Chapter 217: Sparring with a Martial Monk

After breakfast, a new day of training began.

Compared to the anticipation felt by Xia Shiyao and Chen Jiayuan, Yin Lin appeared uneasy, acting like a little thief who was terrified of being caught.

When they returned to the training ground, several monks were already standing there.

They were all Martial Monks.

Yin Lin scanned the area for a long while.

She only breathed a sigh of relief when she didn’t see the Martial Monk Tongyi.

“Whoa, such hotties?!”

Chen Jiayuan exclaimed.

Every Martial Monk looked like a fitness fanatic.

Their physiques were burly and overflowing with a sense of power.

It wasn’t the kind of deformed bulkiness caused by steroids, but the natural build of strong men.

Xia Shiyao walked over and exchanged greetings with them.

They already knew each other; this wasn’t Xia Shiyao’s first time here, nor was it her first time sparring with these Martial Monks.

She got along quite well with an older Martial Monk and pulled him aside, seemingly intending to spar in Sword Technique.

She left the other Martial Monks to Chen Jiayuan.

Yin Lin watched from a distance, having no intention of participating for the time being.

Close combat wasn’t her specialty, and fighting these people would hardly improve her own melee abilities.

She simply stayed far away to watch the show.

She first observed Xia Shiyao.

Both she and the elder Martial Monk were holding Samurai Wooden Swords.

The elder monk held his wooden sword vertically, while Xia Shiyao held hers horizontally in front of her body.

Both took two steps forward simultaneously and swung.

With a single strike, the elder monk knocked the wooden sword from Xia Shiyao’s hand to the ground and even landed a blow on her thigh.

Xia Shiyao suffered a total defeat.

The entire process took only 1 second.

It was too fast.

Yin Lin couldn’t even clearly see what had happened.

Xia Shiyao wasn’t discouraged.

She picked up her weapon and continued sparring with the elder monk.

After several minutes of watching, Yin Lin finally realized that Xia Shiyao was likely practicing techniques she had learned from this monk.

Jin Luan’s combat style was somewhat similar to this elder monk’s; it was the combat philosophy of the One-Sword Style, which disdained drawn-out struggles.

Though it was called a one-strike victory, there were many complexities involved.

How much force should be used in the attack?

At what angle should one strike?

What was the starting stance?

All of these details were highly specialized.

After listening to the elder monk’s explanation, it felt as if she had listened to… well, words.

Regardless, Yin Lin didn’t understand.

She didn’t use a knife, she didn’t specialize in close combat, and she wasn’t even a qualified combatant to begin with.

She turned her gaze toward Chen Jiayuan, who was currently very excited, as if she had discovered a hidden treasure.

When she sparred with Xia Shiyao, there was one detail that simply couldn’t be resolved no matter what: height.

Although Xia Shiyao was much taller than Yin Lin, she was still far shorter than a Demonic Creature.

These Martial Monks were generally 1.8 or even 1.9 meters tall.

Their attack angles were much more similar to a Demonic Creature’s than Xia Shiyao’s were.

Sparring with them truly gave Chen Jiayuan the illusion that she was fighting a Demonic Creature.

With their powerful, muscular bodies, every move they made was filled with a sense of strength.

The Martial Monks could even fight Chen Jiayuan barehanded.

Facing her swinging fists, a monk could easily parry with his arm, then seize her Staff and disarm her.

Even without disarming her, they could meet the Staff head-on with their fists, even breaking the wooden pole with a single punch.

There was a third possible outcome: a monk could even dodge Chen Jiayuan’s attack and then launch a counterattack.

While sparring with them, Chen Jiayuan suffered crushing defeats, but the gains were also immense.

She was growing rapidly.

It was a pity they couldn’t undergo a Transformation into a Magical Girl.

If they could spar in their combat forms, Huan Hong would likely achieve even greater growth.

After 30 minutes had passed, they were gasping for breath and drenched in sweat.

Once their clothes were soaked, their skin became faintly visible through the fabric.

The Martial Monks, however, had no ulterior motives.

They continued to spar with them seriously.

One of the monks who had nothing to do looked at Yin Lin and made several gestures, signaling for her to come over and fight.

Yin Lin hurriedly shook her head in refusal.

She couldn’t activate her Magic Shield while sparring with them.

Once she did, everyone would know she was a Magical Girl.

If she didn’t activate the Magic Shield, these strong men could cripple her with a single punch.

What would be the point of practicing?

She was too short, too small, and her physical frame was too fragile.

No part of her was suited for close combat.

Even if she relied on the strength of her Magic Shield to endure, her physical attributes wouldn’t support her in melee combat.

Suddenly, a faint sound of footsteps came from her side, having already reached her front.

Yin Lin was startled and quickly turned her head, nearly bumping into someone.

It was the Martial Monk Tongyi, whom she had encountered yesterday.

He was the Number One Big Brother of the Luohan Hall and the Number One Combat Power of Yinmiao Temple.

‘Whoa, does this guy not make a sound when he walks?’

She only heard the footsteps when he was within 2 meters of her.

As the Martial Monk Tongyi passed by her, he glanced at her again.

His expression was a bit complex, appearing… somewhat puzzled.

He didn’t stop, passing right by her.

Yin Lin lowered her head, not daring to meet his gaze.

This man’s presence was too oppressive, even though he was clearly just a Human.

The Martial Monks at the training ground all took the initiative to greet him, and he nodded back to each of them in return.

Xia Shiyao also walked over and spoke with him.

“Master Tongyi, you seem to have become stronger again. You’re even more mysterious than the last time we met.”

Martial Monk Tongyi spoke bluntly.

“If you are too polite, it starts to seem hypocritical.”

He was well aware that human limits were set; he hadn’t made any progress in a long time.

Humans had their limits.

No matter how much one trained the strength of bone and flesh, it was difficult to improve once a certain level was reached.

It wasn’t like in anime, where training one’s Qi could lead to infinite growth and becoming a god-like existence.

Unfortunately, no matter how strong Tongyi was, he was still just a Human.

Therefore, hearing Xia Shiyao’s insincere pleasantries hit a sore spot for him.

Xia Shiyao gave a dry laugh.

“What’s with the aggressive tone? Did someone make you unhappy?”

For some reason, Tongyi glanced at Yin Lin again before answering.

“I encountered some strange things in the early morning that I can’t figure out. Do you believe this world contains the kind of Qinggong heroes from Wuxia movies? The ones who can run across walls or cross a river on a single reed?”

“Huh?”

Xia Shiyao was stunned by the question.

“I… haven’t heard of anything like that.”

She wasn’t entirely sure, but the question felt extremely strange.

There might not be Wuxia heroes with Qinggong, but there were Magical Girls.

When she thought about it that way, it became even stranger.

If there were Magical Girls who could violate the laws of physics, why couldn’t there be heroes from Wuxia who knew Qinggong?

Tongyi stepped back a short distance and said, “Carry on. I only came to take a look.”

Xia Shiyao suddenly suggested, “How about you show us a thing or two? The two of us will take you on together to see what level we’ve reached.”

Tongyi sighed, shook his head, and refused.

Xia Shiyao wasn’t discouraged, having expected this result.

If they couldn’t even beat the Martial Monks in front of them, they certainly wouldn’t be a match for Martial Monk Tongyi.

Chen Jiayuan, however, became curious about this Martial Monk Tongyi, whom even Xia Shiyao respected so much.

In the sparring that followed, she intentionally or unintentionally provoked Tongyi, desperately hoping the monk would show off his skills.

Yin Lin’s interest was piqued as she noticed Chen Jiayuan’s provocations.

She really wanted to see exactly what level this Tongyi was at.