Celestial Human Diagram

Chapter 306 - 38: Sparring

With his blade in hand, Chen Chuan returned the fist-and-palm salute. "Senior Sister Zheng, please guide me."

Teacher Zheng reminded him from the side, "Chen, for now, I want you to only parry. No counter-attacking, no dodging. Just stand your ground and use the method I taught you to dissipate and neutralize the force. Once you’ve mastered these techniques, we’ll move on to the next stage."

Zheng Tongtong gave the Thick-Backed Blade in her hand a light flourish. "Chen, please draw your blade."

Chen Chuan gripped the hilt and slowly drew the Snow Monarch Blade. As the brilliant, snow-white gleam of the blade was revealed, a chill seemed to spread through the training ground.

"Oh? A Mutated Weapon?"

Teacher Zheng paused for a moment. ’Those are rare these days,’ he thought. ’Not many craftsmen with that kind of skill are left. And...’

His expression turned a little more serious. The cold light glinting off the blade gave him an indescribable sense of threat. He was certain that more than a few experts had fallen to this blade.

Zheng Tongtong waited until the Snow Monarch Blade was fully drawn and Chen Chuan had taken his stance. "Junior Chen, be careful now." With that, she leaped forward with an overhead strike. Her movements were incredibly nimble, as if she were an inflatable ball bounding over in an instant.

Remembering Teacher Zheng’s words, Chen Chuan didn’t dodge. He activated his Mutated Organization using the method Teacher Zheng had taught him and met her strike with a horizontal block from his Snow Monarch Blade. CLANG! A powerful force surged through the blade. His feet sank, and the specially made floorboards buckled slightly beneath him. The pressure lingered for a moment before dissipating.

Zheng Tongtong didn’t press her attack. Instead, she retreated a few steps to give Chen Chuan time to adapt and think. It was clear this wasn’t her first time sparring with someone; she was very experienced.

Chen Chuan understood her good intentions. He reflected on the exchange. ’I managed to neutralize the force of that last strike, but my execution was too slow. Under the condition that I can’t dodge, if she had followed up with a second strike, I would’ve been knocked off my feet, and my entire defensive stance would have collapsed. I need to increase the speed of my dissipation.’

Once he understood this, he nodded at Zheng Tongtong.

Zheng Tongtong’s first strike had just been to test his limits and gauge how much force she should use. Now that she had a measure of him, she came at him with another strike.

CLANG! Chen Chuan received it steadily. This time, his feet didn’t sink in unison; there was a kind of rational distribution of the impact. His stance even held the subtle potential for a counter-attack.

Zheng Tongtong said with admiration, "Junior Chen, a beautiful block!"

She had originally planned to hold back some of her strength, but Chen Chuan had caught the blow perfectly. Although his technique for Neutralizing Force wasn’t yet fluid, it was textbook-perfect and executed completely.

She said, "Junior Chen, your foundation is very solid. I won’t be holding back anymore, then."

As she spoke, she raised her blade and struck again. This time, however, it wasn’t just a single blow. She unleashed a continuous flurry of over a hundred strikes against him!

Her posture for every single strike was identical; the distance of her swing and the power behind it never varied. Each follow-up strike landed at the precise instant Chen Chuan had just finished dissipating the force from the previous one, giving him no room to breathe. It was a display of incredibly solid fundamentals and mastery.

Under this oppressive barrage, Chen Chuan had no choice but to push his Mutated Organization to its limits to dissipate the force. For the first dozen or so strikes, he could barely keep up. But under Zheng Tongtong’s skillful sparring, he quickly adapted and mastered the technique of dissipating the force. By the last few dozen strikes, he had become much more composed.

Teacher Zheng watched from the side. Only when Zheng Tongtong had delivered over a thousand consecutive strikes and Chen Chuan had fully adapted to the barrage did he finally speak up. "Alright, that’s enough. Take a break."

Zheng Tongtong immediately retreated to her original position. Despite maintaining such a high-intensity assault, her breathing was perfectly steady. She looked completely relaxed, a clear sign that the exertion was nothing to her.

Chen Chuan regulated his breathing, looked up at Zheng Tongtong, and nodded in thanks.

’She’s incredible,’ he thought. ’Setting aside her combat strength, I’ve never seen this level of sparring skill before. All I had to do was focus on performing to the best of my ability, without worrying about anything else. She would naturally provide the perfect response, guiding me to reach my peak state.’

’If I were training on my own, reaching that final state would have taken a full day, even with the most optimistic estimate. But all of that progress was compressed into those thousand strikes.’

Now, he felt as if the technique of Dissipating Force had been committed to memory by his Mutated Organization. This was the inevitable feedback from external stimuli combined with his own conscious intent.

’No wonder those Fighters pay top dollar for good private trainers. It really makes a difference. A good sparring partner is an immense help to a Fighter.’

Teacher Zheng said, "Chen, next, I’m going to have Tongtong increase the difficulty. Get ready." He called to his daughter, "Tongtong."

Zheng Tongtong acknowledged him and then reminded Chen Chuan, "Junior Chen, I’m going to increase the power of my strikes this time. Be careful."

Chen Chuan said, "Alright," and corrected his stance.

Seeing he was ready, Zheng Tongtong didn’t hesitate, bringing her blade down again. The power she generated was clearly far greater than before.

Upon seeing this, Chen Chuan didn’t just wait for the blow to land. Instead, he raised his hand slightly, meeting her blade with the back of his Snow Monarch Blade.

When he blocked it this way, there wasn’t the same intense impact as before. The force from her blade merely pressed him down a little, as if the blade had been placed on his, not swung at it.

Teacher Zheng watched, very satisfied with this move. ’Technique is about using all favorable conditions to mitigate unfavorable factors. If your opponent changes their power, you must naturally find a new way to break the deadlock. This move is very proactive, and it doesn’t go beyond the limits I set.’

’Excellent. No wonder his combat decision-making was rated top-tier in the entrance assessment. This is exactly why I decided to teach Chen Chuan seriously. Skills and physical fitness can be improved through practice and other means, but this kind of combat instinct is something few possess, and it can hardly be cultivated.’

As a qualified sparring partner, seeing him begin to actively adapt, Zheng Tongtong correspondingly increased the difficulty of her training. Her attacks were no longer limited to overhead strikes; she switched to horizontal slashes from the left and right, which were much harder to block.

Chen Chuan struggled to block them at first, but he quickly adjusted. Once he could more or less handle them, Zheng Tongtong switched her attacks to upward diagonal slashes, then to thrusts, and then to sweeping cuts... Every time Chen Chuan adapted and caught up, she would change her method of attack.

After Chen Chuan proved he could handle all of these, she followed up with combinations of Saber Techniques, leaving no gaps between them. The transitions were exceptionally tight. Under this high-tempo guidance and sparring, Chen Chuan’s mastery of the technique for Dissipating Force steadily improved.

At this point, Teacher Zheng spoke up, "Let’s stop here for now. We’ll continue this afternoon."

Hearing the instruction, Zheng Tongtong deftly sheathed her blade.

Chen Chuan checked the time and was surprised to see it was already 11:30. The entire morning had passed without him realizing it.

Teacher Zheng said, "Tongtong, go get things ready."

"Okay!"

Zheng Tongtong turned and walked out. After swinging her blade for several hours, she wasn’t even the slightest bit out of breath, nor had she broken a sweat. Clearly, her Power and Breathing Technique were practiced to an extremely high level.

Teacher Zheng walked up to Chen Chuan and looked him up and down. Seeing that he, too, showed no signs of fatigue and that his eyes were still bright with spirit, he was very pleased. "Chen, your foundation is excellent. Very good. Based on your performance, we’ll ramp up the intensity this afternoon and focus on Power."

Chen Chuan took a breath. "Understood, Teacher Zheng."

He knew that, in reality, the training up to this point had been relatively simple. As the attacker, Zheng Tongtong had only varied her Saber Techniques; she hadn’t used any variations in her Power yet. The latter was the real test.

Teacher Zheng gave him a few more pointers. Just then, the rich aroma of meat wafted over from the front yard. He smiled and said, "Let’s get something to eat first. Follow me."

He led Chen Chuan to the front yard, where a grill had been set up. Zheng Tongtong was busy skewering slices of meat.

Teacher Zheng said, "Sharpening the axe doesn’t delay chopping the wood. Good food is a great motivator; it gives you more energy to train. I think every class in the academy, whether it’s academics or martial arts, should have a barbecue set up on the side. Those who learn well get to eat, and those who don’t have to watch others eat. I guarantee every student would be howling to study."

Zheng Tongtong couldn’t help but say, "Dad, that’s just your personal hobby."

Teacher Zheng replied, "How can you call this my personal hobby? The best things in the world are eating and sleeping. For us Fighters, we can only have the strength to fight if we eat well and sleep well."

He walked over, grabbed a cooked skewer, and tossed it to Chen Chuan. "Try it."

Chen Chuan caught it and took a bite, his eyes widening in surprise.

The texture was incredible—crispy on the outside, tender and smooth on the inside. It was plump and juicy, and a single bite sent a wave of warmth through him, rapidly replenishing his spent stamina. It almost felt like he was eating a Nutrition Paste.

Teacher Zheng said with a smile, "This isn’t ordinary mutton. It’s High Cliff Sheep, raised in a special region and acquired through Zhan Tong United’s channels. It’s specially supplied for us Fighters. You could call it a perk for teachers and students from the Processing Bureau."

A thought crossed Chen Chuan’s mind. ’Compared to providing expensive medicines, good food is a relatively low-cost investment, but it brings immense pleasure and satisfaction. This kind of arrangement by the Processing Bureau easily fosters a sense of loyalty. It’s highly beneficial without being costly.’

As for Zhan Tong United, he had never heard of the company before. He looked it up on his Realm Token and learned that the company specialized in all sorts of niche items and rarities. No matter how novel or scarce something was, as long as you could afford the price, Zhan Tong United had the channels to get it for you.

After he finished the skewer, Zheng Tongtong handed him a dozen more that were freshly grilled. He took them with a word of thanks.

Teacher Zheng said, "You need intense exercise to fully absorb the nutrients. This meat will be enough to fuel your training this afternoon.

You have a preliminary grasp of the force I taught you, but it’s not your own yet.

Just as everyone has their own habits, everyone also has their own unique force. So, in this afternoon’s training, you must find the force that belongs to you!"

...

...