This steel saber was not heavy at all. Charles Bennett, at the fourth level of Body Refinement, already possessed over four hundred jin of strength in both arms, so holding this steel saber felt as effortless as holding a small piece of iron.

“‘Tiger Leaping Saber Technique’—First Move: Draw the Saber!”

“Hah!”

Charles Bennett planted his feet firmly on the muddy ground of the training field, left hand gripping the scabbard, right hand tightly holding the hilt, body leaning slightly forward, and swiftly drew the saber forward in the drawing stance.

“Swish!”

A cold flash of the saber’s edge swept past in front.

Charles Bennett sheathed the saber and practiced repeatedly.

This saber technique was surprisingly simple, consisting of only six moves: Draw the Saber, Tiger Leap Slash, Tiger Leap Double Slash, Tiger Leap Triple Slash, Crescent Slash, and Whirlwind Slash.

Among them, Draw the Saber and Tiger Leap Slash were basic martial skills.

The Double Slash and Triple Slash were intermediate martial skills. The strongest senior brother in the upper academy of North Slope Academy, Henry Grant, was currently practicing these two moves.

As for Crescent Slash and Whirlwind Slash, they were advanced martial skills, extremely difficult to master. Only martial artists whose physical bodies had reached at least the seventh level of late-stage Body Refinement could perform them. No student in North Slope Academy was able to execute these advanced skills.

The earlier moves were the foundation for the later ones. Only by mastering the earlier moves could one train in the later ones.

The first move, “Draw the Saber,” was actually the opening move of the “Tiger Leaping Saber Technique.” It required the least force but the greatest speed. The emphasis was on the speed of drawing the saber, aiming to unsheath the blade and launch a surprise attack on the enemy in an instant.

“Drawing the saber must be fast! If you’re slow even at drawing the saber, by the time you get it out, you’d have died countless times already. There are no shortcuts to mastering saber techniques—only years of relentless practice!”

Charles Bennett still clearly remembered a phrase casually spoken by the chief instructor of the upper academy, Caleb Thompson, when guiding students in their training.

Charles Bennett kept these words firmly in his heart.

In just one hour, he practiced the “Draw the Saber” move three thousand times.

The calluses on Charles Bennett’s right hand were nearly worn to the point of blistering, and his right arm felt completely numb and devoid of sensation.

The ten-jin steel saber in his hand now felt heavier than a hundred-jin blade.

According to the training requirements of the “Tiger Leaping Saber Technique,” the Draw the Saber move must be able to “unsheath the blade in an instant and cut through a hard wooden stake” to be considered mastered.

This was extremely difficult.

Because “Draw the Saber” was the opening move, Charles Bennett’s four hundred jin of strength could only be utilized at about ten or twenty percent. Only by reaching an extremely fast speed could he hope to cut through a hard wooden stake. It should be noted that the stakes in the training ground were specially made for lower academy students to practice their strikes, able to withstand three hundred jin of force—if the power wasn’t enough, they simply couldn’t be cut through.

Charles Bennett had been practicing the “Draw the Saber” move for ten days, repeating it no less than thirty thousand times, and his technique was now quite refined.

“Yesterday, after tempering my body with a grade-six medicinal herb, my qi and blood are vigorous, and the powerful medicinal effect of bitter ginseng is still working. Today, I’ll train for another three or four hours and practice over ten thousand more times!”

Charles Bennett thought to himself.

In the morning, he trained from dawn until the blazing midday sun was high in the sky.

With extraordinary willpower, Charles Bennett practiced relentlessly for over three hours, drenched in sweat. It wasn’t until most of the students in the training ground had gradually left that he snapped out of his training trance.

In the entire training ground, only a few dozen of the strongest upper academy students remained, still training hard.

In fact, it wasn’t that others didn’t want to train more, but that such high-intensity martial training would injure the body. Only a very few could endure long hours of practice.

……

Charles Bennett rested in place for a full quarter of an hour before regaining his strength.

“Let me test the power of the ‘Draw the Saber’ move I’ve painstakingly practiced for ten days!”

Charles Bennett walked up to a hard wooden stake in the training ground.

“Draw the Saber!”

Charles Bennett stood steadily before the stake and took a deep breath.

He bent slightly forward, right hand reaching for the saber hilt at his waist.

The instant his right hand touched the hilt, it was almost a reflex—his fingers trembled slightly, and in a flash, the saber was drawn from its sheath as he stepped forward, the blade sweeping out.

A cold flash streaked by as the blade sliced across the hard wooden stake.

The stake didn’t move at all.

“Did I fail? Didn’t cut through the stake?”

Charles Bennett sheathed his saber, momentarily stunned.

“Zzzt!”

Suddenly, the upper half of the stake slowly slid down and fell to the ground with a thud.

“The first move of the ‘Tiger Leaping Saber Technique’—Draw the Saber, is mastered!”

Charles Bennett’s tense expression finally broke into a smile, his spirits soaring.

“It took me ten days to master the first move, Draw the Saber, of the ‘Tiger Leaping Saber Technique.’ Tomorrow, I can start practicing the next move—Tiger Leap Slash. In just twenty or thirty days, I’ll be able to master the two basic moves of the ‘Tiger Leaping Saber Technique!’”

“‘Tiger Leaping Saber Technique’—Second Move: Tiger Leap Slash! In an instant, a saber shadow strikes a target. To master this move, you must cut through a stone pillar even harder than a wooden stake. ‘Slash’ is all about absolute power! One strike to cleave the obstacle ahead.”

Charles Bennett silently recited the saber technique’s key points in his mind.

He gripped the steel saber tightly and slashed forward.

Whoosh!

……