Mudslide

Early the next morning.

Beside the waterfall on the back slopes of Mount Sagiri, the water roared.

Under Rokuya's supervision, the three newcomers practiced swinging their swords. The basic movements of Water Breathing emphasized suppleness and continuity, flowing endlessly like water, seeking openings while defending, then finishing the enemy with flowing slashes.

Sabito's movements were the most precise, Makomo's the most agile, and while Giyu was stiff, he was still doing a passable job.

"Too weak! Too slow! Are you trying to tickle demons?!"

A furious shout came from a tree.

Rokuya leaped down like a black night owl, landing before the three with a boom. His steel-toed boots smashed spiderweb cracks into the ground.

"Senior Rokuya!" Makomo stopped, panting slightly.

"Senior, Water Breathing is supposed to flow continuously and deflect the enemy's attacks." Sabito wiped away his sweat, a hint of defiance in his eyes. "You just called us weak. Then what does your Water Breathing look like?"

"Sabito, are you challenging me?" Rokuya grinned. "Good. Draw your sword. Come at me with your best move."

"Forgive me!"

Sabito wasted no words. He gripped his wooden sword with both hands, his gaze instantly sharpening.

"Total Concentration, Water Breathing, Third Form-Flowing Dance!"

Accompanied by illusory ripples, Sabito moved swiftly like a swimming fish. His wooden sword traced multiple arcs as he tried to slip through Rokuya's defenses from the side.

He was fast, and his movements were precise. But to Rokuya's cheat-enhanced vision, he was as slow as someone doing a broadcast exercise routine.

"All flash, no substance!"

Rokuya did not even draw his sword. He simply raised his right foot, aimed at a point Sabito's path would inevitably take him through, and kicked hard!

"Bam!"

Sabito's prized footwork was instantly broken. He flew backward like a cannonball, rolling seven or eight times before stopping. Clutching his stomach, he could not get up for a long while.

"Sabito!" Makomo and Giyu paled in alarm.

"In a real fight, nobody will stand there and watch you finish an entire form." Rokuya looked at them coldly. "Demons' necks are harder than stone. Can that weak, flowing water of yours cut through their spines?"

"Then... what do you mean, Senior?" Giyu asked blankly.

"Watch closely. Today's first lesson is called 'pragmatism.'"

Rokuya slowly drew the heavy katana from his back. Its pitch-black blade gleamed in the morning light with a chilling edge that made the heart quail.

"Water Breathing, First Form-Water Surface Slash."

As Rokuya spoke calmly, he drew a deep breath. But unlike ordinary Water Breathing, he did not relax his muscles to seek the rhythm of flowing water. Instead, he tensed every muscle in his body to its limit.

Thighs, waist, abdomen, arms-his strength compressed in an instant.

At the same time, on the system panel, the rule only he could see quietly lit up: [Single-target damage increased by 50%].

"Boom!"

A ring of silver-blue pressure burst outward with Rokuya at its center!

There were no wasted movements, nor any graceful illusions of flowing water. There was only a blade of high-pressure water, utterly violent and utterly pure, which he swung out one-handed at a speed barely visible to the naked eye!

"BANG-!!!"

Five meters ahead, a boulder a full three people tall let out a deafening wail beneath that slash.

A deep-blue line of water flashed through the center of the boulder.

The next second, with a thunderous crash, the whole boulder slid smoothly apart down the middle and slammed into the ground. The cut surfaces were as smooth as mirrors, with white vapor still lingering where the intense heat had evaporated the water!

Dead silence.

Apart from the roar of the waterfall, the entire area was as silent as the grave.

Sabito's mouth fell open, and he even forgot the pain in his stomach; Makomo covered her small mouth, her eyes round and wide; Giyu stood utterly frozen, his wooden sword dropping straight from his hand to the ground.

"Th-that was Water Surface Slash?" Sabito asked, his voice trembling.

"Your water... is like a mudslide, Senior." Giyu swallowed.

"Wrong! This isn't a mudslide. This is absolute power!"

Rokuya sheathed his sword and began spouting nonsense with a perfectly straight face. "Listen carefully. All that endless flow, all that overcoming strength with softness-it's bullshit! As long as your slash is fast enough and heavy enough, concentrating your strength into a single point and chopping a demon's head off before he can react, what use is defense?"

He walked over to Giyu and patted his shoulder. "Especially you, Giyu. You're too withdrawn, and you tend to get stuck on things. That means you have even less need for all those complicated variations. Practice one move to perfection. If one slash doesn't kill it, add another!"

Over the next half month, the whole atmosphere on Mount Sagiri changed.

Under Rokuya's "hellish instruction," the three children's once-graceful Water Breathing was altered beyond recognition.

Sabito's "Water Wheel" became a giant wheel of death; Makomo's "Striking Tide" became a vicious chain of slashes aimed exclusively below the belt; and Giyu, forced by Rokuya, drew his sword ten thousand times a day at the same tree, trying to develop Rokuya's explosive power to "cleave in two." Several times, he nearly threw out his back.

"Takanashi Rokuno-!!!"

A furious roar resounded across Mount Sagiri.

Wearing his Tengu Mask, Sakonji Urokodaki leaped down from the treetops, a thick wooden sword in his hand and a terrifying murderous aura radiating from his body.

"You little bastard! What do you take the Water Breathing I taught you for?!"

Urokodaki trembled with anger as he pointed at the devastated training ground nearby. Trees had been chopped to pieces, and the ground was covered in alarmingly deep pits. Anyone who did not know better would have thought a herd of wild boars had just ravaged the place.

"The true essence of Water Breathing is acceptance, change, and endless renewal! Look at what you've taught them to become! Do you call that Water Breathing?"

Faced with the old man's fury, Rokuya not only did not dodge away but stood his ground as though entirely in the right.

"Old man, times have changed!" Rokuya argued loudly. "I'll admit your Water Breathing is beautiful, but can beauty kill demons? Can beauty guarantee they'll survive?!"

Rokuya pointed at Sabito and the other two behind him. "They aren't very strong to begin with. If they don't concentrate all their strength into one lethal strike, they'll be the ones who die once a demon drags them into a battle of attrition! My modified moves may be ugly, and they may hurt the body, but they can cut through a demon's neck with one slash when it counts!"

"You-what twisted reasoning!"

Urokodaki raised his wooden sword and struck Rokuya across the back. Rokuya grunted and took the blow head-on, without retreating even half a step.

"That's going too far! Old man, if you don't believe me, let them try slashing at you!"

"Fine! Today I'll see just how much this so-called pragmatism of yours is worth!"

Urokodaki turned toward the trembling trio. "Sabito, you first!"

Sabito gritted his teeth, drew a deep breath, and tightened his grip on his wooden sword. "Master, forgive me!"

Ten minutes later.

Sakonji Urokodaki stood where he was, his Tengu Mask heaving violently.

Sabito's ferocious "Water Wheel" had torn a slit in his sleeve; his trouser legs were covered in mud flecks kicked up by Makomo's attacks on his lower body; and the wooden sword in his hand had actually developed a faint crack while blocking Giyu's "Water Surface Slash," which had no technique whatsoever, only brute strength.

Although Urokodaki had ultimately subdued all three with ease, the shock in the old man's heart was beyond words.

How long had these three children even been training?

Before, attacks of this level could never have touched the hem of his clothes. But now, their way of fighting, abandoning all defense solely to unleash maximum destructive power in an instant, had actually made even him, the former Water Hashira, feel a hint of danger.

"Enough. That's all for today's training."

Urokodaki dropped the wooden sword and turned toward the cabin, his back looking somewhat stooped.