One Year

"Chen'er as always, you never stop surprising me." Fang An stroked Xiao Chen's head gently.

It doesn't feel like a year has passed since Xiao Chen became Fang An's disciple, now Xiao Chen is already 6 years old but his growth is far above the average child of his age. Xiao Chen looked like a 10 year old kid from his size.

The past year Xiao Chen had not stopped surprising Fang An, he had so obediently learned to read, write and count. Lessons that should have taken three years to learn were devoured by Xiao Chen in a few months, of course this was because basically Xiao Chen already knew everything.

Xiao Chen could have mastered it the day he was taught but it would be so shocking that he pretended he didn't understand it and spent several months learning it all. Fang An then taught Xiao Chen literature, painting and ethics.

"Chen'er is really talented, even if he can't become a warrior, he can become a famous scholar." Fang An thought as he looked at his only disciple.

During the past year Xiao Chen studied so hard, most of his time was spent in the study room. Although Fang An encouraged him to play with children his age, Xiao Chen said he was more interested in studying. He had the mentality of a 90s year old, there was no way that Xiao Chen would have the desire to play with 6 year olds.

Fang An also didn't take on any missions for the past year as he focused his attention on educating Xiao Chen all the necessary basic knowledge.

Xiao Chen was indeed often in the study room even at night. When Fang An wasn't watching him, Xiao Chen copied the Heavenly Dragon God's Scripture into a blank scripture. Xiao Chen also wrote down all the important events that he could remember.

Even though Xiao Chen had memories from his previous life about many things that happened in the future but that didn't mean he couldn't forget. Over time after living his new life, he would definitely forget something, that's why Xiao Chen recorded everything and kept it well.

Xiao Chen, who had not been able to learn martial arts or internal energy due to his condition, chose to study things that he had not paid attention to before. For the sake of killing time, Xiao Chen studied medicine, formation arts, and other things from the books in Bamboo Swords Villa.

"Chen'er, Master has something to talk to you about…" After the morning painting practice, Fang An suddenly asked Xiao Chen to sit across from him and listened to what Fang An wanted to convey, "Chen'er, as a Sword Elder, Master must take on a mission from time to time."

Basically Fang An explained that the longest Sword Elder could take a day off was one year. In the near future Fang An was going to take a mission, he advised Xiao Chen not to lax in his training.

"Master doesn't need to worry, student will not let Master down." Xiao Chen replied.

In his previous life, Fang An didn't take this long off from his missions because Xiao Chen wanted more alone time. This time Fang An didn't go on a yearlong mission because he wanted to educate the talented Xiao Chen.

Fang An reminded Xiao Chen not to show his cleverness to others for the time being, Fang An did not explain the reason but Xiao Chen could understand it. In the ruthless martial arts world, someone who was talented didn't always become revered. If you don't have a strong background, these talents will be finished before they develop.

At least due to not taking on missions for an entire year, Fang An's condition had gotten better. His coughing wasn't as frequent as before when night fell.

The next day, Fang An left Bamboo Sword Villa. Fang An said it would probably be a few weeks before he returned.

"Finally I can be more free…" Xiao Chen let out a long sigh after seeing Fang An's figure disappear.

Xiao Chen was indeed happy that Fang An's condition had improved slightly, but in the past year Xiao Chen's space for movement had become so limited because Fang An had been watching him almost all the time. Xiao packed a few things before running to the Bamboo Sword Villa's warehouse.

The Bamboo Sword Villa was located in the eastern part of the Valley of the Hundred Swords, it was also attached to the city wall. During the past year whenever Fang An was asleep, Xiao Chen built a secret passage that could lead him out of the Valley of the Hundred Swords.

If Xiao Chen wanted to leave the Valley of the Hundred Swords, he had to report it to the Young Swords Pavilion. Xiao Chen was sure that he would not get permission to leave the sect, which was why he had built this secret passage.

Xiao Chen carefully inspected the surroundings before exiting the secret passage, he then re-covered the secret passage with grass and rocks. In the past year he had never left the Bamboo Sword Villa, even though Xiao Chen was one of those people who liked to travel so his body felt very itchy for adventure.

"Finally I can start carrying out my plan…" Xiao Chen dashed towards the east, his destination was a large river near the Valley of the Hundred Swords.

Because Fang An kept watching over him, Xiao Chen couldn't learn many martial arts but he did not forget from time to time to train to strengthen his physique by doing daily activities like drawing water from the well, chopping firewood, cleaning the villa and so on.

For children his age, all of these activities include pretty good physical exercise.

Xiao Chen also secretly studied lightening, because he didn't yet have inner strength, so Xiao Chen could only learn the most basic lightening technique that all warriors mastered first, namely Wind Steps.

"These short legs feel so pitiful…" Xiao Chen smiled bitterly when he felt that his running speed using Wind Step was no different from that of an ordinary adult.

One obvious change compared to his previous life was Xiao Chen's physical growth, before he was a skinny youth who looked malnourished and lacking in strength, not at all like an ordinary warrior but this time he had a big appetite and was doing exercises actively so his physique grew to a great extent and strong.

Xiao Chen slightly missed his ability to run as fast as the wind, but he also understood that as long as he practiced hard enough he would sooner or later get it back.

After running for some time, Xiao Chen could see a flowing river before him. The river that previously brought havoc to the Valley of the Hundred Swords was the Jade Grass River.