Fu Hua's True Cultivation

Everyone stopped, bending over with their hands on their knees as they panted. The scorching burn in their throats gave them no relief, sweat poured down like rain, and their vision seemed to be growing blurry.

Five minutes passed quickly. Ma Hongjun finally gave up altogether and said dejectedly, "Since we won't make it back in time for lunch anyway, why don't we slow down? I can't do it anymore. If we keep running, I'm afraid I'll die of exhaustion."

Dai Mubai frowned.

"Slow down? Haven't you noticed that the salt water Master prepares for us is always at the same temperature? But our speed keeps dropping. Obviously, Master calculated our physical condition. If we take too long to run back, there may be additional punishment. Although Master's training is a little strict, he's doing it for our own good. We have to hold on. Fatty, give me your weight."

Dai Mubai was the oldest in the team, but Fu Hua carried the heaviest load. No matter what, he would not let anyone else's stones be transferred into Fu Hua's basket—not only because he was the leader among them, but because how could a man rely on a woman?

"Fu Hua, give me my stones back! I've recovered some strength." Zhu Zhuqing's voice sounded beside Fu Hua.

Fu Hua looked over in surprise. Zhu Zhuqing was the most bedraggled of them all. Even while speaking to Fu Hua, she was still panting, though she had recovered a little strength. It was obvious that she was forcing herself.

Still, after a brief moment of thought, Fu Hua returned the stones to Zhu Zhuqing. Training had to achieve its intended effect. If Fu Hua kept sharing her burden, then Zhu Zhuqing would not truly be training herself.

After returning Zhu Zhuqing's stones, Fu Hua's back instantly felt lighter, leaving her somewhat unaccustomed to it. With no other choice, she doubled the gravity of her bracelet again. Only then did it feel barely acceptable.

The journey began again. This time, no one stopped. During the ninth trip after completing the eighth, Ning Rongrong and Oscar finally reached their limits. Ma Hongjun had recovered somewhat, Xiao Wu could still endure, and Zhu Zhuqing's steps slowed once more.

Tang San seemed to have gritted his teeth and pushed through his own limit. He showed no signs of being overdrawn.

At this point, Fu Hua's breathing finally began to fluctuate. The gravity had reached a terrifying twenty times, which seemed to be Fu Hua's limit. The bamboo basket on her back weighed forty kilograms.

With Suotuo City in sight and half of the ninth trip nearly complete, Dai Mubai suddenly stumbled and pitched toward the ground. Given Dai Mubai's strength, he should have been able to straighten himself with a single motion, but his stamina had been depleted too severely.

Tang San had been following beside Dai Mubai. Seeing that he was about to fall, he hurried forward in a stride and caught him by the shoulder.

The twin pupils in Dai Mubai's evil eyes merged into one. He had already reached his limit. His entire body leaned against Tang San's shoulder, his chest heaving violently like a bellows. He looked close to dehydration.

"Boss Dai, how are you?" everyone asked anxiously.

Just as Tang San was about to remove Dai Mubai's weights, Dai Mubai suddenly stopped him.

"Little San, no need. I can still hold on. You could endure the immense pain brought by the Man Faced Demon Spider Soul Ring, so why can't I endure this? I can do it. Brothers, let's keep going. No one can fall behind."

As he spoke, Dai Mubai forced himself upright once more. Though his steps staggered, he still managed to steady himself.

The road ahead was not long, yet it seemed incomparably distant to them now. The ninth trip finally ended. Sweat began to bead on Fu Hua's forehead as well, her chest rising and falling as her breathing grew rapid.

"Brothers, there's only one last trip. Everyone, hold on," Dai Mubai said.

"Fu Hua, give me my stones back! You still have to keep running afterward. I can endure this last trip."

"Mm! Fu Hua, give me mine too!"

Oscar and Ning Rongrong said between violent gasps. Their legs trembled as though they would collapse at the slightest touch. Fu Hua looked at them both and gently shook her head.

"It's fine. This is not my limit yet."

Indeed, although her breathing had begun to fluctuate, Fu Hua had not yet reached her limit. Rather, the training that came after this was Fu Hua's true training.

The tenth trip began. Fu Hua's breathing became increasingly unstable, and sweat began to gather on her forehead as it had on the others at the start. Yet her steps remained firm, without the slightest wavering.

As she moved, her speed grew faster and faster. Fu Hua's adaptability was extremely strong; she adapted to twenty times gravity in only half the distance.

Not yet at my limit.

Her sky-blue eyes fixed on the road ahead as she increased the gravity by another factor.

The tenth trip ended.

At twenty-five times gravity, even Fu Hua found it difficult. Adapting to such gravity was also strenuous for her.

Everyone else's punishment was over, but Fu Hua's training had only just begun.

That was right. Fu Hua did not regard this punishment as punishment at all. To her, it was merely a very simple training session.

What came next would be the training she had set for herself.

After reaching the finish line, everyone except Fu Hua collapsed. Their stamina had been exhausted to the limit. Even Tang San, who had been tempered by the Man Faced Demon Spider, fell after taking three or four steps.

Master's gaze filled with satisfaction. His eyes swept across the other seven before finally settling on Fu Hua, who still stood upright.

"You're continuing?"

It was neither a question nor an affirmation. There was no particular emotion in his words, yet a faint smile appeared on Master's rigid face.

"You... seem to know me."

Fu Hua did not call him Master, and Master did not mind her form of address. Or rather, the fact that she had waited this long to ask had already tested the limits of her patience.

"I know you, yet I do not. I merely know of an incredibly powerful and free expert."

Fu Hua fell silent.

"I understand. The road ahead is one only I can walk. Teacher, you should go back and rest first."

After saying that, Fu Hua started forward. Her speed was actually even faster than when she had run with Dai Mubai and the others. In only five breaths, Master could no longer see her back.

"It seems I still underestimated Fu Hua. She is truly strong—stronger than I ever expected." Master looked up at the blazing sky, his voice carrying emotions too complex to discern.

Light footsteps sounded from behind him, and Flender's thin figure appeared.

"The little monsters have all collapsed from exhaustion. You really are ruthless."

"Without ruthlessness, there can be no success. The distance between them and Fu Hua will only grow wider."

Master's expression was inscrutable.

"Come to think of it, you seem very concerned about Fu Hua. Is she the disciple of someone you know?"

"Perhaps! At the very least, she has never acknowledged it."

A swan soared high, yet the mountaintop remained unseen; a dragon roamed the deep sea, yet its boundaries were endless.

Fu Hua was constantly growing. With no limits placed upon her, what would she become in the future? No one could say. Even so-called gods had beings they could not see through.

Her training continued, but Fu Hua's running speed grew faster and faster. If her pace alongside Dai Mubai and the others had been that of a turtle, then now it was that of a cheetah.

In barely ten minutes, she completed three round trips under twenty-five times gravity while carrying a thirty-kilogram stone, without resting even once. She did not even drink the salt water Master had prepared.

Setting off again, her steps began to grow heavy. She completed the next three laps under those conditions, with neither the gravity nor the load increasing.

Beads of sweat slid down from her temples, soaking her bangs. She had removed the outer layer of her white butler uniform, leaving only an undershirt, where sweat had already left clear marks.

The violet-white energy within her body no longer remained in her meridians. It gradually surfaced upon her skin, forming an eerie suit of armor.

With every step she took, there seemed to be a wondrous melody within it. Each time she passed a stretch of road, deep marks were left upon the ground. Step by step, footprint after footprint, she truly forged a path that belonged to Fu Hua.

Her bones crackled, her tendons stretched, and her skin gleamed. Fu Hua's entire body seemed bathed in radiance, as though she were about to transcend into an immortal.

This was no less than becoming immortal through the flesh!

The seventh, the eighth, the ninth...

Every step became difficult, her speed falling again and again. Her body felt so heavy that it was as if gravity would pull her into the heart of the earth, while sweat soaked her ash-gray hair.

By then, eight hours had passed since the punishment began.

Fu Hua's training had reached its final stage.

Her originally sky-blue eyes were covered in darkness, turning deep blue. Within them was an utterly unyielding will. She emptied her thoughts, placing herself in a state of emptiness.

No emotions, no expression, no thoughts.

At that moment, she seemed like a machine incapable of feeling pain, rigidly carrying out the goal set from the very beginning.

Ten laps, without stopping once, without replenishing herself at all—she completed it through human strength alone.

Beneath the blazing sun, at the limit of her body, Fu Hua's physical form was elevated once more, becoming purer and tougher. It shimmered like flowing light, crystalline and dazzling.

If she put on White Night Butler again, she would truly be a pretty boy in every sense of the word.

Night fell, and Shrek Academy was blanketed in silence. Even the cries of insects and birds seemed to have vanished. Within the dormitory area, gusts of wind slicing through the air rang out as a slender figure practiced her fist techniques in the courtyard.

Her ash-gray hair was especially eye-catching beneath the night sky. A manifested training outfit fit her body perfectly, while a pair of gauntlets appeared upon her hands, like the stars above—dark, yet dazzling.

Predominantly black and white, they perfectly covered Fu Hua's hands and forearms. A cross-shaped pattern adorned the backs of her hands, while a pair of wings slowly extended from her wrists to her forearms, spreading open at her elbows.

Striking gleams of light occasionally flashed across them, echoing the stars in the sky as though they could communicate with the power of the heavens.

Every punch howled with a fierce wind, and every strike flashed with brilliant light.

The courtyard continuously flickered between light and dark.

Creak!

The wooden door opened, and a young girl stepped out. Her hair still carried traces of moisture, droplets falling from its ends, while the exhaustion on her face had miraculously vanished.

Her dark eyes looked toward the courtyard, her expression unreadable.

Fu Hua withdrew her fist and stood still, turning to look in her direction.

"Sorry! Did I disturb you?"

"No, you... are still training?"

"Mm! This is my usual training. Master's punishment this afternoon delayed it."

Training, training, training—it seemed to fill Fu Hua's mind entirely. If she were truly left idle in this world without games or card draws, she genuinely would not know what to do.

"Is your daily training always this strict?"

"Strict? This is merely the most basic of basics. The path of martial arts is long, and I am still far from enough."

"Fu Hua is already very impressive."

"No, it is far from enough. My strength is still insufficient to protect those I care about."

"Those you want to protect?"

"Zhuqing, you have someone too, don't you? I saw determination in your eyes."

Did she? Perhaps.

A young man flashed through Zhu Zhuqing's mind—the companion she had known in their youth, the promise they had made. Yet in the end...

She shook her head, casting aside her wandering thoughts as she looked at the dazzling girl in the courtyard.

Once upon a time, that young man had also worked as hard as she did. Unfortunately, the world was unpredictable. Their relationship, their families—none of those were things they could control back then.

"Fu Hua, could you... teach me how to cultivate?"

Even if they had once been young, they would grow up. The yearning for strength and the desire for freedom were eternal truths.

"My training will be very hard."

"It doesn't matter, as long as I can become strong enough."

"Then do you still have any strength left?"

PS: Sorry, Lady Fu Hua, my mind went somewhere dirty.

PS1: I spent the whole day out having fun today and feel exhausted, so I'm posting this early. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll end up playing too much Honor of Kings again.

PS2: One more thing! You absolutely have to read the important notices! I don't post notices for no reason; they're usually related to this book, or to some of my settings for Fu Hua in this book. So make sure to read them, make sure to read them, make sure to read them. (Important things are said three times.)