Chapter 118: Divine Flower
"Hurry back and train some more," Mu Jianyao ordered Xu Min. She looked at the man who seemed innocent and simple on the outside, but who had some deep scars deep within his soul.
She pretended she had heard nothing, but deep inside she was very curious as to why such a young man would possess such a killing intent and such a determination to gain vengeance. Something terrible must have happened earlier, but he was only a young man. His life had just started, how and what could have happened?
"I better not ask him," Mu Jianyao said with a shake of her head, "Some things are better not remembered, but I will do what I can to make him a strong expert, an expert who can clean up the mess that he has from his past."
Mu Jianyao concluded Xu Min was her student no matter what past he had. He was fueled by anger and vengeance, but she was in no position to scold him for this. She was no saint, and she knew that those who had a goal in life were the ones who gained the most astonishing achievements.
Her student was no ordinary fellow. He had to do well on the Heavenly Ranking for the sake of her pride thus Mu Jianyao took the teaching of Xu Min seriously.
She made sure to teach him properly. During the day whenshe had to give the medicinal herbs to the students, she would take small breaks in between of their visits to correct Xu Min's cultivation, to give him small pointers or to make small explanations of Spiritual Energy, Elemental Affinity and the way the two were merged.
Every day, Xu Min would be in the same room as his master, and he would be training hard. Sometimes he would sit down and ponder on the two new energies and their merging. Other times he would be attacking large boulders with either his bare hands or with his sword in his hands.
Sometimes he would look like a living torch; other times his hair would flutter slightly in the wind and wind blades would appear all around him.
Xu Min would do his best to control his elements and to merge them with the spiritual energy. At first, he did not have much success in this aspect. Nevertheless as time went on, he became more and more proficient in the skill. Unfortunately, he was far from as good as Mu Jianyao.
Soon Xu Min's life followed a specific schedule. In the morning he would wake up and go straight to Mu Jianyao's rooms at the medicinal garden. Here he would cultivate, practice and merge the energies during the entire day. As the students vanished from the Medicinal Garden a few hours would be spent on fighting against massive boulders after which Xu Min had to live through one hour of torturous sparring with Mu Jianyao.
Although she had lowered her strength to be as strong as Xu Min, her understanding of her elements and her attacks was many times more outstanding than Xu Min's, resulting in him being beaten up day after day.
As soon as he was finished with the beating or sparring as Mu Jianyao called it, Xu Min would return to his cabin where he would eat some food and talk a little with Cao Cao and Ye Ling before passing out all night. He was not even cultivating during the night. Instead, he was just sleeping to allow for his mind to get some rest.
During these days though Xu Min's rank did not rise itself very much due to the lack of absorption of the heavens and the earth, he could feel how his body was becoming stronger and stronger; his combat ability was just soaring to the sky. By now his ability to stay alive was better than it had ever been before.
One day Mu Jianyao looked at Xu Min as he appeared in front of her and a smile spread on her usually cold face. She had become very fond of this young man who was following every order she gave him and who was growing immensely under her care.
"There is only one more week until the Heavenly Rankings begins," she said quietly as she looked at Xu Min. Her face displayed some uncertainty as she looked at him. He had become much stronger than he was before; even Mu Jianyao, his teacher, was unaware of just how strong he had become.
"Do your best!" she said as she reached out her hand and gave him a very beautiful silver colored orchid with a golden stem..
"This is a divine flower. Divine flowers are incredibly rare; they grow on trees very rarely, so when we find one, we make sure to never take their roots. Although the majority of their magical properties are within these roots, the flower itself and the stem contains amazing energy which will allow for you to increase your Qi."
"I know that you have not managed to raise your strength very much recently because of your intense focus on the elemental affinity and the spiritual energy. Therefore I wish to make up for it by giving you this medicinal plant. It might not be enough to make you break into the seventh star, but it should be able to help you get close to that threshold."
Hearing this, Xu Min felt very grateful. Mu Jianyao was doing everything in her power to help Xu Min raise his strength and become capable of living up to the expectations she had placed on him.
"Thank you," he replied heartfelt. "I don't know how to repay all the kindness that you show me, but I will bring you honor!"
"As long as you reach the top ten, then I am satisfied," Mu Jianyao laughed. Just as Xu Min was about to open his mouth, Mu Jianyao shook her head, "Don't. Go back to your cabin and refine this medicinal plant. Spend the next week increasing your strength. Show me the difference when we meet again at the tournament!"
Xu Min bowed deeply to his teacher before he turned around and left. In his hands was the flower he had been given. He could not help but hold it tightly to his body while he rushed back to the cabin. Now was not the time to be interrupted.
Reaching the cabin, Xu Min saw that both Cao Cao and Ye Ling were cultivating, and their strength was being raised rapidly. Looking at these two, Xu Min's heart went warm. These were his brothers; he knew that they would go through hell and back with him.
Sitting down on his bed, he opened his hand and looked at the flower. The flower truly lived up to being called a divine flower, just as he was holding it he could feel the energy pulsating from it. His heart throbbed in excitement. An unconcealable smile was on his lips as he gently licked them. He was completely stunned by the power of this flower. Just holding it in his hand was enough for him to feel how all the essence of the heavens and the earth flowed into his body.
Clenching his teeth and straightening his determination, Xu Min closed his eyes for a moment where he was mentally preparing himself.
When the eyes opened again, a certain determination within was shining brightly as he looked at the herb once more. He gave a slight nod and opened his mouth. He placed the herb within his mouth.
The flower, as soon as it came into contact with the tongue, melted to drops of golden and silver liquid which gently slid down his throat.
The moment it entered his body, Xu Min's eyes opened wide.He felt the temperature of his body rapidly rising. The body was no longer as normal as it was before, it started shaking as the temperature was making Xu Min feel acute pain.
As the heat rose, the pain followed right behind. Soon Xu Min's focus was solely on trying to withstand this volatile pain.
The heat started at Xu Min's mouth as the herb turned to liquid. Afterward, it spread down to his throat, and from the throat, it spread to the stomach, and from the stomach it spread out, entering every single vein and cell in his body.
This blazing heat that had enveloped him was agonizingly painful. As the time went on, he was capable of feeling that his body had become a giant black hole which was absorbing the essence of the heavens and the earth at a speed he had never experienced before. Every pore in his body was absorbing the energy. This divine energy was mingling with every single cell and organs in his body, strengthening not only his Qi pool and expanding this, but also increasing the strength of the flesh, the muscles, and the bones.
Everything was becoming stronger and stronger, more and more energy entered the body, and soon his Qi pool was overflowing; the Qi roamed meaninglessly in all the meridians within the body.
Sensing that he was becoming like a balloon with too much air about to explode, Xu Min focused all his attention on the dantian where the Qi pool was constantly expanding.
"This is going to hurt," he said as he grit his teeth, but he had no other option. He used his consciousness to make all the rampant Qi enter the dantian once more and compressed it within the Qi pool.
Cracks started to appear on the dantian as it was being filled with energy. However, as soon as a crack appeared, Qi would repair the crack again. This procedure repeated thousands of times.
With each of the cracks, Xu Min would turn pale and be filled with pain. t As soon as it was healed, a relaxed expression would appear on his face.
Having this repeated action, the dantian constantly expanded together with the Qi pool until it finally was big enough to accommodate all of the energy.
Opening his eyes, Xu Min noticed that black steam was leaving his body. Once he opened his eyes though, this steam stopped erupting from his body.
Standing up, he felt how every bone in his body was creaking. His entire body was reborn, and he could feel a strength so outstanding he could not describe it. This divine flower had changed so much for him; his new strength was nowhere near the old one. He had truly become a force to be reckoned with.
Thinking like this a smile appeared on his lips. He had his long time goal of getting revenge on the Zhong Family, but right now he had another goal. Mu Jianyao had done so much for him, and with her help, it was now much easier to settle his score with the Zhong family. For her, he would prove that although he was a human, he should not be underestimated. He was indeed worthy of being her student, and Mu Jianyao had done it the right way. He would win the Heavenly Ranking and prove to everyone just how outstanding he was!
Concluding this outcome, a smile appeared on his lips. He had spent six days refining the divine flower. Now there were only a few hours before the Heavenly Ranking begun. Stretching and changing his clothes, he gestured for Ye Ling and Cao Cao to follow him. Together these three brothers left the small cabin and entered the academy. It was time for the Heavenly Ranking to begin, so every single part of the academy was filled with people. They were all going to participate and everyone would be hoping for easy first opponents. Xu Min, on the other hand, did not care about who he was against. Many of the experts were of equal strength to him;he needed to go all out in every battle if he wanted to win.