"Hmph, hmph, hmph." The old man was trembling with anger, unable to speak.
Mahito casually held a bamboo sword, maintaining the "shizentai." This was a stage every beginner in kendo had to go through. Having always taken the wild path, he now finally encountered a true academic, and could truly enter the gate of swordsmanship.
Kenjaku watched from the side, greatly amused. He smiled and advised, "Old friend, don't mind it. You can't expect a child less than half a year old to have real swordsmanship. Isn't he sincerely asking for your guidance?"
Ashiya Magon had just calmed down when he couldn't help but yell out:
"It's been over three hundred years since I personally taught swordsmanship from scratch!"
"The worst who came to me had at least some basic swordsmanship. Most were undoubtedly swordsmanship geniuses, the kind that had already 'blossomed'! You scoundrel, you're making me relive the days of being an instructor! Damn it!"
A national academician thought he was welcoming a talented genius, and his job was to guide the genius through more advanced operations, looking forward to the birth of a new generation of academicians under his tutelage. Instead, what he got was a novice who couldn't even figure out 1+1.
Anyone in that situation would have their mindset explode!
Ashiya Magon was so angry he laughed. He roared at Kenjaku, "I almost bestowed the title of Zen'in-kiri upon this scoundrel! Does he deserve it!? I swear, the sword in his hand is just a slightly more useful tool. His trump cards have nothing to do with swordsmanship!"
"Damn it, let me guess, you guys once told me that the sword in his hand is a tsukumogami? Then the reason he can cut such beautiful arcs is probably because of a Cursed Technique similar to Tsukumogami Manipulation, right!?"
Bullseye!
Mahito maintained his shizentai, secretly admiring. As expected of the founder of the New Shadow Style, he was indeed talented in swordsmanship, and both bold and meticulous.
Most Innate Techniques are unique to an individual, and the ability of the King of Curses had spread like wildfire in the jujutsu world—the ability to "make people evolve." No matter how you looked at it, it had nothing to do with swordsmanship.
Especially since there were too many mixed Cursed Energy remnants from that chaotic battle, and Mahito unceremoniously activated Simple Domain: Descent at the end, turning the entire Zen'in Family into ruins. Even Gojo Satoru couldn't make anything out; otherwise, Gojo Satoru wouldn't have gone outside the Zen'in Family to observe the final battlefield.
It wasn't that he didn't go to the original site, but that there was nothing to see at the original site.
Therefore, upon seeing the battlefield and associating it with the confirmed ability of the King of Curses, no one would even consider the possibility that the King of Curses had a second ability. The information that spread would most likely assume that the King of Curses definitely possessed excellent swordsmanship.
Who would have thought that Mahito didn't know swordsmanship at all, and his swordsmanship was entirely brought out by Tsukumogami Manipulation? The more conventional a Jujutsu Sorcerer was, the less likely they would guess!
Originally, Ashiya Magon, the old man, suggested a bamboo sword sparring match to gauge Mahito's abilities. However, the moment Mahito gripped the bamboo sword, the old man's face suddenly flushed, his blood pressure visibly shot up, and he roared loudly, immediately recognizing that Mahito was definitely cheating.
Without a shred of doubt.
Mahito immediately laughed. "You didn't name me Zen'in-kiri—you named my Kirigiri Zen'in-kiri. You got it wrong, instructor."
"You damn—" The old man was about to yell again, then suddenly froze.
Mahito continued to maintain the beginner's shizentai without moving. The old man's sharp, eagle-like eyes began to circle Mahito, no longer making a sound. Kenjaku stood beside him, smiling as he watched the solemn Ashiya Magon, showing no surprise.
After a while, Ashiya Magon was shocked. "You… your comprehension ability… are you a monster?"
Why do all kendo apprentices have to go through the most basic shizentai training? Because it is the posture best suited to correct movements when gripping and using a sword, and it is also the best posture for exerting force. No matter what swordsmanship is used in the future, learning shizentai only has benefits and no drawbacks.
Shizentai in kendo is like the horse stance in kung fu; it's the most fundamental of fundamentals. You have to go through this stage for any kendo you learn. This is the most time-consuming part!
The horse stance will only become more stable with practice, and the same goes for shizentai. This thing doesn't even have an ultimate standard, because everyone's height, weight, bones, muscles, and even heart rate will have microsecond differences. These things, during long-term basic training, will inevitably be slowly adjusted to be most suitable for oneself.
This is a unique, personal ultimate standard. Others can only grasp a general idea, but they can never replicate it one-to-one. Ashiya Magon's reason for saying "ten years of tempering the Way of the Sword" was also for this.
According to martial arts classics, when Iehara Bokuden was young, he swung his sword 6,000 times a day against a large tree, day after day for several years. This training not only strengthened his body and sword skills but also honed his extraordinary concentration and explosive power. He could even defeat opponents with a wooden sword on the battlefield, demonstrating ultimate mastery of the Way of the Sword.
But—
Ashiya Magon couldn't help but ask:
"How did you do it? Your sword-holding posture, body posture, and even your concentration and spirit are all rapidly improving, at a visible speed! You were clearly an ignorant apprentice when you first held a sword, but now, in just a quarter of an hour, when I see you again, I actually feel like you've been holding a sword for over five years."
Mahito was startled. "Can you even accurately estimate how long others have held a sword?"
"Holding a sword itself is not an innate human biological instinct; it's an acquired behavior. Therefore, the way someone holds a sword for the first time and someone who has held it for many years, even if they both know the basic structure of holding a sword, will be completely different.
"Five years versus ten years, ten years versus twenty years, those who held a sword before and have now given it up, and even hands that have held a sword for over a hundred years—to me, it's like observing patterns in my palm," Ashiya Magon said indifferently.
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