Spear Technique

"I, the 'Mystic Ice Knight' of the Xia Clan, Gu Yuanhan, leave this spear technique here."

The gold-leaf pages were covered in dense, intricate diagrams depicting a small figure practicing spear techniques.

"Hum—"

A mysterious and vast power caused the very air in the study to vibrate.

"Hm?" Dongbo Xueying was startled. He looked up to see a hazy silver-white light emerging from the open gold-leaf book, coalescing into the form of a miniature, beggar-like old man. This silver light-figure was only as tall as the book, and it held a long spear in its hands.

A biting, icy aura washed over him, causing Dongbo Xueying to shiver involuntarily.

"Whoosh!" The light-figure beggar began to practice, one move after another. The spear moved like a dragon—thrusting with fury, whipping through the air, or parrying with precision...

It was all too familiar. This was the very same spear technique Dongbo Xueying had been practicing since he was six years old, a set common throughout the entire Longshan Empire known as the Heart-Intent Spear Technique.

The Heart-Intent Spear Technique was spread across the world; it was the simplest and most fundamental, hailed as the source of all spear arts. It lacked flashy, lethal moves, consisting entirely of basic stances, which was why many spear masters began their journey with it.

"I've been practicing the Heart-Intent Spear Technique for nearly three years, so why haven't I felt that it was this powerful?" Dongbo Xueying stared wide-eyed at the light-figure. The beggar's simple thrust caused the spear shaft to rotate like a slithering snake, its power enough to make Dongbo Xueying's heart palpitate with fear. As it retracted, the spear shaft rotated in the opposite direction.

He had started at six, and now, at eight years old in the middle of winter, he had indeed been training for nearly three years.

"The technique my father taught me is standard; he taught me move by move according to this very set. So why does it feel like my spearwork is different from his?" Dongbo Xueying watched intently.

It was the same fundamental spear technique.

Yet, there was a world of difference between a master's demonstration and a novice's practice.

"There is a force within it. Every strike carries a momentum, as if the strength of the entire body is perfectly channeled into the spear," Dongbo Xueying vaguely realized.

The book remained open, and the Heart-Intent Spear Technique continued to play out.

After half an hour, having watched it countless times, Dongbo Xueying finally turned to the next page.

This page was filled with dense text.

"Spear techniques rely on foundations. The first set I teach is the source of all techniques, the Heart-Intent Spear Technique. Only when you have reached true perfection in this can you hope to begin learning my spear technique."

"Attached below is a method for circulating Battle Qi."

"My spear technique is renowned for its speed! This Battle Qi circulation method will allow you to strike faster."

The rest of the dense text consisted of the incantations for the Battle Qi circulation.

The Transcendent Knight had written this casually, but in reality, this method was a priceless treasure! Between two knights of the same level, one might only land two or three strikes, while the opponent, relying on a special Battle Qi circulation method, could land four or five. A battle would likely be decided in just a few exchanges!

"My spear technique is the Mystic Ice Spear Technique, divided into three realms."

"The first realm is Drifting Snow. Once you master this move, you are considered to have entered the gate and can be called a spear master."

"The second realm is Blood Rain. Once you master this, you will be strong enough to roam freely as a Title-level knight and have the potential to step into the Transcendent realm!"

"The third realm is Mystic Ice. Every Transcendent has their own path, and this move represents my Transcendent path, which is why I am the Mystic Ice Knight! My path may not necessarily suit you, but if you can reach this step... perhaps you can draw inspiration from the Battle Qi techniques."

Dongbo Xueying was thrilled as he read.

It was truly a spear technique left behind by a Transcendent Knight, a path leading all the way to the Transcendent realm!

He continued to flip through the pages. The following sections contained dense explanations of the Mystic Ice Spear Technique and special Battle Qi techniques. These explanations spanned over twenty pages. They were written quite plainly, and Dongbo Xueying could understand what the predecessor was saying, but his current spear foundation was too shallow to actually learn the technique.

He turned to the final page.

It was covered in dense patterns. As soon as he looked at them, the light was triggered, and the beggar-like old man appeared once more to demonstrate the Mystic Ice Spear Technique.

The beggar first performed the Mystic Ice Spear Technique: Drifting Snow at normal speed. It was fast! A single strike seemed to manifest as hundreds or thousands of spears, like countless snowflakes drifting down... Dongbo Xueying's eyes couldn't even track the movement. Then, the figure performed it slowly, like a slow-motion replay, allowing Dongbo Xueying to see every detail clearly.

Next, the figure demonstrated Mystic Ice Spear Technique: Blood Rain, and finally, Mystic Ice Spear Technique: Mystic Ice!

This spear technique could be summed up in one word: Speed!

It pursued the absolute limit of speed.

Of course, he still had to start from the fundamental Heart-Intent Spear Technique. Only when that technique was truly perfected could he hope to learn the simplest move of the Mystic Ice Spear Technique, 'Drifting Snow'; otherwise, it would be impossible to learn.

******

That evening, Dongbo Xueying had to coax his younger brother to sleep again. His brother was truly clingy, tossing and turning in bed for over half an hour before finally drifting off.

The next morning, after breakfast.

The training ground.

"This training ground." Dongbo Xueying scanned the area; his father had trained here every single day.

"Let's begin."

Dongbo Xueying put on his weighted gear and began to run. The route followed the perimeter of the inner castle, which covered an area of about half a kilometer, making a single lap several kilometers long. This was his daily warm-up, and he was long accustomed to it.

After finishing his run, he returned to the training ground and removed the weights, feeling refreshed despite being drenched in sweat. He walked over to the short spear rack, where a large number of spears, each weighing about five jin and custom-made for him, were stored.

"Hah!" He grabbed a short spear and threw it casually, striking a thick target eighty meters away. The target was already riddled with countless marks.

"Go, go, go!"

Dongbo Xueying began to sprint, throwing short spears as he moved.

He practiced his shuttle runs and throwing drills!

Hitting targets while on the move...

"Throw them for me," Dongbo Xueying shouted.

"Yes, young master." The servants standing by to take orders picked up several small targets and began tossing them into the air. As they flew, Dongbo Xueying sprinted, hurling short spears from nearly eighty meters away. Sometimes he hit, sometimes he missed by a hair; clearly, he still had room to improve when it came to hitting moving targets while in motion.

In his father's words—the short spear was merely an auxiliary skill. Once he could hit a moving target with a hundred percent accuracy while sprinting, he would only need to practice two hundred throws a day to warm up and maintain his feel for it.

After a thousand spear throws, Dongbo Xueying felt his arms aching and his entire body drenched in sweat, but he had long since grown accustomed to it.

Once the spear training concluded, Dongbo Xueying began a set of fist techniques. It was a method for tempering the muscles and bones of the entire body, as well as a mid-grade Dou Qi technique called the Flame Three-Stage Method. His father had spent a significant amount of money to acquire it, as the Dou Qi technique his father had learned in the army was only of the lowest grade.

Dou Qi techniques are most effective when practiced while the body is fatigued!

The fist techniques combined hardness with softness, and when coordinated with his breathing, they left his whole body feeling comfortable. A mysterious power seemed to seep into his body, leaving every inch of him tingling as his stamina rapidly recovered.

After practicing the Flame Three-Stage Method twice, his arms returned to normal.

"Alright, time to start spear training."

Dongbo Xueying picked up a long spear from the side. Due to his height, the spear was only 1.8 meters long and weighed about ten jin.

"Hah!" Dongbo Xueying began to practice the Heart-Intent Spear Technique.

He had been practicing this set of techniques for nearly three years and was already very familiar with it, yet today, it felt completely different.

"Yes, this is the right way to exert force." Having watched a Transcendent Knight demonstrate spear techniques yesterday, he couldn't help but imitate that feeling while practicing himself, and he immediately gained a great deal.

"Thrust."

He held the spear loosely with his left hand while gripping the tail with his right, suddenly exerting force.

He twisted his right wrist!

The spear seemed to generate its own rotational force like a giant snake, suddenly shooting forward! If this were an enemy, they would find that even though the spear was pointed at their face, the rotation would cause the tip to pierce their throat instead! This "twist" served two purposes: first, it confused the enemy with a change in direction; second, it increased the piercing power through rotation. It was one of the keys to this move.

"Pfft!" The spear tip struck a metal-forged alchemy dummy fixed to the ground. The dummy's interior was made of metal, while its surface was coated in an alchemy material that was incredibly tough and possessed self-healing properties. At the very least, anyone below the Star Rank couldn't even scratch it. There were only five such dummies in the entire training ground, as each one was worth five hundred gold coins!

In his mother's magic laboratory, there was an even more precious alchemy dummy, used for her experiments.

"Thrust, thrust, thrust." Dongbo Xueying exerted force again and again.

Mid-level thrust, low thrust, high thrust.

Thrust to the left, thrust to the right.

A simple "thrust" was the most fundamental move in spear technique. With every strike, Dongbo Xueying recalled the feeling of the Transcendent Knight's demonstration.

After thrusting with all his might a thousand times, his right hand was already aching terribly, and he was covered in sweat. In the past, his training usually consisted of only five hundred repetitions, but now, he was pushing himself to the limit.

"Pfft." As he thrust with full force at the alchemy dummy once more, the recoil made his hand go numb, and with a clatter, the spear fell to the ground.

Dongbo Xueying knelt on the ground, gasping for air, drenched in sweat, staring at the spear on the floor.

Even with such determination, when the body is utterly exhausted, one still wants to give up.

Dongbo Xueying lifted his head to look to the side. In the past, his father would have been standing there, berating him.

"Weakling!"

"Tired already? You've only thrust three hundred times! With your physique, five hundred is normal, a thousand is when you should be tired, and fifteen hundred is likely your limit! Even if you reach your limit, even if you hurt your body... you have the medicinal bath at night! That bath—even if you were slashed open, even if you broke a bone... you'd be full of vigor the next day. You have such good conditions, far better than I had back then! You can't even do five hundred? Get up!"

"Get up! If you don't get up, you're a weakling!"

"Only five hundred, and you, a young noble, can't even do that?"

"Get up! My son, Dongbo Lie's son, is no weakling!"

"Get up!"

His father's roars still echoed faintly in his ears.

"Get up, get up." Dongbo Xueying grabbed the spear and stood up.

"Thrust."

Dongbo Xueying thrust out with all his might once again.

"Father, I really want to hear you scold me again. I'd even be happy if you called me a weakling." Dongbo Xueying's eyes were red as he thrust frantically, over and over. Only when something is lost does one realize how precious it truly was.

This is a new book, I hope everyone will cast their recommendation votes~~~