[2 months later]

***

Morning light slipped through cracks in the bamboo door, shooting beams of light into the cave's interior. The door was adjacently situated to a mud wall that covered the rest of the cave mouth. The interior of the cave was slathered with a thick coat of dried mud. The mud smoothed out the harsh rigidness of the cave's natural rocky interior, giving it a touch of humanity.

Inside the cave, there was makeshift bamboo furniture filling out what was previously empty space—this included a bamboo table, on which rest various tools and cutlery made from bamboo and chipped stone tied together with rough twine. There was also a mud oven constructed alongside the wall. A bamboo shaft stemmed out from the oven and funneled smoke through the wall and out the cave. Left of the oven, a bamboo water basin slowly collected crystal clear rainwater. The water slowly trickled out from a bamboo pipe arched above it.

Wu Niu was comfortably resting on his side atop a bamboo bed situated in the back of the cave. His robes pants looked worn and had holes patched up with the pelts of small animals. His bare feet were covered in the same frayed orange cloth bandaging that he had been wearing for the past two months. Around his waist, a hide belt fastened his robes tightly to his frame. A makeshift bamboo sheathe fit for a dagger sized blade, and clips that he could use to attach various tools; attached directly onto his belt.

Wu Niu's sleeping face had mostly healed, leaving behind heavy scarring on his cheeks, eyes, and forehead. Two months' worth of short black covered Wu Niu's previously bald head. His hair shot straight up like his whole head was one large cow-lick.

Wu Niu rolled over, revealing his arms. They were noticeably bulkier than two months ago. This was, no doubt, due to the intensive workouts he had been doing every day for the last month. His intensive regimen consisted of 100 squats, pushups, sit-ups, bridges, mountain climbers, and burpees, finishing off with a 10-mile sprint and full-body stretching.

Surprisingly (or not), Wu Niu not only fit this into his daily tasks but also fit in more exercise whenever he had downtime.

The sound of squeaking rats woke Wu Niu from his deep slumber. An irritated expression appeared on his face. The rats were getting the better of him.

Opening his eyes, Wu Niu looked over to the bamboo cage across from him. It had an open top and barely enough room to squeeze a pinky through the side. In It, the rats violently slammed against the containment to express their morning appetite.

A few weeks prior, Wu Niu found a tiny cavity along the cave wall after searching for the source of incessant squeaking. Little did he know that there was a massive colony of rats hidden inside his abode. It explained why his food kept disappearing whenever he left.

Knowing this, Wu Niu built the cage around the hole to trap the rats, so that he could use them as a food source if need be.

-Day 63.

Wu Niu sat up and stretched. Sliding his feet off the bed, his left foot brushed along a hide sack. Inside the sack, there was one lonely fish.

-This is the last fish.

Reaching down, Wu Niu retrieved the fish from out of it. It smelled like unadulterated death and decay.

Wu Niu stood up and walked toward the rat cage.

Almost as if they could sense the food, the rats pushed themselves against the cage wall, nipping and biting each other to be the one on top.

-Guess I need to go get some more today.

Dropping the foul-smelling fish into the cage, the rats wrestled and climbed over each other to burrow their teeth into the odorous carrion.

A rat that was much skinnier then the others gave up and walked away from the crowd. It had already given up on competing for a slice of the fish. Slinking over to the corner, it laid down and faced away from the fish.

"No. Don't do that!"

Wu Niu found issue in the rat's behavior. Maybe it hit to close to home.

The biggest rats were the ones that got to eat, and the smaller ones ate the leftovers. The weakest rats had nothing.

"Funny. Rats are a lot more like humans than I thought."

Letting out a sorrowful sigh, Wu Niu backed away from the cage and grabbed the empty fish bag. Heading towards the door, he made sure to first stop at the bamboo table.

Various tools and cutlery sat on the table. One of which was a rudimentary dagger-sized hunter's knife made of chipped flint. An abundance of twine wrapped around the base of the knife, making for a comfortable handle to grip it by. Twas' an excellent cutting tool, to be sure, but It was also handy for fire starting.

Wu Niu slipped the flint blade into his bamboo sheath and grabbed a leather waterskin from off the table. It was once a shoe (his shoes), but now it was a pouch for him to store his drinking water.

Clipping the canteen to his belt, Wu Niu shuffled to the door fish sack in hand.

-Alright, first I'll go to the river and collect fish. Then I'll do my workout. After that, I'll cook some food.

Now that Wu Niu had finished planning his schedule for the day, he opened the bamboo door and stepped out of the cave.

The sky was baby blue and lacked any clouds as far as the eye could see. The bright yellow sun beamed down a barrage of blistering heat upon Wu Niu and the surrounding forest. The dirt beneath Wu Niu's bare feet was scorching hot to the touch.

In front of Wu Niu, a dirt trail that led from the cave mouth all the way to the river. It was formed by constant back and forth transversal, both while doing chores and as part of his daily exercise routine—Specifically the sprinting part.

A cold sweat perspired from Wu Niu's skin.

-Is it summer already?

Wu Niu tugged at the collar of his robe to ventilate his overheating chest with the soothing summer air. He had just stepped outside, and he was already sweating bullets. Something was definitely wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

-Damn, it's hot today.

Relaxedly striding down the dirt trail, a thought crossed Wu Niu's mind causing him to stop momentarily.

-This… feeling?

"Hmm…"

Wu Niu felt a faint pain spreading across his entire body. It was a dull pain that was different from his usual soreness and cramps. He knew he had experienced this pain once before, but he couldn't remember when exactly.

***

At the bottom of the hill, Wu Niu reached the end of the dirt trail. In front of him was the same flowing river that brought him here.

Wu Niu walked upstream alongside the rocky riverbank. Smooth stones pushed painfully against his bare feet, but Wu Niu remained unbothered. After all, At this point, he had gotten used to the feeling of being barefoot. His toeless feet were calloused over with paddy thick layers of hardened skin.

Approaching a shallower part of the river, a dam of loose stone came into view. Wu Niu constructed the dam as a fish trap.

Every couple of seconds, a fish would jump over the dam, but not every fish would make it. It was the ones that didn't that Wu Niu collected.

While picking the freshest of the fish, Wu Niu kicked the rest back into the river. Once finished, his bag was about a fourth of the way full. It was a relatively good haul for such a low maintenance trap.

Wu Niu stepped off the loose stone dam back to dry land.

-I guess I should head back and drop this off.

The weird pained feeling abruptly intensified, causing Wu Niu to clutch his chest with a painful expression. It felt like his body was trying to destroy itself internally. It was now apparent what this terrible feeling was.

-I'm about to break through.

Swiftly disrobing, Wu Niu dropped threw his clothes to the side and sat against the water's edge. Clearing his mind of thoughts, he began to envision his internal organs and biological mechanisms.

Body tempering breakthroughs require a severe amount of concentration and understanding of human biology. One misunderstanding or slip up in the process could lead the practitioner to restructure their body improperly, and in turn, dying from organ failure, among many other body malfunctions.

-First, I'll restructure my heart.