Chapter 32: Gotta Teach My Disciple

Even after riding through dense primeval woods for nearly two hours, we hadn’t encountered a single hostile creature. Not a dire-wolf, not a venomous python, not even an aggressive spirit boar. The entire forest was dead silent, save for the wind rustling through the canopy.

I frowned, reining in my horse as suspicion crept into my mind. "Strange. This valley is famous for beast dens. Did a wandering sect sweep through here recently?"

Then, my divine sense flickered inward, and I stared down at my chest.

Smack.

I slapped my own forehead in exasperation.

What an idiot.

Ever since breaking through to Late-Stage Core Formation, my Golden Core had been humming with dense, terrifying spiritual mass. Even though I wasn’t deliberately flexing my power, an expert’s residual aura naturally leaked into the surrounding air. To low-tier beasts with sharp primal instincts, I was essentially a walking, breathing miniature sun of apocalyptic predator energy. Any beast with half a brain within five miles had probably burrowed three feet into the dirt just to hide from me.

Shaking my head at my own carelessness, I clamped down on my dantian, withdrawing every speck of my spiritual aura until I appeared no different from an ordinary mortal traveler.

Sure enough, after trotting through the winding rocky gorge for another half hour, the bushes ahead violently rustled.

ROAR!

A deafening, guttural bellow tore through the ravine, shaking loose gravel from the cliffs.

The heavy branches snapped like toothpicks, and a massive creature bounded out onto the rocky path fifty paces ahead, blocking our way.

It was a Thunder-Scale Shadow Tiger, a massive, twelve-foot-long predator covered in dark-purple, metallic scales that crackled with arcs of blue lightning. Its fangs were like curved ivory daggers, and its glowing amber eyes locked onto our warhorses with savage, predatory hunger.

A Tier 3 Magical Beast, the equivalent of a human Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Our Tier 2 stallions immediately reared up, letting out frightened whinnies, their hooves skidding against the loose stone.

"Qingxue, dismount and take the horses behind that large boulder," I commanded calmly, sliding smoothly out of my saddle and landing lightly on the dirt. "Keep your eyes open and observe closely. Today, your Master will show you how a sword should be wielded."

"Master, be careful!" Qingxue called out, though she obeyed without hesitation, swiftly grabbing the reins and leading the trembling beasts behind a massive granite crag twenty yards back. She peeked around the rock, her dark eyes glued to my back.

I turned to face the roaring beast.

With a soft whistle, my green flying sword slid smoothly from its scabbard, settling into my right palm.

Normally, with my Late-Stage Golden Core might, I could have sneezed and vaporized this oversized cat into bloody mist. But that wouldn’t teach Qingxue anything.

Taking a slow breath, I actively suppressed my dantian, locking eighty percent of my golden essence away and restricting my output strictly to the Middle Foundation Establishment Realm.

Furthermore, I wanted to test out a reward I had sitting in my arsenal. A few days ago, after teaching Qingxue the foundational sword stances of our peak, the system had rewarded me with a 10x evolution: the Gale-Severing Willow Sword Art. It wasn’t my strongest technique by a long shot, but it was swift, lethal, and remarkably practical for teaching fundamentals.

ROAR!

The Thunder-Scale Tiger didn’t wait. Sensing the sudden drop in my aura, it assumed I was an easy meal. Its muscular hind legs coiled, detonating against the dirt as it lunged forward like a streak of blue lightning, its razor-sharp claws whistling through the air, aimed straight for my neck.

I didn’t step back.

"Form one: Willow Bending with the Wind," I muttered aloud, my voice clear enough for Qingxue to hear over the roar.

Just as the massive, lightning-clad paw was about to take my head off, I shifted my weight by a mere three inches. My spine curved like a supple willow branch in an autumn storm, letting the tiger’s deadly claws graze my white sleeve by a hair’s breadth.

The beast’s momentum carried it past me, exposing its flank.

SHING!

My sword flickered. I didn’t use brute force; I channeled a thin, compressed thread of wind-attribute qi along the edge, delivering a crisp, diagonal slash across its ribs.

Clang-crack!

The hardened metallic scales fractured, drawing a bright line of crimson blood. The tiger shrieked in pain, its thick, iron-like tail whipping around like a steel whip, tearing through the air toward my ribs.

"Form three: Severing the Flowing Stream!"

Instead of dodging, I stepped directly into the attack’s blind spot. My jade blade spun in my grip, striking the side of its tail with the flat of the sword to redirect the kinetic force into the ground before reversing the momentum into an upward thrust that gouged into its rear tendon.

The beast collapsed onto one knee with an enraged howl. Sparks of violent blue lightning erupted across its body, attempting to blast me into charcoal at point-blank range.

I smiled calmly, my footwork carrying me through an effortless, circular dance. Every burst of lightning struck only my lingering afterimages. I dismantled the beast piece by piece, using minimum effort to exploit every flaw in its balance, every opening in its defenses, turning a deadly life-and-death clash into an absolute masterclass of martial precision.

Behind the boulder, Shen Qingxue was completely spellbound, her hands clenched tightly against the stone as she watched my fluid, untouched figure weave through claws and lightning.

After five minutes of deliberate practice, having thoroughly familiarized myself with the sword technique’s transitions, I decided playtime was over.

"And finally: Gale Cleaving the Void."

I planted my back foot, lowered my stance, and let my suppressed Foundation Establishment qi condense into a single, razor-sharp point of green light at the tip of the blade.

The tiger lunged one final time in sheer desperation, its jaws wide open to bite me in half.

FLASH.

A single, blinding arc of emerald sword-light sliced through the dim gorge, accompanied by a sonic boom that severed the falling leaves in mid-air.

I stood five paces behind the beast, casually flicking my wrist to shake a single drop of blood off my blade before sliding the sword smoothly back into its scabbard with a crisp click.