As night fell, Akaza's day officially began.
In a secluded mountain hut, Akaza first bathed and changed clothes, lit incense and candles.
Then he sat properly before his desk, spread out white paper, ground ink and lifted his brush, beginning a day of writing.
"At the beginning of life, nature is good; natures are similar, habits diverge..."
"The Master said: Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters..."
"The Way that can be told is not the eternal Way; the Name that can be named is not the eternal Name..."
Upon the white paper, Akaza's handwriting was neat and orderly, vigorous and powerful.
This was a good hand he had trained through decades under that annoying woman's oppression.
Daily copying from memory the Three Character Classic, the Analects, and the Tao Te Ching—this was homework Akaza had to do every day.
Of course, he definitely wasn't willing at first.
Writing?
Write my ass! See if I don't punch you to death...
Then under Mitsuba's violence, he was forced to become willing.
Akaza had to admit that when he first started learning these square characters, he was in utter agony.
Every day was torture, as if living in hell, feeling that those endless horizontal, vertical, left-falling, and right-falling strokes were constantly elbowing his poor brain at all times.
But as time passed, he gradually began to feel numb, becoming somewhat accustomed to it.
And within this habit, he gradually found a certain pleasure.
As if finally appreciating the charm of these characters, feeling the pleasure of this writing, comprehending the philosophy within these words—Akaza gradually began to enjoy the pleasure of writing.
His brain wasn't broken, he wasn't going crazy.
Akaza truly felt that he might be able to comprehend a "principle of the fist" from these wise sayings of ancient sages.
Yes, he was actually "using books as training."
He wanted to try, within this repeated writing, to comprehend the mysteries of the martial way.
After finishing his daily routine of writing, Akaza would change into efficient short clothes and find an open space to begin practicing his fists.
Practicing fists shouldn't be pure violent output.
This wasn't called practicing fists, just mindlessly hitting a post to vent.
True practice of fists also shouldn't stop at the outer shell of techniques.
More importantly, it must go from outside to inside, reflect upon oneself, comprehend the principle of the fist within each move and technique, and sense the martial way amidst the scattering sweat.
Only thus can one advance furth...
"Hakuji~"
Suddenly, a laughing call rang out, and Mitsuba descended from the sky accompanied by a biwa sound.
"Annoying woman, don't come bother me. Can't you see I'm practicing my fists?"
Without even opening his eyes, facing Mitsuba's sudden visit, Akaza continued practicing his techniques on his own.
"Stop practicing for now. I have something to ask of you."
"No time."
"I want to ask you to take care of two people."
"Huh?"
Akaza finally opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Doma standing beside Mitsuba, wearing that same smiling expression.
"Hello~ Lord Akaza, we meet again."
[Not good, why are these two coming to find me together?]
Suddenly feeling a somewhat bad premonition, Akaza then looked at the Gyutaro siblings standing behind these two.
"Annoying woman, what exactly do you want to do?"
Even with outsiders present, Akaza's tone was very impolite.
But Mitsuba didn't mind, simply explaining with a smile:
"These two children have good potential, so I wanted to ask you to help me train them. Use whatever methods you like, just don't kill them."
"Why don't you train them yourself, why come find me?"
"You should know this kind of thing—because I'm not good at teaching others at all..."
Mitsuba was speaking the truth.
As a rare martial arts genius in this world, to Mitsuba, martial arts was actually a very simple thing.
So simple that she normally couldn't even be bothered to practice it.
But Mitsuba didn't feel this was her fault.
After all, if you could open the Transparent World in half an hour and thrash Akaza's decades of diligent effort in a few hours, you would definitely be even lazier than her, even less wanting to practice.
Precisely because of this, Mitsuba actually never quite understood why others couldn't learn it.
Clearly it was such a simple movement—look, get the breathing right, wave your hand, swing your blade, and it's done. How could you not understand?
But the fact was that those who couldn't comprehend and couldn't do it were the majority.
Mitsuba thus gradually realized that she actually wasn't very good at teaching others...
"So that's how it is."
Looking at the serious Mitsuba before him, Akaza slowly nodded.
"Then wait here for a moment, I'll go prepare."
"Mm, alright."
Saying this, under Mitsuba's smiling gaze, Akaza turned around and slowly walked toward the wooden hut behind him.
His steps were so slow, like a gentle breeze passing by.
One step, two steps, three steps... *Boom!*
Just as Akaza lifted his leg to take that fourth step, his supporting foot on the ground suddenly stomped fiercely. Using this to generate force, his entire body's strength instantly condensed at the soles of his feet, and his form shot out like a cannonball, instantly leaping dozens of meters away!
At the same time, he laughed loudly:
"Hahahaha! Annoying woman wants to dump this mess on me?! Dream on!"
"Truly a disobedient child..."
Having long anticipated Akaza's small act of "rebellion," Mitsuba simply shook her head helplessly.
In the next instant, her form also disappeared from where she stood, chasing at a speed much faster than Akaza's, instantly catching up to him dozens of meters away. Then an iron hand mercilessly grabbed the back of his neck, pressing his entire body directly into the ground!
"Oh oh oh! As expected of Holy Maiden and Lord Akaza! So fast! I couldn't see anything clearly just now!"
From far behind, Doma immediately clapped and cheered, emotional value maxed out.
And beside him, the Gyutaro siblings were completely stunned.
S-so fast...
How did these two people move just now?
Dozens of meters in an instant—how could Lord Akaza run so fast?
And Miss Mitsuba, how did she flash once and Lord Akaza was on the ground?
Are Upper Rank demons all such powerful monsters?
"Where did you want to go, Hakuji?"
Ignoring the atmosphere group behind her, single-handedly restraining the powerful Upper Rank Three, Mitsuba looked down at Akaza beneath her and asked with a smile.
"Pah!"
Spitting out the dirt in his mouth, Akaza lifted his head with difficulty while lying on the ground and shouted loudly:
"Annoying woman! I suddenly want to go to the Great Qing Dynasty to take the imperial examinations, don't stop me!"
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This story has ended in chapter 315, you can read on patreon.com/dzeref887 for faster access or wait until August to read on WebNovel until the story ends.