Chapter 3: Basic Sword Techniques

  In the city of Yue, becoming a slave of the Yue family is actually a very honorable thing. Their status and treatment are higher than those of guest officials and ordinary civilians. Moreover, if they can achieve something in personal martial arts, their treatment will basically not be lower than that of ordinary children of the Yue family, and people from the clan will not treat them as slaves.

  And those like Rang Lik who were born into the family, that is to say their parents were both servants of the Yeoh family and grew up within the clan, were even more trusted. If they could become martial instructors, they would often be granted the surname Yeoh, and absorbed into the clan through marriage.

  As a result, Ran's persistence also made Yue Yu feel inexplicably puzzled for some time. Ran's personality is simple and honest, but he is not very foolish, and he can distinguish which choice is more beneficial to his own future.

  Because of the worry that his true identity as a usurper would be exposed, Yue Yu had never dared to ask Ran Li about this matter. However, more than half a month ago, Ran Li's sleep talk during an afternoon nap let him know some of the reasons.

  Yue Yu clearly remembered that the silly kid was crying with tears streaming down his face, and his voice was muffled and unclear. He could only barely make out one sentence in the end, which roughly meant "Dad, Mom, I must protect Young Master". At that time, Rong Li's words suddenly became exceptionally firm, and Yue Yu's hearing finally played a role.

  And afterwards, Yue Yu specially used his own past life's intelligence gathering methods to make a thorough inquiry.

  Ran Lie's parents had passed away, which he already knew. So the focus of Yue Yu was on the relationship between these two couples and his own elders. It wasn't until recently that he learned that his 'father' had once taught Ran Lie's father some martial skills for a period of time, and later saved Ran Lie's parents twice. That's why before his death, he told Ran Lie to repay the kindness.

  This made Yue Yu feel both relieved and regretful. Ran Li was indeed a stubborn fool, once he had set his mind on something, he would not give up even if he died, and would not even consider making any adjustments. In fact, as things stand now, if this little guy could achieve more, it would actually be of greater help to him.

  Fortunately, Rong Li's current progress is not bad even if he didn't enter the Blood Refining Hall. He has already started practicing the Great Fury Ming Wang Axe, a technique that requires at least 7th level internal power to cultivate. At just 15 years old, his strength far surpasses that of his peers. Even the elders of the sect were shocked and specially arranged for an older martial artist to provide him with personalized guidance.

  Yue Yu naturally didn't have this treatment, but he also didn't feel any dissatisfaction about it. In terms of qualifications, he was indeed far inferior to Rong Li, which was also an unavoidable thing.

  He swung the iron wood sword randomly, and Yue Yu was about to get a feel for it. Until a martial arts instructor next to him couldn't help but stare at him with his eyes wide open, he began to practice his sword skills seriously. What he is currently practicing is the basic sword style that has been passed down within the clan, which consists of 365 styles, representing the stars in the sky, and is the foundation of all sword techniques in the world. And now, he has already practiced up to 250 styles.

  However, in less than three minutes, Yue Yu heard a string of snickering sounds coming from around her. Those disdainful gazes also became increasingly obvious.

  Yue Yu couldn't help but smile wryly in his heart, as he was the most aware of how this situation had come to be. The forearm and elbow joint of his current body were about half a fraction longer and more flexible than those of others. Therefore, when wielding a sword, with the same sword style, the tip of his sword would always be two or three centimeters higher than that of others.

  If in the past, this sword technique was only used for show, others would say a few words of empty praise, after all, the tip of the sword is slightly raised, it does look better. But in this era where actual combat is paramount, to onlookers it's naturally a huge flaw, and they will mock, which is also to be expected.

  To speak of it, several years ago the martial artists of his clan would have thought that this body's foundation was extremely poor. The defect in his forearm muscle was probably one of the reasons.

  Shaking her head, Yue Yu pretended she hadn't heard the mocking voices and continued to practice those unorthodox sword moves that seemed incongruous to others.

  In fact, for him, it's quite simple to make these sword moves look authentic. As long as he controls his muscles a bit when stretching out his arm, he can easily do it. However, as an outstanding student in the Sports and Health Department who is about to graduate, Yue Yu understands that if he continues to force himself like this for so long, his brachioradialis muscle will eventually show signs of strain, and the muscles that control the elbow joint in his upper arm will also develop hidden injuries.

  So he is now walking a completely different path, and since he doesn't want to hurt his own body, he can only take a detour and change these sword styles to make them adapt to his own body!

  Every time the sword is raised, the tip of the sword should be two centimeters higher than others. This is indeed a disadvantage. But if the sword is used well, it may not necessarily be a disadvantage. The key is to modify the basic sword style, and if you can make up for the shortcomings, you won't necessarily be worse than others.

  However, in order to improve this sword technique, Yue Yu had endured the strange gazes within the training grounds for over two months. Fortunately, hidden within his young body was a mature man's soul, which allowed him to completely ignore others' opinions. Otherwise, if it were the original Yue Yu's tolerance level, he would have probably collapsed on the first day.

  As time passed, a red glow gradually rose from the horizon, and the entire sky was slowly dyed orange. Yu Yue's face also gradually became like everyone else's, covered in sweat. Although he was holding an iron wooden sword, its weight and hardness were no different from a real sword. At the age of twelve, prolonged swinging was indeed a test of endurance and perseverance.

  At this time, the mocking voices around had gradually disappeared, and all the young men began to focus on their own martial arts practice. Those rotating warriors who served as instructors also didn't bother to care about how well Yue Yu practiced. In this world of survival of the fittest, resources were always prioritized for those who were stronger and more promising. And in the eyes of these instructors, it was better to spend time cultivating those children with more talent in martial arts than to waste time on this useless person by their side.

  As for Yue Yu himself, he was delighted with this. A while ago, he had encountered a few kind-hearted rotating warriors and some old friends and subordinates of his 'father' who wanted to open up some small stoves for him. However, for him, this was a complete disaster, and the so-called guidance was just a waste of his time. Without these people's noise, he could focus even more on the 'improvement' of these basic sword styles. It wasn't until Yue Yu had resisted in a negative way for over a month that they lamented with phrases like "a rotten wood cannot be carved" and completely gave up guiding him.

  He originally thought that today would be like the previous dozen or so days, where he could continue practicing without anyone paying attention. However, just over an hour into his practice, he heard a surprised exclamation beside his ear.

  "Hey! This kid's insight is not bad. These sword moves look messy at first, but after careful consideration, they're not too bad either. It's just that this kid's temperament is a bit too arrogant!"

  Yue Yu heard this and slightly paused, looking around to find the source of the dry tone. Then, a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes again. It was an old man about fifty years old with some unfamiliar features standing beside Rong Li, apparently the instructor responsible for guiding Little 'Zhang Fei' to practice the Great Fury Demon King's Axe today.

  What surprised Yue Yu was that the old man's brocade robe had sleeves embroidered with four silver threads. Unnoticed in the darkness before, they were now dazzling under the sunlight.

  In the city of Yue, copper threads represent warriors and silver threads represent martial artists. These four silver threads should be a symbol of fourth-level martial artists, almost at the top level in the city of Yue. He didn't expect that with Ruan Li's current abilities, he could actually stir up such an existence.

  As for the old man being able to see through his thoughts, that's secondary. Those low-level warriors couldn't understand what he was doing and thought Yue Yu was just practicing sword forms. However, in the eyes of this fourth-grade martial artist who had been immersed in martial arts all his life, the purpose of Yue Yu changing these sword forms was naturally as clear as fire.