Sparring

Chen Gui had also changed into a set of leather armor, holding a saber in each hand. What he practiced was a dual-saber technique.

"Come, come, let's have a try. I'll let you have the first three moves."

With his twin sabers raised and leather armor donned, Chen Gui walked to an open area and beckoned Wu Ming over. Though Wu Ming wielded a long spear, Chen Gui remained relaxed. After all, he came from a wealthy household and had trained with the saber since childhood. Though he had only condensed Blood Qi once, his dual-saber technique had long since reached the Mastery level.

Seeing Chen Gui's "enthusiastic invitation," Wu Ming stepped forward with his spear and assumed his stance.

Off to the side,

several young martial artists had gathered together.

"How long do you think Brother Wu can last?"

"A long spear has a slight advantage against twin sabers. I'd say he can block ten moves."

"Brother Chen is letting him have three moves first. After those three, I reckon another three moves should be about it."

The group watched the situation in the field and chatted with laughter.

Some among them also came from fairly decent families and had practiced forms since childhood, but none matched Chen Gui. They also knew that Wu Ming came from an ordinary background and had only begun practicing techniques after condensing Blood Qi. By now, he had probably only just learned how to exert force. Against Chen Gui, who had already reached the Mastery level, he naturally had no chance of winning. Scattered Hand against Mastery—only the number of moves he could endure mattered.

Generally speaking, after merely two or three moves, someone at the Scattered Hand level would find it difficult to fend off the attack.

In the field,

Wu Ming did not stand on ceremony. He knew that Chen Gui's physique was not much different from his own, but Chen Gui far surpassed him in skill. Once he set his stance and focused completely, he suddenly stepped forward. The long spear in his hand trembled, then stabbed straight out with force.

He still roughly remembered the sixteen forms of the Falling Leaf Spear Technique, but in real combat like this, let alone only remembering them roughly, even if he had practiced them before, as long as he was not proficient enough, their effect might not compare to the most ordinary, unadorned thrust.

"Good!"

Chen Gui's eyes lit up as he watched Wu Ming's spear stab toward him.

He knew Wu Ming had not practiced the spear for long and had thought Wu Ming might not even have reached a stable Scattered Hand level. Yet this thrust, though it was only the simplest stab, was Four Levels and Eight Stabilities. The spear shook like a flood dragon emerging from the sea, its force rich and powerful.

Swish.

Chen Gui sidestepped, raised the saber in his left hand, and deflected the force of Wu Ming's spear.

"Two moves left."

After knocking the spear aside, Chen Gui did not pursue. Instead, he smiled at Wu Ming and waited for him to continue attacking.

Wu Ming did not waste words. The moment his spear was deflected, he immediately drew back the force with his left hand. As the spear recoiled, he swept it horizontally toward Chen Gui's waist.

Chen Gui crossed his twin sabers and blocked Wu Ming's sweeping spear.

Wu Ming withdrew his spear and attacked again. This strike came down from above in a downward cleave, but Chen Gui still crossed his sabers to block it, stopping it above his head.

"Haha, here I come!"

After receiving Wu Ming's three consecutive moves, Chen Gui burst into laughter. He lunged forward, his twin sabers linking together as he executed Butterfly Through Flowers. Swaying nimbly, he circled forward with a step and slashed out.

When an expert made a move, one immediately knew whether there was substance to it. This was also Wu Ming's first time facing someone at the Mastery level. Though he had mastered the force exertion of Quivering Spear Force and reached the Scattered Hand level, he was clearly far inferior in the intricacy of his techniques. His three attacks had posed almost no threat to Chen Gui, yet Chen Gui's very first move brought him considerable pressure.

However,

with Wu Ming fully focused, his Perceptive Insight was brought completely into play. Though there was a gap in their skill levels, he still reacted with great sharpness to Chen Gui's counterattack. He took a step back, avoiding Chen Gui's attack, while the spear in his hand contracted and trembled before stabbing straight out again. It forced Chen Gui to twist aside, and in an instant, the distance between them opened once more.

"Pretty quick reactions."

Chen Gui chuckled and charged forward again with his saber.

His sudden circling attack had failed. Seeing that Wu Ming's movements were sharp and his reactions fast, Chen Gui abandoned the style of catching his opponent off guard. He directly unfolded the thirty-six forms of a Bagua saber technique. With a White Ape Offering Fruit upward slash, he knocked Wu Ming's spear aside, then linked his twin sabers together and pressed straight in from the front, relying on the suppression of superior technique.

Facing Chen Gui's frenzied assault, swift as racing thunder, Wu Ming remained calm in the face of danger. He had not reached the Mastery realm and did not understand the dismantling of techniques in detail, but with his keen Perceptive Insight, he could still vaguely detect some weak points in Chen Gui's saberplay. His spear stabbed repeatedly at those weak points while he steadily withdrew step by step, always maintaining distance and never giving Chen Gui a chance to close in.

In the blink of an eye,

more than ten moves had passed.

Now, not only were the young martial artists around them astonished, even Chen Gui was deeply surprised. He could see that Wu Ming's moves were crude and lacked formal technique, yet every thrust always vaguely targeted troublesome positions, forcing him to divide part of his attention to evade or block.

Throughout this process, Wu Ming had continued retreating step by step, maintaining distance. He looked as though he was being driven back again and again, completely suppressed by Chen Gui, but in truth, he had caught every move. His stance had not fallen into disorder in the slightest.

Normally, when Scattered Hand faced Mastery, after two or three moves, the difference in technique would leave the former scrambling left and right, unable to fend off the attacks. Once their movements and footwork became disordered, defeat would usually follow immediately.

Yet Wu Ming had forcibly held on through the slight advantage of his long spear, along with his sharp reactions and judgment of the situation. Though he retreated step by step under an enormous disadvantage, there was never any sign of collapse.

However,

after another ten-odd moves, Wu Ming finally stopped resisting.

"I can't do it anymore."

He shook his head and stopped moving.

By then, he had retreated to the edge of the courtyard. Less than a zhang behind him stood the bluestone courtyard wall. If he backed away any farther, he would be against the wall with nowhere left to retreat. Once Chen Gui closed in, defeat would be immediate.

Though he wanted to change this disadvantageous situation, Chen Gui's saberplay came in an endless stream, placing immense pressure on him. He could not spare any opening to change position and could only retreat step by step. The gap in their skill levels was indeed glaringly obvious.

Of course,

this was also because it was his first real fight, and he was simply too unfamiliar with the techniques used in combat. That unfamiliarity prevented him from fully displaying the sharpness and reaction speed granted by Perceptive Insight.

Wu Ming felt that if he could become familiar with actual combat and gain some understanding of both saberplay and spear techniques, then even without reaching the Mastery realm, he could still contend with a Mastery martial artist like Chen Gui through Perceptive Insight alone!

"The effects brought by a strengthened soul truly are extraordinary."

Wu Ming could not help thinking to himself. It was not only condensing Qi and Blood or practicing techniques that benefited from it. Now it seemed that Perceptive Insight had the greatest room to shine in actual combat.

Unfortunately, the Black Emperor's Demon Subduing Diagram in his mind had fallen silent after it suppressed that evil entity. Whenever night came and he rested, he tried to study it, but he never received any response.

Over here,

Wu Ming was still recalling their exchange just now, reflecting on the mistakes he had made during the fight.

On the other side, Chen Gui had lowered his sabers and was staring at him in amazement. "We're both honest men, so don't go fooling me. With the way you fought, you're saying you never practiced real combat before?"

"Why would I lie to you? I may not have practiced real combat, but I imagined it many times while training. With a long spear, distance is the key. Against sabers, swords, fists, and kicks, as long as you can maintain the distance, you can remain undefeated."

Wu Ming looked at Chen Gui and smiled.

"Thinking about it and actually practicing it are completely different things."

Chen Gui shook his head and gave Wu Ming a thumbs-up. "Although I only used seventy percent of my strength, being able to block me like that already makes you strong among Scattered Hand martial artists."

As he spoke, he stepped forward and patted Wu Ming with the back of his hand. He winked at him and lowered his voice. "With this level of skill, you can already leave the courtyard. So, how about it? Want to come work for me?"

"If you come, I'll give you a Crimson Serpent Spear, and I'll pay you ten taels of silver a month."