CHAPTER

25

Expected Encounter

I

Hao Zhen collapsed onto the ground like a sack of potatoes, face-first. For a moment he just lay there, in a daze, before he snapped out of it. Then, groaning, he pushed himself off the ground, getting on his knees.

Tian Jin stood in front of him, looking down, his expression blank. “Get up,” he said, his voice severe.

Hao Zhen took in a deep breath, gathering his strength, and shakily stood up.

“Get into stance,” Tian Jin commanded.

Hao Zhen closed his eyes, taking another deep breath, trying to ignore the aching coming from all over his body. He then opened his eyes and took a step forward, shifting his weight to his front leg as he raised his arms over his chest. He didn’t think his stance was anywhere near perfect, but in his current state, it was the best he could do.

Tian Jin narrowed his eyes at him, frowning a little. Probably realizing that Hao Zhen wasn’t capable of anything better, Tian Jin didn’t try to correct his form. Instead, he said, “Attack.”

Steeling himself, Hao Zhen took three steps forward, pulling back his fist, then released it once Tian Jin was in range, twisting his body slightly as he did so, starting from his legs. His punch landed firmly on Tian Jin’s chest.

Tian Jin had no reaction, as if nothing had happened. Hao Zhen wasn’t surprised. It wasn’t as if he had been expecting anything. Still trembling, he took a step back, falling into stance again. He stared at Tian Jin, his head slightly ringing, vaguely aware that he had forgotten something.

“You twisted your body,” Tian Jin said, plainly, “but you forgot to move your body forward together with your punch. You need to drop your weight, converting into the thrust.” He paused, giving Hao Zhen a long, careful look before sighing. “But I think that’s enough for now.”

Hearing that, Hao Zhen froze. Then his strength deserted him, and he dropped forward. Tian Jin swiftly stepped forward, catching him, before gently lowering him to the ground. Tian Jin then crouched down in front of him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “You did well,” Tian Jin said, the warmth back in his voice, a smile on his face.

“Thanks,” Hao Zhen said, weakly, between deep breaths. Hao Zhen then sent some spiritual power into his spatial ring, taking a pill out of it, before promptly swallowing it down. Moments later he felt a warmth wash over him, the aching pretty much disappearing, his exhaustion fading into mere weariness.

Magical pills weren’t his favorite thing about this world, but they were pretty high up there on the list.

Hao Zhen then pushed himself to his feet, Tian Jin leaning in slightly to support him as his body was still rather numb, before helping him back to the campsite, guiding him over to his chair.

Duo Lan, who had been sitting in one of the other chairs with her eyes closed, opened her eyes and looked at them. She looked Hao Zhen up and down. “Tough day again?”

Hao Zhen glanced at her as he sat down on the chair, Tian Jin leaning forward lightly to help him. “What do you think?” he said dryly.

“You’re making good progress,” Tian Jin said, giving him an encouraging look. He then made his way over to the remaining chair and sat down. “You’re already much better than when you started.”

Hao Zhen shifted his gaze to Tian Jin. These days, it was hard to conciliate his warm, supportive friend with the cold, unsympathetic instructor Tian Jin became whenever they were training.

It had already been a week since the start of the Glistening Stone Hunt, and the three of them had fallen into a routine of sorts. Every day, they’d wander around the forest while picking up magical plants, hunt a couple of monsters until they were near spiritual exhaustion, and then set up camp.

On their second day in the forest, while they were recovering their spiritual stamina, Tian Jin had the idea to start teaching Hao Zhen martial arts and helping him with his physical conditioning. Hao Zhen had readily accepted. At the time, however, he had had no idea just what Tian Jin was like when he was training someone.

The first training session had been one hell of a surprise. For a moment, he had thought Tian Jin had gotten possessed by someone, or some sort of evil alter ego had taken over his body.

Even Duo Lan, who had been spectating their training, had been stunned.

Tian Jin had initially reacted to their confusion by being confused himself, as if he had no idea what the problem was. Hao Zhen ultimately managed to get to the bottom of the issue, however. As it turned out, this was the only form of training Tian Jin knew. His master, Tian Qi, had trained him this way—callously pushing him to the brink of exhaustion every single session.

Realizing that his master’s methods perhaps weren’t suitable for everyone, Tian Jin had then offered to go lighter on Hao Zhen. Hao Zhen almost took him up on that offer. Almost. Instead, he told Tian Jin to keep training him this way, as he had come to the conclusion that if he wanted to grow stronger as fast as possible, this was exactly the kind of training he needed.

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If he were back on Earth, it’d have been a different story. He knew, after all, that constantly pushing yourself to the limit wasn’t good for the body, and that it was important to strike a balance while training. Magical pills, however, changed that. They made training injuries a non-issue, and made recovery many times faster. Because of that, he decided to grit his teeth and endure. That didn’t change the fact, however, that every training session was pure torture. Every day, after they finished hunting, he’d be overcome by a feeling of dread as Tian Jin would call him over to start their training.

For her part, Duo Lan didn’t comment much on their training sessions. She only bothered watching the first two. Afterward, she’d just sit on their chair, her eyes closed as she meditated, while Tian Jin beat some martial arts into him. At most, she’d only make a comment or two once they were done—just an offhanded, simple remark. He had been rather surprised by her lack of lip. Knowing her, he had thought she’d make some biting comments about how weak he was, but so far, there hadn’t been any. He wasn’t certain, but she seemed to regard him with a bit less disdain these days.

Hao Zhen sighed, stretching a little in his chair, feeling some of his bones pop. He then stood up and started doing some proper stretches, cooling down his body. Duo Lan glanced at him before closing her eyes again, Tian Jin, on the other hand, after confirming that he was fine, got up and started doing some training of his own just beside the campsite.

Overall, Hao Zhen would say that he was pretty happy with his progress. He was certainly much better at fighting than he had been a week ago in pretty much every way possible. Now, when Tian Jin was limiting his own strength to that of a first-level cultivator, he was able to hold his own for a little while, whereas in the beginning he’d get knocked out in one punch. He still had a long way to go, but at least he knew he was heading in the right direction.

Tian Jin and Duo Lan had also improved. Although their first hunt didn’t turn out so well, in all of the following ones, Hao Zhen barely had to use his spiritual skill, even when they faced a second-level monster. In fact, just yesterday, they had come across another glistening horn rhinoceros, and Tian Jin and Duo Lan had managed to swiftly deal with it before he even had the opportunity to use One String Puppetry on it.

Hao Zhen frowned as he stood back up, done with his stretches. Overall, he’d say that everything was going well, but there was still the problem called Du Qing. So far, nothing had happened, but he had a feeling that Du Qing would be making his move any time now. He didn’t know why exactly the prime disciple was taking this long, though.

Was he trying to lull them into a false sense of security, or was this just the kind of illogical behavior he had come to expect from arrogant young masters? After all, the longer Du Qing waited, the more time Tian Jin—and Duo Lan—would have to grow.

Hao Zhen then made his way over to his tent and entered it. The tent was pretty big—he could comfortably stand inside it, though Tian Jin would probably have to lower his head a little–but pretty much empty. The only things inside it were a pillow and some bedclothes, which he used to sleep on. There were no sleeping bags in this world, unfortunately. Or, at the very least, Tian Jin and Duo Lan had never heard of them, as he had asked them about it shortly after they left the Exchange Pavilion after exchanging a couple of contribution points for the three tents.

In any case, the main purpose of the tent was to serve as protection from the elements and for privacy, so he reckoned it did the job. Hao Zhen unceremoniously plopped down on top of the pile of bedding for a nap. Later tonight, he’d try grilling the meat of the monster they had killed earlier today—a shimmering step deer. He was looking forward to trying out some magical venison steak.

II

“I think you can do it,” Tian Jin said.

The three of them were standing beside a tree. A couple steps away from them, in a small clearing, was a large bear with deep black fur. It wouldn’t have looked much different from a normal one if it weren’t for the spikes on its back, running down its spine.

It was a shifting claw bear—a first-level red-grade magical beast. Nowadays, they mostly ignored first-level monsters, concentrating on hunting second-level monsters, but upon coming across the bear, Tian Jin had had an idea.

Hao Zhen stared straight at the bear, taking in a deep breath, before turning to look at Tian Jin. “Are you sure?”

“I am,” Tian Jin said. Duo Lan stood a few steps behind them, keeping a lookout while using Spiritual Sight. They had decided that while they were wandering around the forest, one of them would always have Spiritual Sight active while keeping an eye out for monsters and other cultivators. “And if it goes wrong, I’ll be ready to jump in at any moment.”

Hao Zhen returned his gaze to the monster. As a rule of thumb, five average first-level cultivators were required to slay a single first-level monster. Hao Zhen was a fairly average cultivator, so in theory, he was four people short.

Still, he did want to know how much he had grown, and this was pretty much a perfect opportunity. The monster was definitely strong enough to pose a challenge and then some, but it was still one Tian Jin would be able to kill in an instant, so considering how fast Tian Jin’s reaction speed was, Hao Zhen wouldn’t be in any danger—and he knew that, rationally.

Unfortunately, reason didn’t translate into courage, and he’d still have to face a magical beast on his own.

Still, Hao Zhen took a step forward, into the bear’s line of sight. Tian Jin had already been training him for a week. He couldn’t back down now. The least he could do in return was try to prove that Tian Jin hadn’t been wasting his efforts on him.

The bear stilled upon seeing him. Hao Zhen tensed. He had already been chanting the incantation of the Drifting Moonlight Method in his mind, and he immediately started channeling spiritual power into his skill seed. Then, just as he was about to attach an Ethereal String to the monster, Duo Lan suddenly called out, “There are cultivators nearby!”

Hao Zhen froze. The next moment, Tian Jin dashed into the clearing, and the monster immediately turned around and ran. Tian Jin didn’t chase after it, instead coming to a stop beside Hao Zhen. Duo Lan ran over to his other side, staring straight ahead.

Hao Zhen took a moment to process what was going on, before activating Spiritual Sight himself. Then he saw it—some distance away, but rapidly approaching, he could see six human-shaped clusters of spiritual aura. Six cultivators, and judging by the density of their spiritual aura, which was similar to that of Tian Jin’s and Duo Lan’s, all six of them were at the second level of the Red Spiritual Realm.

Hao Zhen sharply breathed in. Maybe they were just a group of cultivators passing by, but chances were…

He looked at his two teammates and saw that they were standing firm. Over the last few days, they had already discussed how they’d react when Du Qing finally made his move, and they had decided that if they thought they had a fighting chance, they would face it head-on instead of running away so as not to waste any energy trying to run.

Six second-level cultivators were definitely something Tian Jin and Duo Lan were confident in facing. Hao Zhen took in another deep breath, this time to calm himself down, before slowly letting the air out of his lungs, readying himself.

Moments later, Du Jian, flanked by five other cultivators, stepped into the clearing.