"Now lets talk about your training. I've prepared your training schedules since this afternoon. Now grab a piece of paper and write down what I'm saying."
Li Kong nodded and grabbed a piece of paper from his shelves and wrote down everything White said.
...
"That's all from me. Do you have any qualms?" White asked.
Li Kong looked carefully at the sheet of paper and after reading the entirety of paper, he grimly looked at the bead and asked, "Are you sure there's nothing wrong about this, White?"
"What? Let me see the paper once again."
Li Kong released the paper out of his hand and the paper floated freely and found its way to the bead.
"What do you mean? There's nothing wrong here. "
Li Kong snatched the paper and pointed at the paper.
"What do even you mean by carrying buckets full of water up and down the mountain? Three times?!" Li Kong exclaimed hysterically.
"So that's what are you talking about. It's really a shame there's only one mountain surrounding us and it isn't that tall either but I guess it'll suffice for your training at the moment." White ended his sentences with a deep sigh. Disappointment evident from his tone.
I'm screwed.
Only after fully processing his master's speech, did Li Kong finally figure out the world difference of understanding between him and his own master.
While Li Kong was sincerely weeping out of the bleak future, a black shadow loomed over Li Kong and as he lifted his head, he found the white bead, ominously hovering in the air and for a moment, he saw a sinister smile flashed.
"Sleep well for tonight, Li Kong. You'll miss it dearly." Voices of insurmountable amount of malice whispered on his ears.
Li Kong held back his tears, To be cultivator!
...
The next morning.
"A cultivator must have a huge amount of stamina and resilience! A cultivator shan't spend their time doing whatever so today we'll build up your stamina!" White shouted.
Unfortunately, Li Kong hadn't had the privilege to pay attention to White as veins bulged from his neck while trying to dragged himself up to the mountaintop.
"I... I don't think I can do this, White..." His breathing was hazard.
"Nonsense. Now quit complaining and keep climbing up!"
The night before when he had collapsed had somehow strengthen his body to be much stronger than before but even with the newfound body of a cultivator, the weight on his back paired with the steep angle of the mountain proven to be a huge obstacles to got through and by a slight loss of focus, he slipped out of his tracks and trundling down the steep mountain.
"Ah!!!" Li Kong screamed.
An invisible hand caught up the collar of his clothes and lifted him up.
"What did I say before about being resilient?" White sighed. "Now get some rest and we'll continue again tomorrow." White threw Li Kong off to the ground and disappeared into somewhere else.
Li Kong's vision was filled with roof of green leaves, shielding him from the heat of the sun and his nostrils was enamored with the refreshing scent of grasses as he greedily sucked in the air to his lungs.
"This... This is what I have to go to every day?" Li Kong said, completely out of breath.
Only one session had passed, but his legs were nearing giving up on him. Even contracting it a little bit caused pain to his leg and don't even talk about the state of his back.
"Hah... Hah... I don't want to know anymore." Li Kong closed his eyes in hope to shut down the numbing pain and his consciousness slowly faded in as the time passed by.
"What are you doing? Wake up!" A loud voice was calling out for him.
"Hah?" Li Kong still half-asleep rose from his laying position and looked at his left and right before the faint glow of the bead caught his eyes.
"Oh, it's you, White."
"Yeah. Now let's hurry back to the village or stay if you want to be spanked again."
The mention of spank doused his mind with a complete clarity as he stood up almost instantly and hurriedly packed his belongings before trudging his sore legs back to the village.
Finally arrived at the village, Li Kong was completely out of energy at this point and about to crash out immediately on his bed before sudden a man dressed in white came after him.
"Hello, Li Kong. How are you doing?"
"Oh, hello, doctor Yan." Li Kong turned his head to see the man and tried to keep a polite smile. "I felt a little bit tired but besides that everything else is fine."
The doctor is in his late-twenties and completely dressed in white. His build was average and there was nothing really remarkable about his face beside his squinty, fox-like eyes.
Hearing Li Kong's reply, Yan Dangxin laughed and said while slapping Li Kong's shoulder, "Hahaha. You should, you should."
His body trembled at the as the pain came coursing through his whole body, sending his pain receptors into frenzy.
"If there isn't anything else, then please excuse myself." Yan Dangxin said.
"Where are you going, doctor?" Li Kong asked.
Yan Dangxin smiled a little while lifting the bamboo basket in his right palm, "I have to pick up some herbs in the forest today. Did you worried about me, Li Kong? It's okay. Even though, I may look like this, I still have some kind of strength, you know."
Li Kong didn't really know why the doctor explained in such a long manner but he didn't pay too much thoughts on it, instead he waved his hand to the doctor and began continuing his way back home.
"Then have a safe trip, doc!"
The doctor watched the youth disappearing to the distance and for a moment, the smile on top of the doctor dropped but he quickly smiled again.
"Doc, huh?" The doctor muttered to no one and then, he continued his stride to the forest.
A moment after Li Kong's encounter with the doctor, all of a sudden an ancient and light voice chimed inside of Li Kong's head.
"So that's the doctor you are talking about."
Li Kong immediately burst into a smile. "Yeah, isn't he kind? Do you know, White? Since the doctor came, they said there weren't anymore sick people!"
"Hmm..." White mumbled while he stared at the doctor's back.
"Is there something wrong with the doctor?" The youth asked curiously.
"No, there's nothing. Let's get back home and take a break for an hour before we continue with cultivation session."
"Aye, aye, captain!" Li Kong regained his spirit and ran to his house.
"Seriously. Where did you learn that weird phrases?" White asked but the questions was carried by the passing winds.
...
As the sky had turned dark bluish, Li Kong sat down on top of his bedsheet and breathed rhythmically.
"Remember this Li Kong. Body Tempering realm is further divided into 3 sub-realms. The first one being Bone Refining, then followed by Vein Strengthening and at last, Muscle Forging."
As Li Kong plunged deep into the meditation state, the light voices appeared to be fainter and the warm energy inside of him circulated orderly.
'Slowly basked the body with the Qi.' He recalled the instructions White had given him.
Li Kong consciously controlled the flow of Qi within him and seeped them slowly to his bones.
'It's like watering a plant.' Li Kong mused amusingly.
While Li Kong was deep inside of his meditation, on the other side, White saw surges of Qi was being absorbed at an unprecedented rate to Li Kong's body.
Since Li Kong first entered meditation, White had started monitoring every inch of Li Kong's body looking for any signs of abnormalities inside of his disciple's body and fortunately, until now there weren't any problems.
'It's reassuring that his spirit root was functioning just like any other spirit root.' The main worry that had been gnawing at White's mind was Li Kong's unique and unfathomable spirit root.
This was the first time White had ever encountered something like this, his mind was full of doubt on whether Li Kong was able to cultivation properly but now he had seen that there was nothing to worry about, he could finally take the worry out of his mind.
'But I think this spirit root is doing its job too well.'
The amount of Qi Li Kong had absorbed was abnormal for a cultivator at his caliber.
The amount was so absurd that Li Kong could compete with three other people in the same realm as him and still coming up on top with huge margin.
'Although advancing fast is the most desirable but too fast also could bring their shares of problems...' Thoughts and speculations began to bubbling up inside White's mind.
'But all thing being said, I still don't know much about his spirit root so maybe it will be wiser to take a step back and see how it goes.'
After that, White wiped off the unnecessary thoughts and looked after Li Kong.
...
Near the afternoon, somewhere inside of the forest.
Li Kong was standing in front of a tree, his eyes shut.
A single bucket containing water was stationed near the tree, tons of other essentials was placed not far from him and a bow and its quiver also lied on the ground.
On top of the tree, a white bead looked down at the young man.
The surrounding was silent and throughout them only Li Kong's breaths could be heard.
Then, Li Kong opened his eyes and took a stance before he took a step and throw his fist forward and as the fist going forward, Li Kong concentrated his Qi on the tip of his knuckles and...
Puff
A tiny flame, size more than a marble, erupted out from his fist before disappearing into thin air like it was never there.
Li Kong stood right there completely stoic before dropping down his body on the ground and furiously scratched his head.
"Ah!!! Why is it so hard?" Li Kong couldn't contain his frustration and rolled his body around.
"Well, didn't you release a tiny flame right at the end of your training? That's good enough for beginner." White slowly floated down below.
Li Kong went to sitting position and opened his palm wide to received the bead.
"But it's so lame! I want a bigger flame to appear."
Hearing that, White immediately sent a side-eye to Li Kong. 'What's lame or not having to with cultivation?'
"Sigh... You young folks sure only looking at the wrong aspect of cultivation. You have to know the fundamental of something first before you could do it properly and do you know what you must done to achieve that?"
"Yeah. I have to train even harder!" Li Kong gathered his fingers to a fist and looked at it with a burning passion.
White smiled wryly. "I guess that could work. Now let's get on the next training."
"On your command, sir!"
"But seriously where did you learn all of this weird phrases..."
Still at the same place.
"This time we'll be learning the Wind Steps." White calmly said.
"The principle behind it was simple as it only a footwork and only a minimal amount of Qi was involved."
Li Kong nodded and read the manual intently.
After he memorized all of the instructions, he focused Qi on his leg as he started running. Not long after that, Li Kong crashed onto bushes and sent flying until he landed near a tree.
"Li Kong, are you okay?" White's concerned voice reached out.
He arrived at Li Kong's landing point and found Li Kong had taken a sleep, head buried in soil.
White then hurriedly picked him up and lifted him in the air. He took a good look at his body and fortunately, there weren't any damages besides a few scratches.
After he checked Li Kong was fine, White gently lied down his body on the ground and waited for him to woke up.
"Uh, White? Are you there?" His voice weak.
"It's fortunate that there isn't anything broke." White sighed. "You put too much Qi when you're doing the footwork for what you want to do. Try to consciously control the amount of the Qi you letting out and find the perfect balance and most importantly, try to imagine yourself being the wind. Feel what the wind feels like and move like the wind."
"O-okay." Li Kong, still dizzy, replied.
After recuperating for a few minutes, Li Kong got back up at his feet again and decided to do it once again.
Li Kong took a deep breath and recalled White's advice. 'Control the amount of Qi and imagine myself being the wind.'
Li Kong began to move and...
"Ah!!!" Li Kong went flying like a bird and went out cold as he landed head first to a nearby tree.
...
After recuperating from the head-splitting moment, Li Kong was sitting in the same place as before.
White instructed Li Kong to pull out the last manual which Li Kong answered by nodding and then, he inserted his arm to his bag and pulled out something.
"Thousand Illusory Daggers..." Li Kong looked carefully at the purple-colored cover. To be honest, this was the one Li Kong most excited to learn.
White smiled inwardly at the youth with shining look at his eyes.
"The manuals on how to throw the daggers is already written in the book though you can't learn the illusion part."
Li Kong's eyes lost a little of its sparkle. "Wait. Why?"
"It requires you to be at least Qi Building cultivator before you can make the illusion so cease the thoughts and start practicing."
"Aw... What a bummer." Li Kong perked up his lips, disappointment painted clear on his face.
"Whatever at least I still have the other manuals." Li Kong regained his spirit and cheerfully skipped to the training ground.
Li Kong scanned through at the Thousand-Illusory Daggers manual for a while before taking out the knives on his waist's numerous pouch and throwing them one by one.
White commented no further and watched him trained for a hour and they both went back to the village.