Night arrived, but two youths were still in a horse stance. They were Yang Zenke and Han Sen. Because the two were doing double the training of others, there was still another hour before they could take a rest.
While gritting his teeth, Han Sen glanced at Yang Zenke with difficulty. “B-Brother Yang, can you still hold on?”
Yang Zeke nodded his head solemnly and replied. “Mn. You shouldn’t have talked like that to master earlier.”
Han Sen chuckled bitterly when he heard that. “What’s done is done. There is no need to think about it. Also, I still have to thank the master for his mercy. If our master was someone else, I would have died already.” Han Sen said and shook his head.
Yang Zenke was surprised at his reply. He didn’t think that this young man called Han Sen was actually quite open-minded. Nonetheless, Yang Zenke remained silent and focused his attention on himself.
Just then, both young men suddenly saw the silhouettes of a few individuals coming towards the battle platform of the beast fighting arena.
Jiu Shen who was sitting on his chair with his eyes shut tight remained unmoved despite having already sensed their presence. He was still in the process of searching for the best sword techniques for his people and he realized that it was actually quite hard to choose from the many that he had in his memory.
Theia, Lu Sulan, and the others stared curiously at the two youths who were in a horse stance before they turned their gazes on the other young men who were either resting or eating spiritual fruits.
“Are they the slaves brought by the emperor a few days ago?” Can Ye asked silently, but since the beast fighting arena was fairly quiet, his voice still echoed within the establishment.
Theia glared at him before she pointed at Jiu Shen who had his eyes closed. “Shut up.”
Can Ye immediately closed his mouth after seeing the look on Theia’s face. He was very afraid of this young lady, so he promptly remained silent and just stared silently at the group of young men. He was curious about why his master decided to train these kids and looking at all of them, they were young men below the age of nineteen.
Theia walked in front of Jiu Shen and bowed respectfully as she spoke. “Master, I’ve brought everyone here as per your instructions.”
Jiu Shen’s eyes sprung open and he nodded his head at Theia. “Good. All of you come here.”
After hearing his words, Theia gestured the rest to come over.
Looking at their bewildered expressions, Jiu Shen let out a smile which stunned all of them since it was quite rare to see him smile, but just recently, their master seemed to smile a lot more than usual.
“Initially, I only wanted to teach Lu Sulan and Can Ye, but I changed my mind. I consider all of you as my people, so I will remain partial to everyone. Now, I called everyone to come here because I will be imparting my sword techniques. However, your sword comprehension is seriously flawed so I still have to help you understand the fundamentals first before we can proceed to that.” Jiu Shen said as he stood up from his seat.
Hearing his words, Lu Sulan and the others’ eyes immediately lit up in excitement. They knew that Jiu Shen was a very strong expert with a formidable cultivation level, so they were eager to learn something from him even if it was just the basics.
“Can Ye, although you are not a swordsman, the way of the saber and the way of the sword is intricately related to each other. The only difference between them is their utilization, so you don’t have to worry about this and just listen carefully.” Jiu Shen looked at Can Ye as he said those words. The latter nodded his head at his master to show his understanding.
The dragon tattoo in Jiu Shen’s right arm suddenly lit up as it slowly flew out and formed into an ordinary-looking black sword.
Lu Sulan’s eyes flickered when she saw this sword since she had already seen it when she was with Jiu Shen in the Green Mountain Lake. She knew that it was not the sword’s true form, so she didn’t take it lightly despite its shabby appearance.
“Get your swords and maintain distance among yourselves.” Jiu Shen commanded with a serious look.
Everyone immediately followed his orders and took out their weapons. The others had exquisite-looking swords in their hands while only Can Ye had a huge machete-like knife. He smiled awkwardly after seeing their strange glances, but he didn’t take it to heart since he knew the true power of this knife!
“Watch closely.” Jiu Shen lifted his sword and did a casual sword strike. Everyone studied his movements deeply, but they failed to sense anything special about it. But then…
Bang!
A hundred meters away from Jiu Shen, a stone pillar that was two feet in diameter was suddenly cut horizontally in half.
Everyone’s eyes widened in surprise after seeing it. They only saw Jiu Shen brandishing his sword without any superfluous actions, but it actually cut a stone pillar in half! What an unbelievable sight!
Among them, only Theia had a thoughtful look as if she had recalled something from her memory, and in that instant, a trace of regret, melancholy, and nostalgia flickered in her beautiful pair of eyes, but she hurriedly concealed it, afraid that Jiu Shen would see her reaction.
“Master, how did you do it?” Lu Sulan had a look of anticipation in her eyes as she asked Jiu Shen. Although she had already seen the strength of Jiu Shen, she was still excited about the thought of learning swordsmanship from him.
Can Ye and the others perked their ears as they stared at Jiu Shen’s calm and collected look.
Without making them wait for long, Jiu Shen replied. “That sword strike might have looked ordinary on the surface, but that isn’t the case. My first lesson to all of you is Sword Comprehension.”
Seeing their confused looks, Jiu Shen smiled lightly. “I added my Sword Comprehension in that strike, but since your understanding of the sword is too superficial, none of you were able to discern the true might of that simple sword strike.”
“Sword Comprehension… I never heard of it.” Can Ye muttered as he scratched the back of his head.
Pak.
Theia smacked the back of his head, making Can Ye fall on the ground face first.
Jiu Shen ignored them and continued. “To learn about Sword Comprehension, one must have deep knowledge and understanding about the way of the sword. However, one can only gain enlightenment in Sword Comprehension through constant battles and wars. A sword is a weapon of killing, and only on the battlefield will your true potentials be unearthed…” Jiu Shen narrated his understanding of swordsmanship, but he only told them the fundamentals to strengthen their foundations.
Lu Sulan, Can Ye, and the others were deeply absorbed in his discussion, and they didn’t even realize that there were already a few young men who joined them in listening to Jiu Shen’s teachings.
Jiu Shen didn’t stop the kids from listening to his discussion. In fact, he intentionally paused from time to time to allow these young men to consolidate his words in their hearts.
