Physique Cultivation
Jiang Ting stayed at the peak for a few hours, attempting to calm himself down, since he'd heard from his grandfather throughout his life that swordsmen must enhance their state of minds, as that is the first and foremost requirement to comprehending the Dao of swords. So, he only returned to their home when he was in the right headspace to discuss what he just saw with his grandfather.
Upon returning home, the first thing he noticed was his grandpa chopping up one of the chickens they reared for dinner. Having seen his kind and gentle grandfather cook dinner for him was a normal sight for him usually, but seeing him with a butcher's knife, swinging away without a care in the world sent chills down his spine now. Of course, he'd recovered from his shock enough not to react too much.
He took a seat, asking "Grandpa, when can I start practicing Whispering Blade?" After seeing his grandfather's swordplay, he was itching to begin his sword training.
Jiang Junjie let out a laugh, saying "Not so fast, Ting. There are still some things to be done before you can practice Whispering Blade. Before coming into contact with the magical powers that cultivation brings about, one must possess a body sufficiently powerful to contain said powers. For that reason, we must practice physique cultivation arts."
Jiang Ting was stunned for a moment. Physique cultivation? What happened to being the cool swordsman who only needs a sword to rip the heavens apart? He quickly recovered though, mentally preparing himself for whatever surprises his grandfather throws at him next.
"In order to strengthen your physique, you will first train in a physique refinement technique. There is a catch, however. the physique refinement technique is, in a sense, also a sword technique." Jiang Junjie continued.
Jiang Ting felt his brain completely lose track of the conversation. Physique refinement technique? Sword technique? What about Whispering Blade? What exactly is he supposed to cultivate in?"
Sensing his confusion, Jiang Junjie put down the butcher's knife, taking a seat with Jiang Ting at the dining table. " You will cultivate a physique refinement technique which involves using the sword to temper your physique. This will help you strengthen your physique and comprehend the sword arts simultaneously, thus laying a solid foundation for you to learn Whispering Blade when you have finished your body strengthening."
Jiang Ting, having understood his grandfather, sighed in exasperation. As expected, cultivation was by no means an easy path. Just to cultivate the sword, he first had to go through body cultivation. Yet he couldn't help looking forward to learning the sword.
* * *
On the mountain where Jiang Ting resided, there was a stream with fresh fish swimming, frogs croaking, deer drinking from the stream and lush trees nearby painting the picture of a veritable paradise. Jiang Ting would come here every day early in the morning to practice the basic sword moves his grandfather had taught him since childhood. He didn't stop this practice even after beginning his cultivation.
Speaking of cultivation, his grandfather had finally imparted him the physique refinement method to begin his cultivation journey. He flipped open a leather-bound book with the words. The words 'Dragon Body Refinement' were written clearly over the cover of the book. According to his grandfather, this was the physique refinement technique the core members of Jiang clan cultivated in to lay their foundation. Contrary to its name, it had little to do with dragons, except to emphasize how the cultivators of this technique could achieve an extremely powerful physique with power like that of a mighty dragon. Apparently, the creator of this technique used his mastery of this technique to spar with a dragon race monarch using his body alone.
Jiang Ting first spent several days going through the book to learn the technique properly. The technique was divided into several phases, whereby the practitioner would employ several different tools to temper their physique. The technique had a high requirement of a cultivator's physique, but Jiang Junjie had made Jiang Ting exercise his body and train with the sword since his childhood so he could meet the requirements. The first phase of the technique was sword tempering. This phase was the only one that most core members of the Jiang clan practiced since it helped acclimatize them to sword cultivation, and finishing this phase built their body strong enough to withstand their sword cultivation.
Sword tempering consisted of building up sword qi to tear apart the skin, the muscles, the meridians, the internal organs and the bones so that the process of destruction and regeneration would strengthen the body. Also, the pain involved in this process far surpassed conventional body refinement techniques, building up the user's will which is extremely important on the path of swordsmanship. Additionally, this close relationship to sword qi would help Jiang Ting cultivate the Whispering Blade which, being a high-level technique, would otherwise be extremely difficult to cultivate from scratch.
At this point, Jiang Ting was very curious about his grandfather's position in the Jiang clan since such precious techniques were given to him. Also, it made him wonder as to his mother's identity. Yet his grandfather had always been stubbornly tight-lipped on the matter, so he could only cast these thoughts aside and begin his training.
Before beginning his training, however, Jiang Ting had to check whether his preparations were adequate. After all, the training method involved damaging his own body repeatedly, thus making it extremely dangerous. He needed to have sufficient medication to nurse the injuries and promote regeneration, otherwise he would just end up killing or crippling himself.
Of course, his grandfather was the one providing these medicines. Honestly, he had never seen or heard about these medicines previously, and nobody in the village seemed to have either. His grandpa must have secured these from outside the village. This warmed Jiang Ting's heart. As always, his grandfather was the one who took care of him the most.