Training
A bright, sunny day, perfect for going on a hunt, or drinking tea by a lakeside. On this day, three handsome youths were traveling towards a large forest that was filled with black tree leaves, and various black plants.
The forest was Blackcloud Forest, home to many kinds of dangerous Spirit Beasts. One youth was dressed in white, while another was dressed in black. The third youth was dressed in blue, which matched his temperament.
The three youths were Yan Lenglei, Mo Jidong, and Long He Yu. Some time has passed since the events that occurred, where Long He Yu agreed to come with them in the future. Long He Yu's parents had no problems since it was a decision made by their son whom they cherished and trusted very much.
With a promise that his parents would be treated well and taken care of by the Yan and Mu families, Long He Yu had nothing else to worry about. After getting a brand new Spatial Ring, as well as some new clothes, Long He Yu was ready to set off with them.
Holding onto the tokens given to them by the Divine Dao Mountain, they kept it inside their Spatial Rings to discard. If they kept it on their bodies, they could be tracked by the sect, which they obviously didn't want to happen. The only choice was to leave it in the Spatial Ring forever or to discard or destroy it.
Now, they brought Long He Yu to the Blackcloud Forest to improve his battle strength and techniques. A one-handed staff was bought for him, as they stopped in the outer layer of the forest.
Since it was his first battle, fighting something strong wasn't a good idea, while fighting something too weak was pointless. They stopped once they found a Mid Tier Grade One Spirit Beast, in which Long He Yu stepped up to fight.
With the staff in his hand, Long He Yu released his technique. He stepped forward and infused the Concept of Water into his staff, creating a powerful and sharp aura of Qi around it.
He quickly arrived in front of it, as he leaped upward into the air and smashed downward.
Bang!
His staff smashed against the thick skin of the Spirit Beast. With that one swing, its skin was crushed, as a dent was formed on its head, instantly killing it.
"..."
Long He Yu was speechless by his own strength. In his first battle with a new weapon, he had killed a Spirit Beast of the same stage as him with a single blow. It was a very simple blow, in which he thought he wouldn't be able to do too much. Contrary to his thoughts, that one blow was more than enough to kill it.
What was there to even practice on? One blow killed it, now they could only look for a peak Grade One Spirit Beast. It took a while to find one, searching the outer layer, they couldn't find any, meaning they had to enter the core area within the Blackcloud Forest.
After an hour or so, they finally found a peak Grade One Spirit Beast. It was a fairly large boar, with a thick hide and huge tusks. Amongst Spirit Beasts of the same stage, it was on the higher end of the food chain.
Long He Yu jumped down, as the boar noticed him. He held his staff in his right hand, as his Qi enveloped the staff. He ran forward, as he leaped into the air and smashed downward.
Bang!
His staff clashed against the boar's large tusks. The boar was physically strong, pushing him back. However, he didn't do zero damage, the boar felt some pain in its tusks that it was proud of. Its tusks were its strongest offense, as well as the hardest point on its entire body.
Long He Yu who was pushed back, flipped his body and landed on the ground, as he used the force of his landing to jump off the ground towards the boar. His body arrived in the blink of an eye, as he swung his staff in multiple directions and stabbed forward as if he was using a sword rather than a staff.
As he passed by, the boar howled in anger and pain. Blood was protruding from its hide, in which multiple attacks had been unleashed during that clash. Long He Yu had smacked three times on the right, and two times on the left side, within just a second.
His attacks were fluid as if he was a master of the staff, each attack was sharp and powerful, easily wounding the boar. Long He Yu turned around and jumped forward towards the boar, as he swung his staff down with great strength.
Bang!
His staff once again met with the boar's tusks, as visible cracks could be seen on its tusks. This time, he wasn't flung away, but only pushed back a little bit. He looked for a weak point and immediately threw his staff like a spear.
Whoosh!
The rich Water Qi around his staff swirled and became extremely sharp, resembling a spear, as it soared through the air and entered through the boar's mouth and came out the other end.
This all took just a few seconds. With Long He Yu's strength, as well as the sharp Qi, the staff pierced through the boar and turned it into a ring. A hole was seen starting from its mouth, reaching the other side of it.
If one looked through the hole, they would be able to see the other side clearly. Landing on his feet, Long He Yu grabbed his staff that was deeply embedded inside a tree.
Taking back his staff, Long He Yu found that his strength was on another level, while his movements felt more fluid using a one-handed staff, rather than a two-handed one.
Stopping there, the three of them had boar meat for lunch. It was grilled nicely and stored away for future use. Standing up, Long He Yu held his staff and practiced against the air.
He was making good progress in his technique, and with a little bit more, he would be able to comprehend the Concept of Staves. Yan Lenglei and Mo Jidong didn't interfere, allowing him to practice on his own.
They both separated and went to cultivate instead. A few hours later, Long He Yi was done practicing, as a strong aura erupted from his entire body. It was clear that he had comprehended the Concept, which allowed his strength to soar to another level.
Finding a Low Tier Grade Two Spirit Beast for him to fight is the only way for him to gain a real understanding of his own strength.
******
Roar!
A fierce Grade Two Spirit Beast showed its fangs. A human of the Awakening Realm had actually had the audacity to challenge it. Long He Yu released his techniques at once, facing this great opponent.
Two clones appeared by his side, each having the exact same aura as him. The Spirit Beast couldn't tell which one was the original by the aura but knew the one in the center was the original.
After all, it wasn't stupid. It saw two clones appear next to him, if it still couldn't tell after that, it may as well just kill itself. Under his feet, a large pool of Water Qi was released.
He took a step forward, aiming for the Spirit Beast, which was also going after him at the same time. Soon, the water formed a huge tsunami and submerged the entire place in water.
Since it was underwater, the Spirit Beast's speed was slowed greatly, as well as its attack power. Long He Yu walked through the water as if it wasn't there, and swung his staff down.
Bang!
His staff landed, while one clone had stabbed from the side, and the other slammed down from above. Three Long He Yu's with the exact same strength had struck out at once.
This was one of his core techniques, a style he had developed in which he could attack in many variations for many kinds of situations. Of course, if the opponent was too strong, any technique he used would be useless in the face of overwhelming power.
Even though it was struck, the Spirit Beast didn't become enraged which would expose it even more. It used its huge body and flailed around, knocking away Long He Yu and his two clones.
It moved its large body towards him and lashed out with its tail.
Bang!
Long He Yu blocked using his staff, as he was sent flying through the water. He quickly recovered mid-flight and adjusted himself. He swam through the water and charged forward like an arrow towards the Spirit Beast.
His two clones appeared in two different directions, going in for a three-pronged attack. From three directions, Long He Yu closed in towards the Spirit Beast, once he was close enough; he stopped moving and suspended himself in the water.
His staff was held tightly in his hand, as he rotated it once in a full circle, before slamming down his staff.
Bang!
His staff smashed into the body of the Spirit Beast. He moved around to avoid its attacks, as his staff was rotated in a full circular motion once again. This time, the aura around the staff was much stronger than before.
It seemed like each time he rotated the staff, it would get stronger, dealing more damage than the previous attack. Once again, Long He Yu dove in and slammed his staff, as he backed away and rotated his staff again.
This cycle repeated itself until the ninth rotation, in which he had finally defeated the Spirit Beast. Don't think that it was easy for him, it was a little bit harder than one would think.
By enveloping himself and the Spirit Beast in Water Qi, it would slow it down and weaken it, which used a large amount of Spiritual Qi to maintain, not only that, he created two clones in which each used a powerful technique.
After nine full rotations, Long He Yu had used up almost all of his Spiritual Qi. Once the Spirit Beast was dead, he released his Qi, as the clones turned into raindrops, while his staff returned to the Spatial Ring.
When he got back, he noticed Yan Lenglei cultivating quietly, while Mo Jidong was elsewhere. "Recover before we go." Yan Lenglei told him. Long He Yu nodded, as he sat down and meditated to recover his Qi.
Soon, he opened his eyes and noticed that Mo Jidong had come back from his cultivation. He hadn't seen Mo Jidong's cultivation, which was why Mo Jidong stayed away in case he frightened him a bit.
With everyone rested up and ready to go, the three of them started to leave the Blackcloud Forest, and head back to Blackcloud City. Going home, the three of them separated.
After New Years, they would go on a long journey, who knew when they would be able to return and see their relatives. There were still a few weeks left before the new year, hence they each stayed at home for the remaining time.