Reflecting upon everything in my past, I was like a true direct disciple of some ancient martial arts master. Through twenty years of rigorous training, I had achieved in a fraction of a lifetime what others spent their entire lives trying to accomplish.
The only thing lacking was actual combat experience—a true life-or-death struggle against high-level opponents of my own tier. My sparring sessions with Lugiel certainly hadn't been for nothing, though. Years of battle experience and the honing of my skills had visibly sharpened my vision, technical proficiency, lethality, and timing. At the very least, when the time came for a true battle of life and death, I wouldn't stage-fright.
Yet, I had severely underestimated my own strength. Suppressing myself to the Elite (Intermediate) level resulted in what was essentially a massacre against high-level monsters—a complete miscalculation. But since I had already revealed that level of power, it was awkward to backtrack.
This directly nipped my original purpose for the trial in the bud, leaving me with zero gains, save for a consolation prize of a few dozen Dark Crystals.
Camearra said with an embarrassed expression, "Can you teach me your swordsmanship? Seeing you slice down a high-level monster in a single strike with your Light Saber made me so envious."
My expression turned rather strange. "On the next mission, I'll let you get a good look at my swordsmanship. What you saw these past two times really isn't worth mentioning—it was just a tiny fraction of the surface-level stuff I know. Next time, I'll show you what true sword Qi projection and real swordsmanship look like."
"As for teaching you, there's only one way: become my woman. That way, I wouldn't be breaking any rules. This art has always been passed down to sons, never to daughters. A daughter is meant to marry out, and wouldn't she leak everything if she learned it? Only a woman who is married into the family is qualified to learn things that don't involve the core essence. But for you, that would be more than enough to last a lifetime."
Camearra's reaction caught me completely off guard. "I understand. Even now, as the chieftain's daughter, the powerful swordsmen among the Dark Giants wouldn't easily teach me. This involves the future generations; no one teaches it casually. The Dark Giants are no exception, which is why my swordsmanship is still at this level."
"I'll go find a mission. I want to see what level your swordsmanship really is. Is it okay if I pick a mission targeting around twenty monsters this time?"
I replied with confidence, "No problem, go ahead!"
Watching her depart, my thoughts drifted back into memory.
It must have been when I was about ten years old. I wasn't taking my sword practice seriously and got scolded by my grandfather's father—my great-grandfather. Afterward, he personally demonstrated his Tai Chi Swordplay for me, and I quietly memorized it.
Once he finished demonstrating the entire set of forms, my great-grandfather was out of breath. He said, "When you can make the hum of the sword maintain a steady pitch without wild fluctuations, your Tai Chi Swordplay will have reached mastery, and you won't be at a disadvantage against any master. Remember: once the sword hum is steady, the sword aura is not far behind!"
I didn't understand it back then, but as I grew older, I gradually realized just how difficult that feat was.
Learning Tai Chi Swordplay wasn't hard; training it into an instinctive reflex wasn't hard either; producing a sword hum wasn't overly difficult. But finishing an entire set of forms without the sword hum ever breaking—that was the tricky part.
A sword has weight, after all. A complete routine of Tai Chi Swordplay involves numerous movements. Keeping the sword hum continuous requires mastering the delicate arts of absorbing, generating, and discharging force. The force being discharged is the momentum generated by the sword itself as it whips through the air at high speeds.
It wasn't until the final six months before my death that I had managed to barely keep the sword hum from breaking. This was why my grandfather had passed the pendant down to me; at the very least, I was the most outstanding among our generation. My grandfather had reached this exact stage, too—he was only slightly better, with a very limited margin of superiority. Think of his age, and think of mine.
Before my body began to decline, I still had at least twenty more years of opportunity to push toward my great-grandfather's realm. That was the primary reason it was passed down to me—my potential had not yet reached its limit.
I carefully recalled how my great-grandfather looked when he demonstrated it to me back then. Over the years, I hadn't skimped on my research. Combining his demonstration with his past guidance, I had finally figured out the inner workings of it all. It was just that studying other skills over the years had temporarily slowed down my sword practice, resulting in sluggish progress.
I fished out my Light Saber and weighed it in my hand. My body began to shrink as I released my transformation. It wasn't overly heavy; it felt just right in my grip.
I began to practice the Tai Chi Swordplay anew, executing it form after form, gradually ramping up the difficulty. Now that I understood the secret behind it, reaching my great-grandfather's realm was just a matter of time—I simply hadn't figured it out properly before.
I had completely overlooked the most crucial reminder from back then: physical conditioning and the application of force. After taking a huge detour, I was right back where I started. How foolish of me!
My current physique, even in its human form, was vastly superior to my past life, and my application of force was leagues ahead. My great-grandfather was truly a badass; with a body decayed to the absolute limit, he could still perform vastly better than I currently could. Impressive!
Form after form, the swordsmanship continued without stopping. I wasn't entirely proficient yet, but with more practice, reaching his level would no longer be an unreachable dream.
Now I finally understood why they said that once you mastered this, you would never be at a disadvantage against anyone. Wherever the blade's body reached was your own defensive perimeter. This was the beauty of Tai Chi Fast Sword: parrying and turning the opponent's momentum back against them. As long as the incoming force didn't exceed ninety percent of what you could withstand, you would never fall.
What was the principle behind Tai Chi? The core of it was borrowing force to strike. That ninety percent tolerance threshold meant an opponent needed immense strength just to shatter your defense.
It wasn't too late to have this epiphany. At the very least, my close-quarters lethality had improved.
After practicing for a long time, I put away the Long Sword. Viewing my swordsmanship through my current perspective, I began identifying my flaws and making corrections.
Today had been quite fruitful, and I was in high spirits. Even my application of swordsmanship augmented with Dark Energy had improved considerably.
I looked up at Darram and Hitler, who were still maintaining their giant forms, and called out, "I'm in a good mood today, so I'm treating you guys to drinks. Coming or not?"
The two of them shook their heads, still engrossed in studying the swordsmanship I had used. I stopped bothering with them. Let them study all they wanted! If it were that easy to figure out, there wouldn't be such a thing as core secret transmissions, nor would so many people have taken detours.
If not for practicing under my grandfather's watchful eye, where he constantly corrected my mistakes, I would never have achieved what I did back then. Stealing arts was never that easy—I had been overthinking it.
Just as I was about to leave for the human settlement to grab a drink, Camearra rushed back in a flurry. If I hadn't dodged quickly, I really would have been caught in the dust kicked up by her landing.
Telekinesis surged, and my body grew to giant size—that was much safer. "Were you chased by dogs? Why are you rushing back like this?" Half my good mood instantly vanished.
I said to Camearra, "I found a mission. This time it's a stronghold of twenty-one monsters distributed quite densely. It's very suitable for you."
I immediately questioned her, "Do you really want to see my swordsmanship? Even if you watch, you won't be able to learn it. If stealing arts were that easy, wouldn't everything descend into chaos? Even if I hand you the sword manual, you'd still need to practice for a decade or so just to fully convert it into your own skill—and that's the version without the core secrets."
Camearra replied, "Even if we can't learn it, opening our eyes to it is fine, right?"
I was a bit helpless. "Since you want to see it, lead the way then! Let's get going."
Camearra shouted, "Darram, Hitler, keep up! We're going to help out, but mainly to watch the swordsmanship. Let's move!" With that, she took the lead, truly cutting the figure of a big sister in charge.