Emery could be seen lying on the lush grass in the courtyard, panting heavily for breath. Sparring definitely was more tiring than just continuously hitting targets on a wooden pole.
All of the saint level sword practitioners Silva called upon possessed a solid level of swordsmanship, both in technique and comprehension. In fact, some of them had even studied the discipline of the sword for nearly 50 years.
Just like when he sparred with Silva, at first Emery managed to beat these people easily in a matter of a few moves.
However, after winning once or twice, the situation quickly changed and tilted away from his favor, as his opponents were finally able to understand his moves and read them like an open book in the next fight.
With only a total of six variations available to use, Emery truly experienced firsthand how limited it was for him to launch an attack and counter his opponent's attacks, when they basically knew everything about his card.
Of course, if Emery was willing to fight using his combat instincts and adapting to his opponent's techniques and skills, he would not be defeated so easily.
However, his main goal in fighting against these people was not to win against them but to experiment and test things around with his newly-created technique.
He wanted to experience different scenarios against various opponents and see how his technique would fare against them, to discover what aspects were lacking and could be improved upon.
Therefore after fighting with around 50 saint level individuals and losing ninety percent of them, Emery walked away from the center of the courtyard and finally took a break.
He walked over and sat under a shady tree, before closing his eyes to reflect on all the losses he had suffered in the past two days. At the same time, he gathered all the insights he had gleaned from the relentless losing streak and tried to create 36 variations of his own.
Emery initially thought that developing this technique starting from the sixth moves to the seventh moves, the eighth, ninth and so on would be the best course of action. But after long and deep thought, he realized this train of thought was in the wrong direction entirely.
Emery contemplated again and discovered the trick was hidden in what Master Atika had told him.
It was one of the word that she said - Thirty-six. Emery had to take each of the six variations and develop each of them to six distinct new variations, bringing the total to 36 variations.
Understanding what he had to do now, Emery immediately began to take his first steps by gathering all the insights he had accumulated to date. Starting from the 6 moves that Master Atika had shown, the continuous battles for the past two days, the experience he had amassed over the past two years using the technique, even returning to the memory of the two Han sword masters who had first shown off their technique to him.
The two Han sword masters also obviously had a similar strategy to what Emery was about to adopt. Emery's technique would be divided into 6 stages - three offensive moves and three defensive moves - each form having six variations different to each other.
Thrust, it's the fastest move among the three moves, but had the least amount of targeted area. Strike, the most powerful move, delivering extreme destruction at the cost of relatively less precision. Slash, the move that incorporates both aspects of both in a harmonious and balanced way.
Parry, the defensive move that was best used when there was a chance to launch a counterattack, but worst when the goal in mind was defense. Block, the move that most embodied the word 'defensive', allowing to negate most attacks. Dodge, the exact move one used when they knew both parry and block couldn't cut it.
6 forms, 3 offense 3 defense, six variations each, totaled 36 variations. With all the ideas for the variations, Emery decided to divide the final technique into six stages of difficulty. Stage 1 would be the 6 basic variations shown by Master Atika, which naturally made Stage 6 the most complicated one of its 36 variations.
This was such an epiphany that Emery didn't idle any longer and swiftly stood up to start practicing the 36 variations - from Stage 1 to Stage 6.
As Emery submerged in his enlightenment-like moment, he didn't even realize the night had completely passed and the next morning had arrived. It was only when Silva came with another batch of disciples did he wake up from his state.
Emery didn't wait and went for a spar with the saint level disciples. He couldn't wait to see the result of his hard work.
Loud sounds continued to echo through the air as two wooden swords clashed and struck each other.
Unexpectedly, it took 30 minutes for the first disciple Emery fought to voluntarily surrender. The next fight also ended in roughly the same way at almost the same amount of time.
Emery looked exhilarated, as he continued to test the 36 variations against the different types of sword techniques the disciples possessed. In all his fights, he would not stop attacking until he found the most efficient way to deal with each move of his opponent's technique.
That's why at the end of the day, instead of fighting 50 different opponents, Emery only managed to fight twenty people.
The same thing happened on the fourth and fifth day of the sparring. Just like solving a puzzle, Emery ended up defeating all the saint level disciples that Silva had brought and subsequently managed to refine his technique which he now named [36 Dao Divine Sword Technique].
The moment he struck down his last opponent, Emery lowered his sword and sank into deep contemplation, crystalizing all the gains he had got over the past few days. He was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice that Vizla had arrived and was standing on the sidelines with Silva.
"I want to give him a try too!" Vizla said with a big smile, staring at Emery's drenched figure.
However, Silva stopped him, she grabbed a wooden sword and then walked towards Emery, taking the chance to fight him first.
"Fight me!"
Emery, who was woken up by her words, turned and nodded his head. "Alright."
The two of them didn't say anything else and immediately went on the offensive.
Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak!
Swords swung in the air, exchanging attacks with each other. Both Emery and Silva moved around the courtyard as they attacked their opponent without pause. The fight between the two was equally beautiful and cutthroat, where one mistake might spell the end of it.
For more than half an hour, the two had fought and exchanged hundreds of attacks. However, Emery still could not solve the 'puzzle' of Silva's swordsmanship. Therefore, he subconsciously gritted his teeth.
The girl however knew very well how much Emery had improved in the span of days.
Excited by Emery's achievements, Silva accidentally made a mistake. Emery, whose mind was so focused naturally, didn't miss this. He instantly shot at the opening, causing her to fall to the ground and her sword to fly into the air.
"I'm sorry, Silva. Are you okay?" Quickly approach to help her stand.
"Yes... I'm fine." The white-haired girl glared at him and clicked her tongue. "Huh! I hate that you're improving so fast!"
Emery was about to respond when at this moment the black haired man standing at the side suddenly shouted in an annoyed tone. "Hey! How long are you lovebirds going to let me wait!?"
Without even waiting for a response, Vizla jumped and landed right in front of the two.
"Come on, Emery.." He smirked. "Now you fight me!"