Chapter 763: Becoming the Teacher |
Days went by, soon weeks, then months, and finally, a few years passed. Even then. the mountains and rivers had not changed.
On the outskirts of Luan City, there was a simple house hidden within a small clearing. It was small and quaint, featuring only a single floor and a roof. There was a garden beside it, half of it grew crops while the other half grew medicinal plants. Because of this, the area smelled of a sweet earthiness.
Aside from that, things were very lively in fact.
"Teacher, teacher! I think I feel the Quintessence Energy!"
"I don't feel anything at all! Does it really exist if we can't see it?"
"Of course, it exists dummy! If it didn't, how would Teacher be able to do all of those things!"
Scattered in the grassy enclosure were a group of children, some were moving around while others kept still. They were no older than ten years old and they were very energetic.
As for their so-called teacher, she was standing in front of them, circling around with a smile.
"Yes, Miss Ming Yue!"
There were over ten kids, all answering her at the same time whilst Ming Yue continued to watch over them.
Her appearance now hadn't changed much. Certainly, she looked more mature, older, less like a girl and more like a woman. But she still had her two swords and wore the Shifting Clouds Armor. Her hair was still adorned with the Dusk Lily Pin.
Moments later, several figures arrived at the entrance of the clearing, grabbing everyone's attention. The kids were the first to shout.
"Look, it's sister Hongyu!"
"It's Xiao Yin!"
"Oh, It's Hei Yue!"
"Liang Wei is here!"
All of them had varying things to say as they rushed up to the group, happy to see their return.
Hongyu had grown quite a bit in the past few years. She had grown a head taller, nearing just a little under five feet tall. The young girl carried her sword in her hand and wore light purple robes. She wore a leather pauldron over her right shoulder alongside some waist armor.
She greeted the children with a small smile, walking past them and towards Ming Yue.
The woman knelt down, hugging Hongyu before letting her go.
"Welcome back, how was your hunt?" she asked her.
Hongyu took a step back before taking something out of her own spatial ring, piling on the bodies of three beasts.
"Hmm, two Red-Horned Boars and a Fang Wolf, you caught quite a lot this time", said Ming Yue.
Hongyu nodded.
"It wasn't that hard", she replied, "I found the Fang Wolf in the middle of hunting those boars."
"Ah, you took advantage of their attention and struck at the best time. That's good, that's good! Looks like tonight's dinner will be good, some roasted boar meat sounds good don't you think?"
The young girl nodded at her suggestion, showing a bit of excitement for dinner.
"Alright, go inside the house and clean yourself up. After that, come out and join the others. They're going to have sparring practice."
Hongyu did as she was told, entering the house to freshen up.
Meanwhile, Ming Yue placed the two boars and the wolf corpse into her spatial ring, processing it later. She turned her attention towards the trio of beasts, surrounded by children and busy playing with them.
"Come on everyone, you can play later! Or do you not want to learn how to cultivate?" she called out.
All of the kids quickly stopped what they were doing and ran back to her, eagerly waiting for her instruction.
"Hahaha, don't worry you'll have plenty of time to play after. Now then everyone, take a deep breath and try to think about nothing. Breathe slowly and as you breathe, feel the air around you, let it go through your body."
They all sat down and crossed their legs, doing as she had guided them.
Ming Yue watched carefully, examining them all. Though none of them would be able to absorb Quintessence Energy yet, letting them experience that sensation early would certainly help them in the future.
After all, the Human Realm was focused on strengthening the physical body and that was what the sparring for was. Hongyu soon came out cleaned up and it was time for the children to practice.
"Alright, everyone, pick out your weapon and we'll start."
Ming Yue brought out over a hundred pieces, all of which were varying styles and expertly carved out of wood.
The kids scattered, taking their pick and patiently waiting for everyone to finish. Most took up the sword while some picked and axe or daggers. Seeing that they had made their choice, Ming Yue moved out, taking out a wooden stick as her weapon of choice.
"Now, do you all remember what I taught you last time?"
The children nodded, holding their weapons tightly before taking a stance.
"I'm going to pick out partners for everyone and once I do, the person I choose will begin first. Now, be very careful and don't attack anywhere delicate. If I see any of you hitting your partner in the head or the butt, I'm going to hit you in the butt!"
The children giggled, none of them could keep still while Ming Yue made pairs with everyone.
All that was left was Hongyu and herself.
"You'll be with me", Ming Yue told her.
And with everyone paired together, the clacking sound of wooden weapons hitting against each other. These kids might be kids but this wasn't their first time swinging a weapon around.
Swinging, slashing, thrusting, each pair fought each other with some amount of skill.
As for Hongyu, she brought out her real sword and started attacking Ming Yue relentlessly. But every attack was easily parried by a simple wooden stick. But of course, she wasn't on the defensive the whole time, striking Hongyu every now and then.
In fact, Ming Yue wasn't entirely focused on their match. Her eyes shifted between each pair of children, checking their techniques. Every now and then, she'd compliment one child before giving pointers out to another. Everyone was focused, exchanging hundreds of moves only to stop when the sun was setting.
By then, the kids were all gasping for air and using their wooden weapons to stay up.
Ming Yue walked around, helping to wipe off the sweat while giving them a cup of water to drink. After that, she spoke to them.
"Hmm, if you keep this up for the rest of the year, you might reach the second stage of the Human Realm. But it's getting dark now, you should all head home. Xiao Yin and the others will bring you back!"
They all grouped by and followed the beasts out, waving goodbye to Ming Yue.
"Goodbye, Teacher!"
"Goodbye! I'll see you all next week!"
She waved back, watching them leave before focusing all of her attention on Hongyu.
"Come on, let's go get dinner started."
Together, they went to process Hongyu's catch, skinning and butchering the boars first before doing the wolf next. Ming Yue sliced the meat into chunks, seasoning them and skewering them onto metal skewerings.
Hongyu had collected some twigs into a small pile for a campfire. Ming Yue snapped her finger, creating a small spark that struck the kindling. Together, they fed the flames with more wood until there was a small fire. With the fire going, they let the boar meat cook while gathering some greens from the garden.
Soon enough, they had a meal ready and the beasts had returned right on time.
"Come on, everyone, it's time to eat."
