...…

Shin filled the wooden buckets with water before placing them down for a moment. Then he raised his head to look at the sky and saw that the sky was already starting to get bright.

"This should be the last one," muttered Shin as he took a deep breath.

He already forgot how many backs and forth he did just to fill up that huge wooden barrel. All he could remember was him climbing up and down from the mountaintop to the river below it. And given how high the mountain was, it was natural for him to be exhausted even if he was a Martial-Artist.

Shin regulated his breathing before picking up the wooden stick below him and putting the buckets which were filled with water on each of its ends. Then he kneeled on the ground before putting the wooden stick over his shoulders while holding the wooden buckets with each of his hands.

"Hup!" Then he stood up steadily before looking at his front. "Alright, let's finish this job!"

Swoosh!

Shin started running as he climbed up the mountain. He was also hopping from time to time. And even if he was running with a quick speed, not a single drop of water was spilled from the wooden buckets hanging on each end of the wooden stick.

It was because Shin was controlling the movements of the buckets to prevent them from swinging in the wrong way while he was running. Sometimes, he was also twisting his waist from side to side whenever he failed to properly control the movements of the wooden buckets.

At the same time, Shin never turned his head to take a look at those buckets. It was because he kept his eyes on the road. After all, climbing the mountain without the help of his Internal Qi or Mental Energy was not easy. What's more, the road had an uneven ground, so he needed to keep his eyes sharp so that he could look for a steady footing to prevent him from slipping.

The sky was already starting to get bright, so it was quite easy to see right now. But earlier, Shin fell on the ground quite a few times by stepping wrongly; he even got tripped by some stones on the road due to the darkness earlier.

But right now, Shin already got himself familiar with the road. So, he didn't encounter many problems along the way this time.

Not long after, he arrived at the mountaintop and filled the wooden barrel with the water that he brought. After that, he placed both of his hands on each side of his waist while taking a deep breath.

When he finally steadied his breathing once again, he immediately turned his head left and right to look for Professor Plum. "And where did that Old Geezer go?"

...…

Meanwhile, Professor Plum was sitting on a rocking chair behind the nipa hut that they were staying in. He was reading a scroll on his hand with great amusement. He had already read this scroll for a lot of times already, but no matter how many times he did, he still kept being amazed every time he read it.

"Tsk! As expected of that guy. To think that he is able to make my 'Black Dragon Arts' complement the Demonic Qi? He is sure of a one and lifetime genius," muttered Professor Plum as he read the scroll.

A moment later, he sensed Shin walking towards him. Feeling that, he immediately closed the scroll and turned his head in that direction. "That is quite fast. You still have a lot of time to spare."

Shin stopped before meters in front of Old Plum before sitting on the ground. "So, what's next now?"

Hearing that, Professor Plum couldn't help but smirked a little before saying. "Looks like you are quite energetic, huh? Then starting tomorrow, you are required to do some basic foundation training before taking the water from the river. The same rules apply – if you failed to do your task, there was no breakfast for you."

He paused for a moment and squinted his eyes while looking at Shin. After a few moments of observation, he suddenly said. "Not bad. Looks like your Dantian is returning back to normal."

Then he threw the scroll that he was holding at Shin while saying. "Then read this for now. It is a modified version of my 'Black Dragon Arts'. It is specially made for you so that you can control your Demonic Qi properly."

"There is also a 'Qi Circulation Method' written to it. So, it is better you start with that first," he added while leaning his back on the rocking chair.

He didn't claim the ownership of the scroll since it was not his in the first place. Though, he also didn't bother to tell Shin about the truth to avoid some misunderstanding.

Meanwhile, Shin looked at the scroll curiously. He unrolled it to take a quick peek on its contents. And while he was looking at it, he heard Old Plum once again. "When I said read, you are only allowed to read it. Don't be too excited to try doing its contents on yourself. I am going to guide you personally during the course of your training, so don't do anything reckless again."

Hearing that, Shin nodded his head repeatedly while scanning the contents of the scroll. And while he was doing that, Old Plum was quietly observing him with his squinting eyes.

Professor Plum was trying to see if Shin was getting tempted by power described on that scroll. But after a few moments of observation, he saw that Shin was really just curious about it. Given that, he nodded his head and said. "Alright, you can go now and take your breakfast. We will continue after you are done with it."

Shin nodded his head once again after hearing that. Then he immediately closed the scroll before standing up. After that, he bowed at Old Plum to excuse himself before walking towards the cottage.

...…

Not long later, Shin immediately went back to Professor Plum to continue his training. And when he arrived at the back of their cottage his eyes were immediately attracted to wooden blocks hanging on a branch of a tree.

He was quite familiar with that setup since Old Plum asked him to do this kind of training before. It was a specialized training to improve one's awareness and reflexes.

But Shin immediately knitted his eyebrows the moment he saw that. It was because he already graduated from doing this training ages ago.

With his current state, he could do this training for as long as he wanted. So, he felt that there was no point at doing this training now. Regardless, he still walked at Old Plum to hear his instructions.

When he arrived, Old Plum immediately said. "You're already familiar with those things, right?"

Shin quickly nodded his head. And when he did, Professor Plum immediately added. "Then quickly stand on that circle and carefully listen to my instructions."

Shin was knitting his eyebrows when he heard that. But he still complied with the given instructions.

When he was already standing at the center of the circle Old Plum suddenly said. "This training still has the same purpose as before, but it had a little trick on it."

He then looked at Shin before asking. "What can you see on the wooden blocks?"

Hearing that, Shin looked at the wooden block confusedly before observing them. A moment later, he immediately noticed that these blocks were indeed somewhat strange. They had different sizes and colors.

There were three colors in total; red, yellow and blue. While the sizes seemed to be categorized as small, medium and large.

When Old Plum made sure that Shin already saw all of that, he immediately added. "You need to hit the red ones directly while the blue ones need to be deflected. Meanwhile, you need to avoid the yellow ones."

Then Professor Plum paused for a moment as if he was contemplating something. And after a few seconds of thinking, he finally said. "That's it for now. I will tell you the purpose of the sizes later."

Hearing that, Shin suddenly asked. "The same rules applied? I can make the blocks collide with each other as long as the strings are not entangled with each other while I can't step out of the circle, right?"

Old Plum nodded his head when he heard that before closing his eyes to take a nap.

"No time limit this time?" asked Shin once again.

"There is no need for that. You can continue doing it until lunch since that is my only plan for today," answered Professor Plum almost instantly.

After getting the confirmation, Shin stood in at the very center of the circle while straightening his back. Then he closed his eyes while taking a deep breath to enter a 'Deep Meditation State' (his first calming technique).

And when he successfully entered that state, he quickly reopened his eyes before quickly throwing a strong punch in the air.

Whoosh!

That punch sent the surrounding air in all directions and made the wooden blocks dance alongside it. After a second they started swinging back at Shin in a chaotic manner.

Seeing that, Shin immediately took a battle stance while reading the movements of the blocks with his senses. And a moment later, a read block was the first to arrive at Shin.

Pak!

Without any hesitation, Shin quickly threw his fist at it which made it fly back and collided with another block.

After that, he quickly retracted his arm to deflect an incoming blue block with the back of his hand.

Pak!

Immediately after that, he quickly leaned his body backwards to dodge a yellow block.

Similar series of actions lasted for a few more seconds before Shin made a mistake; he slapped a yellow block to the side instead of dodging it.

Due to that, Shin suddenly knitted his eyebrows. It was not that he couldn't dodge this certain block, but his body moved according to its instincts; he instinctively chose to deflect it since he was thinking that it was the best way to do so.

After that, he relaxed himself for a moment before restarting once again. But it didn't last long before he made another mistake. And this time, he dodged a red block instead of hitting it. And when he did another round, the mistake that he did was dodging a blue block.

Shin was forced to stop for a moment. "So, that was it. The other purpose of this training is to get rid of my habits. Since I have my 'Immediate Response' talent, I end up relying on it too much without me knowing. And I unconsciously moving my body according it most of the time."

"If my opponent knows about this, then they can use it against me by baiting my instincts. Interesting!"

Thinking about that, Shin immediately became motivated at continuing his special training. So, he immediately restarted another round with an excited look on his face.

Meanwhile, Old Plum couldn't help but form a satisfied smile when he heard it. 'It is really good to have a bright disciple. Teaching them sure is easy.'

...