Kendo Club (Seeking Recommendations, Collections, and Encouragement) Testing the Waters

The morning dismissal bell had just rung.

The corridors of the teaching building were packed with students heading out, their voices noisy and jumbled.

Fang Yuan held Gu Yuena's hand as they shuffled with the flow of people toward the stairwell. His head felt foggy, and his eyelids kept drooping.

"I'm so sleepy, Mother..."

He looked up and yawned, a few reflexive tears squeezing from the corners of his eyes.

He had been caught red-handed sleeping in class by Wu Zhangkong that morning, then punished to stand for half the lesson, and he was still so sleepy even now!

"That Wu Zhangkong actually dared to make you stand at the door as punishment."

Gu Yuena's brows furrowed, her tone carrying a trace of anger as her fingers unconsciously tightened around his. "That's too much."

"Mother, it was my fault in the first place. I was sleeping in class," Fang Yuan said softly, tilting his face up to look at her.

"That still isn't allowed."

Gu Yuena snorted, a faint fierceness in her eyes.

"It's fine. Mother will vent this anger for you."

"I'll have your Uncle Di Tian beat him up hard tonight."

She said it viciously, as if she could already see Wu Zhangkong getting thrashed.

"This... doesn't seem too good."

Fang Yuan swallowed, the corner of his mouth twitching.

With Uncle Di Tian's cultivation, how could he possibly hold back properly?

Wu Zhangkong, oh Wu Zhangkong, you'd better pray for yourself.

Hopefully you don't get beaten into a vegetable!

In his heart, he silently lit a candle for the man, but aloud he obediently answered, "All right."

The school's club activity rooms were all on the seventh floor and above, while the first-year classrooms were on the first floor, with six flights of stairs between them.

The two of them climbed for quite a while before reaching the seventh floor.

The corridor was quiet. From far away, they could hear orderly sword-swinging coming from the direction of the Kendo Club, wooden swords cutting through the air with short whistles of wind.

"We're here."

Fang Yuan lifted his chin slightly, pointing at the classroom with the "Kendo Club" sign hanging on the door.

Just then, a student came out to fetch water. Seeing the two of them, he stopped.

"Students, what are you here for?"

"We're here to join the club," Fang Yuan replied.

"You're Fang Yuan and Gu Yue, right? Come in, come in!"

Su Yun, who had gone to recruit people during the morning break, heard the voice and immediately ran out from inside, his face full of enthusiasm.

At his shout, several students practicing sword inside the classroom stopped and looked over in unison.

"Fang Yuan? The one who turned into a soul beast on the field yesterday afternoon?" someone muttered under their breath.

"Who else could it be? A six-year-old in the Spirit Sea Realm, our school's peerless genius."

Su Yun ignored the murmurs. He turned sideways to let the two of them in, then picked up two club application forms from the table and handed them over.

After the two lowered their heads and finished filling them out, he pointed to the tall boy standing beside them and introduced him.

"My name is Su Yun. This is our Kendo Club's president, Senior Qiu Ziyun."

"Pleased to meet you both," Fang Yuan said with a slight nod, his tone calm.

Gu Yuena only nodded faintly, her gaze sweeping over the wooden swords on the rack without speaking.

"These are wooden swords for practice. Take them."

Su Yun turned and took two smoothly polished wooden swords from the wooden rack, then handed them to the two.

With a faint smile on his face, Qiu Ziyun asked, "Fang Yuan, Gu Yue, are both of your martial souls sword-type martial souls?"

"No." Fang Yuan shook his head.

The smile on Qiu Ziyun's face faded a little, and his brows creased almost imperceptibly.

He felt a little puzzled.

If they didn't have sword martial souls, why had they come to learn kendo?

Purely out of interest?

Good sword-type close-combat soul devices on the market were quite expensive, and people whose martial souls weren't swords generally wouldn't spend effort learning this at all.

He looked at the two children in front of him, especially Fang Yuan, who was only six, and felt even less confident.

Next month was the kendo exchange meet with a neighboring school. Including himself, the entire club only had five people, so they were already short on hands.

But kendo was something built up over time. It wasn't the kind of thing that showed results overnight.

Neither of them even had sword martial souls. Most likely, they wouldn't last long, let alone compete onstage.

Once he figured that out, he didn't ask any more questions.

Instead, he pulled two thin booklets from the shelf and handed them over.

"This is basic swordsmanship, suitable for beginners. If there's anything you don't understand, just ask the seniors around you."

After saying that, he nodded, turned, and went off to the other side to practice his sword on his own, with little joy on his face at having recruited new members.

"Sister Gu Yue, let's practice together."

Fang Yuan paid no mind to the other party's attitude. He hefted the wooden sword in his hand. The weight was just right.

He didn't rush to swing it around randomly. First, he followed the diagrams in the booklet, formed sword fingers, and slowly memorized each move one by one.

"They're only basic sword moves. There isn't much to practice."

Gu Yuena casually flipped through two pages of the booklet in her hand, skimmed it a few times, then closed it. "I'll teach you in a bit."

With her cultivation, this bit of shallow swordsmanship was engraved in her mind with a single glance.

"The sword moves are easy to remember, but I've never actually swung a sword before."

As Fang Yuan spoke, he also closed the booklet.

With the spiritual power of the Spirit Sea Realm, a photographic memory was standard.

A mere basic sword technique was fully memorized after one read.

He raised his hand and gripped the wooden sword. With a turn of his wrist, he began moving through the forms from memory.

His starting movements were indeed clumsy, and his arms were a little stiff, but every move and stance was accurate down to the smallest detail. Even the angle of force was not the slightest bit wrong.

"Children really do learn quickly."

Gu Yuena stood to the side watching, a trace of comfort and admiration flashing through her eyes.

As expected of the child she had raised. His comprehension was excellent.

She also picked up a wooden sword and walked a few steps forward to create some distance.

"Come, Fang Yuan. Exchange a few moves with me."

"Okay! Sister Gu Yue, here I come!"

Fang Yuan gripped the sword in one hand, kicked off the ground, and charged forward with an arrow step.

The wooden sword cleaved down with a whistle of wind. His form was proper, yet not the slightest bit chaotic.

"Come."

Gu Yuena stood where she was and raised her sword horizontally to block, her posture as steady as a boulder.

The two went back and forth, their wooden swords colliding with light clacks. Each move and stance looked perfectly presentable.

The few students around them who had been practicing swordsmanship all stopped and stared wide-eyed at the two in the center, completely stunned.

They had only just gotten the booklet, right?

They glanced at it once and could already perform the basic sword technique this smoothly?

This talent was way too absurd!

The few of them looked at one another and saw the shock in each other's eyes.

After only a few moves, Fang Yuan's strength couldn't keep up. His wrist went numb, and the wooden sword was knocked straight out of his hand.

He retreated two steps and plopped down on the ground.

"Age and experience really do win out."

Fang Yuan rubbed his wrist and grinned.

"Little Fang Yuan, are you okay?"

Gu Yuena quickly lowered her sword, walked over, and reached out to pull him up.

"You're not hurt, are you?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Fang Yuan patted the dust off his pants and picked up the wooden sword. "Let's keep practicing."

At that moment, Qiu Ziyun also walked over, unconcealable surprise on his face.

"Student Gu Yue, Student Fang Yuan, have you two... come into contact with kendo before?"

"You're joking, senior." Gu Yuena smiled, her tone calm. "My little brother is only six. When he was four or five, he couldn't even recognize all the characters yet. How could he have come into contact with this?"

Qiu Ziyun was even more shocked inside.

Zero foundation, and they learned it after one look?

This kind of talent was simply unheard of.

He steadied himself, then struck while the iron was hot and spoke.

"It's like this. Next month, there's an interschool kendo exchange with sparring matches."

"I saw that you two were so talented, so I was wondering if you'd be interested..."

"Not interested."

Before he could finish, Fang Yuan cut him off directly.

"If you invite me again, I'm quitting the club."

"Huh? Why?" Qiu Ziyun froze for a moment, not having expected such a blunt refusal.

"I'm taking part in the Class Promotion Tournament. Where would I find the time for this?"

Fang Yuan weighed the wooden sword in his hand, his tone casual. "Besides, I'm only six. All the opponents would be a head taller than me. What physical advantage would I have?"

He knew perfectly well.

This so-called exchange was nothing more than wanting to use his reputation as a genius to hold up the event.

He had no desire to be kidnapped by collective honor and dragged around to fight useless matches just because of some genius title.

"All right. If my little brother doesn't want to go, then let him focus on practicing swordsmanship," Gu Yuena said mildly.

"Then what about you, Student Gu Yue?"

Qiu Ziyun refused to give up and turned to ask her.

"My martial soul is a spear."

Gu Yuena raised an eyebrow and asked in return, "What do you think?"

Qiu Ziyun sighed, finally giving up completely.

True. Her martial soul wasn't even a sword to begin with. It was already good enough that she was willing to come practice.

He took a few slightly thicker sword manuals from inside his coat and handed them over.

"These are a few sets of advanced sword manuals kept in the club. Take them and practice with them. If you have any questions, come find me anytime."

With that, he shook his head, turned, and walked away.

He had thought the exchange might have a chance now, but in the end, they had no interest at all.

There was nothing he could do. This was probably the confidence of geniuses.

They learned everything quickly, so naturally, they also had the right to pick and choose.

Gu Yuena accepted the sword manuals and casually flipped through them. Then she exchanged a glance with Fang Yuan and returned to the floor to continue practicing.