Hong Zhao raced atop the roof tops once more. The journey back was even faster than when he left. He could tell that his vortex thrust had improved once again by sheer will and determination. He felt as if he could just disappear in front of a person now. If they blinked, he would be gone.
As his feet flew from rooftop to rooftop, his black robe was in tatters, and he was dripping blood steadily with each leap. Luckily, he was able to make it back to the Li family estate relatively easy. Jumping to his balcony, Hong Zhao inserted a qi strand into Lan's ring to see what she might have left him this time.
The moment his qi left his body, a mental projection of himself was brought back to the extra large room within. He steadily made his way to the third star student rank door and twisted the knob. It gave easily and he was then standing inside.
He expected to see maybe three items when he opened the door, as he always did. Instead, he saw dozens.
There was a brand new robe and assortments of clothing for him, along with armor to go underneath. The robes were the same black with gold lining, but the armor was black leather. He counted seven sets of black armored pants, an armored shirt and boots as well as a mask to cover his face. "Obviously you've been keeping an eye on me." He said to no one in particular.
Hong Zhao then took a look in the corner and saw a sword. It was one he couldn't wear at the hip like the normal katana, instead it was twice as big with a baldric which would allow him to wear it on his back.
Along with the new assortment of gear, he saw numerous fruits and pills. He questioned why Lan would give him something as meaningless as fruit, but then thought better of it. He still remembered the effects of the shadow panther meat when he had first arrived in the world. Instead of questioning it, he went to the nearby table and picked up the note Lan had left for him as always.
"First, let me say... WOW! One hundred and one shadow panthers, and some of them even outranked you in strength. Color me impressed!" Hong Zhao smiled as he continued the note. "Don't get too ahead of yourself. You will need to gain strength in a rapid speed if you are to take down the village elder's son. He just broke through to the fourth star rank. I have qi grasping pills as well as spirit fruits. They both should be sufficient to break through to the fifth rank within five months time. Do not relent. Continue to gain strength like your life depends on it because, well, it kinda does."
For some reason Hong Zhao found the note to be somewhat comical. To think she had seen everything and even guessed what his first action in the village was going to be. He flipped over the paper to see a continuation. "P.S. There are twenty high grade health recovery pills within the pile of other pills, be sure to take one before you bleed out on your balcony. Always watching! -Lan.
Hong Zhao looked through the pile of familiar pills until he saw a jade container with a different looking pill within. Instead of the usual green qi grasping pill, this one was deep red, like life's blood. He took the pill and released the mental image of himself.
When he came to back on the balcony, he was indeed sitting in a pool of his own blood. Without hesitation, Hong Zhao uncorked the stopper with his teeth and dropped the pill into his mouth. He then groaned as he used the railing to stand and went to the wash basin to clean himself up. In a few minutes, the blood that seeped through his wounds stopped and they closed slowly. He felt an incredible itching sensation, yet did his best to ignore it as he wiped the blood away. After washing himself, he slowly got to his feet and went to his bed. Though his wounds were healed, he still felt stiff from the fighting.
He was finally able to vent his frustration, that was what was important to him. Having been able to cut loose and feel what he needed to feel, he felt new. He felt like he could continue for as long as it took.
Sitting on his pillow once more, Hong Zhao took out one of the fruits which Lan had called 'Spirit Fruits.' He looked at it closely and noticed that it didn't resemble any fruit he had ever seen before. The flesh of the fruit was crisp and soft when he bit into it. He could feel the chunk of fruit dissolve into pure qi as he swallowed. Feeling the surge of strength, he finished the fruit completely and began cultivating.
Having raced out of the forest as fast as he did, Hong Zhao could feel how low his qi had become, yet now it seemed to surge back to him. As fast as it had drained away, it had returned with a vengeance. Hong Zhao felt the familiar panic seep through him as he yet again raced with time to refine as much as he possibly could out of the alien energy that was pouring through his veins.
Before he had a chance to scream with the effort, it was over. When the burst of energy had subsided, he had reached the fourth star student rank! "She could have told me it would raise my rank one more." He was surprised enough that such a fruit existed, but to raise an entire rank? What if he just wasted it on the wrong rank?
Hong Zhao once more inserted a mental projection into his ring and went to the fourth door. When he opened it, there was another note, yet nothing more. "Don't get greedy with the handouts." He read and rolled his eyes, yet it continued. "Did you know that you can use your qi to strengthen your muscles and organs? This might come in handy if you were to fight the way that you did last night. It could count as a shield in order to take harder hits, or you can use it as a last ditch effort and empty your organs of the qi to replenish your dantian during a fight." Hong Zhao smiled. Even if every door didn't have a free handout, at least he could count on Lan's advice.
Leaving the ring once more, Hong Zhao cast a mental projection into his dantian instead. Having never done this before, he had to try a few times in order to get the correct place within his body, but when he did, he was shocked. A pure glowing white wheel of qi stood before him. It was so large, he had a hard time believing it truly was inside himself.
With a few tests, he guided some of his qi up to the wall of his dantian and imagined it seeping through to his liver. As he imagined it, he could feel the qi act upon his wishes. The qi started to meld with his organ slowly at first. He needed to ensure that it surrounded the entire organ, then he had the qi press against the liver, softly at first, until it established a hold on the organ. Then he pushed the qi into it as a second layer of skin. He could feel it strengthen the moment he let the qi flow go.
By the time he was finished with the one organ, his qi had diminished to nothing. He now saw how important it was to strengthen each organ and vowed to do one a day at least.
Coming to this conclusion, Hong Zhao once more sat and cultivated. The hours went by and the Li sibling came and went from his courtyard without bothering him. Li Wen told them that he had gone into a closed door cultivation.
The hours turned into days, turned into weeks. Hong Zhao had cultivated every two hours, and the off hours he would go into the forest to look for more beasts to challenge. He then had a routine which would terrify anyone else. He barely had time for food or sleep anymore, yet he didn't feel like he needed it all that much anymore.
Hong Zhao was now reaching six years old. He had spent one year in this new world, and he had four and a half cultivation ranks to show for it. Every day he drained his qi into his organs, then cultivated until he replenished it, attacked fierce beasts within the forest, then went back to his courtyard and cultivated again. Every once in a while he would consume one of the pearls he received from his battles, but they didn't give him the same boost that the first one did. He might have eaten the one he had taken from the giant shadow panther he had defeated, that would account for the large boost in qi.
In many months of grueling monotonous cultivating, Hong Zhao was now seven years old and he finally reached the fifth star student rank. When the light of his qi went from his eyes, he let himself relax. After eating all of the spirit fruit, as well as the qi grasping pills and fighting every night for close to two years, he had finally made it to the fifth star student rank. "I can finally go to the academy." He sighed in relief. He had been sitting still for far too long and knew it was time to continue his journey. Yet before he did, there was still something he had to do.
Opening the door to his courtyard, Hong Zhao stretched out his sore muscles. Along with the fruit and qi grasping pills, he had also used up all but one of his health recovery pills, the second to the last one was used the previous night when he took on a fifth star ranked wolf. The thing was half the size of his house!
Though Hong Zhao knew the aches were not just from the fighting, but also from growing. In the past two years, he had poured all of his qi into strengthening his organs. By doing so, his muscles had become much more firm, and the childlike face had thinned out slightly. He also knew he had grown at least a foot since he last saw Li Wuhan.
Entering the Li family estate, Hong Zhao was instantly assaulted with a hug. "I was wondering when you would leave that bedroom of yours!" Li Wei cried in relief as she looked him over. "You've gotten a lot stronger, haven't you?"
Hong Zhao simply nodded. "I am now at the fifth star student rank." He beamed as the girl went speechless.