Having learned yet another piece of history and many new words, Chen Jing wandered aimlessly through the streets, eating a steamed bun and a small piece of meat that he had brought from home.
Maintaining a highly focused state of mind for an extended period of time while listening to lectures, without any room for slacking off, is extremely difficult even for practitioners.
Fortunately, Chen Jing had time to learn martial arts in the afternoon, which he was really looking forward to. However, he hadn't made any progress in learning the "Sword Mind" of the Sword Heart School, which made him a little frustrated.
Upon arriving at his master's place, Chen Jing knocked on the door and, without disturbing him, greeted him before heading to the practice area to begin practicing "Sword Mindset".
"Wait a minute." The expert stopped Chen Jing: "You don't need to practice the mindset for swordsmanship today. I have a new martial arts manual for you."
Chen Jing replied, half confused and half delighted, "Yes, Master."
“I should teach according to your aptitude. You are not a warrior cultivator, so it’s impossible for you to have talent in learning all kinds of martial arts. You are more suited to specializing in the swordsmanship of the Shadow Sword Sect.” As the expert spoke, he took out a new manual. Chen Jing looked closely and saw that the cover read: Eye of Assassination.
"It's a footwork-based martial art. Take it and see for yourself," the expert said, then ignored Chen Jing again.
Chen Jing thanked his master, picked up the book, and went to the practice area.
Martial arts are divided into three categories: footwork, strength training, and attack.
Although footwork-based martial arts are called footwork, they are actually a spiritual energy circulation pattern of the whole body, and not just the kind of lightness skill I saw before I traveled through time.
The Assassin's Eye is a special spiritual energy circulation mode. Activating this mode makes one's attacks more accurate and able to hit vital points. At the same time, the eyes can "see" the enemy's weaknesses.
As Chen Jing read through the manual, he noticed that the section describing its effects even mentioned that if this martial art were used against an enemy at the Qi Realm level, the weakness it would find would be the weak point in the enemy's "Qi Armor," thus posing a certain threat to the enemy at that level.
The manual itself doesn't contain much information. Chen Jing had already consulted dictionaries and studied many meridians and acupoints beforehand, so there were very few obscure characters for him.
After quickly finishing the book, Chen Jing only tried it once, and the spiritual energy circulation pattern was naturally formed.
In his eyes, the whole world had changed, the colors had become darker and more somber, but because there was no one around, Chen Jing saw nothing.
Chen Jing felt his spiritual power rapidly draining away, and he couldn't maintain it for very long.
This is a martial art at the Dan realm level; only those who have reached the Dan realm can use it relatively easily.
He immediately cut off the spiritual energy circulation mode, but in just that short time, Chen Jing consumed the equivalent of thirty minutes of "noise invisibility" spiritual energy.
"It's equivalent to using Shadow Cloak once... Hmm, it just took so much to construct this loop pattern. If it's maintained slowly afterwards, the cost will be less." Chen Jing calculated silently in his mind.
This spiritual energy circulation pattern seems to conflict with noise invisibility... Hmm, not necessarily. There are many areas that seem to be able to be modified, researched, and explored to see if they can be integrated...
As Chen Jing pondered, he went to his master.
With his back to him, the expert said, "Do you have any questions about learning this martial art?"
“Master, I have already learned it,” Chen Jing replied.
The expert paused for a moment: "Put the manual down and continue practicing the Sword Mindset."
Chen Jing put down the manual and walked back, feeling that he had been learning a bit too fast and perhaps he should have learned more slowly.
The spiritual energy path of the Sword Heart Realm is extremely obscure. This is only a requirement for the "body." Chen Jing tried for so many days and was still able to complete it. But the more crucial requirement is for the "mindset."
The Sword Heart School trains the body, mind, and spirit; all three must be unified to use the Sword Heart School's martial arts. However, for Chen Jing, the Shadow Sword School seems to be able to use it as long as he has the knowledge. The two are completely different in difficulty.
The body refers to the specific posture and flow of spiritual energy required when using martial arts. If a person is bound, they cannot use martial arts. Even martial arts that involve strengthening or footwork require some coordination of movements.
The mind refers to the specific state of mind when using martial arts, including the mobilization of emotions, inner meditation, and the coordination of feelings and spiritual power.
The concept of "spirit" is somewhat mysterious, and Chen Jing didn't quite understand what the requirements for "spirit" were. Perhaps it refers to the soul, or perhaps it refers to a deeper and more profound feeling than a state of mind.
Of course, it seems that the Shadow Sword Sect also requires the unity of body, mind, and spirit, which seems to be a common feature of all martial arts. However, Chen Jing seems to meet the requirements naturally, making it easy for him to learn.
After practicing several more times and wasting a lot of spiritual energy, Chen Jing still failed even once. He sat on the ground, meditating to recover his fatigue and spiritual energy while letting his thoughts wander.
He was considering whether he could combine Assassin's Eye and Noise Invisibility for use together.
Unfortunately, Chen Jing lacked the knowledge in this area and didn't know if his reckless attempt would lead to demonic possession, so he gave up after thinking about it.
"If I could use both together, I would be an extremely powerful assassin. Even against a Qi Realm expert, I would have a certain degree of confidence in assassinating them..." Chen Jing thought to himself.
He didn't know how strong the "Qi Armor" of a Qi Realm expert was, so he only said he was confident.
After recovering his spiritual power, Chen Jing began cultivating again, but after an afternoon, he still hadn't made much progress.
Sitting up, Chen Jing went to his master's side to say goodbye, and told him that the Black Hand Gang might have a big operation in early October, so he couldn't come every time.
“Go back and digest what you’ve learned. The hunting party is also on the move. Come back in three days,” the expert replied.
Chen Jingying should leave.
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