Another three days passed in the outside world, which was equivalent to another month inside the Space-time Chamber. Some of the guild members started complaining about not being allowed to use the chamber. The Man was adamant about not allowing anyone to enter. He told these members they could file their complaints either to Jeanny or Domon. These members had no choice but to turn away.
Inside the chamber, everyone had a better progression compared to the first month.
Once Jack started teaching Muilan the sword's heart, Murong's attitude to them also softened. She no longer minded repeating the scripture's mantra nor performing the practice movements when asked. Now, she was properly training them.
Muilan's understanding of the sword's heart also progressed at a rapid pace. She was indeed talented in the sword technique, even if not as talented as Jack.
Murong herself started joining the discussion about the Nine Yin Scripture with Jack and Grace. Even Leavemealone came near them to listen when they started discussing. Murong found herself having a better breakthrough from the discussion than when she tried to train alone by herself all these years.
She was not able to perform the phantom sword yet but she felt like she almost grasped the essence of the Nine Yin Devouring Palm.
She thought perhaps the condition within this Space-time Chamber also helped. Such a mana-rich environment was a dream for any martial arts practitioner.
Grace and Leavemalone also achieved some breakthroughs in this second month. They couldn't yet fully perform the ancient arts, but they were touching its surface. Even Murong admitted it.
Leavemealone showed promising development in using the Nine Yin Abyssal Finger, so Murong asked him to focus on that art. Since Murong had mastered this art, it was easier for her to give Leavemealone pointers.
Leavemealone absorbed Murong's teachings like a sponge. Murong was secretly surprised. Leavemealone was a silent person and rarely asked questions, but he could understand everything that Murong explained.
Leavemealone also had a talent that had been activated for quite some time. This talent was also why he could learn so many of Domon's martial arts in such a short time compared to Jack.
His talent was called Martial Art Prodigy. This talent increased his understanding of learning and practicing new martial arts. It also boosted any damage he inflicted using a martial art by 30%.
As for Grace, Murong found her to improve tremendously in grasping the Nine Yin Devouring Palm. This ancient art was said to be the most powerful among the three arts within the Nine Yin Scripture. It was also the most special because it was an art that somehow altered the practitioner's constitution before it could be mastered, and Murong found that Grace's constitution was very much aligned with the Nine Yin Devouring Palm from the start. Hence, she required less effort to learn that art.
This special constitution was also very much attuned to the yin energy. This was the energy utilized by many of Murong's martial arts which adopted the principle of the soft beating the hard. Realizing this, she became extremely interested in Grace.
At one point, Murong asked Grace, "Who is your martial art master?"
"Me? I don't have any. The last time I was taught by Jet," Grace answered.
"That childish old ox?" Murong scoffed. "This will not do! Someone like you is a waste for getting taught by that brute. If you don't mind, I am willing to teach you more martial arts."
"You will?"
"But you will have to acknowledge me as your formal master and swear to uphold our Murong family's principles."
"What are the principles?" Grace asked.
Murong laid it out to her. They were basically old-fashioned decrees where the disciple swore loyalty to the master, to never betray nor harm the master and fellow brethren, to uphold justice and defend the weak, to protect their learned martial arts and not teach them to an evil person, and so on, and so on.
Grace didn't find it to be a problem, but she asked one question. "Do I have to always follow you around?"
"No. But if you are willing to do so, it will be more convenient for me to teach you my martial arts," Murong answered.
"In that case, I accept," Grace said and bowed. "Master, please accept this lowly one as your disciple."
"Ooh, seems like you got a new martial sister," Jack said to Muilan, who was still practicing the sword's heart.
"Yes, seems like a got a little sister," Muilan said.
"Kid, you are obviously younger than her," Jack uttered.
"So what? In a martial arts institution, the one who becomes a disciple first is considered the elder! Age is just a number."
"Sigh. I've no interest in arguing with a kid like you. I'm going away to practice," Jack said.
"You are also a kid!" Muilan stuck his tongue out at Jack.
"Be careful you lose it if you keep on sticking it out," Jack made fun of her.
Jack also experienced a great improvement during the second month. After he performed the Nine Yin Phantom Sword one month ago, he tried doing it again. It was harder than expected. He couldn't repeat the same feat, even when the mana in his body had returned to normal. This went on for several days.
Muilan was even starting to mock him and said that what he did before was not the nine yin art, but just some anomaly that happened accidentally. Jack then proved her wrong by doing it for the second time. Afterward, he was again unable to repeat for several days.
At this moment, he could already perform it twice a day. However, what he performed cannot be used in real combat. Aside from it needing great focus, he couldn't yet aim the art properly. The phantom sword that was conjured just seemed to lash out at random. He was still far from mastering the art.
He wasn't discouraged by such slow progress. He was aware that martial arts were something that took a lot of effort and a long time to master.
Even so, he made use of his time efficiently. In between his practice, he also cast his spells. Especially the big ones, but it was not simply casting. He cast it by training mana manipulation to empower them.
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