In the dormitory, Liu Sen knocked on Bosti's door, and as soon as he entered, he stared dead at her head. Amid Bosti's surprised cries, his hand reached out, accurately embracing her head, his hands touching: "Lend me your hairpin for a bit!"

  Before Bosti could react, he had already run off, leaving Bosti annoyed: "What the heck? You're a grown man, what do you need a hairpin for?" Both of her hairpins had been taken by him.

  And he disappeared in a fsh. What was he up to? Could it be that he was going to give a girl a gift? Not having a single gold coin on himself, he took her hairpins to flirt? Could a man be so shameless?

  In the deep backyard, covered with fallen leaves, this pce was a dead angle of the campus, usually deserted, with leaves deep up to a foot. But now, there was someone here.

  In the night wind, Liu Sen had two shiny silver hairpins in his hand, sharp and long, the best needles for training. Indeed, as leaves fell from the trees, Liu Sen stepped forward, his right hand shooting out precisely at the falling leaves. By all accounts, this shot should not miss, but unexpectedly, it did, because the wind from his hand blew the light leaves away, missing on the first attempt. Liu Sen realized the difficulty of this training.

  The first challenge was that these leaves were so small and light that they could be blown off course by the wind from his hand. The faster the hand moved, the stronger the wind, and moving too slow wouldn't penetrate the leaves. The second challenge was that the leaves fell without any pattern, and the third was the sheer number of leaves, coming from all directions, floating like catkins, some even flying beyond the courtyard walls. He had to make every leaf make intimate contact with the sharp needle in his hand before it hit the ground, needing lightning-fast actions and attention, and even eyes on his back.

  Challenges lead to gains! Without difficulty, there wouldn't be much progress. Liu Sen didn't lose interest; he took it step by step, first solving the problem of the wind from his hand changing the trajectory of the leaves. He found that as long as he was fast enough, heavier leaves, or those facing the side towards his hand, with a smaller wind-catching surface, could still be pierced. What about those that had their trajectory changed? The only way was to change the attack direction along with them, unching continuous attacks, or predicting the direction the leaves would fly, for a mid-course interception!

  Piercing through a few leaves (mostly by chance), Liu Sen developed a strong fighting spirit. Though these leaves were not his enemies, he imagined their movement trajectories, directions of flight, and how they could continue flying when he struck, continuing the pursuit after a miss, just like dueling with an opponent!

  This training method was indeed bizarre. Liu Sen didn't realize that he had been using the fastest movements and hand techniques from the start. Under the moonlight, only a shadow could be seen shifting positions, the sound of the wind whistling from his hands as quick as a windmill.

  A small leaf, after three flips and changes of position, finally couldn't escape being pierced, marking a difficult interception but also a breakthrough.

  From initially missing a leaf to occasionally piercing one, to consciously pursuing and ensuring the target wasn't missed (of course, this refers to a specific leaf, the others falling at the same time were ignored), Liu Sen spent more than ten minutes. Although it was just a short while, he was drenched in sweat, for it was a full effort of the fastest movements over those minutes.

  Another leaf was accurately pierced when suddenly a branch fell down. A branch joining the fray?

  Compared to the leaves, the branch was too easy to pierce because it wouldn't float away with the wind. Liu Sen, without thinking, shot his hand out like lightning, with a chi sound, a strange sound, not quite like piercing into wood, but rather like into flesh!

  Slightly stunned, the branch suddenly bent. Under the moonlight, it was clear this wasn't a branch, but a snake. With its mouth open, it bit towards Liu Sen's hand. Naturally angered by being stabbed out of nowhere, the snake reacted.

  In a battle-ready state, Liu Sen reacted ten times faster than usual. Though startled, his natural response was to throw his hand down fiercely, sending the snake flying beyond the courtyard wall, as more branches fell, twisting in the air!

  Liu Sen sidestepped, killing snakes wasn't his training, but as soon as his foot firmly stepped down, an unusual feeling came from beneath, slippery. Shocked, Liu Sen pushed forward with his left foot, propelling himself forward. Turning back, he saw a snake's wide open mouth sweeping past where he just stood. One snake was nothing, but the grass all around was full of swaying snakes. Liu Sen raised his right hand, accurately piercing the falling snake, tossing it away, slightly stunned.

  Had he wandered into a circle of snakes?

  The teacher hadn't mentioned snakes here; clearly, they were added as a challenge! Yes, facing an enemy's attack required dealing with various assaults, including from above, below, and the bushes. Magicians floated like leaves, snakes hid like assassins. To survive in the world, one must face the harshest tests.

  If the initial training was purely offensive, now Liu Sen had to adapt to defensive attacks. With snakes on the ground and possibly falling from the sky, his attention had to be on the ground as much as above, because while falling snakes took time, ground attacks could be right at his feet. With his rapid movements and lightning-fast foot reactions, ground snakes couldn't harm him. Snakes within a yard were a needle's strike away; those farther were left alone.

  But focusing solely on snakes, he hadn't successfully pierced a leaf for a long time. The difficulty of the training was immense, a matter of conflicting priorities.

  With snakes hard to spot in the bushes, Liu Sen's eyes had to be wide open, closely observing. The heat flow spontaneously passed through his eyeballs, feeling his vision gradually improving, his footwork becoming lighter, maintaining high alert for over ten minutes. Liu Sen finally began to try continuing the training under these extreme conditions.

  Two hours passed, and he finally successfully pierced a leaf (not by chance, but through pursuit after pursuit, with a very specific target, resulting in a gratifying outcome!).

  Today's training could end. Liu Sen, stepping left and right, agilely avoiding numerous "prop" attacks, finally left the bizarre training ground to the back courtyard door, where the academy was already silent.

  Entering his room, Liu Sen colpsed, wondering, "Where are my feet? Why can't I feel where they are? And my hands?" Though his hands were clearly still there, he couldn't feel them, drifting into dreamnd, feeling it was his sweetest dream yet.

  At some point, a knocking sound arose from outside, the thumping sounding like distant bell tolls, gradually approaching. Liu Sen finally opened his eyes with difficulty, taking a while to realize someone was knocking. The sun was already up; he sprang from bed, nding with a swish.

  Bouncing up was incredibly light, and nding was utterly rexed, Liu Sen's smile was exceptionally brilliant — after a night of hard and outstanding training, the heat flow seemed to integrate more closely with his body. He could actually bounce up from the bed directly, something he couldn't do before.

  This was the effect!

  "Liu Sen, are you dead?" a voice called from outside, it was Bosti, only she would call someone to wake up in such a tone.

  "I'm taking a shower, want to come in and see?" Liu Sen shouted back.

  "Go to hell!" a loud voice from outside: "Before you die, return my hairpins!" Thumping footsteps sounded, she went downstairs.

  Really needed that shower! This body full of sweat had even dirtied a rge part of the bedsheet, time for a shower!

  After the bath, Liu Sen hummed comfortably, feeling so rexed, without a hint of overtiredness, quite strange.

  There were still csses today, with Instructor Reynos, wondering if there was still time! The little girl Bosti had just left, theoretically, there should be enough time!

  Liu Sen went out, rushing downstairs like a gust of wind, ahead, students clutching magic books hurried to the teaching building. All good, although he didn't like Reynos, skipping css was his fault, giving that slick young man an excuse to show off!