Strength and Guidance

Whoosh.

Wu Ming knew Hong Jiu intended to test his spear technique, so he naturally focused with his entire being. When his first strike missed, he immediately changed moves. His right hand gripped the butt of the spear and exerted force fiercely. With a shake of the long spear, he swept it sideways and drew it back—Returning Wind Sweeps the Willow.

Facing this strike, Hong Jiu merely swayed slightly. His entire body drifted backward as though his feet did not touch the ground. Ghostlike in form, he once again evaded Wu Ming's spear with precise elegance.

Wu Ming's gaze turned solemn as he thrust out three more times in succession. These were several moves he had honed through repeated real combat, moves he could barely be considered proficient in. Yet even when used fluidly in sequence, they still could not touch so much as the corner of Hong Jiu's robes.

"Enough."

As Wu Ming thrust out once more, Hong Jiu finally spoke leisurely. His left hand suddenly extended, two fingers swift as lightning, and clamped onto the spear shaft. Then, using those two slender fingers, he pinched the spearhead and gave it a light shake.

Wu Ming immediately felt an immense force travel down the spear shaft, violently jolting it. In an instant, his hands could no longer hold the long spear.

Hong Jiu tugged with two fingers.

Rip.

Struck by a fierce jolting force, Wu Ming could no longer keep hold of the long spear. With Hong Jiu's two-fingered pull, his grip completely gave way, and the spear flew from his hands toward Hong Jiu's chest.

Having seized the spear with two fingers, Hong Jiu flicked his fingers. The spearhead turned downward and stabbed straight into the bluestone-brick ground beside him. It looked utterly powerless, yet the moment it touched, half of the unsharpened spearhead silently sank into the stone brick.

Was this the strength of Third Blood Forging, Unity of Skill and Art?

Watching this scene, Wu Ming's eyes grew grave, and waves rose in his heart. Before, he had only known that Third Blood Forging was powerful. Only now did he experience it firsthand: merely exerting force with two fingers and sending forth a jolting force was enough to wrench away the long spear he held with both hands.

"Not bad. You really are promising material for spear training."

After taking the ox-tendon spear from Wu Ming, Hong Jiu looked him up and down, then nodded slightly and offered this leisurely assessment. Next, he reached out and gripped the butt of the spear, pulling lightly to withdraw the long spear whose spearhead had been driven halfway into the brick.

Rip.

An impression remained on the bluestone brick.

Wu Ming stared deeply at the mark left on the bluestone floor tile. The impression was incomparably clear. The most astonishing part was not that the unsharpened spearhead had penetrated halfway into the bluestone, but that apart from the indentation left by the spearhead, there was not a single other mark on the brick. It had not even cracked or shattered!

By all rights, with such immense power, penetrating halfway through a bluestone brick should have shattered the entire brick, perhaps even cracked several nearby bluestone bricks from the shock.

Yet,

the reality was that the bluestone brick bore not a single crack.

That meant the penetrating force had been completely condensed into one, without the slightest trace of diffusion.

If snatching the long spear from his hands with two fingers displayed the tyrannical strength of Third Blood Forging, then driving the spearhead into stone without cracking it revealed the formidable control of Unity of Skill and Art.

"I'm old."

Hong Jiu's gaze was also fixed on the mark in the bluestone brick as he sighed.

Had it been in his youth, when his Blood Qi had been at its peak, exerting force with two fingers alone would have been enough to pierce through the entire bluestone brick. Now, however, he could only penetrate halfway. Compared to his younger days, his strength and physique had already declined greatly.

Hearing Hong Jiu's sigh, Wu Ming lowered his head and stood quietly at one side without saying much.

After a moment,

Hong Jiu carried the ox-tendon spear in hand and walked toward a locust tree planted along one side of the courtyard.

"You have good talent. In barely ten days, you have grasped the essence of exerting force through spear technique. But for the art of the spear, merely studying manuals and diagrams is not enough. Diagrams are dead, while people are alive. Falling Leaf Spear Technique in particular emphasizes precision, speed, and power."

With that said.

Bang!

Hong Jiu suddenly swung his spear, the spearhead lightly striking the trunk of the locust tree.

The entire thick locust tree shuddered violently. Its enormous canopy swayed, and leaf after leaf drifted down from the branches in a fluttering shower.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Hong Jiu stood beneath the tree, wielding his spear in sweeping arcs. He demonstrated all sixteen forms of the Falling Leaf Spear Technique from beginning to end. Every move was swift as the wind, fast as thunder, stirring up gust after gust of forceful wind.

When the final move ended, every fallen leaf drifting down from the locust tree had vanished. Looking closely, one could see a neat stack of clear, intact leaves gathered together, each one pierced through by the spearhead and hanging upon it!

"Go practice."

"How much you can comprehend from it depends on yourself."

Hong Jiu held the spear horizontally in his right hand and sent it backward. The entire long spear immediately shot through the air toward Wu Ming.

Wu Ming instinctively reached out and caught it, his thoughts still immersed in the sixteen forms of Falling Leaf Spear Technique Hong Jiu had demonstrated. Those sixteen flexible techniques corresponded one by one with the diagrams recorded in the Falling Leaf Spear Technique manual he remembered.

Previously, Wu Ming's understanding of Falling Leaf Spear Technique had been limited to the fixed diagrams recorded in the manual and his own slow exploration through real combat. But now, in addition to those fixed diagrams, he had Hong Jiu's personal demonstration of all sixteen forms. Motion and stillness now complemented each other, both retained in his heart. When cultivating this spear technique in the future, he would at least save half the painstaking effort!

"This junior thanks Old Hong for your guidance."

Wu Ming did his utmost to commit all sixteen forms Hong Jiu had demonstrated to memory, deepening the impression several times in succession. Only then did he swiftly gather his thoughts, hold the long spear, and bow to Hong Jiu in thanks before carefully taking his leave.

Hong Jiu simply stood beneath the locust tree with his hands clasped behind his back. Only after Wu Ming had left the courtyard did he cast a distant glance in his direction.

His sudden decision to personally instruct Wu Ming in spear technique had not been a mere whim.

Though the martial artists of the Outer Hall had all failed to enter the Inner Hall, and the vast majority were mediocre, one or two outstanding individuals would occasionally emerge. Ordinary Outer Hall martial artists who wished to ask for his instruction would have to offer thirty to fifty taels of silver, and even then it depended on his mood. But when he encountered someone like Wu Ming, whose aptitude was not too poor and whose talent was passable, he would casually offer a little guidance.

Although it was exceedingly difficult for these young men to reach Third Blood Forging, and even harder to cultivate their skills to the Unity Realm, nothing in this world could be said with certainty. Over the course of several decades, a scattered few such figures had appeared.

Giving a little instruction would not cost him anything.

At his age, aside from enjoying a little peace and comfort himself, all he sought was some gold, silver, and good fortune for his descendants.

Should someone truly rise from among them in the future and reach the height of Third Blood Forging, then his guidance today would become a debt of gratitude. Even if he himself had no use for it, his descendants could benefit somewhat from that favor.

"I wonder how far this boy will go in the future."

Hong Jiu withdrew his gaze.

He took slow steps back to the grand master's chair before the courtyard.