Koji Fights The World - Chapter 18 Saber Training

Koji awoke to sunlight shining in his face. Instinctively, he turned his head aside and made a sudden realization–he was laying in bed! Remembering being in the bathhouse and doing lewd things with a beautiful lamian princess, Koji became embarrassed and pulled the blanket to cover his face.

The young man wasn’t sure how to deal with Third Princess Daethix, who seemed to enjoy tormenting him. The manipulative girl made Koji dance on the palm of her hand. “Ugh!” he cringed at the thought of being helpless!

“Pull yourself together, Koji!” he said to himself and took a deep breath. Koji sat up in the lotus position and started to cultivate. He rested his hands, palms faced up, in his lap and manipulated the tips of his fingers to touch; this was the Dhyana Mudra and signified balance. Koji chose this mudra specifically because he sought balance in his mind and spirit. After sometime lapsed, Koji felt calm in his heart.

Koji opened his eyes and checked his body. He saw that someone had dressed him in navy silk pajamas. Koji blushed at the thought of female servants touching his body while putting his clothes on. He sighed. After all, there was nothing he could do about it.

Koji rolled out of bed and walked into the closet to check his wardrobe. He picked out a white shirt, a blue tang jacket, and black pants over black shoes. He walked over to the table and washed his face using the water in the basin. He quickly dried himself with a thick white towel he found next to the bowl.

Koji looked out the window, which offered a view of the small pond in the courtyard. The palace was top of an elevated platform, and running water flowed pass it. Yellow and light pink lilies peeked through the surface of the water. Dragonflies raced against one another and danced in the air while frogs croaked as they hopped from lily pad to lily pad. Koji became mesmerized by the peaceful scenery, and time slowly passed until a servant girl passed by his window and noticed that he was awake.

She bowed deeply and said, “Prince Consort, breakfast is ready.”

“I’ll be right out,” he replied. Koji slowly walked to the door and exited. He waited patiently outside for Zelea to come out of her room.

When Zelea saw her husband waiting, she looked down and blushed.

This reaction caused Koji to do the same.

Zelea grabbed his arm, and the young couple followed the servant to the banquet hall. After exchanging morning greetings with the Royal Family, the two sat in their usual seats at the table.

Heretrios avoided looking at Koji. The first prince was thoroughly embarrassed by his loss. Even worse, Daethix attacked him! Heretrios feared her wrath, and he wisely decided to relent in his opposition to Koji becoming her Bonder. He took a deep breath and raised his head. “Koji, I was informed that father had declared our match a draw. However, from our brief exchange of pointers, I will admit that, between the two of us, you are the superior fighter. Your attack power and your body refinement are both greater than mine. I will humbly teach you to fight with a saber if you accept my instruction,” he offered.

Koji immediately cupped his hands and bent his neck toward the first prince. “I was merely lucky yesterday. I thank you for your kind offer to teach me, and I gladly accept it,” he responded politely.

The king and queen nodded their approval and smiled. Aphraphus and Herecia secretly feared that their son would retain his jealousy and hostility toward Koji. They were secretly happy to learn their fear was outblown.

“I permit Koji to take a dual-cultivation scroll from the library. Does anyone object?” King Aphraphus inquired. As he expected, no one at the table voiced opposition. “Good!” he smiled.

Soon, the servants arrived with bowls of rice congee. However, today’s porridge included sliced fish, green onions, thinly sliced ginger.

The Royal Family ate their meals in silence.

First Prince Heretrios was the first person to finish at the table. However, instead of leaving right away, he remained in his seat. Heretrios enjoyed his green tea, and a servant hovered behind him with a teapot in her hands to refill his cup. After a half-dozen cups, he waved for the attendant to leave.

Heretrios stared impatiently at Koji as his rival slowly ate the porridge. It grated on the first prince to wait like a servant for the Prince Consort to finish eating.

But Koji wasn’t in a hurry to leave. He was the type of person who invested more in the journey than the destination itself. Koji realized that the first prince wanted to train with Koji right after breakfast. But the Prince Consort ignored the eye rolls and the exasperation from Heretrios.

The King and Queen chuckled inwardly at the dynamic between their natural born son and their son-in-law. They were not accustomed to seeing Heretrios waiting on another man. But the parents welcomed this lesson in humility.

Finally, Koji pushed his bowl away; a third of the congee remained in his bowl. “Thank you for the meal,” he said politely and bowed deeply to King Apraphus and Queen Herecia. Koji turned toward Heretrios and said with a guilty smile, “Let’s go!”

The first prince stood up and stormed out of the banquet hall.

Koji and Zelea quickly followed him.

Prince Heretrios turned around and said, “Wait here. I need to retrieve a saber for Koji from my room.” Without waiting for their response, he headed toward his room.

As the young couple stared at Heretrios’ receding figure, Zelea made a frank remark. “I’m surprised that he didn’t hold a grudge against you.”

“Me, too,” Koji agreed. “I think he’s afraid of getting beat up again by Big Sister Daethix,” he reasoned.

Zelea laughed. “Yeah, big sis can be a handful.” She declined to say anything more about Daethix because Zelea remembered that the third princess was still inside the banquet hall, and Daethix could leave shortly and join them. Besides, Zelea half-expected big sister to show up and follow the trio.

But by the time Heretrios returned, their boogeywoman hasn’t shown up. The trio quickly left the palace through the front entrance. They entered the courtyard, where many guards were already practicing drills.

When Prince Heretrios joined them, the men stopped their drills and saluted him. They noticed Zelea and Koji standing behind him and became curious. However, they remained silent and stared at the young man. Some already recognized him as Fourth Princess Zelea’s Bonder and husband, and they wondered if Koji will be participating in today’s practice drills.

“As you were, men,” the prince ordered.

“Yes, Your Highness!” they saluted in unison and returned to their practice drills.

Heretrios led the couple to a far corner in the courtyard.

The armory blocked the view of the trainees, who became disappointed.

The prince looked around and confirmed there were no prying eyes. Heretrios then entered the armory and dragged out a wooden dummy. He moved it until he became satisfied that there was enough space surrounding the training equipment.

Koji saw many cuts on the item, which was a thick piece of log standing upright on a metallic platform.

The instructor handed a sheathed saber to Koji. “This is my gift to you,” Prince Heretrios said with a smile.

“Thank you!” Koji accepted the weapon in both hands, and he bowed from the waist to his brother-in-law.

“Okay, I gave you a real saber because I want you to become accustomed to holding, swinging, hitting, and blocking with it,” the teacher explained. “Normally, I would start by making sure my student is physically fit because sword fighting often comes down to endurance, along with mental concentration. As a martial artist, you already possess both traits, and I won’t waste your time by insisting on you taking a physical examination,” Heretrios said with a laugh. “Instead, let’s get right to the good stuff–how to attack with a saber. Now watch as I show you the eight basic swings.”

The instructor started with a straight up-and-down swing. He then turned the edge of his sword 180 degrees and executed a down-and-up swing. Next, he performed a horizontal swing from left-to-right, followed by a right-to-left attack. “These are the basic Four Winds swings,” Heretrio noted.

The teacher then executed a set of four diagonal swings from northwest downward, southeast upward, southwest upward, and finally northeast downward. Heretrios stopped moving and said, “I want you to practice each swing one hundred times, but split them into two groups–the four winds swings, and the diagonal swings.”

“Yes, Sifu!” Koji bowed. He took a moment to visualize the movements in his mind, and then the student started executing the four winds swings.

Heretrios’ eyes widened in disbelief when he followed the swings and saw that Koji was executing them perfectly! “What can’t you do?” he muttered under his breath. Initially, the teacher expected to correct Koji’s form because it was difficult for a beginner to gripe a three-pound sword and make perfect swings. But Koji was doing just that! Heretrios wondered if his pupil had sword training previously.

Koji focused on his sword movement and didn’t catch the comical expression on his teacher’s face. When he attended the Wing Chung martial arts school, the instructor made Koji hold long, heavy sticks horizontally under his chin. This training method strengthened his wrists, and coincidentally, each stick weighed three pounds. Thus, Koji had no difficulty holding and swinging the sheathed weapon for this reason.

The instructor watched intently as his pupil performed eight hundred swings. Heretrios secretly hoped that he would catch Koji cheating and making fewer swings. Heck, the prince did the same thing when he was in Koji’s shoes. But to his chagrin, Heretrios counted eight hundred swings. “Is he a saint?” the prince muttered under his breath.

Zelea heard the comment and smiled inwardly. She, too, had counted the number of swings her Bonder made. The Bond Keeper confirmed that Koji had swung the sheathed saber eight hundred times. Zelea was aware of the fact that the students often cheated in performing their practice drills. She encountered the same situation when Zelea practiced her archery and other pupil left before her. Thus, Koji’s honesty and integrity elevated his standing in her eyes.

Once Koji finished his practice drill, he dropped his arms and closed his eyes. He understood that Heretrios exploited his position as a teacher to make Koji swing the saber eight hundred times. The prince fully expected Koji to fail, and then use this failure as an excuse to mock or ridicule Koji. Thus, the young man stubbornly forced his arms to move no matter how much pain or how tired he felt. Furthermore, Koji remained on his feet and refused to release his grasp of the saber, to show his indomitable spirit to Heretrios.

The prince received Koji’s message loud and clear. Seeing how stubborn his pupil was, Prince Heretrios admitted his defeat. “We will continue your training tomorrow.” He quickly turned around and left the training courtyard.

Once his tormentor left, Koji sat on the ground and cultivated. He was startled when Koji felt something pressing against his back. But he quickly realized, through his bond, that the culprit was Zelea. Koji’s body relaxed as he leaned against her and felt peace and harmony.