Cultivation

At last, he had thrust the spear fifteen hundred times. His whole body was drenched in sweat, and his right arm barely felt like his own. The fingers of his right hand had gone completely numb. In the end, only sheer willpower had carried him through all fifteen hundred thrusts.

"Water," Dongbo Xueying rasped.

"Master, here's some water." The nearby servant had been watching in a daze, but hurriedly brought it over.

Dongbo Xueying reached out with his left hand, picked up the large cup, and drained it in one go.

Then he started practicing the Flame Three-Stage Method again!

Practicing a Battle Qi method made his muscles and bones itch all over. This time, the sensation was strongest in his right arm and hand. Clearly, the mysterious power between Heaven and Earth kept flowing into them. The more exhausted he was...the more effective his Battle Qi training became! Of course, he couldn't train until his body gave out. If an ordinary person pushed himself as hard as Dongbo Xueying did, his hand would probably be ruined within ten days. But he had an expensive medicinal bath every day! The cost of those medicines over a year would bankrupt an ordinary noble family!

After practicing three full rounds, he was absorbing the power between Heaven and Earth only weakly, so he stopped. By then, his left arm and hand weren't tired at all, while his right hand still ached a little.

"I'll start practicing with the spear in my left hand."

"Come on." Dongbo Xueying fixed his bright gaze on the Alchemy Dummy ahead. He held the spear shaft loosely in his right hand, gripped the butt with his left, and thrust it forward with sudden force!

"Tong San, have you seen Xue Ying?"

"No."

Zong Ling and Tong San were a little surprised and puzzled. It was almost lunchtime, so why hadn't they seen Xue Ying? Dongbo Lie and his wife had just been taken away, and they were worried about Xue Ying, too.

"Where's the young lord?" Zong Ling and Tong San asked a maid.

The maid hurriedly replied, "Master has been at the training grounds since early this morning."

"He's still at the training grounds? It's almost noon." Tong San was astonished. "Xue Ying usually trains for only an hour or two in the morning. He's been at it for nearly three hours now."

Zong Ling said nothing and hurried toward the training grounds.

As they drew closer, they could hear a steady series of deep, powerful thuds from inside. Zong Ling and Tong San exchanged a glance, then pushed open the training yard gate.

"This..." Zong Ling and Tong San were both stunned.

The young man, his skin flushed red all over, gripped a long spear with both hands and kept striking the Alchemy Dummy with all his strength.

His power came from his waist as he whipped the spear down with a furious swing!

Once, twice, three times...he repeated the same move without pause. The spear swept through the air, building momentum, and reached its maximum speed and force the instant it struck the Alchemy Dummy.

The young man's skin was flushed red from head to toe, and steam rose from his body as heat rolled off his skin.

"To have his blood surging through his whole body to such an extent..." Zong Ling was astonished.

"Xue Ying, take a rest! You need to rest! Have you gone mad?" Tong San grew anxious. He had never seen Dongbo Xueying work so hard. At this point, his spear practice was pushing his body close to its limits.

"Just a little longer! I'm not finished yet," Dongbo Xueying said.

"Don't worry. Xue Ying takes a medicinal bath every day; his body won't give out. Let him get it out of his system." Zong Ling was still worried, though. He wasn't afraid that training would injure Xue Ying; the daily medicinal baths could easily nourish and repair his body. He was afraid that Xue Ying's temperament would change for good. He had watched Xue Ying grow up and didn't want him to become strange and withdrawn.

Dongbo Xueying turned to look at his two uncles and smiled. "Uncle Zong, Uncle Tong, don't worry. I'm fine." He wasn't just venting. After studying the spear manual of the Transcendent Knight, he had drawn up this training plan for himself.

Without enough hard work, how could he become strong with nothing but a manual?

Another quarter of an hour passed.

Dongbo Xueying practiced the Flame Three-Stage Method twice more, and only then was his morning training over!

After lunch, he spent some time with his younger brother, then picked up his spear and started practicing again.

"Ha!"

He put his strength into the spear with both hands and thrust. The full force of his body flowed through his arms and into the spear, making the attack visibly more powerful!

Again and again, the spear struck the Alchemy Dummy. He landed each thrust precisely on the marked targets: the face, throat, chest, and other spots.

This was the fourth part of Dongbo Xueying's spear-training plan—two-handed thrusts!

Two thousand two-handed thrusts, then practice the Battle Qi method.

"Fire!" Dongbo Xueying shouted.

"Yes, Master." Ten servants stood ten meters away, each holding a bow. They had removed the arrowheads, leaving only the shafts. They glanced at one another, hesitating. In the past, Dongbo Xueying's father had helped him practice deflecting attacks, but now they were expected to shoot him with arrows... If he failed to block, the shafts would still hurt badly when they hit him. They could even break the skin and draw blood.

The servants were worried, too.

"Quickly, follow the orders I gave you," Dongbo Xueying commanded. The servants had no choice but to obey.

Whoosh.

The first arrow shot toward him. Dongbo Xueying immediately raised his spear to block it, thrusting forward and knocking the arrow aside.

One arrow at a time.

Though they were only ten meters away, the servants hadn't developed Battle Qi, and Dongbo Xueying had enough time to intercept their fast-moving arrows. He was becoming extremely proficient with the spear techniques for "deflecting," "redirecting," and "knocking aside."

Then two arrows shot toward him at once, and Dongbo Xueying was clearly hard-pressed. He was hit three or four times out of every ten. His skin began to turn red and purple in patches, and in a few places it broke. But he didn't care about such minor injuries.

The Heart-Intent Spear Technique was the source of all spear techniques and one of the most fundamental forms of spear training in the entire Xia Clan. If one only practiced the routine over and over, it would amount to nothing more than empty flourishes. The moves had to be broken down and practiced again and again, until even the simplest techniques could unleash astonishing power.

Spear training had six stages: left-handed thrusts, right-handed thrusts, sweeping and striking, two-handed thrusts, blocking, and free attacks. Battle Qi practice was interspersed between them to ease the body's fatigue; otherwise, such high-intensity training couldn't be sustained...

He trained for a full six hours each day!

After his workout, he took a medicinal bath. The bath kept his body from breaking down and helped it recover and grow stronger with every session! His body was constantly transforming, especially the strength in the muscles, tendons, and bones of his arms and hands.

At night, he rested. He ate dinner with his younger brother, played with him, read a few books, and then went to bed.

******

It seemed exhausting, but in truth it was like a commoner working hard all day. Once he got used to it, it felt normal. Dongbo Xueying could also feel his spear skills improving constantly and his body growing stronger. He wasn't getting tired; if anything, he was enjoying it more and more.

He even smiled while practicing. From time to time, he would stop and furrow his brow in thought, clearly absorbed in the mysteries of the spear...and his skills were improving at an astonishing pace.

Winter, two years later.

Snow fell thick and fast.

A dashing young man held a black spear and practiced thrusting. A servant stood before him with a shield wrapped in thick layers of animal hide and padded cloth. It looked bulky, but without the layers to absorb the force, the servants wouldn't be able to withstand his attacks.

The servant kept dodging from side to side, but Dongbo Xueying suddenly thrust. His spear darted out like a swimming dragon, spinning forward with a faint whistle, and struck the shield in an instant. The force shook the servant from head to toe. The thrust was manageable; his sweeping strikes were even more powerful.

"Master, how come I can't dodge it at all?" the stout servant asked with a bitter expression.

"If you dodge it once, you'll get a silver coin. All of you, keep practicing," Dongbo Xueying said. The other servants watched enviously. A single silver coin was worth a month's wages. In the beginning, a few servants had occasionally managed to dodge, and Dongbo Xueying had handed out several hundred silver coins over time. But now, earning even one had become far too difficult.

"My spear technique hasn't improved in days. This forceful style has reached a bottleneck," Dongbo Xueying muttered to himself. "According to the senior Mystic Ice Knight's manual, should I start practicing how to 'retract' my force?"

He had to be able to unleash his force—and draw it back!

Suddenly—

"Master! Master! Something terrible has happened!" A maid rushed into the training grounds, flustered.

Her cry made Dongbo Xueying's heart jump. He immediately asked, "What happened?"

"It's Lord Zong Ling. Lord Zong Ling has been badly injured," the maid hurriedly replied. "He's covered in blood."

"Uncle Zong!"

Dongbo Xueying was shocked. Over the past two years, Uncle Zong had handled all the big and small affairs in the territory, allowing him to focus entirely on his spear training without interruption. "Where is Uncle Zong now?"

"In Lord Zong Ling's residence. Commander Tong is there, too," the maid hurriedly replied.

Dongbo Xueying set down his spear and immediately raced toward Uncle Zong's residence.