Chapter 10 - Sparring

The first day of training was grueling, and Nan Hua spent most of her time trying to adjust to 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 whom 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 could also see that her body was not that bad, as it was improving quickly. Probably, it was the perks of having a young body again. There was an academy, but Nan Luo spent more time practicing martial arts compared 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 a blind eye to that. Whatever my granddaughter wanted to learn, she could 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 to 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 sets of rain after practicing for a few weeks. It might have something to do with her determination as she continued to push herself to the limit to grow stronger, faster. "Brother can do better," Nan Hua remarked. Nan Luo pursed his lip, 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 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 sticks of time at night.' "I'm running, I'm running." Nan Luo darted like a monkey. He didn't want to be punished to squa,t ah! His legs would give out. Nan Hua blinked her eyes. She had started to learn about time calculation in this world. An incense stick of time was equal to that of an hour. Half an incense stick 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 wwell-beinglike 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 had taken 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 staring at him like puppy eyes. Ugh. Alright, she won. Old Master Nan was incredibly doting on 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 at his little sister. His small face was full of smiles. "Of course! If Hua'er wants to spar with me, I'll go easy on you!" Nan Hua looked at Nan Luo as she considered how much of her skill she would use. She had seen Nan Luo's battle so far, and there was 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 side 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 slid 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!