Chapter 7

The next day Ye Xiu got up and started his daily stretches to prepare himself for the harsh training he was about to start. ‘Today’s the day I’ll finally begin my training, I’ll be able to feel the improvement my body when I’m not tired if this works out. I wonder how fast I’ll be able to refine my body compared to kids my age. If I want to live in this world, I have to be the very best because even with how strong my master and mistress seemed to be, even they were annihilated by forces against them. So it should be in my best interest to get as strong as I can without attracting the attention of these powerful forces. However hard that must be I must achieve that. After I finish refining my body I think I shall learn a technique for stealth. Considering that none of the techniques in the scrolls or library refer to anything about stealth means that neither master or mistress has any interest in it.’ After finishing his stretches he did some calisthenics to warm himself up, knowing that during the training he was probably going to use all his muscles in his body so it would be best to warm up everything instead of crying of pain afterwards.

Whilst doing this he got into the breathing pattern and circulation system of qi around his body for the Dragon Technique to see if it had any immediate effects whilst exercising and surprisingly it did. It filled his body with more energy and he felt more vigorous, Ye Xiu decided to cultivate the technique whilst training to break through his limits not on just his body but on his skill in using the technique. He thought that it would be best that he learnt how to cope under pressure whilst circulating the technique to prepare himself for intense fights in the future.

Walking out towards the kitchen he greeted his mother and asked for a glass of milk, “Good morning mother, could you help me get a glass of milk please?”

Smiling at her son charmingly, “Of course I will, are you ready for your training? Knowing your father it will take a long time to finish and he’s going to make it ridiculously hard. Don’t push yourself too hard, if you injure yourself it’ll just make the training process slower.” She handed the glasses over to Ye Xiu.

“Thanks mother, I’ll be going to the courtyard now,” Ye Xiu gulped down his milk and ran out towards the courtyard.

At the courtyard Ye Xiu could see his father waiting in the middle wearing some black pants whilst shirtless. He could see the muscle packed chest of his father and how well defined he was. With a shirt on you wouldn’t even realise that he was actually so fit.

“Ye Xiu come over here, you’ll be wearing some weights for training everyday. You don’t have to worry about your growth being stunted, Most Cultivation Techniques will automatically help you mature without having you be stunted even from weight training. These weights will be on your arms, legs and chest, you’ll have to get used to the burden quickly because I’ll increase the weight every time I feel like you have finished adjusting to them. The weights are currently only 1 kg each, tell me if they are too light for you right now.”

Putting on the weights to feel how sluggish his movements would be, Ye Xiu said, “It’s too light father, maybe go up to 5 kg per weight? I feel like my body will grow even faster the more pressure that is put upon it when training so starting at a higher weight should be best.”

“Are you sure? 5 kg per weight without even entering the body refining realm and any body training at all is quite heavy especially for a child for you.” Ye Qiu looked sternly at his son.

“I believe I can do it father.” Ye Xiu looked back seriously at his father.

“Alright then I’ll just increase the weight of these by adding some Qi. Don’t think you can cheat by removing my Qi because only I can remove it from these weights because I placed it there.” Ye Qiu accepted his son’s belief.

After adjusting the weight, Ye Xiu could feel the burden on his limbs but it wasn’t too heavy. It was hard to move his limbs but he could still move them. His whole body felt slower because of the chest weight.

“Now that we have settled your weights let’s begin with our training. First I want you to do 100 pushups and then after that I want you to do 100 sit ups.” Ye Qiu started demonstrating them to his son thinking that he didn’t know what they were, after all he should only be 3 years old no matter how mature he is, there’s a limit to how much you can know at that age. But for Ye Xiu, his past life’s memories were a huge help. “Now when you are doing these repetitions, I don’t want you to stop at all. You must persevere and go past your limits.”

“Ok father.” Ye Xiu started his repetitions at a slower pace in case he would run out of stamina too quickly, he felt as if the weight kept increasing at time went on because of his increasing fatigue but he kept on continuing knowing that his father would stop him before he injured himself.

Ye Xiu started struggling at the 70th repetition of pushups and his speed was become slower and slower. He kept going even with his childish body he knew that if he stopped here now then his motivation to continue would crumble down into nothingness. Training made him feel more alive than he ever did in his previous life. It was because he knew that he was training for a purpose. He wanted to reach the very top of the world and become the strongest person to have a sense of fulfillment. Thinking about this again and again he started to gain more drive to improve and to continue on.

Even with his drive his body had a limit, at the 90th repetition his body was about to collapse when suddenly a surge of energy from his dantian coursed through his body and gave him a boost. Using that energy he quickly finished the set of repetitions before lying on the ground resting.

His father looked at him and smiled, “That’s a good job Ye Xiu, you looked like you were struggling but you were able to persevere and achieve what your body would’ve thought impossible. You also found out your limits which is extremely important for you to improve and for you in battles. Your drive will give you confidence and determination during a battle scenario and allow you to give your best in any situation even if it seems nigh impossible. Knowing your limits is good because you would know when to back off because you know there is no way for you accomplish something because it is beyond abilities. However that doesn’t mean that you have to back off completely, it just means you have to train harder in order for you to make that impossible situation possible. Now take a rest for 10 minutes before we start your next set of repetitions.”

Ye Xiu weakly nodded as he lay on the ground. Sweat was everywhere on the ground seeping into it. Ye Xiu knew that this would probably be the best time for him to circulate his technique to achieve gains because he had just surpassed his limits. As he was lying there he realised something that he had forgotten, ‘I know what I had forgotten now last night! Master said that inside the Locket Dimension there is a pool of liquid which can give me benefits. I wonder if that pool can help me recover from injuries and fatigue?’

For the next two hours, Ye Xiu managed to complete 3 more sets of repetitions and went back inside his home to freshen up. Instead of going inside his family’s washing area he went inside his bedroom to secretly enter the Locket Dimension to get to the pool. Stripping off his sweaty clothes he jumped into the pool immediately. ‘Bathing in this pool is pretty good, the liquid seems to remove any unwanted smells from me easily. It also seems like it helps me recover much faster.’ Suddenly a fishy smell emerged around him and as he looked he saw black ooze coming from his body. He thought, ‘I’ve read a few xianxia novels in my previous life and it has mentioned similar occurrences such as this. It must be my body impurities coming out. How come the body impurities weren’t gotten rid of when my body was transforming to suit the cultivation technique? Knowing now that the pool could help him get rid of impurities in his body he quickly got out and rubbed all of the ooze off of himself.

After finishing his bath he went outside his dimension to look for food. Ye Xiu was hungry after all the training that he did with his father and wanted something to replenish the energy that he used. He had looked through the Locket Dimension for food after finishing his bath but found nothing. He had looked in the garden for anything edible but nothing was growing either. Knowing that in the future if he wanted to be an alchemist or know some form of medical arts, he should at least start to grow some rare herbs in the accelerated zone. As he was found his way to the dining table he thought of things he had to do. ‘After dinner I’ll have to take a look at the phoenix’s cultivation technique. If I’m going to improve my body now, I might as well improve my soul and mind at the same time. Father did say that in order for me to advance in cultivation in the later stages I would have to be in equal levels for both cultivation style. That would mean that I would have to put in the same amount of effort into this cultivation technique instead of slacking off.

A voice broke Ye Xiu’s train of thoughts, “How was training my little Xiu’er? Was it hard? Did you try your best and not give up?” His mother asked him how his training had went and it sent a warm feeling through his body knowing that he felt happy about somebody caring about him.

“Yes mother it was hard but it became easier when I realised the drive for me to improve would help push me further than I would’ve originally. During the rest break I was able to find out that my cultivation technique allows me to improve at a faster rate after I break through my limits.” Ye Xiu replied to his mother.

“Isn’t that great then? You can be above your peers in a few years time if you keep this up! The only people you’d have to be worried about then are those super genii and the older generations of monsters. After all in this dog eat dog world, the older you live the more dangerous the person usually is. Cultivation allows us to keep our youthful looks so don’t always judge people by their appearance Xiu’er.” His mother started giving him advice on the world and things to be wary about so that he would be safe in the future. Her smile became even bigger suddenly, “If you become strong enough, you’ll be able to catch a girl won’t you? Maybe make a grandchild for me heh?” She smirked at Ye Xiu cheekily.

Ye Xiu groaned, “Mother, I’m 3 years old do you really expect me to think about girls right now? I’ll only look for a girl when I reach sufficient strength to protect them. Also even if I do like someone they have to be at least as strong as me so they don’t have to rely on me for everything.”

“Tch, you ruined my fun. It’s okay, when you find a girl you like in the future I’d like to meet them. I’ll give them some advice!” Yu er grinned like a maniac.

‘Advice my ass. I’m more certain of you threatening them with that smile on your face.’ Ye Xiu thought. “Yeah mother I’ll bring her to you one day.”

“What’s this about girls I hear? I hope you aren’t going to be gallivanting around trying to woo girls. I want you to focus on your cultivation right now. You never know you might be chosen to be Clan Head one day and you’d have to be strong enough to protect the clan.” Ye Qiu looked at his son somberly.

“Father, I don’t think I want to become Clan Head. I’d be burdened with duties when I just want to travel the world!” Ye Xiu exclaimed.