CHAPTER 59: SPARRING

"Hmmm, dual cultivation huh," Yu Tian spoke, deep in thought.

She looked at him nervously, wondering why he was so serious. Well, Yu Tian was this kind of person. She had just mentioned it as a joke but... if he really wanted...

"That’s a good idea," Yu Tian said.

"It is?" she asked in surprise.

"That’s right," he said.

"Then..." she began, but he interrupted.

"But there are some problems," he said, causing her face to slump. "Figured," she thought.

"Although dual cultivating is efficient, it requires one to have a pure yang body, else they’d be poisoned by your pure yin body," Yu Tian explained. "Usually, this wouldn’t be a problem, but now that you have completely integrated with your body..." He shook his head.

"At best, I’ll get yin poisoning, and at worst, my yin-yang balance will reverse and I’ll turn into a woman."

"Hmm, now that I think about it, it might not be so bad. I’ll gain natural affinity to yin energy and will be able to get more benefits from our daily cultivation," he spoke.

"No, you can’t do that!" she shouted.

Yu Tian smiled. "I was just joking. I have the five elemental affinity - if my yin-yang balance was inverted, the elements would become unstable and I’d die instantly."

"Anyway, time for training. You wanted to spar with me, right?" he asked, getting up.

Xueling watched him leave the tent. She thought about his words. His elements would be unstable and he’d die. Did that mean that they couldn’t do it even if they married? What type of curse was this?

"You coming?" Yu Tian called out.

"Yes!" she shouted as she ran out. She would think about this problem later.

In the open field, Xueling and Yu Tian stood against each other, each holding their sword.

Xueling stared at Yu Tian nervously.

He wasn’t making any stance, but the way he stood there holding his sword gave off the feeling of someone who had everything under control. She felt as though she would lose the moment she made her move.

Since they weren’t using their powers to spar and were just sparring with pure swordsmanship, she didn’t think she had a chance in the slightest. Even so, she would try her best.

She charged in and her battle instinct activated.

As it did, her expression changed. She could barely see Yu Tian’s face anymore - he was covered from head to toe in red lines. Is that the amount of openings he saw in her form?

As she was wondering this, she heard the sound of swords clashing and her sword was thrown up.

"Too weak. Try again," he said.

She bowed and returned to her starting position, pulling her sword to her hand with the flying sword technique.

She made her move once again, but he easily blocked it.

"Too low. Try again," he said, and she went back to the starting point.

"Too strong. You should leave some room for escape. When you put too much strength in the attack, you will be unable to effectively pull back in case of an unexpected move."

She bowed and returned to her position.

One hour later...

"Good, that’s perfect. Now try the second form," Yu Tian said.

She breathed heavily as she took her stance. It had taken her an hour just to get the first form right.

Even so, she smiled. She felt that she was improving.

Yu Tian watched her with a pleased expression. She learned quite fast. Although it seemed as though it was bad - taking a full hour to master a single form - one had to understand that this was perfect execution.

She had done it until she got rid of all her bad habits, executing the technique in just its purest form.

...

After another hour, Xueling was able to perfect another form of the technique. Yu Tian smiled with pride.

"Well done. We’ll stop here for today," he said.

Xueling slumped to the ground upon hearing this.

She was really tired - it felt as though she’d been at it the whole day.

"What about the other forms?" she asked.

"Be patient. If we learn it all in one day, you won’t be able to keep anything and it will all disappear," he said.

She felt it made sense.

"Anyway, what are you doing lying there?" Yu Tian asked.

"Resting, what do you mean?" she asked.

"We need to test your implementation in actual combat," Yu Tian said.

When she heard this, her eyes brightened and all her fatigue seemed to disappear instantly.

"You mean a real spar?" she asked with glowing eyes.

"That’s right," Yu Tian said.

She held her sword in perfect stance and stared at him, waiting for his signal.

Yu Tian smiled nervously, wondering why she was so fired up.

"Well then, please go easy on me," he said, and she charged at him.

Xueling’s blade swept toward Yu Tian’s left side.

He stepped back, narrowly avoiding the strike, but her follow-up came immediately - a thrust aimed at his chest. Yu Tian twisted his body, letting the blade pass by, just barely missing his ribs.

"Good flow between attacks, but don’t plan your second move so early, it’s good to leave some room for adjustment" he advised while ducking under her horizontal slash.

She adjusted instantly, her next strike coming from an unexpected angle. Yu Tian barely managed to parry with his sword, the impact sending vibrations up his arm.

"Better," he said, though he was now on the defensive.

Xueling pressed forward, her movements fluid and precise.

A downward strike forced Yu Tian to roll to the side, but she was ready for this, her blade chasing him.

He scrambled backward, calculating all his options.

"Your footwork is improving, but - " His words were cut short as her sword stopped just inches from his throat.

"Tap," she said softly, barely touching his shoulder with the flat of her blade.

Yu Tian found himself on the ground, breathing hard. He realized something he had completely overlooked - his calculations were perfect, but his body couldn’t always execute what his mind envisioned.

Against genuinely powerful opponents, this gap between thought and action could be fatal.

He needed to work on his muscle memory to bridge this gap.

Xueling extended her hand to him. "Are you alright?"

He took her assistance and stood up. "That was good. You should train more by yourself."

"Are you leaving already?" she asked.

"We can train more tomorrow," he said.

Even though he needed to work on his muscle memory, his mind realm still took priority for now.