Waking up feeling refreshed and filled with power Haiyang was shocked to find himself in a pool of green, medicine smelling water. He looked through his body and saw full moon imprints on his blood vessels completed, while the imprints on his muscles and bones deepened in color by a few shades. Even more shocking was the imprints forming on his heart and various other organs including his brain.

After finally breaking out of the shock he looks around to see the walls of a cave and Shizi meditating in a corner.

It took himself a minute before he realized to not waste this chance. He started to meditate and greedily absorbed the medical energy in the water.

He was surprised to find that the water carried a yin type property that was very helpful in forming his moon imprints.

Hours passed as Haiyang absorbed the medical energy and turning it into moonlight qi, strengthening the moon imprints. It all came to an end after the water turned back to normal, crystal clear water and not the slightest bit of medical energy left.

He was able to strengthen the imprints on his blood vessels and completed and strengthened the imprints on his organs. The power he felt a fold higher than before. Before he felt he could only break a big tree sapling with a single swipe of his paw, but now he felt as if he could knock down a tree wider than a grown man’s waist with a single swipe. He could feel his heart was stronger and almost as if he could sprint a whole kilometer without breaking a sweat.

He saw a fly flying about and he found something strange. This reflexes seemed better as following the fly with his eyes without any strain.

Haiyang studied the new improvements to his body and skipped out of the pool happily.

“Why don’t you look excited now. Only after a little bit of improvement too,” Shizi said with a slight laugh. Haiyang looked down in slight embarrassment.

“I brought you here during the night so you could soak in the medical bath. It has quite a few yin type herbs to help your yin qi. Annnnnddd you’re welcome,” Shizi exclaimed with a small smile. He stood up and gestured for Haiyang to follow him.

Shizi walked out of the cave with Haiyang in tow and said, “You should get used to your new strength, and the best way to do that is to go to the training grounds. After that, we can go to the city to find more yin type herbs.” With that said they kept walking further into the mansion towards the training grounds.

The two passed by many members of the Lan clan. Whether they be workers, guards, or even members of the clan itself they all gave deep bows their way.

After 20 minutes of walking, they made it to the training field. The training field was a large area the size of a football field. It was covered in emerald green grass, and in the center, there were two stone arenas. In each of the arenas, there were two men fighting.

On the eastern wall, there was a variety of equipment. Most of them looked strange and Haiyang couldn’t identify them.

On the western wall, there were a few trees that were tall and would take two grown men to wrap their arms around them. Half of the trees had silver colored leaves and the other had copper colored leaves.

Shizi and Haiyang walked to the copper-colored trees and Shizi stated, “I want you to strike this tree as hard as you can.”

So Haiyang walked up to the tree and with silver colored qi filling his claws and paws. He readied himself and swiped at the tree with all his strength. With a loud bang, he struck the tree but the result was barely any bark getting ripped off. He was greatly surprised as he felt stronger than anytime before but almost no mark was left.

With a laugh, Shizi exclaimed, “This is a special tree used to test the strength of low level cultivators. It is called the Copper Crowned Tree, and seeing the amount of damage you did I can tell you barely have the strength of a low grade 1st stage qi condensation cultivator.” With that said he sunk into thought for a moment.

“Xie Ye come over here,” Shizi yelled toward a group of uniform wearing men!

With speed faster than a normal person one of the older men came running over. He stopped just in front of the boy and fox duo.

Haiyang swept his eyes up and down the man and saw that he was very robust, had jet black hair, and clear blue eyes.

“Is there any low or mid grade 1st rank qi condensation level guards around,” Shizi asked.

With a moment of thought, Xie Ye responded with, “I think we do. Give me a minute.” Then, he walked away towards a group of uniform wearing guards that seemed to be on the younger side. After a moment of chatting, he brought one young man out of the group and toward the boy and fox dou.

The boy was young, maybe the same age as Shizi or tad younger. He had a bright shade of emerald green eyes accented by dark skin and, very black hair.

“This is Zui Ruodian (weakest point) and he is a farmer’s son from a remote village north of city. After starting cultivation only a few weeks ago he has already reached mid-grade 1st stage qi condensation level.

“His talent is great and could become very strong in the future, but our Young Master will surely become the strongest. Oh, and before I forget young Ruodian is actually going to become your personal bodyguard in a few years after he matures,” Xie Ye explained excitedly.

Shizi looks Ruodian up and down, smiled and said, “Well that’s great. With someone as talented as you with me I’ll surely be safe.”

Haiyang was confused and surprised when he heard that Ruodian only started cultivating a few weeks ago. He thought cultivation would be common practice. He thought that although the probably wouldn’t get far, as resources always seem expensive, that they would have something. He was sadly wrong.

After hearing Xie Ye’s explanation Shizi nodded and said, “Ruodian battle this junior brother here,” while pointing at Haiyang, “Also remember to go easy on him since you are a grade higher than him.”

Ruodian bowed towards Haiyang saying, “Junior shall we exchange pointers?”

Haiyang nodded and walked towards the stone arenas with the three others following. Haiyang and Ruodian walked up onto the arena and stood on opposite sides.

“Junior Brother, are you ready,” Ruodian asked?

Haiyang nodded and then launched himself towards Ruodian. He sent a paw swipe infused with silver qi towards Ruodian’s chest.

With a duck, Ruodian dodged and sent a punch infused with red qi towards Haiyang’s stomach.

Unable to dodge Haiyang took the punch full on. He was sent flying to the edge of the arena. He was stunned not about the power but by the heat that the punched carried. It wasn’t hot like a fire but more like warm water, but he felt as if it could be hotter.

Haiyang steadied himself and walked toward the center of the arena. He loaded his legs with silver qi and starts sprinting towards Ruodian. When in front of Ruodian Haiyang jumped straight up. He flipped and had his head pointing down towards Ruodian.

Falling head first toward Ruodian he infused both of his front paws with qi. Ruodian crossed his arms to guard just as Haiyang swiped both claws in an X shape.

Only stumbling for a moment Ruodian quickly regains his footing. Immediately he stepped forward and punched out Haiyang sending him flying.

Haiyang was sent outside of the arena over the head of Shizi and company. He hit the ground hard and went unconscious.