"It's just past 14:00 now—we've got four hours until dinner. That should be enough time," the Herrscher of Sentience remarked after glancing at the living room clock.
"Enough time for what?" Chen Luo was baffled by her sudden declaration.
"Enough to teach you the Mantra essence, with a bonus Form essence lesson. At minimum, you'll master the Initiating Form and Transforming Form. If your mental endurance holds up, we might cram in the whole set."
The Form essence comprised four stances—Guardian, Transforming, Initiating, and Unleashing—with twenty-one techniques total: [1]
Initiating Form (3 techniques): Crescent Moon, Severing Seas, Splitting Sky
Transforming Form (6 techniques): Soaring Falcon, Dark Sparrowhawk, Rainswift Swallow, Vinebound Finch, Cloudborne Eagle, Moonlit Heron
Guardian Form (6 techniques): Weeping Willow, Hidden Orchid, Unyielding Bamboo, Ink Chrysanthemum, Pristine Lotus, Verdant Pine
Unleashing Form (6 techniques): Shattering Stone, Chaotic Thunder, Mountain's Collapse, Instant Dust, Stormwind
The Herrscher of Sentience knew that Chen Luo would learn more and more things in the future with his magical talent, and it would be more and more wonderful. It would be normal for the Edge of Taixuan to be obsolete in the future, but it would definitely not be wrong to lay a good foundation for him.
"Wait—Edge of Taixuan is that easy to learn?"
Four hours for all this?
"Of course it's not easy. That old timer spent centuries refining it. But I'm the Herrscher of Sentience. Ever heard of mental space? Or illusion realms?"
"…Huh?" Chen Luo's alarm bells rang.
"In a mental space, a day inside might be a minute—or even a second—outside. So, A'Luo, brace yourself. Once I finish these spicy strips, we're diving into Edge of Taixuan." She said while opening a bag of spicy strips.
"??? You mean four subspace hours?"
"Yep."
"I just remembered that I have something else to do-homework! I gotta go, so can you get off me!" He tried to squirm free.
They'd maintained the same position this whole time: her sitting triumphantly on his back.
"Tomorrow after tomorrow, there are so many tomorrows—your homework can wait tomorrow. Just wait for me to finish eating spicy strips and train." She ignored his protests.
Only by reaching the Free of Dust stage in Mantra could Chen Luo attempt Eminence—and no one can deny the Edge of Taixuan's power.
Plus, only by mastering it could he duel Kiana in a proper Eminence beam clash.
This time, the Herrscher of Sentience would insist he take the right-side position.
Her post-defeat analysis was clear: The left side always loses in beam struggles.
So her failure wasn't her fault—just bad positioning!
…
The human brain is miraculous. Some claim we use under 10% of its capacity; others say 5%.
While the exact number is debated, one fact remains: the brain operates far below its potential. [2]
Consciousness processes time strangely. Near death, a lifetime might flash by in seconds.
Could someone live thousands of years mentally while only a year passes physically?
Or will a game be developed in the future, where one day has passed in the game, but only 10 minutes have passed in reality?
Chen Luo couldn't vouch for the latter—but he'd lived the former.
"A'Luo? You okay? You look... spaced out." Venti, seated at the bar, eyed Chen Luo's dazed expression and asked with concern.
"It's nothing. Just overused my brain. Just normal side effects and it's no big deal. I'll just sleep it off." Chen Luo massaged his temples.
After all, no problem survived a good nap. Illness? Sleep. Stress? More sleep.
That afternoon, from 14:00 to 18:00, the Herrscher of Sentience had dragged him into her mental space for training.
There are many advantages to mental space training. The time dilation of the mental space is slow. If you train here for 10 days, not much time will pass outside. In order to match Chen Luo's current mental strength, the Herrscher of Sentience modified the 4 hours outside into 100 days in the mental space.
According to the Herrscher of Sentience, the time is really short, but Chen Luo doesn't think so.
There is another advantage of mental space training, it feels real. He can imprint these lessons into his reflexes, and can clearly realize what he has learned. In addition, the biggest advantage is that after being killed in the mental space, he won't be killed in reality.
The Herrscher of Sentience said that if you want to achieve results, you have to do it in reality. So Chen Luo spent 100 days of training life in the Taixuan Mountain virtualized by the Herrscher of Sentience, and was hacked to death 3080 times in total.
The rewards?
[Swordsmanship Mastery]
Previously reliant on Furniture Mastery, if he loses this ability, then Chen Luo will not be able to control swords so freely.
But now it is different. Even if Chen Luo does not use furniture mastery, Chen Luo can use swordsmanship very well, which means that Chen Luo can already be called a master swordsman.
Chen Luo is one step closer to becoming a true happy wind man. Only by mastering swordsmanship can Chen Luo continue to break through and become a true master or grandmaster of swordsmanship.
Mastery here was the first step toward Sword Master or Sword Grandmaster.
Other gains:
[Cold Weapons Basic]
[Spearmanship Proficiency]
[Close Combat Basic]
[Fist Techniques Proficiency]
[Edge of Taixuan (Proficiency)]
Brutal training? Absolutely. Effective? Undeniably.
Moreover, this was equivalent to Chen Luo and the Herrscher of Time spending a hundred days together in their own little world—except that most of the time, the Herrscher of Sentience was either training or hunting down Chen Luo.
Her obsession with him mastering Edge of Taixuan far outstripped his own motivation.
Moreover, human potential is really unlimited, especially under the pressure of death.
Alas, Mantra was easy to learn but hard to master—especially for males, who capped at Free of Dust. Had Chen Luo reached Taixuan, his proficiency would've jumped to [Mastery].
In summary, Chen Luo has learned one and a half of the five essences of the Edge of Taixian.
Mantra, half of Sanction, and half of Form
The first two require an opportunity to break through, and the latter is simply a lack of practice time.
Yes, even 100 days of practice is still considered insufficient time. After all, Chen Luo is not Kiana, and 100 days is not enough to be considered a master, and this is still Chen Luo's talent.
Kiana? She'd just cheated.
The thought of her mastering Edge of Taixuan in weeks made Chen Luo's face twist with envy.
Now, Chen Luo watched eagerly as the Herrscher of Sentience raised a glass of his custom cocktail at the bar and was about to drink it.
It is important to make a good drink, but it is more important to be approved by the people you value.
"Pfft—!"
She spat out the pale green liquid after a sip.
"CHEN LUO! WHY DOES THIS TASTE LIKE BITTER MELON?!"
The bar shook under her roar.
TL Notes
[1]: The names won't be a perfect translation since I can't find the localized names for the edge of Taixuan. Here is the source if you want to translate it yourself https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%AA%E8%99%9A%E5%89%91%E6%B0%94/24135416
[2]: This is false