39. Quickstep

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As Zhou Yan dodged, he wondered, Why is he here too? He was only passing by—yes, merely passing by! Then he tossed out a talisman. It did not seal anyone’s vital energy, so why had Senior Martial Uncle become even crazier?

Lin Jiugo was puzzled. Lin Jiugo was speechless. Lin Jiugo silently endured it all. Every lesson from her master came with reasons that could not be refuted, while her actions left no one time to react.

With that thought in mind, Lin Jiugo dodged another strike, her footwork growing increasingly intricate. After being subjected to all kinds of torment during this period, she had gradually groped her way toward a new set of steps. In short, they were exceedingly practical! She had been forced by her master to run more and be beaten more, and had come up with them through sheer necessity.

With that thought in mind, Lin Jiugo decided to perfect the footwork. Taking Thunderclap as its foundation, she concentrated her wind element in her legs. As she adapted it day by day, Lin Jiugo’s speed grew faster and faster—fast enough that Li Yun, facing his supposedly weakly cultivated disciple, could only watch her dodge and leave afterimages behind.

Unwilling to give up, Li Yun tested her again and again. In the end, he had to admit that having an outstanding disciple was something to be proud of. At the very least, he himself had never learned such a speed technique while being tormented by his own master.

“Jiugo, does this footwork have a name?” Li Yun asked, stopping his attacks.

“A name?” Lin Jiugo was baffled. She had only invented it to save herself trouble. Why did it need a name too?

“Jiugo, your master is right. This footwork is your own creation, so naturally you have the right to name it.” The Dao-Realization Venerable appeared from who knew where and spoke up.

“My own creation.” Lin Jiugo had never imagined that she, too, would be capable of creating something herself.

“That’s right.” Zhou Yan finally recovered. Though he had been beaten just as badly as his junior sister, she always managed to maintain her dignity, while he frequently had the wind knocked out of him. Surely, if he asked his junior sister about this footwork, she would teach him. Zhou Yan’s little scheme began to click away in his mind.

“This footwork is based on Thunderclap. It gathers the wind element drifting through the air into the legs. I’ll call it Quickstep. Every time, it lets me move one step faster.” Lin Jiugo thought for a moment before answering seriously.

“Quickstep. A fitting name.” The Dao-Realization Venerable found it simple and easy to understand. Quite good.

“Quickstep.” Zhou Yan also thought it apt. Every time he was knocked out of the fight, he would watch his junior sister for a while, and she was always one step ahead when Senior Martial Uncle’s attacks accelerated.

“Tomorrow, teach it to your senior brother. We’ll test it out.” Li Yun gave Lin Jiugo an order.

“Master, perhaps you should learn it first, and I can make some adjustments afterward?” Lin Jiugo looked doubtfully at Zhou Yan, who, in her eyes, still represented frail physical strength. Even more than a month of comradeship forged through shared beatings had failed to change her opinion of him.

Zhou Yan! Did his junior sister no longer love him? He was very willing to learn!

“Ahem. Your senior brother will do. This footwork is of no use at my level.” Li Yun tactfully declined.

“Yes, Master.” Lin Jiugo eyed her master suspiciously. It was really useless? Had her master merely been playing with her?

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Zhou Yan, who had been forcibly dragged into this arrangement—had no one thought to ask his opinion? Ever since he had gained a junior sister, Zhou Yan felt that his status had plummeted from pampered treasure to crude farm boy. Apparently, as long as he remained alive, that was enough.

The next day, Lin Jiugo taught Zhou Yan, explaining everything one sentence at a time according to her own experience and demonstrating each step.

“Senior Brother, you also practice Thunderclap, so your control over your body should be adequate. What spell do you mainly cultivate?” Lin Jiugo truly did not know.

“The wood element. I’m a wood-element mage.” Zhou Yan realized that he might never have mentioned it to his junior sister.

“The wood element? Let me think about whether it will work.” Lin Jiugo felt that she had overlooked a problem. She used the wind element, so her speed was naturally fast. But what about other elements?

“Is there a problem?” Zhou Yan asked, confused. What did his element have to do with anything?

“Of course there is. I borrow the wind, but you can’t. You’re familiar with the wood element, so you know how to accelerate plant growth, right?” Lin Jiugo changed her approach and asked.

“Of course.” Accelerating plant growth was the most basic technique of a wood-element mage. Naturally, he knew it.

“Senior Brother, when there are wood-element plants around, you can borrow them to create barriers. But what if there aren’t any? Shouldn’t you carry some seeds with you?” Lin Jiugo analyzed.

So Quickstep had to be adapted to the circumstances. What she had learned was only suitable for wind-element mages!

“Seeds.” Zhou Yan began to understand.

“Exactly. Seeds. All kinds of seeds. Vines, thorns, poisonous plants, seeds that release sleeping powder—you should carry a supply of each.” Lin Jiugo listed everything she could think of.

“They can even be combined. That would be a good way to deal with enemies too.” The more Lin Jiugo spoke, the more excited she became. Using it against her master was far too wasteful. One had to take the bigger picture into account!

“Junior Sister, I think your reasoning makes sense. It’s just that the consumption of vital energy…” Zhou Yan agreed with her deduction, but it would surely consume an enormous amount of vital energy.

“Does it consume that much? Senior Brother, let’s try it.” Lin Jiugo did not think it was particularly costly. It was quite convenient for her, after all.

The two of them happily went off to gather a large pile of seeds. Zhou Yan accelerated their growth, selecting varieties that met Lin Jiugo’s requirements: cheap, plentiful, painless to use, yet capable of causing trouble.

Watching Zhou Yan form hand seals and channel his energy to accelerate the seeds’ growth, Lin Jiugo was stunned. She had never imagined there would be such a thing as hand seals. Her senior brother’s process was absurdly time-consuming!

“Senior Brother, do you always have to form hand seals like that?” Lin Jiugo asked, baffled. She was utterly shocked. With that much time spent forming hand seals, wouldn’t an enemy have killed you outright? Would an opponent really wait until you finished? What kind of extraordinarily benevolent enemy would do that?

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“Of course. Is there a problem?” Zhou Yan did not see anything unusual. He had seen other disciples cultivate, and they all followed the same procedure.

“Is there a problem? There’s a huge problem! Senior Brother, do you really have to form those hand seals? With that much time, I could already have pointed my sword at your forehead.” Lin Jiugo was dumbfounded. Her senior brother actually thought there was no problem! Was this not obviously a problem?

“How could that be?” Zhou Yan refused to believe it. Everyone did things this way.

“Senior Brother, let’s spar.” Lin Jiugo decided to teach him a lesson. What enemy would give you time to catch your breath?

“Fine. Let’s spar.” Zhou Yan agreed. He had to make his junior sister realize her mistake.

The two of them took up their positions.

“Senior Brother, you call the start,” Lin Jiugo said.

“Begin.” Zhou Yan was brimming with confidence. Yet the moment he began forming his hand seals, he felt a chill at his neck.

Lin Jiugo stood before him with her sword in hand, its edge pressed near his throat! His hand seals were not even complete, and cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

Had he been learning everything wrong all these years?

Zhou Yan lowered his arm in despair.

“Senior Brother, it doesn’t have to be this bad. Can’t you form the hand seals faster?” Lin Jiugo did not understand. Her senior brother had been apprenticed for ten years, hadn’t he? Shouldn’t he have practiced repeatedly? How could he be so slow at forming hand seals?

Zhou Yan! Did his junior sister hear herself? If he formed the hand seals incorrectly, that would be unacceptable!

“Have you never thought of practicing?” Lin Jiugo suggested. “Just like practicing swordsmanship, until it becomes muscle memory.”

“Junior Sister, are you sure?”