When Jie returned to her residence, Ming was deep in concentration and she dared not disturb him. She didn't want to lose him... not now. Not ever. She'd just have to make decisions without his advice until he was better.

Perhaps if she became stronger, she might even be able to help him heal.

That thought intrigued her, and it lay in the back of her mind as she sat in the lotus position and cultivated within her residence.

She didn't take another of the medicinal pills, not wishing to unbalance her cultivation as Ming had warned, and choosing instead to cultivate as she always had before.

Before she knew it, the sun had just barely risen and the door flew open to reveal a beautiful fox woman.

"Right then! Let's go!" Elder Shi said.

Jie flinched and spared a glance at Ming, but he remained impassive, his concentration seemingly unbroken.

"Please lead the way, Elder," Jie said softly.

Elder Shi frowned at Jie's soft tone but didn't comment and instead left Jie's residence and moved across the academy grounds at a brisk pace. But, Jie knew the older woman must be taking it easy as she kept up with the elder without any issues.

They came to one of the many buildings that Jie knew nothing about. Though calling it a 'building' was somewhat inaccurate as it more closely resembled a walled cluster of several buildings. With a carefully tended pond serving as a moat around the outer walls. Lily pads dotted the pond's surface and colorful fish darted around beneath them.

Elder Shi led the way over a red painted bridge and through a set of polished red metal gates that the Crimson Academy seemed so fond of.

"Welcome to my residence. I expect you to be here at sunrise each and every day unless I give you special permission not to attend," Elder Shi said as they stepped into an open courtyard filled with cherry blossom trees.

The trees had relatively weak cultivation auras, but their bright red blossoms looked beautiful and stood in stark contrast to their white bark. Lotus petals swirled around in the wind, littering the ground of Elder Shi's residence.

Elder Shi guided Jie into what looked like a dojo straight out of a movie. Complete with wooden pillars supporting the ceiling and thick fibrous mats covering the floor.

"Now then, first things first... I want to see what you're capable of," Elder Shi said.

Elder Shi then sprang at Jie in a blur of motion. Jie activated lightning step and barely dived out of the way in time. Elder Shi followed with repeated strikes, all of which Jie dodged much easier with her movement technique activated. But Elder Shi gained speed at a profound rate and soon Jie was struggling to keep pace.

As she was forced back around the room, continually kept on the back foot and made to evade rather than attack, something inside Jie stirred.

Ming's words about how lightning did not retreat echoed not just in her mind, but her very soul. And, being forced back grated on her.

Lightning qi crackled over her knuckles and formed into dragonfists with barely a thought and at Elder Shi's next attack, Jie struck out.

Elder Shi's eyes widened with astonishment as Jie forgot all about running away and instead focused on attacking while slipping between Elder Shi's attacks like water. Not unlike the way Chen Ai used her movement technique against her not fully a day before.

Elder Shi's mouth then split into a smile as she increased her speed yet again, forcing Jie to push herself harder and harder just to maintain her attacks.

Jie knew there was no possible way for her to even scratch this elder whose cultivation was beyond her ability to so much as sense how vastly it outstripped her own.

But she didn't let that stop her. She fought as she had with Ming when they stayed in the temple. Only now, something growled within her like a feral beast, and each time Elder Shi evaded her strikes and forced Jie to evade, it rankled.

She knew it shouldn't... after all, this Elder was far beyond her, but that only made her feel more frustrated. Thoughts filled her that nothing and no one should ever be stronger than her.

Elder Shi struck out too fast for Jie to dodge and her palm slammed into Jie's chest.

The attack wasn't a martial skill, but rather pure physical strength, and Jie flew backward into one of the wooden pillars in the room. She thumped into it and slid down. She opened her mouth to breathe, but it took several attempts before Jie managed to inhale a single, short, gasping breath. Her aching chest protested the movement even as Jie struggled to inhale a second.

"Your power and speed are impressive for your cultivation level, but your technique is sloppy and needs vast improvement," Elder Shi said. But, despite her words she smiled, and her eyes sparkled as though she held the largest diamond in the world.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Nothing that cannot be fixed with training," Elder Shi added.

She offered Jie a hand, but Jie ignored it and stood under her own power.

For some reason, this only made Elder Shi smile even more.

Jie looked at her with narrowed eyes. What reason could this elder have to help her? Why the special interest when she'd never even met the woman? After what little she'd seen of this world so far, she didn't trust it. Not a bit.

But, if this woman would help her become stronger then it didn't matter. Her enemies were so far beyond her that if she met them now she'd die before she knew what hit her. Ming had made this clear. Strength was her only path to salvation. Her only path to repaying her massive debt and fulfilling her blood pact.

"Tell me, what cultivation resources are you using at the moment?" Elder Shi asked.

"I have some Heavenly Moon Pills as my reward for placing first in the entry test," Jie said, "I've taken a few of them so far."

Elder Shi nodded while staring off into space as if surveying a grand empire only she could see.

"That explains why your foundation is so solid. But, we must increase your cultivation speed," Elder Shi said.

"My master warned me that could lead to an unbalanced cultivation," Jie said.

Elder Shi nodded. "If you go too far with it and don't spar to stabilize it. But, your foundation is solid now. And you'll be doing a lot of sparring to stabilize your cultivation," she said.

Jie was hesitant, but nothing this woman said seemed to counter Ming's teachings just yet and he'd often said she must push herself harder and further... perhaps this was indeed necessary.

Elder Shi watched Jie's sharp eyes as she considered the elder's words and smiled yet again. Jie studied this smile and found it familiar. It reminded her of the way Ming often looked at her, and that made her reservations give way at least enough to try what the elder suggested.

"As you wish, Elder Shi," Jie said with a bow.

Elder Shi pulled a bright yellow pill seemingly out of thin air and tossed it to Jie. "Take this. I'll find students for you to spar with. I can't have you wasting time trying to taunt the older students into a battle.

"Especially not after yesterday... it'd take far too long. Bunch of scaredy cats the lot of them. When I return, I expect you to have finished with the pill. If you have not, you will fight three students at the same time instead of just the one I plan for you," she said. With those words she disappeared, leaving only a breeze and curling wisps of purple smoke in her place.

Jie looked at the yellow pill and frowned. What if it was poison? But then what would be the point of that? It wasn't like Elder Shi would have any trouble killing her if she wanted to...

Jie placed the pill on her tongue and it melted. Shivers ran through her body and her tongue tingled like it'd been hit with a stun gun.

Essence seemed to flow into her dantian without her even willing it, and she sat down in quiet cultivation. Essence poured into her like water into a storm drain and she refined it at an incredibly rapid pace. Yet, this wasn't quite the same as the heavenly moon pills. With those pills, the Essence came from the pills themselves, whereas now it seemed more like her cultivation was simply made easier. The Essence came from her surroundings, but she was able to gather more of it and refine it far faster and in much greater amounts than usual.

A storm raged within her dantian as she forged dragon lightning qi within herself. But, the only evidence of the enormous strain she underwent was a slight crease in her brows.

In the days that followed, Jie spent more time training with Elder Shi than she did anywhere else, and her days quickly fell into a routine.

Each day would start with Elder Shi giving her a medicinal pill, sometimes a heavenly moon pill, and other times one of the yellow pills Jie didn't know the name of. Then, minutes after Jie finished absorbing all she could with either pill, Elder Shi would return with three students in tow. Each student was always several stars above Jie. Often far enough above her that she couldn't win. She simply received a brutal beating while doing her best to at least scratch the other student.

She would then recover her qi by cultivating and immediately go into sparring with the second student and the same process repeated for the third.

When this was done, Elder Shi had her consume one of the heavenly moon pills Jie had taken as her prize.

And, once Jie had regained her strength through cultivating, Elder Shi would spar with her directly. Jie knew the older woman was taking it easy on her, barely using a fraction of her strength. But, she still received brutal beatings while Elder Shi critiqued her every movement and offered advice on how to improve. Though the older woman also healed Jie when necessary. The soothing energies revitalized Jie's body in time for fresh torment.

Jie's cultivation speed soared like never before, and she quickly became more skilled in sparring sessions. But, even then Elder Shi wasn't done with her and Jie went through strenuous body training.

Jie ran at top speed for hours while wearing a specially enchanted vest that amplified the effects of gravity and the resistance of the air all while Elder Shi ran one step ahead of her, yelling at her to go faster.

Jie did pushups in the thousands while wearing the enchanted vest and with additional weights upon her back and her bare knuckles digging into the hard earth. She did squats, pullups, and exercises she had no name for until every muscle in her body ached.

At which point Elder Shi had her consume body conditioning pills and strange liquid concoctions that tasted so utterly vile that Jie had to fight not to throw up with every sip. This was of course followed by stretching to keep her body flexible and supple.

Jie hardly slept, instead cultivating through the nights as much as she could, and she never complained. She completed her tasks with iron discipline, though she did ask questions. Lots of questions.

Elder Shi tried to ignore some of her questions at first. Such as why she was training more strenuously than she had under her other master, who Jie refused to name. But, when Jie's questions were ignored, she ignored the older woman's instructions regardless of anything Elder Shi tried.

Exasperated, Elder Shi explained that the body couldn't be pushed too hard right away and that from what Jie had said of her training it had been carefully measured for her early stages of development. But now that she'd moved up the stars it was time for her to endure more and push herself harder because her body wouldn't break as easily. This was common in cultivation Elder Shi explained, as the higher a cultivator climbed the harder they could push themselves.

The second Elder Shi had satisfied Jie's need for a reason, Jie resumed her training with iron discipline once again.

It didn't take long for her to train her teacher on the methods by which she would be taught.