Chapter 13: Mountain training.

The next morning, after Qin Qianyu woke up and completed her breathing exercise. She changed into her active wear and went out for a morning jog.

When she returned, grandpa Wú was almost finished with preparing breakfast. He told Qin Qianyu to wash up then to join him for a meal.

"Master your skills are improving, nothing's burnt this time, well done you!"

Qin Qianyu praised adding her two thumbs to the mix along with her words and smile.

"Well, least we won't stave right? Hehe, so can you give me a hint now? What are going to do today?"

"Hmph! Today I'm going to torture you. We're heading up that mountain over there."

Grandpa Wú point out the window towards a certain direction. In the background a majestic mountain stood proudly among several smaller ones.

"What we will be training is your apothecary skills and movement technique. This place is a hidden treasure trove for both of these things and will benefit you greatly."

"I trust in masters arrangements."

"Mhm, good, quickly finish your meal and we'll head out straight away. But first, show it to me again,"

A knowing smile formed on both people around the dining table. Qin Qianyu had refashioned the leather satchel into a belted pouch.

She detached the pouch and laid it out on the dining table. She opened it up and all 20 jade capped silver needles glowed mysteriously after the set was complete.

It was like the jade on top of the Silver Phoenix Talon both fed and drew energy from each of the other needles.

"Magnificent isn't it disciple? To think that we almost gave it up. Luckily the cards were in our favour."

"Indeed master, when we get home I'll have to start going through the other techniques within the Phoenix cries portion."

"You, an impatient person should never eat hot tofu."

"I understand master, I'll take my time and learn slowly and properly."

"I've no doubt about that."

"Let's get going master, I'm ready."

The pair got ready and left the villa towards the mountain.

From the villa it took the pair two hours just to get to the foot of the mountain.

This was the first time Qin Qianyu had come to such a mountain. Even in her former life she only stayed within the city either at the Song Mansion or in the laboratory.

The closest she had gotten to a mountain was during a group bonding trip to a very popular camping grounds with the other students from her stream in her first year at Zhishi University.

But in comparison, this mountain before her made the one she had seen at that time look like a small rise, not even a hill.

While her mind flashed backed to the memory of the camping trip, grandpa Wú noticed that her countenance had changed to something quite frightful.

If he could describe it, it was a mix of loathing and and animosity, but towards whom, he had no idea.

"Disciple let's take rest,"

Hearing grandpa Wú's worried look and his concerned voice, brought her thoughts to the present and she pushed her previous thoughts as far out of her mind as possible.

"Sorry master, I'm fine, let's carry on."

Grandpa Wú shook his head as he frowned,

"No! Your mind seems somewhere else, this will not only affect your training but also all your future efforts. But more importantly, your own state of mind will be greatly affected also."

Qin Qianyu gave grandpa Wú a simple glance in acknowledgment of his words. He sighed longly, gave Qin Qianyu a reassuring nod and sat under a tree in a half lotus position.

"Disciple, I'm not telling you to tell me all about it, whatever it is, take it as an alternate form of training your mentality. It should be dealt with solely by you personally. Only then will you benefit fully from the results."

"Master in most novels they call this a "heart demon" are you saying telling me this is what I have?"

"Disciple, it's like I said before, most of the things you've read, are not only based on some form of the truth, it's just over glorified to match the readers visuals and the minds imagination."

"I see . . . "

With his eyes still closed grandpa Wú asked his disciple to follow his example. Qin Qianyu did as she was asked to do.

She sat in a half lotus position and steadied her breathing. The crease in her brow started softening as she listened to her master.

"Heh! There's no need to fuss, or dwell on it. It's only a mental blockage, only you can clear that block. It's the same as how writers suffer from writers block, or athletes fall into a slump, it's all because they have experienced the pitfalls, and it sucks, big time, they've been in the slumps before and know how hard it is to climb out of it."

"Mhm . . . "

"This isn't a race, just know you hold the ultimate power to deal with it in your own way and on your own terms."

Grandpa Wú didn't get a reply. He understood this to mean that Qin Qianyu had now entered into a meditative state but wether or not she was tackling her personal demons didn't matter much now, he just hope that she'd be able to use this method to combat everything in her heart and mind whenever the need arises.

"Damn! Did I show grandpa Wú something I shouldn't have!?"

Qin Qianyu asked herself, in her mind she strolling in a sea of whiteness every direction she looked, she saw the Same vast, expansive, whiteness.

Flashes of "the past" flooded her mind space filling the white areas. Little snippets of her former life played back at certain moments.

It didn't take long for her to see it, it was the memory of the camping trip, at that time it was both harrowing and a reason to rejoice.

During that trip, while everyone was drinking and having a good time. Qin Qianyu had somehow found herself becoming isolated from her friends and suddenly surrounded by a group of drunk horny men. They made it no secret what they wanted from her.

If it wasn't for Song Zhaoge coming to her rescue at that moment she shuddered at the thought.

It wasn't till after she had seen two people with Song Zhaoge later on in life, they looked familiar to her but she couldn't place them.

But now she could, as she looked at the two separate memories before her,

"Those two were apart of that group there! You son of bitch! You planned it all! God! and I fell for it, why couldn't I meet just regular good people!? Why did I have to fill my life with such waste!?

Coupling that and thinking about what he eventually done to her along with Meimei's aid, she surmised that it was all a plan devised by Song Zhaoge himself in order to inject himself into her life all for the benefit of the Song family and Song Zhaoge himself.

"Play the hero, rescue the damsel, live happily thereafter! Heh! What a joke I've become!"

Qin Qianyu was seething. The more Qin Qianyu dwelled on these toxic thoughts the quicker the imagery of her memories around her shattered into tiny pieces.

A shadow started looming, then, out of nowhere the shadow started engulfing the pure whiteness of her consciousness. Qin Qianyu was quickly devoured by the darkness inside her mind as well.

"Why!? Why did you do this to me!? Was it too much for you to treat me as a human!? Was it too hard just to love me without reason!? What was I to you!? Did I even mean anything!? Why couldn't I just be loved the same way I loved you!?"

Qin Qianyu screamed out aloud, she was full of hate and hated, she was full of resentment and resented, she was full of self loathing and also loathed, many other emotions poured out of Qin Qianyu as she vented towards many aspects and people from her former life. Qin Qianyu was letting go of all her obsessive frustrations inside of the darkness.

Humans are communal creatures by design, although instances of isolation exist, it only affects a minute portion of the entire worlds population.

Qin Qianyu knew this too which was why it was hard for her to accept the things she went through with Song Zhaoge. What she really hated the most was the fact that he denied her the chance of a simple happiness she was longing for.

She thought that she could have this after the sacrifices she made for him.

"Isn't that the very least I deserve in return for staying by your side!? But yet, what did I get in return!? What did you think I deserved!? Death! That's what you gave me. A slow painful death and years of wasted feelings."

"But this time, this time will be different, I will fucking kill you and that bitch, the Song family will follow you two fuckers also. All you fuckers! Just because you haven't done anything to this me yet is only because You won't get a chance to do what you had done to me before in this life. But still, that doesn't eliminate the fact that you all did it. You're all involved and will all face the consequences because I'll hold you accountable. I'll take what I need and I'll give what I want, and to whom I want."

Qin Qianyu made a vow, what she was given she'll definitely pay it back, and just because they haven't done anything to her in this life yet, doesn't negate the fact that they did in the first instance.

Soon the twisted expression started to ease as the darkness gradually pulled back and her consciousness returned to its prior setting.

"ZHAOGE GEGE!"

Qin Qianyu exclaimed then exhaled loudly as she opened her eyes. She was still under the tree with her master sitting in front of her. His eyes opened the same time as hers and a light smile formed on his face.

"Feel better now?"

"Mhm, much better."

"Good let's get a move on we don't have much time left so I'm going to push you hard."

Qin Qianyu nodded seriously after she took stock of the time. She had been meditating for over 5 hours since she sat under the tree.

"Master . . I . . "

"Disciple, you don't have say a word, to me it's honestly alright, you're young, in fact, it's only been a few years since you've learnt to wipe your own backside."

"Dirty old man!"

"Hoho, listen disciple, what I'm trying to say is that you're still young, don't over complicate your own thoughts with such adult matters, you still have a very long life to live. You're so young yet you're facing such complicated things all by yourself. You actually don't need to. Just stay true to you and everything will be fine. Think it through thoroughly, everyone has a secret or two, then if you feel the need, I'll be here when you need to talk."

A guilty look flooded Qin Qianyu's face, her expression solemn. He was right, she almost blurted out her biggest secret.

She had thought about all this before but the only thing she saw was a straight jacket with her name on it and the disapproving looks from her loved ones.

"I understand master,"

"Mhm, alright now I'll teach you the next step in the movement technique shadowless step, once you've trained this manoeuvre to its pinnacle you'll be able to move about without even leaving a trace of your shadow behind hence the techniques name."

Throughout the entire month, grandpa Wú had taken note of Qin Qianyu's achievements in the Wú arts, he had to slow down her ascension and rise in skill level regarding everything he was showing her, otherwise he'd have nothing more to teach.

To slow her momentum, Grandpa Wú started by having her learn from her books he had gifted her, however, he was surprised to learn that she had read and retained all of the information they contained within a days time, and even implemented and conducted self study to further grasp at their contents later on.

It went without saying that she couldn't do much with the acupuncture book because of the missing Silver Phoenix Talon, but still she had committed to memory all the techniques written within. She was even elated to find how comprehensive the book was, but grandpa Wú also understood it was due to her opening up her own mind that accelerated her learning and comprehension.

As for the other book, Qin Qianyu purchased several ingredients for her apothecary lessons and had created a slew of pills, ointments, creams and such from the book to varying results.

From the ones she perfected, she then created alternatives based on those that were more user friendly to create and take and would often more than not become better the original recipe like her "Restarts" pills for fatigue.

Ever since grandpa Wú had initially helped open her mind reconnecting her mind, body and soul Qin Qianyu had accelerated at an exceptional rate, but after awhile, grandpa Wú noted that this also made her susceptible to attacks from within her own mind. These "inner demons" where something he couldn't help her with at this time.

In case of an undesired effect on her, grandpa Wú decided not to pry into Qin Qianyu's past, even though he knew she had a story to tell, this aspect of her life that seemed to plaguing her some, may net a different result of he did intervened.