Duan Mu's Reflection

The huge wooden barrel was filled with pale green medicinal liquid, and the air was filled with a complex herbal scent.

The calm water surface suddenly rippled, and a somewhat pale face slowly floated upwards. The pale green medicinal liquid slid down the sides of his face.

Duan Mu stood up from the barrel shirtless, looking at the scar on his chest. After a night of medicinal baths and special Kido techniques, the cut on his chest, which had been a fatal wound yesterday, had now scabbed over. In some places, it had even peeled off, revealing newly grown fair skin.

Splash.

Standing up from the barrel, Duan Mu wiped himself down, not washing away the ingrained herbal scent from his body with clean water.

The smell wasn't particularly unpleasant anyway, and according to the new knowledge Duan Mu had acquired, these herbal scents would greatly benefit his subsequent recovery.

As Duan Mu put on his clothes, he focused his attention on the system interface in his mind.

Name: Duan Mu

Race: Human

Level: Stage Five

Physique: Beginner (263/500)

Spiritual Pressure: Intermediate (7113/10000)

Hakuda: Intermediate (1743/10000)

Shunpo: Intermediate (1767/10000)

Zanjutsu: Intermediate (0/10000)

Zanpakuto: Not Activated (Activation conditions unknown)

Kido:

[Destruction Kido]:

Low-level Destruction Kido (Numbers 1-29):

[Destruction Kido #4: White Thunder] Intermediate (5100/10000);

[Destruction Kido #11: Tsuzuri Raiden] Intermediate (43/10000);

[Destruction Kido #12: Fukuhi] Intermediate (16/10000);

[Destruction Kido #26: Kōen Sai] Intermediate (36/10000);

Intermediate Destruction Kido (Numbers 30-59):

[Destruction Kido #31: Kakka Hō] Intermediate (1643/10000);

[Destruction Kido #33: Sōkatsui] Intermediate (1542/10000);

[Destruction Kido #54: Hōen] Low-level (864/1000)

[Destruction Kido #58: Tenran] Low-level (940/1000)

High-level Destruction Kido (Numbers 60-89):

[Destruction Kido #63: Raikōhō] Intermediate (864/10000)

[Binding Kido]:

Low-level Binding Kido (Numbers 1-29):

[Binding Kido #1: Seki] Intermediate (15/10000);

[Binding Kido #8: Seki] Intermediate (2460/10000);

[Binding Kido #9: Hōrin] Intermediate (43/10000);

[Binding Kido #21: Sekienton] Intermediate (2/10000);

[Binding Kido #26: Kyokkō] Intermediate (14/10000)

Intermediate Binding Kido (Numbers 30-59):

[Binding Kido #30: Kutsutsuki Sanren] Intermediate (350/10000);

[Binding Kido #39: Enzansen] Intermediate (163/10000);

[Binding Kido #37: Tsuriboshi] Low-level (10/1000);

High-level Binding Kido (Numbers 60-89):

[Binding Kido #61: Rikujōkōrō] Intermediate (943/10000)

※Number of unactivated Kido: 58 (Please enter the activation interface to activate.)

Special Techniques:

[Canceled Incantation] Intermediate (194/10000)

[Kido]: Intermediate (7970/10000)

[Post-chanting]: Intermediate (342/10000)

Current Experience Points: 640

↓ Expand to view the Favorability interface.

In terms of Spiritual Pressure, there wasn't much progress as usual. Even after yesterday's battle, it only increased by a little over 60 points.

Compared to other aspects, although Duan Mu had been focusing on advanced Kido this past month, the greatest progress was actually in the low-level Kido he practiced incidentally. This was because after learning advanced Kido, cultivating low-level Kido with the foundation of advanced Kido was like a dimensional reduction attack.

In just one month, all the low-level Kido activated by Duan Mu had reached the 'Intermediate' level.

"Hiss~~"

Looking at the three-digit number next to his current experience points, Duan Mu felt a pang in his teeth.

He had to learn Kido sooner or later, but in Duan Mu's heart, the priority of Kido was far behind Spiritual Pressure and combat techniques. Moreover, under normal circumstances, with Duan Mu's injuries from yesterday, reaching Intermediate level for Kido with over 3000 points would have been sufficient.

However, before investing any experience points, Duan Mu couldn't accurately gauge how much experience to invest in Kido to ensure he could quickly recover his combat effectiveness. And in that moment, he didn't have time to consider too much, so he poured it all into Kido.

This caused Duan Mu's original training plan to fail before it even began...

He had originally planned to use the 2800 experience points he had painstakingly earned to focus on training for a month and raise his Spiritual Pressure to an advanced level, equivalent to that of a Vice-Captain of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads.

"If I had known this would happen, I should have just put all the experience points into Spiritual Pressure right after gaining them yesterday."

Thinking about it, Duan Mu regretted it immensely. After the battle started, he never imagined that it would be so dangerous. He was even calculating in his mind how to use the experience points without wasting them.

This was because, in terms of both Spiritual Pressure intensity and combat techniques, Duan Mu was far superior to Jiu Su and the others.

Those low-ranking officers were a prime example. Duan Mu didn't need much effort to deal with them. At that time, Duan Mu's mental state could be described as "The advantage is with me"... Yet, he was defeated by an inferior opponent and almost killed with a single sword strike.

The reason for this outcome...

It was entirely because, in addition to Spiritual Pressure intensity and combat techniques, Duan Mu had overlooked the most crucial factor in a battle.

Instinct!!

In terms of raw strength, Jiu Su was indeed weaker than Duan Mu, but the combat instinct accumulated through hundreds of years of life-and-death battles was something Duan Mu could never match. After all, his combat experience was far inferior to even those low-ranking officers.

The so-called combat instinct not only included quick reactions to danger and a keen sense for openings but also combat will and combat intelligence. These elements could often produce unexpected results in battle.

Even though he had anticipated that Jiu Su would exploit his openings to attack him, Duan Mu still believed that Jiu Su's arrival wouldn't be so soon and that he would have enough time to prepare. As a result, he was caught off guard by Jiu Su.

One mistake led to another, and he ended up in the situation he was in yesterday.

This kind of combat instinct couldn't be developed in a short period, let alone by Duan Mu, who had barely experienced a handful of battles.

The person with the strongest combat instinct in Duan Mu's memory was the Captain of the 11th Division, Kenpachi Zaraki!

Jiu Su was naturally not qualified to be compared to Kenpachi Zaraki, but Jiu Su's battle with Duan Mu shared some similarities with Kenpachi Zaraki's battle with the former Captain of the 11th Division. In both cases, one side completely lacked technique and Zanjutsu mastery, relying on instinct to win.

In Duan Mu's battle with Jiu Su, although he survived, from a combat perspective...

He had lost.

Duan Mu would not deny this fact.

After every battle, regardless of the outcome, Duan Mu would reflect on the mistakes he made during the fight. He would not selectively forget his failures.

Putting aside the openings in this battle, from the very beginning of the fight, he had made the most unforgivable mistake.

Underestimating his opponent!

If he had given Jiu Su and the others sufficient attention from the start, Duan Mu could have put all the experience points into Spiritual Pressure and used absolute strength to compensate for his lack of combat experience.

Actually...

The moment he decided to tank the hit, Duan Mu had considered whether to put all his experience points into Spiritual Pressure and withstand Jiu Su's attack with the 'Spiritual Pressure Defense' of a Vice-Captain. That way, even if he got injured, it would likely only be a minor one.

With low-level Kido, he might not even need healing and could continue fighting.

But this thought was ultimately abandoned by Duan Mu.

Because this was only a 'maybe'. Setting aside whether the Spiritual Pressure Defense would work as he imagined, at that critical moment, even if Duan Mu had invested the experience points in time, he wouldn't have had enough time to familiarize himself with and utilize the grown Spiritual Pressure to form a defense.

It could be said that in his haste, the Spiritual Pressure he could mobilize wouldn't have changed much.

Therefore, Duan Mu missed the timing and chose Kido, a method that could yield results later.

Although he regretted his choice, given the circumstances at the time, it was indeed the best solution Duan Mu could think of. Even if he had to do it again, Duan Mu would make the same choice.

After reflecting on all the mistakes he had made, Duan Mu's demeanor subtly changed.

The experience from every battle was a valuable lesson for him.

Although the techniques of those villains were not worth mentioning, they possessed things that Duan Mu couldn't learn elsewhere and were worth his careful study.

"As expected... I really need to make friends."

Duan Mu muttered, put on a new uniform top, and left his bedroom.

"Huh?"

After walking a few steps out of his bedroom, a look of surprise appeared on Duan Mu's face: "Why is it so quiet?"

He knew that ever since the tavern started operating, every time Duan Mu went downstairs, he was greeted by a very noisy scene.

However, as he reached the first floor and saw the back of someone sitting at a table drinking, he understood why the tavern was so quiet.

Suddenly felt like I should change the cover. I saw three books with the same cover image today... Also, requesting some free recommendation tickets from readers.