Chapter 17: Woman
While Fang Mu and Xiao Fan were busy discussing how talented he was, Li Hao kept repeating the first dance move. Although initially disinterested, he gradually found swordplay to be fun.
“We better not get too excited or too quick to judge—he’s just learning the first dance. Try to pass down the next dances first. We need to see how far he can memorize and imitate movements in one glance,” said Xiao Fan.
Fang Mu agreed and passed the second dance of the Snow Eagle Dance to Li Hao, who once again mastered it in one glance. Fang Mu continued on to the more complicated third dance,but Li Hao still managed to imitate it.
“Mastering three dances in one day…” Fang Mu was speechless. “And they say I’m good at swordsmanship. In front of Hao, I…”
“Don’t compare yourself to him. I don’t think there will be anyone like him anymore in the Eastern Star Continent…”
Fang Mu didn’t go on to the fourth dance. Though he was pretty sure Li Hao could imitate the fourth or even fifth dance in one glance, he didn’t think learning too much in a short period of time would have any good impact on Li Hao’s development. It was also not good for Fang Mu’s health.
Fang Mu said he would teach Li Hao more tomorrow; he needed time to calm his soul. Xiao Fan helped Fang Mu, whose legs felt weak, back to his house.
Li Hao himself did not go straight home and chose to continue practicing alone because it was not yet dark. During this time, Li Hao also repeated the three sword dances he had learned that day.
***
“Why hasn’t Li Hao returned yet? It’s getting dark…” Fang Mu stood in front of his house, looking worried.
Seeing Li Hao not returning home after the sun had set for quite a while, Fang Mu took Xiao Fan to look for Li Hao.
The two later found Li Hao still in the same location as a few hours earlier, practicing swordsmanship.
“Hao’er, you can continue your training tom—” Xiao Fan called out to Li Hao but Fang Mu suddenly grabbed his shoulder.
“Wait!” Fang Mu noticed something in Li Hao’s move. “That’s not the Snow Eagle Dance I taught…”
Xiao Fan frowned before taking a closer look at Li Hao. It was true that even though at first glance Li Hao looked like he was doing the Snow Eagle Dance, there was a difference compared to before. His movements became more fluid and sharp; the Snow Eagle Dance shouldn’t have this ability.
“Ah, Teacher Fang, Teacher Xiao…” Li Hao only realized the arrival of the two after finishing his move. He then looked up and realized it was already night. “It was already dark? I forgot the time…”
“Hao’er… How did you… What made your movements change like that?” Fang Mu asked, stuttering.
“Oh, my move earlier? After repeating the first to third dance several times, I realized that the moves didn’t really suit my body shape. Although I can do it well, there seems to be a flaw that I don’t understand… I was planning to ask Master the next day.”
Li Hao explained that there were some parts where he felt his movements weren’t as smooth as others, so he found the problem, and the solution to fix it just popped up in his mind.
“So you’re saying the Snow Eagle Dance’s moves don’t match your physical condition?”
“Yes, you could say that, Master. Am I wrong?”
“No, you are absolutely right…”
Fang Mu explained that the Snow Eagle Dance was actually a sword technique created for women; performing this move perfectly required a female body. When males used it, they could only use at most eighty percent of the full power of this move.
The reason Fang Mu passed this move on to Li Hao was that the Snow Eagle Dance was one of the best swordsmanship that could be used completely without qi, not to mention that it could be used even if one had reached Nascent Soul.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Snow Eagle Dance was said to be the best swordsmanship at the Forging Qi level, as Forging Qi cultivators did not have enough qi to fight using a cultivator’s sword technique for a long time.
“This Snow Eagle Dance was created about five to sixty years ago so it’s not perfect yet, but you…” Fang Mu could see Li Hao perfecting the first three dances of the Snow Eagle Dance so that it could be used by men to the fullest, not to mention the technique might be better than the original.
Li Hao had a confused look on his face. Xiao Fan was the first to notice.
“Hao’er, looks like something is confusing you. Just ask,” Xiao Fan reminded.
“Yes, what are a man and a woman?”
Fang Mu and Xiao Fan looked at each other and then slapped each other on the forehead. Both of them just remembered that Li Hao had lived in this place since he could remember and had very little knowledge of the outside world.
“You know, Hao’er, just like us, a man has a bir—” Xiao Fan was still speaking when Fang Mu smacked his head.
“Don’t explain like that!” Fang Mu glared at Xiao Fan.
That night, Fang Mu and Xiao Fan explained at length to Li Hao about the gender that is also found in animals and other creatures. Li Hao felt like he had discovered a new world while listening to the explanations of the two.
“It turns out that there’s so much I still don’t know about the world…” Li Hao muttered under his breath.
“The world is too vast for one to know all its mysteries. Even us who have lived for over five hundred years can still find surprising things like you, for example.” Fang Mu smiled awkwardly.
When they arrived at the residence, Li Hao was allowed to rest. He even added that he couldn’t wait for the next day.
“How far do you think Li Hao can progress?” Xiao Fan turned to Fang Mu after Li Hao entered his house.
“I’m… not sure. But one thing I do know is that his sword talent is probably the best I’ve seen in the Eastern Star Continent. Don’t you feel that way too?”
Even though Xiao Fan was not a Sword Cultivator, over the past hundreds of years, he had fought and killed countless Sword Cultivators that had gone against him. Xiao Fan admitted that he could see Li Hao would probably become a better Sword Cultivator than Fang Mu.
“Too bad. I wish he could be my successor, but it looks like he will take the Sword Sage mantle from you instead of my Poison King.” Xiao Fan chuckled.
“I think it’s too soon to say that. We don’t know whether Hao’s talent is limited to swords or more.”
“You mean?”
“We’d better teach him all the areas we’re good at and see how far he can absorb it.”
Nice