What kind of experience is it to learn fencing?

At first, I tried to travel as far as the horizon. I used to go to school in Lingnan area, learning Wing Chun and Hong Quan at the same time. I learned fencing when I was studying Hongquan. Many actions in this routine are chopping. At that time, I was thinking about a problem, that is, isn't it no different from using a knife? If the sword is used for stabbing, it can actually be stabbed with a knife. This thing has two blades, and it's easy to hurt yourself. It's not a thing. So I went to ask the teacher how to use these tricks, and the teacher did tell me some meaning of attack and defense. For example, if someone stabs a sword, you can block it and then take a step forward. If someone cuts you with a knife, you will swing your sword backhand and then return it.