The horrors of one's situation would seldom settle in one's mind on the first day. For the 4 caged kids, as well as the thousands of slaves who were captured and imprisoned, the horrors would show themselves at dawn.
As soon as dawn broke, the 4 kids woke up to the screams of a girl. To be more accurate, it was hundreds of girls. Screams, yells, insults, grunts, and moans were all mixed together. The others were too inexperienced with life to understand what these noises meant, but Yanku Zhimei knew what they entailed. She quickly yelled at the others.
"Close your eyes and ears! Don't open them!"
This was all she could think of to protect them, but none of them were able to avoid the reality around them. Just a few tents across, they could see a tall and strong man forcefully have his way with a girl who was young enough to be his daughter. He was easily throwing her around and pinning her down as he wished, and what he did to her caused her to wail and scream to no end.
This scene was being repeated with different people all around the camp. Tian Mingyun was far too disturbed. The screams and the faint smell of blood even reminded him of that pit of death and decay he had been in just a few days prior. He started throwing up onto the floor while hyperventilating.
Shupi Juren simply clenched his fists and turned his head the other way with closed eyes. He wanted to stop all of it from happening to those innocent girls, but he had no way to help them. So he just swore to himself with a whisper.
"I, Shupi Juren, have not even killed a chicken. However, the day will come when I kill anyone who calls themselves Thousand Link. Not one of these bastards deserves to live."
His fellow 3 captives in the cages could hear him, but luckily he was quiet enough to go unheard by anyone in the nearby tents.
Yankı Zhimei was worried about Hup Lan the most, she looked over at the 9 year old girl to see her face unchanged. She was instead just holding onto one of the bars on the top and seemingly exercising.
"What are you doing, Huo Lan? At a time like this..." Yanku Zhimei could not help but ask.
"We can not waste a day. We need to come out of here stronger than we got in. Or else that is going to happen to us."
Yanku Zhimei had practiced some very common Body Arts since childhood. It was called Wire Frame Arts and she still remembered her mother's words as to why it was only passed onto her among Yanku Zhimei's many brothers and sisters: 'One needs a martial will to cultivate fast, but they need it even more to start practicing Body Arts. For one can only practice these hellish Arts with a clear martial will.'
Yanku Zhimei's martial will was made clear to her mother when she was separated from her family in a flood as a 7 year old but managed to track her family back in mud taller than her as soon as the flood was over. And now, Huo Lan's martial will was made clear to Yankı Zhimei as she thought of a way to prevent a horrible fate from befalling her and her fellow prisoners.
Yanku Zhimei started whispering, in a tone so quiet that they had to pass on what she said from ear to ear in order for it to reach Huo Lan.
"Huo Lan, I shall teach you my Body Arts. Remember every word I tell you and copy my movements as I practice."
Huo Lan had no distrust for Yanku Zhimei, and carved every word that was whispered to her into her mind.
Sadly for the two boys, the Wire Frame Body Arts could only be performed by women and had to be practiced at a young age in order to give it roots. However, Yanku Zhimei's actions inspired Tian Mingyun, and he also whispered something to all three of them.
"I, Tian Mingyun, know the basics of cultivation. I know not if you, or even I, can succeed, but we can at least try."
The others had open mouths and were in shock. No matter how young or ignorant one was, everybody knew what a precious thing cultivation knowledge is. In all honesty, this was the reaction Tian Mingyun wanted. He wanted to distract the others, and most importantly himself, by teaching them what he knew. For the reality outside the cage was too horrid for him to even look at.
Yanku Zhimei whispered to Huo Lan first, one had to practice the Wire Frame Body Arts early in life, Yanku Zhimei had only gotten this far because she started at age 7. Delaying Huo Lan who was already 9 years old would hinder her growth in the Wire Frame Body Arts.
"From now on, call me Elder Sister Yanku Zhimei. Yanku Family managed to exist as a traveling theatre family for generations thanks to at least one member of each generation carrying on the Wire Frame Body Arts. Though it may seem that they are simply for acrobatics or theatrics due to our family business, it greatly protects one's joints and improves grip force and balance." Yanku Zhimei's expression changed as she kept explaining. She was getting more and more serious with each word as if to focus despite the ongoing bloodcurdling screams of the girls and young women all around the camp.
"Remember this poem, chant it to yourself every day and night so that you do not forget the principles." After saying that, she made no effort to whisper and openly sang her poem.
"From wrists to shoulders
Taut tight with binders
Each joint should be minded
For a girl has three hundred
A woman has 50 more
Work them until they are sore
Bend and tend to each little one
Then they will finally shine
For shines a girl when she bends
Only in breaking she truly ends
Grasp the life with your fingers
For your effort alone lingers
Shift your pose be never still
For the spine cries when it is still
From a girl's hind comes the walk
The heel's tendon pulls the walk
Up and down, mere illusions
The ground's pull, incur delusions
A mere wire can hold one's weight
When on the tips alone falls one's weight
Muscles are wires tied to bones
Loose or tight they move the bones
The bones lie flat when wires loose
A girl is drunk when wires play, upon Earth no finer booze."
Yanku Zhimei's poem was being recited by Huo Lan even as she was listening. She had a special physique with talent to boot, she did not need others to vouch for her in order to realize how valuable this poem was. She was too young to fully grasp her, but her instincts led to her already understanding its worth.
Yanku Zhimei was glad to pass on her Body Arts. She started showing Huo Lan the first poses of the Body Arts. Tian Mingyun and Shupi Juren made sure not to watch, as they understood Yanku Zhimei probably coveted these Arts as much as her own life.
The first pose of the Wire Frame Body Arts included planting one's heel upon a horizontal pole, the bamboo cages were perfect for this, then one would make an effort to stretch their leg as much as possible. Huo Lan could only place her heel on par with her head and even that was painfully difficult for her joints and muscles. Meanwhile, Yanku Zhimei was moving her pelvis closer and further away from the pole with ease as her heel was raised higher than her head.
The practice would be difficult, hellish even. This was the nature of Body Arts and why one required a martial will in order to even begin learning them. One had to push a body beyond its limits and train certain aspects of it to the extreme. One could even achieve superhuman feats without cultivating, by only mastering Body Arts. Though, attaining such levels of mastery often required an amount of effort and talent that would better be spent on cultivation.
For example, Yanku Zhimei heard from her mother that one of their ancestors carried the Yanku surname as a court dancer and could play her body like a Zheng, a loud instrument with 21 strings often played in courts. The poem also alluded to using the muscles as wires, but nobody had reached such a high level in generations.
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The basic poses were done for the day, and Yanku Zhimei told Huo Lan to practice alone whenever she had the chance before learning any of the advanced poses and techniques. Yanku Zhimei had made the wise decision of not teaching Huo Lan any grip strength practices since she was clearly born strong enough to not benefit from such practice.
Shupi Juren finally spoke after several recitations of the poem and displays of poses with his eyes and ears closed.
"Big sister Yanku, you can eat my share as well since today must have been tiring for you."
Yanku Zhimei already thought that they were getting too much food, so she had no need for extra food. However, she felt touched by this cute muscle headed brute who was treating him no differently than her own blood brothers would.
"No need, not like I ever finish these disgusting insects they keep tossing into my cage. If you wanna repay me, make sure you remember every word that Tian Mingyun teaches us, so that you can remind me if I ever forget."
While this was a kind hearted gesture by Yanku Zhimei to make sure Shupi Juren studied diligently, she was also always bad at memorizing. Every song, play, and poem she memorized so far in life was thanks to people repeating them many times and correcting each mistake she made until she got it right. Even the Wire Frame Poem took her mother 23 repeats for Yanku Zhimei to fully memorize it, despite the rhymes within it to make it easy to remember.
Shupi Juren was more than happy to oblige as he nodded. He was confident in his body and his memory in life. He had never gotten lost in the woods or forgotten where a good spot was. Well, he had also never managed to learn the names of any trees other than pine and birch.
Tian Mingyun started giving circulation lessons as soon as Yanku Zhimei was done. Though they were in hushed whispers.
"Before one can cultivate, one must be aware of their circulation. To do that, one must focus on their own body and feel every drop of blood coming in and out of their heart and every vessel that blood flows into. For impurities can only be forced out of the body with the help of those vessels."
Tian Mingyun had memorized the entire book and was currently reciting a portion of it from memory. As the others listened, he recited the location of every blood vessel while pressing his fingers on his body to show their place whenever possible. He sounded like a praying monk as he kept reciting the book.
The others were mesmerized as Tian Mingyun recited page after page and did his best to show off each vessel. When he was done, he spoke with a shrill voice, as his vocal cords were not used to seeing this much use after years of living as a mute.
"Ahh... My throat hurts... Lastly, you will enter the Skin Refinement Realm the moment you are aware of your entire circulation and can start forcing the most basic impurities out of your skin."
There was one thing Tian Mingyun overlooked. The book he was reciting was the Venom of Ascension. The book was looking at circulation far deeper than it needed to, and one needed to be able to actively circulate only 1/3rd of their circulation paths in order to start cultivating instead of its entirety. However, learning all of this would of course do more good to them in the long run.
To distract themselves from the horrors and to improve their chances of getting out of all of this one day, they each diligently studied and focused on their circulation. Huo Lan worked twice as hard without any complaint, practicing the Wire Frame Body Arts poses while silently trying to focus on her circulation while in those difficult poses.
Tian Mingyun also realized that he had better noticed some circulation paths in his body as he taught it to others. He was making headway faster than he expected. Meanwhile, Yanku Zhimei was having difficulty understanding circulation pathways or even memorizing what Tian Mingyun had recited from the book.
Shupi Juren did not remember much of what Tian Mingyun said, but he remembered everything he showed. He did not know why, but the paths of circulation felt like mountain paths to him. The kinds of paths that allowed animals to descend from the mountains and into the forest. The paths that he had walked all his life. He was silent as he sat down, forgetting to even eat or sleep as he focused on the paths the entire night.
The others made an effort not to disturb Shupi Juren and focused on their own study and practice. The screams faded with time after the first few hours of the night, and everyone but Shupi Juren was asleep in their cages. He alone was still focused and still trying to understand his circulation paths. His focus lasted up until the noon of tomorrow when Appraiser Tong finally came out of his tent, bored with his slave concubines after having his way with them for nearly a full day.
Appraiser Tong knew something was up as all of his captured and soon to be sold treasures were busy in their cages. The two girls were practicing in their cages what seemed to be dance moves, as a perverted and rotten bastard, he was glad to see young girls in such poses and licked his lips. However, both boys seemed to be meditating like monks. He quickly turned over to the oldest, Yanku Zhimei, and asked.
"You! What are these two fools doing?" He yelled through his disgusting rotten beard and sweat slick long beard.
Yanku Zhimei had to hold herself from throwing up just by having eyes glance at his figure. She had not alerted the others, but a few of those screams from yesterday were from the very tent in front of them. This bastard must have been raping girls younger than Yanku Zhimei herself despite being older than her grandfather. She was disgusted by his rotten soul yet allowed her acting skills to shine despite her thoughts.
"Oh, do forgive them, kind Master! They are just scared after yesterday! There was all this screaming and yelling, we did not understand what was going on. Since their cages were too small to even allow them to lie down, they just fell asleep like that." She was puckering her lips while speaking. She was disgusted by the mere prospect of even being paid attention to by such scum, but she knew old perverted men like this were easy to distract.
Appraiser Tong certainly fit the bill. He did not care to listen to half of what Yanku Zhimei said but instead was focused on her lips. He then dove back into his tent without saying a word and resumed raping his slave concubines. Yanku Zhimei was sorry for those girls, but right now she has to do this, especially for Shupi Juren's sake. She had heard how focused people were when they were having a breakthrough and how dangerous it was to disturb them.
Appraiser Tong was really angry inside the tent, being rougher than last night to vent his anger. He could not touch the merchandise. Even he could not survive Lian Lingzhu's wrath if he damaged such a high value product. Being drinking buddies meant very little to Lian Lingzhu when held up against profits flowing in from that Demonic Sect that liked buying as many talented kids as they could bring. Those 4 were certainly some of the finest of this batch to be offered up to the sect, Appraiser Tong knew as much thanks to his talents, so he could not touch the girl no matter how desperately she seduced him with her youthful body. This alone made Appraiser Tong treat his slave concubines even worse, nearly killing one while choking before stopping himself after she had passed out.
With renewed determination, they kept practicing in their cages as best they could. Yanku Zhimei managed to feel the blood flow around her heart when it felt as though ice was flowing within as she heard the possible dying breaths of that girl in the tent being choked. She had no smile or joy on her face, simply meditating with a cold expression as she tried to focus.