Chiron hung upside down from a tree. He was deep in the middle of his upside-down sit-ups with a rope tightly around his waist that led to logs of wood weighing almost a hundred kilograms.
Even though it was cold and snowing, his body was steaming with sweat.
"Big brother! Big Brother!!" Nora screamed excitedly as she ran towards him.
This was not the first time this was happening. Every time school was over, she would come to bug him with the activities she learned during the day. She would gist her loving big brother about everything.
Such was the way of a woman's love for her beloved. The instinctive need to always pour out her heart to him, even if there was absolutely nothing to say.
Even though she was bugging him, he never stopped her. It was absolutely vital he did not. Although Chiron was barely ten, he was far more matured mentally.
He knew that her bugging him meant that her attention was constantly on him. This was a good thing. A necessary pain he could suffer for his goals.
Chiron dropped from the tree and landed perfectly on the ground. For a second there, even Nora could not help but stare attentively at her brother's body. He was really a training madman.
She leaped on him and he fell on his butt. Chiron tapped her a bit on the head, like he usually did, and smiled at her.
This gave her incredible joy.
"My beautiful Ra-ra, so tell me, what happened at school today?" Chiron asked softly.
"Well, today was incredible. We learned the sword crane dance," She stood up and carried a stick to demonstrate. She would jump with it. Thrust, and even slash with incredible concentration as she explained. It was obvious she was trying to impress Chiron.
Chiron only smiled throughout as he watched attentively.
However, his mind was in a race. Just now, Nora had jumped on him to hug him. The force of which although not intentional, was able to push him to the ground.
This was proof that her strength was growing, and it was growing fast. His six-year-old sister was already an early-stage cultivator of the wood rank. In fact, Chiron had a feeling that she might even break through to the middle stage in a few more months.
As incredible as this sounded, it made Chiron have a different feeling. He looked at his palm. They were filled with callouses from working out. Yet with all his hard work from day and night for a long time, his younger sister could push him down in a casual hug to show affection.
This was the difference between a cultivator and an ordinary human being. The distance between their strengths was like the distance between one end of the rainbow and the other.
Chiron clenched his fist tightly. Something of this nature would have demoralized the average man, but he felt a deep need to push forward. His determination to become stronger rising as it had never done before.
Just then, he caught a part of Nora's words that pulled his attention to her.
"Ra-ra, what did you say?"
"Huh!? oh, I said I'm going to beat them all."
"No! not that. What did you say before that?"
"Oh!" she placed a hand on her lips as she thought hard at her words. Her eyes brightened in remembrance, "we are getting our swords soon."
"You are!?" Chiron asked.
"Yes! we are. Elder Joules said it was time we stopped training with wooded swords. She said: Danger sharpens..."
"the senses!" Chiron finished her words.
"Yes, exactly! that's what she said. How did you know big brother?" she gave him a puzzled look.
Chiron tapped her head and smiled, "trust me! Your brother knows a LOT of things. Besides, you have mentioned it before."
"I have!?" a naive Nora asked. However, she could not remember saying that line before today. In fact, today was the first time she was hearing it from Elder joules.
However, it was not important at the moment. She shook the thoughts out of her head. As far as she was concerned, she must have already mentioned it when she was blabbing about her day.
What she did not know was that she was wrong. Chiron remembered those words because as weird as it seemed, they carried the MC of his book a long way in life.
"Danger sharpens the senses and builds the success of a cultivator," Chiron muttered lowly. In the book, he could remember when Elder Joules said those words.
It was right before the students were allowed to start using actual swords. This was a significant promotion from using wooden swords. It was like the promotion from pencil to an ink pen.
Naturally, the children were more than excited. However, it also marked the beginning of a series of tests. One of which had to do with the hunting of yellow-cored beasts.
The children would be given the task of hunting yellow-cored beasts. Chiron also remembered that for the further encouragement of the children's efforts, cultivation prizes were given.
In fact, there was one instance where Elder Joules even promised one cultivation item of any choice from the Clan chief's residence. At the time, the children had little to no knowledge about cultivation resources. So the winning request was casual at best.
In fact, it was the same thing as a child asking for a lollipop after cleaning the whole house.
Just when Chiron was thinking about a means to get into the Clan's chief Manor and get a Thousand-year-old Violet good-will flower, such a rare opportunity fell on his lap.
Although he was not sure if the Clan chief's Manor had a Thousand-year-old Violet good-will flower, it was at least worth the try. For now, it was his absolute best bet.
But opportunity had the habit of walking alongside difficulties.
Now that he thought about it, how was he going to first face a beast that was yellow-cored? Or how was he going to come out the best in a class of cultivators with amazing skills?
Just a casual hug from his little sister sent him to the ground. Talking about the full use of spirit energy or the molding of spirit energy into techniques was entirely out of it.
He was definitely leading himself like a lamb to the slaughter.