Chapter 22

Kuina had never felt this happy before.

But when she saw Luo En beside her easily lifting a 200kg stone bell, her joy vanished in an instant.

Luo En sensed her gaze, turned his head to look at her, and grinned at her.

In his hand, he was still holding that stone bell, which was bigger than his entire body.

Kuina stared at this scene, and two words slipped uncontrollably from her mouth:

"Monster!"

At the dinner table in the evening.

As always, there were only three people: Luo En, Kuina, and Koshiro.

Luo En and Kuina kept stuffing food into their mouths nonstop.

Watching them, Koshiro could only smile wryly.

"I'm not surprised about Luo En, but why you too, Kuina…? You weren't like this before. Even if it's to catch up with Luo En, you don't have to imitate him in everything."

He was a little worried — with things going on like this, would the family's money be enough to buy food?

Sure enough, by early next spring he'd have to start taking in disciples.

……

Night.

Inside the dojo,

Kuina was practicing her sword strikes.

Luo En, dressed in a white training outfit, sat cross-legged on another side, with the famed blade Lei Qie resting on his knees.

He closed his eyes, and following the sword-meditation method taught by Koshiro, his mind entered stillness; at the same time, he unconsciously circulated the Sun Breathing technique.

Gradually.

His black hair, half-long and reaching his ears, began to stir without any wind, and Lei Qie on his knees trembled slightly.

This state continued for quite a while.

Luo En suddenly opened his eyes, drew his blade, and slashed!

A flash of fire accompanied by lightning streaked through the air.

With that strike, the qi and blood within his body surged violently, as if breaking through a bottleneck.

【Host: Luo En.

Age: 8.

Qi and Blood Value: 100.

Sun Breathing Technique Mastery: 9%】

After a month in Frost Moon Town, his Qi and Blood Value had finally risen from 98 to 100!

"Luo En, what was that just now…?"

Luo En heard the voice and turned his head to look.

Kuina stood holding a bamboo sword, staring blankly at him — and at Lei Qie in his hand.

"That was the Realm of Momentum."

Koshiro walked in, his gaze beneath his eyes fixed on Luo En, and said in utter shock: "Although I held extremely high expectations for you, I never imagined you could reach this level so quickly."

"Master, what does the Realm of Momentum mean?"

Luo En asked curiously.

"The Realm of Momentum is the necessary path to stepping into the realm of a swordsman of great renown."

Kuina said, her gaze toward Luo En complex.

"Correct."

Koshiro held up three fingers toward Luo En: "To step into the realm of a swordsman of great renown, one must pass through three stages."

"The Realm of Momentum is the first stage. Its specific manifestation is that when you swing a strike, some kind of phenomenon appears on the blade — for instance, the flames that appeared on your strike just now. As for the lightning, I imagine it's because of the blade in your hand."

Koshiro explained to Luo En.

"Sword qi emanating from the blade is also one of the signs of stepping into the Realm of Momentum."

"Then what are the second and third stages?"

Luo En was somewhat interested.

"The second stage is called the Realm of Intent. It is a level above the Realm of Momentum — the phenomena carried by the strike become clearer and shift at will, like this."

Koshiro picked up a bamboo sword and slashed once at the empty space beside him.

A slash transformed into a blue azure dragon in the air, which shook its head and wagged its tail as it charged at a wooden rack nearby, slicing it into several pieces.

After delivering that strike, he looked at Luo En and smiled:

"There are many swordsmen across the entire sea, but not many can reach this level."

"The Realm of Momentum, the Realm of Intent, and the third stage… is called the Realm of Iron-Cutting."

"The Realm of Iron-Cutting?"

Luo En's eyes widened slightly.

"Correct."

Koshiro nodded: "When you can use a wooden stick to cut through steel, you can be considered to have stepped into the Realm of Iron-Cutting."

"Any swordsman in the world who reaches the Realm of Iron-Cutting can be called a swordsman of great renown."

After hearing his words, Luo En lowered his gaze to Lei Qie in his hand, staring blankly in silence.

……

Night.

Luo En still couldn't fall asleep, tossing and turning. Staring at the ceiling with his eyes open, his mind was occupied with the three stages Koshiro had mentioned.

"The flames produced by that slash shouldn't be the manifestation of swordsmanship reaching the Momentum Realm. When I was using Flame Dance before, similar flames appeared too. I'm afraid… it was caused by me unconsciously performing the Sun Breathing Technique."

"The dojo headmistook it for my sword momentum. In reality, I haven't reached the Momentum Realm at all."

Luo En thought to himself.

"Still, I took this chance to clearly understand the path toward Sword Master."

"Coming to this dojo was indeed the right call. Now my goal is clear—"

A glint flashed in Luo En's eyes.

Now there were only two things he had to do.

1. Continue tempering his physique.

Raise his Qi and Blood value!

2. Hone his swordsmanship.

Reach the Momentum Realm as soon as possible!

………………

While Luo En couldn't sleep and was clarifying his training goals—

In a room of the dojo—

Kuina asked Koshiro curiously, "Father, is the sword in Luo En's hand very unusual?"

"So you noticed it too."

Koshiro nodded. "Yes, that sword is very unusual. There hasn't been any record of it appearing in the world for several hundred years."

"Then what exactly is that sword…?"

"Like yours with the character 'Ichi,' it also belongs to the Twenty-One Great Grade Swords. Its name is Lei Qie. Legend has it that the blade's edge is sharp enough to tear through Lei Ting."

Koshiro's words made Kuina's eyes widen slightly, her heart shaken.

15. Monster Luo En (5/5)

That winter passed very quickly.

In the blink of an eye, spring arrived.

Luo En had also spent three months at the dojo in a flash.

His body had grown a bit taller, now about the same height as Kuina, who was ten this year.

His build was extremely sturdy and well-proportioned, brimming with vitality.

In Koshiro's words: "A monstrous body that inspires envy."

"Four hundred twenty-four, four hundred twenty-five, four hundred twenty-six…"