With a spear in his hand, the aura surrounding Teacher Long transformed from serenity to sharp, daring intensity.
"Though weapons differ, most have similar attack patterns. After all, we're wielding them with the same arms, aren't we? Our arms have a limited range of movement. Unless you use spiritual Qi to control your weapons, you'll be limited to certain ways of striking your enemies, depending on the weapons you wield. Slash, thrust, sweep, slam, hack, parry, lunge, feint, pommel strike, hooking, whirlwind attacks, overhead strike, circular attacks, upper slash/cut, twist thrust, cross slash," Teacher Long explained, demonstrating each move with his spear.
"Most weapons can perform many of these, though not with equal efficacy. Moreover, each weapon executes them slightly or significantly differently. For example, a slam attack with a sword differs greatly from one with a hammer," he continued, showcasing his mastery.
Teacher Long focused on spear techniques. "For spear wielders, the fundamental attack is the thrust. Always aim for quickness and precision, taking advantage of the spear's length to harm or disarm your opponent."
With a light step, he demonstrated the thrust, making the spear an extension of his arm. "Remember, although I'm using a spear, the principles apply to daggers, swords, and other polearms."
He explained the lunge, emphasizing catching the opponent off-guard by leaping forward and rapidly aiming for weak or vital points. Teacher Long stressed the importance of feint and misleading movements, especially when facing multiple opponents.
"A true martial artist knows not to telegraph his next moves but instead mask them with feint and misleading movements. This is most useful when fighting many opponents; your adversaries will get complacent and lower their guard. It is therefore the moment to take as many as possible. You may strike one with a pommel feint before quickly lunging towards another with a thrust. Those two in succession go well as the pommel strike retracts the arm, and the thrust extends it, allowing you to do a perfect thrust directly from that position."
"For curved blades, a hooking motion can be deadly. The whirlwind attack can save your life in surrounded situations, creating a barrier of blades while swinging the weapon around your body. You angle the weapon for cross-body cuts, diagonally slashing at the opponent's body," he continued, displaying these techniques.
For the next thirty minutes, Teacher Long showed his mastery with an in depth explanation and demonstration of each motion, from thrusts, hooks, whirlwinds, all the way to hooks. Finally, he rested his spear by thrusting it into the ground.
"For the rest of the class, choose a sparring partner to train your weapon mastery in the open training ground," he declared.
The students eagerly paired up, "Xiao Wu, how about we pair?" The blue-haired sword practitioner proposed.
"Sure, Bing Yan. We both wield swords, so we can learn from each other." The boy called Xiao Wu answered with a smile. He was quite tall at 1.82m with long green hair and eyes, a sword holstered on his hip.
The scene was replicated around the courtyard as many began to partner up. Kaelen suggested that Torin and Raizel partner with Tang Hao and Xue Qing. Kaelen decided to spar with Teacher Long.
"Fine, I'll pair up with Tang Hao then." Turning towards the chubby boy, the tall ruby-eyed Thorin said.
"Why don't we pair up, Tang hao." Smiling, Thorin asked the boy.
The boy had an ugly expression on his face as he looked around to see there was no one left.
"Fine." With an exasperated look, he exclaimed. Glaring at the tall boy, he said. "I hope you're not one of those battle-hungry fellas, I hate you guys the most."
Surprised, Thorin suspiciously looked at the chubby boy. "Are you afraid of me, prince?" Putting an emphasis on 'prince' Thorin jokingly asked.
'Fidget'
The chubby boys entire body straightened as he regained his countenance.
"Ahem. Afraid of who? Of course not, I'm the son of the Coiling Dragon Emperor after all. Let's go." Taking out his weapon, he walked towards the training area, his legs trembling with each step.
Surprisingly, his weapon of choice was an axe, which was one of Thorin's initial choices.
Laughing, Thorin followed him towards the arena. "Sight… that boy, despite his talent, his will for martial arts is so weak."
Watching this unfold, Teacher Long let out a light sight as black lines covered his forehead.
He hears someone calling him out, as he sees Kaelen walking towards him with a seven-foot spear in his hand.
"Oh?" Raising an eyebrow towards the approaching boy, the valiant teacher exclaims. 'So he chose the spear… he may really be the fated one'. He smiles as he grasps the planted green spear.
"Since we're an uneven number, I thought I could learn from you, teacher."
Kaelen, now standing in front of him, smilingly proposed.
"Sure, show me what you got." Putting his spear on his shoulder, he walked with the boy towards the arena.
On the other side, Rai faced Xue Qing.
"Would you like to be my sparring partner?" he asked.
"Hun." She made a light sound as she nodded, accepting the offer.
The two then proceeded toward the arena as well. Standing shoulder to shoulder, the girl was only a bit shorter than the boy as she was quite tall.
Back to Kaelen's side.
"Is that your personal weapon, teacher?" Looking at the beautiful green spear, Kaelen noticed it glowed with a mysterious sheen, as an intricately designed dragon pattern coiled around its 7ft long, three inches thick green shaft. The blade took the other half a foot of the entire spear. It was a curved blade three centimeters thick and five inches wide; Also green but with a silver sheen, like a green crescent moon. It was truly a gorgeous weapon.
Watching the boy look at the weapon in amazement, Teacher Long nodded as he extended it towards the boy. "It's called the Azure Dragon Crescent Spear; a very powerful treasure weapon. Would you like to hold it?"
His eyes glowing, the boy rapidly nodded many times before grabbing towards the weapon.
As he grasped the spear, teacher Long's smile took a mysterious arch as he suddenly let hold of the weapon.
"Clang!!!"
A loud, resounding noise shook the atmosphere as the part of the spear held by teacher Long dropped rapidly on the floor.
"Shit! So heavy!"
Placing both hands on the spear, Kaelen uses all his strength as he tries to lift the weapon. Veins bulged on his slim yet muscular arms as he exerted all efforts. Yet despite it all, the spear barely moved one inch. The scene attracted the attention of the surrounding disciples.
"Tsk, another one who tries to wield Teacher's Azure Dragon Crescent Spear. That weapon is on the Southern Wasteland's top hundred heavenly weapons list, and it's in the top forty. It is said that its shaft was made with a green dragon arm bone, ranking its durability amongst the top of the list; were it not for its comparatively lacking blade, it would've been a top-five weapon. Legends say it weighs more than a hundred thousand pounds due to the artifact using space laws to condense the dragon bone into a shaft. It's truly monstrously heavy."
"Yep, I remember Jiang Hong tried lifting it two years ago, after refining his heart at the 11th Xiantian extreme gaining fifty thousand pounds of strength, his total strength surpassing a hundred thousand; a true humanoid beast. He even had a Peak Earth rank bloodline that allowed him to go berserk and increase his strength by a few times. Yet although he managed to lift it, he couldn't use it at all. According to Teacher Long, one would need at least strength in the tens of million to wield such a weapon without destroying one's body; balance, technique, momentum, accumulation all those things matter when using a weapon and the heavier it is the harder it becomes to control it; only beasts in human form, beings of great power or power type bloodlines of extremely high grade can have such strength or be able to grow to these levels."
"That boy didn't even reach Xiantian yet; he probably won't be able to lift it at all."
Indeed, after a minute, Kaelen hadn't been able to lift the weapon. He could only take the place of a stand as he held one end of the spear while most its weight was directed on the floor. Even that required tens of thousands of pounds worth of strength.
As he reached his limits, a red aura began to glow around him. The spear, as if sensing the aura, immediately began to tremble.
Kaelen suddenly felt an immense amount of strength filling his body as he put more and more strength into lifting the spear.
"Arghhh." Grunting loudly as he exerted himself, the ground beneath him crumbling as his feet began to sink. Shockingly, the spear began to lift ever so slightly. Seeing this, the boy gained courage as the red glow surrounding him began to grow. A roar-like sound emanated from the crimson aura as it grew stronger and stronger.
"Oops, there. That's enough." Noticing the situation taking an unexpected turn, Teacher Long grabbed the spear back before the boy went completely berserk.
When the spear left his hand, the aura surrounding him vanished as if it wasn't needed anymore. He stumbled a bit feeling a small surge of weakness, his mind a bit absent. A powerful hand helped him stay up.
"Hey, regain your senses." Shaking him slightly, teacher sends him some qi to reinvigorate the boy.
Kaelen's eyes slowly regain clarity as he straightened his back and stood by himself.
"Woah, what was that feeling? I suddenly felt so strong and then so weak in a few seconds." He mumbled.
"You seem to have activated your bloodline a bit to overcome the challenge you were facing. Though ultimately, your cultivation is still a bit lacking. Come, grab your spear and let's spar." The man laughed lightly as he tapped the boy on his shoulder. As he took an area on the sparring ground.
'Bloodline?' thinking, Kaelen stood not too far from the man as he wielded his weapon.
"But teacher, how can we spar fairly when your weapon is so much heavier than mine?" As he faced the man, Kaelen can't help but think of what would happen if he clashed with that spear. Cold sweat dripped down his back.
"Don't worry, I can control this spear like an extension of my hand. Besides, by coating it with my Qi, I can control the impact, increasing it or reducing it with my will easily. Now come."
With a hand behind his back, his right arm held the long spear diagonally, as his tall frame stood straight. An impenetrable might diffused from his body.
Standing in front of the teacher, Kaelen let out a nervous yet excited smile as his blood began to boil. He forcefully gripped his spear and leaped towards him with a thrusting motion.
And so, the spar between Kaelen and Teacher Long began in the open training ground. Kaelen, with his spear in hand, faced the seasoned master whose weapon was considerably heavier.
'I have just today started using the spear, I don't know yet how to use it properly. I will just use the move teacher showed us.' Closing his eyes to remember, the boy recalled every single move, up to the most minute detail, as he reproduced them with shocking accuracy.
...
The clash of their weapons echoed through the open space, each move a dance of skill and strategy. Teacher Long showcased his mastery, effortlessly controlling the impact of his heavy spear. In contrast, Kaelen, fueled by determination and his innate gifts, fought with unwavering spirit.
Despite the weight difference, Kaelen adapted swiftly, using agility and technique to compensate. The red aura around him flickered, indicating the remnants of his bloodline activation as strength surged.
As the spar continued, the other disciples paused their own practice to watch the captivating exchange between student and expert. Torin, Raizel, Tang Hao, and Xue Qing, gathered around, offering words of encouragement and admiration for the spirited spar. The courtyard and trainning ground was filled with the clashing sounds of metal and the occasional grunts of effort.
Teacher Long, with a discerning eye, observed Kaelen's every move. He noted the young disciple's potential, recognizing that there was more to Kaelen's abilities than met the eye.
Despite the initial struggle with his inexperience, Kaelen showed resilience and adaptability, quickly mimicking the man's moves.
As the hour passed, the spar drew to a close, and both participants stepped back, Kaelen gasping for air as he caught his breath.
Teacher Long nodded approvingly. "You have potential, Kaelen. With time and proper cultivation, you could become a formidable Spear master. Here."
He throws an old book entitled 'Foundationnal True Speart technique'.
"Practice from the beginning with this manual. Once you reach the level of 'Spear as extension of ones arm', I'll gift you with a surprise.
Catching the book, Kaelen quickly surfed it, before placing it in his storage ring. "Thank you teacher." He bowed respectfully before walking towards his friends.
While he walked, Kaelen reflected on the experience. The mysterious surge of strength, the activation of his bloodline, and the guidance from Teacher Long left him with a sense of awe and a renewed determination to grow stronger.
"Alright, todays class end here, I'll see you guys in a week for another class. Make sure to practice hard every day." Waving his hand, he dismisses the students.