Gruesome training

Somewhere deep in the forest with treasure city barely visible on the horizon…

The rumbling of a large waterfall could be heard coupled with muffled screams every once in a while. These thunderous sounds came from a small lake right below the waterfall that seemed to drop down from the heavens itself. The tiny secluded area looked like heaven on earth with long vines all over the place, beautiful flowers and plants in and around the lake and multiple gorgeous looking wooden lodges scattered around the place…Even the fishes down in the pond seemed to be glowing creating a beautiful atmosphere any mortal human would call paradise.

Yet right now this so called paradise looked like a battlefield. There were craters all over the place and the small lake now had the faint color of blood. Below the waterfall on top of a rock a bloodied human body could be seen, though the blood kept being washed away by the strong force of the waterfall on the human's back.

"How long are you going to lay there? Get your lazy ass up already! It's only a couple flesh wounds, your limbs are still attached so get your ass up already! Or well, the limbs you had before we started are still attached. And even if you were to lose a limb during training, it's not like you didn't heal it before*.

"Old master, I think young master might have fainted again…"

"How many times does that make?" The old man replied whilst taking the last sip from his wine jug before throwing it on the pile of empty ones nearby

"This time included should make it forty-two times from the waterfall pain training, twice from young master talking back to you and seven times from exhaustion after training."

"Exhaustion? He has his core spirit eat foundation realm meat day and night. That abundance in the meat should prevent him from getting exhausted and heal him at the same time. The kid is just lazy and only thinks about food. The only way he will ever reach great heights at this point is if he sets "that" as his goal. An unmotivated person will never make it to the top no matter how much of a genius he is.

And stop calling me old master, I never was your master to begin with. The only reason you are here is because my disciple won a bet against me where he could decide what he wants to do with you.

On that note, are you sure you don't mind becoming his follower? Have you got no aspirations for greatness yourself?"

"Heh, greatness? Power? I might not be the smartest cultivator in existence but who would deny an opportunity to become a follower of one of the top ten core spirit owners? Even my young master's blind senior brother would be able to see how good an opportunity this is.

I like to pretend to be weak or stupid to have others underestimate me, but that doesn't mean I really am stupid.

And besides, by following young master I will be able to reach much greater heights in life than I ever could on my own or by being your disciple."

"Little dice, you seem to be smarter than I thought. You might not be a lost cause yet after all. Though being my disciple could be more of a gift than you would think…not that I would take you in.

_____

*ughhhhh*

"Buxing Zainan, how long was I out for?"

"Five seconds less than last time, young master. Oh, and just call me little dice like old master does. Makes things easier."

"Master told me you are older than me by a couple years, so how could I? I will call you brother dice then.

You might be my follower but that doesn't mean I have to treat you like you are below me. In the forest where I grew up there are no ranks, no people above others, just fellow humans fighting to survive and live life to the fullest!"

"Very well, young master. Brother dice it is.

Now, do you want me to notify the others at the campsite again to bring you foundation realm beast meat? Or do you want to go hunting by yourself again once you stopped bleeding?"

"The blood doesn't matter all that much, it's just a bit uncomfortable and sticky.

______

"Little fourth, don't go practice your archery today once your body is healed up again."

Suddenly feeling energised Fang Qiu instantly leapt up from the rock he was sitting on and enthusiastically made his way over to the master-follower pair.

"Is it finally time? We have been here for over two weeks already doing the waterfall pain training for hours on end on a daily basis. I'm starting to get sick of just smelling blood, let alone the pain that comes with the bleeding."

"Little Fang, the pain training is a necessary thing in your journey of cultivation, many of the cultivators here in these lodges or fighting out in the wilds have needed years to learn what you did in just two weeks due to your innate healing and near limitless qi…

Look at Senior disciple Feng from the southern continent main dark sect. He is out here risking his life to temper his skills and mindset, if he is doing it as one of the top disciples of the dark sect, why shouldn't you?" The old man lectured pointing at the black clothed youth practicing his spear arts next to the lodge. The youth seemed to be fighting a shadow of himself and with every injury he dealt to the shadow the same would appeared on himself.

Rolling his eyes Fang Qiu already knew what was coming next so he interrupted the old man

" yeah, yeah…pain can interrupt a cultivator's thoughts and interrupt the casting of skills and abilities. But by this point I should be nearly immune to any type of pain you throw at me. cases like that time the core formation cultivator got my legs and I became unable to cast my abilities due to the pain won't happen again."

sigh*

"As long as you understand why we do this training."

Casually waving his arm the old man made the waterfall disappear from the sky, suddenly returning the lake to its more peaceful and quiet state like how it was before they arrived….with the added in craters and bloodied lake water of course.

"As you guessed, the waterfall training is over, now the actual fun part begins."

As if given a secret signal all the cultivators residing in the lodges emerged one after the other and gathered around the trio. Even elite disciple Feng stopped the training to join the others surrounding the trio.

"You have befriended all twenty three out of these peak foundation realm cultivators over the last two weeks. But why do you think all of them are here? It's not to make friends I can assure you that…."

"Didn't they all bring us foundation realm beast meat in exchange for a safe place to stay for the time being? It's not like any cultivator or beast would dare cause trouble here with you being in this area." Fang Qiu asked his master without concern for the others who gathered around hearing him.

"Hehehe, you think I am not thinking a couple steps ahead? Like I said before, you won't like my training methods, but you will learn faster than any sect disciple ever will, don't underestimate the battle arena's opponents you will be facing. Those people have been through things you would consider living hell. That type of experience and skill can't be compensated for with a couple weeks of training, even if you are a rare one in a million genius.

Your biggest weakness currently is that you are lacking in experience and still underestimate the extent of human nature. Yes, you have killed before and yes, you have suffered setbacks and been through things nearly no one your age has been through.

In your nearly ten months of stepping on the cultivation journey you have been through more than most cultivators do in their first five years. From living in the forest to losing your arm to fighting these last couple months in the forest. But, the opponents you will be facing in the arena have way more than five years of experience, some even have more than fifty!

And these twenty-three cultivators in front of you also have more experience than you….every. Single. One."

So, this second part of your training is simple. You have been training your body, elements, archery, skills and mind these past couple weeks under my personal supervision. But now it's time to practice them in real combat. With your life at stake!

Beat these twenty-three soul slaves of mine in a one on one fight, just like the battle arena. The only twist is it is only considered your win if you make them give up….or kill them.

This is your trial as my final disciple. The only one i ever gave this trial was your first senior brother…but he failed…and got killed by my soul slaves.

You are the only person in many, many years with the potential to reach "that" goal. Don't fail me at this first hurdle like your senior brother did…

______

Fang Qiu lost both his legs during an ambush by a revolving core realm cultivator in the previous chapter which he managed to heal back with plenty of food, only his one arm and the cut on his nose can't be regrown due to the special way they were "removed".