Training Partners

That guy was such a fool, if he had just kept to himself, I wouldn't have known about the 'spirit' in the northern part of this forest. But now I know there's something up there, so to him, my chances of attacking him are much higher now.

But as I said before, I didn't care about the spirit. I don't need internal energy right now, and that is all a spirit could give me at the moment.

But even if he's a fool, that middle-aged man has given me something good, two talented twins I can use as training partners.

I turned back to the twins, who were still kneeling on the ground, holding their stomachs in severe pain.

"You two, why are you no longer in a reputable sect or family within Jianghu?"

Pyo Kang stood up as I asked the question and wiped the blood off his mouth before he spoke, "We were banished from the family we were born into. But can we speak of this no further, he and I don't want to remember that family any longer."

They were banished from their family huh? Well, they still seem to be rather young, I guess it's a good thing they got banished. Cause now they get the chance to be my personal punching bags.

"Alright, I won't pry anymore. But I assume you don't have anywhere else to go now, so why don't you two stay here?"

Pyo Kang and Pyo Yong stared blankly at me, clearly confused about what I had just said.

"...What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? Are you dumb? You just lost your current residence, right? That middle-aged man kicked you out because you two were weak, so how would you like to stay here and train with the person capable of beating you while having no internal energy?"

"Why would you train us? You have no reason to."

They're suspicious of me, I would be suspicious of myself too if I had been offered this too. That's good, but I shouldn't be completely honest with them yet. If I were to tell them the whole truth, they'd definitely try to negotiate it, or outright turn down the offer.

"You should know by now that you two aren't the strongest within Jianghu or even the world. If you want to survive on your own, you two will need to become much stronger, and I, someone who beat you without using internal energy, am offering to teach you. Are you going to turn that down?"

Pyo Kang looked down at the ground in silence after hearing my words. Facing the truth as a martial artist was hard, especially if you've been practicing your whole life, you'll still be weaker than someone else in the world.

Pyo Yong slowly stood up and walked over to his brother, extending one arm down to his brother while keeping the other on his injured stomach.

"Brother, he's right."

Surprisingly, it seems like Pyo Yong had already agreed to train with me just from his actions. Pyo Yong honestly seemed to be more mature than his twin brother, I guess he must have undergone training to become the next family head.

"Tch. Fine." Pyo Kang replied, grabbing his brother's hand and pulling himself up off the ground. "We will train with you, but only if it's not a master-servant bond. We will be equals, otherwise we won't stay here with you."

"That's fine, but during the training you will have to listen to me, as I'll be the one deciding how we will train each day, after all, I'm the only one who can make all three of us stronger. Deal?"

The two brothers replied in unison, "Deal."

"Good. Now, I assume the both of you will need some time to heal your internal injuries, so go ahead and take care of that."

The two looked at me confused, not because they didn't understand what I had said. But because they didn't know what I was going to do while they healed their injuries.

Their confusion only got worse as I climbed into a push-up position. In most cases, martial artists only hone their bodies to a level where they can perform their martial arts with ease. But the way they do that is by practicing their martial arts without using internal energy.

But the knowledge from the future I possess and the knowledge of the Mount Song Sect's techniques. I could probably pass through the Muscle Tempering stage within six months, maybe even less.

Pyo Kang, still utterly confused as to what I was doing, opened his mouth to speak. "...Uhmmm, Sir?"

"My name is Ryu Il, make sure to remember it well, we'll be training for quite a while here."

"Right. Ryu Il, why are you doing that?" Pyo Kang asked as I continued doing push-ups.

"You want to be strong, no? The first step to being stronger than anyone is to train your body. If your body is strong without internal energy, you will be exponentially stronger when you do have internal energy."

Pyo Yong held his arm out in front of his brother before he could speak again, it seemed like he had a question of his own.

"Ryu Il, martial arts requires your body to be flexible and smooth, but training your body this way makes your body rugged and stiff. Wouldn't that make our martial arts weaker?"

While he did have a point, he didn't have full knowledge of the situation.

"Pyo Yong, Pyo Kang." I said, pausing my push-ups and standing up to look at them, "While this method of training does make your body less optimal for that of martial arts, it is not the only training we will be doing. Every day we will train our muscles to be sturdy, but smooth, and if you do it properly, the both of you will become strong enough to fight those with higher internal energy than you to a draw, or maybe even win outright."

Pyo Kang and Pyo Yong looked down at their hands, their view of martial arts had been cracked wide open by my words.

"But for now, sit and heal your internal injuries. Once you've both finished that, I'll start teaching you the proper way to learn martial arts."