Chapter 23

"Seeing is the first step. You must see to understand, and understand to master."

"Yes!"

Relieved, Lian relaxed a bit, quietly raised her inner vision, and replied.

"I will show you the sword form from beginning to end, so watch carefully."

"Yes!"

Lian nodded vigorously. As she looked at her granddaughter's face, Danmumu Tianji's fingers tightened slightly.

'Wow...!'

As the movements of a person who had dedicated his life to the Danmumu family's sword began, the air around him changed dramatically, rippling fiercely.

Lian slowly breathed in, imprinting Danmumu Tianji's movements in her mind. Even though her grandfather didn't seem to use any inner strength, the air around him was increasingly drawn towards Danmumu Tianji as each move added up.

'So this is the Luo Cheng Twelve Swords?'

The air rippled along the sword path, sparkling like the brightest stars in the Milky Way. The sparkle reached Lian's eyes.

When Danmumu Tianji had completed all twelve moves, there were exactly thirty-six sword marks and only twelve footprints clearly left on the straw dummy.

Click.

Danmumu Tianji sheathed his sword, took a deep breath, and turned to Lian.

"Did you see well?"

* Inner Vision 5 Stars Achieved (1▲) *

You can now understand how to improve your weaknesses.

Her eyes felt hot and sparkled.

'Every time I see something good, my Inner Vision sparkles. Is it because I'm still in the early stages?'

Usually, when you start learning something, you make rapid progress at first, but it gets harder as you go along, doesn't it?

'What does it mean to be able to improve my weaknesses? It's just pointing out or eliminating my weaknesses, right? Now I can learn how to do that?'

No matter how you think about it, this is not an ordinary ability. If 5 stars can achieve this much, what will I be able to see at 12 stars?

Lian gathered her thoughts and slowly nodded.

"Try to follow it once."

"Yes?"

Lian's eyes widened. Did he just say that?

She wanted to learn martial arts, but how could she possibly imitate a form she had just seen once?

Especially when there were twelve forms! She wasn't even sure if she had memorized everything she had seen.

"I'm not saying you have to do it perfectly. I just want to see how far you can go."

With a worried expression, Lian pursed her lips, took a deep breath, and stood in front of the straw dummy with a wooden sword in hand.

'At least I'm not seeing this sword technique for the first time...'

It's the basic sword form of the family. Even though she hadn't mastered martial arts, she had seen it many times in her past life.

And now, with not only that but also 'Harmony,' she might be able to imitate what she had seen.

As the golden light in Lian's eyes sparkled like stars, her wooden sword moved.

When Lian had imitated 'everything' she had seen, exactly twelve footprints were left in front of the straw dummy.

Lian panted and looked at Danmumu Tianji with a proud face. Danmumu Tianji raised an eyebrow and stared at her with a fierce intensity.

"How...?"

"Yes?"

But before Danmumu Tianji could finish his sentence, Lian let out a cry and fell over. The sudden intense movement had caused her to cramp.

Danmumu Tianji swallowed his words and quickly called for help. People from the medicine hall rushed over.

* * *

Danmumu Tianji clenched and unclenched his trembling hands as he paced in the courtyard of Yu Ying Zhai.

Gang Li, the chief steward, was rarely surprised by the patriarch's demeanor, but he understood his feelings.

Having lived as the chief steward of a family, Gang Li prided himself on having seen more wonders than not, but he had never seen anything like this.

Every martial artist has their own unique sword path.

Even siblings who practice the same martial arts will have subtle differences. Their heights, limb lengths, and thoughts differ, so the swords they wield are also different.

But what he had seen was not like that.

If Danmumu Tianji had performed the Luo Cheng Twelve Swords when he was younger and smaller, it might have looked like that.

The sword technique performed by the giant Danmumu Tianji was flawlessly replicated by a small girl, down to the smallest habits. If imitation could reach this level, it was a realm worth achieving.

And a girl who was not even ten years old had done it.

If she could perfectly imitate what she had seen, understand and master what she had imitated, and learn the next thing...

'Even the heavens are indifferent, how...'

The chief steward swallowed a sigh.

He knew that there were people who, seeing the eldest grandson in a state of being alive but not really living, had been shouting that this was no different from a ginger corpse. In the old days, such a thing would have been unimaginable.

It's all because the family's power has declined. Danmumu Tianji had repelled the Blood Demon Valley decades ago but was injured and never recovered. The heir who should have succeeded him died, and the eldest grandson never regained his senses...

Tragedies came one after another, and as they piled up, it seemed like a curse.

And it seemed that they had not completely escaped from that curse. Danmumu Lian could not cultivate inner strength.

As Gang Li bit his lip, Danmumu Tianji quietly asked.

"How is the child's condition?"

"The doctor said that although she suddenly moved her body intensely and had a cramp, she has calmed down now and there are no other problems. In fact, he said she is much healthier than before. However, he advised that she should be careful as she will likely have severe muscle pain tomorrow."

"Considering she performed the entire form from beginning to end... It's fortunate that it only ended with a cramp."

Naturally, she would have stumbled and fallen or, at the very least, stopped after a few moves because she couldn't remember everything. He should have stopped her at an appropriate time.

But who could have, and how?

A miracle named talent was unfolding before his eyes. Stopping it would have felt like a sin.

But perhaps he should have sinned. Danmumu Tianji secretly regretted it.

Talent doesn't run away, and even if it did, it would have no meaning.

Still, he couldn't let go of his greed...

"...Chief Steward Gang, move Lian's residence to Yu Ying Zhai."

"Yes?"

Surprised by the sudden words, the chief steward quickly bowed.

"Yes, I will take care of it."

* * *

"Sis..."

Danmumu Bi clung to Lian's leg, gently tapping her knee with her small hand and making a sad face. She had rushed over after hearing that Lian had a cramp.

Hua Lun, who had come with Danmumu Bi, was also staring at her with wide eyes.

"Sis... Does it hurt a lot? Are you okay now?"

Seeing Danmumu Bi ask if it hurt and if she was okay at the same time, Lian couldn't help but smile.

"Biya, Lunya. Have you memorized the Thousand Character Classic?"

Danmumu Bi sniffled and slightly avoided answering, while Hua Lun pulled her closer.

"Biya hasn't memorized it all yet, and Lunya? Have you memorized it all?"

"How could you have a cramp on the first day of learning martial arts?"

"Maybe it's because I was too enthusiastic. But you didn't answer about the Thousand Character Classic... Ow!"

As Hua Lun watched Lian stroke Danmumu Bi's head, she lightly reached out, then swiftly grabbed Lian's arm.

"Sis!"

Danmumu Bi was startled and clung tightly to Hua Lun's side.

Hua Lun, who had pressed a specific spot on Lian's arm, frowned and pouted.

"Does it hurt a lot? They say pressing here when you have a cramp helps."

"Really? Is this going to make me ascend to immortality or something?"

Hua Lun, irritated by Lian's silly remark, pressed a bit more gently than before.

"Ask the nanny to keep pressing it."

"I'm really fine now."

"That's why I told you to do something else..."

Hua Lun muttered, but Danmumu Bi, not understanding what she meant, only clung to Lian, offering to massage her.

As Lian gently stroked Danmumu Bi, the younger sister fell asleep, clinging to her sister. She must have been tired from the shock of hearing that her sister was in pain.

Lian laid her sleeping sister down and, while stroking her, secretly shot a glance at Hua Lun and whispered.

"Are you going to keep saying things like that?"

"Hmph."

"If you do that in other places, you'll really get into trouble. Got it?"

Lian whispered in a worried voice. Even if she and Danmumu Bi didn't do it, she had seen orphans and servants in other families being ignored and told to go away, and if they dared to learn, they would be beaten immediately.

The thought of Hua Lun being taken in by a powerful family and behaving like this made her heart burn.