Cultivation starts with picking up attributes
Chapter 91: Ch-91: Hellish Training

Chapter 91: Ch-91: Hellish Training

The morning began with Tian Shen waking up in a panic. Again.

"Not this. Not again."

He stared at the ceiling with the hollow eyes of a man who had seen his own beaten and bruised body—in various painful renditions—too many times.

Feng Yin was still asleep, her hand curled around his like the elegant sleeping phoenix she was.

Little Mei on his left, trying to smear his arm with her bosomy dior.

Drowsy sat on his chest like a demonic paperweight, blinking once before letting out a single, melodic chirp.

"You’re supposed to warn me if I’m having nightmares."

He whispered.

"Chirp~"

"That wasn’t a nightmare?"

"Chirp~"

"...Yeah, I figured."

Dragging his aching limbs out of bed, Tian Shen reached for his robes. Every joint protested. His Qi seemed to whimper in sympathy.

He dressed slower this time. Like a man dressing for his own funeral. Because he was.

Maybe.

...

He arrived at the training spot with five minutes to spare.

Which, according to Elder Su, meant he was already late.

She stood in the center of the field again. Only this time, there were two new additions.

Wooden stakes.

Lots of them.

He muttered.

"Obstacle course?"

She didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she raised a brow as she looked him up and down.

"You look like you lost a duel with a carriage."

"I did. The carriage’s name was S–."

But he shut it just when she side glanced him.

"At least You’re learning."

Tian Shen wasn’t sure if that was praise or warning.

"Today’s lesson," she continued, "is this."

He brightened.

"That doesn’t sounds promising."

"Which is why we begin with blindfolded combat."

"...We do?"

She tossed him a strip of black silk. He caught it and held it up with suspicion.

"You’re not going to start hitting me the second I put this on, are you?"

"Only if you ask nicely," she said with a smile that did terrible things to his nervous system.

As he tied it on, darkness swallowed him. Every sound became sharper. Every instinct screamed.

"Now, defend yourself."

"What—"

CRACK.

A wooden rod smacked his thigh.

"OW! You didn’t say go!"

"I said defend."

Another whack. His shoulder this time.

"You’re definitely enjoying this!"

"I enjoy discipline."

"I don’t consent to this training method!"

"Consent is for luxuries. This is a necessity."

...

The next hour was hell.

Every time he blocked, she changed her angle. Every time he anticipated, she vanished. He was blind, tired, and on the verge of tears.

But then, something clicked.

The subtle vibration of wind.

The hush of her movements.

The faintest disturbance in his spiritual sense.

Tian Shen turned just in time to intercept the next strike. His palm clashed with hers in midair.

There was a beat of silence.

Then she stepped back.

"Hmm."

"...Did I pass?"

"You reacted. I didn’t anticipate that. There’s a difference."

He slumped.

"But better," she added.

He smiled. Until she added—

"Now we begin the real training."

"So what was that, Bullsh*t?!"

...

Afternoon training involved sparring on moving platforms atop a lake.

Yes.

Moving. Platforms. On. A. Lake.

And to add cherry on top, there this formation he can’t understand hindering his movements somehow.

Elder Su stood poised like a spirit above water, her robes untouched by the splash, her balance ethereal.

Tian Shen, on the other hand, fell in three times in the first minute.

"Again," she said.

"At this point I’m just a very handsome fish."

"Flatter yourself after you dodge this—"

Her fan flicked. A wind slash zipped across the lake, slicing his platform in half.

He screamed.

Again.

...

By evening, he was drenched, half-dead, and missing one shoe.

They returned to the shore.

Elder Su offered him a towel.

He blinked.

"You’re... being kind?"

"I don’t want wet disciples catching a cold. That’s irresponsible."

"...You care."

"I care about discipline."

She paused, then added, just slightly quieter—

"And perhaps your idiocy deserves a fighting chance."

He stared at her. She stared back.

The moment stretched long enough to become dangerously meaningful.

Then she ruined it.

"Stop looking at me like that. I’m not your savior."

"No, but you’re definitely my executioner."

...

Later that night, Tian Shen limped back to the dorms like a war survivor.

His robe was ripped. His pride was in tatters. But his footwork? Impeccable.

Feng Yin looked up from a scroll.

"You swam again?"

"Multiple times. I may have become amphibious."

Little Mei tossed him a peach.

"Eat that. I think it has recovery properties. Or maybe it’ll give you gas. One of those."

Tian Shen bit into it anyway. At this point, nothing mattered.

"How long is this training supposed to last?" he asked.

Feng Yin leaned forward.

"Elder Su doesn’t take disciples. You’re the first."

He blinked.

"What?"

Tian Shen chewed slower. That meant something.

Something terrifying.

...

That night, as he stared at the ceiling again, Drowsy curled next to him.

He whispered.

"Why me?"

The bird chirped softly.

"Chirp~"

"You think she sees something in me?"

"Chirp~"

"What, like potential?"

"Chirp~"

"...Or that she just likes hitting me?"

Silence.

Then another chirp.

Tian Shen sighed.

...

Next Morning.

Tian Shen awoke to the soft weight of a bird and the not-so-soft pout of a fox.

Drowsy sat smugly on his chest, wings slightly puffed, emitting a glow that was frankly unjustified for a glorified pigeon.

But it wasn’t her presence that had him sweating.

It was the tail. The big, swishing, blood-red tail curling up beside his cheek like a warning.

"Kyuuu~"

’Wakey, Wakey.’

Tian Shen froze.

"...Please no."

Little Mei, in her fox form, stared at him with bright ruby eyes gleaming with righteous indignation.

Her body, once curvy and meaty, now manifested back to a gorgeous Blood Fox with a halo of spiritual aura and absolutely no boundaries.

"You’re jealous," he said, accusingly.

"Kyuu~!"

’I am NOT.’

Little Mei denied.

Drowsy blinked. Tian Shen could swear the divine chicken smirked.

The fox pounced on his face.

"I can’t breathe!"

"Kyuu~ Kyuuu~ Kyuuuu~!"

Tail smacks. Headbutts. Paw-fu cuddles.

"Get your murder marshmallow off my face!"

He wheezed.

Feng Yin rolled over on her bunk, peeking at the chaos through one sleepy eye.

"Your choices led you here."

"This isn’t a choice! It’s an animal uprising!"

She yawned and turned away.

Tian Shen fought for oxygen beneath the now semi–yandere fox’s affection, realizing with no small amount of horror that this was just the beginning.

...

3rd day of the Training.

Tian Shen had believed—foolishly—that his body had finally adjusted to Elder Su’s unique teaching style, which consisted primarily of pain, confusion, and profound humiliation.

He was wrong.

That morning, Elder Su introduced a technique known as Echo Movement—an art so fast it outpaced sound itself.

She demonstrated it by vanishing before Tian Shen’s eyes and reappearing behind him, whereupon she flicked his earlobe with such force that birds scattered from nearby trees.

Tian Shen nearly ascended from the sheer surprise.

Meanwhile, Drowsy—his so-called companion—emitted a musical chirp that could only be interpreted as applause.

The betrayal stung almost as much as his ear.

...

6th Day of the Training.

Little Mei, driven by a mixture of boredom and foxlike mischief, decided to infiltrate the training field disguised as a bush.

A literal bush.

It fooled no one. Least of all Elder Su, who kicked her into the horizon with clinical precision. At least it was Not lethal.

Tian Shen laughed.

And for that, Elder Su kicked him, too.

"Discipline," she said coolly, "is contagious."

...

9th Day of the Training.

Today’s lesson was sword play.

Blindfolded.

According to Elder Su.

"Eyes can lie. Instincts do not."

Tian Shen, trusting his instincts, promptly walked into a tree.

Then again.

One could almost hear the trees sigh.

...

12th Day of the Training.

The dreaded platform lake training returned.

It began with dignity. Tian Shen stood tall, balanced, focused.

He fell in within thirty seconds.

Repeatedly.

By the fifth splash, local fish had started to circle him reverently. One in particular, a sleek orange fellow, lingered often.

Tian Shen named it Harold.

Feng Yin, observing from the shore, sketched the fish in her notes for "research".

Little Mei attempted to fish Harold out using her tails.

Chaos insued.

...

15th Day of the Training.

Spiritual sense training.

Elder Su stood motionless for twenty full minutes, expression unreadable, aura calm.

Tian Shen, fooled by the stillness, relaxed his guard.

She punched him through three wooden support pillars.

He didn’t even see it coming.

Lesson of the day: never trust silence. Especially not the kind that precedes catastrophic violence.

...

17th Day of the Training.

Tian Shen spent the morning holding a difficult stance.

For three hours.

He collapsed in a graceless heap just before the fourth hour.

Elder Su handed him tea.

It was bitter.

Painfully bitter.

Possibly weaponized.

When he gagged and looked up accusingly, she replied, "It restores internal circulation, Tian Shen."

She also, for the first time after the training, referred to him by name.

Not "idiot".

Not "hopeless".

Tian Shen.

That stunned him more than the tea.

...

21st Day of the Training.

Feng Yin began taking an odd sort of pleasure in attending Tian Shen’s daily recovery.

She brought towels. Prepared ointments. Sat beside him like a silent judge delivering nightly verdicts.

Warm towels. Warm expression.

She said little, but the corners of her lips always lifted—just slightly—when Tian Shen groaned in pain.

Little Mei perched on his shoulder regularly, flicking her tail and offering sage advice like, "You should bite her next time."

Drowsy, for reasons unknown, began to nod in sync with Elder Su whenever Tian Shen failed to dodge an attack.

It was clear now: he had lost command of his life.

...

25th Day of the Training.

Elder Su sparred with him using only one finger.

Tian Shen gave it everything.

He still lost.

But when he lay flat on the ground gasping like a fish out of water, she gave him a nod. Not the sarcastic kind. A real one. The kind that said, You might not be useless forever.

He almost cried.

Then she struck him again for lowering his guard.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.