Chapter 203: Three Years
"Second Senior Brother, why do you look so unhappy?" Su Mei popped out from behind a jagged rock, her voice dripping with intentional mischief.
Over the past few months, the little girl had discovered a delightful secret. Whenever she threw that specific title at Rovel, he would inevitably bristle, his usual calm demeanor cracking just a fraction. To her, it was the ultimate weakness, a button she loved to press.
"If you call me Second Senior Brother one more time," Rovel replied, stretching his lips into a dangerously fake smile, "do you want your Senior Brother to give you a harsh lesson in 'love'?"
He casually snapped a slender willow branch from a nearby tree. With a flick of his wrist, he whipped it through the air. The thin wood tore through the wind with a sharp, threatening whistle.
Su Mei merely blinked. She knew Rovel was entirely full of hot air. He had made these empty threats countless times before, and not a single trace of fear managed to surface on her delicate face.
"Is Senior Brother worrying about the Sword Heart again?" Su Mei asked, skipping over to plop down on the grass right beside him. She leaned in, her tone softening into something resembling genuine comfort. "Didn't Master already explain it? The Taixu Sword Qi simply isn't suitable for men to cultivate. Even if you push yourself to the absolute limit, a man can only ever cultivate the Sword Heart up to the Wuchen Realm."
She tilted her head, observing his expression. "Besides, even though Senior Brother hasn't formed a Sword Heart, your mastery over both the Form and Soul Essences is terrifying. You are practically on the verge of overtaking Master in those areas. also, you even learned the Liangyi Immortal Art directly from her. Even without a functioning Sword Heart, your raw combat strength has probably already surpassed Eldest Senior Sister's."
Three full years had drifted by since Su Mei first knelt and became Red Kite's disciple. The once naive, trembling little girl who hid behind others had blossomed into a sharp, clever, and delightfully quirky young girl.
Throughout these three years of grueling training atop the mountain, Rovel still had not managed to form his own Sword Heart. He had not connected with the dormant power of the Xuanyuan Sword either. Because of this massive roadblock, the Intent Essence within his Taixu Sword Qi remained fundamentally incomplete.
Yet, his progress in the Form and Soul Essences was nothing short of monstrous. His advancement tore past normal boundaries, far outstripping anything Lin Chaoyu or Su Mei could ever hope to achieve in the same timeframe.
, the Liangyi Immortal Art that Su Mei had just mentioned was no ordinary skill. It was the complex, flowing Tai Chi routine Red Kite had demonstrated in the past—a deep fist technique that perfectly integrated the explosive, armor-piercing strikes of Inch Force with the defensive, energy-scattering properties of Dissipating Force. Out of all the disciples on the mountain, Rovel was the only one who possessed the physical coordination and insight required to learn it.
One could easily argue that Rovel had completely maxed out his martial talent. Yet, due to the inherent biological limitations of his male body, the elusive Sword Heart remained forever out of his grasp.
Rovel, however, was not one to simply accept defeat. He had devised his own brilliant countermeasures. Drawing upon his unique perspective, he had forcefully cultivated his own personal Sword Intent, directly basing it on the four distinct realms of the Taixu Sword Qi's Heart Essence.
Still Water Sword Intent. Wuchen Sword Intent. Clear Mirror Sword Intent. Taixu Sword Intent.
These four concepts mirrored the traditional manifestations of the Heart Essence with frightening accuracy.
The Still Water Sword Intent, for example, possessed the ability to instantly calm a chaotic mind. It forcibly stopped the turbulent ripples across the lake of his heart, plunging his consciousness into a state of absolute, chilling rationality. While submerged in this state, Rovel could pick up on microscopic details that were entirely invisible to the naked eye. The trajectory of a falling leaf, the subtle shift in an opponent's footwork—everything became hyper-clear, granting him an overwhelming advantage in both lethal combat and mundane daily life.
Then came the Wuchen Sword Intent. If Still Water was merely about halting the movement of the heart, then Wuchen was the process of violently scrubbing it clean. The moment he activated the Wuchen Sword Intent, the surface of his mental lake would instantly freeze over into solid, impenetrable ice. It rendered his internal state pure and stainless, making his mind practically immune to any form of external psychological interference or illusion.
As for the higher echelons—the Clear Mirror Sword Intent and the Taixu Sword Intent—Rovel was currently subjecting them to a heavy degree of modification. No, modification was the wrong word. It was a brutal, continuous refinement.
He remembered the words Hua had spoken back in the Elysian Realm. Sword Intent was not a stagnant pool; it could be continuously sharpened and refined. It was never something that remained permanently fixed the moment it was learned. He had already proven this concept with his Lightning Sword Intent, which had undergone a massive, destructive upgrade the moment he fully mastered the Hokushin Itto-ryu.
Even without the physical foundation of a Sword Heart, Rovel's sheer mental fortitude had already breached the Clear Mirror Realm. He had grown so confident that he even attempted to forcefully merge all four types of Sword Intent together by using his Swordsmanship Domain.
The results, however, remained a mystery to him. Every single time he attempted the fusion, the sheer computational overload caused his brain to violently short-circuit, instantly knocking him unconscious before he could witness the outcome.
Rovel theorized that this catastrophic failure occurred because his premature comprehension of the Clear Mirror Sword Intent and Taixu Sword Intent lacked the necessary polish. They were simply too raw, far from the stage of true perfection.
Thus, Rovel existed in a bizarre paradox: he entirely lacked the physical Sword Heart, yet he fully possessed the overwhelming mental state of an apex grandmaster.
Despite this missing piece, he experienced absolutely zero difficulty when it came to manipulating ambient Honkai Energy. Channeling the destructive energy through his veins felt as effortless and natural as breathing or moving his own limbs.
This strange, contradictory manifestation came with its own unique set of pros and cons.
The primary benefit was absolute stability. Unlike traditional practitioners, Rovel never had to live in fear of his combat strength plummeting due to a shattered Sword Heart., his unique constitution meant he never had to worry about his internal organs being violently eroded by the highly toxic Honkai Energy he constantly drew into his system.
The drawback, however, was a matter of efficiency. Without a Sword Heart, he could not use the Sword Heart Mantra to passively and continuously strengthen his physical vessel. Every ounce of muscle, speed, and durability he gained had to be earned through grueling, bone-breaking physical training.
Over the span of these three years, Rovel had silently watched Su Mei evolve. He saw her transition from a state of hyper-vigilant wariness around Red Kite to slowly, cautiously letting go of her deep-seated grudges. Her relationship with Lin Chaoyu had also blossomed beautifully. Whenever the strict Master was out of earshot, the younger girl would latch onto the eldest disciple, sweetly calling her 'Sister Chaoyu' with genuine affection.
As for Rovel, Su Mei had developed a revolving door of nicknames for him. Sometimes, when she wanted something, she would use a sickly sweet 'Brother Rovel'. Other times, when he ignored her to train, he became the 'Sword Idiot'. And when she wanted to annoy him, she deployed the dreaded 'Second Senior Brother'. It all depended entirely on the unpredictable whims of her mood.
Looking at her now, one could easily conclude that the current Su Mei had not turned out bad at all. Her smiles were bright, her laughter genuine. Rovel searched her behavior daily, yet he could find absolutely no warning signs or lingering shadows that hinted at why this cheerful girl would eventually turn to the dark side and betray them all.
Lin Chaoyu, on the other hand, remained as rigidly well-behaved as the day she arrived. She moved with agonizing caution, constantly walking on eggshells whenever she was in Red Kite's presence. Even though Rovel had pulled her aside on multiple occasions, explicitly pointing out the subtle ways Red Kite showed she cared about her eldest disciple, Lin Chaoyu's deeply ingrained inferiority complex always won out. She would simply lower her gaze and shake her head in stubborn disbelief, leaving Rovel standing there, utterly speechless at her density.
As for Red Kite herself... Rovel still found her to be an enigma. Since he had not yet been granted the opportunity to descend the mountain on a mission with her, he lacked the specific, real-world context of how she operated. But judging purely from her daily behavior around the dojo, a clear picture emerged. Red Kite wore a mask of impenetrable, glacial coldness. Yet, if one looked closely enough, her sparse words and rigid actions always carried a hidden, heavy undercurrent of genuine concern for her three disciples.
Most of her vocalized concerns revolved strictly around their martial arts mastery and physical conditioning. However, both Rovel and Su Mei possessed enough emotional intelligence to see through the act. They both knew Red Kite was the classic definition of a person with a freezing exterior but a deeply warm interior.
Rovel vividly remembered an incident from two years ago. Su Mei's cherished little wooden doll had been accidentally snapped in half. The young girl had hidden herself away, sobbing miserably alone in the pitch-black courtyard. Lin Chaoyu had been down the mountain gathering supplies, leaving only the Master and Rovel. It was Red Kite who had silently approached the crying girl, picked up the splintered pieces of wood, and carefully repaired the toy with her own hands.
It was immediately after that quiet, tender gesture that Su Mei's impression of Red Kite underwent a massive shift. From that day on, the youngest disciple would constantly try to show off her martial arts progress in front of her Master, desperately seeking praise. Though, true to form, Red Kite would usually just ignore her theatrical displays entirely.
"I've never spent a single day worrying about the Sword Heart," Rovel finally said, pulling his mind back to the present. He cast a sidelong glance at the girl sitting beside him. "You are the only one who keeps bringing it up in front of me. By the way, so many years have passed since you arrived. Have you actually finished learning the basic Sword Forms yet?"
"Uh..." The moment the dreaded topic of actual cultivation was brought up, Su Mei's confident posture deflated. Her eyes darted away, flashing with obvious guilt. She was still just a child, after all; her attention span was short, and her desire to play often overshadowed her dedication to the blade.
"I'm still young!" Su Mei suddenly declared, leaping to her feet and planting her hands firmly on her hips to project an aura of absolute confidence. "I will definitely have every single one of them perfectly memorized by the time I reach your age!"
"You really know how to negotiate a fair trade," Rovel muttered dryly, shaking his head at her logic. "I'm done wasting breath chatting with you. I need to practice."
He flicked his long sleeves back, tightly gripped the hilt of his heavy Xuanyuan Sword, and stepped away to resume his relentless repetition of the Sword Forms.
"Bleh, bleh, bleh! Sword Idiot!" Su Mei mocked, sticking her tongue out and pulling a ridiculous face at his back.
However, her rebellion was short-lived. Barely a minute later, her sharp ears caught the faint, rhythmic sound of Red Kite's approaching footsteps. Panic flashed in Su Mei's eyes. She hurriedly scrambled to pick up a training Xuanyuan Sword that was nearly as tall as she was, sprinting over to Rovel's side and desperately mimicking his precise movements to look busy.
By the time Red Kite's pristine white and red robes appeared in their line of sight, stepping out from the morning mist, she was greeted by the sight of her two disciples diligently practicing their swordsmanship in perfect, sweeping unison.
"Master," Rovel and Su Mei called out simultaneously, immediately lowering their blades and bowing their heads in deep respect.
"Mm..." Red Kite offered a faint hum of acknowledgment. Her piercing gaze swept over them before settling squarely on the young man. "Rovel. You will accompany me down the mountain tomorrow."
She stepped closer, her voice carrying the cool, unyielding weight of a mountain breeze. "Although you have not formed a Sword Heart, your mastery over the Form and Soul Essences has already reached a deeply deep level. Your foundation is solid. It is time for you to Test the Sword."
"Yes, Master," Rovel replied, giving a firm nod. A spark of anticipation flared in his chest. Lin Chaoyu had secretly mentioned this upcoming milestone to him a few days prior, and descending the mountain to finally test his blade in real combat was exactly what had been occupying his thoughts all morning.
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