Chapter 13 — Training (1)
The next day, Ning Chen went to meet with his master after creating his intent seed.
After looking around the house, he finally saw his master sitting in the living room, reading a thick book while grinning creepily.
Ning Chen would always see his master acting like this almost everyday and he started to wonder what his master was reading.
"Master! I have finally managed to create my intent seed," Ning Chen reported as he approached Yu Qian.
Yu Qian quickly closed the book in a very swift manner and then looked calmly at Ning Chen.
"You have did it much faster than I expected. Truly talented and hard-working," Yu Qian praised while applauding.
He wasn't getting shocked anymore at Ning Chen monster-like progress when it's comes to the sword.
"Haha, thank you, master," Ning Chen was quite embarrassed.
Yu Qian stood up from his seat and started to speak in a stern tone, "Since you have already reached the intent seed level, we can finally start with your next training."
Ning Chen quickly nodded, wondering what kind of new training would he get.
"Let's go toward the forest located at the foot of the mountain. I've prepared something for your training in there," Yu Qian said before walking away to leave the house.
He took an old-looking wooden sword along with him before leaving.
Ning Chen silently followed after his master without any questions.
The two of them soon arrived within the forest and Ning Chen stared at his master with curiousity.
He began to wonder what his next training would be about.
Yu Qian smiled faintly seeing Ning Chen expression and pointed his hand somewhere.
"Look over there."
Ning Chen looked at the direction his master was pointing and frowned deeply.
There was an extremely large tree in front of them and it's many branches and leaves formed into a circular cover.
The thing that attracted Ning Chen's most attention was the 100 rough and hard woods hanging by a thread at the branches of the tree.
It was all placed in a strange pattern, making Ning Chen not being able to guess the purpose of it.
"What should I do with that?" Ning Chen asked in confusion.
Yu Qian suddenly made an eerie smile and answered, "Very simple. Just stand on the middle and try to avoid all of the incoming woods without using any spirit power and sword. I will also raise the difficulty once you clear it."
"This... doesn't it seems like a little too hard? Can't we just start with 20 or 50 woods first?" Ning Chen asked while sweating profusely.
He looked nervously at the 100 rough and hard woods that will probably hit him at the head or body later.
"It's not really that hard and you will probably just suffer from slight pain and bruises," Yu Qian said as if it wasn't a big deal.
Ning Chen pursed his lips and could only harden his mind.
Deep inside his heart, he believe in his master because with just the first training he received, he was able to grow stronger.
He was slowly, but surely improving under his master's guidance and Ning Chen was confident that he would eventually overcome this hard hurdle.
Ning Chen's heart began to burn stronger after thinking of this.
'Very good.'
Yu Qian nodded in satisfaction after seeing the fire within Ning Chen's eyes.
Ning Chen was now currently standing at the center of the hanging woods. His gaze was nervous yet resolute.
He looked toward Yu Qian and signaled that he was ready to start.
Yu Qian nodded and started to hit every single hanging woods with his wooden sword.
After hitting every single hanging woods for several times in just a few minutes, Yu Qian finally stopped and let the woods swing on their own.
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Ning Chen sucked in a cold breath as he saw several incoming woods closing towards his every directions with a fast speed.
He was able to avoid many of the woods, but there were also some that managed to him in the body, bringing him intense pain.
Ning Chen was frustrated that he wasn't allowed to use his sword that could allow his body to instinctively strike and deflect everything that came into his way.
However, there was also a feeling that even if he had a sword, he wouldn't still able to block everything.
"This damn hurts!" Ning Chen groaned deeply.
Yu Qian calmly observed Ning Chen. The kid in front of him had an amazing, but unrefined reflex and a quite good body coordination.
However, those weren't enough in Yu Qian's eyes. He wanted to refine Ning Chen's reflex and body coordination further.
"Do you want to know the purpose of this training, Ning Chen?" Yu Qian suddenly shouted while watching Ning Chen struggling.
Ning Chen who was in a very focused state of avoiding the incoming woods was suddenly distracted, causing the woods to him to the head and back, leaving some mark on him.
He was angry at his master disturbing him, but quickly calm down.
"I do!" Ning Chen shouted loudly while continuing to avoid the incoming woods that seems to have no signs of stopping.
Yu Qian began to slowly explain after hearing Ning Chen's answer, while hitting the hanging woods time to time to let it swing normally.
"This training has many benefits to you. Like improving your footwork, making your dodging ability to improve and to slowly temper both of your reflex and body coordination. Do you understand now?"
"I understand!" Ning Chen shouted loudly before his expression suddenly contorted disgustingly in pain as a wood suddenly banged him on the crotch.
"...."
He was able to endure this pain by biting his lips and continued to dodge with his trembling legs, but he was clearly slower than before, causing him to be hit several times.
Yu Qian laughed seeing this and started to shake his head.
"This won't do. You can take a break now," He said with a sorry look.
Ning Chen nodded while still biting his lips as he quickly went toward Yu Qian's place.
He rested on the ground for a few minutes and the pain soon faded.
Ning Chen was about to continue his training again, but was stopped by Yu Qian.
"Before you go back, I will teach you the basic of footwork," Yu Qian said.
Ning Chen was very eager to learn about footwork.
"But first, do you know anything about footwork?" Yu Qian asked while staring at Ning Chen's eyes.
Ning Chen thought for a moment before answering, "Like dodge better?"
"Correct, but it can also allow you to control your distance with the opponent, make your attacks heavier by making use of your body weight and avoid the enemy's attack with the most minimal movement, allowing for a chance of counterattack," Yu Qian explained with a bright and energetic expression.
Ning Chen was surprised to hear this fact and was also a bit ashamed to know that his understanding of footwork being very low.
Yu Qian saw his expression and laughed loudly.
"Kid, don't be ashamed. It's normal to not know much about it. In this world, the term technique is not that really popular. It's the things that easily grant people with strong powers like spirit rings and laws that are popular."
Ning Chen nodded in understanding and slightly felt better.
"Now, let's not waste anymore time. I'll teach you the basic footwork so listen properly."
Yu Qian began to earnestly guide Ning Chen on using the basic footwork.
After learning the footwork, Ning Chen spent the rest of time training with the hanging woods to improve his footwork.
He was very determined to master it perfectly.
....
A random training that popped in my head. I thought this was a good way to start on making his own movement technique.