless. The epitome of what a sword should be. But it was not the sword he would choose to wield, given the choice. "This isn't my blade."
Hun Fen stepped forward, cutting through the distance between them with her dao. "I don't understand enough of your dao to say if that's true. However, if you say so, I believe you."
Tobias looked to his disciple. "How do I make my own sword?"
Hun Fen frowned. "Why would you do that? You have a perfectly good sword in your hand. You just need to learn how to use it, instead of imitating its old owners."
"You're saying I need to create my own sword style based on the blade I hold to integrate properly with my sword dao."
"I don't believe it's that simple."
"It never is."
"You didn't just confiscate sword saints' dao insights, you confiscated their personal experiences. You now copy what they would do in each situation you face, trusting their instincts over your own, because you don't have any instincts to replace them with. And you can't develop your own instincts until you create a sword style where you integrate theirs."
Tobias stared at the dao sword and offered it to Hun Fen. "You believe this is some form of dao technique."
Weak chi techniques required a deep understanding of natural laws to change the chi to fit the results you desired. Stronger chi techniques required dao insights and comprehensions. The most powerful required dao enlightenment. However, there was a realm beyond this: dao techniques. They were techniques formed entirely of dao.
Tobias had encountered several left behind by their immortal ancestors, and all of them were gibbering. Their ancestors hadn't understood why they did what they did or how it worked. But there were enough examples for Tobias to believe they existed. He'd taught Hun Fen about them because if there was anyone who could make one, it would be her.
Hun Fen frowned. "I hadn't thought about it that way, but it could be. Can I hold your dao sword?"
Tobias nodded and handed it over.
Hun Fen's eyes went wide. "I can hear them!"
"Hear who?"
"The sword saints whose experience you confiscated. Their memories are trapped in this sword."
Hun Fen turned and dropped into a stance I'd never taught her, before executing a series of steps and swings that lacked her usual refinement.
She came to a stop and grinned at me. "Master, that was the northern bear style. It came from another continent. The creator was the son of a sword saint who tried and failed to eclipse his mother."
"Did it teach you anything?"
"Yes. It taught me I was wrong. You don't need to create your own style. You need to learn the styles you've already confiscated. Each style you master should give you some of the understanding you have been searching for."
Tobias winced. "How many are there?"
Hun Fen grinned. "Don't worry, Master, I promise not to overcharge you for my time. Though my rate had gone up considerably since I reached the core realm."