Chương 160: Foundation sword art

Long Feng's interest was piqued as he listened to Bo Chun's words.

"Foundational sword art? What is that?" Bo Chun's eyes bulged, "Where the hell do you come from? How can you possibly not know what the foundation sword art is?" Was this country bumpkin trying to ridicule him or what?

"Am I supposed to know what it is?" Long Feng asked. Bo Chun took a deep breath and cursed himself for even coming to strike a conversation at first. How the hell didn't I notice how ignorant he is?

"The foundational sword art is something similar to a martial skill, only that it is a manual which serves as a guide on how to use the sword. Although it isn't precious to me, it is very important to the current you. Your sword skills lacks any concept, Anyone can use the sword that way, and that is because you probably didn't study any foundational techniques from your continent zone." Bo Chun explained. Long Feng nodded.

"I suppose brother Chun didn't come to gift the manual to me" Bo Chun finally smiled.

"If brother Feng wants the manual, I can give it to you, but on the condition that you don't ever come to me for any reason. Take it as I never approached you and we are strangers from different walks of life with different status." Long Feng gave him a weird, searching glance.

"that's all? Your condition is that?" Bo Chun nodded. He came up with this idea so as to cut off all relations with this continent zone trash. Although after they left this forest, it was possible that they would never meet each other again, he still didn't want to have any relation with someone from a random continent zone. This was the pride of the four region's youths. Long Feng almost couldn't hold back his laughter.

He could guess exactly what this guy was thinking and the thought left him chuckling to himself. Although he didn't know what the foundational sword art was, he wouldn't refuse an opportunity like this to further his sword comprehension. Is this how all the Juniors of the southern region behave, or is it just this guy?

"Do we have an agreement?" Bo Chun interrupted his thoughts.

"Of course, we do."

"Good. Here's the manual. Good luck surviving in this forest." Bo Chun nodded as he threw out a palm sized book with worn out cover. Then he turned around and sat in a different place to restore his inner energy. As long Feng picked up the worn out book, hua Liuli curled her lips.

"Brother Long Feng, that guy is really annoying. Who the hell does he thinks he is? Although I don't know about the grading of forces in the four regions, I do know that with his mere yang level cultivation at this age, he is barely an outer court disciple of whichever fifth grade sect he comes from, yet he came strutting around us like a peacock." Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Long Feng laughed "Don't bother about that.

I am only curious about the real geniuses of the four regions, not people like him. Do you know about this foundational sword art" Hua Liuli nodded, "Actually, most people know about the foundation arts. The foundation sword, saber, spear, halberd arts, many weapons have introduction manuals like that. Even our Yihua clan has some." Long Feng flipped open the first page as he listened.

"So what he said is true?" Hua Liuli smiled embarrassedly.

"About that, all the foundation arts are actually useless to cultivators. They are only used by mortals to hone their swordsmanship. As for cultivators, there are more complex weapon arts for each weapons of varying grades and elements."

"You mean this foundational sword art is useless?" Long Feng paused and looked at her.

"Well, technically, it is useless, but if a cultivator is to master it, he will have a deeper understanding of the sword. It will be easier to cultivate other sword manuals then. That is why it is called foundational, to build a solid foundation." Hua Liuli replied, then she added, "But cultivators prefer to use more flashy and powerful techniques, not the ordinary moves from the foundation arts. They don't even have a single martial skill in them.

Even my Yihua clan have an incomplete spirit grade sword manual; the wind storm sword technique."

"So I can also cultivate it?" He currently lacked any sword art or anything that could help him understand the concept of the sword. If this foundational sword art could help him, he didn't mind cultivating it.

"Brother Long Feng, this manual is only equal to the lowest rank incomplete Yin martial skill. It also has no specific teachings or skill. I advise you not to waste your time to cultivate it. If we return to the continent, I can borrow you our clan's sword manual to cultivate" Hua Liuli hesitated before she said this. Even for her, she could only take out a Yin grade sword skill.

She absolutely couldn't take out the incomplete spirit grade sword manual and give it to an outsider or else she would be severely punished. If that was all, then she could simply sneak out the sword manual without anyone knowing. Even if she was caught and punished, it wouldn't matter much, but the current internal situation of the Yihua clan wasn't stable. The Yihua clan was actually a combination of two different family clans; The Yi clan and the Hua clan.

The clan master of the Yihua clan was usually chosen from these two factions. Hua Liuli's Hua clan was currently in an intense competition with the Yi clan over who would become the next clan chief in the coming years. The slightest mistake could lead to the Hua clan forfeiting the clan chief position for the next fifty years. At that time, Hua Liuli would definitely become a sinner of the Hua clan and even her father wouldn't be able to intervene in her favor.

"It's alright. I will study this foundation sword art for a while. Of it is really as you say, then I will give it up" Long Feng assured her. Hua Liuli finally nodded and fell silent. Long Feng began to read through the twelve paged book. On the first page, the words 'Foundation sword art' was boldly written with ordinary ink. From the second page, the different basic attack methods of the sword were stated and thoroughly explained. The moves were further described with drawings.

As he read, a weird look appeared in Long Feng's eyes which only deepened the more he read. When he reached the final page and saw a note which said 'Whoever masters the foundation sword art will become an unrivaled sword master of his era', he closed the book and took a deep breath before cursing out, "bullshit!" What damned sword master? This wasn't even a cultivation manual. All it did was explain the very basics of the sword art. Although it was quite important, it wasn't worth anything at all.

No wonder Bo Chun could freely give out the manual without blinking an eyelid. Even mortals probably wouldn't cultivate this. Long Feng realized that Hua Liuli wasn't joking when she said that this manual was useless.

"Should I study it or not?" He thought with a frown. This manual had some value to him because he had no understanding of the sword concept originally, and so, his use of the sword was quite grating to the eye. If he was to study this manual, he might gain some insights into the sword. Even if that didn't happen, he could use it as the basis to enhance his techniques.

Originally, whenever he used skills like the nine zenith strike or the zenith dragon strike, all he did was to use his pure inner energy to forcefully unleash the technique with the most basic sword slash, making the skills seem very rough in the eyes of an expert. The sword was the king of all weapons, because it had endless variations and changes, while his own attacks were very singular. His attacks were therefore filled with flaws which could be used against him in a fight.

If he could fix this problem, he would be able to increase his attacks power. But if he cultivated this manual and couldn't gain any insight or fix his flaws, then he would only worsen the situation. At that time, he might have to change a weapon.

"I'll risk it all then." He finally decided to study the manual. As he began to read through it slowly and understand it, the young lady surnamed Lan opened her eyes and looked at the seven people who were seated cross legged.

"Everyone, it is time for us to part ways. The group was formed merely to safely leave the Yin ghost's zone and now, it is unlikely that the Yin soldier will come after us. I have something important to do and therefore, I cannot continue to take you with me. It is also a bad idea to move in groups within this forest as we would paint a big target on our heads. Once you have restored your inner energy, you can either remain here untill the seniors from the four dynasties arrive or you leave and try to survive.

It is up to you."