Chapter 302: Let's Have A Spar
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Zing! Zing!
Loud sounds of a zither suddenly reverberated through the Sword Catacomb, breaking the silence of the quiet tunnels!
The group of elite cultivators heard the sounds and turned towards Xu Que, their eyes glazed over.
Brother Fujiwara… why did he come back? And was he just playing the zither as well?
"Way of Humanity!"
Xu Que shouted the three words all of a sudden.
The captivating sounds of the zither, together with his voice, shook the hearts of the crowd, entrancing them.
Even the Sword Spirit, who was charging towards Xu Que, was affected by the music. A slight tremor shook its body.
Xu Que saw the reaction of the Sword Spirit and became motivated. His fingers were now playing the zither more swiftly, followed by him half-speaking and half-singing the lyrics…
"Dao, Dao, Dao, Dao, Dao, Dao… Dao, Dao, Dao, Dao, Dao, Dao, Dao, Dao, Dao ..."
Although it was a simple word, 'Dao', Xu Que managed to sing each and every one of them with a powerful rhythm that echoed throughout the catacombs.
What is Dao?
Under the influence of the Xu Que's music, all of the cultivators were thinking of that same question that had popped up in all their minds subconsciously!
The black fog had stopped charging towards Xu Que and had transformed into its human form. A hint of confusion flashed through his icy cold stare towards Xu Que.
Xu Que directed Qi into his dantian and continued to sing.
"Dao can be spoken, but it may not be the eternal Dao one seeks.
Way of Heaven, Way of Earth, Way of Human, Way of Sword.
Black Dao, White Dao, Yellow Dao, Red Dao, Unorthodox and Orthodox Dao,
Whether Dao or no Dao, everyone say that's an extraordinary Dao ..."
The heroic and fast reciting of the lyrics was half-sung and half-spoken, like a Daoist reciting the Sanskrit. Everyone was greatly affected.
There's actually so many types of Dao—Dao is everything!
Just as the crowd thought they had come to a realisation about it, Xu Que continued singing again!
"Bah, bah, bah, bah, nonsense.
Being a sage has its Dao, being a robber has its own Dao as well,
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha …"
Xu Que's loud reciting of the lyrics followed by his laughter instantly resonated in the hearts of everyone. They felt as if their brains had been struck by lightning and they felt goose bumps all over their bodies!
Everyone was moved by the song. They had never heard of it before.
A song could even be performed in a half-singing and half-spoken manner. Not only that, but every word in the lyrics contained deep meanings about Dao that could cause one to think deeply about it!
The song that Xu Que had just sung was the creation of the famous master, Huang Zhan, back on Earth. That song was 'Dao', which was a song on the renowned soundtrack of the movie A Chinese Ghost Story.
Everyone was full of admiration for Xu Que, who was a four-star musician!
The Sword Spirit was considered a soul. Therefore, music had a greater impact to him. As the song contained such profound lyrics that could give rise to numerous meanings, he fell into a state of deep thinking and forgot that he had originally wanted to kill Xu Que earlier.
"Hey, I want to seek my own Dao… I want to seek my own Dao…"
As Xu Que sang the last of the lyrics, the melodic sounds of the zither stopped as well.
The whole area fell silent once again.
All of the elite cultivators seemed to be deep in thought as well, as if the song was still playing in their minds.
The Sword Spirit was however, awakened from his deep thoughts much faster than any other cultivator. However, he stopped in his pursuit of Xu Que, but looked at him coldly and stayed where he was.
Xu Que eyeballed the Sword Spirit and was secretly delighted. His expression remained solemn and he started to spout nonsense. "What is Dao? Actually everything is Dao. As long as I have a sword in my heart, everything can be the sword! If there is no sword in my heart, there will be no sword even if I am holding one…"
He used all the phrases that would induce the effect in his listeners of their admiration for him increasing despite the fact that they would have no idea what he had just said. He had read about this in novels and heard about it in dramas.
The more the Sword Spirit listened, the greater his bewilderment was.
With that, Xu Que blurted out more of those phrases.
At the end, with a wave of his sword, he carved two lines of writing on the stone wall.
"The Way, The Sword, are unable to change all,
but the Way of the Sword can change all!"
The Sword Spirit's eyes flashed. It was trying to comprehend the sentence.
When the elite cultivators saw the sentence, they were astounded as well.
A cultivator could not suppress his curiosity. He pointed at the lines and asked, "brother Fujiwara, what is the meaning of this sentence? Does the word 'of' change everything?"
"Wrong!" Xu Que answered in a nonchalant manner. "But young man, you're good. You actually know about grammar…"
"Why am I wrong?" asked the cultivator. "The difference between the first and the second half is just the word 'of' being added. Isn't it just that which changed everything?"
All the cultivators looked at Xu Que with puzzled faces and hoped he could answer them.
Even the Sword Spirit looked towards Xu Que. It seemed very eager to hear the answer as well.
Xu Que smiled mysteriously and shook his head. "All of you are only looking at this from the surface. If you look carefully, you'll realise that the difference is not just the addition of the word 'of'!"
"Then what is it?" The elite cultivators inquired.
Xu Que gave a smile and said nothing more.
The group of cultivators grew anxious as Xu Que left their questions unanswered.
The Sword Spirit squinted his eyes, then moved to make a slash on the stone wall!
Swish!
A flash of light passed by and a sentence appeared on the stone wall—'What is it exactly?'
Xu Que gave a laugh. "If I tell you, will you be willing to follow me? Of course, I will return that wisp of soul to you as well. Thereafter, you'll learn Dao from me, how's that?"
The Sword Spirit made no movement.
The crowd could not make sense from the exchange and was puzzled. Their eyelids were twitching as well.
What is this black fog? It's so incredibly powerful!
Is brother Fujiwara crazy again? He dared to make such a request to the black fog man.
Brother Fujiwara, that entity should be your Master, yet you actually want him to follow you and learn Dao?
Swish!
The Sword Spirit made a movement again. His arm waved towards the stone wall and another sentence appeared—'Beat this Sword Spirit with sword techniques!'
"Beat you with sword techniques? Are you kidding me?" said Xu Que, frowning. "My level of cultivation is so much lower than yours. If I could beat you, do you think I would still need to talk so much?"
The group of cultivators were dumbfounded:
The Sword Spirit?
This black fog man, is actually a Sword Spirit?
But, the white light earlier, what was it then?
Can it be that there are actually two Sword Spirits?
Everyone was baffled and stupefied.
Swish!
Then, another flash of light zoomed past, the Sword Spirit left another sentence on the stone wall –'We'll have a spar strictly judged on moves!'
Xu Que was elated when he saw that.
That meant they would spar using swordplay without using their Core Strength, just like the time Xu Que had been in the Imperial Palace of the Fire Nation, where they had had to seal their core energy before competing with each other.
Haha, in this situation, I have the Lone Nine Swords, who am I afraid of? he thought.
"Alright, come, I'll compete with you!" Xu Que laughed cheerfully. "If I win, you need to follow me."
The Sword Spirit nodded slightly without any expression.
Swish!
Without delay, the black fog on the Sword Spirit materialised into a sharp sword brandished in his hands, pointing towards the ground. All this was done in sophistication!
Xu Que twitched his mouth, and pulled out a six-star sword from his system storage!
Facing such a strong opponent, he had to choose a good sword.
"Eh?"
When Xu Que took out this sword, the elite cultivators were startled.
Isn't this the same damn six-star sword that Lin Guan from Spirit Treasures Pavilion was holding earlier?
Wasn't this presented to Lord Sword Spirit?
Why the hell is it in your hands?
"Could it be that Senior Fujiwara has already met Lord Sword Spirit?"
"It must be, and Lord Sword Spirit must have given that sword to him."
Everyone immediately decided on their conclusion.
The real Sword Spirit heard that and seemed perplexed, he could not understand what the group of cultivators meant.
But nonetheless, he was not bothered with that. The sword in its hand slowly lifted and pointed at Xu Que.
This meant that he was ready to spar!