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Chapter 31: Learning Spearmanship
🕑 Added 2024-10-03 05:07:29 +0000 UTCEarly one morning, Yang Podi arrived at the practice field in his backyard to begin his spear training.
Yang Podi carefully examined the Broken Soul Spear in his hand.
The spear is one of the ancient weapons of Huaguo, composed of a blade attached to a long shaft, making it a powerful piercing weapon. Its shaft is longer than the blade, giving it great combined strength. It is one of the "Eighteen Weapons" and is regarded as the most distinguished of the "Four Great Treasures," known as the "King of Weapons."
A spear is a long weapon formed by combining a long shaft with a short blade, allowing it to be used for both close combat and thrown attacks. This versatility enables practitioners to apply various spear techniques, taking advantage of different long weapon strategies to attack their enemies.
Among the ancient weapons of Huaguo, the knife, spear, sword, and staff are notable for their unique status and characteristics: the knife is considered the "General of Weapons," the spear is the "King of Weapons" due to its effectiveness at long range, the sword is regarded as the "Prince of Weapons" and a symbol of power in ancient times, while the staff is known as the "Ancestor of Weapons," being the simplest and most primitive weapon.
From any perspective, the spear is the most powerful weapon and the primary tool of battle, without exception.
However, on the Douluo Continent, the Broken Soul Spear, despite being hailed as a top-tier weapon soul, lacks a corresponding status.
The Broken Soul Spear Technique consists of nine moves, corresponding to the eight soul skills of the Broken Soul Spear, with the last move never having been comprehended by anyone. The moves are: Shock, Piercing, Explosion, Penetration, Breaking, Stopping, Collapsing, Killing, and Destruction.
Because all of these moves are offensive, their application with the Broken Soul Spear results in great lethality. This is why the Yang family is known as the "Breaking Family," akin to their choice of soul skills which focus entirely on attack-oriented soul beasts. They have even developed a method and sequence for absorbing soul rings that corresponds directly to the moves of the Broken Soul Spear Technique.
Remarkably, in life-and-death situations, all soul ring skills can be combined to deliver a fatal strike, which is how the original character died at the hands of this technique.
However, Yang Podi has always felt that while the Broken Soul Spear Technique is powerful, it does not represent the true essence of spear fighting.
The real foundation of spearmanship lies in techniques such as stabbing, thrusting, flicking, parrying, intercepting, grasping, strangling, lifting, pressing, chopping, collapsing, and flowery movements. Mastering these techniques means that soul skills are not so critical, which is one reason Yang Podi dares to absorb only power-oriented soul rings.
The fundamentals of spear techniques include: stabbing techniques, thrusting techniques, strangling techniques, lifting techniques, parrying techniques, thrusting techniques, chopping techniques, sweeping techniques, flowery movements, collapsing techniques, and intercepting techniques. Mastering these allows one to effectively wield the Broken Soul Spear.
As for more sophisticated techniques, they are beyond what Yang Podi can practice at this stage. His primary goal now is to solidify his fundamentals so that the Broken Soul Spear feels as natural as his own limbs.
This is also Yang Podi's primary learning objective at the moment.
He started with the stabbing technique.
Yang Podi held the heavy Broken Soul Spear firmly and executed a direct thrust. The stabbing technique primarily consists of three types: straight thrusts, upward thrusts, and downward thrusts. Straight thrusts are often used to target an opponent's chest, waist, or abdomen, while upward thrusts are aimed at the throat, head, or back, and downward thrusts target the legs or feet.
Even for the simple stabbing technique, Yang Podi practices for two hours every morning, continuing until his body aches before finally stopping for breakfast.
Yang Podi's plan is to master one technique completely before moving on to the next, estimating that each spear technique will require about two months of practice to grasp, and complete mastery will take at least three years.
And this is only the basic spear techniques. More advanced spear techniques can only be learned after the fundamentals are solidified.
On the Douluo Continent, due to becoming a soul master, one's inherent soul power significantly enhances physical fitness, allowing for such rapid progress. In a past life during ancient times, it would have taken at least a decade to become a spear expert.
That afternoon, after finishing his alchemy studies, Yang Podi was about to leave when he was called by Yang Wudi.
"Podi, I've heard that you usually read and practice alone. You are my grandson and the young leader of the Breaking Family, and you will one day be the head of our clan. You need to learn to communicate with others, not just work hard in solitude."
"Grandpa, it's not that I dislike communicating with others, but the kids I study with are just too immature."
"Podi, even so, you can't avoid spending time with peers; otherwise, you'll seem very solitary. How will you lead the Breaking Family in the future? Besides, no matter how strong you are on your own, you'll still need allies."
"Grandpa, I still think personal strength is the most important. Only by becoming stronger can I truly lead the Breaking Family."
"I think you might find practicing spear techniques and studying alone rather dull. Boys need to interact more with their peers to avoid feeling lonely."
Hearing Yang Wudi's words, Yang Podi felt a bit speechless. What was his grandpa trying to get at today? It couldn't just be a casual conversation, could it?
"Grandpa, you've said so much; what exactly do you want to say? Can you be direct?"
"Podi, it's like this: there's a boy your age named Yang Pingan. His mother passed away from illness recently, and his father and grandfather both died in the battle against the Haotian Sect. Before his mother died, she entrusted him to me. I think I'll just recognize him as my grandson. Your parents have already agreed."
"Grandpa, since you all agree, why do you still need to ask me?"
"Podi, Yang Pingan awakened his martial soul at the same time as you and has a innate soul power level of seven, making him a rare talent in our clan. Moreover, he practices very diligently. I want him to train with you so that he can become your right-hand man in the future."
After thinking for a moment, Yang Podi felt that there was no problem with this arrangement. The Breaking Family couldn't rely solely on himself. An innate soul power level of seven was indeed considered talented; even Zhu Zhuqing from Shrek Academy had an innate soul power level of seven. If nurtured properly, he should have no problem becoming a Soul Sage or even a Soul Douluo in the future.
"Grandpa, no problem; you can arrange for him to live with us. I'll take him to practice together."
Hearing Yang Podi say this, Yang Wudi finally breathed a sigh of relief.
His grandson, despite his young age, was exceptionally mature, disciplined, and hardworking, with outstanding talent. He was doing well in almost every aspect but didn't like socializing and had few friends in the clan, which worried Yang Wudi about whether he would have allies when necessary.
Yang Pingan, with his innate soul power level of seven, was also a considerable talent. Allowing him to learn alongside Yang Podi would not only address the clan member's request for guardianship but also help resolve his grandson's social issues, achieving multiple benefits in one go.
