‘Where did I hear something or someone mentioning this surname? I can’t remember. Well, if I can’t remember, then that memory isn’t important. Forget it.’

Xu Miao tossed the token back into the ring as he thought it was unimportant. He gathered all technique books, skill manuals, and all written documents to the [Yu]’s stash ring. Then, Xu Miao equally distributed the spirit stones, usable clothes, gold coins, and daily supplies to everybody, including Jia Shan, who couldn’t use Qi.

“I can’t use spatial rings. You keep it,” Jia Shan refused to get his share even though he did all the work.

“Can’t you use Qi from your nascent soul to operate the rings?”

“I can, but that will blow my cover.”

“???”

“Won’t it be weird if a commoner wears spatial rings? It might attract unwanted attention,” Jia Shan shoved back the spatial ring to Xu Miao. He was fine walking around with old clothes and a common broadsword behind his back.

“Ah, right. I didn’t think about that,” Xu Miao took the ring back.

As Xu Miao was about to sort his items and reread the quest, Jia Shan picked a twig and tossed it to him, “While the girls are catching their breath, I’ll teach you some basics.”

Xu Miao caught the long tree branch. He gazed at the sword saint in confusion, “What’s this for?”

“Training.”

“Oh?” Xu Miao was excited, “What do I do with this?”

“Listen carefully. When ones are asked about swordsmanship, they always think about flashy techniques, domineering sword slashes, and fancy Qi skills. Most swordsmen forget that they are supposed to hone their proper [Swordsmanship] before they practice killing arts, Qi techniques, or powerful skills.”

Jia Shan picked a similar tree branch and pointed the tips at Xu Miao’s face, “Normally, 3rd-rate cultivators only start practicing this once they reach the 5th-stage. I’m teaching you in advance, so you can have a jump start when you reach that level. It will also help you in practical fights against low-level cultivators. Well, since I can’t teach you the dao, I’ll show you something else. What I’m about to teach you is the foundation of all [Sword Intents].”

*RUMBLE*

Suddenly, Jia Shan grew bigger in the eyes of Xu Miao. He felt like he was an ant, standing before an elephant.

While Jia Shan demonstrated his domineering presence, he gave Xu Miao a brief lecture.

[Dao] was the vital enlightenment requirement to achieve immortalhood.

[Intent] was a seed to obtain [Dao].

[Intent] was a conscious purpose. In sword art terms, [Intent], aka [Sword Intent], was akin to a physical manifestation of strong killing intent from a swordmaster. Experts, such as Jia Shan, could manipulate the manifested energy to cause physical harm to their foes without touching them. With the assistance of Qi and Essence, swordmasters could combine their swordsmanship, sword intent, techniques, trickeries, and spells to defeat their foes.

Range of [Sword Intent] depended on the sword mastery of the user. If one could envision the physical attack and they could practically strike the target at a certain distance without using the [Sword Intent] 1,000 times out of 1,000 times, the sword intent’s energy manifestation would be possible in that range. This would give birth to [Domain] in the later stages.

Before ones could obtain the [Sword Intent], they needed to understand the fundamentals, profoundness, and core knowledge of various sword techniques. Experience in real combat was also necessary, especially life-and-death ones. Cultivators could check their progress by examining their [Sword Aura], which was the combination of sword mastery, experience, and foundation.

[Sword Aura] was different than pseudo-aura that could only be used as barriers. [Sword Aura] didn’t require Qi or Essence to use as it was a byproduct of a martial art mastery, not cultivation techniques, spells, or various magic that cultivators often used. Sword practitioners could only obtain [Sword Aura] by becoming one with the swords.

When a swordsman mastered the [Sword Aura], their attack range and power would increase. Without Qi, sword aura masters could hack cultivators under the 4th-stage with ease, similar to how Jia Shan did in the demonstration.

But before ones could attain [Sword Aura], a proper sword mastery was required.

Jia Shan wanted Xu Miao to obtain the basic, [Sword Aura]. Thus, he gave the latter a twig, so he could train him.

“The best way to gain experience is by getting it through real combat! Take this sparring match seriously, or I’ll kill you. Get ready!”

Jia Shan waved his tree branch.

By reflex, Xu Miao leaped backward. An afterimage of a sword slash flashed and cut the ground.

Just now, Jia Shan didn’t use his nascent soul or any fancy Qi technique. He simply used high-speed footwork and waved his tree branch.

The ground dented while the tree branch was still intact. It was his pure swordsmanship and the true understanding of sword arts.

Xu Miao broke a sweat. Had he stayed there for a second longer, he would have been sliced through like one of those soldiers. Moreover, it would be more humiliating since the weapon was a tree branch.

“Show me the skills that you used in the assessment test, Xu Miao!”

Jia Shan stood still, waiting for Xu Miao to strike back. He went easy on his new disciple.

“Senior. That skill at that time requires Qi and Essence to use.”

“Do it without using Qi! From now on, I ban you from using Qi whenever you fight with a sword!”

“But I have a twig, not a sword.”

“Regardless of what you’re using, everything can be used as a sword! Come on, attack me as if you want to kill me with that twig!”

“…”

It seemed that Jia Shan’s training courses might be difficult. Still, the old man was a sword saint. Xu Miao motivated himself that he might learn something if he adjusted his mindset and habit as Jia Shan instructed.

“I’ll try. En garde!”

…

While Jia Shan was lecturing and sparing against Xu Miao, a red-haired yang slave, Kang Yan, was sitting nearby. She listened and observed the fight.

‘Become one with a sword? Swordfight without using Qi? I can do that, too!’

Kang Yan also picked a tree branch and imagined herself fighting several foes. She shadow-fenced while other girls were resting.

.

The sparring match was similar to what Xu Miao always experienced in the isolation training space, minus Qi skills.

With only a tree branch, Jia Shan fought as if he were one of the clones with the 200% difficulty setting. His speed was superior to all 2nd-stage clones that Xu Miao had fought. Moreover, the no-Qi rules made the sparring match more difficult.

Jia Shan’s tree branch looked dull and fragile at glance. But in the hands of the sword saint, it was as sharp as a butcher’s knife. Even if Xu Miao dodged it by a hairbreadth, a shallow cut would appear on his clothes or skin. His unpredictable sword strikes always came after Xu Miao’s weak points, where the latter had least expected, such as fingers, toes, hamstrings, elbows, or joints.

The attacks always landed on non-vital parts. However, in a real fight, those parts could change the battle flows. For example, if a swordsman lost a finger or two, their grip strength would be weakened. Joints controlled the rotation of body parts, so if they were damaged, the movements would be rigid.

While they were sparring, Jia Shan also pointed out the flaws.

“Protect your non-vitals as if they are vital parts! Lax your vital protection and use them as baits!”

“But I’ll die if one of the strikes hit!”

“Because you protect all your vitals, your opponents will aim at your non-vitals! In fights against master swordsmen or martial artists, you must be flexible. If you fight like a text-book swordsman, your foes will chew you alive!”

“Ugh.”

Xu Miao understood the lecture since he also applied this principle in MMA matches. However, using it in real fencing combat was a different story. Most importantly, he couldn’t self-revive like when he was in the isolation space, so Xu Miao’s movements became clunky and robotic.

Two minutes into the sparring match, Xu Miao got over a hundred small wounds. He even cheated by using pseudo-aura barriers to survive. His twigs broke many times as Jia Shan kept breaking them.

After 5 minutes, Xu Miao should have died 138 times, but Jia Shan only tabbed his vital parts, indicating that Xu Miao had just died again.

The sparring match ended after 10 minutes. Xu Miao collapsed on the ground from the mental exhaustion, “I don’t think I’ve learned anything from that.”

“Yes, you do, but you haven’t realized it yet. That’s why I have to drill it into your head,” Jia Shan chuckled and turned to the slave girls, “Girls, we’ve rested enough. Can someone feed him a healing pill? We need to continue moving.”

Wei Yuan fed Xu Miao a healing pill as requested.

When Xu Miao got on his feet, Jia Shan had another task for him, “Next lesson, you have to increase your stamina regardless of how strong you are! You will carry me on your back, and you will run westward at your maximum speed until the sun goes down. You girls, too! All of you have to keep up with us!”

“What!?”

“Don’t [What] me! Get the fuck up. We have to move, or the pursuers will catch up!”

“O-Okay.”

“Shut it and piggyback me! Do you want this delicate old man to run in a dangerous forest!?”

Everyone raised their eyebrows and thought, “If he’s delicate, won’t we be as weak as cotton?”

Xu Miao sulked and piggybacked the old man once more. Then, he ran into the forest.

“FASTER!” Jia Shan slapped Xu Miao’s hips as if he was a horse.

“Yes, sir!”

Xu Miao activated his body strengthening technique to get faster.

*PA*

Jia Shan slapped him again, “Don’t use Qi! Use your physical body, legs, and your will-power.”

“B-But you’re heavy!”

“Training is meant to be torturous and difficult! If you’re training like a pussy, you won’t gain anything! Run faster!”

The torturous training course of Jia Shan went on.

In the end, Xu Miao maintained his breathing pace without using his turtle breathing technique. He kept the pace at 14km/h despite running in the forest obstacle course. Thank to his rigorous and inhumane training and cultivation technique during the Muscle Tampering Realm, his physical body was a lot stronger than Olympic athletes.

At first, the girls could match Xu Miao’s speed. But after an hour, they had to use body strengthening techniques to keep up with the pace.

Xu Miao collapsed after he ran 50 kilometers in the forest obstacle course with an additional 70kg on his back.

Jia Shan nodded in approval. He was happy that Xu Miao’s physique foundation was firmer than average cultivators. He hummed and planned for tomorrow’s curriculum.

The day ended with everyone panting, except Jia Shan. Xu Miao and all girls fell asleep from exhaustion while Jia Shan stayed awake to protect them.

.

.

.

Isolation Training Space

Xu Miao sat in the white space and stared at the system menu. He was reading the quest that Kunwu had given him since he didn’t have a chance to read it during the day.

.

[Request of Kunwu, the Sword God: Restore Jia Shan’s Dantian]

Jia Shan, a dao apostle of the Sword God, Kunwu, has been crippled. His dantian has been destroyed by the hands of Jian Meng, an agent from the Poison Pavilion.

Kunwu is concerned about his servant’s welfare. Kunwu wants to give Jia Shan a pill to restore his dantian, but the System Sponsor forbids him from directly interfering with your fate. Still, the System Sponsor allows Kunwu to use the system as a mediator to help Jia Shan via system quests.

As such, Kunwu wants to commission you with a task. As he can’t directly help Jia Shan, he hopes you can concoct a divine pill, Yin Yang Divine Veins, to restore Jia Shan’s dantian.

Although the task of concocting the divine pill seems impossible for someone without alchemy knowledge, Kunwu has prepared five sets of ingredients and unlocked the alchemy system feature for you. He wishes that you can master the art of alchemy and make at least one pill out of the five sets of ingredients.

(Rewards)

– An immortal-grade item.

– Kunwu and his apostles will treat you as a friend.

– You can accept more quests from Kunwu.

(Failure Condition)

– Jia Shan dies.

(Failure Penalties)

– Kunwu and his apostles will ignore your existence.

– Your System Sponsor will be very disappointed. He may cease supporting you.