End of Training

Xue Bai would still train with his father for the entire month of Huo Long's visit to the Duke Estate. However, each day the time he would fight would increase. Each day from the original ten minutes would go up 10 seconds until the final day of their visit, where the initial time had increased by half to fifteen minutes.

On the final day, Xue Bai had grown so much from his original starting point that it was almost unrecognizable. However, still, no matter how much better he got, Xue Feng also had the advantage in the fight. Dictating the flow of the spar and always keeping Xue Bai on the defensive.

So like any other day, Xue Bai and Xue Feng stood across from each other, waiting for the duel to start. However, unlike other days Xue Feng stood in the middle of a square lined out in the dirt.

Looking at his father standing so calm in the square Xue Bai was apprehensive about charging at him. Still, from the dozens of sneak attacks he suffered from, Xue Bai learned that it was better to take the initiative, so without waiting for his father to say anything, he launched himself at the man.

After lunging at his father, Xue Bai swung his sword at his neck in full force. However, Xue Feng dodged it with a small step back. Leaving Xue Bai defenseless mid-swing.

Not letting that chance up, Xue Feng gave a light kick to Xue Bai's stomach, sending him tumbling backward.

"It's good that you take the initiative, but you still don't know how to fight well. Only if you are 100% sure that you will land an attack should you swing with full power. Because if you miss such an attack, you'll be completely wide open to a counterattack." Xue Feng explained while his son got up.

"Come on, attack me again. I promised I wouldn't move out this square the entire day."

Xue Bai groaned at that. Since it was their final day of sparing for the near future, Xue Bai asked his father to give himself a handicap. Since Xue Bai hadn't landed a clean hit in the entire month, they had fought, and he wanted one before they ended off.

So Xue Feng proposed the square idea, and though it wasn't what he wanted, Xue Bai agreed to it.

Giving his stomach a rub to soothe the pain, a little Xue Bai stood back up and started charging at his father with his sword in hand. However, learning from his last mistake, he didn't give the first swing his all.

Xue Bai's first swing at his dad's neck resulted in the same as last time, with his dad taking a step back to dodge it. However, the kick didn't come as before Xue Feng could send it out, Xue Bai had already landed back on the ground safely.

"So you can learn? I thought you would be hard-harded like the other days." Xue Feng mocked.

However, Xue Bai didn't respond to that. Besides helping him at fighting, his father had constantly been trying to mock him in hopes of helping him get over losing his cool in a battle. While it was very helpful, hearing it was still a little hurtful.

Shaking off the overwhelming urge to punch his dad in the face Xue Bai this time, swung at his father's sword instead of a body part.

Though Xue Bai wasn't as good as his father in swordsmanship, he grew the most in fights like this. So if he couldn't get a hit in, he might as well use his dad as a whetstone.

However, after a few clashes, Xue Bai heard a cracking sound come from his sword.

Stunned, Xue Bai jumped backward out of the square to see the problem. His sword had a glaring crack on one side. It had splintered throughout most of the sword and was about to make the entire thing crumble.

But there was something odd about this. The sword was made from Dark Iron, a Low Yellow Grade Spiritual Ore, so why did it crack from simple sparing? Though his father was in the Domain Lord Realm, he had suppressed every part of his strength to the mortal level, so how did it crack?

"You want to know how I did it?" Then, while Xue Bai was thinking, Xue Feng's voice came from the square.

"Take a closer look at the crack. If you're smart enough, you can tell."

Hearing such a provocation from his father, Xue Bai was determined to figure it out. However, even after looking at the ruined sword intensely for a minute, he couldn't see anything besides the crack.

"Look closely at the crack. The answer is there." Xue Feng's calm voice came from the side.

"The crack? There isn't anything there besides a single clean crack down the middle." Xue Bai replied

It was then he got it. There was only one single crack. Whenever a sword breaks normally, the damage is spread out, resulting in cracks everywhere. But on his sword, there was only one, meaning only one thing.

"You aimed for the exact same spot on every swing?" Xue Bai asked incredulously.

Hearing that, Xue Feng smiled, "See, you are smart, just gotta use your head more. And it's a lot easier than you think. Though I have suppressed my cultivation, my reaction time and dynamic vision are still there. So aiming at your slow sword wasn't very hard."

"This is a little trick to help you break your opponent's weapon even if it's the same rank. Though it usually doesn't happen this quick."

"But why did you do that? We are sparing this meant to help me. Not for you to show off." Xue Bai retorted.

Xue Feng couldn't respond to that. His son was right. So he just waved his hand, saying, "Enough of me, come we'll continue this fight."

Nodding, Xue Bai went to the sword rack to pick a new sword before going back to the spar.

For the rest of the day, Xue Feng would teach his son various tactics like the sword-breaking one. However, they all shared one thing in common. They were only usable on certain occasions making Xue Bai think of only one thing. 'Why does father know all of these?'

Xue Bai also never did get a clean hit on his father. Though he knew himself to be extremely talented, not being able to whack Xue Feng once did bother him a lot.historical

However, at the end of it, all Xue Feng said this, "The fact that you could even think about hitting me is a testament to your talent. With just a sword in my hand, even if I suppressed my cultivation, I could still fight someone in the middle stages of the Blood Exchange Realm. Let alone a child like you."

"Be happy about your progress. It's already good enough for now, Bai'er. Remember, you only just turned nine a few days ago. With the rate that you're growing, you'll probably be just as good as me before you turn twenty."

Hearing that brightened up Xue Bai's expression. His father was right. He hadn't even begun to cultivate yet and was already this strong. So after placing the sword back in the rack, Xue Bai left his parent's courtyard and went back to his own to take the medicinal herb bath.