"Do you secretly overachieve like this all the time?"
Yanyan watched Jing Ke practicing swordsmanship in the woods. Who would have thought that sloppy, uninhibited, and frivolous Jing Ke was actually a secret workaholic.
Jing Ke gave Yanyan a speechless look. *You think I want to?*
*With you around, if this is considered overachieving, then what does that make you?*
"It looks like someone is setting you up!" Yanyan said calmly as he watched Jing Ke practice his swordsmanship.
"Who could set me up, and what's the point of doing that?" Jing Ke completely brushed off Yanyan's words.
He was just a disciple who had joined the Mohist School not long ago, and it was only because of his master, Gongsun Yu, that he managed to secure the position of an executive disciple within the Mohist School.
Yet even so, he was hardly conspicuous in the Mohist School. Who would bother plotting against him for no reason?
"There is a huge problem with your swordsmanship!" Seeing that Jing Ke was taking it lightly, Yanyan said with a solemn expression.
"What problem?" Jing Ke was momentarily stunned.
"Your master is Gongsun Yu, the Great General of the Wei State. He taught you battlefield swordsmanship, where you trade injuries for kills—that's normal. But what about the Mohist School?" Yanyan looked at Jing Ke and asked in return.
"The Mohist School?" Jing Ke frowned. He wanted to learn Ten-Step One-Kill, but that was a core technique of the Mohist School and one of its top-tier swordsmanship styles, which he wasn't qualified to learn yet.
Therefore, the Mohist School actually hadn't taught him much, and his contributions weren't enough yet, so he still wasn't eligible to learn many of the top-tier martial arts of the Mohist School.
The swordsmanship he was currently practicing had been given to him in private by a familiar Mohist disciple.
"The Mohist School has two swordsmanship styles known as the greatest among the Hundred Schools of Thought. One is the world-famous, fastest, and most ruthless and decisive sword: Ten-Step One-Kill! The other is the strongest defensive swordsmanship in the world: Mozi Swordsmanship."
"One offense, one defense, complementing each other—these are the swordsmanship styles Mohist disciples use to roam the world."
Yanyan said earnestly. Mozi Swordsmanship and Ten-Step One-Kill were the two strongest swordsmanship styles of the Mohist School. But unlike Ten-Step One-Kill, Mozi Swordsmanship was not among the top-tier martial arts of the Mohist School; any Mohist disciple could study it.
Given Jing Ke's status as an executive, it was impossible that no one had taught him Mozi Swordsmanship, a technique every Mohist disciple received a copy of.
"So, why haven't you learned Mozi Swordsmanship?"
"Mozi Swordsmanship is just basic Mohist swordsmanship. Why should I learn it?" Jing Ke said with a grin.
He joined the Mohist School for its top-tier martial arts, not for ubiquitous martial arts like Mozi Swordsmanship.
"All Mohist martial arts evolved from Mozi Swordsmanship. Every Mohist swordsmanship style bears the shadow of Mozi Swordsmanship. Furthermore, while Mozi Swordsmanship is straightforward and conventional, it is hailed as the strongest defensive swordsmanship in the world. What made you mistaken in thinking it's a swordsmanship style not worth studying?"
"Not just you Mohist disciples, even we disciples of the Confucian School's martial faction conduct in-depth research into Mozi Swordsmanship."
Yanyan frowned. He always felt that Jing Ke had been constantly misled, being groomed in the direction of an assassin.
Although he had never practiced the Confucian School's internal mental cultivation methods, Yushan Academy contained not only literary classics but also martial arts teachings.
Even if he had never eaten pork, he had seen pigs run.
Yanyan could tell that aside from the battlefield killing techniques taught by Gongsun Yu, everything Jing Ke had learned in the Mohist School consisted of relentless, do-or-die killing techniques.
This was the swordsmanship of a suicide squad!
Battlefield killing techniques merely traded injuries for kills, but what Jing Ke was learning now—while looking terrifying and packing immense power—consisted entirely of moves where either the enemy died or he did.
Perhaps Jing Ke himself hadn't realized it and merely thought these swordsmanship styles were immensely powerful and domineering, but Yanyan understood that these were the kinds of things major aristocrats and noble families used to cultivate death-bound loyalists.
"You'd better forget all that messy swordsmanship you're currently learning, and take the initiative to find your Mohist commander so he can systematically teach you Mohist martial arts!" Yanyan said solemnly.
Although the Hundred Schools of Thought sometimes criticized the Mohist School for cultivating suicide squads, that was only a reference to the courageous resolve and loyalty with which Mohists sacrificed their lives for righteousness.
The true martial arts training of the Mohist School was beyond the reach of the other Hundred Schools; it was impossible for them to teach Jing Ke such a desperate sword of doom.
"Is there really a problem?" Seeing Yanyan's solemn expression, Jing Ke began to hesitate.
"You haven't carefully consulted your commander about this, have you?" Although Yanyan was asking, he had already guessed the answer.
Jing Ke was a latecomer to the Mohist School, so it was normal for him not to be valued; after all, newcomers couldn't compare to those nurtured by the Mohist School since childhood.
Coupled with Jing Ke's lack of awareness—joining the Mohist School without taking the initiative to consult his commander—did he expect the grand sword masters and commanders of the Mohist School to take the initiative to guide him?
There were many Mohist disciples, and the commanders were very busy!
Not to mention that the man was a sword master famous throughout the world!
"No!" Jing Ke rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.
His commander was Master Xu, the grand commander of the Chu State lineage of the Mohist School. He was usually engrossed in sword-casting and thus very aloof, which made Jing Ke somewhat afraid to approach him.
"A person must always maintain a humble heart, learn to humbly seek instruction, and not be ashamed to ask questions of those below them!"
"Instead of seeking instruction from a commander who is a sword master, you go messing around with a group of thugs. Are you planning to become a major thug yourself in the future?"
Yanyan felt a mix of anger and disappointment at his failure to live up to expectations!
"He who stays near vermilion gets stained red, and he who stays near ink gets stained black. Those who live long in a room with orchids no longer smell their fragrance, and those who dwell in a fish market no longer smell their stench."
Jing Ke was getting a bit angry. They could criticize him, but they couldn't criticize his friends!
"Don't be unconvinced. You come from the lineage of Gongsun Yu. Even if you don't consider yourself, you must consider your master's reputation!"
"Or has the world left no one you care about?"
Yanyan looked coldly at Jing Ke.
Persuading people? He was a professional!
He knew how to preach big principles and dish out chicken soup, but there weren't many people who actually listened to advice!
Yet, there were always things people cared about!
Jing Ke had still wanted to get angry, but upon hearing Yanyan's subsequent words, he instantly felt as if a basin of cold water had been poured over him.
People he cared about? He had them!
Although he was an orphan, he had a master and a junior martial sister!
The reason he left the Wei State in the first place wasn't it to make a name for himself one day, carve out a reputation, and then return home in glory?
Because of his status, even though he liked his junior martial sister, he had never dared to speak up.
"Forget these useless things you're currently learning. Go find your Mohist teacher. Kneel if you must, beg if you must, and ask him to teach you true Mohist swordsmanship." Seeing that Jing Ke was willing to listen, Yanyan's tone softened.
"Will the grand commander teach me?" Jing Ke hesitated.
He was afraid of Master Xu.
"There is no sword master who does not cherish his own reputation. If he won't teach you, kneel outside his door until he does!" Yanyan said with a smile.
"Wouldn't that be too humiliating?" Jing Ke muttered in a low voice.
He was, after all, a chivalrous swordsman with a modest reputation in Yan and Zhao. Kneeling outside Master Xu's door still felt like losing too much face. Besides, his teacher was the Great General of the Wei State; wouldn't doing something like that bring shame upon his teacher?