Chapter 647: Confusion of the True Self
"Ice Spear" Chen Han of the Northern Plain War Zone practiced a Spear Technique that took the extreme path of frost. With every thrust of his spear, fine frost condensed in the air.
Battling against him, Xu Wuyi truly experienced the meaning of the harmonious balance of Yin and Yang. His True Intention of Incineration had met its match for the first time in the face of Chen Han’s frost. The two fought three rounds, resulting in one win, one loss, and one draw. Afterward, Chen Han invited him out for three days of drinking, treating him as a true friend despite the difference in their ages.
"Shadow Blade" Su Yu of the Southwest Military Region was someone Qin Qinghe had specifically reminded him to visit. This female Quasi-Grandmaster walked an unorthodox path; her Body Technique was like a phantom, and her assassination skills had reached the absolute pinnacle.
Fighting her, Xu Wuyi learned for the first time what it meant to be impossible to defend against. Su Yu’s saber always struck from the most unexpected angles, too fast for him to react. He completely lost the first three matches. By the fourth, he finally adapted to her rhythm, barely managing a draw before eventually turning the tide to win.
"Interesting," she said. "You’re the first person to adapt to me in just four matches."
She also told Xu Wuyi that her Saber Technique was inherited from a hidden sect deep in the mountains of the Southwest, entirely different from the mainstream Martial Arts styles of the Federation. If he wanted to learn more, he could take a trip into those mountains where a few seniors might offer him further inspiration. Xu Wuyi took note of this.
He also visited "Tidal Sound Sword" Luo Qinghe on the coast of the East Sea. The Elder Grandmaster was already over eighty years old, his Qi and Blood in decline, but his Sword Intention remained astonishing. His sword was not fast, but it was continuous like the rolling tide, stroke after stroke, leaving his opponents suffocating. He was a rare Swordsman who did not practice the Fast Sword.
Xu Wuyi only stayed with him for a day, as Luo Qinghe’s physical condition did not permit prolonged sparring. Yet, the harvest of that single day surpassed ten days of accumulation elsewhere.
Luo Qinghe told him, "Your Heart Image is strong—excessively so. But strength isn’t the problem. The problem is that you rely on its strength too much."
He then visited "Poison Hand" Wen Liang in the southern borders. The old man’s name meant ’gentle and kind,’ but his methods were anything but. Wen Liang’s Martial Arts were intrinsically linked to poison, every move carrying an eerie, treacherous aura. Sparring with him required Xu Wuyi to maintain constant vigilance; the slightest misstep meant being poisoned. Though Wen Liang wouldn’t actually land a fatal blow, that feeling of treading on thin ice deepened his understanding of combat to a whole new level.
He also called on "Vajra" Shi Kong in the western regions, a Quasi-Grandmaster who had become a monk. Shi Kong’s Martial Arts followed the path of the Buddhist Sect, emphasizing compassion and never striking to kill. Yet his Fist Technique was incomparably fierce, every punch like the Buddha’s Furious Vajra.
Xu Wuyi fought him five times, benefiting immensely from each round. Shi Kong told him, "Your Heart Image lacks compassion."
Xu Wuyi didn’t understand why a Heart Image needed compassion. Shi Kong simply smiled and offered no explanation.
...
Time flowed by quietly.
Xu Wuyi traveled from one city to another, visiting Quasi-Grandmaster after Quasi-Grandmaster, engaging in countless spars. His Spear Technique grew ever more refined, his Heart Image stronger, and both his Life Energy Level and Spiritual Strength steadily improved. He still hadn’t pinpointed the flaw in his Heart Image, but he felt he was getting closer, as if the answer was just within sight.
When the first snow of December fell, Xu Wuyi stood on a hill outside Xingjing City. He was bundled up in a specially made military windbreaker, the Liaoyuan Long Spear on his back tightly wrapped in a spear bag. A thin layer of snow gathered on his shoulders. Below the hill lay the myriad twinkling lights of Xingjing City, looking exceptionally warm and bright in the snowy night.
He had been away from Red River City for over three months. In that time, he had traveled across twenty-three provinces and five military regions of the Federation, visiting twenty-seven Quasi-Grandmasters.
The snow fell heavier. Xu Wuyi stood on the hill, letting the snowflakes blanket him. His gaze moved past the city lights, settling on the quiet, secluded mountains in the suburbs. That was the courtyard of Grandmaster Lin Jianyi. Due to certain affairs, the Grandmaster had been required to return to the research institute and was now residing in Xingjing.
Three months ago, Xu Wuyi had left his home in Red River to embark on his journey of experiential travel. Three months later, he had arrived here.
He had walked through so many places, witnessed so many facets of Martial Arts, and fought so many battles. His Spear Technique was stronger, his Heart Image stabler, and his power closer than ever to the threshold of a Grandmaster. He slowly realized that he wasn’t truly lacking anything; he just believed he was.
This was born from an inability to see his own true heart clearly. Back when Xu Wuyi was first condensing his Heart Image, he had also experienced a period of confusion, and it was one person who had illuminated his mind for him.
𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
Lin Jianyi. The Grandmaster of Sword Heart Clarity, the senior who had once used a single sword strike to illuminate his true heart.
Now, he wanted to ask Lin Jianyi to draw his sword one more time. Because he realized that his true heart from back then had changed.
At that time, he was a Xu Wuyi who had just comprehended the True Intention of Incineration. He was full of hot blood and righteous indignation, yearning to burn away all the world’s injustices with a blazing sun. But the current him was a Xu Wuyi who had traveled ten thousand miles and met a hundred different kinds of people. He had seen too much, realizing that this world was far more complex than he had imagined.
Injustices still existed, but behind those injustices were too many things he couldn’t simply judge.
In the past, the Lin Family could pull strings behind the scenes and flaunt their privileges at will, fundamentally because their ancestor, Elder Lin, had been a Grandmaster. But conversely, the Lin Family possessed this power precisely because Elder Lin had made monumental contributions to the Federation. So, was this power reasonable? Was it fair?
The old Xu Wuyi certainly thought it was unfair. But now, he was only one step away from becoming a Grandmaster and was even prematurely enjoying Grandmaster Level privileges. Did he still think it was unfair? If he could now accept these privileges with a clear conscience, did the past version of himself truly hate privilege, or did he simply hate that the privilege hadn’t fallen to him?
Fundamentally, Xu Wuyi felt that all of this was wrong—that the world shouldn’t be like this. Yet, he now acutely realized that he was powerless to change it. The privileges of Grandmasters did not stem from a particular system; they stemmed from their own power.
The very existence of a Grandmaster naturally garnered a massive amount of resources, which they would then distribute to their disciples and descendants, thereby forming a colossal interest group. This distribution was entirely logical. You couldn’t say that the merits a Grandmaster fought tooth and nail for couldn’t be used to look after their family. Even Xu Wuyi himself wouldn’t be able to do that. So, if the Federation didn’t grant them privileges, they would rely on their own strength to extract what they wanted from society on their own—and they would do so boundlessly, potentially even triggering widespread chaos.
By having the Federation confer these privileges now, it essentially acted as a restriction, preventing Grandmasters from using their privileges infinitely. At the very least, Federation law could still bind a Grandmaster. Such a situation would be incredibly difficult to overturn, even if Xu Wuyi became a Grandmaster, or even a top-tier Divine Intent Level Grandmaster.
That was why he had fallen into confusion.
His Golden Crow Flame was born from a heart railing against injustice, but now, it couldn’t find its target... Xu Wuyi realized that he had to question his true heart once more.