*pant pant*
Zhou Yun was breathing heavy, he had only been training for two hours but yet he felt that the sword in his hand was now an extension of his arm. Thinking it was enough Zhou Yun sheathed his sword and began to make his back to his room.
However before he could move more than a couple of feet, a familiar voice spoke out. "You can't think that you are comfortable with a sword with such a half-ass method?" said The voice.
Zhou Yun was shocked he had always been sensitive to observation So the fact that someone could sneak up one him meant that this person was far better then him at spying, ridiculously strong or both.
Zhou Yun turned toward the voice, usually he would have drawn his weapon but since he knew the voice he decided not to for now. "Teacher! I thought I would not see you after our last lesson." said Zhou Yun each word was full of caution.
"Haha, no need for such caution. If I wanted to do something to you I would have done it while I was teaching you." Said The Teacher amused.
"That still doesn't clear up why you were spying on me either." retorted Zhou Yun.
The Teacher shrugged his shoulder. "I saw how sloppy your form is and I decided to help." said the Teacher as he walked over to a tree. Reaching his hand up he broke a branch off that was as long as Zhou Yun's sword but far thinner. "Oh also before you say anything else, Your father and I had an agreement that when your studies were done me and my family can settle here as well.'
"Now lets begin." said The Teacher as he walked and stood in front Zhou Yun "You have chosen a sword as your weapon, while using your first and kicks are not wrong, it is not right either. You and the sword are not yet one, as such that style will delay you sensing sword intent."
"Sword Intent?" said Zhou Yun. Sword intent was completely new to Zhou Yun, after all he had used a spear which uses spear force. Spear force required one to be indomitable and to give their all to destroy their enemy. Spear force extended ones attack as well as brought a heavy weight behind it that made it near impossible to block the attack.
"Every weapon as its own type of intent or force, its an extension of the weapon and users will. That is why one is required to have a certain harmony with his weapon as well as an understanding." said the Teacher as he swung his switch through the air as he tried to adjust to it. "Once you have gained the intent or force it becomes a part of you allowing you to use it with any weapon. However, should you use sword intent while using a spear, the sword intent will be weaker, its based on user's insight on how much weaker there is even believe that some could completely ignore it depended on their insights."
"Now the reason I say that using your fist and kicks wasn't wrong is because you are using your whole body as a weapon this is good because you are not limiting your self to just using your sword. It is common belief that a sword user is weaker without his sword." said the Teacher "So you using that will mean that your are just as capable with your sword as without."
"As for why its not right it is because your lack of understanding for the sword. You must develop that understanding by using the sword only and create that harmony between you and your sword. Once you have that harmony you will now have sword intent." said the Teacher.
"So then is there a way to speed up my "understanding and harmony" said Zhou Yun as he made air quotes.
"Snort, if it was that easy every martial artist will of intent or force." said the Teacher as he shook his head. "All that must come from you and you yourself. Yes you can find a path walked down by others but that path doesn't mean its your own much if it is suitable for you. In order to develop a deeper understanding you must walk your own path."
The Teacher pointed his switch at Zhou Yun. "Now Imaginative training is good and all but it lack as serving as a real opponent and we can just not have that now can we." said the Teacher with an evil smile on his face.
Zhou Yun nodded his head in understanding, there was indeed many flaws in that sort of training. One was that opponents did not have a mind of their own and only made limited moves. Two is that one could not feel the punishment of their actions, if one stepped incorrectly then their would be no sword to pierce through their gut or a hammer to their skull. This was probably the biggest flaw of all as it allowed one to incorporate these flaws in their style thinking it was correct.
Zhou Yun concentrated as he drew his sword and he prepared to face his teacher. Looking into his teacher's eyes Zhou Yun drew in a deep breath as he charged at his master.
Zhou Yun knew that he had to take this spar serious, as if his life was on the line. His teacher was never one to allow his students to slack and the last thing Zhou Yun wanted was to get beat by a switch.
Arriving in front of his teacher Zhou Yun slashed up attempting to slice his master in half from his groin up. Teacher executed a small side step and swung his switch toward Zhou Yun's head.
Zhou Yun who was still in the middle of executing his swing had been caught off guard and had been to slow to block or dodge before the switch met the side of his head. Staggering Zhou Yun rubbed his head "Motherfu-" before the rest of the word could leave his mouth the switch slashed across his lips cutting it.
"Watch your mouth." said the Teacher in a displeased tone. "You need to be able to flow from one attack to another, flow from attack to defense, from defense to attack everything must be connected. Again!" The teacher regained his original stance.
"Yes Master." said Zhou Yun as he returned to their original distance from each other before also resuming his original stance. Zhou Yun took a second to think before charging toward his master again.
This time he performed a simple thrust, however his teacher didn't dodge out of the way or block. Instead he also dashed forward and brought the switch down behind Zhou Yun's knee. The blow was strong enough to cause Zhou Yun to fall down to one knee this was followed swiftly as he was hit again one the side of his head.
*Snap* Zhou Yun couldn't help but wince in pain.
"Your feet are to far apart." said the Teacher as he regained his original stance for the third time.
Zhou Yun stood up and turned toward his teacher. It would be a lie if Zhou Yun didn't feel frustration at being hit on the side of his head twice. "Your not going to keep hitting me on the side of the head" thought Zhou Yun.
Zhou Yun breathed in as he pushed down his frustration and began to calm down so he could focus. The Teacher nodded his head once he saw Zhou Yun calm himself down.
This time Zhou Yun did not rush toward his teacher instead he took a more defensive posture, in an attempt to force his teacher to go on the offensive.
Time went by as the two continued to spar all the while allowing Zhou Yun to improve drastically. With each lesson given to Zhou Yun he also was given a new welt. It wasn't long until Zhou Yun's body was covered in painful red welts.
But Zhou Yun didn't seem to mind anymore as he felt that with each exchange the sword went from feeling comfortable in his hand to an extension of his arm. He also felt the initial loss that he had felt earlier that day at not being able to use a spear.
Instead he felt excitement and intrigue the longer he held the sword. This was something he never felt when he held his spear, with the fact his first body had been completely unsuitable to practice martial arts. He had been pushed aside by the family and was not even allowed to chose a weapon at all the Han family had just seen it as a waste of resources. The only reason he had a spear was because he had stumbled upon a corpse that held its close to its body and on that day he took the spear as his weapon.
Even though Zhou Yun was growing with each swing of the sword he has yet landed a hit on his teacher yet. But their exchanges kept getting longer and longer until they could exchange hundreds of attacks with out the other being hit.
Their final exchange ended when his teacher made the switch connect with Zhou Yun's wrist causing him to drop his sword. "That's enough" said the teacher as he stepped back. "You have improved remarkably in one night"
Zhou Yun bent over and picked up sword he was actually quite happy to end his training here as he still needed rest before he went into cross forest tomorrow. "Thank you teacher. I truly couldn't have done it with out you." replied Zhou Yun as he was panting for air. He had truly pushed himself to the best of his abilities.
The teacher threw away his switch which surprisingly didn't even have a scratch on the bark even though they had exchange some very heavy blows. "You need rest now and time to ponder on what you learned today." said the teacher as he shooed Zhou Yun away.
Zhou Yun was confused, he felt his dismissal was rushed, but he knew he couldn't argue. Zhou Yun turned around with saying another word and just as he took a step forward he saw his father standing there by a tree. "Father" said Zhou Yun.
"You've done quite good. You should never forget today's lesson is that understood." said Zhou He as he walked in front of Zhou Yun. Once in front of Zhou Yun he placed his hand on top of his silver hair that seemed to twinkle like starlight when light reflected of it.
"I won't, I swear" replied Zhou Yun as he brushed his fathers hand away. At this action Zhou He couldn't help but smile.
"Now go rest." said Zhou He as he smiled.
"Yes father, good night. Goodnight, teacher." said Zhou Yun as he bowed to each of them before finally leaving the training ground.
Once Zhou Yun had left the training ground Zhou He turned toward the teacher. "You never went that easy on me during training father." said Zhou He bitterly.
"You weren't as talented as he is. It took twice as long just for you not to get hit by me." laughed the teacher.
Although Zhou He felt displeasure at the abuse he had endured to him by his father. He couldn't help but admit that he was proud at the fact that his son exceeded him completely. "So are you satisfied with him?" said Zhou He.
"I always have been he's my grandson." said the teacher as he looked at Zhou He. "I was just worried that he might not be suited for martial arts and if he wasn't, then his life would be in far more danger then it is now."
"Are you going to tell him who you are?" questioned Zhou He.
"No that information would make him more of a target." said the teacher as he shook his head. "Anyways that is enough for tonight, don't you think?'
"I don't know why you ask me things when your gonna do what you want to do anyways." replied Zhou He as he shook his head. The Teacher laughed as he walked away with out saying another word.