Sudden Change

Seeing the prompt before him, Gu Shaoan was overjoyed.

A martial artist's strength had never been determined solely by their internal cultivation or the strength of the martial arts they practiced.

It also depended on how they wielded their internal energy, their level of mastery over their martial arts, their weapons, combat experience, Combat Awareness, and so on.

Even when two people had the same level of internal cultivation and the same degree of mastery over their martial arts, there would still be a difference in the outcome when they fought.

What determined that difference was Combat Awareness.

A lack of awareness meant that, even if one knew how to strike at an enemy, one would not know which move was most suitable or when to use it.

Nor would one know the best moment to land a given move on the enemy for maximum effect.

That was also why, even after Gu Shaoan had advanced several martial arts to the "Initial Glimpse" level, Miejue still said that Gu Shaoan lacked combat experience.

"I didn't expect to unlock Combat Awareness and reach Beginner Level so soon."

Gu Shaoan naturally knew how important Combat Awareness was to a martial artist.

It was just that he had joined the Emei Sect too recently. During the more than a month he had spent on the mountain, he had devoted himself almost entirely to cultivating his internal energy and Martial Skills, and had barely sparred with Senior Sisters Zhou Zhiruo and Zhao Jingxuan.

His combat experience was practically nonexistent, let alone enough to accumulate the experience required to unlock Combat Awareness.

This was when one could truly see how great the benefits of having a conscientious, responsible master were.

If Miejue had not seized the opportunity to use the three bandit leaders for hands-on instruction and personal demonstrations that night, even Gu Shaoan would have needed quite a lot of time to unlock Combat Awareness.

Now that Combat Awareness had reached Beginner Level, it did not directly increase Gu Shaoan's internal energy or Martial Skills, but it greatly boosted his strength when facing enemies.

A few breaths later, after calming himself, Gu Shaoan looked up and called loudly to Miejue, who was still pinning down the three bandit leaders in the distance, "Master, I'm ready."

"Good."

Hearing Gu Shaoan, Miejue's eyes brightened, and she immediately raised both arms.

When her arms rose above her ears, she brought both palms down with terrifying force, striking the crowns of First Boss and Second Boss respectively.

Terrifying force entered through their crowns, instantly making the two bandit leaders cough blood and collapse motionless.

Blood quickly streamed from all seven orifices, and their lives vanished.

Seeing his two brothers killed, One-Eyed Third Boss's eye nearly split with rage.

But in the next instant, Miejue, having just killed the two bandit leaders, flicked her long sleeves. One-Eyed Third Boss immediately flew two zhang toward Gu Shaoan as if struck by a speeding carriage, then crashed sideways onto the ground.

Understanding Miejue's intentions, Gu Shaoan drew a breath. As his internal energy circulated, he pushed off with his toes and shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow.

For nearly half a quarter of an hour, Miejue had toyed with the three brothers like puppets, injuring them without killing them. One-Eyed Third Boss had already been seething with rage.

Now his two brothers had been killed, while Miejue had thrown him toward a little child. How could One-Eyed Third Boss fail to understand her intentions?

She was clearly using him as a target for the child to practice on.

"You old nun! If I can't kill you, I'll kill your disciple!"

His vicious nature erupted. One-Eyed Third Boss quickly rose, lifting the broad saber in his hand with the motion, his face twisted with savagery.

At the very moment One-Eyed Third Boss raised his saber, Gu Shaoan's eyes were as still and cold as an ancient well.

He moved the instant One-Eyed Third Boss's shoulder sank slightly. Gu Shaoan leaped up, his five fingers locking tightly around the sword hilt.

Clang—.

A clear sword cry rang out.

Gu Shaoan's body moved like a swimming dragon, his long sword flashing with cold light.

But this sword was no longer like Gu Shaoan's previous attacks, which pursued perfection or sharpness in their forms.

Instead, he struck the instant he caught the other man's saber just passing above his head, before its strength had arrived and before its momentum had taken shape.

The sword's shadow flashed like lightning, transforming into a treacherous streak of cold light that pierced with pinpoint accuracy three inches above the wrist of his saber-wielding hand.

It was precisely the critical point where force was exerted in his saber technique.

The timing, location, and strength of this thrust were all controlled with absolute precision.

Struck by the sword, One-Eyed Third Boss was startled. His arm instinctively withdrew, his wrist pressing downward as the blade hurriedly changed direction, shifting from a vertical chop to a diagonal slash.

Facing the diagonally descending blade, Gu Shaoan neither dodged nor retreated. He lightly raised his sword and turned his wrist, the blade curving smoothly like an arc. Rather than clashing head-on, it slid diagonally along the thickest ridge of the saber.

A long, supple, tenacious sticking force spread like the afterglow of sunset, instantly wrapping around the saber.

"Huh?" One-Eyed Third Boss felt his saber's momentum sink into a quagmire, its forward movement suddenly slowing.

Alarms shrilled in his heart. Just as he was about to roar and yank back the saber for a counterstrike, Gu Shaoan seemed to have anticipated it. The tip of his sword trembled at the height of subtlety, then drew it along.

That sticky force actually guided the heavy saber into making a strange little arc, like the lingering afterglow of the setting sun.

One-Eyed Third Boss resisted the pull with all his strength, but his burly body was involuntarily drawn toward Gu Shaoan's left, throwing his center of gravity off balance.

It was precisely in that instant of shifting balance.

Sword light flashed. Like a Rushing River, a streak of light formed from the fusion of Molten Gold Sunset suddenly erupted.

The sword was no longer sticking. Instead, it pierced with pinpoint accuracy toward the tendons beside the Jianyu Acupoint on his right shoulder, which he could no longer protect in time because his body had turned.

It was an acupoint strike. Not fatal, but enough to cripple the hand he used to exert force with his saber.

One-Eyed Third Boss's single eye widened violently in utter terror. It was too late to block the sword; the only thing he could do was twist his body and forcibly evade Gu Shaoan's thrust.

But though One-Eyed Third Boss reacted quickly, Gu Shaoan reacted even faster.

As his internal energy circulated, Gu Shaoan's steps were as light as treading sand. His sword followed the twist of his body in a smooth diagonal sweep.

The tip of the sword twisted with incomparable precision, piercing the exposed opening beneath his ribs.

The sensation was almost as if One-Eyed Third Boss had sought death himself, throwing his body onto the tip of Gu Shaoan's sword.

"H-How is this possible?"

The blade entered his body. Agony swept through him as One-Eyed Third Boss stared wide-eyed in disbelief at the little child who barely reached his chest.

Pfft.

Sssht.

Before he could think any further, the blade left his body in a spray of blood, then flashed like lightning across his throat.

[ Ding! Congratulations, player, on killing a bandit leader. Achievement Points +50 ]

"Good."

At the same time, Miejue could not help shouting after witnessing Gu Shaoan's entire sequence of movements.

Her voice held a rare hint of excitement.

Judging solely from Gu Shaoan's use of Sunset Swordplay just now, he had truly begun to display a degree of structure and flexibility.

He was no longer stiff and rigid in his forms as he had been when facing those mountain bandits at the start.

And this was only the result of Miejue teaching him once.

How could Miejue not be excited and delighted when her Personal Disciple was this outstanding?

After killing One-Eyed Third Boss, Gu Shaoan exhaled a long breath. Amid his joy, he bowed from afar toward Miejue and said, "Thank you for teaching me, Master."

Miejue nodded with a smile. Then, her peripheral vision swept over Ding Minjun. Her expression stiffened for an instant before she called out, "Minjun."

Hearing Miejue's voice, Ding Minjun immediately darted to a nearby fire source and pulled a bamboo tube from her robes.

After lighting the fuse trailing from the bamboo tube, she raised it high.

The next moment, a shower of sparks shot from the bamboo tube into the sky, transforming into a brilliant firework.

Whoosh~ Boom~

However, just as the firework in the sky had faded and the heavens had only just returned to darkness, another brilliant firework exploded overhead.

Seeing this, Miejue's expression changed.