Swordplay Perfected, Internal Energy Born

This entire morning, Lu Chen had only learned three sword moves.

But he could simultaneously manage the sword forms, footwork, and breathing techniques without any mistakes.

Though not yet fully proficient, his swordplay lacked the smooth, flowing grace of mastery, merely meeting the standard for proper posture. Still, for a beginner, this was already remarkable, even worthy of being called astonishing talent.

Huang Rong was delighted. At noon, she put extra thought into preparing several dishes she had personally developed to reward Lu Chen, even repeatedly piling food onto his bowl as they ate.

"Eat more, fill up and train well! Three moves in the morning, three in the afternoon, and three more at night. In four days, you'll have learned all thirty-six moves of the Maiden of Yue Swordplay. With your focus and diligence, once you've mastered them all, you'll be able to cultivate Internal Energy in as little as ten days, or at most a month..."

Huang Rong's tone was light, her voice crisp and sweet, growing happier as she spoke. Her bright, lively eyes curved into adorable crescent moons.

In truth, if one specialized in internal cultivation methods and had sufficient talent for internal arts, a single night could suffice to produce a trace of faint Internal Energy.

Cultivating Internal Energy through external techniques, while less demanding than internal methods, inevitably progressed much slower.

Coupled with the fact that the widely spread Maiden of Yue Swordplay in the Wu-Yue Land was of extremely low quality, achieving Internal Energy within a month already factored in Lu Chen's talent and hard work.

Lu Chen, however, didn't find it slow.

Before coming to the Condor Heroes World, he had trained bitterly for three months with no results, even developing a host of bad habits from his own fumbling attempts.

Now, if he could cultivate Internal Energy through swordsmanship within a month, it would be a tremendous stroke of luck for him.

And this opportunity came entirely because he had met Huang Rong.

Otherwise, even arriving in the Condor Heroes World, a penniless, rootless transmigrator like him would struggle just to survive, let alone learn swordsmanship.

He had already expressed his gratitude many times; now words were unnecessary, and Lu Chen didn't want to offer empty promises.

The only way he could repay Huang Rong was through diligent training, striving to help Rong'er fulfill her wish to visit the "Immortal Realm" as soon as possible.

After lunch, Huang Rong went to the kitchen to clean the dishes, humming the tune "Laugh of the Jianghu" under her breath.

Lu Chen sat in the courtyard resting and digesting his meal, while also maintaining the longsword Huang Rong had bought him.

Precious Swords were hard to come by; a fine blade was often treasured by those in the Martial Arts World, and even with wealth, it was difficult to acquire one.

Thus, the sword Huang Rong had given him was merely a steel blade of decent quality.

Even so, this was the first real sword Lu Chen had ever held in either of his two lives, and it was a gift from Huang Rong. He cherished it deeply, carefully wiping the blade and edge inch by inch with a cotton cloth dipped in oil.

As he maintained the longsword, he heard Rong'er's light, cheerful humming from the West Wing kitchen. A smile tugged at the corners of Lu Chen's mouth, and he began to sing along:

"...Laugh of the jianghu, love of freedom, qin or xiao, wine poured out. Laugh to the sky, forget it all, carefree as the wind, light and drifting..."

The rugged, spirited song echoed through the small courtyard. A sweet, pleasant, still slightly youthful girl's voice harmonized with it, like qin and xiao, sword and wine, playing in perfect unison.

Over the next few days, Huang Rong taught Lu Chen with meticulous care, and Lu Chen lived up to her expectations. With his basic sword forms already corrected through hard practice, he learned all thirty-six moves of the Maiden of Yue Swordplay in just four days, perfectly integrating the forms, footwork, and breathing techniques.

Once learned, it was all about diligent practice, steadily improving proficiency until he could generate Internal Energy from the external.

Starting from the fifth day, Huang Rong also brewed medicinal decoctions for Lu Chen daily to nourish his qi and blood—she was well-versed in pharmacology herself and had several excellent restorative formulas in mind, all effective for strengthening the body and replenishing qi and blood. Naturally, she wouldn't waste money buying the so-called ancestral medicinal soup from the Mo Family Martial Arts School at two hundred wen a bowl.

Besides, personally selecting the herbs, inspecting their quality, and brewing the decoction herself gave her far more peace of mind than drinking someone else's concoction.

With an Enlightened Master as perceptive as Huang Rong guiding him, and her personally brewed medicinal decoctions to supplement his training, Lu Chen's progress was rapid. Each day, he could feel his bones and sinews growing stronger, his qi and blood more vigorous and abundant.

Internal Energy originates from a person's qi and blood.

At this rate, Lu Chen felt he might indeed cultivate Internal Energy in just ten days to half a month.

During this time, he certainly wasn't training relentlessly.

During breaks, he would chat and joke with Huang Rong, tell her about the "Immortal Realm," or share interesting stories from his past life. As a transmigrator living a second life, his breadth of knowledge was vast, even earning Huang Rong's admiration. His tongue was also quick enough to keep her thoroughly amused.

Sometimes he would sing for her.

He was naturally gifted with a good voice, and now that he was training in martial arts and cultivating his breath, his lung capacity was growing, expanding his vocal range. With the wealth of excellent songs from his past life, Rong'er was quite fond of it.

Other times, he would play chess with her.

Of course, whether it was Go or Chinese chess, Lu Chen always lost. Only when teaching her Gomoku did he win a few times by relying on memorized patterns. But Huang Rong quickly grasped the trick, and he never won again.

Beyond daily leisure and play, he even accompanied her to fight once.

That day, Huang Rong went out to buy herbs and groceries and got into a conflict with a few rogue youths in the market. She stormed back angrily, calling for Lu Chen to vent her anger for her.

Without a second word, Lu Chen grabbed his real sword and headed for the door, but Huang Rong stopped him, making him take only a Wooden Sword.

In her words, those rogue youths were younger than her. Their lewd whistles and cheeky grins were frivolous and detestable, but they hadn't actually harassed her, unlike the malicious thugs from the underworld. A lesson would suffice.

So Lu Chen, Wooden Sword in hand, followed Huang Rong to the market. Finding the rogue youths, with Huang Rong cheering him on, he charged in swinging the Wooden Sword.

At first, he remembered his forms, but once the fight got real and he took a few punches and kicks, he devolved into wild slashing and hacking, completely forgetting the techniques.

There was no helping it—this was the common flaw of a novice.

How many days had Lu Chen been training?

When blood rushed to his head, how could he care about forms?

He just fought however felt natural.

This fierce brawl left the rogue youths crying for their mothers, shouting at Huang Rong, "Big sister, we were wrong! We'll never do it again!"

Lu Chen had taken a few solid hits himself, but he was sturdy, thick-skinned, and quick to recover. The pain only lasted a moment; afterward, he was as good as new.

On the way back, Huang Rong walked with her hands behind her back, her steps light, a smile curling at the corners of her brows and eyes.

She was very happy.

Even though she could have easily handled those hooligans herself, watching Lu Chen stand up for her made her inexplicably joyful.

Just like that time at the dock.

But...

Though Huang Rong was delighted that Lu Chen had defended her, she was far from satisfied with his actual combat skills.

So after returning, she began sparring with him and once again resorted to the rod-and-stick method of teaching.

From then on, she spent an hour each day drilling him on how to apply sword techniques in real combat.

The effectiveness of pain-based education needed no elaboration.

Under Huang Rong's strict tutelage, Lu Chen's talent was rapidly unlocked. Within just a few days, he could instinctively choose the appropriate moves in response to Huang Rong's offensive and defensive stances during sparring, almost by reflex.

The practical combat training also deepened his understanding of the Maiden of Yue Swordplay.

And so, on the thirteenth day after formally learning the complete set of the Maiden of Yue Swordplay—

When Lu Chen had once again performed all thirty-six moves of the swordplay from start to finish, coordinating footwork and breathing, his ever-strengthening blood and qi suddenly underwent a subtle change.

A faint warm current abruptly emerged, circulating through his chest and abdomen.

Sensing this change, Lu Chen looked up in surprise at Huang Rong, who was sitting on a stone bench under a tree, her cheek resting on her hand, watching him practice with unwavering attention:

"Rong'er, I think I've developed Internal Energy!"

Huang Rong's eyes lit up. She rose swiftly, her skirt fluttering as she darted over to him like a lark. Without any hesitation, she pressed her small hand against his lower abdomen, channeling her Internal Energy to sense the situation, and a delighted smile spread across her face:

"Less than half a month, and you've actually managed to generate Internal Energy through the Maiden of Yue Swordplay! Quick, keep practicing. Internal Energy cultivated through external techniques doesn't need deliberate guidance from a mental method—just keep practicing the external forms, and it will naturally circulate and grow."

Lu Chen nodded, resumed his stance, and continued practicing the Maiden of Yue Swordplay.

As he wielded the sword, that faint wisp of energy began to spread from his chest and abdomen, circulating through his legs and limbs, enhancing the agility of his footwork and the power and speed of his sword strikes.

Yet the boost from this meager Internal Energy was negligible, barely noticeable. Lu Chen didn't even feel his movements becoming lighter, nor did he sense any significant increase in the strength or speed of his sword techniques.

But as the swordplay continued, more streams of energy began to emerge within his chest and abdomen.

Though each strand was faint, and even when several flowed together, the enhancement remained unremarkable, he had nonetheless truly cultivated Internal Energy.

When Lu Chen had gone through the swordplay two more times, slightly strengthening his Internal Energy, a crisp, resonant sword hum suddenly rang out within his Sea of Consciousness, shaking his very mind.

The moment the hum sounded, his vision went dark. Without any active visualization, his consciousness plunged into the Sea of Consciousness, arriving before that radiant Sword Light.