Refining Divine Convention (Part 2)

　　"You flatter my father, Mr. Fangzhang." Lyu Yaoqin was overjoyed to hear Emperor Yuansheng praise her father, but she still smiled subtly with her lips pursed: "My father is an avid swordsman and, therefore, a fan of swords and swordplays. That is the reason we have over a thousand swords in our sword warehouse arranged according to the seven characters from Lu Dongbing's poem "With One Sword, I Journey Ten Thousand Miles to Vanquish the Fallen." The swords used for the character "ten thousand" are considered the best-quality swords. The lowest quality swords are part of the "vanquish" character.

　　My father spent two hours studying the bluesteel sword before telling me to grab him a sword from "west," which is one of the characters that make up the "fallen" part of the poem. When he struck them against each other, our sword snapped, yet the bluesteel sword was not even fazed. Vexed, my father tried again using a sword from "miles". Our sword snapped again. When he tried a sword from "ten thousand", the two generated sparks but did not snap. My father, therefore, decided he would show off his sword to Luo Sword Manor, lest the latter look down on him."

　　Emperor Yuansheng could sympathise with Chun Yangzi, while Long Zaitian thought, "Chun Yangzi is an idiot. You're given one sword, yet you snap five of your own?"

　　"My father was happy with the sword until he recalled the blade had not been sharpened. He summoned the best blacksmith in the city to sharpen the bluesteel sword. I found the sharp and s.h.i.+ny blade a disturbing sight to behold."

　　Judging from Lyu Yaoqin lowering her head as she spoke, she must not have been a fan of blades. Understandably, her father's enthusiasm for swords worried her. Emperor Yuansheng felt sorry for her, while Long Zaitian found her sulking annoying.

　　"What happened after?" asked Emperor Yuansheng.

　　"My father tested the swords again. Our sword snapped. Thus, he tried experimented with all of our swords categorised with the "ten thousand" character. All of our swords snapped, yet the bluesteel sword did not even have a scratch. The only sword Father had yet to try was his personal Pure Yang Sword.