After lunch, Jiang Mang followed behind Invisible Leaf. The next training segment would be self-defense training. Jiang Mang would be attacked by his master and he had to shield his body by moving his arms or moving his body. He could only use the sound of the attack to sense the attacks which would hone his sensory abilities while also becoming accustomed to fighting against opponents. The first attack came and though he heard the attack he could not sense the direction and was thus hit, afterward the second, the third, and so on came but there were no improvements. After fifty attacks he was allowed a break and he sat down on the ground while thinking. His break was over and he was again attacked but this time he not only heard the attack but also sensed a certain direction in which he held his arms crossed. The attack went below his arms but he still had the direction right which shocked Invisible Leaf again. After another fifty attacks, he was allowed a break again but this time he had blocked a couple of hits which was a remarkable improvement. He went again deep in thought about his experience until the break was over. The process repeated itself and after each session, Jiang Mang would improve to the point that Invisible Leaf was shocked numb.
When it was time for dinner, he had improved to the point that he could block three out of ten attacks consistently while also dodging a few each session. He was asked by his master to wash the vegetables which he was able to after some trial and error. During the meal, Invisible started explaining his deficiencies during his self-defense training which he could mull over after dinner. He went to his bed after dinner and started digesting everything he had learned that day before he went to sleep.
The next day he was again woken up at sunrise and had breakfast before starting physical training which showed a marginal improvement and he was hit less and less, session after session until it was time for lunch.
He could now work-out the first half without being hit which also meant he started feeling the effects of the work-out. Unfortunately, he also lost his stamina much quicker as he performed the exercise more and more at ease. After Lunch, He started the self-defense training again in which he also showed a remarkable improvement in contrast to the previous day. When it was time for dinner, he was much more exhausted than the day before but when you looked at him you could see a youthful smile filled with determination. After dinner, he went to bed in preparation for the following day.
A week went by where each day was a repetition of the former. At the end of the week, he could already work-out completely on his own without being hit and react to every attack that came his way while dodging the occasional. Invisible Leaf was shocked at the boy's stellar improvement over a single week resulting in gains he only expected after a month of hard work. Jiang Mang and his master sat at the dinner table when the latter spoke up: " Jiang Mang, you have improved at a faster pace than I imagined. From tomorrow on you will only pause your physical exercise when you have hit the limit of your current stamina, your self-defense training will also increase in intensity where you will only stop after hitting your limits."
Jiang Mang nodded in understanding before returning to his bed. The next day, the training intensity increased and he only stopped his exercise after repeating the work-out for half an hour, he rested for five minutes but instead of repeating the exercise he had to endure self-defense training which lasted for a quarter of an hour before he reached his limits again. He could rest for ten minutes now when the process of exercising started again. The training continued in this manner until lunch. After Lunch, the process of switching between exercising and self-defense training continued until he fell unconscious of exhaustion halfway through. Invisible Leaf brought him back to bed and left something to eat before leaving. He was impressed by Jiang Mang's tenacious personality during the day, unlike other children even older than him by a decade he persevered through a hellish regimen without a single word of complaint.
Jiang Mang continued the regimen until he fell unconscious again the next day. This process repeated itself for an entire month until he could complete a full day of training without falling unconscious. During this month, the boy improved dramatically where he could exercise for more than two hours before depleting his stamina while also being able to sustain blows for more than an hour in which the blows had become faster and stronger every day after the first week of training. His master Invisible Leaf was amazed to the point he had grown numb at the boy's rate of improvement and found it only a normal occurrence. During dinner, Jiang Mang asked when he would start learning the use of hidden weapons on which his master responded: "Only when you are capable of fighting me for an entire hour when I lower my power to the level of a teenage boy will you be allowed to learn how to use hidden weapons."
Jiang Mang was astounded by the requirement before feeling a bit dejected which wasn't unnoticed by Invisible Leaf who felt relieved that the child could act normal from time to time. When Jiang Mang returned to bed, he thought about the requirement before gritting his teeth and renewing his determination. The next day, he tackled training with renewed vigor and improved at an even more astounding rate which made Invisible Leaf smile. At the end of the day, Invisible Leaf brought Jiang Mang back to the castle to rest for a couple of days and spend time with his family. From then on, at the end of every month's training period, he would return to the palace for two days before restarting a new and intenser training regimen. He would occasionally invite Song Meilin over at the palace where they would spend the day together listening to stories or conversing with each other, Jiang Mang listening to Song Meiling talking about all the gossip in the capital.