"Are you even human?!"

 

The next day, Chu Huoluo woke up feeling wronged. She felt that all the delicious food she had generously donated in the past three months had been fed to the dogs in return for pain and suffering.

 

Shen Zhenyi didn’t think too much of this, and lightly told her, "You’ll take a medicinal bath like this every three days."

 

Chu Huoluo was dumbstruck

 

It was a long time for she could form the words to respond. "Can’t I stop the training? It's no big deal. I'll just let my sister chop me into dim sum.”

 

The torturous medicine bath left a strong psychological shadow on her. She really didn’t want to endure this pain again. If she had to continue getting abused every three days for a full three months, she might as well let Chu Zhu Xi end her with a sword.

 

Shen Zhenyi did not try to persuade her. He always believed that people must choose their own path. If you give up yourself, then no one can force you to stand up again.

 

"Can you ease the pain a little?" She pleaded and begged.

 

Shen Zhenyi thought for a little bit and then nodded.

 

Chu Huoluo was relieved. Although it was hell, she found that the medicine bath was indeed effective. Because of her improvements, she stopped trying to use her True Qi during today’s training session.  After bathing once, her body had become much stronger. Only after running for a long amount of time would her lungs and organs begin to ache again.

 

“How did I become so athletic?” Chu Huoluo asked.

 

"The human body is like a delicate instrument. If it doesn’t move, it will begin to rust. Your organs move the least, so they are the most vulnerable to this. The first medication bath mostly strengthened your viscera to support your tired body.” (TL Blue: Viscera = Internal Organs)

 

Shen Zhenyi answered Chu Huoluo’s question.

 

Chu Huoluo finally felt that this training method was somewhat decent. Although she didn’t know how making her physical body stronger would strengthen her cultivation, Shen Zhenyi claimed to have done this, and his power was enormous.

 

But three days later, when soaking in the medicinal bath again, Chu Huoluo cries rang out once more.

 

“Shen Zhenyi! You liar! You said you would ease the pain a little! How come this hurts more than the last time?!"

 

Chu Huoluo’s body was numb from the pain and she couldn’t move much. She summoned all of her strength in order to scold him.

 

“Big fat liar!"

 

Shen Zhenyi, still facing away from the tub, calmly replied, "The first medicine bath mainly warms and helps the viscera. Of course, the medicinal properties would be relatively relaxed. The second medication bath, however, focuses on the meridians, bones and the flesh, which makes it ten times more painful. I've already adjusted the prescription so that you can bear it."

 

So he did alleviate the pain. It was just that he couldn’t alleviate it too much or the bath wouldn’t be effective.

 

Chu Huoluo was burning all over, and her mind became confused. She did not know whether she should say thank you or continue to scold him. Then, she passed out from the pain.

 

…

 

When she woke up, she smelled the rich fragrance of rice porridge. She opened her eyes and found herself lying on a couch inside the Pagoda, dressed in a white nightgown.

 

This is the Third Prince’s clothes. It smelled familiar to her.

 

Chu Huoluo suddenly blushed with shame - she was wearing nothing except this robe. Last night before she took a bath, Shen Zhenyi had set up a screen, so she didn’t have to bathe with her clothes on.

 

But this time, the amount of pain in the bathtub was really unexpected.

 

Was it the Third Prince who pulled her out naked and dressed her in pajamas?

 

At the thought of this, Chu Huoluo became ashamed of herself. She had intended to rebuke Shen Zhenyi for not warning her of the pain as soon as she woke up, but now, she had forgotten all about it.

 

Shen Zhenyi, with his back to her, was gently fanning the fire. The earthen pot on the stove was boiling and from inside came out steam from the rice porridge.

 

As if he had eyes behind his head, just as Chu Huoluo woke up, he opened his mouth and said, "Your clothes are beside you. When you’re ready, get dressed and get up. You can eat breakfast after finishing morning training.

 

Shen Zhenyi lifted the lid and scooped himself a small bowl of rice porridge. He then tossed in some boiled bamboo shoots, dried vegetables, and spices accompanied with a few drops of fragrant oil.

 

The meal isn’t for me. Chu Huoluo was hungry and salivated at the smell of porridge, her face showing a look of longing.

 

After making sure the Third Prince was still turned away, she put on her clothes and began her morning training.

 

This little girl is really pure-hearted Shen Zhenyi thought as he sipped the hot soup.

 

However, it was unexpected that Chu Huoluo was knocked out due to the amount of medication in the bath. It seemed that he needed to reduce the dosage.

 

He frowned and began to think of how he could modify the prescription, and still ensure that her cultivation remained stable.

 

Shen Zhenyi shook his head and felt as if he didn't need to try so hard.

 

After all, there was nothing that could threaten his existence in the Nine Hells. Why should he try so hard to help Chu Huoluo train?

 

Shen Zhenyi deliberated for a moment, but in the end, he decided to help her. He tweaked the recipe a bit and took out the two most potent ingredients.

 

Chu Huoluo practiced in the back hill every day. Apart from going down the hill every few days to carry rice and grain supplies for Shen Zhenyi, she spent most of her time doing repetitive and boring exercises.

 

After that were the painful medicine baths every three days. However, Chu Huoluo didn’t know if her pain tolerance was getting better or if the herbs were having less of an effect on her. Over time, Chu Huoluo began to found it easier to manage the pain.

 

...

 

One month had passed by at the Abandoned Sword Villa.

 

Although these new disciples came from different backgrounds, as long as they stayed at the Abandoned Sword Villa for a long time, they would become the strength of the Villa.

 

My rightful power.

 

Shen Baihe murmured to himself.

 

Chu Zhu Xi was not simple. Liyang Mansion had its own inheritance after all, and Chu Zhu Xi had monopolized it. She trained to the 5th realm of cultivation at the age of fourteen but made no major progress afterward. It seemed that her potential was almost exhausted.

 

At first, Shen Baihe didn’t think too highly of her, but this month, it was like someone was whipping her from behind. She cultivated desperately and challenged everyone to gain battle experience.

 

Now Chu Zhu Xi had risen to the Top 20 of the Mystique rankings. She was almost the strongest person in the fifth realm of martial arts. The Top 10 were all in the sixth realm.

 

Excluding Shen Zhenyi, was it even possible for a fifteen-year-old to break into the sixth realm of martial arts?

 

Shen Baihe sneered. He didn’t like the thought of super geniuses.

 

Fortunately... Chu Zhu Xi was still within his realm of comprehension and acceptance. If possible, he wanted to have a decent relationship with this future leader of Liyang House.

 

Grandma Chihuo had always been disobedient towards the orders of the Abandoned Sword Villa. The Liyang Mansion, supported by its top ten experts, was a relatively strong force in the Nine Realms.

 

If Baihe could rope the Mansion into the Abandoned Sword Villa, it would make the Villa unstoppable and indomitable in the future.

 

But he didn’t factor in Chu Huoluo, the other heir of Liyang Mansion. The little girl came to the Abandoned Sword Villa and lived very simply. He didn’t see her make in improvements, but she was still very strong and ranked within the Top 100. After thinking about it for a while, he summoned Chu Zhu Xi to meet with him alone. Shen Baihe encouraged her warmly, and generously allocated the Villa’s resources, giving her many precious medicinal materials for nourishing the Qi and cultivation.

 

For Chu Zhu Xi, this was like receiving charcoal in the winter.

 

After being frightened by Shen Zhenyi, she came back feeling that she was useless. Her confidence was broken by a supposedly crippled man.

 

No matter how strong that person was in the past, he was now nothing more than trash, Zhu Xi firmly believed.

 

It was a known fact that people with severed meridians would never possess True Qi.

 

Chu Zhu Xi kept trying to convince herself that he was only a cripple, but it didn’t work, and she became too scared to find trouble with the Third Prince.

 

Since Shen Zhenyi announced that the winner and loser would be decided at the disciple competition, she practiced tirelessly trying to get stronger. She was intelligent and talented, the definition of a genius. With hard work and the right situations, she had crossed several minor boundaries in one swoop and plunged into the peak of the fifth realm of cultivation.

 

Because her entry was too fast, Chu Zhu Xi was afraid her foundation would become unstable. She wanted to send someone to Liyang Palace to get some tonic medicines and asked Shen Baihe. After hearing this, he generously gave them to her.

 

"With this batch of herbs, I will be able to climb into the 11th place of the Mystique rankings within three months. The top ten in the Mystique are all at the sixth realm of martial arts, so eleventh place is already the limit. Chu Huoluo will never surpass me."

 

"I will defeat the genius guided by Shen Zhenyi himself! He will get a front row seat to her beating!" She was full of confidence.

 

In fact, in the past three months, everything basically went according to her expectations.

 

Chu Zhu Xi’s cultivation continued to advance by leaps and bounds. By gaining a deeper understanding of her fire arts, Chu Zhu Xi transformed the True Qi in her body to become more powerful and domineering. Her fierce offense and steady defense allowed her to sit firmly on the seat of the strongest fifth realm cultivator at the Villa, eleventh place!

 

Today was the last day before the three-month appointment.

 

Chu Huoluo was still sitting firmly at Rank 117, not even trying to move ahead.

 

Sometimes Chu Zhu Xi had doubts on whether or not they were simply shaking a toy gun. It looked to her that they knew they wouldn’t win and just wanted a decent excuse to explain their defeat.

 

Chu Zhu Xi was one-hundred percent positive that she would win the match tomorrow.

 

As she was walking to breakfast in a happy mood, she heard a shocking piece of news.

 

That morning, Chu Huoluo, who had been ranked at 117th place, challenged Zhou Wenzi, a sixth realm cultivator and number one spot on the Mystique Rankings.

 

The first thought that ran through her mind was, “Did Little Sis hit her head or something during training?”