Chapter 11: Practicing the Sword

Ji Ning was utterly bewildered and didn't understand at all. He quickly asked, "Father, you said the body must be prepared for sword practice, and I barely understand that. But what does it mean for the 'heart' to be prepared for sword practice?"

"Don't rush."

Ji Yichuan looked at his son, a thick book appearing in his hand out of thin air. He tossed it directly to Ji Ning. "First, carefully study this fist technique. It consists of sixteen forms, encompassing the most basic yet fundamental methods of exerting force from the body. Once you master this fist technique, you'll feel your whole body relaxed and at ease, everything following your will."

"The sword is an extension of the body. If the body is not at ease and following your will, how can the sword be at ease and follow your will?" Ji Yichuan looked at his son, worried he might aim too high. "Calm your heart."

Ji Ning well understood the principle that sharpening the axe doesn't delay the cutting of wood.

"Yes, Father." Ji Ning replied, then lowered his head to browse the book, carefully memorizing the mysteries of the fist technique. The secret manual seemed thick, but that was because it was made from tanned animal hide, each page quite thick.

After memorizing the mysteries, he began to practice, with his father constantly guiding him, pointing out mistakes, demonstrating personally, and teaching tricks.

In fact, the 'Windshadow Steps' already involved some body force exertion, but the 'Windshadow Steps' focused more on leg strength. With prior experience... Ji Ning learned quite quickly.

...

An hour later.

"Take a rest." Ji Yichuan looked at his son, drenched in sweat. "From now on, practice the fist technique for an hour every day until I deem your body ready for sword practice."

"Preparing the body for sword practice is one aspect."

"The 'heart' must also be prepared for sword practice." Ji Yichuan produced two black iron swords in his hand and tossed them directly to his son. "Take them!"

Ji Ning took the two swords.

Ji Yichuan simultaneously pointed at the open space beside them. Whoosh, a metal puppet appeared out of thin air on the ground, holding a blade in its hand.

"This is a puppet." Ji Yichuan said. "In the path of Qi Refining Immortal cultivation, there are those skilled in refining puppets. This puppet is the most ordinary kind, possessing roughly the strength of a Houtian grandmaster, but its body is extremely tough."

"Father, why does it have some red dots?" Ji Ning asked, puzzled.

The pitch-black metal puppet had over a dozen red dots on its body, located at the brow, throat, chest, abdomen, arms, wrists, back, and other places.

"Try thrusting your sword at the red dot on its brow." Ji Yichuan said directly. "Be quick."

"Yes." Ji Ning thrust with his right hand.

Swish!

The sword tip stabbed forward, but hit the head, off by about an inch.

"This..." Ji Ning was slightly startled. He had clearly intended to stab the brow, but he couldn't help thrusting three more times, yet each time he was off.

"See?" Ji Yichuan said coldly. "Though you intend to stab the brow, when you actually do it, you can't hit accurately. How to hit accurately? First, you need more control over your body; second, you need thousands of repetitions."

"Any sword technique, if fully broken down, can be divided into the thirteen basic forms: chop, thrust, lift, sweep, smash, point, slash, block, parry, twist, flick, deflect, and hook."

"Chop, thrust, lift, sweep, slash, and point are offensive."

"Twist, smash, block, flick, deflect, hook, and parry are defensive."

Ji Yichuan pointed at the metal puppet. "This puppet stands still, with nineteen red dots on its body. Practice the six offensive forms—chop, thrust, lift, sweep, slash, and point—on it. I'll teach you the tricks for each form, how to coordinate posture and hand movements. Practice each basic sword form a million times!"

"Later, the puppet will move and slash at you with its blade. You'll defend using the seven basic defensive forms—twist, smash, block, flick, deflect, hook, and parry—also a million times."

"Offense!"

"Defense!"

"When you're proficient, the puppet will spar with you, and you'll use the thirteen basic forms in combination on it." Ji Yichuan looked at his son. "The day your thirteen basic forms are ingrained in your bones and utterly precise, you'll have etched the foundation of the 'sword' into your heart, and your heart will be ready for sword practice."

Ji Ning held his breath.

"Prepare the body."

"Prepare the heart."

"Only then can you truly begin practicing sword techniques." Ji Yichuan looked at his son. "Sword techniques are complex, composed of the thirteen basic forms. If you haven't even integrated the thirteen basic forms into your bones, how far can your sword practice go?"

"When you've truly mastered the sword technique I'll teach you, you'll reach the first realm of swordsmanship: 'Foundation.'"

"The sword also has three realms."

"Foundation, Subtlety, and Unity of Man and Nature!"

"Subtlety in footwork is fine control of the body. Subtlety in swordsmanship is fine control of both body and sword, making them as one—ten times harder!"

"Unity of Man and Nature? That's even more distant."

Ji Yichuan looked at his son. "Ji Ning, do you understand the path you must take?"

"Mm." Ji Ning nodded firmly.

Cultivating the 'Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens' gave one a divine demon's body and unimaginable strength.

But the practice of footwork and swordsmanship determined... how much of that strength one could actually unleash!

"Father, how long will it take me to achieve 'Man and Sword as One'?" Ji Ning couldn't help asking.

"Hard to say." Ji Yichuan shook his head. "I spent six years laying the foundation, then another six to achieve Man and Sword as One. Twelve years in total!"

"Twelve years?" Ji Ning held his breath.

His father, the strongest in the Ji clan's Western Prefecture at such a young age, so brilliant, took twelve years. Many mediocre people... spent their whole lives practicing the sword without reaching the realm of 'Man and Sword as One.'

"Don't aim too high; you must be down-to-earth." Ji Yichuan looked at his son. "Let's begin. I'll first teach you the 'thrust' from the thirteen basic sword forms."

...

Under his father's guidance, Ji Ning's posture was very standard. Thrust after thrust! Chop after chop! Lift after lift! Point after point!

It was tedious.

Exhausting.

Fortunately, Ji Ning's body recovered remarkably, and his past life's constant suffering from illness... had forged a personality that didn't give up easily.

After an hour of offense, he practiced defense for another hour.

The metal puppet never tired, slashing its blade again and again for Ji Ning to defend against.

"Yichuan." Yuchi Xue stood in the distance, watching her son practice hard.

Ji Yichuan walked to his wife's side, gazing at his son sparring with the metal puppet in the distance. "Xue, I never imagined... I never imagined our son would have such strong willpower. I was even prepared to force him to practice if he found it too tiring. I never expected I wouldn't need to force him at all!"

"In the morning, he practices footwork." Yuchi Xue watched her son with心疼. "Though he complains of tiredness, he just complains; he never stops. Three hours in the morning, three in the afternoon... six hours of training a day. How old is Ning'er?"

"I remember when I was young." Ji Yichuan said softly. "I was forced by my father. I thought it was too tiring, that I'd collapse. But if I gave up, my father would whip me harshly. I cried as I swung and thrust my sword again and again... until I was ten, when my father was killed by a great demon in Dongshan Swamp. My mother and I fell from grace, saw all the coldness of human relationships, and my mother died of illness. Only then did I wake up, no longer complaining of tiredness or hardship, training hard every day."

Without having trained, one doesn't know how exhausting sustained practice is.

The body tires, but the heart tires even more.

Without enough perseverance and desire in the heart, one cannot persist.

"I had doubted my son's future achievements." Ji Yichuan said softly. "He has high talent in divine demon body refinement, but without diligence, his achievements won't be great... Now, I believe it. My son will surely become a true strongman of this land. Surely!"

Yuchi Xue listened to her husband's words, watching her son immersed in training in the distance, and nodded gently: "I believe it too!"

...

Watching himself grow stronger bit by bit, even surpassing the superhumans in movies from his past life—this feeling was wonderful!

One year later.

Swish—Meng Yu, standing in the distance, suddenly threw four pebbles. The slightly taller 'Ji Ning' drew his bow, grabbing four arrows, holding them between five fingers.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The four arrows flashed by, leaving four trails of air in their wake, and directly struck the four pebbles flying in the distance, shattering them with a bang, scattering debris on the ground.

"Good." Meng Yu strode over, laughing heartily, his laughter like thunder.

"Master Meng Yu." Ji Ning put away his bow.

"You've mastered the heart arrow, and even my proudest four-arrow volley—you've mastered it so quickly." Meng Yu praised and nodded. "I have nothing left to teach you in archery. Now you need to practice more on your own and accumulate experience. As your strength grows, you'll naturally shoot stronger arrows. This training ground is too small for you; you need to go to more open spaces, shooting from a mile or two away, even three or four miles. The greater the distance, the more you must consider factors like wind speed."

"Understood." Ji Ning nodded.

Archery required pinpoint accuracy.

One had to consider gravity—the arrow drops during flight due to gravity—and also wind force!

It sounds complicated, but in practice, by sensing the wind, one could shoot without even aiming, because how to shoot, at what angle—everything was ingrained through countless repetitions. At least for Ji Ning now... within five hundred meters, not even a fly could escape his arrows!

But that was far from enough!

As strength increased, some innate beings could shoot arrows that flew for miles and still had tremendous power. The greater the distance, the harder it was to maintain accuracy... requiring more practice to accumulate experience.

"Starting tomorrow, I won't come here. Young master, you're the most talented student I've ever taught." Meng Yu looked at Ji Ning. "Don't waste your talent. In the future, you will surely become the most fearsome archer in the land of Yanshan."