CHAPTER 54: CHAPTER 54: TWO MONTHS

Time flowed like water, and in the blink of an eye, two months had quietly passed.

Winter had fully arrived. A heavy snowfall the previous night had blanketed the bamboo forest in a pristine white layer.

The bare-chested youth stood motionless amidst the bamboo stalks, katana in hand, like a living sculpture.

The girl’s footsteps crunched softly through the snow. The sound of a blade sliding from its scabbard echoed through the air, and in the next instant, she struck with lightning speed!

Suddenly, the youth’s eyes snapped open. He whirled around, his katana slashing horizontally.

Clang!

The crisp sound of clashing blades rang out. In that fleeting moment of impact, his eyes widened, but the girl had already vanished from sight.

His toes shifted slightly, and when he looked up, a lightning-fast thrust was already at his face.

He parried upward, the crisp clang of metal meeting metal accompanied by a shower of sparks. Stepping forward, the bare-chested youth slashed downward, only to see his opponent vanish in a blur.

Snow drifted down as Shinobu stood atop a large rock, watching Sosuke, who was training shirtless and staring back at her.

"Your progress is decent," she said, sheathing her blade—not the Nichirin Blade he had forged for her, but an ordinary sword.

While the Nichirin Blade was effective against demons, using it for daily practice would wear it down unnecessarily.

Sosuke exhaled softly. "Another round?"

Shinobu’s eyes lit up. "Let’s go!"

In the next instant, she darted forward like a butterfly, and the bamboo grove erupted with the dance of blades, their clashing echoing through the air.

The sparring continued until Shinobu was completely exhausted.

"Your stamina is outrageous," she gasped, standing still to catch her breath. They had been training together for two months now.

In the beginning, Sosuke could only take a beating, but gradually he began to fight back.

From that point on, Shinobu used this blade, specially forged for sparring, to spar with Sosuke. Initially, she landed blow after blow, striking him countless times with the hilt, the back of the blade, and so on.

But slowly, Sosuke’s swordsmanship grew increasingly refined.

Now, even without exerting her full strength, he could effortlessly stall her until her stamina ran out, remaining completely unscathed.

’And this guy... didn’t even break a sweat.’

Despite being human, the physical differences were so vast it was infuriating.

Sosuke exhaled softly, neither confirming nor denying Shinobu’s words. It wasn’t just stamina; his speed, agility, and strength had all improved dramatically.

This was, of course, due to the rewards he received for forging weapons.

Over the past month, he had replaced nearly all the Nichirin Blades of the current Pillars.

Through this, he had accumulated considerable rewards and attribute boosts. However, he had yet to forge a Nichirin Blade with a sharpness exceeding 3, which gradually depleted his attribute points.

By the time he forged his final blade, his attributes had only increased by 5 points each.

Even so, the improvement was still noticeable.

But there was nothing to be proud of. He glanced at the weapon in his hand and sheathed it. "If this were a real life-or-death battle, I wouldn’t have had the chance to exhaust your stamina. I would have been dead long ago."

Shinobu’s swordsmanship was primarily aggressive. Due to her limited physical strength, she favored thrusting techniques that delivered poison into demons’ bodies, weakening their attributes and causing them to succumb to the poison.

Against humans, however, even a simple thrust could be terrifyingly effective.

During their sparring sessions, Shinobu almost never used such techniques.

One wrong move, and she could skewer Sosuke like a candied hawthorn skewer.

Dying during practice was no laughing matter.

Even though Sosuke had managed to exhaust Shinobu’s stamina through his swordsmanship, he felt no pride in this accomplishment.

It was merely exploiting his strengths against her weaknesses, and even then, he hadn’t won. This starkly revealed the true extent of the gap between them.

"Even so, achieving this level of progress in just two months is truly remarkable," Shinobu acknowledged, primarily because she had witnessed firsthand Sosuke’s dedication and relentless effort during that time.

In the past, they had been bitter enemies, and she had wished never to see him again. But after sparring with him constantly for the past two months, she had gained a new understanding of his perseverance and determination. As a result, she no longer felt the urge to provoke him with deliberately irritating remarks, as she once had.

Sosuke smiled, though his expression remained troubled.

Sensing his unease, Shinobu decided to offer a word of concern. "What’s wrong? Something on your mind?"

Sosuke glanced at her. "Adult matters are none of a child’s concern."

Shinobu’s eyes turned bloodshot. With a clang, her sword slid from its sheath. "Come on, come on! I think I can still go!"

Seeing her murderous aura, Sosuke looked up at the sky. "Time for dinner."

With that, he bolted.

"Stop right there if you dare!" Shinobu chased after him, her feet pounding the ground. "Who are you calling a child?!"

They returned to the Butterfly Mansion in a noisy uproar, Shinobu still seething with indignation.

Kanae was already waiting for them. Seeing them arrive in such a state didn’t surprise her; she’d grown used to it over the past two months.

She cleared her throat. "Dinner."

The two immediately composed themselves and obediently followed her to the dining room.

The meal passed in silence. After finishing, Sosuke slipped into the kitchen.

There was one thing he still hadn’t mastered: Total Concentration!

How could he maintain Total Concentration with Sun Breathing?

As his breathing gradually slowed, he seemed to achieve a miraculous breakthrough, allowing him to maintain a steady rhythm for extended periods.

At that moment, he felt certain he would soon master Total Concentration.

Yet that never happened.

Nearly half a year had passed since then, and Total Concentration remained as elusive as ever.

Later, he recalled the gourd-blowing method practiced at the Butterfly Mansion.

He initially planned to ask Kanao about it, but when he found her, she wasn’t blowing the gourd.

After some roundabout questioning, Kanae told him that the only way to achieve Total Concentration was through unwavering persistence.

Sosuke remained in a daze for a long time before finally realizing one thing...

The gourd-blowing method had yet to be invented in this era.

Since no one had invented it yet, he decided to create it himself.

He slipped into the kitchen to search for a gourd, but after ransacking the entire room, he found nothing.

Instead, Aoi mistook him for a thief.

"Ugh... honestly! I thought a burglar had broken into the kitchen," Aoi grumbled as she retrieved a gourd from the cellar and tossed it to Sosuke. "What do you need this for?"

"It’s important!"

Sosuke clutched the gourd like a treasure and hurried back to his courtyard.