After Fifteen Years of Training

This goes back to a time before, when he fell and scraped his leg after tripping over a rock. Looking at his wound, he remembered previous injuries he had sustained. He realized he was hurt by things in his surroundings that he saw every day. Objects that should have been harmless to him could injure him during unfortunate moments.

"Haiz, my strength seems to have stopped growing. The development in these nine years of training is incredibly poor compared to the first five. Could it be that from now until the end of my life, I can only remain at this level?" Jun Wu Xiao lamented disheartenedly.

However, it wasn't long before he regained his spirit. After all, he might occasionally complain, but he never skipped a day of training. 

"No, this won't do. I'm complaining again. Just facing a bit of difficulty and giving up won't help me achieve what I desire. Fourteen years is nothing, if not enough I'll try for twenty years, if still not enough then fifty years, and if still not, I'll keep trying until I die. I must believe that one day I will make it." Jun Wu Xiao said.

After ending his self-pity session, he resumed his daily training. Suddenly, a soldier came knocking on his door. He went out to greet him, he said:

"May I know why you came here?"

"I am here to inform you that your father has died on the battlefield. Also, here is a letter he wrote long ago, asking us to deliver it to you in case of his death." the soldier said.

Jun Wu Xiao was surprised upon hearing this, and also felt a sense of loss. He was surprised because he did not expect his father to die so early, and he felt regret because, although his father was not around since he was young, he was still his only kin. 

"Thank you." Jun Wu Xiao took the letter and sent the soldier away.

After returning inside the house, he opened the letter, inside the letter was written:

"My dear son,

If you are reading this letter, I have likely passed away. It's truly regrettable that after so many years, I have not had the chance to see you again. I don't know why, but every time I think of coming back to see you, not long after, I forget about wanting to visit. When I received letters telling me that you are training fervently every day, I wanted to return to stop you, but for some reason, every time I thought about doing so, I soon forgot about it. Your existence is truly bizarre to me, even from your birth, I do not know why I named you Jun Wu Xiao. Anyway, that no longer matters. I hope that from now on, your life will be happy.

Farewell, my son."

Jun Wu Xiao felt a little surge of emotion reading the letter. He knew his father had always cared for him despite never meeting him. He also knew he was different, indifferent to the lack of parental love from a young age, as if it was unnecessary from the start. 

And it wasn't strange, if he were an ordinary person, enduring fourteen years of solitude and isolation would have been challenging. He always confined himself to his home for training, only going out a few times a year to buy a large amount of rice. The rest of the time, he was either training at home or resting to recover his body for more training.

Who else but him could act in such a way? Anyone else following his way would likely have gone mad, not remaining sane like him. His days, by any ordinary standard, were utterly monotonous and bland. He repeated a few actions day after day without ever stopping. 

"Haiz, perhaps my father's body has already been buried on the battlefield. The impermanence of the world, death comes too easily to man. One second you're laughing and chatting, the next you're dead without knowing why. This makes me realize I need to work even harder at my training, to become stronger. As long as I live, I will continue to strive, and there will come a day when I achieve what I desire." Initially sighing, Jun Wu Xiao's voice suddenly turned full of determination.

It wasn't that he feared death, but he detested the notion of accepting that he would remain weak forever. He would absolutely not give up, even though he was incredibly weak at the moment. Of course it just by his own standards, he was weak, but compared to others of his era, he stood at the pinnacle of strength.

He had actually forgotten the fleeting feeling of regret upon learning of his father's death. Perhaps it wasn't intentional, or maybe he didn't realize there was anything wrong with what he had just said. For him, life and death were natural phenomena, countless beings died every day, and his father was just one among them. Only immortality would be considered strange.

Then, as usual, he began his frenzied training regimen. His life could be summarized simply: eat, sleep, and train. He didn't need to work since the wealth left by his father was enough to sustain him for decades, and he didn't need to spend money on anything else.

He had a few books at home, some were for his learning in the past, and others were written by himself. Occasionally, he would read these to avoid forgetting how to write and speak since he didn't communicate with anyone else.

From the moment he realized how truly weak he was and that everything in the world could harm him, he felt displeased. Training made him forget that feeling because he knew he didn't accept reality as it was and still had hope of becoming stronger in the future.

But giving up training would mean accepting his own weakness, a concession he would never allow. Even in death, he will not accept his weakness and will definitely try to become stronger.

Spring, summer, autumn, winter, and then spring again, Jun Wu Xiao continued his daily training. Another year passed, and while things should have proceeded as normal, today marked a significant difference. Today was the day he successfully took his first step on the way he had chosen for himself.