Chapter 4: Worthy.

“Flying Tiger! Isn’t that a legend of the mountain?” Shuang Dao said with his eyes knitted. He could not understand why this old man would spout so much bullshit.

Old Man Shu couldn’t help but start laughing, “Was I not the one who told you about this legend?”

All of them after a minute of thinking suddenly said, “Ah!”

Solitary Demons were embarrassed for getting fooled like that.

“Well actually it is true, after I became the strongest expert I was bored; so I started venturing the world. I can tell you that this world is extremely big and it holds many secrets. Actually it took me nearly 9 thousand years to venture it whole, and afterwards I settled here.” Old Man Shu spoke calmly still sipping tea.

“I am actually 10532 years old this year.” Old Man Shu spoke as if he was proud.

Seeing doubtful and shocked look on the Solitary Demons faces he started laughing again.

“Look, I’ll show you.” Old Man Shu waved his hand and they all suddenly appeared behind the mansion where it was beautiful beyond comparison. Birds were singing and sun pierced through the trees speeding towards the ground, making it a fantastical view. Ponds were surrounded by dears and chickens were playing around. There was a clear flowery and nature-y smell, that freshness that could not be compared to other places.

The old man in front of them started shining. 

Wind sprang up and the cloudless sky started darkening as alarming clouds surrounded them. Lightning dragons started flying among them as thunder shook everything.

*bang*

Suddenly five hundred meters tall and one kilometre long, white tiger with wings spread out appeared in front of them. The white tiger had faint black stripes all over it and deep light blue eyes which looked extraordinary and ancient. Adding to it the absolutely angelic wings, the white spiritual flying tiger looked like Supreme Being who has descended to the world of mortals. 

It gave of such an overbearing aura that they had no choice but to kneel in front of it. 

“Now do you believe me?” White Spiritual flying tiger reverberated with overpowering voice which could shatter heavens.

Looking at the white tiger whose one nail was three times larger than all of them added up. They gulped deeply as they barely lifted their heads looked at the huge eyes that were staring at them. Could sweat dripped from their forehead.

All they could do is franticly nod with their heads.

When they did the White Spiritual Flying Tiger disappeared together with it the pressure as well. Standing In front of the Solitary Demons was Old Man Shu.

“Do you take me as master?” Old Man Shu spoke with resolve in front of Huo Ba.

“Yes!” She spoke firmly with her youthful voice which sounded like a melody.

Huo Ba bowed deeply, it is her first bow to her master.

Looking at his disciple Old Man Shu was really happy to find a good successor to his alchemic methods. Unfortunately for others he is not able to teach them martial arts because he would fight in his true form and would not use humanly martial arts or any kind of weapon besides his claws. Although during his years of travelling he came to find an excellent humanly foundation training method. 

“Stand straight disciple now I shall unseal your true power!” As Old Man Shu lightly tapped with his finger on Huo Ba’s forehead.

Suddenly Huo Ba started shining just like the Old Man Shu before, but this time the sky cleared up as she started sparkling. Suddenly fairy wings appeared on her back and she started floating. Her eyes closed, she sparkled more and more as she looked like divine beauty. The aura of Queen appeared around her as if she was overlooking everyone

Seeing this the Old Man Shu was rather a bit surprised.

It seems that her bloodline is not as simple royal bloodline Fairy.

Huo Ba’s eyes opened as divine light shined from them andall the animals from the gardens rushed towards her as if she was her best friend.

That was one of the unique qualities of fairies as she had the closest bloodline to the Mother Nature. The Goddess who controls the nature and life. All the non-spiritual, simple living animals and most beautiful things are said to be created by her.

The gleam from her eyes disappeared as she descended on the ground she was curiously looking at her wings. Folding them around her it could even act as a natural protection and they are far from fairies weakness unlike the legends say they are.

She started touching her wings as she realised that they are much like silk, but extremely sensitive as she could feel even the lowest current of wind. The wings were as big as her and all kind of bright colours especially light blue light green and white, almost transparent.

“Whoa!” Yun Ji spoke. As he looked at Huo Ba’s wings.

Yun Ji looked at Jiang Li with evil smile, ”Jiang Li, maybe I will go after Huo Ba as well...” Jiang Li spoke very teasingly as he put his hand over his chest.

Jiang Li heard this and he thought that Yun Ji was being serious, “NO! You definitely can’t do that! Huo Ba only loves me!” Jiang Li spoke confidently as he held his head high.

Huo Ba was shocked, “No one loves you!” Huo Ba shouted as she was embarrassed when she was caught off guard by Jiang Li’s words.

Jiang Li went all white as if his blood has been sucked out and he was about to fall on ground.

One must truly say that Jiang Li’s and Yun Ji’s acting skills are peerless.

Catching Jiang Li, Yun Ji was shocked as almost tears started flowing, “Huo Ba quickly, give him a hug, so he would recover!”

“Quickly! Quickly!” Yun Ji said again as he pushed Jiang Li towards her.

Huo Ba got confused and before realization she was already hugging Jiang Li. Jiang Li who already somehow regained all his vitality also tightly hugged Huo Ba.

Everyone started laughing as Huo Ba hit Jiang Li with her leg to his private spot.

“Hmph!” Huo Ba was so angry and embarrassed that she was all red from head to toes.

Rolling on the ground Jiang Li could not even speak.

Killing intent could be felt from her as Jiang Li started shouting, “It’s all Yun Ji’s fault I swear I didn’t anything!”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Jiang Li was still rolling on the ground from the pain in his third leg.

Shuang Dao was like, ‘What the fuck is going on?’ 

While Lin Hao was giggling at the side

“Okay everyone calm down.” Old Man Shu said with calm smile on his face

The Solitary Demons finally got serious as they stood properly.

“Huo Ba, how are you feeling?" Old Man Shu spoke as he looked at her.

“I am feeling great! I feel the wind surrounding me and I feel much closer to the little animals and nature. I can also feel the sun much better. Besides that...” As Huo Ba said that she focused on her mind and her status appeared in the black void.

Strength: 13 Agility: 17

Endurance: 20 Control: 41

Wisdom: 18 Intelligence: 28

Affinity with Wind- Mastery level 1

Affinity with Fire-Mastery level 1

Affinity with Nature-Mastery level 1

“I have gained affinity with wind, affinity with fire and affinity with nature! Although my stats have not changed…” Huo Ba spoke.

Hearing this Old Man Shu started laughing, “I was right! I was right! To be teaching someone with the greatest talent in Alchemy since the ancient times…” Old Man Shu was so happy that he started crying.

Now I am sure that my legacy will not disappear!

“Good, good, good! Everyone I can now show you to your rooms and rest for tonight prepare yourselves for tomorrow. Since you naturally do not have any equipment or furniture there is no need to go back to the slums again.” Old Man Shu said as he was happy to the core and just wanted to go organise everything, he had to prepare everything for the training and plan out Huo Ba’s Alchemy training.

“Now let’s go I’ll show you where the five of you will be living.” 

Old Man Shu led the five inside the mansion to the right wing, second floor of the mansion. The rooms were exaggeratedly exquisite and each of their rooms looked like that of a Kings.

Lin Hao’s and Shuang Dao’s room were next to each other, while going further from the Lin Hao’s room it was Yun Ji, Huo Ba and Jiang Li.

“For now rest, in the morning I’ll send maids.” Old Man Shu said as he disappeared right after.

Going to their rooms they were mentally preparing themselves for tomorrow as they knew that they will need to endure harsh training. Huo Ba was the most worried, but none of them could sleep when the night has come.

…

Inside Shuang Dao’s room, currently all of the Solitary Demons were sitting on the gigantic king-size bed.

“I am so excited and scared for tomorrow that I can’t even sleep…” Lin Hao said as she kept biting her nails.

“Everyone here is way too excited and are not able to sleep, so what are we to do now?” Huo Ba said as she could not calm down.

Shuang Dao as their leader, he was the calmest of them all and spoke the least, but at this moment even he was excited for this upcoming training. He did not know what is waiting for him or his team mates, he did not know if they will face danger or not.

“There is only one thing we can do in this situation. Sit here unable to sleep, or go train till we pass out!” Shuang Dao spoke as he smiled with evil smile.

Everyone exclaimed, they have never trained before until they passed out, well except Shuang Dao who was crazy. 

Getting their shabby metal swords they headed out outside towards what looked like more or less a training ground, as it was full of sturdy sand perfect for training.

HUA!

Standing in straight line they swung their sword down like one would with an axe cutting log in half. This was the most physically intensive swing they could do and was also the hardest swing to perfect. This is because this swing required perfect body coordination with the sword as it would have to be perfectly straight at 90 degrees when cut. Air resistance and other forces would prevent the sword from completely straight 90 degrees cut, only using their eye-body-sword coordination can one achieve such a thing. If one can complete this coordination perfectly then one could even cut steel like butter with just average strength.

Wind whistled as they persisted in this training.

Looking through the window at the top of the mansion was Old Man Shu. He had smile on his face as he nodded with his head. What one needs to achieve success the most is persistence and will power; this is the most important factor in achieving what one wants. Even if one is foolish to the core if once persists and studies one will finally achieve greatness and be forever respected by others. This is because willpower does not need anything but yourself to improve. If one wants to be powerful one can make one powerful, if one truly wants something then one will achieve that. There certain steps to that, first one being of having a dream second is being ready to do it, and third one doing it. Just like that. Simple but hard.

Of course in most cases this is true, but world is not butterflies and flowers and something can never happen no matter how hard you try to achieve it. This is simply because of the fact that you are fighting against yourself. Subconsciously you know that your fight is futile but you still try until you die. After some time it becomes your inner devil and it’s too late to come back and you are forever ruined. That’s why one must be realistic and go together with your true self. If for example you know you are good at something, but refuse to go that path just because. If you are good at something and you truly know that, you should not fight that, but instead embrace it. Only your inner self knows what’s best for you. It’s your inner Dao, your own special Dao.

After swinging their swords for two hours first one to knock out was Yun Ji as he fell unconscious from all the training. 

Appearing next to them was Old Man Shu who took Yun Ji.

“I will take care of him, continue.” Old Man Shu said as he disappeared.

One after another they fell on the ground as time passed, Old Man Shu would come every time and take one.

…

Opening his eyes Shuang Dao realised that he was inside water and that he was in a bath. His whole body, head included was covered with water and on the surface of the water was wax.

Getting his head out of the water wax naturally easily broke in to many pieces and slid of his head.

*GASP*

Shuang Dao started breathing heavily as if he forgot that he wasn’t breathing. Looking at the side there were four other baths covered in wax. Naturally he realized that his friends are there as well. 

Aroma spread out in this room which was made out of wood and it was rather warm. Some orange/blue clothes were put at the end of the room apparently for them. As paper with their names was put on top of the clothes.

Shuang Dao checked out his body as he realised that he had improved his strength by one. He was naturally happy with his improvement as got out of the bath. He felt completely ecstatic and full of energy, this was probably the first time he slept so well.

Looking at his companions he decided not to wake them up just this time. Shuang Dao got out of the water, checking for a towel which was next to the bath. Drying off and cleaning the wax from his body, he looked at clothes at the end of the room. He was actually extremely curious about the clothes that were put at the end of the room.

Walking next to the one’s with his name he picked them up and noticed that they were orange with blue areas on it. Alas it was actually not just simple clothes it was actually an uniform. Gasping he looked at them closely from all angles, sniffing them even. They looked completely normal but actually extremely extraordinary. The blue and orange complemented each other. The uniform was short sleeved, and the sleeves were blue, while the main part which covered half of his body were orange as well as his pants which were orange. The undershirt was blue and the shoes were Orange with blue lines to the side of them. On the chest part there was a symbol of tiger, the symbol was completely black with seemingly stars all over it.

Looking at the mirror which was at the side he realized that it was all misty so he couldn’t see himself, cleaning it with his sleeve he could finally clearly see himself in it. Rotating his body to the sides he realized that he looked rather good in it. 

Pretty good I’d say

Shuang Dao thought as he smiled and headed out. It was already morning and so the birds and other animals were talking about their night’s sleep.

*Chirp* *chirp* One little bird landed on Shuang Dao’s shoulder as it smelled Shuang Dao. This is because Shuang Dao been in bath full of all kinds of alchemic medicine that Old Man Shu made. It was obviously top quality stuff.

Shuang Was rather surprised as he looked at the bird and the bird looked at Shuang Dao as it leaned its head to the side.

Old Man Shu who was cutting the bushes carefully looked at Shuang Dao and smiled.

“So you are finally awake!” Old Man Shu said as if he was clueless.

“Yes!” Shuang Dao answered.

“How was my Spirit medicine bath?” Old Man Shu asked.

“I slept the best in my entire life…” Shuang Dao spoke wide eyed when he looked at Old Man Shu.

“What was the medicine in the bath?” Shuang Dao curiously looked at Old Man Shu.

“It was nothing, just couple grade twelve spirit medicine.” Old Man Shu spoke calmly with smile. As he held his cutters he continued shortening the bushes.

Hearing this Shuang Dao was like, “Eh?!!!??!??!” 

“B-b-b-but I thought highest grade spirit medicine is grade 3!” Shuang Dao exclaimed to the maximum he even started sniffing himself, thinking that he must not let any medicinal aroma escape or it would be too big of a waste. 

Looking at this Old Man Shu couldn’t help but start laughing like a horse.

Shuang Dao was so embarrassed he wanted to hide under a rock and never come out.

“Now then let’s not wake others up let them absorb the medicine to the maximum. Actually I want to talk with you seriously and this is the best moment.” Old Man Shu spoke seriously.

Shuang Dao nodded with his head.

Old Man Shu put his arm around Shuang Dao like man to man he said, “Do you know what your inner demon is?” Old Man Shu spoke extremely seriously.

Shuang Dao was shocked by Old Man Shu’s question as he wasn’t sure what he was talking about.

Both were silent as Old Man Shu led Shuang Dao to the training grounds where Solitary Demons were training yesterday. In the middle of the training grounds there was a sword stabbed into the ground half way of the blade.

“This is your inner demon!”