Dazingly gazing ahead, Wu Tian was waiting. Guizou, facing him, abruptly moved. His motions were graceful and dignified, however small they seemed.

He began with a heartfelt front stab. His body blurred almost, reaching Wu Tian fifty meters away in an instant. Seeing the tip of the blade gently tapping his torn robe, Wu Tian could not hide his nervous sweating. Blinking only once, Wu Tian realized himself to have regained distance with his master. But before he could say or think about anything, Guizou's body blurred, the blade stabbing Wu Tian's sternum until it came out from his back.

The young man wanted to cough his insides out from the discomfort, but could not. Guizou remained silent, his left arm blurring as well. Before he knew it, Wu Tian's body had been split in two vertically. He was shocked beyond words. And before he could scream, his two parts were split once again from the chest. He was terrified yet mesmerized. Each move he perfectly knew by now. But the outcome was incomparable.

Guizou continuing, he reformed Wu Tian's body as he retreated his left arm upward. The blade hanging at an angle above, he slashed down diagonally, splitting the reformed Wu Tian from his left shoulder down to his right thigh.

No blood came out, only a faint glow emanating from the severed parts. Wu Tian was once again shocked before being reassembled by an unknown force.

Guizou did not mind, clearly doing it. His longsword, still touching the ground, slid to the right before coming back up from between Wu Tian's legs. The back of the blade, sharp as well, sliced Wu Tian apart once again.

His body also reformed again, Guizou's blade hung above his head as it came down like a meteor. It split Wu Tian's body again with the exact same wound.

Before the ninth part, Guizou spoke for the first time. "Even if you become a Great Warrior, I wouldn't worry about wind pressure just yet. You'll have to learn about it later in a different manner anyway." Before Wu Tian could open his recovered mouth, his body was suddenly torn to shreds under a flurry of slashes from all directions. Each movement seemed random, but judging from both the part's name and his old master's clear gaze, each move was intentional and calculated.

A couple of minutes later, Wu Tian's mind had recovered, somewhat used to his body being massacred a bit more. He was a hundred meters away this time.

Guizou decided to explain. "I will now show you the high Star Grade [Intermediate Imperial Sword Art]. It can be used without an actual artifact in hand if good enough, but I will use one so that you can better notice the difference. Here is the first move, [Imperial Stab]." About to ask why the names were the same, Wu Tian suddenly felt a vague discomfort in his chest. His vision acclimating, he saw Guizou ten meters away. The longsword was clearly too far to have reached him, so then why the discomfort?

Looking down, he saw an ethereal blade stabbing his sternum. It was made up of a somewhat dark pink energy. "Don't mind the color by the way, you can choose it for something so small." Still wondering, he at least understood Guizou to have extended the reach with a blade made up of Qi only.

A sudden fear gripping his heart, he heard a few words. "Here is the second part, [Imperial Burst]." A sudden hue of somber pink blinding his vision, his body blew up from the sternum, a vast uneven mess of pink Qi spreading out. His entire torso was immediately disintegrated.

His body healed on the spot, reforming out of nothing, he noticed the Qi blade to still be lodged inside his sternum. Questioning the next move, the blade did not budge. However, from it, two pink ethereal energy blades sliced him apart vertically. "[Imperial Motionless Cleave]." The next move was this time expected, the same thing happening, horizontally this time, slicing his two parts from the ribcage. "[Imperial Motionless Cross]."

The body recovered, the blade was still inside of him. "[Imperial Retreat]." Pulling back diagonally, the energy blade split Wu Tian from the sternum up to his left clavicle.

Recovered as usual, he saw the master follow through. "[Imperial Cleave]." Teleported a good dozen meters away, the energy blade came back down diagonally, a powerful pink blade passing through him once more, even from so far away.

Split in two again, he was healed again.

Kept far away, Guizou dragged the extended energy blade from the side back to the middle, aiming in between Wu Tian's legs. The longsword held tightly, Guizou slowly pulled it upward, nothing strange occurring this time. "[Imperial Ascension]." Until Wu Tian realized a powerful pink tornado of sharp energy blades to be forming right onto him. His body was torn to shreds with a familiar sense of full body discomfort.

Healed as usual, Guizou continued. "[Imperial Descent]." The longsword coming back down with greater momentum, a vast meteor of pink fell down from above at the same time. Wu Tian did not even notice the translucent enormity appear until he was already on the verge of being crushed.

"And finally, [Imperial Lucid Madness]." Sighing, Guizou's body blurred, countless pink ethereal blades sent out from his thousands of afterimages, slicing the barely recovered Wu Tian into small chunks.

Sheathing the longsword, Guizou snapped his fingers, forcing Wu Tian back to his senses.

"How was it?"

"..." Wu Tian only looked into his eyes.

Finally parting his lips, he was left dumbfounded. "How was what?! I just got butchered the whole time! I couldn't even do anything!"

The old master did not seem to care however. "Not my problem. Now you at least know how it's supposed to go." Wu Tian exhaled the remaining discomfort, his head lowering. "Yes. And I know how far I actually am!" I was just played with like a broken toy... Still can't tell how to improve either.

I suppose practicing wouldn't hurt at least.

"I got it, I'll shut up and train. Can't go wrong this way, right?" Wu Tian prepared himself to resume the training when Guizou chuckled. "Well, you still can train wrong and get bad habits. Just saying..." He returned to the pendant while Wu Tian's face was twitching. Damn it!

After some reorganization and some pleading, a new schedule had been set. Everything would be the same except some parts. He would use two of his eight hours of sleep to refill Guizou's spiritual energy reserves even more, and every seven days, Guizou would personally butcher him in a mental sparring session. This was Wu Tian's idea, much to Guizou's surprise. He apparently wanted to train against skilled opponents before attempting to reach further into the cave.

The spar would last as long as necessary, the master having decided to spend at least five hours just to be sure. If his disciple wanted to be beaten like a dog, reminiscing of nostalgic memories, he would oblige firmly.

The only remaining issue came from the fragmented Principles around. With Guizou's help, Wu Tian would get a breather when needed. It did not expand much spiritual energy, especially when near the entrance.

Training his martial methods, Qi mastery and such, the end of the first week since returning from the abyss came. "Ready?" Wu Tian almost scoffed with rebuttal at the mention. "Yes..." Come on! Don't wuss out! This is for you! You can do it! Just breathe and don't think too much, I can't die in there anyway, right?

"Master, can I receive dama-" A snap of the fingers later, Wu Tian awoke in a familiar dark space. His feet landed on black water more solid than concrete, the horizon and above pitch black. Dammit- A large burly shadow covering him, a sudden punch sent him flying across the darkness. "You've got to be better than that kiddo!" The youth in question currently pondering on the meaning of life, he raised his hands as he kneeled. "Time out! Stop!"

Seeing the old man do as asked, or more so begged, Wu Tian dusted himself reflexively. "Let's go slow please! I just want to go in increasing difficulty. Can't you help me here? Why start with a punch to my face?! I couldn't even react-" "Because it felt right." Biting his lower lip, Wu Tian glared at the burly old man before sighing heavily. "Then... can we start with just me attacking for now? I'd like... well, appreciate, if you could go easy on me and pretend to be a regular opponent."

Another sigh later, this time from Guizou, the old master nodded. "Sure. What level do you want to start with?" Wu Tian was about to ask for a few minor levels above before remembering about his missing limb. Painstakingly looking at the stump on his right shoulder, he closed his eyes. "Just... at my level for now. I need to get used to fighting without a right arm."

"This is going to take forever at this rate..." Hearing Guizou's complaint, Wu Tian almost cussed. "What do you mean? Master, you're the one who made me this way! I didn't even want to enter the damn cave in the first place! Actually, why take my right arm?!" Guizou immediately defended his position. "Wow! Wow! Wow! Kid, did you want me to take your leg or something?! You can't fly yet!" "Why my right arm still?! Why not the left one?? I'm right handed mind you! How am I supposed to write in the future! Did I complain though?!"

"Aiz..." The day of sighs already on them, Guizou scratched his head. "There was no choice. Your other limbs were in a much better condition, so your right arm was the best bet. It was bleeding too much and basically already crippled. Even a Warrior's vitality wouldn't be able to fix it. So of course I chose it as a vitality supply. As for your writing issues and so on, you can now learn some ambidextrous things and habits. It's actually not so bad. You shouldn't be too reliant on one side. Mind you I'm also right handed, but did you see me use my right hand when I personally taught you the martial methods a few days ago?"

With nothing else to say, the training had to officially start.

Wu Tian shamefully stood back up, his gaze empty. "This is going to be painful..."