Wu Long spent the next two days teaching Yu Huan and overseeing her alchemy. Bi Rui was still trying to avoid him, but as he was basically always at their house she had to meet him. She calmed down in the time she had avoided him, but seeing his gaze filled with amusement still caused her to feel flustered.
On the third day, as Bi Rui was outside, training her spear, making the air around her tremble with the sounds of the wind being split by the spear, she suddenly felt a gaze on her. She turned around to see Wu Long looking at her with his hands crossed, leaning on the wooden column of the porch with his shoulder.
This exceptional image dazed her for a split moment, as he was definitely handsome, and the posture as well as the tranquil atmosphere seemed to make the whole scene dreamy.
"Don't you have to advise Yu Huan right now?" she asked when she snapped out of her daze, with some slight nervousness.
"She is digesting the lesson so she needs some time to meditate on it" he replied in a light tone.
"Oh… I see" she said, as she tried to think of a reason not to be in the same space as him.
She resumed training for now to not look at him, but as she made a thrust,
"You are losing your spear's vantage by gripping it at this moment"
A voice came from the side, causing her to pause and look at Wu Long.
"What do you mean?"
"You are quite skilled, but your technique is too rigid, you were taught to have total control over your spear thus losing its flexibility" he explained diligently
She raised her eyebrows at him.
"Do you think you can advise me on the spear?"
She started to feel a little irritated, as though she had a guilty consciousness towards Yu Huan for duping her about her experience, thus feeling uneasy before Wu Long who seemed to see through her veneer, her skills as a spear wielder was something she held pride in and was most confident at. She served in the empire's army for quite long now, eventually being promoted to the exalted position of imperial guard, whose duty was protecting the imperial family.
She was also praised for having high potential, and even a high chance to become guard captain in the future.
So the comments of someone who looked as a scholarly playboy, who merely had some knowledge on alchemy and was not even able to perform it himself unnerved her.
"Hmm, I am not a master of the spear, but I do know a thing or two, about as much as I do about the sword and bow, as well as a few others. I was mocked as a 'jack of all trades, master of none' by one of my teachers, since I never reached a pinnacle in any of them" he said, making her almost laugh.
"A pinnacle? Hahah, you?"
"Haa, I would just let it go, but you managed to amuse me so I'm going to help you out a bit despite your disbelief and mocking" he said after a sigh as he abandoned his handsome posture and started walking towards her.
He made a gesture of asking for the spear as he approached with a stretched out hand.
"..."
Bi Rui looked at him with slight irritation and hostility in her eyes, as his attitude towards martial weapons was too light. True masters of their weapons never switched between them and regarded their own weapon as their companion and sole belief. His words, implying that swords, bows, spears, and more were all the same to him, made her feel as if he was talking with too much disregard.
"Heh, let's see you embarrass yourself then"
She sneered, taking out a spare spear from her spatial ring and handing it over to him. As her own spear was her life, she never lent it to anyone.
He nodded with appreciation at her attitude toward the spear and took the spear she handed to him, while she retreated back to the porch, as the courtyard was too small and could only allow one person to wield the spear, and the movement circle was quite small.
He took a moment to look at the spear in his hand, as it stood vertically on the ground with a slight tilt. He took in its weight, shape, and form.
Despite his looks and words that did not seem to give much reverence to the weapon he was holding, Bi Rui was actually mistaken, as he did not feel any disregard towards any of the weapons he wielded. It was quite the opposite as he regarded them all with great reverence and importance. They were his life.
His humble beginnings were of someone completely untrained sent out to the chaotic battlefield where he had to survive, and he was given no equipment whatsoever. He had to grab whatever was nearby and randomly swing it to protect his life. There was no technique or finesse at first, only the instinct and desire to live.
He was then given some teaching of the sword, but his initial experience and instincts were already ingrained in him by that time, and on the battlefield, his weapon would often break or become so soaked in blood that it became slippery and harder to use, so he would grab whatever weapon his opponents or fallen allies dropped.
Each and every weapon was his life, and he did not differentiate. This habit continued even as he learned more of the sword later. When he encountered the chance, he would learn any other skill. One of his masters was extremely displeased with him for that, but it did not stop his habit.
However high his techniques, skills, and comprehension were getting, his most dangerous aspect always remained in his overwhelming battle instincts. Even if someone was far more skilled with a weapon than him, he was still a fatal danger to them in a confrontation. So he did not bother with squabbles weapon wielders had between themselves on which weapon was superior.
He moved his foot to touch the butt of the spear, sending it toward a horizontal position and then that foot moved in one continuous and graceful motion to take a step forward, while his other hand received the spear butt he sent up.
His hands then manipulated the spear to make a wave-like movement, as he adjusted his posture so that the spear tip pointed slightly downwards.
Bi Rui's eyes snapped wide as she felt the ambiance of a spearmaster coming from him, as a sharp and grand air spread in a powerful ripple from his position, sweeping the dust and fallen autumn leaves up and away to the corners of the courtyard.
He then made three light motions, one thrust, followed by a circular motion that then sent a short horizontal cut to the side, and a backward circular motion that positioned the spear upward ending with a strike downwards. Each motion was fluid and continuous, and the spear shaft manipulation was miraculous, as if the spear was a dragon, coiling and turning, alive and having its own will.
Bi Rui watched in daze at the three movements that instantly turned her head blank. She never saw such spear mastery. There were a lot of spear masters that could do these three movements that would look about the same, but there was a fundamental difference in the understanding of the spear.
Wu Long then switched to one hand, making the spear turn in a large arc over his head and then made a violent and powerful sweep outwards, and Bi Rui vividly saw a scene of a dozen people being crushed and sent flying away by this sweep in her mind.
"The spear is called the king of all weapons, and its advantage comes from the overwhelming power and range it boasts. With one spear, sweeping away multiple opponents is not a feat, but norm. Your control over the weapon is important, and your movements are right, but you are limiting its freedom and flexibility, even if it bends while you move it" he said to the still dumbfounded BI Rui as he returned the spear to its vertical position beside him and looked at her. The posture was more or less the same as when he received the spear, but the meaning behind this scene changed. There was an aura of an expert spear wielder that she could now feel around him, and her previous dissatisfaction disappeared like a sandcastle after a giant wave.
"My apologies" she made a bow to him "I have offended-..."
But before she could finish he just waved his free hand.
"It's fine, not a big deal"
He handed her the spear she gave him and went to his earlier position by the porch wooden column.
"We have time while Yu Huan's busy digesting the lesson, so I'll oversee your training a bit" he said, as he really had nothing to do while he still wanted to give another lesson to Yu Huan today. So he was stuck waiting. Her progress slowed down a bit and he was trying to get her over a hurdle after which she could concoct his pill. Not to mention they still had to go through some trial and errors as it was an experimental pill.
Bi Rui was overjoyed and immediately got to training, while he gave her some advice. Different from a sword, where he stimulated the potential of Ye Ling, having her comprehend the sword by herself, the method of teaching the spear was different. It was linked to the fact that Ye Ling was improving her sword in a certain unique way, and her natural talent with the sword was a lot higher than Bi Rui's talent with the spear. He also did not want to influence Ye Ling's sword too much, as he was recognizing her sword more and more as it improved, and did not want to tarnish it with his own sword.
But with Bi Rui, her spear skills were based on the common skills used by mortal warriors, only slightly improved through years of effort, contemplation and experience. What he taught her was fundamental technique. Though he did not exactly teach her, as he was not that invested in it, his advice still was tremendously beneficial to her.
As they trained, Yu Huan finally digested her lesson, and came out to find this incredible scene with wide eyes. Though Wu Long quickly switched back to teaching her alchemy, the fact that Bi Rui allowed him to advise her on the spear still greatly shocked Yu Huan.
Two more days have passed, and the final hurdle Yu Huan had was overcome. It took longer than Wu Long originally anticipated, but it was still within the margin of his expectations. He also advised Bi Rui when he had the chance and immediately noticed that her busy schedule suddenly turned normal again.
Sui Luxiao has not contacted him yet, but he was not impatient, as he knew it was not an easy matter for her, albeit he did not understand it completely. For him the choice was apparent, at least in regards to her current situation, she might be hesitating on his proposal to her, but she at least should have almost instantly reached a decision regarding her family. But he also knew that there were as many ways as there were people, and something that was trivial to him might not be trivial at all for her.
The Ye family already has started their celebrations, but as this was a big and important occasion, the celebration will go for about two more weeks, with large and small banquets for the various guests. The most important banquet will be held on the final day as there will be other great noble family representatives, trading companies' elites and even imperial family sending their congratulations and gifts then.
As they used up two more days on trial and error, she finally concocted the first pill, which, while made improvements to his condition, did not have the desired effect. As they tried three more different recipes he theorized, he sat in a separate room with his upper clothes off, and took the last pill made by them.
As he meditated, and guided the medicinal energy, as well as using several profound and unique techniques, his body was strained at such a tyrannical pill. There were jade needles in his bare chest, lower back and on his shoulders that he inserted beforehand.
Finally, he felt the Yang Root connect to his dragon again, making a slight recovery. He was overjoyed but did not lose focus, as there was still quite a lot of medicinal energy in him, and the damage was not completely repaired, he still had work to do.
Hour after hour passed as his hands made hand seals, sweat dripping profusely out of him. The initial connection was strengthened, and then made tougher, all the damaged areas were gradually incinerated by the medicinal effect bringing excruciating pain to him, as while his soul had quite a resilience from experience, this body was new, and its pain tolerance had to be re-trained.
He then took a few medicines he prepared beforehand that were for healing the parts he was removing, and started using another set of hand seals to start the delicate process of restoring the parts that were now riddled with holes left from removing damaged tissue.
He finally made full recovery, as his sword was reforged and as good as new. He then used the rest of the medicinal energy with the Chaos Refining Body Tempering Art to refine it to use as fuel for the Golden Yang Dragon Body as he did with all the previous failed pills, thus his physique, stamina, endurance, Yang Qi and Yang Root have receive a major boost in these past days. Now that his dragon was not in a deep slumber but only lightly hibernating, the effect of Golden Yang Dragon Body was even stronger, and the technique instantly made the newly restored part more resilient, stronger than ever before.
When he opened his eyes there was a profound light in them, and the air around him had changed slightly. It was now the real start.
—
***Note: the spear in this chapter is the one referred to as Mao, a spear that has a short two-bladed sword as the spearhead. Common soldiers in this novel would use spears known as Qiang, while cultivators would generally use Mao. I will post a descriptive picture in the comments of this chapter for anyone interested.
There will also be a reclining moon spear called Guandao in the story, as well as a halberd, which is a Qiang or Mao with two identical crescent blades on the spear shaft near the spearhead, with the pointy sides looking outward (you can probably get it if you google chinese halberd, it is quite different from a european one).
More on other weapons later when they appear.
PS: The sword usually referred to in the story is Jian, a straight double-sided sword. If the type of the sword is different, I will specify in the story, as was the case with Zhao Wuji's ox-tailed sword called Niuweidao.