Susu sat under a tree, braiding leather tassels together forming them into a new whip.
Feng Chaoxiang, her master had snapped Scourge as he decimated both Xing and her, when they tried the save the child from his grasp.
Susu never seen her master so vicious. No, she never experienced it. Yes, he was strict, yes, but he was never domineering with her. That side was usually extended to Heng Guo, Bo Ying and Zhao Xing.
I miss you, master, Susu thought, straining a leather tassel through another loop. She allowed her mind to wander whilst the wind caressed her fingertips.
The Jade Dragon Mountain was tranquil, just the way she liked it, so she embraced its surreality as much as possible before she began her training anew.
After Susu broke through to the Accentuation Realm, a burning sensation erupted in her right shoulder. It felt as though the two meridians within that shoulder were damaged.
The pain didn’t wallow away, but eventually her right shoulder turned purple, from internal bruising.
On the third day, she ensured that her Core Dantian was fully calcified and tried cultivating. When her Qi reached the meridians within her right shoulder, it sang a song of pain and fire.
She tried to soothe the pain within the damaged meridian pathways, but it only seemed to make it worst.
Each time she sent a smidgen of Qi hoping to slowly heal it. The two meridians pathways within her right shoulder would roil uncontrollably, forcing her to stop.
The only time Susu felt relief in her right shoulder was when night came. Even then, her Qi would still stall and the pain in her shoulder would groan painfully, but it wasn’t as painful as it was during the day.
“I have to see at strength I’ve lost in my right arm.” Susu said aloud.
As Susu finished braiding her whip. She rolled her shoulder into comfort, alleviating the subtle throbs of fire, then flicked her wrist violently.
She held slid her left foot back, then planted all of her right into her right foot. She rocked Scourge, holding it then swirled her Qi into her right arm.
A burning sensation erupted into her right arm, forcing her to since. She ignored it, swallowing deeply then shifted her feet, cracking Scourge against a thickly layered tree.
A loud snap bellowed throughout the air, followed by a loud snippet of crackles which emanated from the tree.
Susu watched as bits of wood crumbled from where she snapped Scourge, leaving a giant crater of a hole in the middle of the tree.
The tree then trailed to the left and the sound of straining wood groaned out like a moaning lion waking at first light, startling animals that were in close vicinity.
The tree began to slowly fall to its left and an elongated boom, exploded sending ripples of dust and grime throughout the surrounding area.
Susu kicked herself into the air, using her qinggong, watching as dust, leaves, weeds and grime puffed into the air, smothering the entire area in a deep dusty smog.
As the dust poured into Susu’s eyes, forcing tears to flow down her cheeks. She whipped them away but regretted not wearing her veil.
As the commotion around the area finally settled, Susu leapt towards the fallen tree, examining her blow on the trunk.
The tree wasn’t completely snapped in two, strands of wood were still connected, but the majority of the damage had been done at the small crater Susu created from the tip of Scourge.
Susu looked down, gauging the size of the crater she’d created. It was twenty inches wide in diameter and four inches deep.
She’d hoped to snap the tree trunk in half, but if this was the limit of her execution, she didn’t have much choice but to accept it.
“The power from the Hundred Venom Strike has increased drastically, but it’s still not enough.” Susu said, lips curling into a smile, despite not getting the result she’d hoped for. “Five Hundred Venom Strike.” She said, softly. “That’s what I’ll call you now.”
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The increase in power was evident. The three additional meridians gain from ascending to the Accentuation Realm felt surreal for Susu.
She never expected the increase from expanding her Core Dantian would make such an improvement. It was like comparing a pond to a lake.
The Hundred Venom Strike usually left a dent in someone’s chest of half an inch, but the Five Hundred Venom Strike was sixteen inches deeper.
The dividends paid from the six months of seclusion were worth it. The elation she felt after not breaking through for three years was worth it.
In the years she spent roaming the Jianghu as a Divination Realm Martial Master she’d hardly faced defeat, nor did she ever craved power.
The only thing she ever craved, was love. Shi Qiu’s lies affected her more ways than she would ever admit, but now that she had a new purpose, she wouldn’t allow anyone to disturb her mental fortitude.
As she solidified her mental fortitude, Susu knew this is not where she wanted to be, in terms of power.
She needed more.
Susu craved to be a pillar within the Jianghu or even the Wulin. She needed the strength that’ll make anyone hesitate before they considered attacking the child.
“This isn’t enough,” Susu whispered, She may have ascended to the Accentuation Realm, but that didn’t mean the pains of her heart were gone, or would ever fully heal.
Susu’s new goal, was for her to ascend to the Qi Perception Realm. If she could ascend to that realm, no one would dare speak ill of the child, especially if she claimed her as her daughter!
Ripples of goosebumps swirled around Susu, tingling even in her mind. She even began to think breaking through to the Qi Perception Realm was possible.
But how much training would she have to engage in?
“A lot,” Susu said aloud, answering her own question. “But this isn’t enough. I need to understand what I can and can’t do now. I will maximise my newfound strength with my External Arts and see how it integrates with my Internal Arts.”
Susu pulled the Sun Defiant Manual she’d received from Elder Zixin from her sleeve and opened the first page. She read the first paragraph and froze.
Those who seek the power of Yang, but have not accumulated enough Yin will never Master the Internal Arts of the Sun Defiant Manual.
“What does this mean?” Susu said, “Is this a riddle?”
She closed the manual, pushing it back into her sleeve and rolled her shoulder, feeling the fire sensation erupt around her shoulder once more.
Susu tried to ignore the burning sensation, but her mind wouldn’t allow it, so she did what she thought was best…rest.
◆◆◆
After resting for two days, Susu finally pushed herself up, looking up to the sky, embracing the sun’s light. She closed her eyes feeling the heat from sizzle her face. “Now to see what I can do.”
Susu spent the next month going through the first five stances of the Star Guiding Fist, gauging the difference in power. She needed to understand which stance suited her best and which one she could adapt to her Dance of the Scorpion Maiden.
The increase in strength Susu experienced with her Core Dantian expanding, made her feel as though she could turn a boulder into powder with a simple punch.
The problem was, that she couldn’t, which was evident from her Five Hundred Venom Strike against the fallen tree. She was a lot more powerful than she was before, but she didn’t have the destruction she craved.
“If I can’t have the power I desire at the Accentuation Realm, then I should at least attain better stamina.”
Susu sat on a patch of grass in front of the small pond. She closed her eyes and lapped her feet, and began cultivating.
After five days of meditating, she came to a realisation. The Five Hundred Venom Strike should be more powerful than what it was.
The problem was, the meridians in her right hand were damaged, compared to her left hand.
“It maybe best for me to switch to my left hand, until I can repair my damaged meridians.” She whispered, “The pain I feel by just channeling Qi into my right hand, is getting to the point of agitation were I might not be able to use it in a fight anymore.”
She swirled the Qi within her body once more, trying to see whether she could use her right hand, despite the demerits of her right shoulder.
The moment her Qi flowed into meridian pathways for her right shoulder. The burning sensation returned, but this time fiercer. It felt as though the meridian pathway within her shoulder rejected her Qi this time. “This isn’t working. I have to repair the damage, slowly…little by little.”
Susu then spent the next few days practicing her Dance of the Scorpion Maiden with her left hand.
Instead of cultivating, she engrossed herself in her External Arts image training.
It didn’t go as horrible as she expected it, but that was thanks to her master Feng Chaoxiang ensuring his disciples were good with both hands.
Yes, your right or left hand may be your dominate hand, but if it’s damaged beyond repair, you’ll need the other arm don’t you think? She reminisced.
As per usual, Zhao Xing would be the one to complain the most regarding such tedious training methods.
As like always, he was always the first to master them. A habit that always made Susu jealous, to a point.
“It doesn’t matter,” She said aloud, shaking her head in shame. “I’m of the Accentuation Realm now…it’s all in the past.”
Susu spent two months, making her left hand as efficiently possible as she could. If she were to compare the two, her left hand was at least forty percent capable of what her right hand could do.
As much as she wanted to push it to sixty, she had to think of what she really needed to do, and that ascended to the Qi Perception Realm.
Susu pulled the Sun Defiant Manual from her sleeve, pulling it free once more and looked at the first paragraph once more. “I will do as you say. I will accumulate enough Yang essence within my Dantian, and see if I can master this Sun Defiant Manual.”
It wasn’t like Susu to wonder about such things, but she couldn’t help her curiosity. If this Sun Defiant Manual was as potent as Elder Zixin said, then it could help her, because if Susu wanted to break through to the Qi Perception Realm, she would need all the help she could get, even if it were from a manual such as this.