Chapter 3739: Improved Training Method
Chapter 3739: Improved Training Method
Helen and Ronron could not understand what it was that Alex was doing in the battle. The sword seemed to fly with its own mind according to their senses, since it was clearly not being moved through Qi Manipulation.
Neither of the two were aware that Intent could be used in such a way at all.
Compared to using just one’s Qi, using the sword with only Intent was so much worse that it simply wasn’t comparable. A True realm cultivator would likely have better control over their sword than Alex did in that moment.
And it wasn’t only the lack of control that made it a nonviable option during a regular fight. It was also completely burdening to one’s mind. Each time something struck the sword and moved it away from its proper path, Alex would feel pain flare in his mind, reaching peaks almost as bad as when he had been inside the suppression formation half a year ago.
Moving something alone was already difficult, after all, and Alex was just adding to the difficulty by fighting someone using only his Intent in its entirety.
For the training, Alex had given himself 2 conditions, upon the failure of which would be his defeat. First, if the sword fell out of his control and landed on the ground, he would lose. Second, if any attack landed on him that the sword didn’t attempt to stop first, he would also lose.
It was fine if the sword only struck the attack but failed to stop it. The sword was just a hunk of metal at this point, so regular attacks couldn’t be stopped. Alex just needed the attempt to stop it to be a success.
His opponent had noticed the abnormality of the fight for some time, but he still hadn’t realized exactly what it was that Alex was doing. The sword moved as though it were being held by an amateur. Considering Alex’s cultivation base, the battle should’ve long since been over, and yet the man was clearly winning at this point.
The confusion only mounted when Alex managed to find an opening to strike with the sword, only for it to do nothing at all. The sword wasn’t strengthened by any Qi, nor was there any technique used.
As the man figured more and more about the bizarre state of the battle, he became able to ignore a lot of the things he would’ve otherwise been wary of beforehand and targeted Alex with more concentrated attacks that could deal with him directly.
Alex tried multiple times to stop the attacks from coming at him, but eventually, the bombardment became too strong, and the sword flew far enough away that his Intent couldn’t keep it up at all.
Even as Alex attempted to keep it from hitting the ground, the distance caused a painful headache to consume him in that very moment, forcing him to drop the sword entirely. It landed on the sand, making Alex sigh.
He turned around toward the man who seemed ready to continue the fight. Alex held up his hands, showing that he didn’t want to fight any longer.
"I concede. You win."
He brought out a star and gently tossed it toward the man before walking away.
The man took the star with a confused look, saying nothing more, and returned to his group as well.
Finally, everyone was done challenging everyone from the other group, so they all bowed and went their separate ways.
Helen and the rest watched the group of four leave far enough away that their spiritual senses couldn’t reach them, before turning toward Alex.
"What was that?" Helen asked.
"What were you doing?" Ronron’s question came almost at the same time as well.
Alex gave a light shrug. "You were the one who told me to train if I could. So now I’m training," he said.
"Yeah, but what are you training?" Helen asked. "We couldn’t tell."
"It’s his Intent," Battlesage said. "Have you guys never trained your Intent before?"
"Training Intent?" Liz asked. "Isn’t Intent what we use to use Dao and techniques?"
"Sort of," Alex said. "It is more so the pure strength of your will that you can enforce upon your surroundings or people. I used my Intent to move the sword with my mind and fight alongside me. It’s not really that helpful when it comes to fighting, but it’s helpful since I’m improving my Intent in everything."
Helen and the rest seemed to only half understand what they were being told, but they took it all in, trying to understand as much as they could.
"I think what you did was fine, but you could do better in how you train," Battlesage said. "Would you like my advice?"
"Of course, Senior. Tell me whatever it is that I’m missing."
Battlesage spoke up. "The issue with your current method of training is that you’re training your Intent to become better at moving things without using Qi, and while that is good, it’s not very useful in the long run. Especially when it comes to fighting."
Alex took a moment to take in the man’s words and nodded. "I suppose that is true," he said. "You trained your Intent mostly for the several arrays, didn’t you?"
"Yes," Battlesage said. "But you can use arrays with your Qi, and that is far better as well. I think there is something else you can use your Intent to fight against, and it might be what you should really train for."
Alex was very much intrigued now. "What is it, Senior?"
"Other people’s Intent."
Alex took a moment to understand what the man was saying. "What... do you mean?"
Battlesage tapped his chin in thought. "Imagine someone has attacked you with a ball of fire. Obviously, it contains the other person’s Intent within it. Imagine you can fight off that Intent, and either weaken it or completely erase it. How dangerous would that attack be at that point?"
Alex’s eyes slowly widened in surprise.
"Not in the slightest."