Teacher from Hell? (II)

Just like that, seven days passed. Long Haochen had gone from only being able to endure half an hour in the Antlion Nest to lasting another quarter of an hour longer now.

After soaking in the hot spring and eating dinner, Long Haochen obediently waited for Xingyu's instruction. After a week of training, he felt more than mere respect for Xingyu—he feared and revered him, terrified from the bottom of his heart.

"You don't need to continue tonight. Go home. But don't interrupt your meditation. Come back early tomorrow morning." Xingyu tossed Long Haochen a bottle of Essence Replenishing Liquid and waved him away.

Long Haochen felt as though a heavy burden had been lifted. After saluting Xingyu, he dashed out of the cabin as fast as he could fly. He could finally go home.

Watching his departing back, Xingyu revealed a trace of a smile that Long Haochen had never seen before. "Silly boy, have you forgotten what kind of place this is? I can only remain here for three years. Every moment of those three years, I'll make you inherit all I know."

It felt wonderful to have such a light body. As Long Haochen ran down the mountain, he savored the changes in himself.

After only one week, he found that all his senses seemed noticeably sharper than before. Though he had been tortured until he wished he were dead in the Antlion Nest, every visit brought a different feeling. At the very least, after a week, he could now somewhat systematically fend off the Owl Ants' attacks from all directions. His reaction speed had also become vastly faster than when he had first arrived.

The greatest changes were in his body. Though he had not tested it, Long Haochen was certain that his spiritual energy had increased again. At least by two points. And this had only been one week!

Although he endured such agonizing training every day, without even time to sleep, after a week, his once frail body had clearly grown several degrees stronger, and his complexion had become much rosier. Aside from eating well, it was naturally because of the hot springs he soaked in every day.

Long Haochen did not know that the combined effect of the hot spring and medicinal herbs was called Marrow Cleansing Bone Forging.

He was excitedly running down the mountain when a faint stench suddenly caught his attention.

His week of training against the Owl Ant swarm's attacks had not been in vain. Without even pausing to think, Long Haochen instantly stopped, leaped to the side, and drew the pair of Bamboo Swords strapped to his back.

With a whoosh, a pitch-black shadow swept past exactly where he had been about to run. It was only nearing dusk, and Long Haochen immediately saw what had attacked him.

It was over four feet long and entirely black. Its short, stout limbs supported it on the ground, while dense scales covered its back. Its barbed tail swayed constantly behind it, and a pair of brown eyes fixed upon him.

"A Magic Beast?" Long Haochen could not help crying out softly, his heart instantly tightening.

Xingyu taught him all manner of knowledge every day, including introductions to Magic Beasts. "Coincidentally," he had mentioned the particular Magic Beast before him only a few days ago.

A Scorpion-tailed Lizard—a mid-grade first-tier Magic Beast. It was roughly equivalent to a human of any profession with thirty to fifty points of spiritual energy.

Every tier of Magic Beast was divided into four levels: low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, and peak. Their greatest difference from ordinary beasts was that they could use spiritual energy to strengthen themselves or attack their enemies.

First-tier Magic Beasts were relatively weak. They generally had no skills for using spiritual energy to attack enemies, and could only strengthen themselves. This Scorpion-tailed Lizard was one such creature. It was a carnivorous Magic Beast. The scales on its back offered a certain degree of defense, and its tail hook was poisonous. Its weak point was beneath its belly. However, it usually attacked while crawling along the ground, so it rarely exposed its abdomen.

The Scorpion-tailed Lizard stared fiercely at Long Haochen with its brown eyes. Its huge mouth split open, revealing rows of gleaming white teeth, as though it were pondering how long such a small human would last as a meal.

Facing a Magic Beast for the first time, Long Haochen felt every hair on his back stand on end. He gripped his Bamboo Swords tightly but did not act rashly, nor did he turn and flee. For a nine-year-old to remain calm at such a moment was already no easy feat, because he remembered Xingyu's words: Scorpion-tailed Lizards were extremely fast in short-distance sprints. Xingyu had also taught him that, as a knight, he must never leave his back exposed to an enemy.

Whoosh—The Scorpion-tailed Lizard had no intention of giving him more time to think. Its thick, powerful limbs kicked off the ground as it lunged at Long Haochen, its jaws snapping toward his thigh.

At that moment, the hellish training of the past seven days showed its effect. Almost entirely by instinct, Long Haochen stepped to the left while viciously slashing down with both Bamboo Swords, striking the Scorpion-tailed Lizard's head.

He stepped sideways rather than retreating because Xingyu had taught him never to back away lightly when he could not be certain of the terrain behind him. Otherwise, if unknown terrain affected him, he could easily be forced into a disadvantageous position. The side was different: he could see it from the corner of his eye and evade at the same time.

With two dull thuds, the Bamboo Swords struck the Scorpion-tailed Lizard like blows against rotten leather. Though the swords were tough, they were light and not particularly destructive. But Long Haochen was no longer the boy who had just undergone the Attendant Knight examination. With nearly thirty points of spiritual energy behind his strikes, he forcibly smashed the Scorpion-tailed Lizard back onto the ground.

But the Scorpion-tailed Lizard's attack did not end there. The instant its body hit the ground, its poison-hooked tail swept toward him.

Again relying wholly on his reactions, Long Haochen sprang into the air, leaping more than three feet high. At the same time, he blocked downward with his right-hand sword, knocking aside the Scorpion-tailed Lizard's attack.

The brief exchange gave Long Haochen confidence. After blocking the Scorpion-tailed Lizard's attacks twice in a row, he discovered in surprise that Magic Beasts were not so terrifying after all. At the same time, much of the pent-up resentment he had accumulated over the past seven days dissipated. Compared to seven days ago, he was stronger and faster. Without a doubt, Teacher Xingyu had brought him all these changes. He had never improved this quickly before! Although his experiences in the Owl Ant Lair often made him wake from nightmares, he had to admit that the results were indeed good.

The Scorpion-tailed Lizard was not about to give up so easily. The moment its attack missed, it pounced at Long Haochen again. This time, its body seemed to have swollen somewhat.

Because Long Haochen had been slightly distracted after dealing with its first round of attacks, his response this time was a little slower. Still, he managed to slash it with his Bamboo Swords. However, this time the Scorpion-tailed Lizard was not knocked back to the ground.

Not good, this is its self-strengthening Charge skill. Startled, Long Haochen's Bamboo Swords were knocked aside, and his body lost its balance as he fell backward.

The Scorpion-tailed Lizard's savage jaws were right before his eyes. The intense sense of danger instantly made Long Haochen's pupils contract violently, as though something had exploded inside his mind.

In that instant, he suddenly felt that the Scorpion-tailed Lizard so close before him had slowed down. Its every movement, as well as the angle at which he was falling backward, became incomparably clear.

If anyone could have seen Long Haochen's eyes at that moment, they would have discovered that the pupils at the center of his azure eyes had contracted to the size of needlepoints. Yet his gaze was extraordinarily calm, and within it, a cold, cruel gleam unlike anything an ordinary person possessed faintly shone.