"To Command the Sword with Will, you say..."
Chu Hao muttered to himself. In truth, there were several realms above To Command the Sword with Will, such as Sword Intent Incarnation. Unfortunately, with his current realm, he couldn't yet manifest such swordsmanship.
Liu Ji Ya's beautiful eyes sparkled like water. Her gaze shifted, unblinking, fixed on Chu Hao, awaiting his reply.
Chu Hao looked towards the lakeside and said softly, "I can teach you!"
"What?! Really?" Liu Ji Ya had originally thought that even if Chu Hao agreed, he wouldn't agree so easily. She had prepared all sorts of countermeasures, yet Chu Hao agreed so quickly, completely beyond her expectations.
"You thought I'd demand many conditions? In truth, I decided to teach you swordsmanship mainly because you are very sincere. That sincerity is what's truly valuable."
"Just like before, you offered me food because you thought I would starve, and thus I pointed out a few flaws in your sword technique."
Chu Hao seemed to read her thoughts, explaining slowly.
Liu Ji Ya hurriedly stood up and bowed respectfully to Chu Hao: "Student Liu Ji Ya, greets Master!"
But Chu Hao shook his head.
"Although I agreed to teach you swordsmanship, I didn't say I would accept you as a student. There's no need to call me Master."
Many years ago, countless individuals longed to become Chu Hao's disciples, and every one of them was a peerless genius.
Liu Ji Ya, wanting to be his disciple, was not yet qualified.
Liu Ji Ya was stunned for a moment but didn't insist, changing her address: "Yes, Young Master."
"Also, for me to teach you swordsmanship, it will be 10,000 primordial stones a day." Chu Hao stated his price swiftly and decisively.
Currently, his strength was weak and his power undeveloped, so he also needed primordial stones.
10,000 primordial stones was roughly the entire fortune of an ordinary Great Grandmaster Realm cultivator. Even the few Great Grandmaster Realm cultivators in the Chu family possessed at most 20,000 to 30,000 primordial stones.
10,000 primordial stones a day—any Great Grandmaster Realm cultivator, upon hearing this, would probably feel as though Chu Hao was committing robbery.
"I agree."
Liu Ji Ya immediately nodded.
10,000 primordial stones was indeed a considerable sum, but as the Liu family's foremost genius, her status was extraordinary. She could completely appeal to the Liu family Ancestor to obtain a substantial amount of primordial stones.
Moreover, she felt a little secretly delighted.
If she were to ask Zhou Zi Ya to teach her, it would likely not be enough even at 100,000 primordial stones a day. Zhou Zi Ya was a tenth-stage Great Grandmaster Realm cultivator, famous for a long time; cultivators of his caliber fundamentally lacked no primordial stones.
Both Chu Hao and Zhou Zi Ya were swordsmen who had reached the To Command the Sword with Will realm, yet Chu Hao only asked for 10,000 primordial stones. In Liu Ji Ya's eyes, this was incredibly cheap.
"Right, your name is Chu Hao. Could it be the one who challenged Wen Bing...?"
Liu Ji Ya hesitated as she asked.
"If you are asking about the life-and-death battle between Chu Hao and Wen Bing, then yes, that is me." Chu Hao seemed to see through Liu Ji Ya's thoughts.
"Are you worried that with my current realm, I might die by Wen Bing's hand? You don't need to worry about that. The reason my current cultivation realm is low is due to some special circumstances. I will swiftly recover my realm."
"Then when will you begin teaching me swordsmanship?" Liu Ji Ya knew what to ask and what not to ask, returning to the subject of swordsmanship instruction.
"You seem to be in a hurry? What's wrong, is there something urgent?"
"There's truly nothing I can hide from you." Liu Ji Ya smiled bitterly, feeling as if the person before her was not a naive youth, but someone who had lived for a long time and gained vast experience.
"To be frank with you, this matter is related to the Wang family of Jade City. My Liu family and the Wang family have always been at odds. And ever since the Liu family declined to a second-rate clan three years ago, the Wang family began to suppress us even more."
"These past three years, the animosity between the two families has deepened ceaselessly, and conflicts have escalated step by step. The Liu and Wang families are both too powerful; if a full-scale war were to erupt, the impact would be too great, and the consequences are not what we wish to see. Therefore, this time, the two families sought a more peaceful method to resolve it."
"The annual gathering of the younger generation at Moonlit Lake is about to take place and has become the arena for the younger generations of the two families to decide victory and defeat. The losing side must not only compensate the winning side with primordial stones but also concede some territory. This even involves a large-scale primordial stone mine vein."
Upon hearing of a primordial stone mine vein, Chu Hao's eyes revealed a hint of surprise.
primordial stones were essential items for cultivators. Even he couldn't avoid using them. The source of primordial stones was precisely primordial stone mine veins.
primordial stone mine veins were hidden beneath the earth, formed by the condensation of natural energy. Any single primordial stone mine vein possessed immense value.
primordial stone mine veins were divided into small-scale, medium-scale, large-scale, and super-large-scale.
A medium-scale mine vein was already ten times larger than a small-scale one. A large-scale mine vein was ten times larger than a medium-scale one, and so on.
For instance, the Chu family only possessed three small-scale primordial stone mine veins.
Some second-rate clans might have the strength to control medium-scale primordial stone mine veins.
Large-scale primordial stone mine veins could only be held by top-tier clans; they absolutely required a tenth-stage Great Grandmaster Realm powerhouse to guard them to deter greedy individuals, making others dare not covet them.
Even if a second-rate clan discovered a large-scale primordial stone mine vein, they would be unable to protect it, and it would be normal for others to seize it.
As for super-large-scale primordial stone mine veins, they were even rarer. Once such a mine vein appeared, all tenth-stage Great Grandmaster Realm cultivators of the Yunmeng Nation would gather, and earth-shattering struggles would erupt.
Higher-tier primordial stone mine veins, known as Spirit Mine Veins, belonged exclusively to Spirit Realm cultivators. In Yunmeng Nation, only a few major sects possessed Spirit Mine Veins.
Three years ago, the Liu family was a top-tier clan, and they controlled a large-scale primordial stone mine vein. Today, that very mine vein had become the wager!
"Although my Liu family still has some medium and small-scale primordial stone mine veins, these have already been heavily exploited, with not much remaining. If that large-scale mine vein is taken by the Wang family, the Liu family stands to lose one-third of its assets."
Liu Ji Ya's expression was exceedingly solemn as she voiced her concern.
For a clan, primordial stones were paramount; they were the primary resources for a cultivator's training.
Without cultivation resources, how could a clan develop? How could it survive?