Li Fuyao went to look for a sword under the cliff and got the sword Green Strand as a result. Then he came back to the foot of the mountain. In the shabby temple, after he showed it to the masters, he roughly told them what had happened under the cliff. Xian Chunan smiled and nodded. After hearing Bai Zhihan's name, he gently talked about something about this predecessor of Sword Mountain. Then he didn't say more. However, judging from his words, Xian Chunan must have known little about this master. Otherwise, with his character, he wouldn't stop talking after only a few words.
Liu Yibai was still dressed in black clothes and drank with Li Fuyao after the boy came up. This time, the two masters didn't stop them, so Liu Yibai didn't stop until he was drunk. At last, he received Li Fuyao's sword Green Strand and checked it repeatedly. Next morning, he told Li Fuyao to cut a green bamboo and then he personally made a sheath with it. Li Fuyao took it and had a try, and it was exactly suitable. This time, when he hung the sword on his waist, he looked like a swordsman. Liu Yibai said with a smile, "Some swordsmen are weird and would put a sword in a case on the back. If you want the same, I will make one for you right away."
Li Fuyao smiled and shook his head. He had only one sword and wanted to unsheathe it as soon as he met an enemy. If he put it on the back, it would be much more troublesome.
However, nobody knew if Liu Yibai was too idle or in a good mood, and in the end, he even used the wood of a sword tree to make a case. What was more, he engraved a row of small words on the case.
"The world is big, while I have nothing but a sword."
Xie Lu held Light Snow and came to Li Fuyao. She looked at the teenage boy and didn't say anything but brought three robes, with one white, one black and one grey. After she threw them to Li Fuyao, she said that they were gifts from her, which made Liu Yibai cry out. He held his head and roared, "Xie Lu, we have been staying together for so many years. Why didn't you give a gift to me? But this bloke has just been here for a short period and you gave him three robes. It's unfair."
Xie Lu looked cold and ignored him, while Xian Chunan smiled knowingly. He knew well about this junior sister apprentice and knew that since Chen Sheng left the mountain, she made clothes from time to time these years in order to give them to Chen Sheng. Now she thought that guy wouldn't return here, so she gave them to his disciple, and it was normal. However, when Xian Chunan looked at Li Fuyao's short figure and thought of his junior fellow apprentice, he realized that there was a great difference seemingly.
Nevertheless, when Li Fuyao dressed in the grey robe showed up in front of the three again, Xian Chunan was relieved as it turned out that his junior sister apprentice made a wrong size.
It happened to be fit for Li Fuyao.
Nevertheless, this bloke was still growing, and Xian Chunan didn't know how many years Li Fuyao could wear them.
After getting the new robes, Li Fuyao was asked out by Xie Lu to compete on swordsmanship. She still lowered herself to the second stage, the Focus Stage, yet this time she suddenly found that Li Fuyao resisted for much longer than usual, and he was more familiar with some of the movements. After they finished competing, it was at dusk. The woman and the boy sat on the big bluestone. Although Xie Lu was a lady, she was an expert on swordsmanship. She talked much more today and told Li Fuyao many tricks on swordsmanship. But at last, she still said frankly that as for swordsmanship, how much sword Qi there was in the heart, whether the stage was high or low, whether the sword intent was pure, and even whether the sword Qi was fierce were very important, and the only one which was not important was the skill.
Li Fuyao opened his mouth yet didn't know what to say. At last he just took off the sword Green Strand and put it on his knees. He wiped it with his fingers slowly and felt the slight reaction.
Xie Lu stated calmly, "A sword would be influenced by its first owner, so the character of the sword spirit when it is being cultivated would be different. Bai Zhihan was arrogant and cheerless, and this sword Green Strand is the same. If it were an ordinary sword, you can make it mentally connected to you after cultivating it for several years, but you would make more efforts for this sword, and if it thinks that what you have done is against it, it will be much more difficult for you to cultivate it. The cultivators from the three religious sects have their most powerful magic tools, and their power would be much greater than our swords. There are many strange ways to cultivate them. However, as for the swords, as long as we don't give them up all the time, we can make it someday."
Li Fuyao asked with a smile, "Master, your Light Snow is a family heirloom. How did you cultivate it after it was passed down?"
Xie Lu glanced at Li Fuyao in surprise but still didn't hide it from him. "Although I said it is a family heirloom, it is merely one of many swords kept in the Xie family. Nobody used it before, so it is not difficult to cultivate it. After three to five years, it is mentally connected to me."
Li Fuyao flattered her. "Master Xie, you are really gifted."
However, Li Fuyao had never expected that Xie Lu would show a big smile after he said that. Then this only woman on the mountain asked him with a smile, "Fuyao, who is the girl Qing Huai you thought about when you went down the cliff?"
Li Fuyao felt shy and didn't answer in a hurry.
Xie Lu rarely reached out her hand and rubbed Li Fuyao's head, tut-tutting, "It's no big deal to love somebody. The Taoist cultivators on mountains said that if you want to live forever, you should concentrate on cultivating, so most of the Taoists don't want to marry or have children, and the monks of Buddhism don't get close to women, but in the past six thousand years, nobody has become an immortal, right? How can we say that it is the right way of cultivating? It doesn't matter when you love a girl, but you should concern about whether you can deserve her and protect her. After all, if you can do nothing while watching the girl you love be bullied by somebody, you would feel sad."
Li Fuyao stated hesitantly, "That girl is a cultivator from the demonic land."
Xie Lu was astonished, but soon she continued to put her hand on Li Fuyao's head and rub it. "It's no big deal. It doesn't matter if you really love her. The war between our human world and the demonic land ended six thousand years ago, and many things are forgotten gradually. What's the big deal if you love a girl?"
Li Fuyao grinned.
Xie Lu looked at the sunset in the distance and muttered, "Fuyao, if you can stand next to Chao Qingqiu someday, don't forget to tell the human world that your master has a junior sister apprentice whose name is Xie Lu."
Li Fuyao turned his head all of a sudden. "My master's junior sister apprentice?"
Xie Lu laughed and continued to rub his head, whispering with a smile, "You need to say that she likes to rub your head and she is a gentle woman. She is beautiful and doesn't like to fight. Somebody didn't marry her, and it is the greatest regret of his whole life."