A week later.
His frantic movements were no longer ignored by people passing by his training site, as they had been since day one.
Xiaotian no longer made rookie mistakes. Now, the same force he used to create the attack reached its target.
Because of this, some curious people paid him more attention, although many still wondered: What is he training for?
It should be noted that this Tower grants Cultivation Techniques that all its members can train in; that's why everyone wants to be a member. Many of these techniques are truly eccentric and require strange movements, but none compare to this one.
Halfway through training, Xiaotian suddenly stopped and looked at the sky through the window.
'It's still early,' he thought and looked at the stairs leading to the upper floors.
The drunken elder had to be there, but all week long, he hadn't managed to see him even once, although he had heard him. He was sure that a man as eccentric as he hadn't been quiet these days.
He must have seen him at least once, but he didn't approach him. Not even when he was training with fire.
But there were still a few hours left, and he didn't lose hope.
He sat down and began to absorb spirit crystals.
Something in his life root was catching his attention these days. He was level 2, but he could absorb between 60 and 65 spirit crystals a day, 20 more than the normal maximum!
Four hours later, he had absorbed 10 crystals, so he stood up again.
He grabbed his sword and held it for a brief moment.
He stared at it intently, as if studying it. As if he wanted to scrutinize it thoroughly, learn its secrets, and understand how to make each movement...
In fact, he went through the entire sequence of movements he was training, over and over again, in his mind's eye.
Suddenly, the entire sword burst into flames. It was a special fire, not burning, but hot. It was extremely sharp, as if the fire itself were a sword.
It emitted intense heat that made him sweat in seconds, but he didn't care.
He held the sword with both hands and raised it above his head. Then he raised his right leg, balancing only on his left leg.
He took a deep breath and began to move.
His first movement was vertical downward, with a jump forward. He immediately launched a horizontal attack from below, creating an arc in front of him.
At the same time, a stab to the front...
His movements were astonishingly precise, even for him.
Suddenly, he had reached the other side of the room, and a loud thud fell on the metal puppet.
CLANK!
The force of the impact did not throw him backward, as it had on other occasions. On the contrary, it caused the puppet to shake, and he remained in place.
His eyes sparkled with a big smile.
'I did it!' he shouted to himself.
It was only the first form of attack, but... he had done it!
Just once, after more than 50 attempts, he had succeeded.
"Kid." Suddenly, a slightly drunken and curious voice sounded behind him. "I have my doubts about whether I should ask this question, but... What are you doing?"
Xiaotian frowned and turned to see who was speaking to him.
A tall old man, standing at 1 meter 85 centimeters, was there, alone, staring at him. All his hair was white, and two objects hung from his waist: a sword and a bottle of high-quality wine.
His posture was firm and straight as a sword. Although his cheeks were flushed from appearing drunk, his figure commanded respect.
'Drunken Elder!' Although he had been expecting this moment, he was still stunned when he saw him.
It had really worked.
He was perplexed.
"I mean, kid." The elder spoke again in a hoarser tone. "I can't deny that when I first saw you, I knew you were a genius swordsman. And now I can certify it. In such a short time, you've improved in..."
He paused for a moment, confused about what to say.
"Whatever you're doing," he said, and continued. "But what exactly are you doing? I've never seen anyone attack with fire like that before. Are you an alchemist, perhaps? Although that would be strange, the power you have is truly amazing."
Xiaotian smiled inwardly.
"Greetings, Elder." He greeted him respectfully before answering. "I'm not an alchemist, I'm a swordsman." He emphasized before continuing.
"I'm training a new technique, sir. Don't you think it's splendid? It uses fire in a peculiar way and dramatically increases my attack power."
"I can see that." He nodded. "What I can't see is where that is taking you. Although they are sword attacks, they don't seem to follow a strict order."
He smiled.
Exactly.
Skills don't follow a strict order of the word; they simply make something that should happen, happen.
'Too bad I can't tell him that.'
"I believe that strict order is not so necessary when the attack has power and follows the movement of the sword."
"Hmph, nonsense." The old man snorted, angry at his response. "If it doesn't follow a strict order, then it's easily interrupted. Don't you understand? You're not the only one with attacks; your enemies have them too."
"Everyone has attacks, but not everyone has power in them. Once one of my attacks can strike, he will no longer have a chance to stop me, for I will complete the entire movement." Xiaotian explained.
"And how are you going to strike? Haven't you noticed the limitation of your movements? They are clumsy, little kid. There are 15 openings for every movement; you would never strike." He assured.
Xiaotian frowned instead. "Fifteen openings for every move?" he asked.
That was something he didn't agree with, but this old man said it with such certainty that he doubted himself.
The elder let out a mocking sound. "You haven't even noticed." He snorted before throwing a wooden sword at him that came from somewhere.
"Attack me with everything you've got; I'll show you," he said.
Xiaotian grabbed the wooden sword and frowned even more. 'Is he serious?' he wondered.
Wait, this was a golden opportunity.
It was what he had been waiting for.
He nodded to the elder and gripped the sword tightly. Before the elder could regret his words, he began to attack him.
He didn't attack openly with the movements of the legacy technique, but rather with the precise attacks of a swordsman.
He had been a swordsman for many years and boasted of being the best in the Earth (which wasn't difficult, since he was the only one in the modern era), but someone said he had many openings in his technique. What an insult!
He was going to prove to him that this wasn't the case. He had trained alone for so long to perfect every tactic, every movement, that no one else had mastered.
He knew it.
Even the old man recognized that he was good.
'This boy is really good, I can tell he learned on his own,' thought the elder, quite amazed, as he was attacked with agility and swordsmanship technique, much more powerful than he imagined he could do.
He hadn't seen anyone so good, albeit inexperienced, in a long time.
The elder was genuinely interested in every move.
Even so, his gaze...
'He wants to teach me a lesson. It seems he feels hurt because I talked to him about openings.' The elder sneered.
Arrogance.
It's not something a talented swordsman should have!
His sword moved quickly between Xiaotian's precise attacks and struck him in several parts of his body.
His body staggered backward.
"Attack well, little brat. You have too many openings," the elder sneered.
But Xiaotian smiled.
Suddenly, the sword that had been left in a complicated position rose above their heads and fell.
BOOM!
Fire burned on the wood, but it did not burn it. Although it splashed them with intense heat, there were no burns on the wood.
The force of the impact had even surprised the elder, but when the first attack fell, so did a second and even a third.
This was greater power than he had imagined when watching from the sidelines.
No wonder...
'!'
His eyes flashed at that moment, and his sword flew at high speed, cutting through Xiaotian's attacks. In an instant, he had reached Xiaotian's shoulder, striking him and forcing him to fall to the ground.
"I told you so, you little brat," said the elder, approaching him.
On the other hand, Xiaotian was confused.
At first, he didn't care so much that he had been easily intercepted, because it served him perfectly to launch his powerful attack.
But after that, how was he able to stop his onslaught?
He could feel that the elder was clearly holding back, because otherwise, his shoulder would have been shattered. The strength of this elder is not something his miserable body can withstand.
Why was he able to stop him so easily then?
Something was missing in his movements, and he didn't know what it was.
Xiaotian looked up and stared at the elder.
"You used a move from a legacy technique," he said with certainty, understanding what had happened.
The elder looked at him, puzzled. Seconds after, he smiled softly.
"I see." The elder understood something.
He turned and walked toward the stairs leading to the upper floor.
"Follow me, kid," he said.