Six days later, at the small square of Ruiyu Pavilion.
“After today, we will move on to the final course on spirit energy application.”
Martial Aunt Yang waved her hand, bringing out a pile of stone balls. “This lesson is a test to check your progress in weapon condensation.”
She looked at Jiang Yao, who was standing at the very front. “Jiang Yao, you first.”
Jiang Yao first condensed an axe. As the axe approached the stone ball, the sharp metal power of his gold spirit energy carved a notch into the stone.
The axe fell, easily splitting the stone ball in two.
He dispersed his spirit energy and condensed a gold sword, which similarly pierced straight through a stone ball.
Finally, he condensed a dagger and carved a crude stone bowl.
After finishing his carving, he looked at Martial Aunt Yang with puppy-dog eyes, waiting for her critique.
Gu Ningyun could almost see his ears perking up.
Martial Aunt Yang frowned slightly. “Jiang Yao, the weapons you condensed lack stability.
“The damage you dealt to the stone balls was primarily due to the innate sharpness of your gold spirit energy.
“Otherwise, the weapons would have collapsed the moment they collided with the stones. While this aura of sharp metal is your advantage, it is not the goal of our training.
“Your spirit energy structure is too loose, and your divine sense control is not yet proficient. You must focus on practicing during these final ten days.”
“I understand, Martial Aunt Yang.” The puppy ears drooped.
The second to be tested was Mu Chenze.
He first condensed a spear, about the same length as the fat duck’s trident.
Once the spearhead struck the stone ball, it shattered the stone into pieces.
With a wave of his hand, he recalled the spear, letting it float behind him. Then, he condensed a halberd, which looked somewhat similar to the Square Sky Halberd Gu Ningyun had seen online in her previous life.
After shattering a second stone ball, he summoned the halberd to float behind him as well.
Mu Chenze’s final condensation was a water sword.
Unlike the previous two full-sized weapons, this water sword was much smaller, only two sizes larger than the one Martial Aunt Yang had used for her demonstration.
He manipulated the water sword to carve a glutinous rice ball.
Gu Ningyun suspected he had originally intended to carve an animal.
However, as the animal’s basic shape was emerging, he had clearly applied too much force with one stroke, cutting off half the creature's head.
Left with no choice, he could only use the remaining material to carve a sphere the size of a glutinous rice ball.
After he finished, Mu Chenze summoned the water sword to float beside his shoulder, lining it up with the other two weapons.
Finally, he held the glutinous rice ball with feigned composure, waiting for Martial Aunt Yang’s evaluation.
Gu Ningyun looked at his fingertips, which were white from tension, and his stiff back. Then she looked at his perfectly steady, calm facial expression and felt an odd urge to laugh.
Martial Aunt Yang remained silent for two seconds before taking the glutinous rice ball from his hand.
“Chenze, you’ve done well with your spirit energy structure. The weapons you condensed are stable and possess formidable attack power.
“Most people believe water spirit energy is inherently soft and unsuitable for offense. You’ve shown me that water spirit energy possesses power that is not inferior to the other elements. Good job.
“However, the larger the condensed weapon, the higher the requirement for divine sense control. Given your current divine sense strength, maneuvering that spear and halberd is too taxing.
“In actual practice, you should adjust the size of your weapons based on the situation. Finally, and most importantly, your divine sense control is still lacking, which led to the mistake during your carving.
“For the remaining days, you need to do targeted practice for your divine sense.”
Mu Chenze nodded thoughtfully. “Understood. Thank you for your guidance, Martial Aunt Yang.”
The third to be tested was Wen Xuan.
A flash of fiery red spirit energy appeared as a long whip condensed in her hand.
Wen Xuan gripped the handle as if it were a physical object and lashed downward, instantly splitting the stone ball into several pieces.
The stone fragments flew everywhere but were quickly scorched by the clinging fire spirit energy, turning into black ash that drifted to the ground.
Even the larger chunks of stone on the ground were incinerated into ash.
Wen Xuan coiled the fire whip and held it in her left hand. Immediately after, she condensed a mace the length of an arm.
The mace blazed with intense flames. Wen Xuan gripped the handle and swung, crushing a stone ball into powder with a single strike. This time, not even ash remained.
Tucking the mace under her left arm, Wen Xuan finally condensed a palm-sized fire sword.
This time, she didn't use her hands. Instead, she manipulated it with her divine sense to carve a little kitten.
Once finished, she summoned the fire sword to her side and held the kitten in her right hand, looking toward Martial Aunt Yang.
“Wen Xuan, it was very clever of you to realize you could simply hold the larger weapons that are difficult to control with divine sense.
“The structure of your weapons is stable, allowing you to crush the spheres with overwhelming force. Well done.
“Your control over the temperature of your fire spirit energy is proficient. You could burn the fragments away, yet also manipulate the fire sword with divine sense to successfully carve a kitten without damaging the material.
“As far as weapon condensation goes, you have met the standard.”
“Thank you, Martial Aunt Yang!”
Wen Xuan grinned and stuffed the little kitten into Gu Ningyun’s hands. “Ningyun, this kitten is for you.”
Gu Ningyun held the kitten with both hands. The pitch-black cat was stretching, but its eyes were darting to the side as if it were plotting some mischief.
It was quite cute.
“The kitten is so well-behaved...” Gu Ningyun silently tucked it into her storage bag. “Why did you think to give it to me?”
Wen Xuan gave a cryptic smile. “It reminds me of you.”
Gu Ningyun was stunned. “Huh?!”
The fourth to be tested was Jun Luo.
He first condensed an ice blade, roughly the length of an arm.
Under the control of his divine sense, the ice blade split a stone ball and then performed a flourish before hovering to his left.
Next, he condensed an ice sword of similar length.
The blade was thin and looked incredibly sharp, radiating a chilling frost.
He manipulated the ice sword with his divine sense, cutting a stone ball into two even halves with great agility. The stone ball only split apart after the ice sword had flourished in the air and returned to Jun Luo’s side.
Furthermore, the residual frost spread from the cut, quickly freezing the entire stone ball.
Finally, he condensed a dart. The frost-covered dart darted across a stone ball, and soon, a lifelike fox appeared under the dart's movements.
He reached out his right hand, and the dart flew obediently back into his palm.
Martial Aunt Yang smiled slightly. “Excellent.
“Jun Luo, your divine sense control is very strong, allowing you to easily manipulate larger weapons.
“When condensing the ice sword, you made the blade extremely thin, yet it could easily slice through the stone ball without breaking. This indicates that the structure of your condensed spirit energy is exceptionally stable.
“Moreover, judging by the performance of the ice sword and the dart, you have excellent control over the temperature of your ice spirit energy.
“Jun Luo, you have exceeded the goals for this weapon condensation training.”
After hearing the critique, Jun Luo’s expression remained unchanged, his gaze as steady as ever.
He raised his hands and gave a respectful bow to Martial Aunt Yang before stepping aside.
Martial Aunt Yang nodded warmly and then looked at Gu Ningyun.
Well, it was her turn.
Since the night of the fat duck’s guidance, Gu Ningyun had quickly succeeded in condensing three types of weapons: the trident, the cleaver, and the wind sword.
Every night since then, the fat duck had come to find her to spear fish for its meals.
Through her nightly battles of wits against the Spirit-Heart Fish, Gu Ningyun was now able to control five tridents simultaneously and catch fish with perfect accuracy.
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