I waited in front of Shun Jin's room door for several more minutes. Occasionally picking my nose.
Finally, the black-haired, blue-eyed girl emerged from her room. She was wearing a blue and white robe made of white snake skin.
She opened the door and looked me directly in the eyes, her face holding back anger.
"You said I could ask you for anything?"
I nodded.
"Anything."
"Anything?"
"Anything."
I had a bad feeling about the smile that appeared on Shun Jin's face. But seeing her smile again meant she was back to her old self.
"Hmph!" She turned her face away, covering her mouth to hide a small laugh.
"I'm going to make you regret daring to want to leave me. He. Hehe. Hehehe."
I became curious. What did she really want?
But whatever it was, I had to accelerate Shun Jin's development first.
"I'll listen to your request later, after you've trained." I forcibly lifted Shun Jin by her stomach onto my shoulder like a sack before she could run away or go back to being lazy like yesterday. "Today I'm going to train you hard because our time is limited."
"Eek! Put me down, you crazy man! Put me down! I don't want to train!"
Slap!
"HyAh!"
I slapped Shun Jin's butt, which had been wriggling, kicking, and hitting my body, refusing to stay still. She immediately became docile after I slapped her butt. I carried her out of the city while Shun Jin remained on my shoulder. Limp like a sack.
***
The scorching sun was the perfect time to forge body and soul.
The sound of the clear river flowing over the rocks was so soothing.
"You must at least be at an intermediate stage to master the martial arts technique that can kill King Fong, Shun Jin. You must train the basics first."
I said to Shun Jin, who currently had heavy, flat river stones on her head, wrists, thighs, and shoulders. Each stone was as wide as a cypress tree trunk. She was practicing a low horse stance, and her legs were trembling after two hours like that.
"I'm not sure I should be training like this. You enjoy watching me suffer, don't you? You perverted lunatic. You just want to see my body constantly hurt by your perverted exercises."
Shun Jin glanced without daring to turn her head. If she turned her head, her balance would be destroyed, and the heavy stones on her would fall.
Hot sweat dripped from her cheeks, falling past her chin. Soaking the blue and white robe she was wearing. Fortunately, the white snake robe was heat-resistant, so she must have felt cool inside.
I calmly sipped warm tea from the bamboo cup I made. Honestly, it was enjoyable to see her suffer. I won't lie.
"Honestly, I have to admit, seeing a beautiful girl like you suffer is quite entertaining."
Shun Jin growled angrily like a cat. Her legs began to tremble violently, not because she couldn't hold on any longer, but because she was annoyed by my words. She looked like she was about to give up her training and sulk again.
"However, I prefer to see you grow stronger with every exercise I give you."
Shun Jin became silent, her legs stopped trembling, and she seemed to calm down. Her cheeks flushed a little red.
"Y-you perverted lunatic! You're only good at sweet talk, hmph." Shun Jin puffed out her cheeks, blushing shyly.
I calmly sipped my tea. Then I stood up and placed two additional stacks of flat stones on Shun Jin's head, thighs, wrists, and shoulders. She glared at me sharply.
"Hey! What are you doing, you crazy man!"
"You don't seem to be having any trouble. So I added more stones. Hold on for another hour, if even one stone falls, we'll start all over again."
Shun Jin snorted in annoyance. She growled like a cat again.
"I take back what I just said! You're just a perverted lunatic who enjoys seeing beautiful girls like me suffer!"
"But I think you quite like it. If you really didn't like it, you wouldn't bother obeying my orders."
Shun Jin hmphed, glancing away.
"I-it's because I want to get stronger. It's not because I want to obey your every whim or want to be seen by you, you pervert. Hmph!"
I playfully pinched Shun Jin's small, upturned nose. She almost lost her balance because of my teasing.
"Don't bother me, you crazy pervert!"
One hour later.
Shun Jin collapsed, her hands, shoulders, neck, thighs, and calves stiff. Her whole body cramped after three hours of low stances. Her entire body twitched slightly.
I plunged her slender sword into the ground beside Shun Jin's face.
"Get up. Training is far from over. In the daytime, you'll train your physique, in the afternoon we'll practice swordsmanship, and at night you'll train your cultivation."
Shun Jin's face turned pale hearing her routine daily training schedule. She looked at me in horror.
"I knew it, ever since you brought me into the Bloody Valley, you only wanted to see me broken! You crazy pervert! Pervert! Pervert!"
Shun Jin whined on the ground like a baby.
Slap!
I gently slapped her cheek to make her stop whining, and it worked. She stood up, picking up the sword with a face trying to hold back tears.
"I'll get you back for all of this someday, you crazy pervert!" Then she lunged at me, slashing wildly. I easily dodged her with just light footwork.
Throughout the afternoon, Shun Jin continuously swung her sword blindly, trying to cut me down until she could no longer swing the sword. She knelt with her sword stuck in the ground, breathing heavily.
"You... Huff... Didn't teach me... Huff... Any sword techniques... Huh..." Shun Jin looked at me with a bewildered expression.
"I taught you something. Now you understand that swinging a sword randomly will only exhaust you. Your opponent is a living creature that can move and think, Shun Jin. Therefore, swing your sword while thinking. Swinging a sword blindly is no different from a wild boar charging at anything in front of its face."
Shun Jin was still breathing heavily. The sun had just set. It seemed sword training would end here tonight.
Swoosh!
Many pebbles flew, obscuring my vision, then from the front, Shun Jin rushed towards me, who was still standing calmly.
She thrust with her empty right hand towards my neck, momentarily deceiving me, while the real attack from her left hand, covered by her robe sleeve, aimed at my stomach.
"Not bad. Now you can think."
I placed two fingers near my stomach, pinching the tip of Shun Jin's slender sword. Five more fingers, if Shun Jin had been one step faster, her attack might have touched my stomach.
Shun Jin grinned.
"I intended to stab your little brother. That way I could see your pained face. Crazy man."
"You're a hundred years too early for that." I released the tip of Shun Jin's sword, and she immediately sheathed it again.
"Crazy man. Don't forget you owe me one wish to be granted."
Shun Jin smiled broadly, reminding me of it.
"So?"
"I won't say it now. I'll say it before I fight my father's killer and kill him. Until then, never leave my side. Please."
Shun Jin said, looking at me seriously. Behind her teary eyes, she also looked at me full of hope.
I ruffled her hair.
"Just focus on your training. I won't leave you until your goal is fulfilled."
Shun Jin smiled. She smiled like that time. When we were both in the horse carriage.
"Promise." She held out her pinky finger.
I linked my pinky with hers. "Alright, crybaby. Promise."
The night grew darker. The sun had already said goodbye.
We both returned to the inn and I gave Shun Jin many pills that would help her cultivation after she had dinner. I told her not to sleep and to absorb all the pills overnight, I didn't even care if she suffered from Qi deviation due to over-digesting pills she wasn't capable yet.
The next morning, I saw Shun Jin's body covered in blue veins from Qi deviation. Despite this, I still made her train like yesterday, no matter if she whined and complained every second or even if she was dying.
When she was dying, I would just tell her to sleep for a few hours, then when she woke up, I would tell her to go back to training.
Seeing her train like that all day reminded me of the past. When Ye Jing and I tried to break our own limits by training until dying many times (literally). We were both trained by a wandering monk, who was Ye Jing's master, for a full year before starting to hunt devil cults. As a result, at that time, we both successfully entered the Immortal Ascension realm at a very young age.
"No power can be gained without sweat, blood, and sacrifice." Sipping tea, I said while watching Shun Jin run up and down the mountain with stacked rocks tied to her legs, hands, and back.
***