Hours passed, and still, Hun Yu persisted in learning the technique taught by Yun Xiu.
[ Information Panel ]
Name: Hun Yu
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Clan/Sect: Assistant of Sect Master Yun
Cultivation Level: Tempering Body 1
Physique:
Strength: Above average for a civilian
Elemental Affinity: Unknown (Revealed upon reaching Elementalist realm)
Techniques:
- Strikes of 7 Hell and Heaven (Mid - Bronze)
- Water Flow Sword Dance (Low - Silver)
Special Ability:
- Empathic Healing
]
Hun Yu looked at the panel before him, displaying his information. It seemed to have unlocked after he began his cultivation; he had just noticed it now.
Examining the information more closely, he realized his clothes were drenched in sweat.
Before he could dwell on that, he noticed Yun Xiu approaching. She carried firewood in one hand and a bunch of fruits and berries in the other.
"Hmm," she hummed, scanning the area until her eyes settled on a waterfall. Curiosity piqued, she made her way over, eventually noticing a cave hidden behind the water's curtain.
Hun Yu, trailing behind her, also spotted the cave. "Looks like a good spot for the night," she remarked.
In the Prana Beast Forest, where creatures roamed more actively at night, finding a quiet place to rest was crucial.
Turning to Hun Yu, she asked, "So, how's your training coming along?" as she began arranging the firewood.
He squared his shoulders, gripping his sword tightly, and performed the technique of the Water Flow Sword Dance with precision, though it had many flaws.
"Not bad," she noted. "There are still some hours before sunset. You should practice until then," she said, sitting on a stone nearby.
Hun Yu did as she told him, but for some reason, he felt uncomfortable being watched. Although he could do nothing about it, he practiced and practiced.
After another hour, he let out a tired sigh and slowly rested the sword on the ground.
Before he could sit, he felt a chill down his spine. "Ohh... You should practice for another hour," Yun Xiu said, sitting cross-legged on a big stone.
She had been watching him practice the entire time, noting the numerous flaws in his technique. Although she did not point them out, she wanted him to find them on his own.
Hun Yu, standing as if he was about to collapse, breathed heavily, his muscles tense and covered in sweat.
He was obviously exhausted, but the Sect Master wanted him to practice for another hour? What... It was already hard to hold the sword firmly; his shoulders were screaming in pain.
Despite the pain in his body telling him to rest, he didn't want to give up just now. "Just... one more hour," he said, continuing to practice the sword technique moves.
Yun Xiu opened her eyes. She could see he was very tired, but if he didn't break his limits, how could he become stronger? With this thought, she closed her eyes again, curious to see if Hun Yu could hold on.
After an hour, Hun Yu was barely able to stand with the support of the sword. Sensing this, Yun Xiu slowly opened her eyes.
"Let's go inside that cave. It's almost sunset," she said, standing up and walking inside the cave behind the waterfall. Hun Yu somehow managed to follow without falling.
Although the training was strict, it helped him. He turned to look at the golden screen floating in front of him:
[ Cultivation: Tempering Body 2 ]
Yes, due to the excessive load on his body, his cultivation was forced to break through. Now he felt that all this training was worth it.
Yun Xiu walked into the cave and soon stopped, placing the firewood down.
She raised her sword, and with a clang, it struck the ground, creating sparks. One of the sparks fell on the wood, and in a matter of seconds, the wood started burning.
Hun Yu, from the side, watched her unique way of lighting the fire. This was his first time seeing someone ignite wood like this. He slowly sat down near the fire.
An hour passed, and the fire was still burning. Hun Yu looked at the Sect Master cultivating on top of a stone platform. His gaze turned back to the firewood.
This wood had burned for a whole hour and was still going. This must be some special type of wood; ordinary wood wouldn't burn this long.
Just as he was sitting peacefully in front of the fire, veins appeared on his head.
He placed a hand on his chest, his expression paling as if he had been stripped of oxygen. His breathing became faster and faster.
He looked at Yun Xiu, who was sitting with her eyes closed, seemingly immersed in her cultivation, unaware of what was happening outside.
He tried to call for help, but no words escaped his mouth.
Hun Yu wanted to call for help from the system, but before he could do or think anything, his vision blurred, and everything went blank.
His body lost control, and from his previous sitting position, he fell directly into the fire, his face collapsing onto the burning wood.
Yun Xiu, who was cultivating, suddenly caught a strange smell in her nose. It was the smell of burning flesh. A sudden thought hit her, and her eyes snapped open.
Her gaze immediately fell on Hun Yu, who looked as if he were dead, with half of his face directly on the burning wood.
With lightning-fast speed, she grabbed Hun Yu and pulled him back.
There was an extremely confused expression on her face; she had no idea what had just happened. Turning her gaze back to Hun Yu, her eyes widened in shock.
The smell of burning flesh still lingered in the air, and her breathing became a little faster.
Quickly placing Hun Yu on the ground, she ran her qi inside his body to examine his situation. She did not notice anything wrong inside Hun Yu's body and found nothing unusual.
With uncertainty, she took out a pill from her ring, used her qi to turn it into powder, and pushed it directly into his body.
She felt helpless for the first time in her life.
She had no idea what had happened to him. Was it because of her harsh training? She looked at Hun Yu's half-burned face, and guilt appeared in her heart.
Was this really caused by her? A face this burned could not be treated.
If it were only a little burned, maybe an alchemist could help him recover, but with such extensive burns, she didn't think any alchemist would be willing to waste their time on someone as insignificant as Hun Yu.
Quietly, she sat in the corner. She had already given him a recovery pill. She couldn't tell what had happened to him, and there was nothing more she could do other than sit.
As she sat there, the feeling of guilt kept increasing in her heart as she glanced at Hun Yu's half-burned face.
If only she had not been so deep into her cultivation and more aware of her surroundings, maybe she could have saved him.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to clear her thoughts.
It took a minute for her thoughts to stabilize. She then slowly stood up, sat beside Hun Yu, picked up his hand, and placed a finger on his wrist, her eyes closed. After a moment, her eyes opened again.
"What is wrong? Why can't I find it?" she muttered.
As a High Profound Realm Cultivator, checking what was wrong with someone's body was not a hard task.
With her precise control over her qi, she could easily examine someone's condition. But in the case of Hun Yu, she found nothing abnormal inside his body, which was strange given his condition.
As she was deep in thought, her eyes fell on Hun Yu's wrist, particularly his veins. She gazed intensely at the veins but saw nothing.
Although it may have been her hallucination, she noticed his veins pulsating black for a moment. She looked again but found nothing.
"It may be my hallucination," she muttered to herself. How could something like this go undetected under her scrutiny?
She rested her chin on her hand, pondering the situation.
As she sat there, her stomach growled. She picked up a fruit, her lips parting to reveal white teeth, and took a bite.
As the night deepened, she glanced at Hun Yu, who still showed no sign of waking.
She slowly laid on the hard ground and closed her eyes, trying to sleep, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't fall asleep.
Finally, she stood up, walked outside the cave, and flew down to the ground.
Hearing the sound of the waterfall, she looked at the beautiful sky. Sitting there, she lost track of time until she noticed some commotion nearby.
Yun Xiu slowly walked towards the commotion, her presence almost undetectable, at least by anyone weaker than her.
As she walked, her gaze fell on a fox. This fox didn't appear to be ordinary; it was a Tier 1 Prana Beast with pink fur and purple eyes.
She had been to the Prana Beast Forest many times but had never encountered a prana beast like this.
Looking around, she saw 4-5 high Tier 1 wolf-type prana beasts circling the fox. The fox looked exhausted, with no energy to fight back.
With closed eyes, it waited for its fate, but pain never came. Curiously, the fox opened its eyes again, and in them, it saw the majestic figure of Yun Xiu standing in front of it.
The fox sensed that Yun Xiu meant no harm.
However, seeing Yun Xiu, the wolf prana beasts, which had been fiercely growling, suddenly stopped. Yun Xiu let out a hint of her aura, causing the beasts to be terrified and run away in fear.
She turned around and looked at the fox. The fox looked back at her.
For some reason, she found the fox very cute. Without thinking much, she picked up the fox. The fox did not resist; instead, it even jumped and sat on her shoulder.
"You seem very intelligent and also very cute," she said, petting the fox.
If her theory was correct, this fox might be a rare species and seemed intelligent enough to understand that she had no ill will towards it.
Other prana beasts don't usually have any awareness or consciousness; they just kill and eat.
They start to develop consciousness after reaching Tier 4, and this fox being so intelligent at just Tier 1 was not a loss to take with her.
"Little buddy, do you want to come with me?" she asked, although she didn't expect it to understand. The fox just relaxed its ears, slowly jumping into her hand and closing its eyes.
"Maybe yes?" she thought, seeing the fox's actions.
With the fox, she flew back to the cave, not forgetting about Hun Yu. She had put a barrier at the cave entrance before she left. As she reached the waterfall, the sun started to rise.
Entering the cave, she looked at Hun Yu, who was still unconscious. She looked at the fox in her arms and, upon close examination, saw that it had actually fallen asleep. Not wanting to disturb it, she gently placed the fox on the ground.
Just as she turned, her gaze met with Hun Yu, who was now sitting up, his expression complex.