Ye Lingyue didn't know how long she had slept for, but her nose suddenly felt itchy and a refreshing scent unique to an after rainfall overwhelmed her senses.
Ye Lingyue opened her eyes and found that she was in a white and hazy field.
She looked down. The pot of Gathering Elemental herb she was hugging had disappeared.
A few steps away from her, there was a well-grown weed. Wait, wasn't that the Gathering Elemental herb?
Ye Lingyue remembered clearly that when her mother gave her the herb, it looked dry and yellowish.
She had only taken a nap, yet the Gathering Elemental herb already transformed. Its branches were strong, its leaves green, and it looked like it was growing well.
Ye Lingyue took a few steps forward and saw a black lava stone beside her. On it, three large words were carved— Hongmeng Sanctuary.
Those three large words were carved into the rock in a sharp font and were a few inches deep. Little did she know, someone had carved that using his finger.
Ye Lingyue took a few more steps forward. However, she realized that the surrounding fog grew thicker and that she couldn't go forward anymore.
This place called Hongmeng Sanctuary was only a hectare large, and she had no idea where the place would lead to.
"Lingyue, it's dawn now. It's time to get up and start practicing." Ye Fengyu's voice trailed into her ear.
Regaining her senses, Ye Lingyue realized that she had already left Hongmeng Sanctuary the moment she opened her eyes.
When Ye Lingyue left, a pair of baby blue eyes appeared among the fog.
After Ye Lingyue had left Hongmeng Sanctuary, all of her thoughts returned to the realization that her mother was going to start teaching her martial arts that day.
…
Three days later, dawn breathed into the trees outside of the Ye family's northern estate.
A slender figure was jogging around the northern estate. Ye Lingyue's legs had a bag of iron sand tied to each of them. She had been running for at least two hours.
Ye Fengyu was a very strict person. From the day Ye Lingyue learned martial arts, Ye Fengyu had already set up a strict martial art learning plan.
Every dawn and dusk, Ye Lingyue must go out and run for two hours before she meditates for another two.
Dusks and dawns were the times when the elementary force from the sky and earth was the most abundant.
Such high-intensity training seemed impossible for the lean and weak Ye Lingyue to accomplish.
However, after the first day, Ye Lingyue didn't give up and persevered.
Sweat slowly dripped on the ground and it left marks with every step she took. All of Ye Lingyue's muscles and bones were protesting like crazy.
However, she didn't give up. Her sweat fell like rain, and it made her look like she had just crawled out of the water after jogging for four hours.
Ye Lingyue finally sat down with her legs crossed to meditate.
Ye Fengyu asked her to run for two hours and meditate for another two in the morning and night. But Ye Lingyue wanted to train harder, so she ran for four hours and meditated for another four twice a day.
Even if her memories weren't very clear, Ye Lingyue could vaguely remember that her head became straight after she had accidentally swallowed a pill from the weird cauldron.
That pill still had some lingering effects that helped speed up Ye Lingyue's training results.
That was why she trained even harder. The harder she trained, the faster her body digested the medicinal effect within her. By then, she should have more or less used up the effects it had.
Whoosh, whoosh…
Like countless air vents, Ye Lingyue's nose, mouth, skin, and even the pores on her body were all greedily sucking in the elementary force from the sky and earth.
From afar, Ye Fengyu was silently observing Ye Lingyue's training.
Ye Fengyu thought that her daughter's fascination in training was just temporary. However, after seeing how her daughter had trained in the past few days…
She knew that the child was burning with determination to train.
Was it a good thing for a girl to be so strong-headed like her? Complicated emotions brewed in Ye Fengyu's orbs.
At that exact moment, Ye Fengyu's eyes twitched a little. She noticed that a layer of copper-like glow seemed to flow over Ye Lingyue's skin.
That glow was the strengthening of the skin which was made possible by the elementary force. It would be hard for normal punches and kicks to hurt Ye Lingyue now.
However, the strengthening of the body's skin was only achievable if the person had achieved the second level of body tempering.
There were nine levels to a practitioner's body tempering stage. Ye Lingyue had achieved the first level of body tempering earlier somehow, and Ye Fengyu thought that it only happened by chance.
However, within three days, her daughter broke through to the next level again. This wasn't a coincidence.
After a full four hours, when she had used all of her divine force up, Ye Lingyue finally opened her eyes. She jumped up and felt that her body was as light as a bird.
"Why does it feel like the elementary force in my dantian is denser now?" It surprised Ye Lingyue.
"That's because you just broke through to the second level of body tempering." Ye Fengyu walked over with a smile.
She broke through again. This time, she broke through while she was meditating!
"Mother, when I fought with Ye Qing that day, he used a punching skill. Lingyue wants to learn that, too." Taking the chance, Ye Lingyue requested after seeing Ye Fengyu's elated face.
Ye Lingyue was a girl who did not easily forget anyone who had crossed her. She would take revenge for what Ye Qing did.
"You want to run just after learning how to walk? The punching skill Ye Qing used is a basic martial arts skill our Ye family has. They call it Broken Thunder Fist. The Ye family rules say that you can only start learning it after you've reached the third level of body tempering. Once you achieve it, I will teach you that." Seeing the anticipation on her daughter's face, Ye Fengyu smiled wordlessly and wiped the sweat off her daughter's forehead.
'She will definitely achieve the third level of body tempering one day,' Ye Fengyu thought.