Li’s day now began two full hours before dawn with me landing hard on his chest in rabbit form.

“STOP WASTING THE DAY, MAGGOT!”

From there, he had two minutes to dress while I glared at him the entire time, and made pithy comments on his anatomy. Or lack thereof. After that, it was time for a light jog.

For this, I’d alternate between rabbit and human forms, but the game was simply a few rounds of tag. And I was always “it.” Oh, and it wasn’t so much a tag as a very painful blow upside the idiot’s head. So less a “light jog” and more a “frantic scramble for your life against a very persistent and fast predator with a grudge against you.” Still, good times.

About dawn, I’d call our little game and put Li through some body exercises. Pushing his body off the floor using only his arms, curling himself inward using only his back and stomach muscles, jumping up and down while waving his arms around. That sort of thing. The whole point was to leave him all but dead before breakfast.

Speaking of which, Li’s meals were now very simple and bland, even by the monastery’s humble standards. Breakfast was a simple bowl of porridge, lunch a light portion of fresh greens, dinner a portion of bread, with only water to drink. And any time he complained, I was happy to have his share while he did more body exercises.

Of course, life doesn’t stop for training. So mornings were spent on our individual chores. This was the only time I wasn’t directly supervising Li, but it didn’t take him long to wise up that I always knew exactly where he was and what he was doing. And that I wasn’t scared of the butcher’s hut anymore. Any time he wasn’t working harder than he ever had in his life, I’d be on him harder than a training weight hitting him on the head from the roof.

Honestly, that was only the one time, and a genuine accident. I’m not trying to kill the poor fool, just break him.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Anyway, while he’s working diligently in the kitchens, I’m off to garden. Now that I’m an Adept, I have to attune to the various elements of qi more closely, and the ones I have an affinity for are the best way to start.

Most start like Kaoru, with only the one element attuned, but I have an extra. Means it’ll be harder to reach Expert, but I’ll have an advantage on reaching Master. Apparently you have to attune yourself to all of the elements and temper yourself pretty deeply with them to hold enough qi.

But back to gardening. I have an advantage, and rather enjoy the work. And contrary to my introduction to this space, the other gardeners now either respected or feared me. Thrashing an Expert, even a weak one, starts rumors. But I’d circulate my qi through the ground and the plants, nurturing and enriching them while taking in the qi contained in both, now contaminated with the elements of wood and earth. It was harder to cultivate, but using my will helped me to keep things digesting. Gradually, the elements were merging with my core and meridians, though they were a long way from hitting the smallest fractal level.

Around midday, I’d take my own meal. Cultivating left me honestly wanting less food, and helped me process it with absolute efficiency. Now I only had to digest things once, and only the actual toxins that had built up in my body or the food I ate came out. Rather handy.

Afternoons were spent sparring, with Li alternating between facing Kaoru and myself. It might’ve been more fair to put him up against someone his own level, but that wasn’t the point. The point was to leave him battered and exhausted while he reflected on his stupidity. So by the time he got his evening bread and water, he was bloody, bruised, battered, burned, and exhausted from a solid 14 hours of hard work and exercise, minimum.

I took it easy on him from there, and let him meditate. Not that he’d be allowed to sleep, mind. Nodding off got him a bunny smack. No, he’d sit still and seriously concentrate on his thoughts and actions, seeking that all-important focus needed to break through to the Novice stage of cultivation. Since I can’t kill him, I might as well see if I can’t drum some sense into his idiot head.

But ultimately, even my beauty and charm can only keep Li awake for so long. So I’d send him off after a mere eight hours meditating, then let him find his bed.

And two hours later, he’d wish my passive cultivation replaced my need for sleep when I landed on him first thing in the morning.

Good times.