Training (I)

Inner Core Area in Forest of Trove~

*Booom*

"Huff, Cecilia, this training is horrendous," Zhen complained to her when he just finished killing the 13th magical beast while only trying to use Flash Point and his bare fist.

The worst part is that she even sealed his cultivation so that his body is not impenetrable. Zhen's clothes are now tattered into multiple holes.

Not only that, his shoulder is bleeding from overusing his physical strength. 

He can't use spiritual qi on his fist so it's like punching a rock as a normal person each time.

"Stop complaining and go 4km to the east side. There's another magical beast and this one is known for agility. It'll be a great practice for you to try and step into the initial phase of Flash Point."

"B-But I have tried to use Flash Point many times already and I can't even grasp the concept of it." Zhen tried to retort because he had not eaten anything in these 19 hours of fighting.

"I'm doing this for your own good. This is pushing your body to the maximum limit and only in near danger would you be able to grasp the concept of a cultivation technique. Did you think cultivation is easy and fun?" Cecilia replied very coldly toward him.

Gritting his teeth, Zhen started heading to the east side. 

'Sealing my cultivation base, running is tedious and my legs feel like collapsing anytime.'

Once Zhen is near 3km, the magical beast appears and starts to growl at him.

*Growl*

His look is exactly those lions with savage teeth in the wild. Plus, the beast's mouth is starting to drip out some saliva, almost like he found the food to fill up his belly.

Their eyes meet and Zhen can tell he's trying to intimidate. Out of the 13 beasts, he fought so far, 10 of them have tried this tactic.

They will glare fiercely at their opponent so they will tremble in fear and once they lose focus, the attack will begin.

The beasts are extremely intelligent and one misstep could spell the end of my life. Although Zhen knows Cecilia will save him if that happens but he doesn't want to be in that stage.

It'll be the most embarrassing thing to be saved by the person you vowed to save. Also, Zhen doesn't want another dumb damsel in distress, featuring a reverse role-play.

*Splash*

Zhen stepped on the soft soil with some water in the ground and ready his position. 

The beast also started tilting his back as he's ready to launch an attack.

*Whooooosh*

The beast starts targeting his left side and Zhen instantly dodge to the right side but he messed up at that moment.

The beast has feigned his attack as the real one was on my right side. The lion beast swung his tail at his right ribs.

*Bang*

"Arghh," Unable to block the impact completely, Zhen screamed a bit in pain.

Before the beast could land another critical hit on him, Zhen twisted his step a bit and the tail hit his right side back instead. 

Zhen landed on the ground very hard with his face on top.

*Bam*

However, Zhen could care less about the injury as he instantly tried to use Flash Point to escape. 

His technique is still flaw but at least he managed to dodge before the pounding.

"Cmon, you little beast, just wait till I skin every part of you when I kill you," Zhen said as he spits out some blood from the previous hit.

Suddenly, the beast sprung his tail rapidly into the position that Zhen is located after hearing his taunt.

*Boooooom*

Zhen dodges in time using an incomplete Flash Point technique and the ground he was originally in became a large crater. 

'My most difficult fight for sure because this beast is a high rank 6 or in actual cultivation term, he's in the 5th stage core formation.'

Zhen knew Cecilia made him fight this beast solo on purpose despite all the disadvantages he has.

Their cultivation rank is vastly different and Zhen's cultivation is sealed to top it off, adding more difficulty. 

To win this fight, Zhen knew butting head-on would only obtain one result.

A defeat and possibly death if he was actually alone without anyone to save his life at the end. 

After losing the advantage of this fight, Zhen used the best strategy that mankind has ever created.

Running away!

*Whoosh*

Zhen starts running away with his fastest speed and you might think he's a coward but think about it. He would be a fool to stay in a fight that he can't win head-on.

If you can't win like this, the only way is to use the environment to your advantage. They're in a forest filled with many trees, a lake, and a landscape that could cover their presence.

As Zhen runs to hide, he can feel a chill closing in his back and he can tell that this lion labeled him as an easy target. 

He will definitely not let his dinner run away in front of him when he was so close.

*Roarrr*

The beast roars as he chases Zhen but couldn't catch him because Zhen changes multiple directions when he runs because a straight line against a beast with higher cultivation is your one-way ticket to hell.

While running in another direction, Zhen felt a claw nearing his left side and without any hesitation, he dodges to the right and starts hiding in the bush, using the wind impact from that strike as a boost.

*Slash*

Zhen's back was scratched but it was a minor injury. Zhen slowly hides in the bushes and closes his aura so the beast can't detect him with smell alone.

The beast was looking left and right but Zhen was hiding perfectly while relocating his position. 

He only had one chance and if he missed..... he can only curse his terrible luck.

*ROARR*

Zhen's ear starts to ring from the beast growling because he couldn't detect him. Zhen almost died from an eardrum but finally, with the roar as sound cover, he is behind this beast now.

Zhen starts concentrating on both his leg and fist as this is his only chance to one-hit kill his weak point.

*Tap* *Tap*

When Zhen noticed the beast lowered his guard a bit and started turning in the opposite direction of him.

He knew that it's his chance. Without wasting any more moments, Zhen rushed at his fastest speed and punched through his ribs in the back.

The lion beast turned around at this moment causing his fist to hit on another area instead which is not enough to kill him.

"You've got to be kidding me."

'Damn, this is literally the worst-case scenario to happen as I'm wide open with his teeth opening wide.'

The beasts smirk when he baited Zhen into revealing himself as he opened his mouth to crunch Zhen down.

Zhen couldn't avoid this ferocious bite since he was still suspended in mid-air.

The lion beast's eyes squinted because he knew he had finally cornered this slick human who thinks he's good at hide n seek.

When the bite was about to chomp onto his body to split him in half. 

Zhen unconsciously starts feeling spiritual qi rapidly rotating in his body and he vanishes from the air.

*Swoosh*

Zhen landed 10m away from the beast and he chomped into the air. 

The beast looked in confusion when he didn't feel any flesh attaching to his teeth. When the beast saw Zhen was 10m away from him, he started growling about how he escaped from his bite.

'So this is what people call, when you're in extreme danger, your instinct kicks in and you would unconsciously unleash your potential to the max for survival.'

"Boy, you're truly lucky to be able to attain the initial phase of Flash Point even though it's an extremely tedious movement technique. Not many can cultivate it despite encountering more danger than you."

While Zhen was still in a bit of a daze, he heard Cecilia echoing through his mind and a smile appeared on his face. 

'I have finally achieved the initial phase so now this fight difficulty has just decreased.'

Clenching his fist slowly, Zhen looked at the beast that had turned extremely cautious because he had avoided a certain death or grave injury from him.

"You stinky beast, the tables have now turned on you," Zhen said and his original location vanished into a puff as he appeared behind the beast's back.

The beast has his alertness to the max so he was able to turn around and use his tail to whip him.

"Too bad, because this is only a feign and I'm repaying this favor to you."

*Whoosh*

Zhen dodged the tail and appeared on his right side and punched right through his jaw. 

The beast did a 360 degree and crashed heavily into the ground.

*Booom*

The beast tried to get up slowly from taking a direct hit that he didn't intend to tank.

However, Zhen didn't give him any chance to regain his composure as he vanished again and landed multiple punches, and destroyed his ribs and internal organs.

"Roooooooar," The beast screamed in agony with a roar when Zhen continued to hit his weak spot.

Punching consecutively, Zhen's fist became numb but he didn't stop until the beast took his final breath.

'Don't blame me beast, this is a life and death battle and I prefer living.' Zhen said slowly while both his fists were covered in blood.