Quin trained day after day, and it had been about two weeks already since he had come to Hounxi. He still had a problem, however. His training schedule only covered about half of the day and during the other half, his body became filled with wild energy, which he did not use up. Despite that he had woken up with some pain each morning and it was something that should have been obvious, it still eluded his mind somehow for some time. Damn, I am such a fool! If I completely exhaust myself then I’ll have some time free from the wild energy, but how in the hell did I think that it’ll last for half a day?

He was contemplating for some time what to do and he came to the conclusion that there was no other option but to train throughout the day: in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening and at dawn as well. Fortunately, for most of the time Xia will be looking after the girl but what about the evening and dawn? Hm, there was no night when she wasn’t sleeping without a care in the world or where she had woken up during her sleep. I think it’ll be okay, to leave her here during that time. He found his relationship with the girl a bit strange. She was a nice kid and it was fun to play with her from time to time but the whole situation where he found himself having to take care of her came out of nowhere. To be honest, what he felt toward her was responsibility and sympathy. He had never dealt with small kids before and he was just sixteen years old, so while the idea of having a child in the future did cross his mind, he had no plans for it to be right now. Still, it was him who had found her and despite that he did have the choice to leave the kid in the forest, no sane person would be able to do that.

It was not just due to his running sessions that he hired a babysitter but because he just could not imagine how he would be able to take care of a child alone, even if it was only for a few weeks. Though, he probably would not have such a hard time as she was quite a good kid. Just like other kids, she had to be fed but only two or three times a day, then after about an hour or two of playtime she would just fall asleep for hours. Essentially, Quin only had about four or five hours during which he had to actively look after her, but he simply just did not feel he was ready for something like this.

Fortunately, the town had a babysitting service and he found a good babysitter. Although Xia seemed a bit cold toward him, she was entirely different with the little girl. Well, I haven’t seen how a babysitter does their job but honestly, it looks more like she’s her mother than just someone who’s looking after her. They’re together for a great part of the day but during that, Xia’s always smiling and looking like someone who’s really enjoying it.

The little girl also seemed to like her fortunately, yet there was a single thing in which she chose him over Xia any time he was around. For some strange reason, she always wanted to chew on him when she was hungry and Quin was there, even if she was already in Xia’s arms.

Quin was also a bit concerned about the girl, as she really did not seem like how a normal human child would be. She grew about a centimeter or two after each sleep and she was now at least thirty centimeters taller compared to the time he had found her. Naturally, Quin was not able to measure her height just by looking at her and he only knew this because he had bought a measuring tape previously. It was even more interesting or maybe just shocking how her hair grew from the typical short baby hair to a length which hung to the middle of her back merely in a single day. He was quite surprised, but what he would not be able to ever forget was the dumbfounded look Xia had on her face when she saw the little girl the next day. Quin was even afraid that she would just quit, but despite her first reaction nothing had changed in the end.

It was during the third week when he began to train during the night and at dawn as well. After they were done with dinner and their evening stroll, the girl would usually fall asleep in no time. When that happened Quin went outside and did a shorter version of his usual training, which lasted about two or three hours. Next, he meditated for an hour and then slept for a maximum of two hours. After he woke up he did another round of exercises for an hour or two and when he was finished with them, he entered into a brief meditation once more before he went to bed. There was not too much time to sleep in the morning either, as he only had a few hours until the girl would wake up.

Although he liked training and enjoyed it even during dawn, it was without a doubt tiring, and not just physically. Spending most of your daytime by constantly doing various exercises and even forgoing hours of your daily sleep could be quite mentally taxing. Quin was fairly proud of the strength of his willpower, especially after that he had to suffer through constant agonizing pain for months through which he managed to persevere to the very end without going insane or taking his own life. However, without spending time with meditation after each of his training sessions he would probably find it rather difficult to continue.

After only a month of working out, he could already see significant changes in his body. The most striking one was how much his muscle mass increased during this time. Quin was no longer the somewhat skinny youth he had been as he was packed with decently sized muscles. They were not too bulky fortunately, and it did not hinder his movement at all.

Although his muscle growth was the most noticeable change, the most shocking thing to him and the one that he was the happiest about was something else. It did not even occur to him for some time, but one day he finally noticed that his missing fingers were starting to grow back. Previously, his entire pinky finger was non-existent but now, one out of the three phalanges had completely grown back. The regeneration on his ring finger was a bit slower as only about half out of his two missing phalanges had grown back. Even though he he had been able to use his right hand without too much difficulty it still felt unnatural and who would not be happy about something like this?

He had thought about this and how this wild energy worked for a long time. Back at Crows’ Road’s library, he had read a lot about Hounxi and the effects of its healing lake, but he did not remember anything about regrowing lost limbs. This energy could heal various diseases, surface injuries and was quite useful for recuperations. However, it should not have been enough for something like this, not even for the Spirit Forming experts who could even take a brief dip into the lake’s water.

Then why does this happen to me? It’s not that I’m not grateful but I just don’t understand it. So what’s difference? He wondered and after a few moments, he realized something. Maybe it’s not that difficult to figure it out, huh? This healing energy constantly fills my body and is also quite dense, however, I think this shouldn’t be the case for the others. Though I do feel as it enters my body through my skin and pores, its intensity is significantly lesser and it’s the same with breathing as well. It’s probably different if you go into the water, but that’s only for a really short period of time during which it doesn’t have enough time to do something like that. I, on the other hand, am continuously exposed to a great amount of it and I think that should be why my fingers started growing back. Hm, who would’ve thought that something like this could exist?

During this whole month, my body was improving and getting stronger each day, and I reckon that if previously my body’s strength was comparable to someone in the first level of Qi Foundation stage, then now it should be comparable to its second level! I wonder exactly how strong am I currently?

He pondered for minutes for a way to check it, as there sadly were no tools in Hounxi for measuring the toughness of a body or the strength of a punch. Eventually, as he had no other ideas, he decided to just go out and test it on a tree and maybe on a rock as well.