It was the day after, and Xing Yi was scratching his head while looking at a yellow scroll that vaguely described the location of Cultivator Que Zhi. Walking along a mountain path, he came to a tall mountain at the edge of the sect.

He looked up from the map several times towards a wooden house at the top of it before he gave up. He hoped this was the right place.

Inhaling, Xing Yi leaped forward. The hidden strength lying within his legs boosted him forward with ease. Each step taking him forward several long strides, he reached the top of the mountain in a couple minutes.

He didn’t show any sign of tiring and walked over to the front door. The house was similar to the one he had in his small village. Small. He wondered why someone so accomplished, being Foundation Establishment, would want to live in a house like this.

He took a big breath and knocked.

“Come in!” An old voice came from the other side.

Xing Yi sighed in relief. He got the right place.

Walking in with trepidation, he saw a thin old man sitting on a wooden chair in squatting position. The leggings of his purple robes were rolled all the way up, revealing his thin, tanned legs. In his hands was a white porcelain bowl containing a generous portion of meat and rice.

On a tray next to him was a steaming pot of tea. Its soothing fragrance permeated through the air.

“Xing Yi greets Senior Que,” Xing Yi cupped his fists and bowed. He spoke in a respectful manner.

“You’re finally here. Just stay right there while I finish this meal,” Que Zhi said before completely devouring the remainder of his meal.

Xing Yi waited patiently until Que Zhi finished moments later.

A minute later, he wiped his mouth clean with a tablecloth and walked past Xing Yi and out the house. “Follow me.”

Xing Yi came to his side and silently followed him to the back of the mountain. It was an open area. A few small trees dotted the backyard, lush grass brushing against Xing Yi’s ankles as he followed in suit. However, if one walked too far, they would end up walking off the edge of the cliff.

Que Zhi came to a stop in the middle of the outcropping with his hands behind his back. Xing Yi stopped too. A light gust of wind came by. It was silent for a moment until Que Zhi spoke.

“Did you bring the two books like I asked you?” Que Zhi asked.

“Yes, Senior. Here,” Xing Yi pulled out the two thin books before bowing with them in front of him.

He heard a few footsteps and felt Que Zhi take the two books from him. He heard him flip through the two books in rapid succession, reading each page for a brief moment before continuing. Once he finished reading both, Xing Yi exited his bow and looked to Que Zhi.

“These ‘Southern Dragon Fist’ and ‘Flying Baboon Style’ are both very interesting. Both complement each other very nicely if cultivated in tandem. Though it is incomplete, these basic forms can bring you quite far!” Que Zhi praised, slapping the books in hand.

He then gave them back to Xing Yi, who placed them back inside his backpack.

“You have two years. Probably even less, to defeat Wu Jia,” Que Zhi stated.

Xing Yi’s heart skipped a beat.

“If you want to defeat him, you have to do so before he reaches Foundation Establishment. To defeat him, you must know his every weakness, gain an indomitable spirit, train ten times as hard as Wu Jia, learn to fly, and finally reach the peak of Meridian Cleansing. Lack any one of these criteria, and your death will be certain,” Que Zhi declared imposingly.

Xing Yi’s jaw dropped in awe.

This turned to a smile as he bowed once more.

“Yes! I hope Senior will take good care of me.”

They begun training immediately.

The first form of the ‘Southern Dragon Fist’ was ‘Southern Dragon Whips Its Tail’.

Back at the bottom of the mountain, Xing Yi ran up it in a strange manner. He shook his bottom with every step and did so in a zig zag pattern, the heel of his foot rotating as he touched down each time.

Immediately, His spine felt as if it was going to be split in half. And with just a few more steps, his arse felt as if he had been sitting on a sharp protruding rock for an entire day.

Xing Yi briefly stopped, exhausted and his bottom rear in great pain.

“Do not worry about the pain. It is normal for the body to have an adjustment period before it naturally finds the optimal way to do things. Keep going!” Que Zhi sat on a boulder nearby, observing him keenly.

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Xing Yi had a moment of respite before he steeled his will.

He was going to die if he didn’t push himself now!

So he carried on, drilling the first form of the ‘Southern Dragon Fist’ into himself. Soon, each moment caused his muscles to burn in pain and sweat dripped down his entire body, soaking his robes.

What was this ‘Southern Dragon Fist’ technique. It was pure torture!

Not just his body, but the attention required to continually cycle his inner qi in the way that the technique required of him was also very difficult!

But what pushed him forward was the memory of him being beaten by Wu Jia. Especially the cold, seemingly arrogant face he had on his face as he did so.

It angered him.

And unknowingly, only briefly noticed by Que Zhi for an instance was a red light that lit up within his eyes. He repeated this gruelling training for an entire hour, travelling up and down the mountain.

Eventually, as Xing Yi arrived at the top of the mountain once more, his lower body completely spent, Que Zhi’s came like a rusty knife scraping against metal.

“Now it’s time for the first form of the Flying Baboon Style!”

The first form of the flying Baboon Style was ‘Flying Baboon Gouges The Eye’.

Que Zhi in a seated-lotus position on the roof of his house, Xing Yi kicked the air, moving forward with each one, as if he truly was a monkey flying through the jungle. This time, it felt as if the bones in his feet were going to break. Each step on the ground was agony.

For an entire hour, Xing Yi repeated the First form of the Flying Baboon Style, his entire body sweating and shaking. And once Que Zhi called for him to stop, his next words came like a death sentence.

“Now it’s time for the second form of the Southern Dragon Fist!”

Xing Yi went through the remainder of the forms. All of which, through his excruciating pain, only existed as a distant blur in his future memory.

The second form of Southern Dragon Fist, ‘Southern Dragon Greets the Sun’. Xing Yi jumped up and down in large strides up the mountain. A small imprint on the ground came each time he impacted against the ground.

At this point, he was shirtless. Without Que Zhi popping in every so often to offer him a drink from a leather bottle, he would’ve already collapsed.

The second form of Flying Baboon Style, ‘Flying Baboon Grabs The Peach’. Xing Yi made a grabbing motion, holding a large rock in hand. He did this for an hour. He could not feel his hand for the rest of the day.

The third form of Southern Dragon Fist, ‘Southern Dragon Dives Into The Ocean’. Xing Yi Punched the air. When he created enough momentum, he would strike the ground, creating a small crater. His fingers felt like they were going to fall off. He did this for another hour.

The third form of Flying Baboon Style, ‘Flying Baboon Rips The Flesh’. This form was much similar to the second form but was done so backwards. He pulled back with the same rock in hand again and again. At the end of the hour, a large hand imprint was dented into it.

The rock dropped to the ground with a thud. Xing Yi did so too, his face resting against the hard rock ground soundly. He fell asleep.

He awoke seemingly hours later. It was late into the afternoon. The sun was beginning to set.

“Get up. It’s time to eat,” Que Zhi said. At the same time, Xing Yi noticed the aroma of hot food with a single sniff of his nose.

He scrambled to his feet, wincing at the pain throughout his body.

Nearby, Que Zhi had set up a campfire. Sitting over the campfire was—

“You killed a bear!” Xing Yi exclaimed, shocked at the sight of a bear being stoked over the fire. Well, at least half of it. The rest was already neatly aligned into several plates on a wooden table, appropriately seasoned and a sweet sauce marinating it as it sat.

His empty stomach called him as he walked over in a daze.

Ignoring the aching in the bones of his feet as he walked, he stood awkwardly for a moment. His mind hadn’t caught up to his mind yet and so he waited there, seemingly waiting for Que Zhi to say something.

“Can I really eat all of this?” Xing Yi asked, eyeing the juicy meat without shame. He licked his lips in excitement, imagining its succulent taste. Never before had he been so hungry.

Que Zhi laughed, “Of course. Didn’t your mother tell you? If you want to grow, you have to eat a lot!”

Xing Yi gave a massive grin.

He slumped down and immediately buried his face in the food before him. The only word he could think of was 'delicious'.