The Commencement of the Practicing of Fighting Technique (2)

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Tong-Lang threw a rock at Zheng-Fu right after he finished speaking. He used only one portion of his energy to throw the rock at the boy because he did not want him to get hurt. He actually thought that using only a portion of his energy could already push Zheng-Fu back by many paces…

Bang!

As the rock approached Zheng-Fu, he started to move according to the sword fighting pattern that he saw in his head. Then Zheng-Fu let out a force in time for it to clash with the rock that came towards him. The clash created a burst sound like the sound of two solid objects hitting one another. Right before the rock reached him, his body turned into a state of bouncy dough and could catch the rock without getting harmed…

“That’s impossible!”

Tong-Lang’s expression changed from smiling to crinkling his eyebrows when he saw that Zheng-Fu could withstand the rock that he threw at him. The fact that Zheng-Fu could deal with the rock efficiently without moving even a step made him cry out loud. The boy could retain his grace all the while…

“Excellent, boy! You did wonderfully! You could catch the rock that was thrown by Tong-Lang without moving one bit, even though it was so powerful as one portion of his whole Qi energy.” Tong-Tieng gave Zheng-Fu a compliment with a sense of satisfaction…

“Thank you for your compliment, Master. Could we please do it again? But this time, would you please increase the severity of the throw?” Zheng-Fu said seriously…

“Make it more violent!?”

Tong-Lang felt very bewildered when he heard that Zheng-Fu asked for a more violent throw. He looked at Zheng-Fu with concern on his request and then asked, “Are you sure that you want something stronger, boy?”

“Yes, please. I’m sure.”

“What do you think, brother? The boy asked for something more serious…?” Tong-Lang turned to check with Tong-Tieng to let Tong-Tieng decide for him…

“Well…if he wishes for that, then give it to him. Make sure to increase your throw just by two portions of all your energy, not more than that.” Tong-Tieng said and nodded in agreement with Zheng-Fu’s request. He also did not forget to tell Tong-Lang to be easy on the boy…

“Yes, brother!”

The reason why Tong-Tieng agreed to do according to Zheng-Fu’s request was that he wanted to see how much Zheng-Fu could withstand the attack. If he could handle this second attack well, it would be clear that the boy was definitely a martial arts genius. If that was the case, both of them would do anything to protect Zheng-Fu…

“Are you ready, boy? This time I will increase the throw by two portions of my Qi energy. It’s not too late if you wish to give up!” Tong-Lang continued to hustle Zheng-Fu for him to stop trying…

“I’m not going to give up, sir! I’m ready. Let’s do it, Master Tong-Lang.” Zheng-Fu continued to show his utmost bravery, not getting any faltered…

“Great!”

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Tong-Lang used the same size of rock this time, but he added more energy to the throw to two portions of his Qi energy. These portions from someone as skillful as Tong-Lang could create a strong wind that could hurt Zheng-Fu bad enough if he could not make it…

Meanwhile, Tong-Tieng was feeling alert to prepare to help Zheng-Fu anytime if he saw that the boy could not manage the attack. He did not want Zheng-Fu to get hurt from being unable to catch the rock…

[Belt Sword skill; first stage, “Soft for Defense”]

Bang!

“He could do it! He could indeed stop the rock!” Tong-Tieng shouted out loud with his eyes widened from amazement. He did not know if he should smile or cry because he never thought that an 8-year-old boy could stop that rock that was thrown by him, the martial artist who was on the fifth level of the Foundation Building stage. Even though he used only two portions of his Qi energy, not the whole, Zheng-Fu could be put into a state of unconsciousness for days, if he could not catch that rock…

“Kid… You’re the real martial arts genius. You took only one day to achieve the first stage of the Belt Sword skill. If you had more time to practice, you would definitely become the real prodigy among the youth in our clan.” Tong-Lang admired Zheng-Fu out loud with a great smile on his face…

“You’re too kind, Master Tong-Lang. I could achieve it because of your guidance and you went easy on me there. I’m not as great as others, sir.” Zheng-Fu spoke respectfully and humbly while smiling innocently at Tong-Lang…

“You must be tired today. Let’s continue tomorrow, shall we?” Tong-Tieng said and gave a warm smile to Zheng-Fu…

“Please go ahead, Masters. I think I’m going to stay and practice for a while. It’s not late yet. I would like to achieve more skills because this coming clan’s test is very important to me.”

“Well, up to you, kid. But remember that overdoing things might not be good for you sometimes. You should take a break from time to time.”

“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind, sir. Can I call both of you Masters, Elders?”

“Well, of course!” The two Monitors did not hesitate to accept Zheng-Fu as their student. They thought that if this genius kid became a successful martial artist, they would be famous too. So, this was the reason why they agreed to take Zheng-Fu in immediately…

“Since you have us as your Masters, we will teach you everything we know with all our hearts. Here. This is a gift to you.” Tong-Lang gave a lower-leveled Qi energy stone to Zheng-Fu after he finished his sentence before walking away. Tong-Tieng saw what Tong-Lang did, so he gave two Qi energy stones to Zheng-Fu as well…

“Thank you both, Masters” Zheng-Fu quickly cupped his fists to extend gratitude to the two Monitors. Then he watched them walking away, slowly fading from his sight…

‘It seems like an important thing for a martial artist to have a Master, judging from what I saw in the previous world. I don’t think I can make it if I don’t have one, so I must have the two Monitors as my Masters.’

Zheng-Fu had now owned three lower-leveled Qi energy stones. They were very valuable to him because, in order to get the stone, he needed to pass the test first. He would gain more if he could become the martial arts prodigy of the clan. Being a prodigy would mean a promising future for the clan…

“There are three stages of the “Belt Sword” skill. I now achieved the first stage of the skill. Should I continue to practice the other two stages? Or should I shift to the “Sword of the Wind” skill?” Zheng-Fu reflected on what was in his mind about what he should do next…

After that, he lost himself in his own contemplation. He sat under a big tree, resting and thinking about getting a new sword because his sword was completely marked with cracks…

It was more than decent that his worn-out sword could take on the two attacks from Tong-Lang. It should not have been able to do its job that well if it was not for the “Soft for Defense” skill. Without the skill, the sword would definitely fall apart since the first attack…

“The “Sword of the Wind” skill focuses on placing the Qi energy on the sword and then projecting that force out. The first stage of the “Sword of the Wind” skill is called “Light Wind Wave”. At this stage, a martial artist can use the skill to emit a light wind wave, light but dense with Qi energy. If I decide to continue to practice the second stage of the “Belt Sword” skill, I can only achieve another defensive technique, which is something I already have. Well, in that case…”

Zheng-Fu tried to think about and compare the defensive and offensive skills, so he knew which one he should choose to practice next. He concluded that he would choose the “Sword of the Wind” skill because it was an attack skill that he could use to attack the opponent even from afar…

Zheng-Fu then got up, walked to a big courtyard, looked around him, and found a giant rock, which was perfect to be his practice target…

“Control and stabilize breathing rhythm. Cultivate the Qi energy and transcend it to the sword. Then launch the energy force to make a light wind wave.” Zheng-Fu started to arrange himself in the get-ready position according to the manual after reading it. Then he started to do the movements before letting out the Qi energy that was stored at the tip of the sword…

[The Sword of the Wind skill; first stage, Light Wind Wave]

Whoosh!

Thud!

The wave of the wind that Zheng-Fu launched from the sword was merely a light normal wind that could move tree leaves faintly. The wind wave did not go far either…

“Why? I did everything according to the manual.”

At that very moment, Zheng-Fu started to feel numb and light-headed as if he was about to lose consciousness. He tried to grab things around him to try to stand up straight, but it did not help. Things got worse and then he collapsed unconsciously…

Zheng-Fu started to gain his consciousness back after being blacked out for a while. However, he noticed that he woke up to find himself in another place, not in the forest. When he looked around, he saw only darkness around him. Then he saw a bright light in front of him…

“What is that bright light!?” Zheng-Fu exclaimed out of fright and curiosity before walking towards it, slowly and slowly. The light then got brighter and brighter so much that it made him scrunch up his eyes. When he got close enough, he realized that the bright light came from a body. It was a glowing shape of a human body, that was performing sword-fighting movements…

And when Zheng-Fu got fixated on the pattern of that sword fighting skill by that glowing body, he crinkled his eyebrows and exclaimed, “That’s the “Light Wind Wave” pattern of the “Sword of the Wind” skill!”

Focusing further on that glowing body, he noticed that the movement pattern looked slightly different from the manual, but what that pattern produced was something more powerful than what the original pattern could do…

Zheng-Fu took time watching that movement pattern for a while, then he started to move along with the glowing body slowly, move after move. When he finished the last move, he could sense that he understood better about the principle of that sword fighting pattern…

“So, that’s the trick! That is why the energy power that I launched was so mild. There is something missing from the movement pattern in the manual, so the power of the sword skill was so limited.” Zheng-Fu said with a joyful smile because he was very delighted. And as he was pleased with the discovery, the glowing body was fading away slowly until the darkness came back and he felt exactly like the time before he was about to faint…

“What!?”

Zheng-Fu woke up from that dark place and regained his consciousness. As soon as he awoke, he felt startled and rushed to get back up on his feet and said, “Was that a dream?” Then he started to look around the area and realized that it was late because the sun was setting and eventually disappeared into the horizon. That was when he decided to go home and plan to think about what happened later…