The Legend of Min Hong

Chapter 23: Intense Training

"There are four stances in archery; The standing shot, the crouching shot, the twisting shot and the falling shot!" Bloodshot looked at Hong. "Young master, your training will be divided into two parts. The first is the physical part while the second is the mental part!"

"In the physical part, you need to practice those four stances to the point where; the hand, eye and arrow becomes one." You must always hit your target. Only then can you begin to the next part.

"In the mental part, the stances no longer matter. The only thing is for you arrow and mind to become one.

" You will no longer require your eyes to see. That's simply too slow. You must rely on your mind! In the blink of an eye, you will draw your bow and fire your arrows on your target as fast as lightning. In a truly critical situation, you will have less than a breath to do what you need. No one will give you the chance to properly aim. When you have mastered the mental part, then you will have completed your apprenticeship."

Hong listened carefully and nodded. Then the training began instantly.

"Back straight! One arm extended! That's the correct posture for drawing the bow. Stay in that posture!"

"Eyes! Eyes! Are you blind?!"

As soon as he began to earnestly tech Min Hong, Bloodshot started yelling at him. Hong was like a blank page being yelled at over and over again, he could do nothing but endure and slowly learn.

After all, arrows and sniper guns are two different weapons respectively. One had a scope to aid aim accuracy whilst the other relies solely on the user. Furthermore, Rome wasn't built in a day. Even the archery god, Huoyi, also had to start with the basics at some point.

After two hours of training, the sun was already halfway to its peak.

Just as his archery training stopped with bloodshot, three figures walked into the training ground, they were; his grandpa, mother and sister who waved her hands to bring out his breakfast.

After eating to his satisfaction with a brief rest, Hong's grandfather stepped into the sparring area of the training ground.

"Grandpa." Hong looked at his father with a heart full of awe. His grandfather had killed several magic beasts and even forced a dragon to flee. In terms of skill and strength, his grandpa had already reached a high level. Even some Dan Formation experts have come to learn his sword techniques.

"From today onwards, I will teach you how to use the sword." Min Tian looked at his grandson and said in a stern voice, "This is not archery, nor is it footwork."

"Archery only requires one to understand the basics. Once one's strength rises and one's senses becomes sharper, one will naturally be able to fire more powerful and accurate arrows!"

"Although footwork is important, it is still a supplement to kill an opponent, you will still have to draw your sword in the end!"

"Swords are considered short weapons! They are light and agile, with two edges. Their usage is more precise and profound than that of sabers; whether by stabbing, slashing, chopping, scraping or by tapping, one can easily kill an opponent. Sometimes, a person who is training incorrectly can even hurt himself. It is the truest weapon of war!" Min Tian looked at his grandson.

Min Hong could feel his blood boiling, and was extremely excited and eager. His eyes were basically shining. "Grandpa, what type of sword art will I learn?"

"Sword art? You'd have to wait a few more years!" Min Tian chided.

"Wait a few more years?" Hong was confused.

Min Tian said coldly, "The movements of the sword originates from your body! If you wish to master the sword, the firstly, you must accurately and fluidly control your body. So, you need to train boxing without any aid. After your limbs are extremely agile and you can precisely measure your strength, then your body will be ready to learn sword arts!"

"But only preparing your body isn't enough, you must also prepare your 'mind' for learning the sword!"

Hearing this, Min Hong felt totally confused, as though his head was covered in thick fog. "Grandpa, you say that I must prepare my body before I can learn sword art, that I understand. But I must also prepare my mind? What does that mean?"

"Don't be impatient" Min Tian looked at his grandson before he brought out a thick book and tossed it towards Hong.

"First, closely read through this manual. There are fifteen stances in this boxing art. Although it contains only the simplest but yet fundamental methods of exerting strength, once you've mastered this boxing technique, your entire body will act as you will it and you will be able to exert strength with fluidity and ease."

"Sword arts are birthed from the body. If your body can't even act as you want, how can a sword that isn't part of your limbs act as you wish?" Worried that his grandson would bite more than he can chew, Min Tian added "First, you must calm your mind."

Min Hong understood the saying; 'Sharpening the knife doesn't slow down the cutting process', so he lowered his head and began to read the manual. The manual was quite thick, but that was because each page depicted one specific stance or move which made them very easy to read.

After memorizing the profound secrets, he began to train. His grandfather constantly gave him pointers and revealed his flaws. He even demonstrated some moves himself so as to help Hong understand.

Actually, the [Chaotic Shadow Steps] also involves the principle of force exertion, but it was basically about exerting force in the foot because of his prior experience, Hong quickly pieced the techniques together.

Two hours later

"Rest a bit." Min Tian looked at his grandson's sweaty body. "In the future, you'll spend two hours everyday training your boxing moves until I judge that your body is prepared to train with the sword." "Preparing your body to train with the sword is just one aspect."

"You must also prepare your 'mind' to wield the sword." Two metal swords appeared in Min Tian's hands and he tossed them to his grandson. "Take them!"

Hong took both swords and his grandpa pointed to an empty area. 'Hu'. A metallic puppet appeared from nowhere, wielding a single sabre.

"This is a puppet," Min Tian said. "cultivation experts who are blacksmiths, are often good at producing these puppets. This one is just the most basic of them all, with the power level of an Early Warrior Stage expert. However, its body is extremely tough."

"Grandpa, what are the red spots on its body?" Hong was curious.

The black metal puppet had over ten red dots on its body. The red dots were located between its forehead, on its throat, on its chest, on its arms, hands, back and some other areas.

"Try stabbing the red spot on its forehead, and you must be lightning fast."

"Yes grandpa." Hong jabbed out the sword and stabbed at the puppet's forehead fiercely.

Chink!

The tip of the sword thrusted forward, but it struck the head an inch away from the red dot.

"What?!" Hong was totally stunned. He clearly aimed at the red dot but couldn't understand why he hadn't hit the target. Then he tried three more times, but the end result was just as they were before 'off target'.

"Do you understand now?" Min Tian spoke calmly. "Even though you wanted to stab it in the middle of the forehead, when you actually try to do so, you couldn't accurately get your target. So, if you want to hit your target, you have to first control your body fluidly and then practice countless times."

"Every single sword art can be said to comprise of ten basic moves; Chop, Pierce, Sweep, Break, Tap, Twist, Support, Intercept, Draw and Sheath."

"Chop, Pierce, Sweep, Break and Tap are used to attack, whilst Twist, Support, Intercept, Draw and Sheath are used to defend"

Min Tian pointed to the metal puppet. "This puppet isn't moving at all, and it has nine red dots on its body. Execute the attacking movements against it. I will teach you the secrets to every single movement and how to move in harmony with your attacks. Every single movement must be practiced at least one million times!"

"In the future, the puppet will then begin to move and attack you with its own sabre arts. You will then use the defensive movements, to defend yourself. You will train all of those movements a million times as well."

"Attack! Defend!" "After you become familiar with these two sets of movements, the puppet will then engage in a battle with you."

"You will use the combined ten stances to fight against it." Min Tian looked at Hong. "The day your ten basic movements become engraved in your heart, mind and bones, and you achieve great accuracy, that is when you would have absorbed the true essence of the sword. Only then will you be ready to train sword arts or techniques."

Min Hong listened attentively.

"If you cannot even master these basic movements, then you have no qualifications to train in sword arts and techniques and as a result have no achievements in them. But if you master these basic movements, then I will pass down some sword techniques."

"After you have become familiar with the sword techniques, I pass down onto you, then you will have reached the 'basic' level of wielding the swords."

"The sword art has three major levels; One with Man, One with World and One with the Dao."

"The One with Man' level means that the user must be able to precisely and accurately control the sword like it's one of his limbs, and this is the first."

"The One with World' level means the user must have a high level of mastery such that, one would be able to use anything as a sword, from one's fingers to a plant's branch or even leaves! This is a hundred times harder than the first.

"One with the Dao?! That's even farther off and it is a thousand times harder than the second"

"Do you understand now?" Min Tian calmly asked Hong.

"Yes." Min Hong nodded heavily and solemnly.

The [Jade Primal Dragon Body] training technique would give him a very durable and strong body with invincible strength. But the footwork training and sword art techniques training will determine how much of that strength and power he can put to use.

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