Spear Technique

"I, Gu Yuanhan, the Xia Clan's Mystic Ice Knight, leave my spear techniques here."

The gold-foil pages were covered in densely packed diagrams, showing a little figure practicing spear techniques.

"Vmmm—"

A mysterious, mighty force made the air in the study tremble.

"Hm?" Dongbo Xueying was startled and looked up. Above the open gold-foil book, a hazy silver-white glow appeared and took the shape of an old man who looked like a beggar. The "beggar old man" was a tiny figure, only as tall as the book, holding a long spear.

The icy aura washed over him, making Dongbo Xueying shiver involuntarily.

"Whoosh!" The beggar old man wielded his spear, practicing one move after another. The spear moved like a dragon, thrusting fiercely, whipping, blocking...

It was all too familiar. This was the very spear technique Dongbo Xueying had been practicing since he was six: a technique extremely common throughout the Longshan Empire, called the Heart-Intent Spear Technique.

The Heart-Intent Spear Technique had spread far and wide. It was the simplest and most basic spear technique, known as the origin of all spear techniques. It had no especially powerful killing moves, consisting entirely of basic techniques. Many spear masters began with the Heart-Intent Spear Technique when they first took up the spear.

"I've been practicing the Heart-Intent Spear Technique for almost three years. How come I never realized it was this powerful?" Dongbo Xueying stared at the figure demonstrating the moves. The beggar old man made a simple thrust, rotating the spear like a swimming snake as it shot forward. The power behind it made Dongbo Xueying's heart tremble. When he drew it back, the spear rotated in the opposite direction.

He had started practicing at six, and now he was eight. It was winter already, so he really had been practicing for nearly three years.

"Father taught me the spear technique properly. He showed me each move in this exact style. So why does my spear technique feel different from his?" Dongbo Xueying watched closely.

The same basic spear technique.

There was a world of difference between a master's demonstration and a beginner's.

"There's a force within each move, a force in every thrust, as if the strength of the whole body is flowing perfectly into the spear." Dongbo Xueying had a vague idea.

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 covered in lines of text.

"Spear techniques depend on a firm foundation. The first technique I teach is the Heart-Intent Spear Technique, the source of all techniques. Only when you have truly mastered it will you have a chance to begin learning my spear technique."

"Attached is a method for circulating Battle Qi."

"My spear technique is famed for its speed! This method of circulating Battle Qi will let you strike faster."

The other densely packed lines explained the method for circulating Battle Qi.

The Transcendent Knight had written this so casually, but this method was priceless! If two knights of equal strength faced off, one might manage only two or three moves, while the other, thanks to a special Battle Qi circulation method, could make four or five. It would take only a few exchanges for the battle to be decided!

"My spear technique is the Mystic Ice Spear Technique, and it has three stages."

"The first stage is Drifting Snow. Once you learn this move, you will have mastered the basics and become a spear master."

"The second stage is Blood Rain. Once you learn this move, you will be strong enough to dominate at the Title-level and may have a chance to become a Transcendent!"

"The third stage is Mystic Ice. Every Transcendent has their own path. This move represents my path to transcendence, which is why I am the Mystic Ice Knight! My path may not suit you, but if you can reach this stage... perhaps you can draw on some of the techniques for circulating Battle Qi."

Dongbo Xueying was thrilled as he read.

As expected of a spear technique left behind by a Transcendent Knight—it led all the way to transcendence!

He continued turning the pages. The next ones contained dense explanations of the Mystic Ice Spear Technique, along with some special techniques for circulating Battle Qi... There were more than twenty pages of explanations. They were written plainly enough that Dongbo Xueying understood what the senior meant, but his spear technique was still far too weak for him to learn it.

He turned to the final page.

Dense diagrams filled it. As soon as he opened it, light rose from the page, forming the beggar old man, who began demonstrating the Mystic Ice Spear Technique.

The beggar old man first performed the Mystic Ice Spear Technique's Drifting Snow at normal speed. It was simply fast! One strike seemed to become hundreds, even thousands, as if countless snowflakes were drifting through the air... At least, Dongbo Xueying couldn't follow it with his naked eyes. Then the old man performed it slowly, as if in slow motion, and Dongbo Xueying could see every movement clearly.

Next, he demonstrated the Mystic Ice Spear Technique's Blood Rain, and finally the Mystic Ice.

This spear technique came down to one word—speed!

It pursued speed to the extreme.

Of course, he still had to start with the basic Heart-Intent Spear Technique. Only when he had truly mastered it could he learn the simplest stage of the Mystic Ice Spear Technique, Drifting Snow. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to learn it at all.

******

That evening, Dongbo Xueying had to coax his little brother to sleep again. His brother was incredibly clingy, and it took more than half an hour of him horsing around in bed before he finally fell asleep.

The next morning, after breakfast.

The training ground.

"This training ground..." Dongbo Xueying glanced around. His father used to train here every day, too.

"Let's begin."

Dongbo Xueying put on his weights and began running, circling the Inner Castle, which covered about a mile. One lap was several miles. This was the warm-up he did every day, and he had long since gotten used to it.

After his run, he returned to the training ground and took off the weights. He was drenched in sweat, but felt great. He walked over to the short-spear area, where large numbers of short spears were stored. Each one weighed about five pounds and had been made specifically for Dongbo Xueying.

"Take this!" He picked up a short spear and casually hurled it. It struck a thick target eighty meters away, which was already riddled with countless holes.

"Go, go, go!"

Dongbo Xueying broke into a run, throwing short spears as he went.

He sprinted back and forth, throwing as he ran!

He shot at targets while moving...

"Throw them at me!" Dongbo Xueying called.

"Yes, master." The servants standing nearby picked up small targets and began tossing them into the air. Running nearly eighty meters away, Dongbo Xueying hurled short spears at them. Sometimes he hit, sometimes he narrowly missed. Clearly, he still needed work on hitting moving targets while on the move.

As his father used to say, short spears were merely a supplementary skill. Once he could hit moving targets with perfect accuracy while running, he only needed to practice two hundred throws each day to warm up and maintain his feel for it.

After a thousand throws, Dongbo Xueying's arms were aching and his whole body was drenched in sweat. He was used to it by now.

Once he had finished with the short spears,

Dongbo Xueying began a set of fist techniques to train his muscles and bones throughout his body. It was also a mid-grade Battle Qi method called the Flame Three-Stage Method. His father had spent a lot of money to acquire it; the Battle Qi method he'd learned in the army had only been low-grade.

Battle Qi methods were most effective when practiced while the body was tired!

The fist techniques combined hardness and softness, coordinated with his breathing. Practicing them made his whole body feel comfortable. A mysterious force seemed to seep into him, leaving every part of him tingling as his strength quickly returned.

After practicing the Flame Three-Stage Method twice, his arms had recovered.

"Good. Time to practice the spear technique."

Dongbo Xueying picked up a long spear from nearby. Since he was still growing, it was only 1.8 meters long and weighed about ten pounds.

"Ha!" Dongbo Xueying began practicing the Heart-Intent Spear Technique.

He had practiced it for nearly three years and knew it well, but today it felt completely different.

"Yes, that's the right way to use my strength." After watching the Transcendent Knight demonstrate the spear technique the day before, Dongbo Xueying had instinctively imitated the feeling as he practiced and had immediately made progress.

"Thrust."

His left hand loosely gripped the spear while his right held the butt. Then he suddenly exerted force.

His right wrist twisted!

The spear rotated as if it had a giant snake's own twisting force, then shot forward! An enemy would see the spear aimed straight at his face, only for its rotating tip to pierce his throat! This twist both confused the enemy by changing the spear's direction and increased its power to penetrate. It was one of the key details of the move.

"Thud!" The tip struck an Alchemy Dummy anchored to the ground. Inside, it was made of metal; its surface was coated with alchemical material, making it extraordinarily tough and capable of automatically repairing itself. No one below the Star-Rank could damage it. There were only five such dummies in the entire training ground, and each was worth five hundred gold coins!

There was an even more precious Alchemy Dummy in his mother's spell laboratory, where she used it for experiments.

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

Level thrusts, low thrusts, high thrusts.

Thrust left, thrust right.

The simple thrust was the most important move in spear techniques. With every thrust, Dongbo Xueying recalled how the Transcendent Knight had felt as he demonstrated the technique.

After a thousand full-force thrusts, Dongbo Xueying's right hand was aching badly, and sweat covered his body. Normally, he practiced only five hundred times, but now he was pushing himself to his limits.

"Thud." As he thrust at the Alchemy Dummy once more with all his strength, the recoil numbed his hand. The spear clattered to the ground.

Dongbo Xueying sat on his knees, gasping for breath, drenched in sweat as he stared at the spear on the ground.

He was determined, but when his body grew utterly exhausted, he still wanted to give up.

Dongbo Xueying lifted his head and looked to the side. In the past, his father would have stood there, scolding him.

"Coward!"

"Already tired? You've only thrust three hundred times! With your body, five hundred should be normal. You shouldn't be exhausted until a thousand, and fifteen hundred should be your limit! Even if you hit your limit, even if you hurt yourself... you've got a medicinal bath at night! You could scrape your skin open or break a bone, and after soaking in the bath, you'd be full of energy the next day. You have it so good—how much better off are you than I was back then? You can't even manage five hundred? Get up!"

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

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

"Get up! My son, Dongbo Lie, is no coward!"

"Get up!"

His father's shouts seemed to ring faintly in his ears.

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

"Thrust."

Dongbo Xueying thrust with all his strength again.

"Father, I really wish I could hear you scold me again. I'd be happy even if you called me a coward." Dongbo Xueying's eyes were red as he thrust again and again like a madman. Only after losing something did he realize how precious it had been.

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