"Judging from the fact that you called himself to be lower than an amateur in the Glaive path, I take you have only trained the basic manual present in the library?"
"Yes, Palace Master. Although I had some chances to train freely and felt a sense of understanding, I have no core except the basic manual"
"Oh, so you sensed closeness to the glaive... interesting. Let's start then. Attack me with whatever you got!"
The last part of the phrase was practically shouted and the Palace Master assumed a half-guarded stance right away, seemingly intending to receive Wu Guang's attack and gauge his level from it.
As for Wu Guang himself, he understood that he could not avoid the spar and so concentrated on trying to learn at least something from it. With the latter in mind, Wu Guang quickly remembered all the forms from the training manual and choosing one - rushed ahead.
A few moments later an observer could see Wu Guang's figure flying through all the dojo. Albeit this was something expected from the sheer difference in strength, Wu Guang was still surprised, after all, he could see that the Palace Master did not use even a tenth of his real strength and still, launched him away. In any case thanks to the restraint and Wu Guang's experience with the spear, he did manage to block the blunt end sweep that countered his novice attack and so landed undamaged, barring the fact of his arms trembling from the recoil.
"This is sparring, but still let me advise you Wu Guang... If the opponent holds the glaive by the middle, you should not only be wary of the blade but also of the other half"
"Thank you. Shall I try again?"
"Obviously"
Wu Guang took the advice at heart and decided to try an attack from a safer range, but the result was that the glaive flew away after clashing with the almost soft block that the Palace Master used.
"Range control is important indeed and your decision of attacking from a more distant position is sound but... You have no experience with the glaive as a weapon. First of all, you hold it like a spear and that will lead to such result when you are blocked with enough strength"
And like this, the next hour flew by. Wu Guang did not expect such a treatment from the Palace Master as the latter did not only restrain himself and so at the end, he was not hit even once more than from the recoil, but also in place of simply sparring used the time to actually instruct Wu Guang. In truth, this only made Wu Guang grateful, as he indeed knew that the glaive was by far his worse weapon.
"Well, it seems that the time has run out. Although this was not sparring as you don't know anything, I am happy to find someone with a real interest in learning the glaive. You are also pretty talented as I had no need to repeat anything"
"Thank you, Palace Master. I am sorry to have taken up your time" Wu Guang bowed deeply and his thanks were fully sincere.
"Do not think about it. In any case, I did not joke about you having talent... Here, let me give you this" Palace Master Zhen took out an unadorned scroll from his holding pouch and threw it to Wu Guang.
When the latter caught it, he added
"It's a scroll describing the first part of the 'Cleaving the Mountain' school that I practice. I will give it to you, but nothing comes for free when it comes to cultivation"
Hearing this Wu Guang internally agreed, but as he was the one being given something in place of saying anything he simply sent a questioning glance towards the Palace Master.
If the latter saw it or was already prepared to explain what he required in exchange nobody could know, but the explanation followed almost instantly
"This school is a complete one and as you should know when one says complete, it means that not only it contains the basic manuals and non-qi techniques, but also has several qi techniques, both for the body and the weapon itself. I have in my possession almost half of them, so the price for me giving you this and probably the rest latter is simple. If you find any of the parts I am missing, you are obliged to bring them to me"
"Understood. If I obtain any of the parts you mention, I will definitively bring them"
"Good. Then for now concentrate on learning the basics from that scroll. When you are sure that you mastered them, show them to me. If it's indeed so, I will give you the next part.
Keep in mind that I will only give you one chance, so be sure of your level"
"Yes, Palace Master. Thank you" Wu Guang deeply bowed in thanks and did not straighten up until the Palace Master left the dojo. "A complete school! This is indeed rare. Although I don't know when or if I will be able to find any of the missing parts for it, if I do, this will be indeed useful, at least for the rest of the Yellow Realm. Hopefully, there are copies of it and it's not a single exemplar, as if it's the latter, then most probably I will never be able to complete it without searching through all the realm. Well, no need to think about it now but anyways I should note the fact, if I came along anything mentioning 'Cleaving the Mountain', I need to get it" With these thoughts, Wu Guang also left the dojo after placing the training glaives back on the stand they were on originally.
Stolen novel; please report.
Returning to the residence Wu Guang found out that Yuan Taotu was present and seemingly did not leave today at all. This was quickly confirmed as the latter asked if Wu Guang would remain there for now and after receiving a positive answer, added that he will go out to stretch his legs and buy dinner.
As Yuan Taotu left Wu Guang decided to maintain his agenda and started training the next sense. This time it was the sense of smell and thankfully as the two before it, both the base process and training were identical and the result was reached in almost the same, three hours period. The results this time were far harder to test but as Wu Guang concentrated, he managed to discern the smell of the packed-up dinner Yuan Taotu had brought without moving from the training grounds. "It seems that I can pretty accurately concentrate on a smell and locate its origin within a hundred or so feet. This is even better than expected, albeit I do not know if I will be able to use for anything in battle".
The fact of smelling something during a battle could sound strange and unreal but in truth, an advanced sense of smell could discern even things like elemental qi and so serve to prepare against elemental techniques such as Wu Guang's own Flaming ones. In any case, this would require far a higher level and for now, the most that one could think about would be to use it during exploration to find poisons, beasts, or with luck, hidden opponents.
The now traditional dinner between the four of them that formed the team that Elder Mo named Spring Flower was far shorter than normal. This came from the fact that Kuang Jing had some kind of night training and so could not stay to chat, so after he excused himself right after eating the talking that followed their dinners was dismissed by Wu Guang and so Wei took his leave as well. In truth this was expected, after all, Wei tended to remain silent if not asked while Yuan Taotu even when asked almost did not speak and as making all the conversation by himself was not a hobby for Wu Guang, the best option was to skip over it fully.
There was an hour or so before the time that Wu Guang normally went to sleep and so he decided to study the scroll he received today. Thankfully they had kept the luminous stones bought for the expedition and so he did not have any trouble to read it in the training grounds where he went after taking the glaive he had bought during his first visit to the Sect's store.
The scroll at matter was indeed pretty basic, but still, it not only covered some movements but also had a few details about the positions, that Wu Guang did not know at all. After reading and understanding the contents fully, Wu Guang practiced them physically, preferring it to his usual mental training. Albeit the result would be practically the same thanks to the passive effect he received from the Saint realm consciousness that inhabited the body thanks to the fusion, still, the physical approach was better if he had the choice, at least in terms of training the body itself.
As Wu Guang followed the manual he also tried to remember any glaive techniques he had, but even the almost 800 years memories he had did not contain any real knowledge of them. At most he could remember a pair of glaive users that he met, but neither of them had fought with or near him so except for some slight remembrance of the effects and their manner, he could not extract anything useful for his training.
He also thought about trying to improve by activating the state of understanding that he could now call upon himself without any of the requirements from before. But Wu Guang quickly dismissed it. Mostly because he could not really gauge and discern the real knowledge he gained and simply felt that he advanced the training levels without gaining any real combat strength. Actually, the latter could be solved as if it could not, nobody would wish for such a state, but one of the requirements to control the state was to have an awakened consciousness, and that meant at least reaching the 5th level of the Spirit realm.
Naturally, Wu Guang could supplement the consciousness part by activating Bai Qi's original, but while in the state he did not really control his thoughts, so it could lead to a bad outcome and possible damage to either the consciousness or Wu Guang's current body. Before he was not really worried but after finding that his previous consciousness would take over the place of the one he thought to awaken as Wu Guang, he needed to take extreme care to not damage it and retain it in peak condition until it was fused completely.
With such thoughts, Wu Guang practiced the movements and stances from the manual several times and after an hour or so had passed, decided to end it there for now. He did not feel an advancement from the intermediate common level he was on but a feeling of completeness did appear, which most probably related to the fact that he was forming the bases of his Glaive path.
Tomorrow he had all the day reserved for the 'Silent Arrow' training, so after calculating the pros and cons, Wu Guang decided to sleep this night.
After taking a bath and checking on Yuan Taotu who had again sat down in meditation in the orb room, seemingly intending to spend the night cultivating as the previous one, Wu Guang retired to his room.