Chapter 2-1

There was little Bai Shixuan could do. Basic physical conditioning and swinging the sword every day to become accustomed to its weight were about all he could manage…… He had originally intended to spend only seven days and nights here before descending the mountain, but more than a month had already passed. Since he still could not even swing the sword properly, he continued spending his time here. The sword was far heavier than he had expected, so practicing sword techniques was out of the question. For now, he could only keep swinging it and focus on becoming accustomed to the weapon.

“Three hundred! Huaaagh!”

Bai Shixuan, who had been swinging the sword relentlessly, completed the final three hundred and let the sword drop to the ground before collapsing onto the earth. Perhaps it was because he had done nothing but swing the sword continuously for an entire month. At first, even fifty swings had been difficult, but now he could manage three hundred. What Bai Shixuan was doing was not simply training by repeatedly chopping straight downward. He swung from top to bottom, from bottom to top, horizontally from left to right, horizontally from right to left, diagonally from upper right to lower left, then in the reverse direction, from upper left to lower right, and finally the reverse of that as well. He swung along each of the eight paths three hundred times, for a total of two thousand four hundred swings. Of course, he could not do them all at once. He rested periodically and proceeded slowly, but even so, he had continued without giving up, determined to somehow become accustomed to this sword.

“Ugh. I’m thirsty.”

Somehow dragging his exhausted body to the stream right beside him, Bai Shixuan plunged his face into the water. After drinking and cooling his sweat at the same time, he began eating the hardy kiwis he had picked beforehand.

‘Urgh. Sour.’

The strong sourness sharply assaulted his mouth. It was sour enough to make saliva pool inside his mouth, but he was hungry, so he had no choice but to eat. After filling his stomach somewhat with five hardy kiwis, Bai Shixuan buried the peels in the ground and stood up again. He was only halfway done with his sword swings. Now he had to do some physical training before returning to the sword.

‘Ugh. I really want to give up.’

It was too difficult. All he wanted was to quit. If he had seen no changes whatsoever, he would have given up long ago. First was the change in his body. For an eight-year-old child, his physique had become quite sturdy. He was still painfully thin from not eating enough, but his body nevertheless looked firm. Second was his strength. At first, even swinging the sword had been difficult, but now he had gradually increased the number until he could complete two thousand four hundred swings in a single day. Of course, afterward he hurt so badly that he spent every night groaning in pain, but because he could see himself gradually changing, he was able to continue without giving up.

“Uegh!”

Bai Shixuan was still only a child. There was no way his body could properly withstand training of such intensity. During training, he repeatedly vomited like this. There were even days when his entire body burned with fever. Even so, Bai Shixuan did not give up. If he was in so much pain that he could not move, he rested, but if he thought he could move at all, he had to train somehow—even if he reduced the amount—or he could not feel satisfied.

‘This is hard.’

Had Jiang Zhilong trained like this too? The strongest expert Bai Shixuan had ever seen was Jiang Zhilong. He had probably undergone training like this since childhood as well. Thinking that way, Bai Shixuan somehow endured. Of course, Jiang Zhilong possessed internal energy. But while performing basic training, even Jiang Zhilong probably had not used internal energy. And he had surely begun learning martial arts at an even younger age. Bai Shixuan could not allow himself to struggle over something as insignificant as this.

Whenever the training became so difficult that he felt ready to give up, Bai Shixuan always thought of Jiang Zhilong. That expression as he smiled while gripping Bai Shixuan’s throat. His gestures. Bai Shixuan recalled every detail and ground his teeth. Then, somehow, he stubbornly endured. He did not think of Jiang Zhilong because he intended to take revenge. He simply remembered him whenever he wanted to quit and used that anger to force himself to continue training.

“Ugh.”

There was not a single part of his body that did not hurt. Bai Shixuan lay spread-eagled on the ground and watched the setting sun. After staring at the sky dyed red, he rose again and picked up the sword. As he held the sword with his exhausted body, his arms began trembling. Even holding it up was difficult.

‘I won’t give up.’

Even so, he would not quit. He currently possessed no internal energy, and the sword art was only a third-rate technique, but he still did not want to give up. He needed to become strong enough to protect his own body. He might never be able to handle martial artists, but at the very least, he needed to become strong enough not to lose against ordinary street thugs.

“Hup!”

He wanted to shout loudly, but Jiang Zhilong’s subordinates might still be searching the mountain for him. Because of that, he restrained himself, shouting only inwardly as he began swinging the sword.

“Huff, huff!”

He could no longer remember how many times he had swung it. The sky had already turned dark, and he could barely see in front of him. Bai Shixuan had already completed more than enough of his target amount. Even so, he continued swinging the sword. He kept going until he was completely exhausted and collapsed, then threw the sword onto the ground and dropped heavily into a sitting position. Afterward, he slowly began crawling toward the stream.

-Splash!

When he submerged his entire body in the stream, he felt the water, chilled like ice by the cool night air. But because he was drenched in sweat and his body temperature had risen from the harsh training, he could endure it.

“Refreshing.”

After cooling himself completely, Bai Shixuan quenched his thirst and climbed out of the stream. He owned only one set of clothes, so he had to sleep in these same clothes. If he lay on the ground while they were soaking wet, dirt would stick to them and make them filthy, but he did not care. They would become dirty with sweat again tomorrow anyway, and he would wash them in the stream once more.

‘Once I can swing it five hundred times, I’ll practice the movements in the illustrations.’

Of course, he could already begin practicing the sword art now. But in Bai Shixuan’s own judgment, he was still far too inadequate. Once he could perform five hundred swings for each set, totaling four thousand five hundred swings, he would begin practicing the sword art. Then he would go fight the wolves. Of course, the wolves had never bothered him, and he had never bothered them either, but he believed he needed to gain at least some sense of real combat. Naturally, he did not mean that he would go immediately. He needed to grow somewhat stronger first, and only then would he challenge them. Otherwise, he would simply die a pointless death.

‘I’ll go down the mountain once I can defeat the wolves easily.’

He had found another goal. At first, his goal had been to spend seven days and nights here before descending the mountain. After that, it had changed to descending once he could swing the sword reasonably well. And now, it had changed again: he would practice the sword art, fight the wolves, and descend only once he could defeat them easily. Perhaps it would take an extremely long time. Even so, he had to do it. This was the only method currently available to him to become stronger. It was not as though he had something he needed to protect. Nor was he trying to become stronger in order to take revenge on Jiang Zhilong. To take revenge on Jiang Zhilong, he would have needed to learn internal cultivation and proper martial arts—not some third-rate sword art like this, but truly exceptional martial arts. So he had abandoned any thought of taking revenge on Jiang Zhilong from the very beginning. He was simply training so that he could protect his own body, even if only a little.

‘Ah, this is really exhausting.’

Bai Shixuan somehow crawled into the burrow, which he had now widened enough to lie down comfortably inside, and quickly fell asleep.