Practice
"One, two, three... ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred!"
On the training ground, Xiao Wan'er swung her sword again and again, Liuyun standing beside her, counting. After the 100th was called, Xiao Wan'er felt as if she had been granted amnesty. She dropped her sword, leaned on her knees, and panted. The ground at her feet was already wet with sweat.
"Don't sit down, stand up straight and walk slowly." Liuyun grabbed the sword in his hand and muttered in Xiao Wan'er's ear. Xiao Wan'er could only insist on taking a slow walk. After walking for a while, she was allowed to stop and take the warm water handed to her by Liuyun.
After a brief rest, it was time to practice sword moves again. A poor imitation would definitely not pass muster, and her clothes were already soaked with sweat from the constant practice. Finally, when the sword stopped again, Liuyun called a halt.
"Yes, this last move finally has some spirit. I'll stop here for this afternoon. Go back and finish your morning lessons. From now on, there will be new lessons every night."
After dinner, Liuyun asked Xiao Wan'er to stay in the main hall and began his teaching.
"For a cultivator, successfully drawing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into the body is only the first step in cultivation. To unleash one's true strength, one must learn to harness this spiritual energy."
After saying that, he stretched out his right index finger and touched Xiao Wan'er's forehead. A stream of spiritual energy entered Xiao Wan'er's body from her forehead, and then this spiritual energy formed a picture in her mind. She closed her eyes involuntarily, and a little man appeared in front of her. The lines on the little man showed the specific process of attracting spiritual energy.
After the demonstration, the picture disappeared and Xiao Wan'er opened her eyes again. The previous picture was already deeply engraved in her mind.
"Have you remembered it?" Liuyun asked.
"I remember." Xiao Wan'er nodded.
"Then let's try it."
Xiao Wan'er followed the process described in the previous scene to activate her spiritual energy. After a while, she opened her eyes, and there was no change in her body.
"Uh, Master, I seem to have failed." She lowered her head in embarrassment.
"It's okay. It's normal to fail on your first try. Even I didn't succeed the first time," Liuyun said in a gentle voice, "Try a few more times."
Then, Xiao Wan'er succeeded the second time, and Liuyun swallowed the comfort in his mouth.
"Master, what should we do next?" Xiao Wan'er looked at Liuyun. The spiritual energy she had drawn out had no subsequent use and soon dissipated.
Liuyun handed Xiao Wan'er the introductory book on magic that he had prepared long ago, and asked her to try to condense the five elements according to the contents in the book. She opened the book and found that it started with how to condense the five elements with spiritual energy.
After a quick reading, Xiao Wan'er decided to practice each section in order. She memorized the first paragraph, then closed her eyes, channeling her spiritual energy while sensing the elemental auras between heaven and earth, allowing them to resonate with the spiritual energy she was channeling. Finally, she opened her clenched palm, and a small ball of water, condensed into a ball, appeared within.
"Wow, it really works!" The water ball quickly dissipated, wetting Xiao Wan'er's hands, but its existence itself made Xiao Wan'er overjoyed.
Liuyun took a deep breath. After calming down, he said to Xiao Wan'er, "Well done. Practice a few more times. Once you're thoroughly proficient, you can try to condense the next element."
The order in the book is water, wood, earth, metal, and fire, with the destructive power of the elements increasing gradually. After Xiao Wan'er mastered condensing the water element, she began to practice condensing the wood element, and soon a sprout appeared in her palm. However, condensing the earth element wasn't as easy; she failed three times before succeeding. After finally mastering the art of condensing a handful of earth in her hand, she began to attempt condensing the metal element, but she remained unsuccessful until late at night.
"Okay, that's enough practice for today. Time to go back and meditate." Liu Yun finished the class, impressed by her talent. After seeing her leave the main hall, he began to recall his first day of condensing the five elements. After a while, he simply stopped recalling it - the gap was too big, there was no need.
On the second night, Xiao Wan'er had skillfully condensed metal and fire. She also mastered the Five Elements Transformation into Three Wonders within two days, and within three days she was able to condense elements freely and quickly anytime and anywhere.
At this moment, she also completely mastered the sword moves.
Liuyun watched her demonstrate the sword moves skillfully, nodded in his heart, and then called Pei Yingguan over.
"Sword moves are used in combat. Simply being able to demonstrate them skillfully isn't enough; they must be applied in actual combat to be considered fully mastered. Your senior brother entered the Dao through the sword, and he will suppress his realm in the next sparring session with you."
Pei Yingguan drew his sword and was ready for battle. Xiao Wan'er had no choice but to stand opposite him with her sword raised.
"Please give me some advice, Senior Brother."
Pei Yingguan said nothing and drew his sword. Xiao Wan'er was thrown into disarray by her hasty block. In just three moves, Xiao Wan'er was subdued by Pei Yingguan.
Pei Yingguan silently put away his sword, Xiao Wan'er got into position again, and the sparring began again.
The two fought for the entire afternoon, with Xiao Wan'er also being severely beaten by Pei Yingguan. Liu Yun didn't rush over to call a halt until dinner was ready.
Pei Yingguan sheathed his sword, turned around and left. From beginning to end, his clothes were not even stained with a speck of dust.
"Master, am I very stupid?" On the way to the main hall, Xiao Wan'er asked Liuyun frustratedly.
"Why do you think so?"
"I'm a slow learner of swordsmanship. After a lot of effort I learnt the sword moves, but I forgot them all when it came to actual combat." Xiao Wan'er was really hit hard.
Liuyun touched the top of her head.
"Every cultivator has strengths and weaknesses. You just happen to be weak in martial arts. Whether it's calligraphy, studying Taoist scriptures, or learning magic, you're making rapid progress. Your senior brother took three full days to fully master the art of channeling spiritual energy."
Xiao Wan'er was no longer sad and even happily ate half an extra bowl of rice at dinner.
After dinner, the magic class entered a new stage.
"The spells are primarily based on the Five Elements and the Three Wonders. After learning to condense the elements, you still need to master the spells. Only then can the spiritual energy and elements truly exert their intended effects," Liuyun explained, motioning for Xiao Wan'er to open the spell book and continue reading from the previous section. "The spells in this book are all commonly used basic spells. You need to master them all. If you want to continue your studies, you can visit the library. You can take books from the library, but you must return them within one year. The token will record the books you borrow."
After saying that, he handed Xiao Wan'er a token and asked her to drop a drop of blood on the token.
Xiao Wan'er did as she was told. After the blood dripped onto the token, a flash of light appeared on the surface of the token.
"This is the token needed to enter the library. From now on, you will be the only owner of this token. It will constantly record your realm. After entering the library, each realm has a corresponding area. If you don't reach the next realm, you can't enter the corresponding area."
Xiao Wan'er picked up the token, put it in her small schoolbag, and then began to learn basic magic.
Unlike condensing elements, it is much more difficult to comprehend the magic. Even the simplest rain-making magic took Xiao Wan'er a lot of time to use successfully. At this time, it was time for her to go back and meditate.
From then on, Xiao Wan'er led a busy life of studying Taoist scriptures in the morning, practicing with Pei Yingguan in the afternoon, and learning the Dharma before meditating in the evening.
By mid-spring of the following year, Xiao Wan'er was finally able to last a stick of incense in her sparring with Pei Yingguan. At the same time, she had mastered all the techniques in the introductory book on magic.
After the sparring session, Xiao Wan'er walked to the temple's farmland. After mastering the Rainmaking Technique, the Soil-Tilling Technique, and the Growth Technique, she was given a plot of land. She chose a vegetable patch and regularly cast spells, and the vegetables were currently growing well. After tending the vegetable patch, she returned to the main hall for dinner, which consisted of mutton soup, which happened to be the last piece of mutton in the temple.
In the magic class after dinner, Liuyun adjusted Xiao Wan'er's schedule.
"Now that you've mastered the basics of magic and martial arts, you'll have the choice of what to learn next. You can borrow books from the library tonight. From now on, every morning will be your time for self-study. In the afternoon, you'll continue practicing martial arts. Whether you want to master other weapons or continue your swordsmanship is entirely up to you. After dinner, there will be a lecture. On the first night of each month, there will be an exam based on what you learned in the lectures the previous month. Do you understand?"
"Master, I understand." Xiao Wan'er replied.
"Then go to the library to find the magic you want to learn." Liuyun let her go.
Xiao Wan'er took the token and entered the library. From the outside, the library looked like an ordinary little room, but once inside, she discovered a world beyond. Inside, neatly arranged bookshelves filled with books filled the air. Walking along the gaps between the shelves, she could see a formation, but Xiao Wan'er couldn't see what lay beyond it. Seeing this arrangement, she knew that beyond the formation must be a realm accessible only to cultivators who had reached the Dao Entry Realm.
She walked back to where she had just entered the library and began searching for the techniques she was interested in. The shelves within the library were labeled, indicating the broad categories of the books on the shelves. The variety was diverse, ranging from offensive techniques and auxiliary techniques to books on formations, talismans, medicine, and instrument making, as well as general Taoist texts unrelated to cultivation. Sometimes there were multiple copies of the same book, and some were even single copies. However, in areas where no one had yet entered the Dao, the single copies were mostly Taoist texts unrelated to cultivation.
Xiao Wan'er looked around, feeling overwhelmed. Suddenly, she remembered her own serious illness and the injuries she suffered during her fight with Pei Yingguan, and chose "Introduction to Medical Techniques."
When she walked out of the library with the book, the token flashed, and after the light disappeared, a mark representing the number one appeared on it.
The next morning, she naturally began learning medical techniques. Standing on the training ground that afternoon, facing a range of weapons—swords, spears, axes, swords, sticks, bows, whips—Xiao Wan'er pondered for a moment before picking up a bow and arrow.
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