It's been several days ever since that incident, essentially cutting off his only source of income now.
Before Sushang became his disciple, he could roam around during the day, looking for someone to swindle from, but now that Sushang had taken most of his days, he had to find a job that was available at night.
Qin Shaoqing also wondered why Sushang had so much time and asked her once.
"Well, most junior Cloud Knights aren't allowed to fight. At most, we can only patrol around and keep order. The reason why I was called in that one time was because most senior Cloud Knights in that department were busy." Sushang recalled that the one time she was called in was when she had met Qin Shaoqing.
Guinaifen, who was the cause of this, felt apologetic and invited Qin Shaoqing to perform with her, promising even pay between them. But street performing was not Qin Shaoqing's thing, so he politely declined.
Now, watching Sushang, who was focused on mastering his technique, Qin Shaoqing felt bored once more.
It took a couple of days, but now Sushang could seamlessly switch between the three stances and was currently mastering the fast style's first set of moves.
"Swing your wrist to increase the swing speed. What you should be aiming for is speed, not power." Qin Shaoqing instantly noticed a flaw in her performance and quickly reprimanded her.
"Yes, Teacher!" Sushang answered and redid the set of movements, now remembering to move her wrist at some parts, but once she reached the end, Qin Shaoqing spoke up again.
"Wrong! The ending position of your sword is too low!"
Qin Shaoqing, who made this technique, spoke of how imperative it was that each movement start and end in the correct place, as that was where each stance could be switched to.
Each stance, though completely different in style, had to be reformed to be able to switch between them.
For example, if he performed a heavy-style downslash, the moment his blade ended, he could perform several other moves that started at that position.
If his opponent chose to dodge, he could follow up with a fast-style thrust, or if his opponent chose to retaliate, he could raise his sword sideways to parry the attack.
Each movement was tailored so that they could interconnect with each other, and if Sushang was proficient enough, she could seamlessly switch between them even if such connections were not in the book. What Qin Shaoqing wrote was only the tip of a huge iceberg.
'Like an ever-changing tide, the unpredictability is its best strength.'
Of course, he couldn't perform such moves in the first place, as his Absolute Sword Sense could only work on others. If he tried to swing a sword like how he imagined it in his mind, he would fail miserably.
If Sushang was talented enough, she would realize how intricate this technique truly was, but such thoughts could only answer themselves in the future.
Looking at Sushang right now, focused on practicing his technique, Qin Shaoqing couldn't help but feel proud.
Yet…
"Ow!" Seeing the thrown stone land at her side, Sushang looked at her teacher in confusion.
"Sigh, we need to work on your reaction speed." Qin Shaoqing also remembered that this technique needed fast thinking to react properly to an enemy's actions.
To be honest, what she truly needed was a sparring partner to refine her technique faster. Real-world experience was much richer than swinging at empty air after all.
But the problem was that he knew nobody who could truly face her, and he couldn't face her directly. If only he could clone himself to watch…
'Ghost-like movements, huh. Well, technically the ghost is not "himself," only a projection of his imagination. Hmm…' Activating the ability, he summoned a ghostly figure similar to Qin Shaoqing.
Imagining the ghost holding a sword, a long blade similar to Sushang's appeared in its hand.
'Now for the moment of truth.' Commanding the ghost, it suddenly moved into an empty spot and got into a stance.
'Yes!' Upon seeing the perfect stance, he continued to move it, performing the first part of the fast-style stance exactly how he had envisioned it.
Sushang, who had witnessed the whole scene, couldn't help but take a deep breath. 'Beautiful.' One word only came to mind. Was this truly the same technique? She felt like her movements and the ghost's movements were completely leagues apart.
After finishing the first part of the fast-style stance, he turned to Sushang. "Well, Little Sushang, how about you spar with the ghost?"
"W-What! I can't fight that!" Sushang, who clearly saw the power difference, felt like she would die before she could fight back.
"It's only a ghost; it can't really hurt you." Qin Shaoqing punched the ghost for demonstration, and it quickly dissipated into smoke after contact with his fist. "See?"
Sushang who saw this quickly regained her fighting spirit and agreed to 'spar'.
Facing each other, Qin Shaoqing set a couple of rules to keep the fight as realistic as possible.
One, if Sushang or the ghost managed to hit each other, Qin Shaoqing would announce it, and both would reset their fight.
Two, no clashing or parrying, as the ghost was an incorporeal being that disappeared if touched at all.
With those two rules in place, both were ready to spar.
"Now, start!" As soon as Qin Shaoqing announced it, his ghost moved first, stabbing Sushang in the chest before disappearing. "Hit to Sushang!"
"What! Master, that's not fair!" Sushang, who was hit before she could react, felt injustice.
"Little Sushang, your opponent won't suddenly hand their sword to you just because you're weaker."
After that loss, Sushang quickly requested a rematch, which ended in another loss. This cycle continued for the rest of the day until Sushang's arms gave out.