Chapter 22: The Basic Attack Lesson

As always, Ai Lie woke up earlier today, preparing for her main schedule. But what makes it different, today she feels so excited and fresh. She couldn't believe Xin Suan's blessing really change her mood. Because of those excitements, she is happily walking to the empty lot without taking a break. But she still drinks some water to keep her body hydrated.

"Wow. You changed only in a day.", Xin Suan walks beside her.

"Ehehehe. It's all thanks to you, Ge Ge!", She happily continues her steps with full of excitement.

"You should thank yourself. Without your mood, you will get tired easier."

"You really know me. My mood swings are weird, I couldn't understand why sometimes I'm being extremely upset, or in contrary, extremely happy just like today. I'm a bit crazy, huh?"

"No... You are not. Beside, I prefer this side of you. I hate to see you angry or cry."

"Hehehe okay!"

The two has entered the empty lot in the middle of the wood.

"How do you feel? Need to take a rest?"

"Hmm! I want to sit for a while..."

"Very well.", Xin Suan sits beside her, "Today, we will practice a bit of the dance performance. And after that, if we still have free time, I'll teach you the real basic attack skill."

"Okay! I'm ready!", She immediately stands on her small feet, "Come, take my hand. Hehehe.", She helps him to stand.

"Let's begin the practice.", He summons her silver thin sword, "Here."

"Ai, I need to tell you something. The dance will be held at the Sheng Shui Lake, it's at the Xiu Zhen's territory. The lake is wide enough, and you will perform the dance on the surface of the water."

"HUH?? ON THE SURFACE??", She couldn't believe what he said. Of course it's impossible for humans like her to stand on the surface of the water without drowning inside.

"Yeah. Don't worry, before the performance begin, there's a ritual where you ask for our blessings. We will help you to stand steadily on the water."

"O-okay..."

"Now, I will show you a bit of the dance movement.", He summons his own large crimson blade, "I'm not good enough at sword dancing, but I know a little how to do it."

Xin Suan starts to spin around. His unraveled long black hair is blown away, as well as his three layered robes, exposing his black trousers inside his thick robes and his black leather boots. He moves his blade up and downward, slashing through the air, and spin his wrist into a circle, as if he is in a battle with invisible enemies. Somehow, Ai Lie feels the scenery is beautiful, eventhough Xin Suan's movements are a little clumsy.

"Hehehe it's so cute to see you dancing!!"

"Hey. Don't tease me. I told you I'm not good at sword dancing. I only know how to cut my preys with my blade. Beside, I'm not a woman."

"Oops sorry sorry... I don't mean to tease you, but it feels very interesting to watch you spinning around."

"Now, your turn."

"O-okay!"

"Fuh....", She closed her eyes. She is trying to concentrate, and trying to remember every step of Xin Suan's movements. Her heart beats faster than before.

"Wait, wait, I feel so nervous..."

"Dont worry, no one else watching you except me."

"Hmm! Okay! Fuh....", She exhales a long breath, reliefing her burden in her heart.

She starts to dance. She copied every of Xin Suan movements that he showed her. Her long brown hair is blown away. Miraculously, she did the dance even better than Xin Suan. Her legs can support her body well when she turns her body around. Her movements are more flexible, but the only thing she is lacking is the way she swings her sword. She isn't powerful enough, far different than Xin Suan.

"Hey, what's that? You actually can dance? That's cheating. Now I understand why you teased me."

"No I didn't mean to tease you!"

"Then why are you dancing even better than me? As if you already know the dance.", He pinches her cheek.

"Back then, when I was a 7 y.o., I've ever learn ballet. About 6 years."

"Ba...re? What's that?"

"Ahh... That's a foreign dance in my world. Hehehe. Do you want to see? I think I can do it a little."

"Of course, with pleasure."

"Okay... Huft... I hope I can do it well.", She removed her shoes and drop her sword on the ground. She tied her long unraveled hair into a high ponytail.

She starts to circle her arms around, and put her body weight on her toes. She stands on her tiptoes and spins around. She dance beautifully, and the dance that she performed is a part of the 'Swan Lake' dance. That's her most favorite dance when she was learning ballet. Xin Suan is mesmerised by the dance he had never watched before. The wind blows stronger than before, the dried leaves start to fly everywhere around her, but those make her performance become more beautiful.

"Hup! And that's the example of ballet. I didn't perform it all, I'm afraid my body isn't as flexible as before."

'Clap clap clap!', "That's magnificent!", He is trully complimenting her from his heart.

"A-ah.. No, it's not good enough. I know that I made some mistakes at some movements."

"I don't care. I only care about the beauty of your dance that I watched."

"... You make me embarrased.", She is blushing red.

"We don't have to worry about your performance then.", He strokes her head softly, "You only need to learn how to swing your sword with one hand. You need to give it more power. Your swings were so soft like a feather."

"O-oh okay!"

"Let me give you an experience of powerfully attack with only your left hand.", He puts her sword back to her palm, and leads her to grip the hilt. He pressed his palm tightly to her small fist.

"Imagine, like there's a demon in front of you, ready to attack you from any directions that you don't even know yet. To help you, I'll summon a dummy."

'Swoosh!', He summons another wooden human dummy, but this time, the dummy can moves. It holds a wooden sword, readily to jump forward and smack it on Ai Lie's head.

"This practice is good both for your dance and to train you the basic attack skills. Slaining an enemy with one hand is highly possible for you to do."

"O-okay... But I'm still not ready yet.", She feels nervous, afraid if she's getting hurt by the attacks of the dummy.

Her hand is trembling, and Xin Suan noticed it, "No need to worry, you have me by your side. Beside, I'm the one who controlled the dummy's movement."

"Phew... Okay. I'm so sorry, I'm new to this..."

"Now I'll move the dummy near to you."

'Drap drap drap!', the dummy starts to move forward in a high speed.

"Ah!", Ai Lie's fear is controlling her mind. She is ready to run away from the dummy, trying to dodge its attack.

"You'll be fine. Don't worry, I'll teach you step by step.", He stops her by holding her shoulder.

"I'll move the dummy's sword."

'Swoosh!', The dummy lifts its wooden sword upward. "Ah!", Ai Lie immediately covers her head with her right hand, until she realized that the dummy is actually stops moving.

"I told you right, I will teach you step by step. I will never land the sword to you. Trust me, and trust yourself."

"O-oh I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"Ha... Stop saying sorry, Ai. You aren't making any mistakes. You just have to build your confidence more. Remember what you did yesterday? You could easily break the dummy into two pieces. Now, you can do it too."

"A-ah right.. I'm sorry... Everytime I saw something in high speed reaching near to me, especially to my head, my hand will always reflexing to protect my head instead of dodging or blocking it..."

"That's normal. You weren't built to be a fighter anyway. But because you ask me to teach you basic martial arts, you need to change your mindset. Your bare hand will never succeed to protect your head from being chopped off, but it will be different if you block the attacks with your sword."

"Ah... O-okay."

"There are two vital spots that demons are harder to regenerate, it's their heads and hearts. We need more energy to regenerate these ones. To help you to defeat the enemies faster, you have to hit at least one of those vital spots. There'd be a time where you don't have to block the enemies attack, but instead you target their vital spots to finish them with one strike.", He points the sword at Ai Lie's hand to the chest of the dummy.

"Let's take a look at this dummy. As you can see, there are so many open areas at this dummy that you could easily enter. But our enemies aren't statues like this, they will try to protect themselves too. I'll give you an example, go try to stab its chest.", He released his grip.

"O-okay", She feels nervous without Xin Suan's help, "Hyah!", She moves her sword forward, targeting one spot on its chest.

'CLANG!', The dummy blocks her attack, and she lose her grip from her sword, "Ah! No!"

"That's just an example. Now take your sword."

"Okay...", She took the sword that fell on the ground.

"I'll move the dummy in random directions."

'Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!', the dummy swinging around the wooden sword in a high speed.

"Your next mission, is to search the open spot that you think is the best that you can enter, and then stab it. You may thrust any spot you want, but the vital spots are the better ones."

"W-Whoa I think this is still too much for me to handle, Ge Ge!", Her fear is once again controlling her mind. Judging by the way the dummy swings it sword, of course Ai Lie will get a smack on some parts of her body. She doesn't want herself to get injured.

"You'll be fine. I won't hurt you, Ai, I could easily stop the dummy if it's ever almost hitting you. Now, try to concentrate. I have explain the weakness spots that we demons have, all you have to do is practicing it. I won't lend you my strength. Oh, and, you are prohibited to use your right hand, so I'll tied it up."

"EHH????", Her right hand is suddenly being strangled by something invisible, and her right arm is stick to her body. She really is unable to move her right arm even if it's just a bit.

"Focus, Ai. The sun is going to set."

"O-okay.... Huft....", She tried to put her mind at ease. She tried her best to control her fear, because she believed in Xin Suan.

The dummy is swinging its sword around, from many directions, as if it's trying to protect its body from any attack. The first thing she has in mind after watching the dummy's movement is, of course, impossiblement.

'What if my left hand being smacked by it? It must be really hurt, and will left a bruise on my hand afterward.', Those words are echoing inside her mind. She couldn't imagine how painful her hand will be if she fails to stab the dummy, but instead her hand is the one being injured.

"The time is running, Ai."

"O-okay, I'm sorry! I'll try my best."

She tried to remember yesterday's excitement when she successfully slashed off the dummy's head without any obstacles. She couldn't forget the euphoria, as if she has gained an achievement. Right now, she has only one job to do, and she can't run away from her duty. Xin Suan is there, patiently waiting for her to done her mission.

"Very well....", She stares the dummy sharply.

She is focusing her sight to only one spot, the chest. The target has been locked, and now it's the time for her to strategize the next moves she should take. Which direction is the best for her to step in? The more she watches the dummy, the more she realises the dummy is actually moving in somewhat repeated movements. Its movements are having a pattern. And now, she has learned the pattern, she is waiting the right moment to stab her sword when she gets the chance.

"Hyahh!!", She immediately runs forward when she saw the open spot.

'Stab!', the dummy stops moving. She has successfully stab its chest powerfully with only one hand until the sharp edge of the sword is thrusting through its back. Once again, there are no obstacle when she launched her attack, nothing is blocking her sword.

"There you go.", He dispel his magic from her right arm.

"I... I did it. I DID IT!!!", She immediately runs to him. She couldn't believe what she has done.

"You are smart. You must have realized the dummy's strange movements."

"Yeah, I realized after watching it for 5 minutes without a blink! It actually just happened because I was targeting the chest..."

"That's the basic skill of attacking your target with one blow. Not all of your enemies are swordsmen, Ai, I believe most of them are only hungry pretas who will attack and defend in random directions just like what I showed you. Lowly pretas are far way more stupid than us, they will show their open spots without their knowing. However, it will be different if you face pretas who are smart and mastered at weapons just like Hei She, or even more, you face an martial asuras like me. The difficulty will be challenging enough for a beginner like you."

'Gulp!', "O-o-of course I won't expect to pick a fight with someone strong like Ge Ge Hei She, let alone to challenge you, the strongest in this realm... I'd definitely burnt down to a crisp in one second... Hahaha...", She chuckles awkwardly.

"But I have a plan for the last day of our practice, I will test your skill. I want you to face me with your sword, but I will use only my bare hands."

"H-huh....? O-of course, I will die even before the duel begin. I really know how strong you are... It's obvious taking my head off from my body with your bare hands feels nothing but only a joke for you....", She lost her confidence.

"I told you, haven't I?", He stands really close to her as his face getting darkened, "I won't hurt you, and I promise I will never hurt you. If only I did, I will definitely punish myself. Not only me, but you also have the rights to punish me all the way you want, even if I have to pay you by taking my own life.", His voice become colder. He really means it.

"N-no... T-that's... Too much...", Somehow, Ai Lie feels threatened by his words.

By hearing those words, she knows really well that if she ever tried to rebel, this man might lose his mind and will kill her anytime he wants. He is still intimidating as always. He is far way taller than her, eventhough his muscles is not as big as Lord Earth's, but his body has been built to be a fighter, represents how strong and brute he is, and with his cold unalive expression that is always drawn on his face making him more creepy. Their strength's gap are too far, she believes even with just one pull, he could torn her arms apart from her body.

"I promise, Ai, I will always be by your side to protect you.", He pressed her head to his lower chest.

"...", She is still stunned. To many negative thoughts haunting inside her mind. He is a demon, and a demon is a demon. For them, promise means nothing if the stronger one wants to break his own vow. They will fulfill their own gluttony with all costs.

"The sun is almost set. Do you want to end this training?", He strokes her head softly.

"... Y-yeah.", She still scared of him.