Blade Technique Initiation

Ruyi Ward, a bustling market street far from Luo's Shop.

Chen Cheng mingled with the crowd and strolled along at an unhurried pace. He appeared to be sightseeing, but he kept warily checking behind him to see whether anyone was following.

Since leaving Luo's Shop, he had wandered through three busy streets in succession. After making the rounds, he confirmed that no one was tailing him.

With a mid-grade saber technique manual and a fifty-tael silver note tucked against his chest, he truly felt like a child carrying gold through a crowded market.

Looks like I was overthinking it. A major shop like Luo's Shop wouldn't harbor crooked intentions over fifty taels of silver.

With that thought, Chen Cheng headed home.

The reason he had been so cautious was the immense pressure exerted by the middle-aged man and woman on the second floor of Luo's Shop.

Especially that middle-aged man. His gaze was deep and sharp; merely being glanced at from afar had made Chen Cheng feel an intangible pressure. It was the oppressive aura brought by a martial arts powerhouse—something impossible to put into words, yet something one could feel all too clearly.

The middle-aged man had smiled at Chen Cheng. Chen Cheng instinctively felt that there was little kindness in that smile. It was cold indifference, the disregard a strong man showed toward an insignificant nobody.

That man might be Luo's Shop's martial arts expert. I can't let him take notice of me. That was Chen Cheng's first thought when their gazes met.

Thus, when Chen Cheng left, he deliberately walked with a swaying gait and unsteady steps, making himself appear frail and weak so the middle-aged man would not see through his true strength.

A cautious sailor sails a ship for ten thousand years. When one's strength was lacking, being prudent and careful could never be wrong.

With fifty taels of silver on him, Chen Cheng kept an unusually low profile. Rather than going to the market to buy meat, he went straight home. The moment he arrived, he shut himself in his room and devoted himself to studying the Chasing Wind Saber Technique manual.

The Chasing Wind Saber Technique truly deserved to be called a mid-grade saber technique. Its moves were exquisite, its methods of exerting force numerous, and it contained extremely detailed annotations on every subtle detail.

Although Chen Cheng had practiced some loose saber forms involving horizontal slashes and vertical chops and was no stranger to using a saber, he still found studying it quite difficult.

Fortunately, the panel's progress function also worked while he studied the manual. Whenever Chen Cheng encountered something obscure and difficult to understand, he would automatically gain progress.

If he could not understand it on the first reading, he would gain some insight on the second. By the third or fourth reading, as his progress rose, he would always feel as though enlightenment had been poured over his head, his mind suddenly opening and the clouds parting.

It was not until Mu Xiaowan finished making dinner and came to call him that Chen Cheng had memorized all the moves and force-exertion techniques in the manual.

After dinner, he eagerly began practicing the Chasing Wind Saber Technique in the courtyard.

"Wind-Riding Form!"

"Wind-Guiding Form!"

"Wind-Chasing Form!"

Reading a book a hundred times was not as good as putting it into practice once. As Chen Cheng trained, he deeply felt the truth of those words.

Though he had completely understood and memorized the saber manual, when he actually practiced, he was always stumbling along. Either his moves were imprecise, or his application of force was incomplete.

When he finally got both the moves and force right, he could not link them together smoothly.

Once the moves became fluid, his footwork could no longer keep up.

Still, as he trained continuously, Chen Cheng always gained something.

[Chasing Wind Saber Technique training progress increased.]

[Skill: Chasing Wind Saber Technique (Not Initiated 1/10)]

After training for nearly two hours, night had fully fallen, and the Chasing Wind Saber Technique's training progress had broken through one point.

Not bad. At this rate, it will probably take ten hours to bring the saber technique to the initiation level—just two or three days.

The future is promising!

Chen Cheng sheathed his constable's saber and stood tall, a faint smile on his face.

Though the Chasing Wind Saber Technique had not yet reached the initiation level, he could already barely execute the Wind-Riding Form.

The Wind-Riding Form was quite powerful, far stronger than ordinary loose saber forms.

The next morning, Chen Cheng rose early and practiced the Chasing Wind Saber Technique for a while before heading to South City Prison to request leave from the chief jailer, Cheng Rui.

Taking leave naturally meant having his pay docked. But now that Chen Cheng possessed fifty taels of silver, he naturally did not care about a jailer's meager wages. Training his saber technique was the important matter.

As the lowest-ranking runners, jailers spent their days on duty in dark, airless prisons with foul air. Their health was poor to begin with.

Some time ago, chief jailer Cheng Rui had frequently inspected the cells. Nearly every jailer had been too afraid to slack off and muddle through their days, and many had fallen ill from the strain. Requesting leave had become commonplace.

Only in recent days had Cheng Rui begun sitting in the duty room all day whenever he had nothing to do, hardly ever inspecting the cells.

Only then had the jailers been able to return to their former state of duty. Those who should slack off slacked off, and those who should muddle through muddled through. No one requested leave anymore.

The jailers believed that Cheng Rui, being a new chief jailer, was bound to burn three fires upon taking office. In the end, those three fires had simply burned out.

Only Chen Cheng vaguely guessed at something. He had noticed that Cheng Rui no longer carried a money pouch in the inner pocket of his trouser leg, and every few days, he would carry a branding iron to the death row cells to pay Master Xiuchen a visit.

His persistence was exactly the same as Ruthless A-Cheng's a month ago.

When Chen Cheng asked Cheng Rui for three days of leave, Cheng Rui approved it readily without even asking why. This made the excuses Chen Cheng had prepared—such as the cold weather and catching a chill—entirely useless.

Three days later.

Early morning.

Goose-feather snowflakes drifted down in a swirling flurry. This was already who knew which heavy snowfall since winter had begun.

The Chen family courtyard was blanketed in thick snow. Before the brazier at the kitchen door, Mu Xiaowan was wrapped in a thick cotton-padded coat, busy with her needlework. From time to time, she looked up at the lean figure in the courtyard dancing with a saber amid the wind and snow, and her picture-perfect brows unconsciously relaxed.

[Chasing Wind Saber Technique training progress increased.]

[Skill: Chasing Wind Saber Technique (Initiated 1/100)]

After completing the Chasing Wind Saber Technique, Chen Cheng withdrew his saber and stood still. Smiling with delight, he could not hide the joy on his face.

The Chasing Wind Saber Technique had finally reached the initiation level!

Chen Cheng held his constable's saber level before him and slowly closed his eyes, recalling the formulas and moves of the Chasing Wind Saber Technique.

Snowflakes fluttered down in abundance. Before long, his head and body were covered in snow, turning him entirely into a snowman.

No one knew how much time passed before the constable's saber suddenly trembled and Chen Cheng abruptly stepped forward.

"Wind-Riding Form!"

The man moved with the saber, and the saber rode the wind! As the constable's saber danced, shallow footprints were left across the snow.

"Wind-Guiding Form!"

Riding the wind, the saber was swift as a gale! The constable's saber whirled in rapid succession, precise and quick.

"Wind-Chasing Form!"

Chasing shadows and pursuing the wind, the saber pursued the wind's shadow! The constable's saber danced ever faster, leaving streak after streak of afterimages.

[Forgetting both self and surroundings, you have entered a focused state. Chasing Wind Saber Technique training progress increased.]

[Skill: Chasing Wind Saber Technique (Initiated 6/100)]

After executing the Chasing Wind Saber Technique once more, the panel prompt appeared in the air.

There is even a focused state. As expected of the Heavenly Dao rewarding diligence!

Delight filled Chen Cheng's face. Holding his breath and concentrating, he trained like mad, but the focused state did not appear again.

A quarter of an hour later, he sheathed his constable's saber and fell into thought.

It seems this focused state can only come by chance. It cannot be forced!

Never mind. Progress increasing is already enough!

He continued training.

"Open the door! Open it now!"

Near noon, a series of urgent shouts came from outside the courtyard, followed by loud banging on the gate.

Hearing the commotion, Chen Cheng stopped training, carried his constable's saber, and opened the courtyard gate.

Outside stood four burly men in black fitted garments, each carrying a saber.

"Hand over this month's customary fee. Fifty coins in total."

The lead man, a broad-built, dark-faced fellow, looked Chen Cheng over and spoke coldly.