The Patriarch lines the courtyard with slow-burning torches and activates array flags surrounding the fighting area to keep the air circulating inside.
It has no strong defensive properties, only minor noise suppression for privacy to not disturb other courtyards.
When the enchanted grass is lit, it slowly ignites, and thin wisps of smoke fill the air.
Little Red hops off my shoulder and sits on a raised marble stair between the foundational spirit moose and the 9th-level Qi Refining brown bear.
Mu Shulan sits beneath her large green eagle's head with a nervous look on her face.
Wang Ming stands before me in the center of the courtyard.
"I'm happy to do so… but why do you want to spar?"
My spiritual senses dive deeper into him, watching his soul start to twist with instability just from being apart from Mu Shulan by a few dozen meters.
Truthfully, I want to study this phenomena up close a little longer, but I think it will benefit Wang Ming too.
I shrug. "It will be good for you. If you stay by her side all day and night, your souls will only become more reliant on each other, stunting both of your potential."
Thin, vibrating wisps of enchanted qi grass drift into the center of the courtyard, forcing us to inhale it as we stand a few meters apart.
"Plus, I wanted to try out these incense. I'm not quite sure how they work yet…"
Wang Ming scrunches his eyebrows but nods with a look of trust in his eyes.
I can feel him reflexively trying to step back and move toward Mu Shulan, so I lunge forward to start our spar.
A heavy thud echoes through the silence as he blocks my incoming fist.
With my recent breakthroughs, all of my physical limits have risen significantly, but fighting at this lower level is not a problem.
I'm still easily able to maintain the elemental qi flowing through my meridians.
I only attack with the strength of a 4th-level qi refiner holding a mid-stage physique at first.
Wang Ming shifts his feet and throws a lazy punch back with similar strength.
When I reach an arm up to block, I grin and let out slightly more of my physique's vibrations, pushing it to the late stage.
"Come on, hit me with more than that. I can handle it," I grunt out while countering.
Thuds and cracks echo throughout the courtyard as it's almost entirely filled with misty smoke from the incense.
I release more and more of my qi refinement layers along with my physique, battling with an initial-stage 6th level of qi refinement and a perfected mortal-grade physique.
This is nearing the strength I used on the late-stage blood demons inside the simulator.
I feel the full power of Wang Ming's 9th level of qi refinement pouring out, and his soul wavers in and out of steadiness with every punch he throws.
Thin layers of invisible intent line his fists, clashing with the thin white barriers of suppressed Martial Spirit Vibrations around mine.
The enchanted qi grass in the air vibrates as we inhale it, and subtly interacts with my physique.
I can feel a compressed layer of thought repeating in this smoke over and over, simulating an extremely heavy fist technique.
When I throw it forward, I feel my own physique correcting the movement to become a much heavier and stronger movement, one that I've pictured many times while practicing my Martial Spirit Inheritance.
This heavy fist enchantment is brand new to Wang Ming. He practices it over and our following exchanges, falling into a minor flow state.
The more enchanted qi grass in the air he breathes in, the easier it is for him to throw this punch. I can feel his form solidifying and some of his physique's vibrations settling into place, making the tension points put less strain on his soul.
I simply focus on keeping my elemental qi flowing in a steady rhythm. There is nothing for me to personally learn from this qi grass, but I can help Wang Ming grow stronger, and try to understand what is happening between his Soul and Mu Shulan's while I'm at such close range.
After about ten minutes, he jumps back, covered in sweat, putting up both hands.
"Please- a minute to rest-" His breathing is heavy, but he has a growing smile on his face, and his nerves are pretty much all gone.
I step back and start practicing this heavy fist technique alone, improving it and tweaking it with every few punches I throw, following my physique's instincts.
Wang Ming walks over to the edge of the array where Mu Shulan watches, and he sits down, allowing her to press both her hands against his back.
The fat man's eyes stay locked on me practicing as waves of green vibrations cycle into his body.
He stops breathing heavily, and a healthy glow returns to his tired face.
Wang Ming stands up and returns to spar with me.
–
About 2 hours pass.
We stay fighting at roughly the same strength level, but Wang Ming's form and punches mimic mine more and more. He uses the help of the enchanted qi grass in the air to guide the basics, but makes his own tweaks by watching me.
There are far fewer sloppy errors in his punches, and his footwork becomes quick without any wasted steps.
The vibrations around his fists get used to clashing with my vibrations.
I've suppressed mine down to the perfected stage of mortal grade, but they are still denser and smoother than any natural mortal-grade physique. This is not something I can control.
However, Wang Ming's vibrations are similar. They are an inferior version of a physique, one that cannot awaken until he hits foundation establishment.
They are denser and more mysterious than any mortal-grade physique, making it a perfect matchup.
My physical body, including my bones, muscles, and even blood, is far thicker and more saturated with qi than Wang Ming's, giving me more innate strength and stamina than him.
I only sweat a few droplets in our whole session, while Wang Ming almost passes out from exhaustion five more times.
Each time, there is a longer sparring session in between, but he goes back to allow Mu Shulan's vibrations to heal and rejuvenate his body.
Eventually, she becomes tired herself from using her strength in this manner, and the incense in the air begins to thin out, as we've inhaled almost all of the smoke.
Wang Ming waves the session to an end.
"We'll call it there… I don't think either of us can take it anymore…" he remarks, opening up the array and falling to the floor beside Mu Shulan who is now pale in the face.
His eyes are much sharper than before, and his soul is far more stable.
I turn to Wang Yang, who has been watching with a smile and crossed arms at the side of this courtyard the whole time. "Alright, let's fire up the torches one more time. I have another opponent in mind."
I toss a ring holding a tuft of perfected enchanted sword grass in it over to him, then turn away from everyone in the courtyard and point to some bushes over 70 meters away.
"Wang Tengru, I still owe you a sparring session, don't I?"
The courtyard is quiet for a few seconds, but eventually, the young 14-year-old boy walks out with a shiny silver crab on his back like a shield.
He nervously scratches his head. "I… I'm not ready yet. I need to train more-"
I let out a chuckle and pull out two identical mid-grade swords from my storage, tossing one his way to stick in the ground a few meters in front of him.
"This is training."
I take the other sword in my own hand and swing it to hit my forearm.
A loud clash echoes through the courtyard as it bounces off the vibrations of my physique.
I pull my qi cultivation down to the 4th level again and make my physique strength so subtle, they're barely that of an initial-stage mortal-grade rating. This makes me slightly stronger than the younger kid at the 3rd level of qi refinement and an initial-stage beast mastery physique.
His eyes widen while watching the sword bounce off my skin, and Wang Yang's laugh sounds out through the courtyard as he lights the final sword grass and activates the array again.
"Good luck, you two!"
I point my sword forward. "Come at me, everything you've got."
He grabs the mid-grade sword with a shaky hand and lifts it toward me.
The air around us starts to fill with fog, and the enchantment makes it feel sharp to breathe in.
My physique easily processes the perfected mortal-grade vibrations in this mist, but Wang Tengru coughs up blood after his first deep breath.
When I look into his soul, it appears to be resonating with the fluctuations in the air just fine. It is the sharp density of qi coming off an upgraded item that his body is having trouble handling all at once.
I pull out a heavenly-grade healing elixir from my storage and toss it across the dirt to him.
He catches it, and the shimmering leaf patterns give off a dim glow on his face through the fog.
"Eat it. After the initial smoke clears out, you'll be fine. Absorb as much as you can."
His body lights up with a faint white and golden glow, and he's forced to fall to the ground and sit in a cultivation position to make full use of the medicinal energy.
His silver spirit crab crawls off his back and shuffles to the edge of the array, subtly absorbing some of the qi and vibrations in the air through his shell, but nowhere close to as much as Wang Tengru.
The young boy spends almost half an hour breathing in more and more incense smoke while his body is torn apart from the inside and healed by the overwhelmingly strong heavenly medicinal herbs.
I begin to practice the swift sword enchantment in this grass.
Just like the heavy fist, it is a technique to add onto already usable movements.
It makes each sword swing move forward with greater intent and speed than if it were solely relying on qi.
My Martial Spirit Physique has a far superior version of this movement style too, but I keep it simple to not confuse the young boy.
My movements are echoed into the flowing smoke in the air, and portions of them are absorbed into the young boy as he struggles to heal.
Finally, his body becomes slightly resistant to the mist, and he struggles to his feet with both hands grasping the mid-grade blade.
Wang Tengru runs forward and throws a slash at me.
I grin and block with equal force, letting pure metal-on-metal clang through the courtyard.
His first strike is sloppy, and basically just relying on his raw strength and qi cultivation.
However, I feel a subtle sharpness deep in his weak soul, and it isn't coming from his beast mastery physique. I'm just unsure exactly what it is or where it's coming from.
There is still potent healing elixir flowing through his meridians as we spar.
4 full hours go by.
Wang Ming and Mu Shulan watch for a while, and sitting together, both of their souls intertwine once again, returning both of their complexions to an even more vibrant state than before.
The fat man munches on high grade spirit fruits and various qi dense meats to recover now that he cannot rely on Mu Shulan's help as she needs to heal too.
Eventually, they perform polite bows and leave for their private chambers to get some real rest.
Inside the array, Wang Tengru's confidence grows the most in the first ten minutes or so of sparring, as he realizes I'm not going to fight back hard or hurt him.
He has a far more endless supply of energy, raring to hop back into each fight minutes after he has just collapsed from exhaustion, covered in sweat.
Instead of only fighting, while he recovers, I perform the swift sword technique alone, and make him watch.
The technique is not the same as qi based spells.
It is more of a mindset of controlled focus that makes each sword strike faster and hold more weight. It is almost like the physical manifestation of an enchantment being summoned into existence for a few moments every time I swing the sword.
After the boy watches, we spar to practice it in real combat over and over.
The extremely subtle sharpness in his soul grows every time, and I start feeling a small difference in his striking speed. He's managed to begin instinctually mimicking a very inferior version of the vibrations this qi grass is giving off.
After four of these practice and sparring sessions, the incense begins to thin out.
The young boy still jumps into positions that are far too risky to try in real combat, but by the end of the session, I'm sure his technique has improved more than it would with a year or two of training on his own.
Wang Tengru can tell too.
He tosses the blade from hand to hand, feeling its weight, and staring back at me with a smile that won't leave his face.
"Big Brother Li Hao, thank you for your guidance. I will never forget this."
He bows, still breathing extremely hard, riding the high of this training session while all his muscles shake with fatigue.
I smile back and toss him a small storage ring with a single heavenly-grade marrow cleansing elixir inside.
"Good. After you rest up tonight, take this and continue to practice what you remember. We'll spar again soon."
He catches the ring and bows his head, not even looking inside.
"Understood. I will not disappoint you."
The sun is starting to set overhead. I walk out of the array to see the Wang Patriarch and his moose are the only spectators remaining. Little Red wakes up and lets out a light croak, then hops over to my feet.
I pick him up and place him on my shoulder.
"This has been a very beneficial few days here on the Wang Peak. Now, I will be leaving for Lingshi City to take care of some business before I head back to the sect."
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Author's Note:
One chapter of Five Element Overlord will be posted every weekday: M,T,W,TH,F.
If you'd like to support me, and read 45+ chapters ahead of the public release schedule, my patreon is linked in my bio:)
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