Chapter 159 - Spear Technique

Saturday, Lou doesn't have any class, he walks to the dojo earlier for his next lesson in a weapon with her favorite master, Shigure.

Lou is in a good mood, he can now escape from his other master who always makes his life hell.

"Your…. Here," Shigure expressionless said, but Lou can see the joy in her eyes to train him.

"I'm ready, Master!" Lou excitedly said.

"That good…. come with me," Shifure then take Lou in the backyard.

In the backyard, there are 3 giant boulders each of them are the same size but rough in shape.

"Our first lesson for today is how to slice, screw, and thrust," Shigure said while taking a wooden spear.

"Because your main weapon is a cross spear, the thing i will only teach you is about mid range weapon"

"The first thing is the proper slice technique, this is simple you only need speed and power to do this," Shigure waves and cut the top portion of the boulder.

"Just like that," Shigure proudly said.

Lou's lips twitch, he does not see it clearly, he only sees that she waves his hand and the boulder is cut in the top.

"Ummm … master, can you do it again this time slowly," Lou asked.

"Sure, watch… closely," Shifure raised the wooden spear and slowly put it on the boulder.

Lou can visibly see that the wooden spearhead is slowly inserting itself in the hard rock.

*Slice

*Bam

Lou walks closer and grabs the piece of the boulder, he can see a clear cut into it, as if this thing is cut by a sharp object.

"Master your amazing, how can you do that?" Lou hurry asked.

"Simple, I just raise and lower my weapon like normal," Shigure proudly said.

Lou really doesn't know if Shigure is only a Prodigy when it comes to holding weapons while lousy in explaining them in words.

Lou helpless took his weapon and try to mimic her, with a swift slice, Lou successful but not that much, he only cut it half-inch thick

"You too depending in your weapon's power, you can't master it if you always do that,"

"If you want to be a weapon master, become the owner of yourself first!"

Akisame whos listening said," She means that you need the one whos going to command, not your weapon"

"If you only depend on how your weapon perform you will never become a master, try to use the weapon of yours as part of your body, like a extend arms of your and use it on your own will"

Lou starts to understand it, in their explanation he can start to understand the essence of 'Heart and Blade Become One'.

But still Lou needs time and expertise to successfully step on that stage.

Akisame and Shigure nodded; they both appreciated the way of thinking and understanding of Lou. This nature is the best thing that a master can get from his own student.

"I will teach you a slicing technique, watch carefully," Shigure put a flower pot in front of the boulder.

"Kosaka Style: 1000 Slashes, 10,000 Cuts"

Lo usee one long vertical slice from the wooden spear and that's it.

"That's it?" Lou asked.

"Try to check the boulder," Shigure said.

Lou is confused , walks to the boulder, and shocked by what he discovered, the boulder is actually cut into cubes, they all neatly stack in each other like a gigantic puzzle.

"If you can cut like this, then i will teach you again a new slicing technique," Shigure said," let's go the next technique"

Lou thought that if he learns how to cut cleanly and swiftly like her, then Lou can become a professional sushi chef.

"This time I teach you the 'screw' technique, watch carefully," Shigure holds the wooden spear vertically and stabs it in the boulder.

Lou can see a coin size hole on it, it's too clean as if they used a machine in making this perfect hole.

"Penetrating Strike' using this is easy, you only need to twist the hand who hold the end of the spear and stab it in one go"

"This technique gives more power and the ability to penetrate your opponent's guard or even a plated armor opponent," Shifure said while demonstrating it to Lou.

Lou easily mastered it in two tries but he still can't penetrate the hard boulder because of the lack of strength and accuracy.

"Okay lastly is same penetrating technique, but this one is need extreme movement to use"

Shigure holds his wooden spear and stabs it faster but this is different; she uses his whole arm to extend it while twisting it counterclockwise.

The wooden spear penetrates to the boulder easily leaving a fist-size hole into it.

"Thousand layers of armor piercer" the upgrade version of 'Penetrating Strike' but this time you're going to use your whole arm and twist it" Shigure show it again.

This technique really has exaggerated movement because you need to extend your other arm to help the weapon to penetrate to your opponent.

"And that's it for 'thrust', you can now practice it in this boulder," Shifure said while walking and sitting in the shade of the tree.

"You need to use 'Penetrating Strike' to pulverize the boulder, and you can't stop until I say so, "Shigure said, showing a strict face.

"And try to use the basic spear stance to improve your balance," Akisame said before leaving.

Lou helplessly uses his horse stance while holding his weapon, then he spends his day trying to put holes in the hard boulder.

"........" Shigure feels content just seeing his disciple sweat hard while trying to improve his self.