Early the next morning before sunrise, Ye Ming is eagerly waiting in the kitchen with a cup of warm cocoa with tiny marshmallows. Aunt Reyn absolutely hated the taste of coffee and as such, the replacement of the caffeine is a cup of hot chocolate. With a grumble, Reyn emerges from her room and soundlessly takes the offered sweetness in lieu of breakfast. Getting her bearings together, Reyn grunts, “Come here.”

Ye Ming comes to stand before her, when Reyn mutters, “This is going to hurt.” Before Ye Ming can ask, what is, a throbbing pain spreads over his entire body. It was as though someone was pulling off his skin inch by inch.

When Ye Ming comes to he finds himself staring at himself. Ye Ming lets out a high-pitched shriek and jumps back. Reyn snorts and says, “It’s just your shadow.”

“My shadow?” Ye Ming asked as he glances down at his feet to find his shadow missing.

“Yup, I’ll be you, while being myself at the apartment,” the shadow of Ye Ming replied.

Ye Ming dumbly nods as another version of Reyn appears before them. Reyn finishes drinking her coco in one gulp as the shadow self of Reyn says, “I know what to do, don’t worry.”

Reyn nods at her shadow in approval as Ye Ming opens his mouth to speak, but Reyn interjects, “Don’t worry, once we merge back together, you’ll get your shadow’s memories as well.”

Ye Ming dumbly nods as his shadow sit down to work on the laptop, while Reyn’s shadow moves to work on the other laptop. Reyn’s shadow smiles and says, “I’ll take care of everything at the office.”

“I know I can always count on you,” Reyn dutifully replied. The two versions of Reyn smile in identical unison, which causes Ye Ming’s hairs to stand on end. Reyn snorts as she turns on her heels and drags Ye Ming to the pile of packed things as they swiftly disappear in a glowing light.

Ye Ming suddenly finds himself in the middle of the mountains with a terrible stomach sickness. Ye Ming hastily covers his mouth before heading towards the nearest bushes to throw up. Reyn snickers and says, “Wimp.”

Reyn easily hefts everything onto her shoulder and heads up the woodland path to a cottage just out of the clearing. There is a small outhouse for use and a well nearby as well. Reyn checks the log cabin and it is relatively clean given the location.

Turning around Reyn sees a green-faced Ye Ming climbing up the wood path. Reyn hollers, “C’mon, Ye Ming, time is precious, hop to it!”

Ye Ming jogs the last few steps up as Reyn smiles and says, “Good, now let’s see how good of a shape you’re in. Let’s start off with 5 miles of running, 10 sets of 100 reps of push up’s, sit-up’s, squat’s, lunges for now.”

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Ye Ming gapes and says, “But that’s impossible!”

Reyn coldly says, “Oh? Then let me ask you this, why do you think you lost?”

Ye Ming narrows his eyes and says, “Because I was weaker.”

“No, it’s because your foundations are shi*,” Reyn flatly replied. “It’s like trying to outrun a professional runner when you’re just an amateur, you can’t. A professional runner’s been training their muscles since the very start, while you’ve only been running around for fun. So, before you learn anything for real and begin to absorb mana, we’re going to retrain your body. Now get to it!”

Ye Ming suddenly regrets not swallowing down his pride as he begins to run on the uneven mountain ground. With ease, Reyn keeps up with Ye Ming that by the time, he is weak and limping, while Reyn didn’t even have a drop of sweat on her forehead.

Reyn snorts and murmurs to herself, “Humans.” Why even as a human child, she was able to do twice as much as what Ye Ming did today. And let’s not mention the training of a young Demon King. This was all child’s play in any Demon King’s eyes.

Close to throwing up with his sides on fire, Ye Ming does 100 reps of everything and finishes the exercises by the early morning. Ye Ming hears his body crack as every single body part of his body is strained as a result. Reyn reaches into her bag pack and holds out a rice ball and a water bottle. “Here eat, you’re going to need it.”

Ye Ming goes green at the sight of food but does as he is told. With trembling fingers, Ye Ming eats and drinks what he is given. Ye Ming trembling hands the water bottle back as Reyn asks, “Done?” Ye Ming mutely nods in reply.

“Well, you’re not in too terrible shape, so come tomorrow you’re going to run 10 miles,” Reyn muttered as Ye Ming suddenly has the urge to strangle his master.

“Well, now, onto the real training,” Reyn brightly said causing Ye Ming’s face to pale with despair. “You mean to tell him that wasn’t the real thing?!” Ye Ming thought.

Reyn points at the cliff just behind him and smiles, “You have ten minutes to climb up. Should you fail, I will climb up after you and toss you back down to start over. Good Luck,” Reyn cheerfully stated.

Ye Ming opens his mouth to curse, when Reyn ruthlessly interjects, “Starting now,” as she sets the timer on her watch.

Cursing Ye Ming rushes towards the cliff and tries to find a foothold to climb up. Slowly, but surely Ye Ming climbs upward, but he’s not even a 1/5th of the way up when he hears a soft sound above him. Ye Ming tilts his head upward to see his master standing on a ledge just above him. With a sinister gleam in her eyes, Reyn brings her foot to slam down onto Ye Ming’s fingers.

Ye Ming lets out a hiss of pain as his grip loosens and he tumbles onto the ground. Reyn gingerly leaps down and lands on her feet as Ye Ming groans on the hard ground. Reyn says, “You’ve got a minute to get up before the timer starts again.”

Enraged, Ye Ming rolls onto his aching side and hisses, “What was that for!”

“Cultivator’s fingers are often the target of attacks. I’m merely strengthening your grip and teaching you to ignore the pain to continue forward,” Reyn said with a straight face.

Ye Ming eyes widen in understanding as shame crosses his face. His master was merely trying to help, but he was only cursing her. Feeling guilty, Ye Ming slaps his face, before turning around and staring up at the cliff. “Please start the timer, Master,” Ye Ming determinedly muttered.

Reyn hides a rather evil grin and says, “Yes, starting now.” After all, if she was going to be training the kid, she might as well get some fun out of it. Oh, and the fun they were going to have because up next is physical sparring, military regimen training used on the Marines/Special Forces of the World, and with last, but not least meditation.