“One more,” Wang muttered as he went back to the striking stance, right hand at his waist, left hand stretched out into a palm, and knees bent. The wooden training dummy stared mockingly at him, that’s how he drew the face on its face, afterall.
He took a deep breath and imagined Chu’s face replacing the dummy’s.
Wang punched and felt the pain radiate through his fist as it glanced off the curve in the chest. It felt like he scraped skin with that hit. He shook his hand and blew on it a few more times, definitely scraped…
“One more time,” he took the stance. He imagined Chu’s face, mocking him. He struck, it hit the middle of the chest, leaving a small streak of blood.
Wang took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
For how long should he do this before he broke through the barrier of the first step, the refinement of his flesh and muscles? For how long would Chu, Len, and Xiu bully him?
Just because they broke through faster than he did, they were treated more favorably by the villagers, loved by the girls, and even considered as the future heroes of Bedlam.
Everything that he wasn’t.
Everything that he wanted to be.
“Argh!” he howled and just released a punch after another against the helpless – yet still winning against him – dummy. By the time he was done, he was breathing out so hard that some spittle flew out with the breaths. The rage he felt made the pain feel… less. For the moment.
The moment did not last long and he found himself sitting on the floor and holding the bloodied knuckles.
“Look,” The smug voice of Xiu’s laugh broke him out of his thoughts. “He lost to that stupid dummy, again.”
More laughs followed, the entire gang was looking inside the training room.
“When will you learn to give up,” Xiu barked, “just go to the fields and help the others. At least you will have some use to the village that way.”
“Come on, don’t be like that,” Chu leaned against the door’s frame. “He will be useless there, too.”
Wang clenched his fist, drawing more blood out of the rasped knuckles. “Assholes.”
“No need to be so aggressive,” Chu waved as he went inside. Wang flinched as he approached him. “Here, I’ll show you how to do this right,” he smiled.
“Really?” Wang blinked in surprise. None of them have ever offered to help him figure out how to get his foot into the cultivation ring, they just broke through the first body refinement, and were about to finish their second.
“What are you doing?” Len grumbled, looking at Chu, Xiu was frowning along.
“I am showing our junior how to use the Iron Body, of course,” Chu stood and picked the training dummy. “You have to watch closely, because I won’t repeat this everyday.”
“Yes!” Wang hurried and stood to the side, watching closely. “Please show me how to do this, senior brother!”
Wang stared intently at the dummy, waiting for the blow and whatever insight he might gain from the demonstration. It should be enough to at least point him towards the right direction.
“Alright then,” Chu cracked his knuckles. “Len, Xiu, grab him.”
Wang’s eyes widened in surprise as the other two started laughing and obeyed. He struggled against – as futile as it was since they were much stronger than he was after they broke through the first stage – the two as they grabbed his arms and held him in place.
“Leave me alone!” he tried to pull, and did nothing but move the fabrics of his robe slightly.
“You wanted to learn the Iron Body, didn’t you?” Chu gave him a sadistic smirk as he brandished his hand. “You better pay good attention,” he took the stance.
“If you don’t want me to repeat the lesson, that is.”
Wang’s breaths grew more ragged as he felt the power in the air as the stance gave Chu the strength of iron. The way his body moved made him think of a golem striking slowly but with well-known and expected strength. It looked like it was a few minutes of time but the strike was performed within a couple of seconds.
It felt like being struck with a metal pole in the stomach, he was in the air for a moment before the two thugs let him drop to the floor, where he keeled and dry heaved.
“I’ll expect you to thank me for the lesson later,” Chu laughed, but the laugh did not last long as Wang vomited on his boots. “You little piece of shi- Ergh, these are new boots!”
“What do you think you are doing to him?” A stern, concerned voice said.
“We are just educating our fellow… cultivator over here,” Xiu replied.
“Leave,” the girl said.
“Or what?” Xiu replied, walking closer to the source of the sound.
There was a pained groan after that, Xiu was being taught a lesson, it seemed. “Leave,” she repeated.
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“Come on, let’s leave. This is not worth it,” Chu clicked his tongue as he moved out, and the other two seemed to follow him, leaving Wang curled on the ground. “We will meet again, loser!” he said from the outside.
That punch…
It hurt more than anything he could think of. It hurt like the nine heavens and hells struck him. He did not expect that, he did not- Fuck, fuck. This hurts.
Su helped him up, allowing him to lean on her. If he wasn’t busy experiencing a thousand types of pain he would’ve commented on how beautiful she looked, how nice she smelt, but as he was right now?
He just gladly accepted the help and hopped along as she moved him outside the room and into the apothecary.
People watched him. People watched and whispered as they probably talked about him being covered in vomit and being carried by a girl. A girl that he-
He was sullying with his own vomit, he thought in horror as he tried to push himself away.
“Hey,” she said, “stop moving, you are making this harder than it already is.”
Wang stopped the struggle in an instant, and he hated himself for it. Su had a powerful grip over his heart. A grip powerful enough that it almost made him forget about all the pain. Almost.
He was glad when he was on the apothecary’s bed.
“Stay here,” she said before running out.
“Not like I can move anywhere,” he groaned as he dropped on the bed, and watched as she left.
Su was so nice. A pretty girl to boot, too. Some might consider her a beauty beyond anything beautiful. A peerless beauty in a sense. She was also cultivating the Butterfly path, successfully.
Everyone liked Su. HE liked Su.
His face was turning red from the rush of blood, and little of it had to do with the pain. At least he thought it was so.
“Here,” she said, sitting by his side. He chanced a look at her, finding that milky white skin and pearly smile. She was holding a bowl. “Swallow these pills.”
“Pills?” his eyes widened. “No. I- I can’t. I mustn’t.”
Pills were a miracle of cultivation. Healing wounds and alleviating pain. They were also nearly impossible to acquire and quite expensive.
“I can’t possibly-”
She pushed the bowl into his hands, “you need these pills,” she insisted. “You are probably suffering wounds on the inside of your body from fighting those three stooges, and those wounds could kill you.”
He gulped and looked down at the pills in the bowl. Two capsule shaped miracles with a single circular one. A fortune in a glass bowl.
“Please,” she held his hands and he flinched at the touch. “Your life is more important than some processed herbs.”
He nodded. He could never refuse her, but these pills…
“Oh gods,” she rolled her eyes. “Here,” she carried the bowl to his mouth and tipped it into his mouth. He swallowed them.
“Give me that hand,” she smiled as she pulled out the bandages and blood salve.
Wang watched, beet red, as the softest hands he ever felt tended to his wounds, before he began to black out.
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Medical Observations: Josh (501)
Patient 501, also known as Josh Becker, who suffered from an extreme case of delusion that was bordering on psychosis, was sitting in his room calmly, until he decided to start punching the walls. Doctor David rubbed his forehead and grumbled.
This was nearly a daily thing now, for him. They allowed it to happen as long as he did not harm himself, as long as he was hitting those padded walls.
The doctor watched from the chair, while nursing a warm cup of coffee in his hands. The activities room was where he made most of the observations for the residents of the bedlam, afterall, he could see everything from where he was.
So he watched, as Josh took some weird martial arts-like stance, as he punched and then returned to the stance again and again.
It was fine, until he looked like he cracked his fingers or something, and began blowing on them. Did he hurt himself?
Doctor David pressed a button on the phone and waited for the nurse to reply, eyes still on Josh.
Josh went mad before the nurse picked up, a flurry of blows met the padded walls before he dropped to the ground.
“Yes?” The nurse answered with a thick russian accent.
“Yeah, Josh seems to have hurt his hand punching that wall,” he said. “Again.”
“Understood,” she replied, “I’ll be right over, Doktor.”
And with that she hung.
He appreciated how efficient Olga was.
Josh remained calm and seated until three of the other patients walked over to the door and saw him inside the room. Cases 264, 322, and 480. James, William, and Daniel, respectively. They were all suffering from some degree of delusions, as well as a cocktail of other mental issues.
William began laughing and mocking Josh, it seems, and that would end up badly for someone. He hoped Olga would come here fast. Doctor David went to get some sedatives just in case violence started, again.
Those four always seemed to have this antagonistic relationship, for one reason or another. He confronted them about it a few times during the sessions. James said it was because he was the “senior”, whatever that meant. He did not elaborate any further, as was usually the case with these people.
David grabbed the sedative injector with practiced swiftness and moved back to the activities rooms, where the patients spent most of their free time, if they were good that is.
By the time he was back, Olga was pulling William’s ear and pointing outside the room. “Leave,” she said in that thick accent. It was effective, as the trio seemed to listen to her. They vacated the place and split into their individual rooms.
“He look okay,” Olga told him as she carried Josh like he was a small sack of sugar. He nodded and followed her as she carried him to the infirmary for treatment. Josh vomited on her half the way there, before he began thrashing.
“Stop,” Olga grumbled, “You not make this easy.”
She readjusted her grip on his chest and squeezed him into submission. David winced. “Don’t be so rough on the patient, Olga,” he said and received an unimpressed look from her.
Olga was on the heavier side, it reminded him of those strongmen in truck pulling contests. It was somewhat scary, too.
“Stay,” She said after dropping Josh.
“Not like I can move anywhere,” he grumbled, grabbing his stomach.
Some minor injuries, it seemed. A rasped knuckle and a punch to the stomach, maybe? Nothing that required his immediate attention. But he should limit the interaction between those three in the future, to avoid harmful incidents.
“Give him his usual medications, and a paracetamol,” David told Olga, “clean his hand and bandage it, too,” She nodded and went to the pharmacy. She knew the drill.
She never struggled to make Josh swallow the pills, even if she had to shove them down his throat one pill at a time, and he remained docile as she took care of his hand. He even fell asleep while she was doing it.
David sighed as he walked back to his chair and picked up the now cold mug of coffee from the counter. Hopefully, after several sessions with these guys, he would be able to get more insight about these delusions Josh was suffering from.