Three years passed.
Yi Ling was still inside the Abyss. No matter what she did, she couldn't get out of it. She kept going in circles, and the beast wasn't helpful at all. Although the beast accompanied her everywhere, he didn't do anything in particular either. She knew that the bear understood her, but when she asked how to get out, the beast always just shook its head. Although the beast couldn't talk, it communicated with her through body language.
Of course, she was worried about her mother, but really, she couldn't do anything. She wasn't a Qi Cultivator. Even if she wanted to learn, there wasn't any spiritual energy, and nobody taught her how to. She was stuck.
Due to fear that she was still hunted and that she might encounter someone anytime, she still dressed up like a boy. Under rough circumstances, her skin was getting rough and full of scars. Her hands and feet were full of calluses. Even though the beast was always with her, she had to hunt her own food and make her own shelter. The beast was stubborn and hardheaded. He totally didn't want to listen to her. At most, he would go away sometimes to hunt and usually would be gone a day at most. She was never able to catch the bear on where he went or what he ate. This was like a game for her.
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Two more years passed.
It's been five years already since she got inside the Abyss. The little girl was now a young maiden. Yi Ling is now 15 years old. She was dressed in the furs of the beasts that she hunted. Scars were evident on her arms, legs, and even on her face. Since she learned medicine from her grandfather and mother, she was able to keep herself healthy but couldn't get rid of the scars. Good thing the Abyss was abundant with herbs. Her skin got darker under the constant sunlight and the medical herbs she used to cover her white skin. She was determined never to attract any male pigs again.
Though her face had some scars, it wasn't enough to change her beautiful face, nor could it dull the light in her magical brown eyes. Instead, she made a mask out of the skin of a beast, covering her face except for her eyes.
She also bound her chest tightly, so it seemed flat. Unfortunately, she was gifted in that area. Good thing she gained muscles during her stay here. She wasn't bulky, just enough to pass as a normal young man who didn't look girly or weak. She was now built for hunting. Her personality adjusted to her environment. The carefree little girl had now changed into a sly, smart young maiden.
During these five years, Yi Ling and the beast always bantered back and forth. Even though the beast couldn't talk, she always seemed to understand what it was trying to say through its body language. They always tried to trick one another and at the same time, built camaraderie. She didn't think much of it, but little did she know that the beast was training her. Teaching her how to always be alert, make her reflexes fast, and to trust herself more. To make her judgment and intuition better. This added up as her Soul Foundation. This was part of the tasks that were given to him. Along with protecting her and making her physical body strong. She wouldn't be able to learn Qi Cultivation if she didn't have a strong foundation.
A Deity ordered all of these tasks. She was inside a formation, which was why she couldn't get out no matter what. Inside this formation, the regular animals were savage. The Deity did this on purpose, to train her. She wouldn't be able to do all these outside the formation because any animals or spiritual beasts adored her. They wouldn't want to harm her. Inside the formation that the Deity made, it erased any form of aura that attracted the beasts to her in adoration and turned it into hatred.
When times got too hard for her to deal with, she was rescued by the bear. At the moment, she was in a duel with a spiritual beast called the Mountain Lion with the aura of a 1st Rank Qi Condensation. It looked like a regular mountain lion, except it was larger than normal, towering 4 feet in height and about the weight of a baby elephant. The bear personally brought this lion over here. No spiritual beast could come inside the formation unless it was invited. In this case, he knocked out the lion to bring it here, and now it was very angry when it woke up. The first thing it saw was Yi Ling. This was her final test. If she defeated the lion without having any spiritual energy in her, she would then be able to meet the Deity. Only the Deity could let her out of the formation.
"Roar!!"
The lion was in attack form. It then charged towards Yi Ling!