Chapter 852 - 330: Lay Down the Blade, Attain Enlightenment (Part 3)
Li Yuan asked like an old man chatting,
"Is this your peak form?"
Chi Xin stared at him intently,
"This time, I will see your moves clearly!"
He held the sword without edge or blade firmly in his hand.
Li Yuan said,
"If you lose this time, it’s a dead end."
Chi Xin said heavily,
"Only the sword, I have no retreat. Show your full power!"
"Then let’s begin."
"Aren’t you changing your sword? The stone sword in your hand is only half left!"
"No need."
Chi Xin held his breath. The two almost drew their swords at the same time. This time, Chi Xin could see his own sword as well as Li Yuan’s sword. In his eyes, it seemed as if time had slowed down considerably.
He could clearly see the tense posture of the muscles on the back of Li Yuan’s hand, see the subtle changes in Li Yuan’s facial expression.
Every speck of dust stirred by their movements, he could see them as clear as day.
"I see it, I see your sword trajectory! It’s the same move?!"
He only needed to cut off Li Yuan’s sword trajectory in advance to win in one move!
To strike down this legendary figure of the Sword Dao!
To prove that his sword is the purest!
"Just need to..."
He swung his sword down.
Zheng!
A sharp, piercing sound exploded.
The sound of metal clashing with stone!
Chi Xin already saw the posture of the half stone sword in Li Yuan’s hand collapsing into dust.
"His sword is completely broken! He’s completely without a sword in hand now!"
Next, he could place the sword at his brow and declare victory!
However, even though he saw Li Yuan right in front of him, he couldn’t place the sword at his brow no matter what. He could only watch as Li Yuan, in extremely slow time, with an extremely slow posture, used his palm as a sword, his fingernail as the point, and then little by little place it against his throat.
Then,
Li Yuan’s voice broke the silence,
"Your sword is nothing more than that."
Chi Xin was utterly defeated.
He felt the sharpness of the fingernail embedded in his throat, staring blankly at Li Yuan,
"Why?"
Li Yuan looked at him calmly,
"To regard the sword as everything is indeed remarkable. Your heart for the Sword Dao has reached heights others cannot reach. But life is not just the sword. The sword you see as supreme in my eyes is merely a tool, a way of fighting. You’ve probably forgotten the most essential thing, a person holding a sword is what makes a Swordsman. You need both the person and the sword."
Chi Xin’s pupils trembled,
"Why are you holding a real sword then?"
Li Yuan turned around and said as he walked,
"As humans, there’s no such obsession you can’t let go of."
At this moment, Chi Xin finally understood.
The sword is the obsession of every Swordsman, every Sword Cultivator.
Chi Xin thought his sword was pure, but it was just too heavy a burden to let go.
Yet Li Yuan had moved past this stage, letting go of the obsession in his heart, and let go of the sword in his hand.
The raised dust had settled, Chi Xin watched Li Yuan’s departing figure, unable to recover for a long time.
Then, his sword without edge or blade suddenly became infinitely sharp.
But he did not use it to ambush Li Yuan, instead used it to take his own life.
Bang!
The sound of Chi Xin falling to the ground made Li Yuan turn back.
He looked at the blood flowing from Chi Xin’s throat and murmured,
"Rather die than let go? A fool."
He recalled what the Buddha, Anashituo, once said to him,
"Lay down the butcher knife and become a Buddha on the spot."
Back then, he was still very young, with ambitions higher than the sky, thinking it meant to stop fighting with others, to be a good person, and he flatly refused.
It wasn’t until later did he slowly understand,
The Buddha was saying to let go of obsession and become oneself.
After all, Anashituo often told his disciples,
"All worldly lords are Buddha lords."
It’s probably to say that the first Buddha everyone encounters is themselves.
Not knowing how to let go is foolish,
Unwilling to let go is obsession.
Chi Xin, too, was obsessed.