Such a low-level martial arts manual naturally came with a low price; it was the only martial arts manual that James Carter could afford at the time.

"Wave-Splitting Technique" had extremely simple moves, with only three levels and just three techniques in total.

Just now, James Carter had performed the first move of the beginner level of "Wave-Splitting Technique," called "Wave-Cleaving Slash," which was the simplest initial move. After that came the intermediate move "Whirlpool Slash," and the advanced move "Stacked Wave Slash."

The "Wave-Cleaving Slash" was astonishingly simple—so simple that it consisted of only one action: in the water, slash forward at the waves with a single stroke, cutting straight through without any variation.

Precisely because the move was so simple, with no variations at all, it was hard to see results in a short time, and the training method was too monotonous. Few martial artists were willing to practice such a manual for the long term. "Wave-Splitting Technique" was scorned by countless beginner martial artists as a trash martial art, even considered inferior to "Tiger Fist" or "Eagle Claw Technique."

At that time, James Carter was only eight years old and didn't understand any of this.

He bought the martial arts manual and excitedly buried himself in practice.

He trained the first move of "Wave-Splitting Technique," "Wave-Cleaving Slash," day after day, facing the river waves in the streams, waterfalls, and rivers of the Martial Kingdom.

In summer, he would jump into the cool streams and slash at the fish swimming in the river.

In winter, when the river froze over, he would shiver from the cold, break a big hole in the ice, jump into the bone-chilling water, and continue his training.

When thirsty, he drank water; when hungry, he ate fish. The young James Carter relied on the fish in the river to supplement his nutrition.

He slashed at least three thousand times a day, nearly a hundred thousand times a month, over a million times a year, and more than five million times in five years, never missing a single day.

James Carter spent five years, and by the age of thirteen, had pushed the first move of "Wave-Splitting Technique," "Wave-Cleaving Slash," to the pinnacle of perfection.

No matter what kind of fish swam in the river—be it a pufferfish weighing over a dozen pounds or a tiny shrimp smaller than a soybean—one slash from his sword would cut it cleanly in two.

The true essence of "Wave-Cleaving Slash" lay in delivering a fatal blow to the enemy in the simplest way, in an instant.

The first move of "Wave-Splitting Technique" was very simple.

However, any move, after five years and five million repetitions of relentless practice, no matter how simple, could unleash unimaginable power.

After mastering the first move, James Carter began to train in the intermediate second move, "Whirlpool Slash." This move formed the sword's force into a whirlpool, spinning and slashing at the surroundings.

In a flash, another five years passed, and by the age of eighteen, he had mastered "Whirlpool Slash."

After ten years of relentless training, James Carter had brought the first move of "Wave-Splitting Technique" to the realm of mastery, the second move to the pinnacle, and began to attempt training in the most powerful advanced third move—Stacked Wave Slash.

While training in "Wave-Splitting Technique," his physique was also greatly strengthened.

James Carter was now at the mid-stage of the martial artist level, which was the sixth layer of the Body Refining Stage.

The divisions of the Body Refining Stage for martial artists were very clear, generally measured by strength. Ordinary martial artists in the early Body Refining Stage could steadily exert one hundred jin of force, the mid-stage could steadily exert two hundred jin, and the late stage could steadily exert three hundred jin.

Before going out to sea, James Carter had tested his basic strength and already had two hundred jin of force. As soon as he broke through to the late Body Refining Stage, he would possess three hundred jin of force.

"Two thousand nine hundred and ninety-ninth slash... three thousandth slash! Done!"

Facing a surging wave, James Carter leaned his body slightly forward, every muscle tensed, his right hand gripping the sword hilt tightly.

In the blink of an eye, the wave crashed toward him.

Just as the wave was about to hit, a cold flash swept out, accompanied by a "pa" sound, and the wave was once again split in two, not falling on James Carter at all.

He then sheathed the Azure Edge Sword.

Sheathing the sword was to train his sword-drawing speed. In general, a martial artist's sharp sword was kept in its scabbard; when facing danger, the sword had to be drawn instantly, as the enemy would not wait for you to get ready before attacking.

Draw, strike, return the sword to its sheath—all in one smooth motion.

For a full hour, James Carter kept practicing the first move, "Wave-Cleaving Slash," completing his daily three thousand repetitions.

Because the sword move was so astonishingly simple, stripped of all complicated techniques, leaving only the most concise and powerful slashing action, this slash had almost become his instinct.

The morning sun leapt from the sea, revealing the first ray of dawn.

James Carter stood with his sword among the sunrise and waves, an incomparable calmness on his young face.

"The first move, Wave-Cleaving Slash, is done. Now to practice the second move, Whirlpool Slash!"

James Carter took a deep breath, dove several zhang deep into the sea ahead, submerging his entire body, and began practicing "Whirlpool Slash" on the shallow seabed.

"Whirlpool Slash" was an area-of-effect sword technique, able to attack all enemies within a zhang around the user at once—a move for fighting many with one.

Holding his breath, he gripped the Azure Edge Sword with both hands and spun, slashing rapidly.

The resistance in the water greatly increased the difficulty of training.

But once he could master it in the water, performing "Whirlpool Slash" on land would unleash tremendous power.

"Sss~!"