Tang San's Twin Sister-Chapter 114
Then Tang Yin and Elder Chen Xin went to the carriage and settled inside it. Yin did not conceal her curiosity as she watched from the window. Yin made big eyes as she observed the people.
She had always lived inside the bubble as someone privileged, belonging to a school and firmly embedded within the world of spirit masters. This was her first time traveling alone and with a chance to see the world outside the bubble that quickly formed among spirit masters.
"Your first time?" Chen Xin asked her, and she turned towards him, settling down.
"Yes."
"I see you will be in for surprises then. Traveling the continent is always an adventure full of wonders, and we have a long way to go. One never knows what they might encounter," he said. "Although the biggest wonder might be sitting before me already."
She blinked at him, tilting her head.
"May I know how such a young, talented girl like you is leaving all she knows behind and intends to head to a dangerous place like Haishen for her studies in spirit mastery?" he asked.
She hadn't expected it to come up so soon, but she answered: "It is because I want to protect what is important to me. For that, I need to be strong."
"You are plenty strong for your age," he said, mustering her. "Stronger than most ever will be."
"But it is not enough," she told him. "I almost lost what is important to me already. I need to be stronger so it will not happen again. The dangers will only get bigger in the future after all. To do so, I need to become independent from my brother and strong enough to protect myself and those who are important to me. I am neither a genius at tactical things nor as bright as others. But that's fine. I will compensate for the lack of brain with brawn and a little creativity. Haishen is a way for me to do that, even if it is dangerous, and maybe it will be the deciding difference."
"I see." The carriage started moving. "And you also wish to learn the sword for the same reason?"
"Yes... I do."
Then he nodded as she got up from her place and looked out the window as they slowly passed by Suotou city.
Once they left, Chen Xin opened the carriage door, signaling her to follow. She followed him as he turned towards Madame Ning. "We will be a bit behind now for training."
"Alright." Madame Ning bowed, and then Tang Yin had to hastily follow Chen Xin, who headed ahead into the trees. Once they were further away from the caravan, they stopped, Tang Yin panting and staggering from the breakneck speed.
Chen Xin turned around towards her. "You will not be my official student," he declared, and she nodded when suddenly he took out his martial spirit. A spirit ring took form around him, followed by another. "There are a few rules you will be expected to follow. One, I will not tolerate laziness during training; do not expect mercy when your body screams in exhaustion. Two, my identity will not be revealed to others." Her eyes widened as she counted the rings, six, and it did not stop. "Three, all I teach you will never be taught to others. I am doing this only because my little Rong asked me to. If there are issues or wants towards me, then now is the time to say them, or you will keep your silence during my time teaching you and never speak of it."
Nine Rings floated around the man, and she gulped seeing that. He was a Titled Douluo.
Tang Yin poised herself. Now she knew why they went away from the caravan. And while she had no intention to tell him the entire truth, there were some things he needed to be aware of to be her teacher.
"I will not cultivate or meditate on spirit power when I don't want to. Please do not ask the reasons, but I assure you they are important. Please never ask me to tell you my own clan's secrets. If any of them should be revealed during our travels for whatever reasons, you are to keep them secret, as I keep of yours..." She stopped for a second and then thought about it. What else was important? No, this was the most important. So she quieted down.
"That's it."
"Done." He nodded, and the rings vanished. "Now, I would like to know your rank and your spirit. Rong Rong mentioned them, but I prefer seeing it myself."
Tang Yin nodded and released her spirit. "Blue Silver Grass, Level 39 Control Spirit Master." Her three spirit rings floated around her. "I am closing in on 40, though."
Chen Xin gave an agreeing hum before throwing a wooden sword toward her. "We will start with the simple way of swinging a sword. I will demonstrate that you will copy and repeat this process for the next few months every day, about two hundred times every morning. This is the very basic of swordsmanship."
"Got it."
"Follow along," he said and then demonstrated. She copied and was immediately corrected.
A few swings later, she was apparently doing a solid job. She started swinging her sword until her hands hurt, and the first two hundred swings were finished. Then Chen Xin returned to the caravan, with Yin close on his heels, trying to keep up as the sun rose to the zenith.
She listened attentively to him as he explained what swordsmanship was about, never having experienced a feeling of such longing to learn. Had Tang San felt like this when he had first picked up a hammer to become a blacmsmith as well?
The days from that point on played on repeat. They departed in the morning, where she did her two hundred swings, slowly augmenting them to three hundred and then four hundred. Once finished, Uncle Jian showed her other things, practice and sparing together.
At some point in, her hands were so full of calluses that she started to bandage them, continuing even as her hands turned bloody from training and she could barely hold her pencils for writing and drawing from the pain in her right.
It got better over time as the skin on her hands toughened up. In the evenings, she continued her diary and spent time with the other people from the caravan.
Three months passed like this when she noted that despite not cultivating her spirit power at all or even using it all that much, she rose to level 40 and needed a new spirit ring.
