Chapter 2: So the Reward Is Cultivating by Itself!

"Alright, you can stop practicing the Fist Technique for now... I didn't say you could sit down and rest. After practicing the Fist Technique, your Qi Blood is surging. This is the exact moment to use the Pile Technique and Breathing to rein in your Qi Blood and fortify your Primordial Energy from within. Stop sitting on the ground. Get up! Pile Technique! Breathing! Exhale when I tell you to exhale, inhale when I tell you to inhale. Although Breathing is simple, it doesn't allow for any distractions.

"Not bad, it's finally starting to take shape. You don't have to practice the Pile Technique anymore... I didn't tell you to rest! It's time to continue practicing your punches. This time, you must maintain your Breathing while practicing the Fist Technique, just like you did during the Pile Technique...

"Wrong!... Start over!... Again...

"Junior Sister, out of energy? That's normal; you've been practicing for over an hour. Stop for now. Come, take this elixir first... How is it? Do you feel energetic again?

"This pill is called the 'Nourishing Essence Pill'. Although it's of little use to cultivators, it's a top-tier tonic for mortals. Just one pill can restore seventy to eighty percent of your physical strength without overdrawing your body. I used to take quite a few of these every day when I was practicing the First Layer. The only minor drawback of this elixir is that it only restores physical strength; it can't eliminate the fatigue and soreness in your body...

"Hey, Junior Sister, why are you running toward the bedroom? Of course I didn't give you this elixir so you could go back to rest. Since your strength has recovered, continue practicing! Pile Technique! Breathing!

"Out of energy again? That's fine, just have another Nourishing Essence Pill. There are plenty of elixirs to go around!"

The sun had set in the west, and the bright moon shone with a clear, radiant light.

Beneath the moonlight, Mu Xiaoyu's eyes had gone from initial earnestness to a dazed state, and finally to complete emptiness. It was as if she had endured tremendous devastation in these short three or four hours.

In fact, that was pretty much the case. Her limbs had started aching in less than half an hour, and with every cycle of Breathing, she felt a throbbing pain in her lungs. However, because Li Yinsheng fed her a Nourishing Essence Pill every so often, she had forcibly persevered until now.

The problem was that while taking the elixir restored her physical strength so she could continue practicing, the feelings of soreness and fatigue did not fade away—instead, they kept accumulating!

Truth be told, she had long since decided that getting her palms smacked a few times with a cane was no big deal. After all, getting smacked only hurt her hands. Given her current state, her entire body would definitely ache when she woke up tomorrow.

But when she rubbed her aching thighs and expressed her dejected preference for getting smacked, Li Yinsheng dispelled her notion with a single breezy sentence:

"You can, but you must know, Junior Sister, that even if you've been practicing for nearly four hours, as long as you haven't reached the Beginner level, the number of times you get smacked won't decrease by even one. Forty smacks, no discount."

Dumbfounded, Mu Xiaoyu could only raise her hand to brush aside the long hair stuck to her sweaty forehead. Dragging her lead-heavy limbs, she began throwing punches at the empty air once more. Moreover, her punches clearly had a focus this time, as if an invisible target stood before her. She struck out punch after punch through gritted teeth, a fierce glint flickering in her large, clear eyes.

Li Yinsheng, on the other hand, was fully concentrated. He watched Mu Xiaoyu's every movement closely, ready to provide precise corrections at any moment or thoughtfully hand over a Nourishing Essence Pill when her strength was depleted.

Back when he had no one to guide him and had to grope his way forward entirely on his own, it took him two days to reach the Beginner level of the First Layer of the Qingxuan Scripture. But if he wanted to get the highest tier of rewards, he had to make his Junior Sister reach the Beginner level of the Qingxuan Scripture within a single day. Fortunately, with plenty of Nourishing Essence Pills for supplementation and his own guidance by her side, Li Yinsheng felt that even if Junior Sister Mu lacked a Root Device, it shouldn't be too hard to help her reach the Beginner level within a day.

Indeed, it didn't exceed his expectations. When the moon rose to the middle of the sky, Mu Xiaoyu—who had practiced until she was in a complete daze but was still throwing vicious punches at some invisible target—suddenly paused. Immediately after, her spine, from her lower back all the way to the nape of her neck, emitted a series of subtle sounds. It was as if a string of jade bells had suddenly been shaken, producing a continuous cascade of fine, crisp chimes.

Li Yinsheng's eyes lit up. The First Layer of the Qingxuan Scripture was complete!

He subconsciously unfurled the scroll and looked at the golden text on it. The very last line—[Cultivation Technique learned within a single day. Reward: Thirty years of Cultivation]—suddenly lit up.

Before he could tell Mu Xiaoyu to stop and rest, his vision went dark, and the world spun wildly around him.

When his vision cleared and the feeling of solid ground returned beneath his feet, Li Yinsheng looked around. It seemed he had directly entered the scenery within the scroll, standing right on the White Jade Platform in the center of the lake.

A full moon hung in the sky, casting a limpid glow. Faint ripples stirred the surface of the lake, while lotus flowers and lily pads spread out and swayed in the moonlight. Everything was exactly the same as in the painting. The only difference was the golden text floating above the White Jade Platform beneath his feet.

[The Master of the Cave Heaven has learned the Cultivation Technique within a single day. Cultivation Aspiration perfectly achieved! This time's reward is thirty years of Cultivation. Please cultivate on your own to claim it.]

Li Yinsheng stood dumbfounded for a long time. He opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, and closed it once more. Finally, he looked up at the sky and let out a shout that pierced the heavens:

"No way! What is that supposed to mean? Thirty years of Cultivation! Am I supposed to cultivate it myself? Right here? For thirty years?! What kind of reward is this?! What is this place?!"

Li Yinsheng's cries echoed across the calm surface of the lake, lingering for a long, long time.