RHRFS 04

Chapter – 04

But What If He Can Actually Do It?

The next day.

The news that the Primordial Saint herself had personally visited the junior apprentice brother and even gifted him a rare cultivation manual with her own hands spread quickly throughout the sect.

Along the way, the disciples gnashed their teeth in frustration, their hearts seething with jealousy.

“Seriously, isn’t this just ridiculous?”

“Fine, Elder Xueyin playing favorites with that bookworm scholar is one thing—but now even our sect’s number one beauty, Saintess Senior Sister, is smitten with him? What’s the appeal?”

“Who knows? Tell me, what’s with this world nowadays? Women don’t care about a man’s cultivation talent anymore, they only care about looks and some so-called refined, scholarly aura… I mean, what kind of twisted values are these?”

“Sigh, exactly! Can being handsome put food on the table? When danger comes, can looks protect your wife?”

“Well, to be fair, the Primordial Saint herself probably doesn’t need a man to protect her…”

“Uh… yeah, that’s true.”

The more they thought about it, the more annoyed they became. Several disciples trudged along, sighing and grumbling.

Arriving at the training grounds, a faint wisp of silvery-white sword qi brushed past them, catching their attention.

Looking closer—speak of the devil. He Qiu, the junior apprentice brother they’d just been gossiping about, had actually arrived early that morning to practice swordsmanship, an ancient tome tucked under his arm.

Was this kid actually planning to start cultivating the manual the Primordial Saint gave him right away?

The disciples stared in disbelief, finding it utterly absurd.

Even if the sword technique itself was meant for direct practice, cultivation required deep understanding and insight. Who in their right mind would skip repeatedly reading the text, memorizing it backwards and forwards, and grasping its essence before even picking up a sword?

What an amateur. What a waste of the Saintess’s gift!

Unable to bear watching He Qiu flail about with his wooden sword, the disciples shook their heads in exasperation. Deciding that out of sight was out of mind, they chose to relocate to a different training ground, refusing to enlighten the newcomer about the proper way to cultivate.

“Hmph, fool. Let him practice on his own.”

“Nobody give him any pointers. Let’s go!”

—

In truth, He Qiu understood perfectly well how to use the sword manual and hadn’t gotten the order of practice backwards.

He’d always been a fast learner when it came to memorizing texts. He’d spent the entire night committing the entire *Fine Snow Sword Manual* to memory—every single character, punctuation mark, and symbol.

At first, the characters in the book were completely incomprehensible to him. But strangely enough, after staring at the text and studying it intently for two hours, he gradually began to grasp their meaning.

It was odd—he couldn’t read the ancient characters themselves, yet he could somehow understand the intent and meaning they conveyed.

*”The Fine Snow Sword Manual: The cultivator transforms their sword heart into spiritual power, then channels it into the blade, ultimately forming sword intent as myriad fine snowflakes…”*

*”Culmination: One swing of the sword, and snow drifts for ten thousand miles!”*

Just listen to that description…

No wonder Senior Sister’s gift was impressive.

Grasping the concepts in a diligent, methodical manner, He Qiu practiced with tireless dedication. Even though the sword qi he currently produced was barely a gentle breeze—not even strong enough to stir a single leaf from the forest, let alone summon snow for ten thousand miles—he wasn’t discouraged in the slightest.

On the contrary, he grew more energized with each swing, because he could faintly sense a “progress bar” within his heart. Every stroke of the sword filled that bar by a tiny fraction. Though the progress was slow, the existence of that bar meant that mastery was not impossible.

*Fwoosh!*

He struck again. This time, the silvery-white sword qi finally managed to lift a single fallen leaf just slightly off the ground.

A hint of a smile tugged at the corner of He Qiu’s mouth. He could clearly feel his spiritual meridians absorbing the sword intent from the manual. It wouldn’t take him long at all!

As for Senior Sister An Lingran’s three-month deadline, He Qiu thought it was far too generous.

*She must have been worried that I wouldn’t be able to cultivate sword mastery in a short time, so she deliberately extended the timeframe so that a cultivation failure like me wouldn’t get discouraged…*

*Ah, Senior Sister is truly a good person—cold on the outside, warm on the inside.*

Though he still didn’t understand why she treated him so favorably, He Qiu was sensible and rational. Even if Senior Sister eventually needed something from him or had ulterior motives, repaying her kindness once—within reason—was only right.

After all, she’d given him such a manual as a greeting gift…

With that thought, He Qiu gave a slight nod, clearing his mind of distractions and focusing entirely on practicing the sword technique.

*Fwoosh!*

Another wide swing, and the silvery-white qi sharpened by another hair’s breadth.

—

On the green mountaintop, a silver-haired woman stood with her hands clasped behind her back, holding an icy-blue, elegant sword that radiated a chilling, frosty aura.

*Fwoosh!*

She suddenly swung the blade, and in an instant, the sword’s cry shattered the air. Heaven and earth seemed to shift. The silvery-white sword qi dissolved into countless tiny snowflakes, hurtling at breakneck speed toward a neighboring mountain range a hundred miles away, sweeping through forests and spirit beasts alike in a devastating arc.

Though the qi was as fine as snowflakes, its sharpness was terrifying. If such a strike were unleashed on a battlefield, countless cultivators would perish beneath the storm of countless snowflakes.

This was the true meaning of “One swing, and snow drifts for ten thousand miles.”

*”Huff…”*

Sheathing her sword, An Lingran calmed the turbulence in her spiritual meridians and let out a long, slow breath.

*I wonder how that junior apprentice brother of mine is faring with his solitary practice…*