Chapter 28: Sword Will

No one would have ever imagined the 'Celestial Princess' acting like this even in their dreams.

Even Lily herself couldn't believe why she even put up with his condition. She also wondered why she didn't find it unpleasant when Damien embraced her.

'It must be because it's him. Maybe in my mind, I had always considered him as a friend.' She mused.

"Well, my disciple, do you realize your own shortcomings now?" Damien said, assuming the pose of a venerable master.

All the chaotic thoughts in Lily's mind were instantly dispersed when she heard his question.

"Ah...I just feel that my speed is not up to par. From my perspective, M-Master was unbelievably fast with your movements that I was not able to keep up unless I used my cultivation. Also, the way...Master skillfully handled your sword...I think I also lack in that area." Lily said, trying to avoid eye contact with Damien.

She felt ashamed that even though she was an imperial princess, she was leagues behind Damien despite being crippled.

She didn't know if it was because she didn't have a good enough teacher or because of her talent in swordsmanship but hoped it was because of the former.

Her competitive spirit ignited in her after a long time. She realized that she had unknowingly become complacent because of her cultivation level.

It was true that in the Rong Empire, no one could match her cultivation in the same age or even in the same age group.

But now, she knew that she was stupid to have ignored other aspects of her skills just because she was virtually the best among the younger generations in the empire.

'Thank god, I found him before any terrible things could happen to him. I was able to save him and also got an opportunity to develop my swordsmanship. But how and when did he learn these things? I don't remember him having the ability to fight, not even remotely. He wasn't even into learning those things. Maybe a lot must have happened between those times.' Lily sighed inwardly.

Damien nodded, hearing her response, "Hmm, you are not wrong. But do you know the basic aspects of swordsmanship that one should develop without lacking even any one of those aspects? Sword-fighting is sort of the same as how we learn to write. Before you ever touch a blade, you need to grasp those certain elements. And basically, there are four aspects; Timing, Perception, Distance, and Technique. Right now, unfortunately, you lack in all four departments." He said unreservedly.

"If you want to develop your sword intent and sword force, you have to work on the foundation first."

Lily's lips parted when she heard Damien's words. She didn't know that she even lacked in the basics of swordsmanship itself.

But another thing that surprised her was how Damien was so knowledgeable in swordsmanship and knew how to exactly point out others' mistakes as a real Master would.

She felt that calling Damien as her Master may not be so bad as she thought.

Just because one knew to fight doesn't mean one could teach others without truly understanding the concepts involved behind it.

'Maybe it was because of his high attainments in swordsmanship that he was able to kill ethereal beasts even when their cultivation was a few minor realms above him.' Lily thought.

"So, is it because Master had developed all these basic aspects of swordsmanship, you were able to cross levels to kill off ethereal beasts?" Lily asked as she focused her gaze, eager to know his answer.

This question was in her mind since the day she saw him kill those ethereal beasts. Especially when he decapitated the ethereal beast, which was at the second level of the Initial Ethereal Realm as if it was nothing.

Damien was surprised how Lily was now calling him 'Master' naturally without much embarrassment.

He also realized that he felt good whenever Lily called him Master.

'Ha...I am glad I demanded that third condition.' Damien smirked inwardly.

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Damien straightened his back as he said, "Well, of course, I am always trying to better myself in those aspects since there is no clear ceiling to how much you can develop. But the most important reason I was able to kill those ethereal beasts was because of my Sword Will! And right now, you don't have to bother with it because it's not something which can be easily manifested without developing your basics and having some sort of insights or enlightenment on your own."

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Lily's eyes widened as she got introduced to a new concept she had never heard before—Sword Will.

'He can manifest his sword will? What did he mean by that? Is that some kind of realm within swordsmanship that can allow even someone without cultivation to cross levels to kill a beast? How could he be so young and talented? Only if he was not crippled...." Lily felt sad that Damien was crippled. Otherwise, his future would have been so bright that he could have walked with his back straight anywhere.

She admired how Damien did not let his condition depress him and instead focused on other areas like Alchemy.

She also got eager to develop her basics and strengthen her foundational skills hoping that she could gain some sort of insights or enlightenment to manifest the mysterious sword will.

Damien raised his index finger, "Let's focus on the first aspect now—Timing. As you said, you find it hard to keep up with my movements, right? Time is never slow when you're actually sword-fighting. Sometimes you want a quick little movement to take control of a situation, and other times you want a bigger motion that will result in a kill.

"It all comes down to choices, and when you understand timing, you can decide very quickly how much time you have in a window and how much time your movement buys you to put your next action into motion. Fights are often decided very quickly, even with evenly matched opponents."

Lily was attentive and fixated on Damien's words as if she was mentally taking notes. Her instructor had never explained the basics in simple words and only just taught her how to use ethereal sword techniques.

Since this is a cultivation world, a practitioner can increase their combat prowess through ethereal techniques or arts.

In the Rising Sun Continent, more than half of the ethereal cultivators use only pure ethereal strength instead of ethereal arts.

Ethereal arts had different applications using ethereal strength. Most of them could help one make use of their elemental attribute or channel of the ethereal energy.

For instance, the top wind practitioners in the Gale Empire use wind attributed ethereal arts, which helps them make use of the Wind seed in their ethereal core or their wind attributed ethereal core to change their ethereal energy into ethereal wind energy.

And rumors say that when one trains it to the peak, they can demolish or even uproot large buildings without much difficulty.

But there were also some ethereal arts that were not used to manipulate the ethereal energy but instead to assist their ethereal cultivation.

There were some taboo dual cultivation arts that allowed the practitioner to raise their ethereal strength through sexual intercourse.

But Lily now understood that even though the basics might seem bland, boring, or unimportant when compared to simply comprehending ethereal sword techniques, one still needs to have their foundation or basics of swordsmanship solid.

Only then could they execute the ethereal sword techniques perfectly and make full use of its potential.

Damien continued as he raised another finger, "The second thing is Perception. I will just group distance and perception together because while one is about maintaining a safe distance, the other one is about correctly perceiving it. To develop perception, you need to sharpen your senses without the help of any cultivation base; and to develop the distance aspect, the most important thing you need to work on is your footwork; such that you won't lose your perception and distance or lose your balance and focus during an intense fight.

"Then, finally comes the technique part. I don't know anything about ethereal sword techniques, but it might be helpful if you practice some raw techniques just like the ones I used against you and also some breathing techniques. I will teach you all four of these aspects one by one during our training. We would start off with developing your timing and end our training with teaching you techniques."

Lily's eyes were sparkling with interest as her mind was absorbing each and every word Damien said.

Even though she was a sword maniac, because of her problems, she had no choice but to focus on her ethereal cultivation and was not able to give much time for practicing her swordplay.

But now, her fire of passion for sword mastery was rekindled again as she was enthusiastic to at least achieve the height Damien had reached in swordsmanship.

Damien added, "Even though I said that you lack foundation, I can feel that your sword spirit is intense and bright. And with my guidance, I can guarantee that you will improve a lot."

She showed a wide smile, "Thank you, Master. I will do my best to learn everything you teach me."

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