Li Huang was doing jumping jacks, and Xie Ning slapped her each time her arms or legs did not go all the way and if her back wasn't straight.
"Alright, that's enough. Get on the ground and give me twenty, then you can go have lunch." Xie Ning spoke up after some time and left Li Huang to do the exercise alone.
She quickly got on the ground and dutifully did her twenty push-ups.
Once up, she breathed heavily and took a nearby towel and cleaned the sweat off her body before going to eat lunch.
a bowl of rice, a bowl of duck, and a bowl of veggies
all heavily seasoned with salt, oil, and other seasonings
Li Huang wolfed down the veggie bowl before eating the rice slowly and appreciating the flavor of the fatty duck.
Once done, Li Huang stretched a bit and spent some time studying and talking with the other woman.
After three hours, Xie Ning called to Li Huang, and she went right back to her exercises.
"Alright, you are doing the exercises right, but your form is shit; you even run wrong."
Li Huang looked weirdly at Xie Ning.
"What? Don't believe me? Each step you take, your head bobs up and down like a chicken pecking at its food!"
"Well, try and run on the brink of exhaustion."
"Anyway, it's been a year; it's time we upped everything a notch."
"What do you mean?" Li Huang asked while covering her behind with her hands.
"What I mean is that from now on you will be taking a bath packed full of medicine, and each time you do the exercise wrong, I will slap you; the worse the mistake, the worse the slap."
begrudgingly, Li Huang began running only to be immediately slapped over and over again.
With each slap, Xie Ning told Li Huang what she was doing wrong and how to fix it.
Slowly she began getting slapped less and less.
Overall, her exercises began getting better and better.
but the worst thing of all was the medicinal baths
instead of five herbs, Xie Ning began throwing ten in directly
and the weights got heavier and heavier
She didn't even know how heavy they were, as she never asked, and no one ever told her.
Half a year later, Li Huang was preparing to go to her medicinal bath, but Xie Ning had not prepared it yet, so she looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"What? You are done with medicinal baths; there is no singular mortal-level medicinal potential-enhancing plant for you to use."
"What? Really? I thought I still had half a year more to endure it."
"Well, I thought so as well, but your body was like a bottomless well."
"Anyway, you still have to continue training normally; this just means you won't have the beauty bath every morning so you can relax."
"You call that relaxing? I felt like I had needles shoved in my brain!"
"If you have enough energy to complain, you have enough energy to run; get to it!"
Li Huang was assaulted by multiple slaps as she began running.
Time slowly passed, and with the new time allocated for training, Li Huang's weights got higher and higher.
It was at seventeen and a half that she felt like she reached the peak her body could reach without changing her body too much.
She had a lean and powerful build; if she trained any more, she would probably become a muscle-bound freak.
and that was also considering the efficiency of her training
When running, her head basically stayed in the same line without moving.
Li Huang was outside stretching a bit and doing a morning workout just to keep her body in check and not lose any strength.
She was still wearing the weights on her body; not wearing them felt a bit weird now. She would take them off when she began really cultivating.
After her workout, she went inside to study.
She had neglected her studies for some time now, so Xie Ning allowed Li Huang to not do her workouts.
but she insisted on her morning workout.
According to Xie Ning, the training of the mind was just as important as the training of the body, and so was the training of the soul.
So Li Huang divided her day into three parts, training her body during the morning just to make sure she doesn't lose any strength.
The rest of the day and afternoon was reserved for her studies, such as math, geography, history, and other things like massage techniques and medicine.
and in the evening and night she relaxed and did practices to help train her spirit, such as painting, cooking, and playing music.
By the end of the day, she was both exhausted and relaxed after painting, so her sleep was heavy and calm.
As for her culinary needs, she ate as much as she was allowed.
that being two bowls of rice, one bowl of vegetables, and two bowls of fatty grilled duck
She could have eaten a second bowl of vegetables, but she changed those for a bowl of fruits right after eating for a dessert.
One day while training, Xie Ning approached Li Huang.
"Alright, you are about to turn eighteen, so you are about to embark on the world of cultivation, and I am here to guide you in your first steps."
Li Huang nodded as she sat on the ground ready to listen to her aunt's teachings.
"There are three paths of cultivation: body, soul, and qi cultivation."
Xie Ning began drawing on the ground using a stick.
"There is not a right way to begin cultivating, but I would suggest you begin with the body cultivation, then go to qi cultivation, and finish things up with soul cultivation."
"The body is the foundation to everything, including the soul; the qi serves as a bridge between the body and the soul, and the soul fills in the gaps left by the other two."
"Anyway, the first stage of body cultivation is simple but profound."
"The first thing you do on the stage is temper your blood; more accurately, you temper your essence, your origin."
"There are many ways, and many more things you can do; the safest bet is to temper your blood using pills; the best way is to temper your bone marrow and let the blood replace itself."
"How do you temper your bone marrow? There are a few ways; you can once again use pills, but they make the foundation hollow, or you can train your body."
"As you have already trained your body, your bone marrow should be mostly tempered even without the help of heaven and earth; you just need to jump-start the heavens blessing using something like acupuncture."
Li Huang nodded as she saw the drawings on the ground.
"After that, just cut your wrists or any other bloody part of your body and let the body change the old blood for new blood; in a day or two, your body should be filled with the new tempered blood."
"After that comes the viscera or organ cultivation."
"Just so you know, everything I am telling you is the first stage of the body cultivation."
Li Huang nodded, and Xie Ning continued.
"There are two paths you can take here, the Wuxing path or the yin yang path."
"The Wuxing path tempers the organs accordingly to their element while the yin yang path tempers the zang organs and then the fu organs."
"In the end, everything is the same, but I suggest you take the yin yang path. As a woman, you can take a lot more of the yin than a man, and it's better than having the five elements unbalanced inside your body."
"First thing is the heart; you need a strong heart to pump the blood in your body."
"Then come the spleen, lung, kidneys, and liver."
"And to finish the Zang organs, you temper your pericardium."
"As you temper your pericardium, you already begin to step into the fu organ cultivation, as the pericardium is connected to the small intestine, the first fu organ to temper."
"Following that are the stomach, large intestine, urinary bladder, and gallbladder."
"And to finish things up, you temper your san jiao."
Xie Ning illustrated everything for Li Huang on the drawing she was making on the ground.
"Once again, you have your differences here in the path of cultivation."
"But I will suggest the path you are most likely to choose."
"You will begin by tempering your sensory organs following the same pattern as the organs."
"Fire, earth, metal, water, and wood, and that translates to the tongue, mouth, nose, ears, and eyes."
"And finally you inverse this last part, going from tempering your vessels to tempering your tendons, bones, skin, and finally your muscles."
"Now look at me, Li Huang." Xie Ning got a serious look on her face as she made Li Huang look at her.
"This part is the dangerous part; if you mess up in this final part, you could at worst die."
"And I am not saying this to just scare you; it's a reality."
"This inverse path is an unconventional path few dare take in their journey; in the normal path, you go vessels, muscles, skin, bones, and tendons."
"But it is weak; do you know why?"
Li Huang thought for a bit before answering.
"You can't have muscles too strong, or else your bones and skin might break and shatter, so you end up losing muscle power. The inverse path builds up a strong foundation for one to get all the potential out of their muscles."
Xie Ning nodded.
"After taking a step forward, the hardest thing to do in the world of cultivation is to take a step back."
"Once you go past the muscle part of cultivation, you can't just cultivate the muscles again."
"You shouldn't take too long in one of the cycles; if you take too much time in the Zang organs, or the fu organs, or even if you take too much time in the sensory organs, your five elements might get unbalanced."
"Each cycle should be cultivated in a week at most for someone like you."
Li Huang raised her hand with a frown on her face.
Xie Ning just nodded.
"How do I temper anything at all? acupuncture?"
"You won't take pills, and you already trained your body to its maximum, so unless you find a heavenly treasure, then yes, acupuncture is the way. Don't worry; I will be the one doing the acupuncture, so you don't have to worry about anything. I know your meridians like the back of my hand."
"And how long should I temper anything? Is there even a time limit or a body limit?"
"There is a body limit, and you will cultivate until that specific part can't grow any stronger at all."
"And all that is just the first stage of body cultivation?"
"Of course not; you can temper your senses further if you wish after the sensory organs, but that is optional, as the organs themselves will push your senses further with no help or training."
Xie Ning and Li Huang continued discussing what path she would take and how she would take each step.
Li Huang continued asking questions, and Xie Ning answered them all.
Li Huang spent the remainder of her day going over everything she learned and even drew up a plan on a canvas where she drew her body and painted over an organ and drew a number next to it.
As she lay down to go to sleep, she dreamed of what she would do and how much she would accomplish after she began cultivating.
and with a smile she went to sleep, with peace in her mind and body.
She would be as happy and as selfish as she wished to be in this second chance she got, and she would trample over anyone that threatened her happiness, even if she had to become a demon to get what she wanted.