Mo Qiao's eyes fluttered as she finally stirred awake.
'W-what happened?'
Looking up, she could see an unfamiliar ceiling.
Looking around, she immediately found the sliding door that led into the room, looking down, she found herself on a pristine white bed.
'Am I in the Medicine Hall? Shit, I need to wake up properly.'
But as she moved her hands to rub the sleep out of her eyes, she noticed that both her hands were covered in thick bandages.
'Huh? Oh yeah... My training with Mo Yangling. That bastard sneak attacked me!'
It was the first time anyone had fought her with such ferocity, for her to end up in the Medicine Hall.
It was more than likely that her Instructors in the past were just spouting platitudes at her to make her feel better, inadvertently hampering her growth.
'Those bastards... I shouldn't trust people under grandfather's employ any longer.'
Her grandfather was an esteemed elder in the council. She already knew his views on her cultivation.
Even to that day, she still remembered the words he had given her at a young age.
'With your talent, what's the point in cultivating? Just find a good and talented husband to take care of you!'
That type of attitude towards women wasn't uncommon in the Mo Family either. Hell, Mo Qiao had experienced plenty of it, but she wasn't a crybaby.
She didn't let any stray comments get to her head, and when she saw that she had achieved Martial Soldier at a young age thanks to her efforts, people started to naturally respect her.
The society they lived in was, at the end of the day, based on strength and merit. No one dared to talk behind her back as her fierce attitude and cultivation grew over the years.
No one but her Grandfather anyway. The old man was still adamant that cultivating was a waste for her. That her progress would be hindered at some point.
Now, the young girl assumed that he had been the one to tell the instructors how to behave around her and to take things easy on her.
Only now, for the first time in her life, did she experience a proper training regime with an 'instructor' that was both fierce and fair.
'Now that I think about it, it wasn't really a sneak attack. From the beginning, he conditioned me to think of the battle as a real fight. I should've realized that he was up to something...
Not only that, but I wasn't really in any condition to walk away by myself. Did he knock me out to spare my dignity?'
Many thoughts filled the girl's head now that she was properly awake. Deep inside, she couldn't help but feel grateful to the Monk.
He had shown her a lot of ways she could improve in such a short time. He had also worked(punched her) hard to correct them.
By the end, Mo Qiao was sure that she wasn't even using the same sword style as in the beginning. More like a variant of it that focuses on both stability and speed.
As she pondered more on her new technique, the door to her room slid open, and an aged voice immediately came from its direction.
"Oh, the young lady has woken up."
The girl's eyes immediately jumped from her lap towards the newcomer who had just spoken up.
"Doctor Wei... How did I get here?"
Doctor Wei was one of the resident physicians of the Mo Clan, one who exclusively attended to those of the main family. Even if she didn't frequent the Medicine Hall, she still knew him well.
He was an older man, his back crooked by time, he wore a grey and white robe with a Loyal and stable crown on top of his head, the type that retired officials and scholars of the crown would normally wear.
He also had long grey eyebrows, extending downward to his cheeks. They somewhat complemented his long and thin grey beard.
"Oh, a young man carried both you and your oldest brother here, said you two were sparring and got injured..."
"Me and my older brother?!"
The girl immediately tilted her head to the other bed inside of her room, only now did she notice the bandaged figure of her brother still lying in the bed.
Mo Guangli, her older brother, had always been an overprotective big brother. While she found him overbearing, Mo Qiao still respected him because of his strength...
He was one of the younger generation that had achieved the Martial Master Realm before the age of 30.
This instantly put him above 99% of their generation. His talent was great, and so was his strength.
So imagine Mo Qiao's face when seeing him almost turned into a mummy, in the hospital bed by her side.
"Really, even if you've grown stronger as well, the two of you need to go easier on each other! Now the young master won't even be able to attend the Gathering of Families..." Doctor Wei shook his head as he spoke, immediately walking over to the young man's side and checking his pulse.
"He'll likely be unconscious for a few more days, thankfully nothing's broken, he was just badly bruised, especially to the face.
You should also rest another day before any additional training."
Doctor Wei didn't bother looking at Mo Qiao again as he turned to leave the room, whistling a random tune as he closed the sliding door.
But the girl was still too preoccupied with looking at her knocked-out brother. This time her confusion and shock turned into amusement.
'Holy shit... He must've annoyed Mo Yangling or something! Haha~ Fucking dumbass, let's see you stick your nose in my business next time!'
While the girl was poking fun at her unconscious brother, the culprit was away, sitting in the same flower field as before.
The Grand Elder was no longer there to bother him, and he was unlikely to come back for the time being.
So, the monk decided that it was finally time to start training his martial arts on his own, despite it being midnight.
He didn't feel the need for sleep, nor was he even sure that he even had a room to sleep in there.
The Mo Family had likely thrown out or sold anything he owned, the Monk wouldn't have been surprised if he heard his room was just delegated to extra storage or went to a servant or something.
Alas, he wasn't that bothered by it. He liked sleeping in the wild, and a field of flowers could make for a nice bed if need be.
'But I have no time to sleep now... I should at least try to train my Vajra Fist!'
The Monk felt that it was a good opportunity since most clan members were likely already asleep, and the guards seldom patrolled the area even if they kept their eyes on it at all times.
The chances that he would be interrupted were small.
So, the Monk immediately got into the Horse Stance his feet dragging on the ground and rising up dust as he and brought his hands together, as if in prayer.
In an instant, his hands slipped to his knees, and in a motion similar to a guillotine kick, the soles of his shoe dug into the ground with great strength.
'Vajra Fist: Wrathful Stomp!'
The ground quaked in that field of flowers, as the very earth underneath the monk cracked and segmented.
All of the flowers around him were immediately bent and crushed under the pressure.
That entire field seemed to have cracked and broken apart.
But the monk was not satisfied at all.
'Amitabha... To cause this much destruction with but an increment of Origin Energy... This isn't good.'
In that technique, he was not looking for destruction, he was looking for control.
'It is easy to ruin and spread destruction... But controlling one's strike to only reach the intended target is what truly signifies mastery.'
He wanted to be able to stomp his feet into the ground without destroying all of the flowers around him.
He had failed in his first attempt, but the night was still young.
Thankfully, the flower field wouldn't be crushed for long, as many flowers and plants grew to fill it back up as the Monk's Energy spread out around him.
And then, the monk tried again. And again, and again.
Quake after quake was sent into the ground in that specific spot, by morning, the ground 100 meters around the monk was more akin to a sand pit within a large crater than a field of flowers.
At some point, a few patrols had wanted to investigate, but they were all forced backwards by a quake, and came to the understanding that it was just one of the Elders practicing deep into the night, they didn't dare look into that pit to find out who.
Their view was also hampered by wild plants growing out of the ground. They would have to cut some plants, and they were afraid that the perceived Elder would have their heads on a spike for interrupting his training to that extent.
Indeed, flowers still grew to fill out that crater and sand pit. Life grew around the monk regardless of the destruction he wreaked, such was the essence of his Internal Energy. Or rather, Origin Energy in general. It was the very essence of life.
And the monk was starting to finally understand that fact. He grasped it more and more, the true essence of the world, seen through his enlightened eyes.
But he was still not being able to perfectly control his movement. All until that final strike.
With the sun already rising on the horizon, the Monk knew that his training time was going to be cut short if he couldn't finish it properly.
So, his concentration was sharpened to its highest extent, and with his sole striking the ground for one last time, the monk grunted as he felt all of the 'sand' underneath him be compressed back into dirt.
The power of that stomp was a lot greater than before, further deepening the crater. But, the flowers only swayed in the wind slightly this time, they were still standing tall.
The monk smiled as he watched them grow even taller with when imbued with his Origin Energy.
He felt it. He was one step closer to fully mastering that 'Wrathful Stomp' and the Varja Fist by extension.
However, he decided to conclude his training there, immediately jumping out of that crater and patting the dust off his pants, chest and long hair.
"O-older brother?!"
The Monk blinked a few times, incredulously turning around to see his two half-blooded siblings staring at him with eyes as wide as saucers.
'Well... I guess I have some explaining to do.'