'Clang! Clang!'

In a dark s.p.a.ce that seemed to be made with nothing but shadows, two figures clashed repeatedly. It was hard to measure their exact position, as the dark s.p.a.ce seemed to have no boundaries. It was an endless void, where the only source of light came from a spear and a sword that clashed repeatedly.

The light they emitted was pale and weak, but was enough to barely illuminate two figures entangled in combat.

One was a boy in his early teens. His face was full of sweat and his ashen hair was wet and sticking to his face. His golden eyes shone with ferocity as he used a sword to block a series of stabs from the spear.

He felt that his body was light and nimble as he fought his opponent. It was a very pleasant sensation, a thrill that he never felt before.

The one holding a spear was tall and was from head to toe completely white. It had no eyes, nose, ears or mouth and it didn't show any expression at all. Still, every single one of its attacks were deadly precise and swift. When added to his lack of expression, it made for a complicated opponent.

The faint light s.h.i.+ning on his white expressionless face and the shadows that covered most of his body made for a startling appearance. Fighting with it gave Amon chills every time he looked at it.

It was a sparing puppet available in the Warrior Hall, and one could chose the weapon it would use and the cultivation level it would emulated. Even elemental affinities could be set up to maximize the options for training.

This puppet was set up at an average level of the initial stages of Body Tempering. This meant that it was weaker and slower than Amon. Still, the way it moved in combat and the way it fought was miles ahead of Amon.

Experience and intelligence was enough to close any small gap in cultivation, and even far surpa.s.s it. This was a lesson Amon was learning the hard way.

'Clang!'

Amon blocked another stab aimed at his chest using the flat side of the blade, and pushed the spear out, breaking the sparring puppet's stance. He hurriedly stepped forward, holding his sword with both hands as he tried to pierce the puppet's head with the sword.

To his surprise, he hit nothing but air. The puppet lightly twisted his body, and as Amon's strike went past him, he grabbed Amon's arm and pulled him. Amon lost his balance and fell to the ground, still holding his sword.

'Pak!'

He felt a blunt strike on his back as the puppet hit it with the spear. Amon felt pain, but there was no real damage. The weapons there were using had no real edges or tips, they were all blunt weapons.

"You lose." Lya's voice reached his mind as the darkness in the room melted away and revealed a wide room with white walls and a solid floor.

The puppet retracted his spear, took a step back and a.s.sume a neutral stance, holding the spear by his side.

The light on the spear subsided and the puppet stood still, as if it was nothing but a statue. A stark contrast to the nimble and precise movements it had been displaying until now.

"You managed to withstand him for about a minute." Amon heard Lya speaking and his ears started reddening. This was his tenth fight, as well as his tenth loss.

"What was your mistake in this fight?" Lya asked.

Amon thought for a while, trying to remember every movement and decision he made in the fight since it began. To his luck and shame, it was quite easy to do that, as it was an incredibly short fight.

"That last strike I tried to use." Amon said as he stroked his chin. "I was late by a split second to use the opening I created, and the step I took was too long. My strike arrived late and my stance was wrong, resulting in a weak strike. My wrong stance also made me lose my balance when he pulled me."

"Not a bad a.n.a.lysis." Lya agreed with him. "I already told you before, do not trust your eyes, try as much as possible to rely on your divine sense instead of your sight."

"I know that, it is just…" Amon was somewhat ashamed as he spoke. "Maintaining the state of conscious emptiness while fighting is incredibly hard, I can't do much else besides controlling the Qi on the sword and the Qi on my body to use the Movement Technique."

Amon hadn't shown great difficulty in using his divine sense as he moved ever since he first used the Soulrousing Technique. He even managed to use it in his trainings with Lya, although the mental strain was high.

However, in a real fight it was completely different. Amon had to maintain the Qi in his sword, properly control and circulate the Qi in his legs, observe his enemy's movements and always know what was surrounding him.

It was the same as trying to look at four different directions at the same time. He was bound to make mistakes in all of those tasks if he didn't balance them properly.

"So now you understand why experience is important, don't you?" Lya asked seriously.

Amon could only nod. He had to admit that he thought he would have an easier time training in combat. One part of him secretly thought that it was going to be easy and he would surprise Lya with his performance.

The truth was that he was overconfident. Now all he could do was gather the pieces of his shattered pride and move on with his head lowered as he learnt from his mistakes.

Lya, of course, knew all of that. She was actually surprised at how cool-headed Amon was regarding his constant failures after the confidence he built up in three months of training. "It is good that he can keep focused." She thought to herself.

"Even if your a.n.a.lysis is right, it is still lacking." Lya said. "You are still having a hard time with stabbing attacks."

"You are not moving as you should, and that forces you to block attacks rather than dodge and position yourself to counter." Lya was precise as she exposed Amon's flaws. "It is a waste of energy and puts you in a pa.s.sive position in the fight."

Amon nodded. It was true. They were hard to see and hard to dodge and block. Moreover, in the illusion had made him lose all sense of depth and distance in his sight, he had been moving carefully. Even if he was focused on using his divine sense rather than his sight, it was still hard to have a satisfactory result.

"What can I do, Lya?" He asked as he looked at the ring in his hand.

"You can only keep training. Eventually you will get used to doing all of that at the same time." Lya answered without hesitation, as if she was expecting his question. "This has to become second nature to you, it is the only way you will be able to properly use all of the tools at your disposal in combat."

"So what you can do is to keep fighting, keeping making mistakes and keep correcting them." She concluded her explanation. "This is the most reliable way for you to learn and grow properly."

Amon nodded. He took a deep breath and relaxed his body as he closed his eyes. Lya was right, as always. He had to be patient and keep practicing.

Cultivation was not a race, it was a marathon. He had to find his rhythm and keep improving at a stable pace. Impatience and hurry would only make him tire faster in the long path he had ahead.

"Again!" He shouted as he gripped his sword firmly. His grip was not too tight, nor too loose. He a.s.sumed the first instance of the Fundamentals of the Sword as the room darkened and the spear in the puppet's hand started glowing.

Amon didn't realize this, but he was smiling as he faced his opponent with a savage gaze.