After eating my dinner and checking the salt cooking pot, I go to my tent and get some rest. Since I already do many activities since morning, I get into slumber quickly. And like the previous night, soon after I"m sleeping, I already in a place where everything is white. This time, that unknown strong muscular middle-aged man is already there like waiting for me."Welcome my disciples Henry Harvard. Let"s continue yesterday lesson"
Oh my G.o.d! So last night dream is not just an ordinary dream? An ordinary dream can"t have continuation like this, is that means, this actually no dream? I had to ask this man about this when I have a chance. So I just have to follow what he wants for now.
"Greetings honorable master"
I"m greeting him while giving a respectful bow. He seems pleased about that.
"Hahaha, Good! This time I will teach you about my swordplay moves"
"Please, honorable master"
"First, I will ask you. What"s the important thing in the swordplay?"
h.e.l.l! Like I know the answer, I"m just a cook apprentice you know, not martial artist. How I"m supposed to answer that? So I just give him any reasonable answer for that
"Ehm, attack and defense, honorable master?"
"Haha, that"s almost correct. See? You have talent in swordplay. I"m not wrong in taking you as my disciples. The answer is the balance between attack and defense"
What? I"m dumbfounded. Just a random answer that I said is almost correct? This is just too coincidental. But the man seems not care and keeps talking
"You know, sword in your hand is not just a weapon to attack but also to defend. A genuine swordplay is not just a move to hack, slash or stab the enemy, but also the art to defend yourself from enemy attack. That"s the balance between attack and defense. This balance allows the sword to moves in an uninterrupted flow. If you just swing your sword to slash your enemy, once that slash parried or deflected by the enemy shield, you must retract your sword to start a new attack again. Do you understand?"
"Honorable master, is that mean with a genuine swordplay, even if our attack parried or deflected, we still can keep attacking?"
"Correct. The key is you must remember a sword is just a lengthened of your arms. If you too focus with your sword, you will forget that you still have other hand or legs in your body. My swordplay utilizes all body part as a weapon!"
Gosh! Hearing what kind of his swordplay already makes my hair stand. I can"t imagine what kind of hard training that he will give to me today.
"Alright, you have learns the stance yesterday. that"s all enable you to defend yourself from any attack from seven directions. But defense only will get you to nowhere, so this move is the attacking part of my swordplay. I will demonstrate the moves from first moves until the seventh moves. Keep that moves in your mind so you can training that moves again in other time"
The man starts to demonstrate the moves from the first stance until the seventh stance. Each stance has its own moves so totally there are 49 moves in his swordplay. d.a.m.n! How come I able to remember so many moves only within a night? But I must remember these moves as much as I can because this could be my aces in my sleeve to make my life safer in the future.
After finishing give a demonstration, the man told me to imitate his moves with a wooden sword that who knows when already on his hand and given to me again.
"Henry! I already give you a demonstration, now it"s your turn to show me how much you able to remember from each move"
"Yes, honorable master"
And h.e.l.lish training start since then. Like yesterday, the man didn"t hesitate to kick or smack my body that not moves according to his moves.
"Not high enough" …..*Smack*
"Your leg is too wide"….*Smack*
"You move too slow"….*Smack*
"That swing too weak!" …..*Smack*
"Your waist too high!"…*Thump* (sound of kicking)
"That angle too narrow!" ….*Smack*
When this h.e.l.lish training over, I"m not only breathing heavily and exhausted but also have some bruises on my body. It"s like I don"t have the power to lift even a finger. So I just lay down and trying to catch my breath. The man watches me with a smile on his face
"Not bad Henry, to able to master one move in such short time. Although in this place, one hour is equal to one month in the real world. Today you already spend 9 hours in here, that"s equal with you already training for 9 months"
"Honorable master, may I ask what kind of place is this?"
"Oh right, I haven"t tell you about that. This is a spiritual realm, a place where only the spirit can enter. Actually, I quite amazed with you, Henry. A living person spirit can"t stay too long in this place, but you can stay for 9 hours without anything bad happen. If I have much time to spend with you, I would like to talk about that"
What? Spiritual realm? A place where only the spirit can enter? Is that mean this is some kind of out of body experience? Where the spirit released from the body for a certain time and can return to the body afterward. But I can"t think about that anymore. My body is too tired to thinking something complicated like that.
"Seems my time is up. We separate again this time Henry, see you again tomorrow. Goodbye"
"Goodbye honorable master"
After bidding goodbye to that man I close my eyes and rest. Everything is dark when I close my eyes.