Master Rong Taught Well!

Facing Huang Rong's thrust, Lu Chen did not hesitate. He swiftly stabbed out with his Wooden Sword as well, using a defensive move from the Maiden of Yue Swordplay to block and intercept.

Huang Rong lowered her elbow slightly, her fair wrist trembling lightly. With a whoosh, her sword tip instantly turned toward his chest. Lu Chen responded with ease, first knocking aside Huang Rong's Wooden Sword, then reversing his grip and thrusting at her chest and abdomen.

Huang Rong shifted sideways in quick, broken steps, dodging Lu Chen's sword momentum. In a flash, she circled to his flank and stabbed again at his waist and ribs.

Lu Chen's feet moved slightly as he turned sideways. His Wooden Sword spun, twisting around Huang Rong's blade and knocking her Wooden Sword aside before he casually slashed at her wrist.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

Amid the sound of Wooden Swords cutting through the air, the two exchanged moves without pause. Huang Rong's swordplay was light and agile, her changes of technique incredibly swift, while her body movements and footwork were as graceful as a startled swan.

Lu Chen's footwork was no worse. Though his agility and speed were far inferior to Huang Rong's, he could still steadily keep up with the rhythm of her dodges and shifts, never becoming confused by her nimble movements as she seemed before him one moment and at his side the next.

The Wooden Sword in his hand was steady and solid as well, his defense watertight. From time to time, he would counterattack with a sword thrust, always forcing Huang Rong either to dodge aside or withdraw her sword to block.

During their previous sparring sessions, even when Huang Rong used only the Maiden of Yue Swordplay that she had learned not long ago, she could still easily leave Lu Chen flustered and overwhelmed. He would be defeated within a few moves. Even when she deliberately held back, Lu Chen had never lasted more than ten moves.

But today, Huang Rong initially used only thirty to fifty percent of her skill. Yet after ten moves had passed, she found herself utterly unable to do anything to Lu Chen.

Huang Rong gradually became serious. Though she still used only the Maiden of Yue Swordplay, she put her full mastery of the technique into it. Even so, after twenty moves, she still could not defeat Lu Chen.

Not only did Lu Chen show no signs of defeat, his swordplay was improving at an astonishing pace. Every so often, he would perform an ingenious move as though struck by sudden inspiration, leaving even Huang Rong unsure which move from the Maiden of Yue Swordplay she should use to counter it. She could only rely on her Movement Technique and body skills to forcibly evade.

After thirty moves, the originally ordinary Maiden of Yue Swordplay had gradually developed a strange spirituality in Lu Chen's hands, bursting forth with astonishing vitality.

His swordplay became ever more disciplined yet full of spirit, faintly carrying an air of unrestrained freedom and effortless brilliance.

By this point, Huang Rong could no longer win using only the Maiden of Yue Swordplay.

After they fought a while longer, Huang Rong saw Lu Chen growing braver and stronger with every exchange. She pursed her pink lips and gave a soft snort. The swordplay in her hand suddenly changed, her sword momentum accelerating sharply. Her moves were sometimes three feints and one real strike, sometimes five feints and one real strike, with feints and true attacks transforming at will. Her swordplay also became increasingly light and ethereal, like a sudden gale sweeping up a shower of fallen blossoms and sending them dancing through the air.

Lu Chen had never seen her use this swordplay before. Caught off guard by its elusive and unpredictable changes, he was soon left flustered. After only a few moves, she seized an opening. Her Wooden Sword stuck to the spine of his blade with a strange clinging force, and a tremor immediately traveled down to the hilt. Lu Chen's five fingers went numb, and his Wooden Sword flew from his hand.

Having successfully knocked Lu Chen's Wooden Sword away, Huang Rong stepped forward and thrust out with a swoosh, stopping her sword tip before his throat, mere millimeters from the skin of his neck.

She held her sword in one hand and clasped the other behind her back, carrying herself with the imposing bearing of a grandmaster as she leisurely said:

"How was that?"

Lu Chen solemnly cupped his hands and said in a deep voice:

"Master Rong's swordplay is peerless. Lu admires you."

The corners of Huang Rong's lips rose, and she lifted her chin slightly as she said with complete seriousness:

"Although your swordplay has improved greatly, your experience is still too shallow. In the future, you must guard against arrogance and impatience and continue tempering yourself."

Lu Chen put on an expression of wholehearted conviction.

"I will heed Master Rong's teachings."

Huang Rong nodded slightly.

"Mm. You are teachable, and good timber can be carved."

Despite her smugness, she actually felt a little guilty inside.

With her talent and martial arts foundation, she had actually been unable to defeat Lu Chen using only the Maiden of Yue Swordplay.

In the end, she had not only used the Falling Blossom Swordplay, the precursor to the Falling Blossom Divine Sword Palm that her father had taught her, but even employed the "clinging" formula of the Jade Flute Swordplay to disarm him and preserve the dignity of Master Rong.

That was only because he had never seen the Falling Blossom Swordplay or Jade Flute Swordplay before, allowing her to catch him off guard.

Given his talent for swordplay, once he grew a little more, she would probably sooner or later cease to be his opponent.

While she could still suppress him, she had to spar with him more. Once he reached a certain level, she would promptly stop and never spar with him again.

That way, I, Master Rong, can maintain an undefeated record against Lu Chen forever!

Huang Rong made such plans in her heart, but outwardly she still offered Lu Chen a few encouraging words. Then she told him to continue practicing his sword, while she headed to the kitchen to prepare a grand feast in celebration—

They had to celebrate. With Lu Chen's rate of improvement in swordplay, as his swordsmanship instructor and guide, Master Rong was destined to become famous throughout the land and earn the reverence of the entire Martial Arts World.

Just thinking about it made her a little excited.

As for the Immortal Realm Journey...

There was no rush for that. Lu Chen had already displayed his talent. This was precisely the time for him to train diligently and advance by leaps and bounds, and he could not be delayed by the matter of traveling for pleasure.

At some point, Lu Chen's martial arts cultivation had risen to first place in Huang Rong's heart.

The Immortal Realm Journey that she had been longing for ever since first meeting Lu Chen had instead been relegated to second place.

Huang Rong happily hummed in the kitchen as she cooked.

Meanwhile, Lu Chen continued practicing his sword in the courtyard.

This time, he was no longer practicing the Maiden of Yue Sword, but Sword One.

Sword One could be unleashed but not withdrawn. Once he drew his sword, all his strength would be drained. Even with his extraordinary recovery ability and medicinal porridge to replenish himself, it would take at least half an hour to fully recover his stamina. Naturally, he could not use Sword One directly for training.

So Lu Chen's method of cultivation was to activate only Half-Move Sword One, gathering his power without releasing it.

He stood beneath a tree, recalling the sensation of using Sword One earlier. After silently building up his strength for a while, he suddenly stomped the ground. Explosive force surged from the soles of his feet, rolling backward layer by layer like a reverse tide through his knees, legs, waist, hips, and spine, passing over his shoulders and through his arms before gathering and stacking in his fingers and palms.

Under normal circumstances, he should have completely released the force in the next instant and thrust out his sword.

But this time, using the method he had comprehended while grasping the Sword Intent Imprint, Lu Chen forcibly restrained the eruption of power. With a special rhythm of breathing, he rapidly inhaled and exhaled, forcing all the strength that should have poured out in a single burst back into his body.

Thus, the violent and surging force swept back from his fingers and palms, dispersing through his chest, abdomen, limbs, and bones.

As the force surged back and forth, Lu Chen's skin instantly turned crimson, and steaming white vapor rose from his head, as though he had continuously practiced the Maiden of Yue Swordplay several times without stopping. As the force spread throughout his body, a thread of warmth also arose within him and circulated through his chest, abdomen, and limbs.

It was precisely the Internal Energy cultivated through Sword One.

Though this Internal Energy was not great in quantity, amounting only to a few wisps, in terms of purity and condensation, it far surpassed the Internal Energy Lu Chen had cultivated through the Maiden of Yue Swordplay. Its sensation and substance were much stronger as well; perhaps it could already be called true qi.

After cultivating this thread of true qi, Lu Chen had expended nearly half his stamina. Although he had not released all his strength, forcibly halting it and making it reverse course was still enormously draining.

Lu Chen rested for a while before continuing his cultivation. He practiced twice more, refining another two threads of true qi. At last, his stamina was completely exhausted. Though he was not so drained that he collapsed, he still had no choice but to stop and rest.

"Since I haven't been pushed to complete exhaustion, even without medicinal porridge, I only need half an hour to recover. At this rate, I can cultivate three times after fully restoring my stamina, then I have to rest for at least half an hour. Over the course of a day, I can practice sixty or seventy times at most. The efficiency of accumulating true qi shouldn't be too low..."

Of course, the efficiency was not all that high either. After all, each session could only refine a thread or two of true qi. Who knew when those wisps of true qi would gather into a babbling stream, then become a surging river, and finally converge into a vast ocean?

But there was nothing to be done about that.

In the Condor Heroes World, cultivating Internal Energy had never been easy.

Without extraordinary fortuitous supplements such as medicinal snakes or Bosiqu Snakes, one could basically only rely on time and years of cultivation. For an ordinary martial artist to achieve anything with Internal Energy, they would need to endure until at least their forties or fifties.

Even with divine techniques such as the Nine Yin Manual or Nine Yang Manual, it was impossible to achieve success in a single stroke.

Take Zhang Wuji, for example. His temperament was suited to the Nine Yang Divine Skill, and he even ate rare and wondrous fruits every day. Yet after several years in the mountains, he still had not mastered the Nine Yang Divine Skill. Only after his fortuitous encounter inside the special cloth sack of the Cloth Sack Monk did he finally achieve complete mastery of the Nine Yang Divine Skill and become a top-tier Internal Energy expert at a young age.

As for other martial artists, unless they possessed extraordinary talent or encountered some fortuitous opportunity, most would have to wait until their late years before cultivating a reasonably profound level of Internal Energy.

"Speaking of fortuitous opportunities, perhaps I can look for the Bosiqu Snakes near Xiangyang. I could also find the Divine Condor to help me practice swordsmanship..."

Just as he was pondering this, Huang Rong called out from the kitchen:

"Lu Chen, starting tomorrow, we won't just train by ourselves. We need to start finding different opponents and tempering ourselves in real combat."

Lu Chen said, "Huh?"

Huang Rong poked her head out from the kitchen doorway and gave him a sweet smile.

"Starting tomorrow, we'll first challenge the martial arts schools in Shaoxing Prefecture City. Once we've finished with those, we'll travel elsewhere and challenge them one by one. If there are any renowned experts in the area, we can visit them and challenge them too. That way, you can temper yourself in actual combat, accumulate experience, and broaden your horizons. Otherwise, your experience will be too shallow and your perspective too narrow. When you encounter a new move you've never seen before in the future, you'll be left flustered and overwhelmed again."

Please vote!!!