I don't want to be trained by my senior sister!

After finishing the meal, clean up the dishes and utensils.

Ning Qian didn't immediately go about her own business as usual, and her expression became more serious.

"Junior brother, you have exceptional talent. In the path of swordsmanship, you cannot simply stop at imitating moves."

Fang Xuan immediately sat up straight, adopting a humble and receptive demeanor.

Here we are, senior sister's mini-class is starting!

"In the way of the sword, beginners focus on the form of the moves; as they progress and develop their momentum, they focus on the intent."

Ning Qian traced lines in the air with her fingertips. Although she did not use any spiritual power, an invisible sharpness emanated from her.

"The so-called sword aura is a field formed by one's own will, spiritual power, and even understanding of the way of the sword. It is formless and intangible, and it is also the foundation for condensing sword intent in the future."

As she spoke, her gaze sharpened slightly as she looked at a bamboo leaf that had fallen from the edge of the stone table.

There was no movement whatsoever, not even a fingertip.

But Fang Xuan clearly sensed an indescribable force flashing past Ning Qian, so fast that he almost thought it was an illusion.

The light bamboo leaf, right before their eyes, silently and neatly split in two.

The fracture surface is as smooth as a mirror.

Fang Xuan: "!!!"

You casually unleash sword intent? Senior sister, you're in the Body Tempering Realm now, the Body Tempering Realm, is that too outrageous?

Ning Qian acted as if she had done something insignificant; her breathing remained steady, and her expression didn't change at all.

She looked at Fang Xuan, her tone still calm:

"Of course, you don't need to pursue such a realm now. Just try to use your own spiritual power and will to simulate the sharpness and firmness of a sword, and concentrate it at a point or a line. That will be the initial prototype of sword intent."

She gave a simple explanation of several basic methods and key points of the mental techniques for condensing sword energy, all of which are relatively orthodox and solid approaches.

Fang Xuan nodded repeatedly, but felt a little itchy inside.

It doesn't sound too difficult?

After Ning Qian finished speaking, she let him experience and practice on his own, while she got up to check the herb field.

After discovering that the herbs had already been watered, he took a small hoe and some dried herbs, sat down at the other end of the yard, and began to quietly pound and sort the herbs.

She no longer receives her sect's monthly stipend, and her serious injuries require a lot of medicinal herbs for treatment, so she can only rely on making the most basic hemostatic and bruise-removing ointments.

Then take it to the market at the foot of the mountain and exchange it for some spirit stones and necessary supplies.

Fang Xuan walked to the center of the courtyard, took a deep breath, and calmed his mind as Ning Qian had instructed.

At first he didn't feel anything, but soon he noticed that the air around his fingertips seemed to have changed.

Try making a light, sweeping motion through the air towards a clump of green bamboo not far away.

It didn't use much spiritual power; it was purely the condensed "momentum".

"laugh--"

A very faint sound.

The tip of a bamboo leaf on the outermost edge of the bamboo clump quietly drifted down.

Fang Xuan was stunned.

He looked at his fingers, then at the falling bamboo leaf, and blinked.

...Success! It's that simple?

Could it be... that he is truly a genius among geniuses?

I quickly glanced at Ning Qian's side.

She was facing away from him, intently grinding the medicine, seemingly unaware of the commotion.

Fang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, he hadn't been discovered, otherwise it wouldn't be good if he seemed too monstrous.

Little did he know that the moment his sword strike was complete and the bamboo leaves began to fall, Ning Qian paused in her pounding of medicine.

Although she didn't turn around, her senses remained sharp.

That fleeting yet exceptionally cold and sharp aura... was something no ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator could possess on their first attempt.

This talent... is indeed frighteningly powerful.

Ning Qian lowered her eyes, concealing the slight ripple in them, and continued what she was doing without saying anything.

The tallest tree in the forest is the first to be felled by the wind. His current situation is delicate; it's better for him to keep a low profile...

.......

Fang Xuan's interest was even higher.

He first practiced with his fingers and found that as long as he concentrated, cutting off nearby twigs and leaves from a distance was not too difficult.

The speed of his progress was so fast that even he felt it was a bit unreal.

"Wood... I'm a genius!"

He couldn't help but mutter something under his breath.

After playing with his fingers for a while, Fang Xuan's gaze fell on the dark longsword leaning against the wall of the bamboo house.

With a thought, since it's a sword technique, wouldn't it be more effective to try it with a real sword?

Moreover, this sword is so domineering; wouldn't using it to unleash its power make it even more formidable...?

He walked over, grasped the cold, heavy hilt, and pulled it out.

The black blade showed little luster, yet possessed a profound and weighty quality.

"Second brother, second brother," he patted the sword and whispered, "give me some face and cooperate."

At first, it seemed to be going smoothly. A slight resonance came from the sword. Although there was still no spiritual light, Fang Xuan could feel that the sword in his hand seemed to have come alive.

Concentrate and calm your mind, preparing to unleash this momentum with a simple diagonal slash.

"Buzz—!!!"

A heart-shaking tremor resounded.

The hand holding the sword was violently thrown away by a burst of force.

Fang Xuan felt a violent tremor in his tiger's mouth and his palm go numb.

The black sword flew out of his hand, turning into a blurry black shadow, and shot straight towards a half-person-high bluish-gray boulder at the edge of the courtyard.

"Pfft!"

The black sword pierced the hard boulder as easily as cutting tofu, sinking to its hilt.

The sword hilt remained, trembling slightly.

Fang Xuan remained standing in place, his right hand still trembling slightly involuntarily, feeling numb and painful, and he was completely stunned.

His hand was almost gone. Is that a sword or a rocket launcher?

Second brother...do you have to be so temperamental? I just wanted to cooperate with you.

At the other end of the courtyard, the sound of pounding medicine also came to an abrupt halt.

Ning Qian stood up and walked over quickly.

She glanced at the black sword, deeply embedded in the boulder, with only the hilt remaining.

She glanced at Fang Xuan's still slightly trembling right hand, and a hint of helplessness flickered in her cool eyes.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Fang Xuan then came to his senses, shaking his numb hand: "It's nothing, Senior Sister, I'm practicing my sword..."

He can't exactly say, "I was knocked away by my own sword," can he? That would be too embarrassing.

Ning Qian walked to the boulder, stretched out her slender fingers, and gently touched the cold, hard hilt of the sword.

The trembling of the sword immediately stopped, as if it were a tamed beast.

"This sword...is made of a special material, and its nature...is indeed a bit too tyrannical and fierce."

She turned to look at Fang Xuan, her gaze falling on his right hand: "Let me see your hand."

Fang Xuan was stunned for a moment, then obediently stretched out his still numb right hand.

Ning Qian's fingers gently supported his wrist, while her other hand's fingertips gathered a wisp of spiritual energy, which she gently pressed and brushed over several acupoints on his tiger's mouth and palm.

"This sword is fierce, and it's difficult to control its recoil force with ordinary grips," Ning Qian said while guiding his blood and qi.

"I'll teach you a few special handshake techniques, which I learned from a fragment of an ancient book years ago. They might help you control it better and reduce the backlash."

Her voice was very close, her breath light and soft.

Fang Xuan could smell a faint herbal scent and cool fragrance emanating from her.

The tingling and numb sensation on her wrist where her fingers had touched was quickly fading away.

Another...another hands-on tutorial?

This time it's healing and teaching again, double the fun!