"Not to brag, but I won several contests back in my village," Hao Jun said amusedly, his voice reverberating through the area and once again assaulting Wu Jin's ears.
Every sound he made, whether from his zither or his mouth, was amplified by his qi.
"Even though Elastic Sound Harmony is a martial art that suits me because of my experience playing musical instruments, its shrine qi consumption is probably a lot higher compared to Wu Jin's "Dao of Saber Sword Arts." But it's mostly because I still can't fully control my qi output," Hao Jun thought as he looked inwardly into his shrine. About sixty percent of his qi remained.
He then looked at Wu Jin's abdomen, but he couldn't see how much qi Wu Jin had left. He could only guess. A martial master's shrine was a sacred place, and not just anyone could see what was inside it.
During this short training session, Hao Jun wanted to fully master his qi output control, but he also didn't want to exhaust his shrine in the process. Even though he hadn't used up all of his shrine qi, he could already feel fatigue building up.
A martial master's shrine wasn't a bodily organ, but they would still grow tired like a marathon runner if they used up all the qi within it, not to mention their strength falling drastically to that of an ordinary mortal.
"This is too difficult," he heaved a long sigh.
Seeing Hao Jun lost in thought, Wu Jin asked, "Brother, do you want to continue?"
Before answering Wu Jin, Hao Jun looked into the distance and saw Xiao Mei Yue and Wei Long still sparring, and how Wu Jin was still energetic. Not wanting to fall behind his peers, he hesitantly replied, "Yes, I can keep going."
"Alright, here I come." Wu Jin once again charged, unleashing multiple horizontal and vertical slashes.
Hao Jun immediately coated both his hands and his zither with qi as he retaliated.
clank clank
Hao Jun's zither soundwave attacks and Wu Jin's sword clashed against each other, creating countless sparks that flew everywhere.
"There!"
After exchanging many blows Wu Jin finally found an opening.
He leapt toward Hao Jun's left side like a rabbit, instantly closing the distance between them. However, Hao Jun jumped backward before Wu Jin could strike him.
"I mastered my "Elastic Sound Harmony" movement art just for this type of situation. I have not yet mastered performing the techniques in fights, but that is exactly what this training is for," Hao Jun thought proudly, having a genuine smile.
After studying "Elastic Sound Harmony," he decided to first master its movement and offensive techniques so that he could easily retreat when in a predicament and attack. And now that he had dodged Wu Jin, this thoughtful planning proved to be useful.
"That must be 'Elastic Sound Harmony' movement art. When I tried to strike him just now, I felt my ears ringing. Is that part of his martial art movement technique? It not only distracted me from attacking him, but also allowed him to retreat easily."
Thinking so, Wu Jin's heart beat fast with excitement.
He had only heard about what martial masters were capable of through rumors, but now that he had first-hand experience, he was joyous. His desire for strength grew even more.
....
"Haha, brother, is it just me, or does it seem your attacks have gotten a little fierce now?" Hao Jun said as he retreated again.
vertical slash, horizontal slash,
Wu Jin pursued him like a cheetah locked on its prey and chasing it at lightning speed, not giving him any time to recover his momentum. Bombarding him with attacks
"Brother, isn't it better if we give it our all? The harder we fight, the stronger we will grow," Wu Jin said as he pursued him, making him retreat time and again.
"I've already mastered the first form of 'Dao of Saber Sword Arts,' but for now, I will only use its vertical and horizontal slashes with the minimal amount of shrine qi possible." Even though he had mastered the first form of "Dao of Saber Sword Arts," he wasn't planning to use it against Hao Jun now.
There were several reasons behind his mindset.
The first reason was because the form required a huge amount of qi. This was a move which he decided to use as a finishing touch. The second reason was to keep this move a secret trump card, and this was just a training session where they exchanged pointers.
There was no need to be hostile for now. Using a deadly move out of nowhere would make his fellow disciples extremely cautious of him and see him in a negative light.
People learned martial arts for all types of reasons. to kill, to rob, for honor. And so on.
Wu jin was young but he wasn't stupid at all he knew how dangerous martial arts were. thus he had to be careful of what techniques he used.
"Dao of Saber Sword Arts" manual mentioned that when martial masters form their shrine and store the refined earth qi within it, they are able to take it out at any time and use it as they please."
"They can coat their legs with refined earth qi, resulting in superhuman strength, or coat it with whatever weapon they use, enhancing it. But controlling the amount of qi one used was necessary. Even a tiny raindrop of qi could make a big difference. Thus, one needed to be careful about how much qi they took out from their shrine."
Martial Masters mentally control refined earth qi, but doing so is delicate and risky, like walking on ice. They must carefully manage how much qi they use and where they channel it in combat.
"Up until now I've only been using horizontal and vertical slashes so that i would get accustomed to using them during fights but now i should change things up." As he thought this, Wu Jin drew the qi in his shrine and coated his legs with it.
A milky like substance could be seen on his legs moving around like a cigarette smoke.
"Hmm?"
Noticing the changes Hao Jun narrowed his eyes, staring at him in confusion after seeing him coat his legs with qi. is he trying to change things up now ? he wondered.
"He's been overwhelming me with attacks, barely landing any hits thanks to my movement art, i guess I need to change things up a bit too. i can't continue being on the defensive."
Since he believed Wu Jin's dao of saber sword arts did not consume much qi, he had purposely allowed him to remain on the offensive, in order to gradually deplete his qi.