Chapter 25: Mastery

“It still doesn’t work!” Rod muttered to himself, looking at the stone before him, which was cracking into pieces.
It was already the tenth day—ten days since he was injured! Thanks to his extraordinary physique, by the fifth day Rod could walk freely and his internal injuries had largely healed. As for the external injuries, they didn’t hinder his training at all.
After receiving guidance from Xuanyuan, he didn’t want to waste time, so he started practicing right away. Unfortunately, though five days had passed, he hadn’t achieved any significant progress. Although his control over strength had improved considerably, it was still not enough—he couldn’t punch through the stone in front of him. His mastery of power still wasn’t satisfactory.
“Don’t rush. Do as I said!” The spirit of the Xuanyuan Sword reminded him in his mind, sensing Rod’s frustration.
Taking a deep breath and dismissing distractions, Rod closed his eyes gently, focusing on every molecule of the stone. He channeled his combat energy, making it flow rapidly through his meridians.
He gradually compressed his combat energy and concentrated it all in his right arm!
“No, I need to keep going!” Rod thought to himself. Perhaps it was because his combat energy hadn’t been fully concentrated before, causing the force to scatter. This time, following Xuanyuan’s advice, he held his breath and patiently continued compressing it until he felt as though all his combat energy had gathered in his fist.
Feeling the strength in his right hand, he held his breath and suddenly opened his eyes. A sharp beam of light flashed out like a tangible force.
Boom… A dull sound came as Rod’s fist struck a stone about half his height, producing a loud impact.
After the collision, dust filled the air, followed by a crisp sound. The large stone shattered like tofu, breaking into pieces the size of fists that scattered across the ground.
“I did it!” Staring at what he had accomplished, Rod was stunned for a moment before a bright smile spread across his face as he shouted loudly.
Yes, he had succeeded. This time, he finally achieved his goal—maximizing the power within him.

Taking a deep breath, Rod followed the same method and attacked another boulder nearby. The same thing happened again—the boulder shattered into pieces. The dull sound in Rod’s ears sounded like music to him.

Right after the second attack, before he could even celebrate, Rod felt his internal fighting energy suddenly surge wildly. It seemed as though the external fire elements were drawn to him at that moment and rushed over swiftly. Sensing this, Rod’s heart skipped a beat. Realizing something, he quickly sat cross-legged on the ground, closed his eyes, and began to meditate.

The Sword Spirit also noticed this change. After a brief pause, it watched quietly with interest. This time, it had no worries—only the need to wait patiently.

Guiding his fighting energy to flow repeatedly, Rod allowed it to cleanse his meridians while continuously compressing and condensing it. By absorbing large amounts of external fire elements, he quickly reached a state of fullness. He didn’t stop there but continued onward! Rod wasn’t panicked at all; instead, he was filled with hope as he pressed on.

He knew the moment had come. When his internal fighting energy reached a critical level, he would unleash it suddenly, guided by his mental power, to break through the obstacle that had held him back for so many days.

That was right—the bottleneck! At this moment, he intended to break through that invisible barrier and enter the ranks of intermediate warriors.

Upon reaching that barrier, Rod didn’t hesitate. He concentrated his fighting energy and charged straight at it in one go.

Boom… There was no pain or difficulty as expected. It was simple, even easy. Rod successfully broke through the barrier, freeing his entire body.

Like a dam breaking, the flow of internal energy surged instantly. External fire elements continued to flow into his body, and Rod tirelessly compressed and refined them!

This situation lasted for about an hour before gradually subsiding. By then, his internal energy had expanded to the maximum level he could currently handle. The breakthrough was successful, and it had stabilized.

Through this period of cultivation, after reaching the rank of intermediate warrior, Rod found that his fighting energy was now at least three times larger than before. If it had been an imperceptibly thin thread before, it might now be as thick as a wool thread.

He guided the internal energy back to his dantian, took a deep breath, and slowly opened his eyes. Exhaling the stale air, his brows rose slightly, and a faint smile appeared on his lips; his overall demeanor seemed to change in an instant.
“Hahaha… I did it! I finally succeeded!” Moments later, Rod’s excited shouts could be heard in the courtyard. Indeed, today brought double joy: first, he had mastered control over his strength, and though it was just the beginning, it was already sufficient; second, he had broken through his bottleneck and entered the ranks of intermediate warriors. How could he not be excited?
“Don’t get carried away. This is only the most basic requirement. There are many who can do this. Do you think it’s that amazing? You’re just an intermediate warrior. Even if you master strength control well, so what? To become strong, you must keep working hard!” The Sword Spirit of Xuanyuan spoke coldly, casting cold water on Rod like a bucket poured from above, instantly dampening his enthusiasm.
“Damn it! Can’t I even be happy for a moment? Such a bummer!” Rod complained bitterly, but there was nothing he could do.
What Rod didn’t know was that the Sword Spirit was also secretly amazed. Rod’s comprehension ability once again showed Xuanyuan what was truly extraordinary—under less than a week, he had grasped the essence of strength control. If others found out, they would surely be jealous of those so-called geniuses. As for the breakthrough, the Sword Spirit wasn’t surprised. Since he was already at a bottleneck and had luckily unblocked all his meridians, this speed was quite reasonable.
“Alright, keep practicing using the same method and feeling as just now. See how much time it takes you each time to reach this level. And this power isn’t enough yet—your journey is still long. Also, since you’ve just entered the ranks of intermediate warriors, don’t neglect training your combat energy. Remember, strength is what matters most. In the face of absolute strength, skills are useless!” Xuanyuan said calmly after Rod calmed down. Though he had many thoughts, he couldn’t bring himself to express them.
After months of getting to know each other, how could the Sword Spirit not know Rod’s temper? He couldn’t let this guy get too happy. If he told him, Rod would probably be overjoyed, which wasn’t a good thing.

“Let’s put this aside for now. Since you’ve now reached the rank of intermediate warrior, you can’t do without techniques. Now, let’s talk about the sword technique I gave you~!” Before Rod could speak, the Sword Spirit continued within his body.
At that moment, Rod became energetic. These past few days, he had indeed put this aside to focus on controlling his strength. If not for the Sword Spirit’s words, he might have forgotten about it for a while. Especially now that he had just reached this level, his desire for techniques was unprecedentedly strong.
“This sword manual was created by me by combining various sword techniques and that mysterious energy. It’s called ‘Shadow Dragon Sword,’ and it was developed based on your ‘Dragon Soul Meditation.’
It consists of nine forms, which can be combined and transformed in countless ways. You need to study it carefully. With your current ability, you can only learn the first form: Shadowless Sword! As the name suggests, the sword leaves no shadow, and the practitioner remains unseen, emphasizing speed to catch the enemy off guard by preventing them from seeing your sword or figure. So, you should start by focusing on speed. Meanwhile, first study diligently those basic slashing techniques I taught you that day—don’t rush for quick results!”
Feeling that Rod was listening attentively, the Sword Spirit generously explained the first sword technique it had taught him, imprinting its own insights and understanding in his mind to help him train better.
“Shadowless Sword?” As if checking information in his mind, Rod’s lips curled slightly, revealing an excited smile! It sounded pretty awesome.
After searching for a week without finding a suitable weapon, he had no choice but to use a wooden stick. With endless complaints, Rod began his first training session!
Starting with the most basic cuts, slashes, and stabs, he repeated these simple movements tirelessly.
……
“Boss… hurry, hurry! Brother Kambi and Ro… Roger are fighting!”
That day, as usual, Rod was practicing those simple techniques in the courtyard when he saw the blond guy rushing over anxiously. His out-of-breath appearance made Rod frown.
“Roger? That guy?” Hearing Roger’s name, Rod furrowed his brows even more. He dropped the stick in his hand, clenched his fists, and asked in confusion. Although he had never actually met this guy, he didn’t have any good feelings toward him—only disgust. Indeed, it was this guy who had destroyed Knight Rod.

“Let’s go meet this guy. I really want to see what tricks he has up his sleeve!” Taking a deep breath, Rod said firmly, then quickly headed over there under the lead of the blond guy.