5 Difference between Soft-boiled and Hard-boiled.

"Are you sure it's safe, Uncle?"

A young face was vaguely reflected on the surface of the bath as he tried to perceive its depth.

"I'm fifty percent sure it won't kill you."

"Are you trying to gamble with my life uncle?"

"So is the life of a cultivator. Opportunities comes with risk. Are you brave enough. lil' one?"

A gentle smile was shown in my face as I gave out the obvious provocation.

"Come on lad. Give us a good show. Even your mom is watching you."

Soon enough, his hesitation faded away. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened his eyes to once again face the murky waters before taking a huge jump and plunging himself to the medicinal bath. The bath is deep for the young one so his head is submerged. Bubbles formed on the surface of the water and soon, we can find the lil' one's head resurfacing.

"What.Is.This.Uncle?"

We see that his eyes were red as the veins of his head and neck are twitching.

"I told you. I prepared a bath for you. A very special one at that."

"Lil' Green. Hang in there. This is a very important step for beginning your cultivation. We already made the expenses and you won't want your Uncle to waste his efforts right?"

"Hmph!"

"I guess the lil' one is holding out on his own."

With some tears forming out the corner of the young one's eyes, he had that scrunched look in his face. I really admired the young one's mental strength. Enduring something painful that an Initial Small Rotation stage expert would find unbearable; It was really admirable.

"I guess the medicine is doing its job."

Ayra's soft voice was released as her slender fingers pinched a corner of my sleeves.

"Yeah. The medicine is really potent. The young might not be able to take it but we need him to succeed if he wants to be a cultivator."

Ayra let out a sigh as she fondly looked at her son. Soon, she let out another sigh as she lower her head not wanting me to see her expression.

"Uncle, we have already begun and now, we can't stop. You really don't regret this?"

"If I did, I wouldn't have even started this craziness."

I gently patted Ayra on the head as I gave all my attention on the lil' one.

"Young one, listen well. This medicine you see tempers your body. In other words, we're making it stronger. Before your body can accept heavenly energy, it must be strong enough to contain it. There over four tempering periods and this would be your first one. Each period would last for one hour. This would be minimum. If you want to be a strong person in the cultivation world, you have to last more than that. Soft-boiled eggs are delicious but as a man, you would want hard-boiled ones."

"Pfft! Uncle, what's with that analogy? Are you telling that my son is an egg?"

"Hmph! It won't matter whether he's an egg or a man. As long as he won't crack under all that pressure, he would always be my pride."