"Lord Champa," Chen Feng said with a gentle yet impossible-to-refuse smile at the corner of his lips, "want to train together?"
Champa's face instantly turned from pink to deathly pale, sweat rolling down his forehead like beans. "No need... I really exercised today! I just chased a butterfly around three times!"
As he spoke, he backed away, gravel crunching beneath his feet.
"You do."
Chen Feng walked toward him, his boots making steady sounds against the sand. "Your combat techniques and physical conditioning both need systematic improvement. Come on, let's continue the evasion training from earlier."
The setting sun stretched Chen Feng's figure long, his shadow reaching all the way to Champa's trembling toes.
Champa let out a miserable howl, his voice echoing through the entire training ground. "Nooo— I really can't take it anymore—"
But Chen Feng had already stopped in front of him, extending a hand in a gesture of invitation.
On the stone steps some distance away, Vados sat elegantly, somehow holding a beautifully wrapped piece of chocolate.
She took a light bite from one corner, the rich sweetness melting across her tongue. Then she raised her eyes and tapped the ground with her staff. "Lord Champa, do your best."
Her voice was gentle as a breeze, yet her purple eyes held undisguised delight. The slight upward curve of her lips completely gave away her mood.
The evening glow dyed the training ground gold and crimson. The outlines of the distant mountains gradually blurred, and the first star quietly lit up.
Their training had only just begun.
The fourth day.
The first light of dawn had just pierced the horizon, casting a bleak golden hue over the cracked stone slabs of the training plaza.
Champa's massive body lay amid the wreckage like a collapsed mountain of flesh.