Having studied for a hundred years, why do you call me the Martial Saint?

As Shen Jian's drunkenness intensified, his vision began to blur.

Just then...

頜頜.

A wooden kite soared across the sky, circling not far in front of him.

Shen Jian was stunned.

Wooden kite!

It's a wooden kite again!

Exactly the same as that day!

"Hallucination?"

Shen Jian rubbed his eyes vigorously.

But the wooden kite was still there, flapping its wooden wings and staring straight at him.

Shen Jian gritted his teeth, threw the wine jar on the ground, and stumbled forward.

This time, he's determined to find out!

The wooden kite flew and stopped intermittently, leading him through the mountain path, over the bushes, and back to that familiar forest.

In the middle of the woods, a wooden dummy still stands.

Just as rough as last time, it has no facial features, but it roughly resembles a human.

But this time, the dummy was holding a wooden sword.

Wooden sword?

Shen Jian stared blankly at the wooden sword.

A strange and complex emotion welled up inside him, and he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

He instinctively reached for the hilt of his sword.

then……

The dummy moved!

A sword thrusts forth!

Shen Jian's pupils contracted, and he instinctively drew his sword to defend himself.

when!

He felt a tremendous force transmitted from the sword, which made his hand ache. The sword flew out of his hand, tumbled several times in the air, and plunged into the soil a few steps away.

Shen Jian was stunned.

He didn't even see how the dummy drew its sword.

The dummy stopped attacking and stood there woodenly, holding the wooden sword.

Shen Jian swallowed hard.

He tentatively took two steps back.

The dummy didn't move.

He moved step by step toward his sword.

The dummy remained still.

He took a deep breath, drew his sword, stared intently at the dummy, and assumed a defensive stance.

The dummy moved.

Another sword strike.

when!

The longsword slipped from his hand again.

This time, Shen Jian saw something clearly: the dummy's sword was struck directly on his own sword, without any fancy moves or ingenious variations; it was just a very ordinary strike.

It looks ordinary no matter how you look at it.

But he just couldn't catch it.

Shen Jianyi refused to believe it and picked up the sword for the third time.

This time, he used all his strength, and as soon as he grabbed the sword, he used all the sword techniques he had come up with!

The dummy drew its sword again.

when!

The sword flew away.

Shen Jianyi collapsed to the ground, his palm split open at the base of his thumb, and blood dripped from between his fingers.

He stared at the sword, suddenly feeling lost.

I couldn't catch it.

I really can't handle it.

He even suspected that if the dummy wanted to, that sword strike could have killed him instantly!

Shen Jianyi couldn't understand it.

He remembered that he had cleaved the dummy in a few sword strikes, but when the dummy was only holding a wooden sword, he couldn't even block a single blow.

Why?

Click.

A soft sound came from in front of me.

Shen Jian looked up.

Suddenly, countless cracks appeared on the dummy in front of them, and the cracks spread rapidly, covering its entire body.

Then, with a crash, the dummy shattered into a pile of wood chips.

Shen Jian stared blankly at the pile of wood chips.

The dummy broke on its own?

And why?

My mind was racing with all sorts of thoughts.

Is this a hallucination? Or not?

If it's a hallucination, my hand still hurts, and the pain keeps me perfectly awake.

If it wasn't a hallucination, then all of this was too outrageous, almost like something out of a martial arts novel.

A mysterious elder guides the younger generation in some peculiar ways.

My thoughts drifted to this point.

Shen Jianyi took a deep breath, then suddenly knelt down and kowtowed several times to the pile of wood chips.

"Thank you for your guidance, senior!"

His voice was loud and echoed through the empty woods.

But no one answered him.

Shen Jian kowtowed three times before getting up, pulling out his sword from the ground, and leaving without looking back.

……

After a while.

Gu Shuxian stepped out of the shadows, looked at the pile of wood chips, and was somewhat speechless.

"What, it's you again, you drunkard?"

He kicked at the broken pieces of wood on the ground, looking somewhat helpless.

However, thinking back to the scene of Shen Jianyi kowtowing just now, I felt a little amused.

If Shen Jianyi knew that the senior he was talking about was actually younger than him, I wonder what he would think.

But then again.

The dummy's performance was beyond my expectations.

His own inferior version was no match for his own, so he naturally had to find some other references.

I never expected that this genius swordsman, Shen Jianyi, couldn't even withstand a single, degraded version of my sword strike.

Logically speaking, this shouldn't be the case. It's just a wooden frame. When it encounters a talented swordsman like Shen Jianyi, the opponent shouldn't be powerless to fight back.

"It has nothing to do with Shen Jianyi. It's just that now that I have mastered the Six Swords of Qingfeng, my swordsmanship has reached an absurd level."

After pondering for a moment, Gu Shuxian quickly figured out the key point.

The Six Swords of Qingfeng is what Yang Qingfeng has learned in his life. Although he does not dare to use it easily because his current level is not high enough, the sword principles and sword intent contained in this sword technique have been integrated into his body.

Even a degraded version of a sword technique, when in the hands of a dummy, contains a level of swordsmanship that Shen Jianyi cannot withstand.

"Unfortunately, the dummy can only manage three sword strikes."

The dummy burned to ashes after drawing its sword, which was not what he wanted.

Gu Shuxian shook his head. The reason was that the wooden material could not withstand the sword intent of the Six Swords of Qingfeng, even if the dummy was the user and even if it was a degraded version of the sword intent.

"However, in retrospect, this is actually a pleasant surprise."

Gu Shuxian picked up a piece of wood shavings and crushed it between his fingertips.

He originally thought that the wooden puppet technique was just a gimmicky trick with no real use.

But now it seems he didn't use it correctly at all.

Since using the Six Swords of Qingfeng will harm my body, I'll just have a dummy use them for me!

It's a consumable item, so I don't mind spending the money!

Well, you can't say that. Making a dummy takes quite a bit of time...

"Three swords are still too few. Is there any way to increase them?"

Gu Shuxian fell into thought.

Since my own skill level cannot be improved in a short time, I will start with the craftsmanship of the mannequins and think about whether there are any areas for improvement.

It's important to understand that there are differences even among different types of wood.

Pine and cedar are soft, ironwood is hard, and white oak is both soft and hard...

Or, instead of sticking to wood, how about adding some equipment to the dummy, just like soldiers wearing armor?

Are there any areas where the dummy's structure can be optimized, such as changing the position of the rivets to try to make the force distribution more even?

Or you could shrink the dummy so it can only use one move, as a surprise attack...

Various thoughts swirled in Gu Shuxian's mind. In any case, she still had many things to try and experiment with.

As for where to find black slaves to help him with the testing, Gu Shuxian quickly found someone.

"You got off easy, Xiao Shen."

He shook his head and muttered to himself.

……

The day before the outer sect competition.

A large group of people marched into the gate of Suishan Mountain. The leader was an old man in his fifties, dressed in a dashing master craftsman's robe, with a short hammer hanging at his waist.

Behind him followed dozens of disciples, in pairs, carrying heavy mahogany boxes.

The box was sealed with a sticker that read "Red Violet Mountain"!

The mountains were bustling with activity.

Outside the mountains, wind and snow are approaching.