The Inner Disciple Who Was Bad At Teaching

I had read and memorized the manual for the Heavy Resonance Sword. I understood what Kanru was trying to say. Yingjie and the others had not mastered the “resonant qi,” the foundation of the Heavy Resonance Sword. “Resonant qi” meant strengthening the muscles by circulating two different kinds of qi alternately.

It was said to enhance the muscles more than circulating qi normally. I had realized that after observing the qi circulating inside Kanru’s body.

“Why do you keep making the same mistake?”

Kanru raised his voice in an irritated tone. Yingjie and the others practiced desperately with puzzled looks on their faces, but they had made almost no progress. I had not wanted to stick my nose in, but at this rate the instruction would be deemed a failure, and he might stop teaching again.

“Kanru-shixiong, I’ll explain it in your place.”

When he heard that suggestion, Kanru turned a suspicious gaze on me. Naturally so. I had never practiced the Heavy Resonance Sword.

“Can you explain it?”

“I’ve learned qi control to a certain extent.”

I explained the “resonant qi.”

“I think you know from reading the Heavy Resonance Sword manual that this sword art uses two kinds of qi called heavy qi and light qi.”

Yingjie and the others nodded.

“However, you have not cleanly separated the heavy qi and light qi, nor have you mastered using them.”

“Kou, what do you mean?”

I decided to let them actually feel how the two kinds of qi were different. First, I produced heavy qi. This was formed by fusing yin intent with qi, and because it felt heavy and cold when exposed to it, it was called Heavy Yin Qi.

The other one, light qi, was formed by fusing yang intent with qi, and because it felt light and warm when exposed to it, it was called Floating Yang Qi. However, the formal names were not used very much, and people more often called them heavy qi and light qi.

“First, I’ll send ordinary qi into you.”

I sent ordinary qi into Yingjie’s body. Yingjie nodded with a face that said, “So it’s like this.”

“Next is Heavy Yin Qi.”

I produced Heavy Yin Qi and sent it into Yingjie’s body.

“Ah.”

Yingjie let out a sound. He had probably felt the difference between ordinary qi and Heavy Yin Qi. Next, I sent in Floating Yang Qi so he could understand the difference between the two kinds of qi. After that, I explained the trick to producing Heavy Yin Qi and Floating Yang Qi alternately.

The whole day ended with me teaching the two kinds of qi to the outer disciples studying the Heavy Resonance Sword and explaining the trick to producing them alternately.

The next day, a different inner disciple came to teach Plum Blossom Spear Art. The day after that, it was Ogre King Battle Axe. The inner disciples sent as instructors were all young ones teaching others for the first time.

Thanks to that, supporting them was a lot of work. On the other hand, I was able to learn techniques from various martial arts. Before I knew it, I had become the one who stood beside the other outer disciples as they received instruction and gave supplementary explanations.

Unfortunately, though, they were all martial arts that used heavy weapons, and there was no inner disciple who could teach the Demonic Horn Warhammer Art or the Broadsword Fox-Flame Technique that I was practicing. It could not be helped in the case of the Broadsword Fox-Flame Technique, since it was not originally a martial art taught to outer disciples, but I could not accept that there was no one who could teach the Demonic Horn Warhammer Art.

So I asked Kanru.

“Isn’t there anyone among the inner disciples who can teach the Demonic Horn Warhammer Art?”

“Ah, the Demonic Horn Warhammer Art. That one isn’t popular. I doubt there are many inner disciples who’ve mastered it.”

“Why not?”

“To master the Demonic Horn Warhammer Art, you need a weapon that uses White Wolf claws or Thunder Bear lightning horns. They’re hard to prepare. You’d be better off learning Swallowtail Swordsmanship or the Heavy Resonance Sword.”

Swallowtail Swordsmanship was a sword art that used a thin blade, and it seemed to be popular among the female inner disciples. Incidentally, the Dragon Qi Sword Art had developed from Swallowtail Swordsmanship.

“Kou, are you learning the Demonic Horn Warhammer Art?”

“Yes. The martial arts in the Wallside Hall library are all ill-suited to my build.”

“Well, with that build, swinging around a heavy axe or sword with one hand would be difficult.”

If I made full use of qi, there was no problem in terms of muscle strength, but because I was light in body weight, there were times when swinging a heavy weapon pulled my body along with it.

“That’s right. Could you also teach Swallowtail Swordsmanship to the outer disciples?”

“From what I’m hearing, it sounds like not just you, Kou, but also the female outer disciples are having trouble. I’ll consult Elder Tsuen—no, Elder Mon.”

Kanru was not a bad person. He was just the muscle-brained type who did not think things through. After that, I continued supporting the inner disciples, but a problem arose. I ended up with almost no time during the day to go do my own training or hunting.

Somehow, I managed to make time to complete the design drawing for the lamp, and I asked a craftsman in town to make it. I instructed him to use the transparent protective membrane peeled from a Flame Spider’s eye in place of glass. Since this transparent protective membrane was shaped like a giant contact lens, I called it spider glass.

Its form was that of an oil lantern, with a fuel tank, a flame-adjustment handle, chimney glass to protect the flame from the wind, and a burner. However, the chimney glass was made by combining two pieces of spider glass.

I had owned an oil lantern in my previous life as a detective, and I had maintained it myself, so I also knew its structure. Incidentally, the lighting used in Gyorei Cave relied more on candles than lamps.

The craftsman I had asked to make the oil lantern seemed surprised by its unusual structure. He apparently wanted to imitate it if possible, but without spider glass he probably would not be able to copy it.

The completed oil lantern had been painted black. In my room, I set a cloth wick in place and poured kerosene produced by the Oil Generator Tube into the fuel tank. Then, after the wick had absorbed the kerosene, I lifted the spider-glass chimney and lit it.

Inside the room, which had begun to darken as the sun tilted westward, the lantern’s light rose into view. For a while, I simply stared at the lantern’s light.

“It looks like I could at least read a book by it, but it might strain my eyes a little.”

Since it was not very bright, I drew the wick out a little more to make the flame larger. The enlarged flame lit up the surroundings. This looked like it would be fine.

“Kou, what are you doing?”

I heard Zengu’s voice outside. He must have noticed the light leaking outside and wondered about it. When I answered, he came in.

“Ah, it’s a lamp.”

“The thing I ordered was finished, so I was testing it.”

“That’s amazing. It’s this bright.”

Compared to lighting that used electricity, it was a dim light, but here it seemed bright.