Chapter 10 - Sparring
The first day training was grueling and Nan Hua spent most of her time trying to adjust her state. In the evening, she watched Nan Luo sparring with the soldiers whom Old Master Nan brought from the frontline. They were the soldiers that he trusted the most, thus he allowed them to come to the residence.
The same routine continued for a few weeks.
Nan Hua was getting better and better each time. She also could see that her body was not that bad as it was improving quickly. Probably, it was the perks of having young body again.
There was an academy but Nan Luo spent more time practicing martial arts comparing to learning, so he rarely came there. As for Nan Hua, there was no academy for women, which allowed her to stay in the residence freely.
Originally, she had to learn the four arts for women but Old Master Nan turned blind eyes to that.
Whatever my granddaughter wanted to learn, she can learn.
If she didn't want to learn, there's no need to learn.
Thus, it was very easy for Nan Hua to do whatever she wanted in the residence. It was peaceful and lively with her brother all the time.
"You're slowly catching up…" Nan Luo looked at his little sister with a complicated feeling. It took him a long time to be able to train until this stage and yet his little sister managed to train so fast.
For the same pace as Nan Luo, Nan Hua had almost finished the same number of the set training after practicing for a few weeks. It might have something to do with her own determination as she continued to push herself to the limit in order to grow stronger faster.
"Brother can do better," Nan Hua remarked.
Nan Luo pursed his lips and what came afterwards was a spank from Old Master Nan. He could also see that his grandson was slowly giving in to his little sister in order to let her catch up faster.
"Run again for 10 laps. And if you don't finish within half an incense stick of time, you'll have to squat for 3 incense stick of time at night.'
"I'm running, I'm running." Nan Luo darted like a monkey. He didn't want to be punished to squat ah! His legs would give out.
Nan Hua blinked her eyes. She had started to learn about the time calculation in this world. An incense stick of time was equal to that of an hour. Half an incense sticks of time meant half an hour.
"You can rest, Hua'er." Old Master Nan looked at his granddaughter dotingly.
Nan Hua looked at her grandfather and nodded faintly. It was strange for her to have someone who continued to care for her wellbeing like her grandfather. She used to be an orphan and a tool used for killing, but now… she had family.
The training continued and in the evening, Nan Hua tugged her grandfather's sleeve. "Grandfather, I want to spar with Luo."
"You want to spar with Luo?" Old Master Nan was stunned. He looked at his granddaughter for a moment then at Nan Luo. Even though it looked like Nan Luo was fighting with ease, he knew how long it took for Nan Luo to be able to spar freely with the soldiers like this.
Even among all the people whom he had met, Nan Luo was a prodigy in terms of martial arts, which was why he chose to personally train the boy. He allowed Nan Hua to come along simply because she wanted to.
But sparring with Nan Luo…
Old Master Nan then looked at his granddaughter, her eyes were staring at him like puppy eyes. Ugh. Alright, she won. Old Master Nan was incredibly doting to his granddaughter, so he couldn't say no.
"Alright. Luo, Hua'er wants to spar with you. Go easy on her."
"Ah?" Nan Luo jumped to the back to evade the soldier's slash and stopped in time. He looked at his grandfather then to his little sister. His small face was full of smiles. "Of course! If Hua'er wants to spar with me, I'll definitely go easy on you!"
Nan Hua looked at Nan Luo as she considered how much of her skill that she would use. She had seen Nan Luo's battle so far and there were no one else in this field aside from her grandfather, her twin brother, that one soldier, and one shadow guard.
It should be fine as long as she didn't use the tricks that many assassins used since it would be weird for her to use that kind of trick. Also, the sword was different from the knife that she used to use, so she would need to adapt too.
So far, she had been training the sword motion that her grandfather taught her, so she could use it. it was not hard.
"Ready?" Nan Hua stood on the opposite of Nan Luo.
Nan Luo nodded. He drew his sword on the side and grinned. "Be careful, sister!"
Swish!
Rushing forward had always been Nan Luo's style. He loved to charge first because it would make things more exciting. It only took a few seconds for him to arrive before Nan Hua.
Tak!
Raising the wooden sword, Nan Hua blocked his attack perfectly. She slide the sword to the side while switching her pivot legs before aiming to slash at her brother's thigh.
Swish!
Sensing the danger, Nan Luo jumped back. His eyes were shining as he twisted his body and thrust forward.
Tak!
Parrying the wooden sword, Nan Hua twisted her own body and arrived before Nan Luo. Her expression was calm without any fluster whatsoever as she swung her sword down towards her brother's shoulder.
Tak!
"Wah, Hua'er, you're so ruthless!" Nan Luo remarked as he pushed the sword back and charged once more. His movement grew faster than before as the sound of wooden swords hitting each other filled the field.
Tak! Tak! Tak!