After acquiring a Vision, one's offensive methods are no longer limited to just a few simple ones.
Imagine, your opponent in battle suddenly leaps high and unleashes a bolt of lightning or is engulfed in fierce flames. In such a situation, mere swordsmanship is useless.
Only a Vision can counter a Vision, unless the martial arts have reached an extremely high level, or the Vision holder is a frail mage; otherwise, defeat is the only outcome.
At least, that's how Tejima saw it. He had never encountered anyone who could defeat him with martial arts alone.
Today's match could only be considered a duel of martial arts and did not account for Visions. If elemental power were used, Tejima was confident he could defeat his disciple within three moves.
"By the way, would you like to learn more profound swordsmanship?" Tejima asked, looking at the girl resting on the ground.
"Of course I want to, but I should wait a bit first. I've learned a lot this past month, so I need time to solidify it."
Shiki's month of continuous practice allowed her to learn all of Tejima's sword moves, but she still needed time to integrate them before she could use them freely in combat.
Simply put, she needed to form her own fighting style. Someone else's style would definitely not suit her as well as her own.
Furthermore, she could view the Ley Lines and try to master the Secret Techniques that had been lost hundreds of years ago, so Shiki truly didn't care for the dojos in Inazuma City.
Now that she had a foundation, she needed Secret Techniques that could determine victory or defeat. With the Ley Lines as her treasure trove, there was no need to seek resources far and wide.
Speaking of which, after a full month of rest, her spirit should be able to support a deep link with the Ley Lines once again.
Last time, she had originally intended to watch the duel between the Oni Youth and the Tengu Girl, but somehow ended up witnessing the scene of Raiden Ei furiously slaying the Great Serpent.
How could the battle between Archons be casually spied upon by a mortal? Naturally, Shiki's spiritual energy was completely drained, and it took her a month of rest to recover.
Tejima felt that Shiki's reasoning was fine; having such foresight was a good thing.
As the saying goes, a tall building starts from the ground up, and consolidating what she had learned was extremely necessary.
"In any case, as long as you have made your decision, that's fine. I know quite a few people in Inazuma City."
After Tejima finished speaking, he walked back into the house. Cultivation required a balance of work and rest, after all. Although he was much better off than the girl, he was old, and his energy was no longer as abundant as it was in his youth.
The girl could recover her energy after a short rest, but he couldn't. Today was no longer suitable for strenuous activity.
Seeing Tejima return to the house to rest, Shiki took the Kujikanesada and left the backyard.
The past month had led to significant progress in her sword skills, and it had also greatly amplified her desire for destruction.
Yu the Great taught people a principle long ago: channeling is better than blocking. Therefore, Shiki planned to slay a few monsters to properly vent her feelings while it wasn't too late in the day.
If suppressed for too long, it could cause psychological problems.
However, just as Shiki was preparing to leave the village and head toward Araumi, a small boy ran up from beneath a tree.
"Big Sister! Big Sister! Are you leaving the village? Can you take me with you?" The little boy looked at the girl expectantly, his bright, dark eyes blinking constantly, practically screaming "I want to go outside."
"Xiao , it's dangerous outside. You should stay in the village," Shiki sighed softly.
The boy named Xiao in front of her was the same little boy who had mistaken her for some kind of dirty spirit a month ago.
But she couldn't blame him; anyone would be startled if a figure suddenly appeared late at night.
Even though Shiki had stayed cooped up practicing in the courtyard for the entire month, she inevitably had contact with the villagers, and they had grown familiar with each other over time.
Xiao was just one of them.
"But... it's so boring staying in the village all the time!" Xiao was a little unwilling to give up. He had hardly ever left the village, and when he did, he only wandered nearby.
"Boredom is better than losing your life. I'm going to exterminate monsters, not sightseeing. If you follow me, you'll only be causing me trouble."
Shiki was firm about leaving the village. She knew how dangerous monsters were to ordinary people, let alone children.
Xiao was startled by the girl's cold tone and immediately dropped the subject of leaving the village.
After dealing with the mischievous child, Shiki left Konda Village. It had been over a month, and she was going to get her revenge on the Hilichurls!
Hilichurls were the most common monsters on the continent of Teyvat. It was unclear why they were everywhere; they were supposedly the corrupted people of an ancient nation twisted by the Abyss, yet they were spread throughout the entire continent of Teyvat.
More importantly, they seemed endless. Clearing out monsters was the most common task given by the Adventurers' Guild, yet no matter how many were cleared, a new batch would soon pop up.
Slimes could be explained by the theory of elemental precipitates, but what about Hilichurls?
Shiki couldn't figure it out. She always felt there was some huge secret hidden within, but what she needed to do now was relieve her inner desire for destruction and get some payback.
After walking for a while, Shiki saw a Waypoint. The beach was not far away, and this was clearly the only route leading to Ritou.
But she wasn't heading to Ritou; she was going to the place where she first crossed over, which was most likely Araumi, according to her deduction. She wondered if she could still find that Torch Hilichurl from back then.
After resonating with the Waypoint, Shiki continued on her journey, but she seemed to encounter something both familiar and strange.
It was an Electro Seelie, shaped like a purple sphere with a pair of small wings. When Shiki saw it, it was perched on a branch.
'An Electro Seelie? If I follow it, will a treasure chest pop out of the ground?' Shiki wondered to herself.
When she walked up to the branch, the Electro Seelie emitted a flash of lightning, then traced a Z shape in the air before landing on a large rock.
Shiki, affected by the lightning flash, felt a tingling sensation spread across her body. This was Elemental Application, just like how Hydro Application causes the Wet status.
But she had to admit, the tingling feeling was quite comfortable, almost like a massage.
After arriving at the large rock where the Electro Seelie was, it repeated the previous behavior, flying to the center of a patch of grass.
But this time, it wasn't floating; it was rooted in the grass like a flower.
'So there's no treasure chest after all...'