Qi Zhimu pressed himself against Jingliu's back, his right hand covering her small hand as he gripped the sword hilt, while his left hand pressed against her waist to forcibly adjust her stance.
"Grip the ground with both feet, draw power from your heels, and ensure your torso doesn't tilt too far."
As he spoke, Jingliu felt the palm on her waist exert force, guiding her to lean slightly forward.
A surge of power transmitted from the bottom up to her spine, then to her shoulders.
"Just like that, stay steady."
With his palm enveloping her small hand, Qi Zhimu guided the longsword to rise swiftly.
The two were extremely close.
Jingliu could even feel the rise and fall of her Master's chest behind her and catch the faint scent of his breath.
An unprecedented sense of security surrounded her, and her heart, which had been anxious due to consecutive mistakes, quickly calmed down.
Master's hand was very warm, not cold like his expression.
"Focus on that line; remember the current feeling of power and your posture."
"Eyes, heart, and sword must be one. The battlefield changes in an instant; you must make your body act before the brain's command so your attacks catch the enemy off guard, making them difficult to defend against or dodge."
"That's it, strike!"
This time, Jingliu did not use brute force.
Following the trajectory guided by Qi Zhimu, she slightly pulled in her abdomen and held her breath.
She felt the power within her body connect step by step, finally converging in her palm; the longsword in her hand seemed to become an extension of her arm at this moment.
Suddenly—the longsword sliced through the air.
There was no extra sound of wind, only pure speed, as the blade sliced unerringly through the black line on the Borisin's neck!
The jade message emitted a crisp hum, the notification sound for a successful strike.
"Remember this feeling."
Qi Zhimu let go and took a step back.
That reassuring warmth was suddenly withdrawn, leaving Jingliu feeling a bit lost, but mostly shocked.
The feeling of that sword strike just now was too wonderful.
There was no obstruction, not a single bit of power wasted, as if the sword itself longed to cut through that spot.
She turned her head to look at Qi Zhimu, the awe in her eyes slightly diminished, replaced by a trace of a different emotion.
"Thank you for your guidance, Master."
Qi Zhimu looked at her sparkling eyes and nodded slightly in his heart, though his face remained expressionless.
When he was correcting her hand-in-hand just now, he could feel the stiffness and trembling of the young girl's arm muscles.
That was a side effect of high-intensity training, and an inevitable path.
He didn't want Jingliu to develop a dependency, so he pulled a long face and spoke coldly.
"Strike while the iron is hot. If you can manage to swing ten times in three seconds tonight, hitting different vital points four times in a row, I will allow you to rest for a day tomorrow."
Jingliu's eyes lit up, and she immediately straightened her back.
Taking a deep breath, she resumed her stance, her mind constantly replaying the trajectory of the sword strike Qi Zhimu had guided her through, savoring that feeling.
The young girl struck with her sword again.
Though not as perfect as the previous strike and slower in speed, the blade pressed steadily against the black line, no longer showing any signs of instability.
Undeterred, her continuous attacks gradually became more precise.
Qi Zhimu watched the petite figure swinging her sword again and again in front of the phantom, adjusting her posture repeatedly; deep in his eyes was a hidden, barely perceptible sense of gratification.
Innate deficiencies can be compensated for with the sweat of hard work later on.
In this cruel era, if one wants to become strong and possess the power to wantonly slaughter Abominations of Abundance, there are few shortcuts to speak of.
One must treat oneself as a sword to be tempered a thousand times; only persistence remains.
As the setting sun dipped in the west, Jingliu finally completed the target set by Qi Zhimu.
Moreover, she did not faint on the spot from exhaustion.
"Ma... Master..."
The breathing rhythm Jingliu had intentionally controlled for so long suddenly slackened, and she panted heavily while holding the sword with both hands.
"I... I did it!"
"Mm. Starting the day after tomorrow, the minimum speed for your morning run must not be lower than 80 li per hour; everything else remains the same."
"..." Jingliu's small face stiffened.
At her young age, a trace of resentment couldn't help but sprout in her heart at this moment.
No wonder Master was willing to give her a day off; it turned out that a new hell awaited her after the rest.
The current speed was no lower than 40 li, and now it was doubling... Thinking of the time waiting for her where she would again be exhausted to the point of fainting, Jingliu felt her nearly broken body let out a silent protest.
Her emotions and breathing were not well-coordinated, and coupled with the state of her body and mind reaching their limits, under the conflict of various negative factors—
Jingliu fainted on the spot.
The last thing she thought of before her consciousness faded was Master's face, which resembled an Iron-faced Yama.
Clang!
The longsword fell to the ground with her, but did not leave her hand... The cycle of day and night turned.
Jingliu was already accustomed to waking up at the break of dawn.
Everything was as usual.
Changing clothes, washing up, eating breakfast, and heading to the Martial Arts Field.
Taking that familiar figure into her sight, Jingliu finally managed to recall what had happened before she lost consciousness yesterday.
Master said she could rest for a day today.
"Mas—"
ter?
Before the greeting could leave her mouth, Jingliu froze on the spot.
She saw Qi Zhimu strip off his upper garment, and two Aurumaton Gatekeepers nearby immediately swung their massive iron fists, slamming them hard into his back and chest.
Jingliu's first thought was: Is the Xianzhou about to have another Aurumaton crisis?!
But when she saw that Qi Zhimu's upper body only trembled slightly, and even his horse stance was unaffected, she realized it wasn't a crisis.
That was perhaps a part of his training as well.
The Aurumaton's iron fists were as dense as raindrops, falling mercilessly on Qi Zhimu's body.
Occasionally suffering a heavy blow, he would at most frown slightly, without even blinking an eye.
Jingliu focused her mind to sense the commotion caused by the Aurumaton's punches, roughly estimating their power, and her mouth couldn't help but twitch.
Probably... a single punch could shatter her skull to pieces... "Could it be that..."
She remembered a tour project she had skimmed over during a pilgrimage: Physical Tempering.
The more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed, and she swallowed hard.
Could it be... that in the not-so-distant future, she would also have to endure the big iron fists of an Aurumaton?
The thought was snuffed out as soon as it emerged; Jingliu shook her head vigorously, her attention returning to Qi Zhimu.
One look, and half an hour passed!
The Aurumaton's punches never stopped; instead, they sped up at specific intervals.
Qi Zhimu's upper body and limbs were bruised and swollen, having taken countless punches.
Every so often, Jingliu would occasionally hear the slight sound of bones breaking, and she unconsciously covered her mouth.
It wasn't until the Aurumatons finally ceased all movement that she snapped back to her senses and wiped the corners of her eyes.
Although she knew the hellish training Master gave her wasn't intentional torture, his own training regimen's difficulty far exceeded hers.
Yet she still hadn't expected it to exceed it to such a terrifying degree.
Qi Zhimu withdrew from his stance, his brow slightly furrowed, saying nothing.
Jingliu noticed many eerie protrusions among his well-defined muscles; clearly, they were caused by broken bones.
Especially when he turned around, the shape of his spine was almost like a camel's... "Master... are you alright..."
As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew she had subconsciously asked a pointless question.
How could anyone be alright after this?