Optimizing Practice

As the sun started to set in the sky, on top of a cliff, a boy was swinging his sword.

The boy was none other than Ying.

"1000." Ying swung the final blow with all his strength as the blue-silver grass below fluttered slightly.

"Daily quota is done," Ying sighed softly, feeling his entire body crying out in pain.

This was the daily routine Ying had begun to follow as soon as he had gained his motor skills. 

The reason for swinging the sword was very simple: To comprehend the sword's intent. Or at least try to do so.

Ever since Ying realized that the world he had been reborn into, it was natural for him to try to strengthen himself by any means possible.

For this, he tried a lot of experiments, from trying to gain enlightenment by reciting the various Taoist scriptures he had read on Earth to practicing Tai Chi and so on to develop the body.

Ying even did the fabled 100 sit-ups, push-ups, and squats followed by a 6.2-mile (10-km) run every day but only noticed minimal improvement in his physique.

Still, with a fluke mentality, Ying even woke up early to gaze at the rising sun to try to absorb the fabled purple mist rising from the east, but no, nothing.

Over the years, the only thing that he found that had some effect was trying to cultivate various types of intent. No matter how the power system of this world differed from the normal, it was, after all, a cultivation world in essence.

So, every day for at least six hours, Ying carefully honed his spirit and swung his sword with single-mindedness.

  𝘾𝙪𝙩. Intent to cut.

Cut apart the earth below and the heavens above.

Ying single-mindedly practiced with such an intent in mind.

Doing this for three years seemed to have honed his spirit and mind, leading him to develop a hint of sharpness. Due to this sharpness, Ying was able to easily subdue the instinct brought by his blue-silver grass.

Still, over the years, even though Ying had a faint feeling in his heart as if he was about to grasp something, he always remained one step short, but he was not disheartened.

Ying practiced the sword in case he failed in the spirit awakening. After all, he was not heaven's chosen and had a golden finger, so it was necessary to prepare just in case.

But now that he had awakened his martial spirit, even if it was just a blue silver grass, Ying let go of the final worry in his heart and focused wholeheartedly to perceive the intent.

As for the reason for using a sword? It was simply because Ying had a bit of a foundation since he had practiced kendo during his school years. Nothing more, nothing less. Also, swords were kind of cool after all and it was the only weapon his grandpa had.

After finishing the set of physical exercises, Ying sat down and began to practice the meditation method given to him by his 'grandpa'. 

After a few days of experimentation, Ying found that the best way to meditate was to first exhaust his physical strength to the limit, then use the devouring property of his blue silver grass to slowly replenish his spirit and vitality. 

"Plus, it's not that there is no benefit to having blue silver grass as my martial soul either," Ying's eyes glowed bright.

No matter how others mocked Blue Silver Grass, there was one thing that Blue Silver Grass had that other martial souls could not compare with.

As the most common plant on the continent, Blue silver grass may not have any offensive capability, but its tenacious vitality and reproduction speed could not be compared to other living beings.

Blue silver grass was everywhere. So, there was no need to go out of the way to produce an environment to aid in cultivation.

So, for the past 10 days, Ying slowly cultivated. He used everything that could improve his cultivation speed, no matter how small, to optimize his practice state to the fullest.

In this way, while there was no improvement in his spirit level, Ying still felt that his strength had improved a lot.

Especially looking at his martial arts, Ying's lips couldn't help but twitch.

His innate blue-silver grass was red, and its length seemed a little longer than before, especially after cultivation there were small barbs on the leaves.

Overall, it looked as evil as ever.

"At this rate, would it even look like a blue-silver grass at the end?" Ying sighed.

...

After a few days, it was time for the day when the Nuoding Academy finally started.

"Ying'er, your application to join the Spirit Hall has already been finalized. Even though for now, you are only a member in name, you can still get the subsidies," Old Ming patiently spoke to Ying as they drove a carriage towards the Nuoding city.

"It's thanks to grandpa's hard work." Ying was happy.

With the two gold coins as a subsidiary and the five gold coins his grandpa had given him, Ying had a total of seven gold coins. 

A single coin was enough for an ordinary person to live for a month, so combined with a few silver coins he had earned from odd jobs around the village over the years, he was set for the first few months at the academy.

After half an hour, Ying finally reached the Nuoding Academy, and his eyes sparkled.

"It's finally beginning."

...

A/N: Thanks for reading~