Wilderness Training

Ten miles outside the city of Zhuqi County, at a certain cliffside, Herbalist Wang brought two coils of rope. He leaped up with light steps to scale the cliff, then tossed down a thick rope and a thin one, signaling his disciples to climb up.

Yang Yicheng looked up at the steep cliff, which towered two or three hundred zhang high. He swallowed hard, dumbfounded.

"Oh my mother, why is it so high? If I fall, won't I be smashed into a meat patty?"

Feng Xiao gave him a shove and chuckled. "Hurry up, Senior Brother. You're the eldest, so you have to lead by example. Master is waiting up there! If you don't move now, he's going to beat you once he comes down."

Qian Ruoxiu and Sun Ying were resting under a small, shady tree, secretly watching the three of them.

Ye Qin sat on a patch of grass not far away, resting to recover his strength. He silently reflected on this final month of wilderness survival training. Once this month was over, they would officially follow the herbalist into the mountains to gather herbs.

On the first day of wilderness survival training, their master had given them a harsh wake-up call, making them run fifty laps around the outskirts of Zhuqi County until their very bones felt like they were shattering. Fortunately, all five of them were children of iron-smiths, farmers, hunters, and weavers—commoners who had grown up enduring hardship. They had also already undergone five months of basic stance training, or they never would have survived such intense conditioning.

After fifty laps, everyone except Ye Qin had collapsed, even Feng Xiao, who possessed the best light-body skills. The internal cultivation method Ye Qin practiced, Gathering Qi and Focusing Spirit, had shown its unique power for the first time. His physical stamina had completely surpassed that of Yang Yicheng, Feng Xiao, Qian Ruoxiu, and Sun Ying.

Fortunately, with plenty of rice and a few pieces of fragrant, lean meat provided daily, they managed to recover their strength after just one night of rest.

Over the next three to five days, the tasks became increasingly grueling.

From running through wild, desolate mountains to swimming and paddling in river valleys, to climbing old mountains and pushing through dense forests, they were covered in cuts and bruises. These were merely scrapes, however; applying some hemostatic herbs was enough to keep them from being any real hindrance.

In the following days, they were ordered to poke hornet nests and giant ant hills, wade into muddy ditches to catch leeches, hunt scorpions and centipedes, fend off mosquitoes in the wild, and catch field mice and venomous snakes. They were covered in red welts and plagued by intense itching. They dug traps and hunted wild beasts, playing with every small insect, ant, and creature until they were exhausted.

Today, after making them run thirty laps outside the county, Herbalist Wang brought them to this towering, steep cliff and ordered them to climb it. A single slip would result in death or, at the very least, a severe injury. Fortunately, Herbalist Wang didn't intend for them to die, so he had brought ropes.

Ye Qin feared neither hardship nor fatigue.

After finishing his run, he immediately found a patch of grass to meditate and recover his physical strength and Qi.

Urged on by Feng Xiao, Yang Yicheng was the first to begin the climb.

For safety, he tied the thinner rope around his waist and began to climb, gripping the thicker rope.

The thick rope had knots tied into it, making it harder to slip.

Even so, he used every ounce of his strength, hands and feet working in tandem, but he only managed to climb a hundred and ten zhang before he hung suspended halfway up the cliff, unable to go up or down. He had no strength left and could not move. Climbing was far more taxing than running on flat ground. By the end, even his fingers were too numb to move.

The external martial art he practiced, Tiger Fist, was fierce, but it lacked endurance. Had he not run those thirty laps earlier, he might have had enough strength left to finish the climb.

"Master, let me down! I can't climb anymore!"

Yang Yicheng wailed.

Herbalist Wang sat on the cliff top, watching coldly without the slightest reaction.

Three hours passed.

Yang Yicheng hung halfway up the cliff for a full three hours. He would cry for a while, stop to rest, and then continue climbing. If he didn't climb, he would simply hang there until he died.

From the scorching midday sun until nearly dusk, Yang Yicheng finally crawled onto the cliff top, collapsing limply onto the rocks.

Herbalist Wang let out a dissatisfied huff.

"Useless. After five months of training, it took you half a day just to climb a cliff!"

Ye Qin, Feng Xiao, and the others stood below, craning their necks and staring blankly at Yang Yicheng, who had been left hanging for three hours. A chill ran through their hearts. If they were the ones left dangling halfway up, they couldn't count on their master to save them.

"Second Senior Brother, it's your turn!"

Feng Xiao gave Ye Qin a timid nudge.

Ye Qin hesitated, then pulled a large steamed bun from his robes, ate half of it, and began to climb. He had eaten in the morning, and now that it was nearly dusk, he hadn't had anything else; if he didn't eat something first, he wouldn't have the strength to climb.

Feng Xiao stared at the bun in Ye Qin's hand and exclaimed.

"Wow, Second Senior Brother, you actually snuck a bun out this morning? You must have predicted there would be no lunch. Truly cunning and brilliant—this junior brother admires you to the ground!" As he spoke, he bowed in a mock display of reverence.

Ye Qin was both amused and annoyed, ignoring him. He didn't bring the bun because he knew there would be no lunch; it was simply a habit he had recently developed—he only felt at ease if he carried some food on him.

He first tied the thin rope securely around his waist, then grabbed the thick rope and began to climb, unhurried. Having witnessed the suffering Yang Yicheng endured, he was extremely cautious, trying to conserve every bit of his strength.

In a quarter of an hour, he had climbed over a hundred zhang.

Ye Qin began to feel slightly overwhelmed; his hands and feet went numb, and his body grew heavy. He couldn't help but think, This is bad.

Climbing was a task where the physical toll doubled the higher one went.

He stopped immediately and began to circulate the Qi in his Dantian. Soon, a wisp of warm energy flowed through his meridians and limbs, gradually restoring his body to a comfortable state as the numbness faded.

This was a benefit Ye Qin had discovered after practicing the Sitting-in-Forgetfulness Sutra: no matter how tired his body was, circulating the technique would quickly alleviate the fatigue.

Ye Qin continued to climb. Whenever that numb feeling returned, he would stop to circulate his internal energy. Toward the end, he had to circulate his energy almost every ten zhang.

It took three quarters of an hour for Ye Qin to reach the top, panting heavily. An hour consisted of eight quarters; three quarters was less than half an hour.

Herbalist Wang's brows lifted slightly. He hadn't expected Ye Qin to reach the top so quickly—seven or eight times faster than Yang Yicheng. He gave a lukewarm "Hmph" and waved for him to step aside.

Ye Qin couldn't tell if the master was satisfied or not, so he retreated honestly to the side. He caught sight of Yang Yicheng lying on the ground, looking utterly drained. After a moment's thought, he winked at Yang Yicheng and tossed him the remaining half of the bun from his robes.

Yang Yicheng gratefully caught the bun and, with his back to Herbalist Wang, wolfed it down. He was starving.

Next was Feng Xiao.

Feng Xiao's Cloud-Stepping Leap was the perfect light-body skill for climbing. With a single jump, he could soar a zhang high, so he climbed the first hundred zhang very quickly—much faster than Ye Qin.

However, after the first hundred zhang, his speed dropped significantly as his stamina failed. The higher he went, the harder it became; he could no longer use his light-body skills and had to rely on his hands and feet.

After about half an hour, Feng Xiao finally crawled onto the cliff. Too tired to wipe the sweat from his face, he hurried to Herbalist Wang's side, bowed, and said with a grin, "Master, how did this disciple perform? I didn't lose face for you, did I?"

"Hmph, to be this slow while practicing light-body techniques—only when you can move faster than Ye Qin will you stop being an embarrassment to me."

Herbalist Wang threw out a sarcastic remark.

Feng Xiao kept his head lowered, not daring to say a word; that freak of a Second Senior Brother might not be skilled in martial arts, but his stamina was monstrous, and he dared not compare himself to him.

The sun had already set, and the sky had turned dark.

Herbalist Wang's training did not end because of this.

Qian Ruoxiu and Sun Ying, the two young girls, still had to honestly climb the mountain in the pitch black, a task far more difficult than during the day. It was not until midnight that the two of them finally reached the summit.

Herbalist Wang made them find some edible roots and insects on the mountaintop to satisfy their hunger, then ordered them to descend the mountain in the dark. This kind of mountain-climbing and descending training continued for a full half-month.

The final month of field training came to an end, and the five of them were almost tanned pitch-black, their ability to survive in the wild by climbing mountains and wading through waters having greatly increased; they had been preliminarily trained into five Herb Gathering Apprentices qualified to follow the herbalists into the mountains.

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