The training montage had gone on for a few hours, with Jacob undergoing various trials.
In three hours he had practiced Qi Circulation, Breath Regulation, Body Tempering, Foundation Stances, Basic Sword Techniques and Qi Reinforcement, all things he had basic knowledge on.
Xenia watched in surprise as the boy easily grasped concepts that had taken her months to learn, she was actually a fifty year old woman that learned youth preserving arts in her twenties, only the heads of the families were aware of this.
After the boy had a grasp of the basics, she stood in front of him, straight faced, her posture upright. She was holding a long cane with and emerald-coated handle.
"Now that you have learned the basics of cultivation, it's time for your sparring session," she announced, guiding him to a table lined with weapons of all kinds.
Jacob was surprised to find guns on the table, he wasn't aware that this world was so advanced, apparently if one fused a rifle with enough Qi, they would be able to shoot as many spirit bullets as they wanted.
"Make your choice young master." Xenia said, watching as the boy browsed through the weapons, running his hand over them.
"This one," Jacob exclaimed as he picked up a basic looking sword, "I will use this one."
'Whoa! So cool!' He thought to himself as the blade glowed and trembled in his grasp, refining itself into a sharp edged blue color, its handle expanded slightly. The blade hummed in his grip as a blue light crawled around its edges.
'So I can literally evolve any weapon here to fit my power level, I'm starting to really enjoy this,' a faint smile played on his lips as he mused.
Xenia watched in awe, but masked her shock, instead, she stiffened into a serious stance.
"Good choice!" She said as she led him to the arena slowly.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The arena resembled a mini Roman coliseum, the edges were faded and broken, rubble piled in one corner of the large arena,
'This place has seen better days," Jacob thought as he walked in, Xenia following closely behind him.
They walked until they were a reasonable distance apart and then Xenia called out to him, "Prepare yourself young master, and don't hold back… I certainly won't."
Immediately she said those words, a very strong aura started emanating from her body, she held her cane with both hands and pulled it apart, revealing a long, slender blade. It wasn't a cane, it was a sheathed sword.
Jacob held his sword in both hands, pointing it at Xenia and gathering all his Qi into the weapon.
"Are you ready young master?"
"Ready!"
She lunged at him quickly, wind whistling as she cut through it.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Towards the northern end of the continent… Jacob Ironfell?" A short bald man sat at the end of a dark room, his hands working together to mould a clay vase.
"Y-Yes sect leader, he's only ten, but he has more power than I've ever seen in my life," a messenger spoke, his legs shaking as though he had just run ten miles.
"If this boy is truly the genius you say he is, then we must have him join our sect as soon as possible."
The man was Savant Hardin, the sect leader of the Flying Macabre sect, one of the strongest in the entire Daven Heaven Continent.
"We cannot afford to waste anymore time, send word to the Ironfell clan, let them know we'd be willing to accept their heir into our sect."
"Yes sect leader." The messenger bowed before fleeing the tent.
'If what I'm hearing is true, I can't let the blood warriors or any rival sect claim him first.'
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"Hyaahh!" Jacob grunted as he parried another one of Xenia's attacks, she lunged again, swinging her sword at him in one quick movement, forcing him to roll over to the side and hit his back on the wall.
"Guhh! Shit." He cursed as the sharp pain spread throughout his body, rattling his bones.
"Focus young master, the battle ahead is long," Xenia shouted, unrelentingly in her attack.
'System!'
'Activate Emperor eye.'
Jacob's eyes glowed a deep blue as he could suddenly see Xenia's movements in slow motion, he could predict every single one of her movements, he watched as she pushed against the wind and jumped towards him for the umpteenth time, but he could see that she was going to swing her sword to the right, so he dodged left, crashing into a pile of wooden boxes, although he could see her movements, she was still extremely fast.
Xenia had years of cultivation backing her, she didn't look like it but in her fifty years she had already cultivated to mid heaven realm, she wasn't from a respectable family or background, but she had exceptional skills that were of use to the Ironfell family.
'Is she trying to kill me!? I'm only ten for fuck sake,' Jacob thought to himself as he narrowly evaded another attack.
Seeing that the boy had started to evade her attacks more easily, Xenia decided to attack even faster, she could see the strain in the boy's expression but her mind flashed to Alaric telling her not to go easy on the boy and to make sure he learned to always be prepared for anything.
Jacob looked at her, bent on one knee, sweat beading on his forehead. He cursed inwardly as he struggled to get up, and then….
In a flash she disappeared, leaving motes of dust in her absence.
She appeared behind him, flashes of lightning surrounding her body, her sword was coming down with full force.
His emperor eye had already caught it, at the last second he fused all of his Qi into his legs and jumped out of the way, rolled across the floor and staggered again, his blade humming faintly as he held it out. Xenia managed to restrain her strike after the boy had moved out of the way.
'Let's see how she takes her skill being used against her,' he mused as he wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead, a playful grin creeping up on his face.