A Teacher from Hell? (I)

Xingyu's voice came again, but after giving him a few simple instructions on sword handling, it vanished.

Only nine years old, Long Haochen had to face the pitch-black cave, the frenzied Owl Ants, and the searing pain that never ceased, all by himself.

The agony slowed him down again and again, but whenever he thought of his mother, fresh courage welled up within him.

All the Owl Ants brought him was excruciating pain. Gritting his teeth and enduring it, he swung the Bamboo Sword in his hand again and again.

Xingyu stood outside the cave, feeling each second tick away. Several times, emotion stirred across his face. More than once, he raised a hand, wanting to push aside the massive boulder before him, but he held himself back.

If it had been any other child from Odin Sub-Temple, they would likely have been frightened unconscious not long after entering that cave. Yet Long Haochen remained awake, still fighting the Owl Ants with all his strength. Owl Ants were not venomous, but they could easily inflict intense pain. Their inch-long bodies were not only extremely hard, but also possessed formidable attacking power.

Xingyu's expression kept changing. The method he had chosen to train Long Haochen was extreme. Yet he knew full well the benefits such an extreme method could bring. As long as Long Haochen could endure it, his extraordinary spiritual power would be developed at the fastest possible rate. It would also bring countless other benefits. The prerequisite was that his will could not collapse.

Half an hour—an entire half hour. To Long Haochen, it felt as though he had lived through a whole century. When his entire body had gone numb from the pain and he could no longer lift the Bamboo Sword in his hand, he went limp and fell unconscious.

At that very moment, the stone ceiling opened. A tremendous force pulled his body upward, while countless Owl Ants were suppressed within the cave by a mysterious power, unable to fly out.

Even though Xingyu had arranged all of this, when he saw Long Haochen's current state, he still sucked in a sharp breath, a trace of pity appearing in his eyes.

Long Haochen's clothes were now ripped beyond recognition, and his whole body had nearly swollen by a full circle. His once handsome little face was utterly unrecognizable. Even the pair of Bamboo Swords bore countless bite marks from the Owl Ants.

Xingyu swiftly stuffed a pill into Long Haochen's mouth. With a flash of light and shadow, he moved at a speed countless times faster than before, bringing Long Haochen back to the wooden cabin almost in the next instant.

There were three rooms in the wooden cabin. Aside from the rooms where master and disciple each lived, there was another room Long Haochen had never entered. Xingyu now carried him into that room.

The instant they entered, a thick wave of heat rushed over them.

Set into the floor of this wooden cabin was a pool dug into the rock. More accurately, the pool had been there first, and this wooden cabin had been built over it afterward.

The pool was nearly overflowing. Its water was brown, with numerous medicinal herbs floating within it.

Xingyu quickly removed Long Haochen's ruined clothes and carefully lowered him into the steaming pool, leaving only his nose and mouth above the water.

This was a hot spring. Xingyu had dug out this pool at the springhead. The unconscious Long Haochen did not know that the herbs soaking in the water were worth more than even ten thousand bottles of Essence Replenishing Liquid.

Half an hour later, Xingyu only left the wooden cabin after seeing the swelling on Long Haochen's body gradually subside.

Sunlight was gradually swallowed by the night, and before they knew it, dusk had arrived.

"Hurts so much. Ugh—" Long Haochen cried out and woke from his unconsciousness in the hot spring.

The moment he moved, he naturally lost his balance. Though the pool was not deep, he still swallowed a mouthful of water. With a splash, he struggled out of the pool and began coughing violently.

Where was this? Long Haochen stared blankly at the mist around him and the pool he was in. The pain throughout his body had vanished without a trace. Other than being stark naked without anything covering him, everything seemed perfectly normal.

The door opened, and Xingyu walked in from outside with a set of clothes in his hands.

"Put on your clothes and come out." After giving that simple instruction, he turned and left.

Long Haochen climbed out of the pool in a daze. After drying himself with the towel beside him, he changed into the clean clothes. At the same time, he recalled everything that had happened in the Antlion Nest.

The moment he remembered that unceasing agony, he could not help shuddering. At the time, he had endured only by relying on a surge of hot-blooded courage. Yet now that he thought back on it, he felt as though that agonizing pain were once more coursing through every limb and bone.

When he pushed open the door and stepped outside, he realized that he had been in the third wooden cabin. By the time he entered the central main room, a lavish meal had already been laid out on the table.

"Eat." As though nothing had happened, Xingyu pointed at the food on the table and began eating first.

Long Haochen looked at his teacher and hesitated. "Teacher, I..."

"Eat first." Xingyu swept him with a stern look.

Long Haochen did not dare say anything more. He hurriedly sat down and began eating. It was as if he had not eaten in ages. That night, he was exceptionally hungry, eating nearly three times his usual amount. Aside from the small portion Xingyu ate, Long Haochen swept through every dish like a wind roll scattering the clouds in no time at all.

"Tell me how you felt today." Xingyu did not ask Long Haochen to clear the dishes. He asked calmly.

"It hurt a lot," Long Haochen answered honestly.

"Is that all you've got?" Xingyu said coldly. "This is only the beginning. Come outside with me. Bring your Bamboo Sword."

"Oh."

Master and disciple walked out of the wooden cabin and up to the mountaintop.

Two identical Bamboo Swords appeared in Xingyu's hands. "Among weapons, the sword is known as the kingly path. It can attack and defend. If you wish to protect everything, you must first protect yourself. I will now teach you the Seal Character Technique. Watch carefully."

The Bamboo Sword moved, and a curtain of light rose. Dreamlike sword radiance flashed across the mountaintop. Lines of mnemonic chants accompanied the sword light, continuously entering Long Haochen's ears. And today, his hellish training had only just begun.

For seven days in a row, Xingyu taught Long Haochen all kinds of knowledge every morning—astronomy, geography, history, nothing was left untouched. He would test him the next day. This was also the happiest part of every day for Long Haochen.

By afternoon, hell descended. The Antlion Nest was a compulsory daily lesson, and the outcome was always the same. That inhuman torment left Long Haochen wishing he were dead, and whenever the thought of giving up arose in his heart, Xingyu would simply remind him that there were only a few days left until he could go home.

Every session in the Owl Ant cave undoubtedly ended with him passing out. Whenever he awoke, he would certainly find himself soaking in the hot spring, his pain completely gone.

After dinner, training would begin again. Xingyu would teach Long Haochen certain techniques and make him memorize various things by heart. Only late at night would the day's training finally end.

What caused Long Haochen the most pain was that Xingyu did not allow him to sleep. After he was utterly exhausted each night, Xingyu taught him a method of meditation. In Long Haochen's words, it was sleeping while sitting up. But Xingyu would supervise him. If he did not meditate according to Xingyu's instructions, then without question, Xingyu's Bamboo Sword would lash across his back and wake him.