"It's so heavy..."
At first, Zhu Zhuqing hadn't paid any mind to the twenty pounds of weights.
But the moment she started running, their heavy pull spread through her body.
She had only just put on the weighted gear and taken a few short steps.
On an ordinary run, even without using Soul Power, she could circle the Martial Arts Arena without feeling the slightest strain.
Soul Power had long since transformed her body, giving Soul Masters physical abilities far beyond those of ordinary people.
What was more, she had fought her way out of a family in the Star Luo Empire. Her body had long been tempered into something tough and resilient, nothing like the pampered daughters of prominent clans.
But with those twenty pounds of weights added, her body immediately showed how unaccustomed it was to them.
After just one lap, her breathing was already ragged, and she could feel herself panting.
It was the peak of the academy's evening training session. People came and went along the track, with students passing by in twos and threes.
Some caught sight of Zhu Zhuqing on the track out of the corner of their eyes and couldn't help taking a second look.
"Whoa, what a pretty girl. How come I've never seen her before?"
"Must be a new student, right? She really stands out."
But no one paid much attention to her weighted run.
At Spirit Hall Academy, hard training was the norm. Plenty of students honed their bodies to improve their strength, and running laps with weights strapped on was nothing unusual.
But if they'd known Zhu Zhuqing was going to run a full ten laps with twenty pounds of weight, their expressions would have been something to behold.
Zhu Zhuqing paid no attention at all to the commotion around her.
Her gaze stayed fixed on the ground just one step ahead, while Gu Chensha's words echoed again and again in her mind.
The body was the foundation of everything for a Soul Master.
"Huff... huff..."
After finishing two laps, she returned to the starting point, panting as she picked up the bottle of salt water and took a couple of sips.
She had run only two laps, yet her close-fitting black training clothes were already soaked with sweat and clung tightly to her body, outlining her slender, curving figure.
The evening breeze lifted the damp strands of hair on her forehead, revealing her cool, sharp eyes.
Halfway through the third lap, the weight finally bared its fangs.
Aching soreness shot from her calf muscles up into her thighs and abdomen.
With every step, the lead weights strapped to her limbs seemed to take root, dragging downward with all their might, trying to cripple her stride.
Her breathing grew heavier. Her once-even stride began to shorten without her realizing it, but she still gritted her teeth and kept running.
More and more people gathered around the Martial Arts Arena.
Students who had just finished sparring inside came out in groups. They spotted Zhu Zhuqing on the track at once, and many stopped to look at her, murmuring among themselves.
"Isn't that Zhu Zhuqing, the new student who sent Lei Xiang flying with one move this afternoon?"
"That's her! What's she doing? I saw her running earlier. How many laps has she done by now?"
The murmurs weren't quiet, but Zhu Zhuqing seemed not to hear them at all.
In her world, there was nothing but the track stretching on beneath her feet.
The fourth lap, the fifth...
Every time she passed the starting point, she picked up the bottle of salt water and took a sip. But her steady hand had already begun to tremble.
Just past the halfway point of her fifth lap, she ran by the main entrance to the Martial Arts Arena.
On the steps, a student suddenly frowned and stopped, his eyes fixed on her.
The person beside him nudged his arm, teasing him.
"Well, Brother Xiang, isn't that the new student who beat you today?"
Lei Xiang said nothing. He only stared hard at Zhu Zhuqing, his back teeth grinding together.
After he'd been defeated in a single move that day, his teacher's attitude toward him had turned cold. Both openly and behind his back, the teacher blamed him for bringing shame on them.
Now, with the people around him mocking him in public, all his humiliation and resentment came crashing down on Zhu Zhuqing.
It was all her fault!
He clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his palms. He never took his eyes off the figure running endlessly around the track.
Meanwhile, Zhu Zhuqing kept running, one step at a time.
By the end of the sixth lap, she felt as if every bone in her body had been soaked in sour water.
The twenty pounds of weights now felt like a mountain bearing down on her.
Sweat ran along her jawline and neck, dripping onto the track and leaving little wet spots.
Lei Xiang was still standing on the steps at the main entrance to the Martial Arts Arena.
He had watched her from the fifth lap all the way through the eighth.
The woman hadn't stopped once since she started running.
He simply couldn't understand it.
What was the point of running so many laps under heavy weights without using Soul Power?
And why wouldn't she stop when she was already in that state?
Did she have a taste for self-torture?
Yet his feet seemed rooted to the spot. He still hadn't left.
Because a wicked thought had occurred to him.
As she neared the end of her eighth lap, Zhu Zhuqing's consciousness began to blur.
All the chatter around her sounded as though it came from beyond a thick layer of water. She couldn't make out a word.
She bit down hard on her tongue, using the pain to keep herself alert, and told herself over and over:
She would escape the cruel fate awaiting her in the Star Luo Empire. She would break the chains of destiny and rise to a place high enough.
What was a little suffering like this?
She couldn't stop.
Absolutely not.
She crossed the finish line of her eighth lap in a single stride.
At the instant she crossed it, a butterfly-like lightness surged through her after the agony reached its peak.
The legs that had felt as if they were filled with lead suddenly shed the crushing heaviness that had left her gasping for breath.
Feeling returned to her numb muscles, and even her breathing fell back into a steady rhythm.
She had broken through the first limit of her physical body.
On the ninth lap, her stride even lengthened a little, and she ran more steadily than she had on the seventh and eighth laps.
But the sensation of lightness didn't last long.
Just half a lap in, fatigue and soreness several times more intense than before swept over her like a tide.
Through gritted teeth, she forced herself to finish the ninth lap.
"Ah... ha..."
She panted heavily. Even her voice, transmitted through her sea of consciousness to Gu Chensha, came out in broken fragments.
"Teacher, I can't go on... I really can't..."
"Can I rest... just for a little while?"
"Of course you can."
Gu Chensha's answer left her stunned.
"...Huh?"
Though he had agreed to her request, Zhu Zhuqing's fading mind suddenly cleared a little.
Why...
Why would her teacher say that?
"I said, of course you can."
She didn't understand.
Gu Chensha's voice remained calm, without the slightest trace of emotion.
"You're tired. You can't run anymore. Naturally, you can stop."
"No one will force you, and no one will blame you."
"Whether you stop or not is entirely up to you."
"But think carefully. What you're stopping today has never been just this lap around the track."
His calm words struck Zhu Zhuqing's muddled consciousness like a heavy hammer, jolting her awake.
She bit down hard on her lip, which had already begun to bleed, and replied,
"I understand, Teacher. I'll finish the run no matter what!"
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