Fang Xiong looked through the contents of the page his Master had opened up for him and absorb the knowledge like a dry sponge in a bowl of water.
The page told him about how the Heavenly Beast Method focused on 3 basic principles: Breathing Correctly, Walking Correctly and Sleeping Correctly. Once you get a basic mastery in these three things, you can finally start the Ki Training.
Looking at the methods to do this, Fang Xiong was incredibly confused and as if seeing his nephew's confusion, Master Long laughed before talking, "Don't worry, I'll help you correct these things, only the master can know the method to improve these things, okay?" Fang Xiong just nodded his head, eager to do the training.
"Alright then, we'll start on the breathing part," Master Long stood up and motioned for Fang Xiong to get into a meditation position, "Close your eyes and start breathing when I tell you."
Fang Xiong did as he was told and closed his eyes, waiting for the instructions on when to breath. He waited for a while, not breathing at all knowing he'd mess up his Master's plan if he did so.
It didn't take until he was desperate for air, his cells shaking in anticipating for the breath he knew he'd take soon. But even as he felt his body begging for air, the order to breathe didn't come.
By this point, Fang Xiong was getting dizzy from the lack of oxygen. If it wasn't for his unnatural pride, he would have said 'Fuck it' to the training and taken in a massive breath of air to end his suffering.
"Don't breathe just yet, you need to push the need to breathe to the very limits before you can breathe," Master Long said in a scholarly manner as he looked at his nephew/disciple in front of him.
He monitored Fang Xiong with hawk-like precision, checking for the very limit of the boy's lung capacity. Fang Xiong's face had started to go red and the veins on his body had started to bulge, while he uncomfortably shuffled his body back and forward.
Fang Xiong opened his eyes at the moment and looked at Master Long, the capillaries in his eyes looking as if they were about to burst from the pressure building up in him. Master Long looked into Fang Xiong's eyes and saw he was reaching his limit but he didn't say anything as he knew the boy wasn't truly there.
Seconds seemed like hours to Fang Xiong, his lungs burning for oxygen.
"Okay, breath," Fang Xiong felt like he'd heard the call of an angel and let out the spent air in his lungs as quickly as he could before taking in a gulp of air. The oxygen entered his lungs and his body seemed to have a weird reaction to the oxygen.
The oxygen seemed to perfectly enter his blood and then his muscle and organs and seemed to do so with 100% efficiency and therefore no waste.
"You can feel it, right?" Master Long looked at his disciple with expectant eyes but realized he barely explained anything, "You felt the oxygen enter your body and be used without waste, right?" Fang Xiong just nodded, still gulping down air.
"Good. Now we've got to do it a few more times and then I'll perform a special technique on you to make sure your body remembers this way of breathing," Master Long instructed Fang Xiong who widened his eyes in both annoyance and reluctance after what he just experienced.
For the next 2 hours, Fang Xiong was forced through the same treatment breath after breath and his lung felt like they were constantly being lit on fire. Strangely enough, his body quickly adapted to this weird breathing method and the fire even started to feel slightly pleasant as if every breath pumped him full of stimulants.
Seeing that he'd so quickly adapted, Master Long looked at the boy in wonder, "What a monster..." was all he whispered before he gathered himself and got Fang Xiong's attention, "Okay, Xiong'er, I'm going to do what I did earlier and inject Ki into your body, okay? So just stay still and continue breathing like how you've been for the past few hours."
Fang Xiong continued as he was and slowly took air into his lungs before waiting for it to burn and then releasing it all and repeating the process again and again. Master Long, however, walked behind Fang Xiong and gently placed his hands on his students back.
He waited for Fang Xiong to start a new breath and when the boy did so, Master Long starting injecting his Ki into Fang Xiong's back.
The Ki entered smoothly through the skin and into the body before it slowly moved toward the lungs and diaphragm. It stayed there, nourishing these parts and encouraging something akin to muscle memory in them; to ensure that Fang Xiong would continue to breath 'correctly'.
Fang Xiong on the other hand, barely felt anything other than the fire in his lungs getting more bearable.
The whole process carried on for about 15 minutes before Master Long removed his hands and let out a slightly tired sigh, the process taking more out of him than he thought it would. Nonetheless, it all went without a hitch and he tapped Fang Xiong's shoulder.
Fang Xiong opened his eyes and barely felt the strain from breathing how he did now. It was as if he had always breathed in this way; it was a very peculiar feeling.
His attention was taken away from his wonder about the way he breathed and was instead focused on his Uncle/Master pulling out a short wooden pole that was thinner at one end than the other. It looked particularly limber and flexible.
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"Okay, Xiong'er, let's teach you how to walk correctly!" despite the enthusiasm he felt for training and getting stronger, Fang Xiong felt a bit worried about how enthusiastic his Uncle/Master was.
3 hours later~
Xiao Mei and her Father walked from the dining room to the courtyard where they could still hear the training Fang Xiong was undergoing.
"Xiong'er, just walk properly! It's not that hard!" a usually calm voice to both Xiao Mei and Fang Shen's ears, was now almost screaming so loud it could be heard from quite a distance. Xiao Mei looked worriedly up at her father. Ever since she knew her brother had started to begin Ki Cultivation she couldn't stop feeling worried for him and his safety; she knew how dangerous Ki Cultivation could be.
"Old man, if you tell me to walk properly one more time and hit me with that stick again, I'm gonna shove it up your arse!" a slightly pained but mostly angry voice boomed back. If it weren't for the natural-high pitched tone, it would've sounded very threatening.
"Huh, Old man?! I'm not old! And plus, you're not walking correctly!" a smack was heard, followed by a pained grunt, "Come on, Xiong'er, just do it how I do it!" the man's voice was pleading and tired.
Xiao Mei and her father arrived at the courtyard to see both Master Long and Fang Xiong walking in perfect sync back and forth in the yard, with no real difference between the two in how they both walked. Well, there was one difference; Fang Xiong's legs were covered in bruises and his face was one of livid anger while Master Long had hardly been touched, he just looked tired.
"If you haven't seen already, I am walking like you, Old man," Fang Xiong looked like he wanted to launch himself at his Master but remembering the previous times he'd done so and the outcomes, he decided against it and just ignored his Master.
Turning his head away from his Master to ignore him, Fang Xiong saw his sister and father standing there and watching him train. He could see the worry and slight anger of his sister as she looked at his bruised legs and he could see the pride in his father's eyes along with the supportive love he showed earlier.
Seeing these two, Fang Xiong felt a need to complete this annoying walking training. Not because he wanted strength to protect them but because he wanted strength to show them he wasn't trash, that he could look after himself and stand as an equal to his powerful father and his genius big sister.
But despite his need, he didn't feel any change in how he felt when he walked similar to how he felt with the breathing method. His annoyance continued to build, threatening to boil over the edge and cause him to go berserk.
He turned his head to Master Long and examined him with renewed fervor, looking at every single movement with stunning attention to detail. Fang Xiong took every single move he saw and implemented into his own walking.
Whether it was because his annoyance pushed his focus higher and he found something in his Master's moves because of it or because he'd just got lucky, Fang Xiong started to feel his entire body ache, like it was on fire.
"That's it, Xiong'er, feel the fire, let it burn, burn the movements into the very fibers of your being!" his Master almost screamed in joyous exclamation as he saw the veins bulge across Fang Xiong's entire body.
Xiao Mei looked in wonder at her brother. She saw the look in his eye when he looked at her and their father, she saw the need born because of them being there. It fully warmed her heart to think she was part of the reason he was willing to get beaten with a stick to get stronger. Little did she know it wasn't exactly as she thought it was.
Fang Xiong looked at his master and spoke through gritted teeth, "What do I do now? Do I just keep walking?" his voice was slightly strained, the same way you talk while lifting a heavy weight.
"Yes, but while you do that, I must 'massage' your body with this stick to make sure your body remembers the movements," Master Long spoke with a 'reluctance' voice as he pulled out a stick similar to the first but instead it seemed incredibly firm and hard.
Fang Xiong glared at his Master, praying that one day he could beat the crap out of him. In the end, he slightly nodded his head and the 'massage' begun.
The 'massage' lasted 20 minutes and it consisted of beating, beating, and well, more beating. Fang Xiong was bruised all over and even moving caused a monumental amount of pain but the energy he currently felt flowing around his body was exhilarating.
It wasn't Ki or any type of mystical energy, it was pure vitality, slowly nourishing the body and the things in it. Fang Xiong didn't know this, however, he just knew it would help him in his Ki Cultivation.
His Master came up behind him and placed a hand tentatively on his shoulder, "Sorry about that, Xiong'er, you can take a rest now, I can complete the rest of your training on my own," Fang Xiong looked up at his Master before his vision went blurry and he collapsed into his Master's arms.
Fang Xiong collapsing caused Xiao Mei to cry out in shock before rushing over with shocking speed. But Fang Shen rushed in front of her and stopped her, "It's the next part of the training, he's alright, your uncle just put him to sleep."
"But..." she went to argue but a stern look from her father shot that option down.
"Brother Long, I hope you can do the last bit of the training here so Xiao Mei isn't worried anymore, is that alright?" he spoke as if this as purely for his daughter but his slightly worried expression betrayed him and showed that he too was a bit worried.
Master Long just nodded his head and lay Fang Xiong on the floor. As he lay on the floor, Fang Xiong's limbs were put in all sorts of directions before Master Long poked some spots on the limbs before changing the direction and placement of the limb and doing the same thing again and again.
It took about 10 minutes and by now Master Long was poking Fang Xiong's head and his chest at high speeds. Weirdly, all of the bruises on Fang Xiong's body had disappeared, whether this was because of his natural healing ability, the weird massage from Master Long or both, no one but Master Long knew.
Slowly, the speed at which Master Long poked Fang Xiong decreased and decreased until he stopped poking him altogether. He grabbed at the air and pulled out a pill bottle.
The bottle was black and had some golden yellow runes on it. He took out three pills and placed them in Fang Xiong's mouth before making him swallow them. After this, he picked the boy up and asked Fang Shen were his son's room was.
It didn't take long for them to get there and Master Long lay him on the bed, "Okay, us three should leave him alone for a while. He'll come and find us when he wakes," Master Long said this in a weirdly stern way as if he were afraid these two would accidentally mess up his disciple's foundation building for Ki Cultivation.
Reluctantly, the two of them followed Master Long out of the room.
Fang Xiong just lay there, not moving like a statue.