Swordsmanship Training

ps: The next few chapters are all transitional, so they may be a little boring, but they're necessary!

ps+1: I just found out something pretty tragic. It seems Chapter 1 got censored, so now Chapter 2 comes right after the prologue...

ps2: Thanks to '屾祘,' '从此依赖你,' and '莫莫漠' for the donations. Thanks for your support!

ps3: By the way, is the protagonist's name really that awkward? I'll put up a poll in the review section later, and you can vote on whether to change it. If we do change it, Xiao Jiao will make the edits chapter by chapter while there are still so few chapters.

ps4: Lastly, please vote for the novel!

"Coordinate your breathing. Unite your mind and body, and pay attention to the rhythm of your breath. This is fundamental. Otherwise, you'll never touch the realm of sensing the breath of all things."

Kubo Yamato watched Bai Ina continuously swing the stone block with one hand and berated him in a cold voice.

"Yes, teacher!"

Bai Ina was drenched in sweat from head to toe, but Kubo's strict training didn't make him slack off in the slightest.

"Good. Switch to your left hand!"

After Bai Ina had swung three thousand times, Kubo Yamato didn't let him rest. In a cold voice, he said, "Since you have a strange technique like May Rain, you need to train your left-hand swordsmanship too. It'll become one of your trump cards!"

Bai Ina frowned slightly. It wasn't because he was dissatisfied, but because he thought this training was pointless. He had always trained both hands at once, and switching hands to train them separately seemed like a waste of time to him.

"What, you think it's useless?" Kubo Yamato saw what Bai Ina was thinking at a glance and scolded him with a shake of his head. "Stop thinking about the way you used to train. That was a complete waste of effort. The stronger you are, the stronger your swordsmanship becomes? That's not how it works. From this moment on, you need to make every part of your body feel what it's like to swing a sword. Your arm muscles, your leg muscles, your waist muscles—even your brain needs to become familiar with that feeling."

"Right now, you're only using the strength in your arms to swing your sword. The rest of your muscles aren't being used at all. Never forget: you're now walking the path of a true male swordsman. As you train, temporarily suppress your natural flexibility. For now, all you need is an unstoppable, forward-driving force."

Suppress his flexibility?

Bai Ina smiled bitterly to himself. How was he supposed to suppress something so vague?

"Coordinate your breathing and clear your mind. Forget all the sword techniques you've ever learned. Focus only on feeling the latent strength in your body and bring all of it into play!"

Kubo Yamato spoke coldly. Then, the Great Shock that had once suppressed Bai Ina during their duel descended upon him once more. "Don't think about anything, and don't summon your strength to resist this pressure. Try to merge with it. Feel the strength in every inch of your body and draw it out. Only then might you walk the path of a male swordsman. Otherwise, you won't even qualify to cross the threshold."

Bai Ina frowned at this. Even when he summoned all his strength, he could only just barely withstand the pressure emanating from his teacher. How could he possibly resist it without using his strength...

But the next moment, a fierce look flashed across Bai Ina's face, and he abruptly relaxed his entire body. Since his teacher had told him to do it, he would. What did a little pain matter if it made him stronger?

Kubo Yamato's face showed a hint of approval.

As Bai Ina relaxed, his body trembled, and his posture shifted involuntarily, curling inward. The next moment, he felt an indescribable stabbing pain throughout his body, inside and out. His face paled, but he gritted his teeth and endured it.

The stone block in his hands moved agonizingly slowly. Each swing felt as if it took every last bit of strength he had.

"Stand up straight. Don't use your natural flexibility to resist the pressure. Use your physique to withstand it. Otherwise, you'll never be able to bring out the true power of your body!"

Kubo Yamato's stern voice rang in Bai Ina's ears once more.

Bai Ina clenched his teeth and forced himself to stand upright under the terrifying pressure, like the weight of the deep sea.

'Crack—'

The instant he straightened up, a muffled sound came from his body. Pain many times worse than before coursed through every inch of his skin, and the immense pressure made his bones creak.

"AAAHHHHHHH—"

The stabbing pain that reached deep into his soul made Bai Ina's scream ring throughout the entire area. Just standing still had forced countless tiny threads of blood from his skin, covering his entire body.

"Swing your sword! Don't just stand there. Keep your blood flowing, or you'll die. If you don't want to die, swing your sword with your life on the line!"

"Yes... tea...cher!"

Bai Ina swung his sword, enduring the agony. The veins in his arm bulged as if they might burst at any moment. The tendons in his arm stretched like rubber bands pulled taut, ready to snap.

A single swing made blood seep from every pore on Bai Ina's body.

"Idiot! That's not how you swing a sword! Start with your leg muscles. Unite your mind and body, and use your waist to support the motion. Bring out all the strength in your body, or you're dead!"

Seeing Bai Ina's state, Kubo Yamato's eyes flashed with pain, but he still had no intention of giving up. Only this could let Bai Ina take the first step toward becoming a male swordsman. Otherwise, he'd never be able to use the true power of his physique.

Unite his mind and body...

A thoughtful look passed over Bai Ina's grimacing face. Then he slowly closed his eyes and emptied his mind, searching for that elusive moment of insight.

In that instant, it seemed as if heaven and earth fell silent. A sense of clarity rose within Bai Ina, and he even forgot the pressure around him.

This feeling...

An indescribably wondrous sensation welled up within Bai Ina. At that moment, he felt every muscle in his body tremble, as if his mind were wandering through his own body.

Something's wrong here... The strength I'm drawing out is wrong...

His mind wandered through his body. Whenever he discovered something amiss, his body unconsciously made a subtle adjustment.

"Did he succeed?" Kubo Yamato smiled with relief. Watching Bai Ina constantly make tiny adjustments to his posture, he slowly let out a breath. If Bai Ina still couldn't draw out his body's true strength, he had been prepared to withdraw the pressure he was exerting with his physique.

After all, Bai Ina had reached his limit. If Kubo continued to pressure him, his body might break down.

After a while, Bai Ina's eyes abruptly opened, and a glint flashed through them. He swung the stone block in his hands, and it felt effortless.

"Ha—"

With a low shout, Bai Ina felt a wave of exhilaration spread through every part of his body, as if his entire physique were cheering. An aura as powerful as Kubo Yamato's own Great Shock emanated from him and merged with Kubo Yamato's physique, immediately reducing the pressure by more than half.

This shock wasn't Conqueror's Haki, but an aura that naturally arose from a powerful physique. In the original story, Zoro had used this same kind of physical strength in his battle against the Snow Woman.

Without using Armament Haki, Zoro unleashed Great Shock and split the Snow Woman, who should have been impossible to hit while transformed into an element, cleanly in two. At the same time, he shook her spirit, filling her with fear so that she couldn't recover!

Bai Ina's physique was nowhere near Zoro's in the future, or even Kubo Yamato's. But one thing was beyond doubt: he...

Had successfully taken the first step—the first step toward becoming a male master swordsman!!!