Senior Brother Johnrin’s Secret Technique

Of the two remaining new disciples, Rui was the first to fight. However, Rui was bitten on the arm by a Fang Rabbit and injured. And Toumi somehow managed to defeat his Fang Rabbit, but his leg was bitten.

Seeing that, Senior Brother Johnrin made an irritated face.

“Seiran, Haoxuen, Meimei, and Hongfa pass. However, the remaining three need to be retrained.”

Senior Brother Johnrin glared sharply at Senior Brother Zurui.

“Zurui, are you properly instructing them?”

Senior Brother Zurui, who had been questioned, stiffened his face.

“Of course. It’s just that Yuhan doesn’t seem to be suited to swordsmanship.”

“If that’s the case, say so sooner. Gyorei Cave has many martial arts besides swordsmanship.”

Senior Brother Johnrin turned his eyes toward Yuhan.

“Yuhan, if swordsmanship does not suit you, you can study a different martial art. What would you like to learn?”

“In that case, I want to become a spearman like you, Senior Brother Johnrin.”

“…A spear, huh. If I had the time, I’d train you myself directly, but it might be best for you to be taught by my junior disciple Benyu.”

“If possible, I would like that.”

“Understood. I’ll tell Benyu.”

If it were me, I would ask without hesitation to be taught by Senior Brother Kou, but did he think Senior Brother Kou was too young to be reliable?

As for Rui and Toumi, it was decided that after returning to Gyorei Cave, there would be a discussion including their assistant instructors.

We ended up returning to Gyorei Cave, and after walking a little way, Senior Brother Johnrin suddenly came to a stop.

“What’s wrong?”

Senior Brother Yulong asked.

“A yōma. There’s a strong-looking yōma ahead.”

“In that case, Zurui and I will go defeat it.”

“Wait. From this presence, it might be a Red-Eyed Bear. Can you defeat it?”

Senior Brother Zurui and Senior Brother Yulong looked at each other. Their faces did not look confident. Senior Brother Kou seemed like he would defeat one alone, but these two senior brothers appeared to be less skilled than Senior Brother Kou.

While the two senior brothers hesitated, the Red-Eyed Bear noticed us and came closer. It was about two heads taller than Senior Brother Johnrin, the tallest among us, and probably weighed more than three times as much.

Senior Brother Johnrin looked at Senior Brother Zurui and Senior Brother Yulong. It was obvious that they were shrinking back.

“If you don’t have confidence, I’ll defeat it. Watch.”

When Senior Brother Johnrin stepped forward holding his spear, the Red-Eyed Bear roared. Senior Brother Kou had said that Red-Eyed Bears possess tremendous strength, but if you have a weapon capable of piercing their sturdy hide, defeating them is easy.

No, no, it absolutely isn’t easy. Just facing something like that would make fear rise up and make you want to run away. It would require tremendous nerve.

Senior Brother Johnrin, who was said to possess strength ranking among the top three of the younger inner disciples, was a user of the Plum Blossom Spear Art. Within that Plum Blossom Spear Art was a secret technique called “Phantom Flash Triple Thrust,” and I had heard that it was a technique comparable to the “Fox-Flame” of the Broadsword Fox-Flame Technique.

Senior Brother Johnrin seemed to be maintaining the spear’s range while waiting for an opening to use Phantom Flash Triple Thrust. When the Red-Eyed Bear stepped in and tried to slam down its claws, the spear vanished, and blood spurted from three places on the Red-Eyed Bear: its neck, chest, and belly.

“Whoa, I couldn’t see the thrusts.”

When I muttered that, Seiran, who was beside me, nodded. Right after that, Senior Brother Johnrin thrust his spear into the Red-Eyed Bear’s heart and finished it off.

“Senior Brother Johnrin really is amazing. I wonder which of him and Senior Brother Kou is stronger?”

Seiran asked.

“I think Senior Brother Kou is stronger.”

“But Senior Brother Johnrin seems like he has more experience.”

“That’s true, but Senior Brother Kou defeated a Thunder Bear.”

It was said that among the Taoist practitioners of Gyorei Cave, only a few had ever defeated a Thunder Bear. And of those few, most were high disciples or elders.

Senior Brother Johnrin ordered the new disciples to skin the Red-Eyed Bear. Seiran and I took the lead in skinning it. The other new disciples had almost no experience skinning hides, so they were bewildered.

After that, we started heading back toward Gyorei Cave. I noticed that Senior Brother Yulong and Senior Brother Zurui looked displeased. I wondered why, but then realized it was because they had shown the new disciples their frightened sides in front of the Red-Eyed Bear.

At that moment, Meimei came to walk beside me.

“Haoxuen, could you let me observe what kind of instruction Senior Brother Kou is giving you?”

“Wait a moment. I can’t answer that without asking Senior Brother Kou.”

“Then ask him.”

“Got it.”

I heard from Haoxuen that his fellow new disciples wanted to observe how I was instructing them.

“Observe… Well, I don’t mind. It’s not like I’m doing anything special.”

“Thank you very much.”

The next day, Meimei and Hongfa, the new disciples, along with Shunlin, came to the place where I was instructing Haoxuen and the others.

“Why, it’s Shunlin. You came too?”

“I want to observe too. That’s okay, right?”

“It’s fine.”

Shunlin might be worrying about how she should instruct new disciples. It would be good if seeing my instruction could serve as even a small reference for her.

“Then let’s begin.”

After doing stretching exercises as a warm-up in one corner of the training ground, we began practice swings. At the same time, we did this while refining qi. The staffs swung by muscles strengthened by qi sliced through the air and rang out with a sharp sound.

“Ohh. You’re using qi even during practice swings.”

“For Taoist practitioners in the Qi Refining Stage, that’s basic.”

Shunlin and the others nodded.

After that, we began practicing the forms of Phoenix Will Broadsword Art. The Main Hall library stored not only instructional manuals, but also guidebooks written by Taoist practitioners, and among them was one concerning the forms of Phoenix Will Broadsword Art, so I incorporated that into the training.

After practicing prearranged drills to engrave the techniques of those forms into the body, we moved on to the practice called match training or free practice. This was sparring. However, since we were using qi refinement to raise our physical abilities, if we let our guard down, we would suffer serious injuries.

The faces of Haoxuen and Seiran as they did that were utterly serious, and it was clear that they were focusing on training with all their strength. If they didn’t, they would suffer serious injuries.

Seeing that, Shunlin let out a sigh.

“If they’ve been training like this, then it’s only natural that Haoxuen and Seiran improved so much in such a short time.”