Growing Up

I was looking at my "sparring partner", over the last few years it became sort of a tradition. I would challenge it every end of the year, to test my improvement. Gramps make me realize when I fight it for the first time was an idiotic act because it was really powerful and could Kill me in an instant. if it was not toying with me, I would be dead early on.

I confirmed it when I fought it again after one year of training with Gramps. I can't seem to defeat it even using qi but I could feel my improvement. So, within these past few years, he became my punching bag. Oh, sorry I was rude, it became my "sparring partner".

Presently, I was walking through the forest finding my punching bag, I mean "Sparring Partner" as I looked around and enjoyed the beauty of the forest. I eventually found my punching bag. It was currently hiding in the cave, no it seems it was doing indecent things.

"You think you can hide from me? Get your ass out, it's time for our sparring"

The bearpanda turned its head and looked at me, it started to angrily roar at me. It appears I interrupted its lovemaking session with another, Oh, it was a real panda this time. What a horny animal, doing it in broad daylight. I felt envious. I want a beautiful cat ear too, or a pointy ear onee-san. Oh, I also want some delicacies from the royal family.

Tsss… making me envious, you're just a damn magical beast. I wasn't cursing it because I was still single, similar to my past life, and can't find my fated partner. it's just I was too busy with my intense training with Gramps, and this forest is a place for ferocious magical beasts. Just you wait my beauties, your hubby is busy getting stronger, I will meet you all soon.

As I was cursing this horny "bearpanda". It suddenly ran at me, pounding me with its full strength. I didn't move from my position and calmly looked at the aggressive magical beast. I coated my two hands with qi and grabbed its two hands in the air stopping it to its track. I grinned and then kicked it to its stomach coated with qi.

Bang!

The bearpanda was sent flying like a broken giant balloon smashing at the cave.

BooM!

The onlooker panda suddenly ran with its tail tucked between its legs. The bearpanda stand up and blood flowed its mouth and looked at me full of hostility.

"What is it? come!" I grind and taunt it with a right-hand gesture.

"Roar!*

It roared to the high heavens. The bearpanda broke into a run and leaped straight at me. It raised its right hand and swung it down. I coated my right fist and counter its swing with a punch in the face before it could reach me. I toyed with it for a while until it was out of breath and lying on the ground full of wounds. I returned the humiliation I received from the past but I didn't feel anything.

I looked at the wounded pandabear and crouched down and picked a tree branch before poking it.

"Should I kill it?"

I felt reluctant since it became my sparring partner in the past years. I got attached to it. Even though I was frustrated at first, it also helped me test my improvement. It even smashes my overconfident self earlier than the latter. So I decided.

"I won't kill you"

The bearpanda looked at me and whimpered. It looks like it understands me.

"The debt has been fulfilled. Thank you for being my sparring partner all this time. You were a worthy opponent" After saying that, I picked it up and put it in the cave. This is all I could do. He licked my hand before closing his eyes.

Since my business here is done, it's time to return home. Somehow, I turned eighteen years old. Gramps made me go through different kinds of training non-stop within these years. He even told me to catch a fish with bare hands, at first I thought it was to harass me or to teach me a lesson for annoying him but surprisingly, it also helped me to heighten my concentration and also to help me to better control my Qi usage.

Gramps also made me chop firewood daily, and he even changed the type of wood once in a while. Including wood was too tough to chop without using Qi to strengthen my body or wood that was hard enough to shatter the ax, if I didn't coat it in QI.

Periodically, gramps also used his own Qi, mixed with his sword intent, to put pressure on me. He said it was training to condition the Qi in my body, help me understand the sword, and sharpen my mind. But I think this damned old man was just enjoying bullying me

I kept my martial arts training as well. At first, Gramps was quite skeptical, but my argument of "If I can use Qi to coat myself, wouldn't it be better if I could use my whole body as a weapon?" won him over. To be honest, I was also surprised how good it turned out

And then there was a day of doing nothing but swinging my wooden sword in one spot until my hands turned numb. Later Gramps made me do this while mixing all kinds of actual sword arts as well.

It felt that the old man's teachings were tailor-made for me. No matter what technique it was, I just kept learning them on the first attempt. And it made gramps seem so happy, which made me go at it twice as hard!

As I was recalling my past with Gramps. I arrived home.

"Gramps I'm Home!"

I looked around but didn't see his silhouette. I entered the house, with no one around.