Zhuan An 2

Steel plates that were held together by chain links and crafted to resemble a jacket on him, Xiao Fan made his way for the first straight out of the four that made the square training field.

As he runs below him, he could see how his past fifty rounds around this square were somewhat showing in the endless line that was the tracks of everyone else who had run here.

Why was he looking below and not straight forward? Because he couldn't, the steel weighted like hell.

A body sword had nothing on the weight of this thing hanging from his neck and shoulders. Even before he was at the end of the first straight, which meant he had only run a hundred meters could he feel how the first's and second round's strain came back.

It was not fun, not fun at all.

However, taking a casual peek towards his coach, he felt that he shouldn't stop now. It would look awful, he figured, when seeing that Zhuan An looked at him like he shouldn't be having much difficulty.

No cheering nor nothing else was coming from her.

And this meant two things, one he shouldn't be exhausted, or a cultivator at his grade shouldn't be, the second reason luckily was more of his thing, as if he would quit now would that mean he was way below average, something which he wouldn't want to be showing, not to her, nor the few other people doing some nighttime training.

He needed to suffer this one and push forward he resolved as he turned over the first corner of three still to go, and then some more...

Calculating the rounds brought the feeling of quitting again to his head, yet it was again figuratively slapped off by him, who begun to lament this thing in his way.

'Should have made potion which increases stamina'

'Should have trained like everyone else and not rely on potions'

'Every lap will increase my cultivation by a bit'

Xiao Fan had begun to think how this was an ending which, he, himself had dug right in front of him, and would now need to climb out of that hole, well, in this case, run.

Soon thinking so the first lap had been completed and he wasn't feeling too bad anymore, he continued to put a leg in front of the other and thought other things, not dealing with the fact that he could stop here if he wanted.

However, by the fifth lap, no matter how much one thought of other things, the pain striking in one's muscles was something not to be pushed aside by simply thinking of happy things. The pain was very real, and it wasn't an ant trying to bite into one's flesh.

It was the whole colony of them, biting into every cell in his thighs and calf, not sparing a single cell when doing so, and what wasn't helping was that Xiao Fan couldn't keep his feeling of pain suppressed anymore. His feeling of physical pain was rising to the level it would be on a Body Activation realm cultivator, not the Body Warming realm to which he had suppressed it to like every other sensible person.

This was forcing him to feel the pain in every single cell, and there was no asking, it was forcing this feeling giving little care if the host wanted to feel them currently, for the muscles told him to stop! They didn't want to work, but as Xiao Fan ordered them to put a leg in front of the other was there a conflict, in which, for now, the spirit operating the muscles was winning.

Why was Xiao Fan still trying this? Surely he could feel that this wouldn't end in anything good? Of course, it was the one thing any man would walk five hundred miles for, or run one hundred and fifty.

It was the magical thing that would make even Xiao Fan run like a mad dog until he fell over and could no more.

For every time he did a full lap, he could see how Zhuan An, who had been leisurely watching him was now showing interest in his efforts, making him feel refreshed as after every round would she be a little more interest and pleased.

'Half is almost done' He thought to himself when he was coming to the last corner of the twelfth lap.

'Turn, turn, turn' He when at the corner commanded his legs. At this point, thinking of such basic manoeuvres like turning around a corner was a must. If not? Would he simply continue forward or fall over in confusion.

Then as he had done since the first time coming to this point in the lap, he raised his head to look towards Zhuan An. And like before doing so made him feel a little better, though it didn't take the empty feeling in his legs away, it was only a psychological help.

Meanwhile, on the side of Zhuan An, there was nothing special, in her opinion, Xiao Fan was doing just fine. Would he stop now would she say it was a good result if he made it to the end would she say it was a good result. He hadn't stopped in the first five laps, so everything was fine to her, that was the bottom line for her, and it was a low line for sure.

It was a low line since if she had been running next to him... she would have finished by now...

Thought that was a thing she wouldn't say to her moon and stars, towards him, she would be supportive long as he didn't become a total failure, and even then, she might blame herself for it before him.

So for now, she only encouraged Xiao Fan by giving him a better smile after every lap he had completed.

On the other side of her smile, Xiao Fan having gotten his fill went back into the small forward lean and proceeded to finish the twelfth lap and then continued to complete the total of two dozen laps.

As mentioned before it was nice to get a smile out of his effort, yet it didn't help that he didn't really feel his muscles anymore, and for sure, if he stopped he wouldn't be able to continue. However, not thinking of this much, he still running, well, jogging went towards the corner that he knew should be this way if he maintained course, then when he saw the corner in the downwards tilt he was in he commanded his legs to turn.

The thirteenth lap went well, nothing major, so did the fourteenth, and all the way until the twentieth lap, for at that point, the pain wasn't only in his legs anymore. Now it was also in his lungs, and weirdly in his head, he couldn't explain the pain in his head, but he could describe the pain in his lungs, they felt being crushed yet by spikes. Enough spikes were poking at his lungs that they could form a solid wall that was pushing them from all directions.

'God, four more and I'll not look like a shack of shit' He thought when on the twentieth lap, that was also his only thought during that lap, even Xiao Fan who wanted nothing more than to think couldn't, for thinking took energy and energy was the one thing that couldn't be spared.

And while that was his only thought, the only feelings he had were the different kinds of pain and the steel plates hitting his body when he jogged forwards. Then there was the other stuff, such as seeing. What did he see? Not much, his eyes had gone little foggy, and by now, the only thing he registered was the white corner line of the training field. Other things, like hearing, smelling? Nothing. Those things weren't being kept up by him. Oh, in a way, he could hear, as in he did hear a thumping, it was the thumping of his heart.

Which wasn't a good sound since the amount it was beating for a second wasn't something that a mortal could survive anymore, and a cultivator like him could barely manage with.

'Only three more laps' Still he hadn't stopped his run, and a lap after the last thought he made another conscious thought that wasn't him ordering his legs to turn.

'Two more... One more' Were the thoughts on the laps following the last one.

By the time he was crossing the starting line and starting the final lap, Xiao Fan was feeling somewhat like he felt after a breakthrough, an empty husk which didn't have a lot of going for it, though it was only alike, not the same.

He could still move his legs and hands, see, hear, and he intended to keep it so till the last lap was completed.

Though he intended to keep it so, the muscles that he had been fighting with the whole time were intending to stop this, and so as they had done with every lap they increased their wants or pain, they pained more and more.

Also, by now the two or three people who had been doing their nighttime routine had stopped their training to cheer for the guy they didn't know but could understand how hard he was pushing himself, plus it was a thing everyone simply did.

If they saw someone else trying to do something which seemed to go against their past in terms of power or anything, in this case, stamina would they cheer, they were a sect, so someone succeeding was their sect succeeding. Most of the disciples weren't into sect politics, so they didn't care who she or he was, traditionalist? Reformist? The Rising Fox Sect!

The first one of these people had been here for a couple of hours and had so watched the whole thing while training himself, though now he was only on the side of the route Xiao Fan was taking.

¨Go, go, go¨ He applauded and clapped Xiao Fan forwards, not thinking he would get anything back from him. Indeed Xiao Fan hadn't reacted in any way to this man cheering him on for the past five rounds or so, however, now he did, he smiled ever so slightly.

Still, it was enough for the man to notice the slight upwards curve coming from the runner now already past him.

Xiao Fan sincerely appreciated them doing this for him. It was even to the decree that being part of the sect should be okay just to get some cheers when training since they helped very much so.

Who wouldn't like to be pushed forward by others like him?

Nevertheless, following Xiao Fan's pass of the first of the three people still in the training field in the morning's little hours, he made his way towards the direction of the second turn, he wasn't sure anymore, he merely ran, and then when he saw a corner in the sand, he turned to the left.

And his memory served him well, as soon the white line in the sand made a ninety-degree turn, the line going towards the left, showing him the path he needed to take.

For the last ten rounds, he had been using this white line to be his guide, and so far it had been working splendidly, even now following it, he soon came to the third turn.

The third turn should also be the place where he would hear a few more cheers coming his way.

¨Light weights, light weights¨ A man, whose features Xiao Fan hadn't even seen bellowed in a low tone.

¨One two, one two, one two¨ The other person, who he couldn't identify if a male of female made some pacing.

All in all, it was a nice environment have to say. Wonder how it would be during the day when there would be hundreds or even more disciples training and pushing each other forwards?

Xiao Fan made this extra thought when running towards the final turn.