When Wu Guang was left alone, he took the hammer into his hands while leaving the throwing knives in the pile of weapons near him.

The hammer was a four feet long wooden pole with a round metal head mounted on it. Several sparrows were carved on the pole. Although intended to be used with one or two hands, its weight was almost half a shi or a bit less than 80 pounds. Thus, for Wu Guang to use it in combat or in one hand would be impossible, at least for now, but to train his muscles this weight was indeed perfect.

By remembering the movements in several hammer moves, Wu Guang formed a small and basic set of swings to practice with. After following it thrice without circulating qi and noticing no issues, he concentrated and infused the maximum amount of qi he could into the muscles in his arms. Reaching perfect coordination between the two, he started reciting the muscle strengthening mantra as well.

Two hours later, with half the sun already having disappeared, Wu Guang made an overhead swing with the hammer that hit the ground in front of him. While reciting the mantra and controlling his qi, he actually found himself in a state of understanding the hammer. So while repeating this simple set to strengthen himself, he received inspiration and a basic understanding of the hammer Dao. This made him move and circulate his qi in different ways to achieve different results, so when he reached the last movement which was this overhead swing he applied one of the insights he gained. Applying qi to his muscles in a wave-like manner, the impact was at least three times the initial force.

Looking at the crater that he created, Wu Guang regained his senses fully. "It seems that the set has some secrets I have not learned of yet. A state like this is almost the beginner stage of a weapon, and I have never felt an affinity for the hammer in any of my lives, so it should be impossible for me to enter". With this thought, he scanned his body and found that the entirety of the muscles in his arms, as well several muscles of his back were covered with an extremely bright glow. With some more training, the glow should disappear, and the muscles would be covered with small qi strands, indicating that they completed their basic tempering. When enough muscles in the body achieved this, the peak of the 7th level would be reached and he could break towards the 8th level.

He felt that his body was nearing its limits, and most of his qi was expended as well. Without a dantian to store it, he was limited to the amounts that either entered the meridians naturally or he crammed in with a gathering technique. Wu Guang decided to recover his qi on the spot and after doing this, he slowly walked towards the pile of weapons.

Taking care to move each of them into the storage room he thought "With only two or so hours, I have reached a level with the hammer that can be considered as trained, maybe even advanced training if I use qi while using movements. So if I am right and something from the set will make me enter a similar state with other weapons, I should be able to show advanced levels in all weapons for the training tests. And this is with only a few hours of practice! If I am not right and this state was a single time one, then with simple qi infusing I should be able to prove minor training anyway".

Dinner arrived right as the sunset down. Xiao Feng did not come and Wu Guang guessed that most probably the matters he told him about were harder than he expected. The same two servants brought the dinner and served it in the same pavillion. They also brought a pair of oil lamps, so Wu Guang requested them to leave one for him before they retired. He quickly ate and then walked towards the lake. There was no bath in the building and Xiao Feng had told him to use the lake as he had done before. He disrobed and quickly washed. Then he walked towards his room. As he expected, everything was submerged in darkness, so asking for the lamp was the correct move. Extinguishing the lamp, he threw himself on the bed and fell asleep.

***

With breakfast finished, Wu Guang quickly formulated a plan of training for the day. He decided to train with both spears and the small saber during the day, taking breaks for qi recovery when needed.

His thoughts about the specialty of the set were confirmed when he started to train with the first weapon, he entered the same state of understanding the spear as the one he had with the hammer. The long spear or also called pike was a simple ten-foot weapon, with an engraved wooden shaft made of flexible wood and a long leaf-shaped iron tip. This weapon would normally not be considered by cultivators and would be mainly used by mortal soldiers.

But Wu Guang from his past memories could recall that the number one of the Sky ranking amongst their cluster of realms was actually held for several dozens of years by a long spear master.

Contrary to the versatility that a short spear had, the long spear specialized in slower thrusts and did not use any type of swing. Most of the techniques he had seen would either expand the advantage in range or the penetration power. Dedicated defensive techniques were inexistent, and in a fight, a master would rely on enchanted armor or barrier techniques. So taking these points into account, he first only thrust blindly while tempering his back and arms.

By entering the special state Wu Guang actually understood the correct way of training and usage and stopped his basic thrusts. He found out that although the thrust would be slow compared to the sword swings or the short spear thrusts, the long spear had the advantage of a flexible shaft, that could be used to change the direction or target. These movements looked and felt like if the shaft turned into a snake.

He also found that most of the power would actually come from leg movement while the control came from his back and shoulders, so most of his qi was constantly infused there.

When he finished his training, about three hours had passed and his qi was exhausted. His understanding of the spear went far better than with the hammer as he had expected it this time, but the weapon was far more complex so he could only pass as an intermediate level.

After recovering his qi and taking a quick dip into the lake, Wu Guang hoped to improve his understanding of the spear by practicing with the short version. Taking the fully iron five feet spear from the storehouse, he first reenacted the movements he had practiced with the long one. The movements felt incorrect, and he found out that he did not advance in either tempering or weapon. Stopping and thinking for a while, he cleared his mind of everything and decided to repeat what he had done before, do simple movements as if he was holding the weapon for the first time.

This approach worked, and eventually, the state of understanding was reached. This made him feel the difference between the weapons and their respective usage. The short spear was meant to be used with both or a single arm. While the shaft, in place of direction and control of the spearpoint, was meant for both defense and offense. The leg movements were also different, being far more active. After an hour of feeling and finding how to move, Wu Guang could be seen constantly moving from one place to another while making sudden turns, lunges, and jumps.

The spear shaft constantly moved in his hand, one moment he held it by the middle and made a sudden thrust, while the next one he was holding it by the far end and making a full swing.

More than two hours more passed while Wu Guang was in this trance-like state, and when he finished with a backward jump, the spear left his hand and flew forwards. Between both pieces of training with the spears, he advanced tremendously in the common understanding of the Spear Dao. And with some inspiration that came by naturally, actually understood or maybe even created a small set of fighting movements.

The movements were pretty simple and could be considered common mortal arts. Still, for someone who had trained with a spear for the first time, could be easily mistaken extreme talent in the way of the spear. The combination was meant to engage the opponent at middle range with sweeps and thrusts. And then push away the opponent, suddenly retreat, and use the spear as a javelin to finish the opponent.