Chapter 14 Please teach me!
Since that encounter by the lake, an entire month had passed without the two of them crossing paths again.
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Jiang Bai naturally did not dare, nor did he have any reason, to take the initiative to seek out this senior sister with her sensitive identity.
He was happy to have the peace and quiet, immersing himself in his great undertaking to Cultivate. At this moment, Qian Renxue’s sudden appearance and her initiative to greet him left him somewhat surprised.
"Yes," Jiang Bai stopped in his tracks and nodded, his tone calm.
"Going to the Back Mountain to Cultivate. What is it, Senior Qian?"
Qian Renxue crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head slightly. Her purple eyes sized Jiang Bai up and down, particularly noting his posture—he looked ready to bolt at any second to return to his cultivation. She curled her lip and spoke.
"Can’t you just relax for once? All you know is Cultivate, Cultivate, Cultivate all day long! I heard that aside from attending classes and eating, you spend all your time at the Back Mountain? You even use meditation to replace sleep at night?"
Her tone carried obvious bewilderment, and even a hint of accusation, as if to say, ’Are you obsessed with cultivation or something?’
After receiving the intelligence from Qian Daoliu, Qian Renxue had indeed developed a complex curiosity toward Jiang Bai—a boy with a peculiar background who had seen her at her most disheveled.
She had secretly ordered someone to keep an eye on Jiang Bai’s daily life at the academy.
Upon receiving the report that his ’daily routine is extremely monotonous, with all time outside of necessary activities spent on meditation and cultivation,’ Qian Renxue’s first reaction was surprise, followed by deep confusion.
Why would a Support Spirit Master Cultivate so desperately?
The Spirit Abilities of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda are fixed, and the Rank ceiling is locked; the speed of cultivation has a far smaller impact on actual combat for them than it does for a Battle Soul Master.
In the education and understanding she had received since childhood, a Support Spirit Master should focus more on Soul Power control precision, tactical awareness, teamwork, and... how to be better protected.
Someone like Jiang Bai, who trained himself to death as if he were a Battle Soul Master, was truly rare.
"Is there something wrong with wanting to Cultivate?"
Jiang Bai asked in return, his tone remaining flat.
"Soul Power is the foundation of a Spirit Master. An earlier Breakthrough means obtaining a spirit ring sooner and possessing true Spirit Abilities."
What he said was perfectly logical.
Qian Renxue was momentarily choked up. She obviously understood this logic, but she still felt something was off.
She looked into Jiang Bai’s eyes—calm yet filled with an unshakeable persistence—and suddenly felt that talking to this ’cultivation maniac’ about relaxing was like talking to a brick wall.
"How boring..." she muttered softly, feeling a bit frustrated.
But immediately after, her eyes darted around, and a flash of cunning light flickered within them.
She seemed to have thought of an interesting idea. She lowered her arms, took two steps forward to close the distance, and wore a mysterious smile once more.
"Just knowing how to bury your head in meditation to absorb Soul Power won’t do, Junior Jiang Bai."
She deliberately dragged out the word "Junior."
"Even though you are a Support Spirit Master and will mainly rely on teammates for protection in the future, you still... need some basic self-defense methods, right? What if you’re left alone, or your teammates can’t look after you for a moment? Are you just going to stand there and wait to die?"
Jiang Bai’s heart stirred slightly.
He had indeed considered this problem.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda has no direct combat capability, and his body was relatively weak. Once approached or caught in a situation without support, it would indeed be very dangerous.
Learning some basic combat or weapon techniques, even if only to stall for time or create an opportunity to escape, was very necessary.
"And so...?" Jiang Bai asked, following her lead, while his Face showed a timely look of interest.
Seeing this, Qian Renxue felt smug. She tilted her chin up slightly and said in a tempting tone.
"And so, your kind Senior Sister has decided to give you... a chance to beg me."
She paused, observing Jiang Bai’s reaction, before slowly continuing.
"Want to learn Swordsmanship? I happen to know a bit. As long as you..."
Before she could finish her sentence, and while the rest of her lines were still stuck in her throat, she witnessed a scene that left her dumbfounded.
She saw Jiang Bai, almost at the exact moment the words "want to learn Swordsmanship" left her lips, hesitate not for a second as he moved with incredible fluidity and naturalness.
He quickly pressed his hands together in front of him, bent his body forward, and performed a standard and incredibly earnest bow!
At the same time, a clear, loud, and extremely fast yet distinct voice rang out.
"Please teach me, kind, beautiful, generous, cute, and gentle Senior Qian!!!"
His head was lowered deep, and his tone was filled with ’sincere’ longing. His posture was such that if Qian Renxue just nodded, he would likely prostrate himself on the spot to take her as his master.
"..."
Qian Renxue was completely stunned. Her prepared follow-up lines and expressions all froze on her Face.
Her beautiful purple eyes went wide, and her small mouth opened slightly. Looking at this fellow who practically had ’pragmatism’ and ’knowing when to yield’ written all over his Face, the corners of her mouth couldn’t help but twitch a few times.
You... how can you give in so quickly?! The script wasn’t written like this!
According to the plot development she had envisioned, shouldn’t Jiang Bai have been stubborn for a few lines, saying things like ’support doesn’t need to learn this’ or ’I can protect myself,’ and then she would skillfully tempt him further?
And only then would he ’reluctantly’ or ’half-willingly’ bow his head to ask for instruction?
That process was where the fun was!
This kind of giving in—skipping all the steps, reaching the goal in one go, and showing no struggle at all... there was no sense of achievement! It even gave her a stifling feeling, like punching a bale of cotton!
Qian Renxue took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing that inexplicable sense of frustration and the urge to kick the bowing fellow in front of her.
She gave a light snort, trying her best to make her voice sound calm and indifferent.
"Hmph... at least you have some vision. Get up."
Jiang Bai straightened up, showing no sign of embarrassment. Instead, he gave a brilliant smile: "Thank you, Senior!"
Qian Renxue didn’t bother talking to him anymore. She turned around and strode toward the depths of the Back Mountain, her golden ponytail swaying behind her.
Jiang Bai withdrew his smile, rubbed his nose, and quickly followed her.
Being able to learn practical Swordsmanship techniques was a tangible benefit. As for Face and such... what was that? Could it be eaten? Could it accelerate Soul Power cultivation?
...
One after the other, the two of them soon arrived at the clearing where Jiang Bai usually meditated, with its back to a rock and facing the shade of the trees.
This place was spacious and flat enough, and also secluded and quiet enough; it was indeed a good place for practice.
Qian Renxue stopped, looked around, and nodded: "The place is not bad."
As she spoke, the Silver Bracelet on her left wrist glowed slightly. With a flash of light, two wooden swords appeared in her hands.
The wooden swords were about three feet long with straight blades, seemingly made of some kind of hard-textured Ironwood. They were polished very smoothly and felt quite heavy in the hand.
She casually tossed one of them to Jiang Bai: "Hold it tight, don’t break it."
Jiang Bai reached out and caught it steadily.
The wooden sword felt heavy in his hand, weightier than he had imagined.
He instinctively flicked his wrist, performing a simple sword flower.
Although the movement wasn’t standard and was even somewhat casual, that sense of fluidity and the flexibility of his wrist made Qian Renxue, who was about to start teaching, raise an eyebrow slightly.
Gripping the wooden sword, the familiar touch made Jiang Bai feel a bit dazed.
He couldn’t help but think back to his time in Niuma Village.
Back then, one of his happiest activities was finding a long, straight, and handy wooden stick in the gaps between herding cows and horses, by the woods or the edges of the fields.
With a stick in hand, he would imagine himself as a swordsman roaming the world, and the Blue Silver Grass along the miles of field ridges would all be his ’sword-testing stones.’
Often, wherever his "Sword Qi" reached, they would be "cut in half," leaving behind a mess, but also leaving behind a child’s simplest joy and fantasy.
Qian Renxue casually performed a sword flower with the wooden sword in her own hand. Her movements were light and agile, carrying a unique sense of rhythm, clearly the result of rigorous training.
She stood still, facing Jiang Bai. A hint of cunning flashed in her purple eyes, and the corners of her mouth curled into a mischievous arc.
"Alright, enough talk."
Qian Renxue pointed the tip of her sword toward Jiang Bai. "I will first teach you a few of the simplest and most basic sword-holding stances and footwork, as well as some key points for parrying and thrusting. Watch carefully and learn earnestly; I will only demonstrate and explain three times."
Her tone became serious, shedding her previous playfulness and tsundere attitude, revealing the strictness belonging to an instructor.
"Understood, Senior!" Jiang Bai also focused his mind and responded seriously.
Next, Qian Renxue began her meticulous teaching.
She first explained the most basic way to grip the sword, followed by several foundational stances: the Opening Stance, Bow Stance, Empty Stance, and Resting Stance...
Then came simple offensive movements like the straight thrust, diagonal slash, upward flick, and downward cleave, along with the corresponding parrying and force-redirecting techniques.
For every step, she personally demonstrated, broke down the movements, and explained the key points of force generation, the shift in center of gravity, and the coordination of footwork.
Her teaching was clear and concise; although strict, she showed no impatience.
Jiang Bai learned very seriously and very quickly. But he soon discovered that knowing how to do it and actually doing it were two different things.
Those seemingly simple movements required a vast amount of repetitive practice and muscle memory to be performed with standard form, stability, and fluidity, and to be able to change at any moment based on the situation.
After Qian Renxue finished demonstrating and explaining three times, she stepped aside, crossing her arms as she watched Jiang Bai practice on his own.
She would occasionally speak up to correct him.
"Your wrist is too stiff!"
"Your footwork is unstable!"
"Center of gravity! Watch your center of gravity!"
"When you thrust out, your waist must follow through with the power!"
Jiang Bai didn’t say a word. He simply followed her instructions, repeating those few dull foundational movements over and over again.
Sweat soon soaked the hair on his forehead and the academy uniform on his back. His arms began to ache and tremble due to the continuous exertion.
Qian Renxue watched this boy, who was frenetic when cultivating Soul Power and equally persistent when practicing the basics of Swordsmanship. A complex look flashed in her purple eyes.
This guy... where exactly does his obsession with ’becoming stronger’ come from?
Is it really just because his Spirit is of the support system and he lacks a sense of security?