The sound of chickens doing their early morning calls signaled the start of the day for Tevial. A few weeks had already passed since he started his apprenticeship with Anton, and his mortal body was already growing stronger by the day.

With the proper techniques at hand and a healthy diet, it wasn't surprising too surprising to Tevial to see such results, which was the opposite of his master's reaction.

Anton was shocked at the quick improvement of Tevial's body, whose stick-like arms had improved to a more lean-looking physique.

His boney facial features started to fill up, and look like a proper well-fed kid with some sharp features instead of pointy and pity-inducing.

Anton didn't comment on it, but he was suspicious if there was something special going on with Tevial's body. It was not in his nature to pry, so he let it be. Only if there's something that could be dangerous going on would he interfere.

Either way, he was satisfied with Tevial's current level of strength and sure enough that he should be able to handle a basic butcher's blade he was keeping around to familiarize himself with its weight and use.

This would be a change in their routine. Instead of Tevial simply handling the stall and interacting with their customers. He would help Anton in butchering the boars, the staple food of boar meat village.

It was a weird name for a village, but it was what they had in droves. On the boar meat village's side of the mountain, boars were the dominant and prolific animals that had made this place their territory.

Boar kings and a variety of boar beasts litter the lands like roaches. But to say they are easy prey is a mistake dozens of people have made. A charging boar's tusks could easily punch through a mortal's skin and even break bones if they are not careful and respect their beastly might.

Only cultivators who have strong bodies could easily make a living hunting those isolated boars on the ends of the ivory forests. The huge forest is situated on a flat part of the vast mountain their village resides in.

This makes the price of boar meat still be a bit on the expensive side of things. A luxury for ordinary mortal families. A luxury that Tevial has in abundance, given his position as an apprentice to old man Anton, the boar butcher.

All the meat they sell is primarily hunted by Anton. He may be a crippled cultivator and could not use qi, his bodily strength still surpasses most mortal physiques.

This has been a cause of envy for a lot of the village's younger population, and some older ones too.

"What did he do to deserve being able to eat meat every day, he's just a stupid orphan?" Are the normal grumblings of the street rats that want to make trouble withe Tevial.

Tevial, of course ignored all of this. As long as they keep their actions to just words. He wouldn't lift a finger to them, on the other hand. If they tried to do something detrimental to him and his path.

It wasn't outside of his means to make them disappear if an opportune time presented itself. Threats should be nipped at the bud, especially the stupid ones.

He wouldn't hesitate to kill, especially as a fragile mortal himself. There are more than a million things that could kill him right now, and mortal machinations are included in that list.

As Tevial arrives at Anton's stall. He gave a cheerful and confident greeting to his master.

"Good, your hear. Come, I've something to give you" Anton said as he took out one of the cleavers from a storage drawer.

"This should be light enough for you."

Passing the thin and smaller than usual cleaver to Tevial. Anton demonstrated how to hold it properly and then explained the basic maintenance in regard to taking care of the cleaver.

"You must remember. The butcher's knife is our most important tool. You have to take care of it as though it is a part of your own body"

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Tevial was sure that Anton wasn't simply talking about being a just a butcher. His words resound with the air of a heart cultivator lecturing about the importance of self and blurring the lines between self and their chosen armament..

He humored Anton on his words. Nodding and giving the expression of wonder and deep concentration.

As the hilt of cleaver was grasped into Tevial's palms. A wistful look appeared on his face as a strong sense of nostalgia assaulted him.

For a thousand years, Tevial always had a cleaver on his person. Anton's cleaver that he had inherited had followed him everywhere he went. For every life-and-death fight he had encountered, the cleaver had never left his side.

It was his trusted companion that had followed him for a thousand years and had never let him down when an enemy was in need of butchering. Tevial himself refined the artifact further, adding unto its parts, be it rare ores or the heartblood of his enemies. letting the artifact itself grow as Tevial himself grew stronger.

Unknowingly, Tevial had reached a state of epiphany for his heart of hearts. Deep in his body, the manifestation of his soul. A smaller 8-year-old Tervial was holding the same said Cleaver that Anton had hanging on his belt.

The epiphany only passed for a moment, near indiscernible to mortal eyes. Anton's cleaver glowed for the briefest millisecond. It was something that both Tevial and Anton had missed.

"Thank you, master Anton. I will take care of this knife as though it is one of my limbs" Tevial said, bowing his head once again.

"Enough of that" Anton said happily before tapping at the table where a small boar carcass was left lying. "Show me what you've learned from watching me. Remember, your cleaver is thinner and lighter than a normal one. Take advantage of its sharpness and keep hardness of the bones in mind"

"Although the boar I've presented is juvenile and have weaker bones and softer meat and skin, a bad cut could still dull the Cleaver's edge" Anton added before finally allowing Tevial to work on the carcass.

On Tevial's hand the cleaver was no different from a brush. The boar's carcass was his canvas. And like a grand master painter, he only needed to imagine the end product and his hands would move to make it.

As Tevial started processing the meat, it took almost no time at all for it the end. Anton could only watch with a gobsmacked expression. He had been watching carefully, ready to correct any mistakes his young protégé would inevitably make.

It was not out of expectation that watching is different from doing. It was as though Tevial had been learning the ways of butchering since he was in his mother's womb.

"A monster…" Anton muttered absently. There was nothing special that could be seen from the end product. The boar meat that was processed was just from a normal boar so no essence and such would be lost from a botched processing.

But the processing of the Boar itself was another matter entirely.

It was the work of a grandmaster at the peak of mortal hands.

Who the hell is the butcher here? Is it me or you? He thought. Even he wasn't confident he could replicate the way Tevial had processed the meat. It was not the actions itself that was hard, but the intricacy of his simple movements.

On his hands, the meat parted as though it was a hot knife through soft butter. The blade weaved through flesh, slicing through the meat and bone as though there weren't any resistance at all.

Such attainment in blade mastery is often called 'Physical Parting'. Allowing one's blade to weave through any physical substance without even a shred of resistance. Of course, it is not an almighty ability that could allow one to destroy everything at a touch.

But as long as the blade at ones hand is made of a material just as good or even better than what they are striking, the attainment in 'Physical Parting' would almost always win.

Anton himself was just below that stage. But breaking through to reach that attainment takes experience and understanding of ones self and their chosen weapon to a peak. Only old monsters and prodigies of heart cultivation who has whole heartedly devoted themself to their implements could reach it.

It was not an issue of cultivation but of comprehension.

Ordinarily, a heart cultivator must first start at the initial stage of comprehending the self, followed by comprehending their chosen armament and by understanding oneself and their chosen artifact, only then could they start blurring the lines between self and weapon.

For sword cultivators. Reaching that attainment level would be called 'Sword Heart,' allowing the user to use their sword as though an extension of one's self.

After Sword Heart, there is 'Sword-and-Man Unity' where even without a sword, the heart cultivator could use their own body to project sword intent using their qi and use their body as the weapon itself. Of course, actions made without the intended weapon would be weaker compared to when they are using a weapon, but they will never be caught unprepared when they don’t have their weapon in a fight.

This is where Anton’s attainment currently is, but as a cripple, he would not be able to manifest weapon intent without qi, so his attainment is useless as a mortal.

The level after "Weapon-and-Man unity" is the awe-spiring level of the "World as Canvas", where one's comprehension of their artifact has already reached a terrifying level that it resonates with the world itself. The first stage of this realm includes the "Physical Parting", where a blade could cut through almost anything at the same level of material or ‘conceptual weight’ of their weapon even without qi.

A mortal could injure a cultivator with just their comprehension if they fought with them with a steel blade. As long as the cultivator’s flesh is not tougher than steel, they have no choice but to suffer the consequences if they are not careful.

Even if Tevial wasn't at that stage, he wasn't far from it! Anton thought.

"Master, I am done with processing the meat. Did I do good?" Tevial asked.

"Ye-yes" Anton coughed out. Still reeling from the shock. "You have done outstandingly! It seems that a juvenile boar is too easy. Let's see your skills with an adult one"

He wasn’t about to suddenly accept that his protege had already reached a higher level of attainment in comprehension compared to himself in just a day of handling a cleaver. It was just too shocking. It could even be a fluke; Anton’s old age could be catching up to him, so he had to see it again.

Anton took out another boar carcass. This was a tough one, a lot different from the juvenile boar carcass that Tevial processed. Its body was leaner compared to other boars and had thicker muscles.

Unless his protege had actually comprehended the stage of physical parting. His thin and lighter steel cleaver would have trouble cutting through the thick meat and aged bones, especially with his underdeveloped form.

One must not forget that Tevial was only 8 years old. No matter what mortal techniques he practiced, he should have had trouble trying to cut through meat and bone even of that of a juvenile boar that has softer bodies.

After preparing the boar, Anton motioned to Tevial. “Continue”.