5 The medicine bath

After an hour or so Liam was finally able to reach the cave where he found the ring for the first time:"what should i do now teacher?"

the teacher kept walking deeper and deeper inside the cave:"just keep quiet and follow me".

Liam kept following his teacher iside the cave, the deeper they got the more pressure Liam felt until they reached the end of the cave where he noticed a weird spring, it felt like if it was the origin of the pressure "teacher what is this place? and why did you bring me here?".

The teacher asked Liam:"do you feel something different about this place?".

Liam answered his teacher:"yes, i felt some weird pressure from the moment we entered the cave".

The teacher started explaining to Liam: "that weird pressure that you felt along the way was actually spiritual energy, when you open you meridians you'll be able to feel it as well, as I said before I spent almost 100 years sleeping in the ring inside this cave until some nosy kid came and woke me up, through that whole period of time this cave kept absorbing my spiritual energy, and for some reason the energy that I lost kept gathering in this spring over here".

Liam asked his teacher:" so why did you bring me over here".

The teacher kept explaining:" for the medicine bath to be more useful and help strengthen your body faster, we need to use spiritual water, and this spring could be considered as spiritual water since it's very rich with my spiritual energy".

Liam asked again:"so how am I supposed to prepare the medicine bath with this spiritual water".

The teacher looked at Liam very seriously :" it's very complicated so you better listen carefully, first, you need to get all the herbs out of the ring, second, put all of them in the spring, third, get in the spring after taking off you clothes, finally, enjoy your long two hours bath, and that would be it".

Liam looked at his teacher very suspiciously and asked:" is that it?".

The teacher answered with a smile in his face:" yes, that would be it".

Liam with a confident look on his face:

" then it would be easier than I thought".

His teacher replied to him with a suspicious smile:" I hope you can keep your confidence when you start taking the bath".

After hearing his teacher's explanation Liam started preparing the medicine bath the same way his teacher told him, he first took out the herbs outside the ring, putted all of them in the spring, then he took off his clothes and went inside the spring.

At the beginning, it felt very comfortable since the water wasn't cold or not, just the perfect temperature. But after half an hour or so, Liam started feeling very hot, first he thought that the spring water is the one getting hoter, after a few moment he realized that the water was the same temperature as it was in the beginning, but the hot feeling actually was coming from inside of him, he kept bearing with it until an hour has passed since he started taking the bath, he felt like he was burning from the inside, then he finally asked his teacher:" teacher what should I do? I'm already at my limit, how much longer should I keep going?".

the teacher answered Liam:" I know that it must hurt very much, right now all the herbs are going inside you body with the spiritual energy of the spring, this is very important to strengthen your body from the inside, although it hurts very much, but it is very useful, so you have no other choice but bearing with it for the time being".

Seeing his disciple going through so much pain, the teacher couldn't take it anymore and asked Liam:"if you can't take it, then it's okay, we can stop, there are other ways to strengthening your body that aren't that much painful, although it's gonna take at least 5 months instead of one, but there is no reason to be in a hurry".

Liam started crying from the pain and answered his teacher:" n.....no, it's okay, I....I can take it, I need to get s....stronger as Soon as possible to advance to the inner sect after six months from now, I won't let anyone look down on me anymore".

The teacher was very touched by his disciple determination and promised himself that no matter what happens in the future, he would always stay by his side to support him until he reach his goal, then he started laughing and said :" where did your confident go from a while ago? didn't you say It was very easy".

Liam answered with an angry voice:" shut up, is this the time for your crappy jokes?".

The teacher answered Liam while he kept laughing:" since you still have the energy to get angry, I guess you'll be alright".

At that time the teacher was trying his best to distract Liam from his pain, and finally after another hour Liam finished his bath and got out of the spring, the last hour was the longest hour in both Liam's and the teacher's life.

After Liam took a few moment of rest his teacher aproched him and said:" since you have finished resting let's now start with your body training".

Liam answered in a hurry:" what? wait a moment, I just finished taking that painful bath, I don't have any energy to train right now".

the teacher looked at Liam's face and said:"are you sure you don't have any energy left".

Suddenly Liam realized that his body was overflowing with some weird energy, then he asked his teache:" what is going on? I am sure I was exhausted just a few moments ago?".

The teacher answered Liam's question:"that's because we didn't use ordinary water, we used spiritual water that helped you get your energy back very quickly, and now let's start our training, didn't you say you wan't to advance to the inner sect in the promotion exam after six months from now?".

Liam answered in a hurry:" what are talking abou? didn't you hear what others said? there are a lot of strong and talented people in the outer sect, if I want to advance that means that I should at least be the fifth in the competition, and we don't have much time, I only have six months, while the others were training for years, tha's not possible".

The teacher answered Liam with a smile on his face:" who said anything about the fifth place? we will get the first place do you hear me? the first place".

Liam answered his teacher:" you must be joking, didn't you hear? there is a guy who has already reached Human realm 8 stars, doesn't that mean that if I want to get the first place I need to reach Human realm 9 stars or at least Human realm 8 stars in six month, and I can't train until I open my meridians which give us only 5 month, you must be out of your mind".

The teacher replied to Liam:" there is nothing to worry about, with your heavenly spiritual body and my teachings" then he got very close to Liam's face and smiled an evil smile and said:" even if it was impossible I'll make it possible, even if it means that you'll have to go through hell for the next 6 months, so you better prepare yourself".

Suddenly Liam felt like he's gonna regret saying that he want to advance to the inner sect for the rest of his life.