Hell Training

A week quickly passed as Ki began to increase the difficulty to her training.

After using up the Qi in her body she then went for long distance runs, when she grew tired she slowly stabilised her breathing when lying down to rest before getting up to continuing the training, other times she would carry a long wooden pole with a bucket of water attached to each side supported by her upper back and shoulders when walking in a fast and steady pace.

Both exercises helped in endurance, strength and willpower training referred to as hell training in most sects.

Every time Ki felt herself reaching the limits that her body and consciousness could handle she would take some extra steps forward surpassing the limit she had set herself.

During the hell training Ki surpassed her limits many times and kept going forward for as long as her will would take her.

Thanks to her Blood Buddha Qi Art she had more abundant vitality and faster recovery than the average person so she could make the best use of this method to continue the surpass her limits time and time again without feeling the after effects of muscle pain and small tearing of her muscles or tendons.

Most hell training is done over a period of a week then a period of rest and recovery is needed within most sects before continuing with the training again but Ki could continue thanks to the vitality she absorbed from a second rate martial artist who had already done this type of training regularly.

As small tears opened up within her muscles the Blood Buddha Qi Art would slowly heal, temper and forge the muscles and tendons very slowly and over time.

Unlike the blood sect Qi art which only helps to have higher healing ability to endure harsher training conditions creating opportunities for the user to strengthen their bodies at a faster rate while increasing their blood Qi by absorbing it from others, the Buddha Qi art focuses more on sacrificing or using some of the blood Qi and vitality on strengthening the muscles and tendons within every part of the body, this reduces the overall bloody Qi stored within her dantain as a result but in fact is not a downside for Ki since it is only a secondary art used and is not her primary strength.

This is also a way to better manage the balance between the blood Qi's faster growth rate compared to her poisonous Qi.

If her blood Qi grows too much it would end up drowning or destroying her primary poisonous Qi rather than its intended purpose of nurturing it so the best way to better control its growth would be to reduce the amount of vitality absorbed or to continue with the hell training plan while forging her muscles and tendons according to the Blood Buddha Qi Art.

After completing a week of hell training Ki looked down at her arms which seemed to have barely changed but seemed to contain a small amount of hidden strength than what was previously there.

With the hell training being completed for the first week, there were exercises she wished to add to her training schedule later to provide some change so she thought about idling training doing lunges while carry a heavy bag full of sand or dirt, holding a large weighted bag full of stones above her head while standing still, crawling with her stomach on the ground, push-ups and later pull-ups once she finds a suitable place to practice.

Ki endured the pain during the week of hell training from the aching of her muscles being overused to the extra pain of her muscles being torn again and again before healing quickly.

Although she could continue to keep up with the training thanks to her higher vitality and endurance she wished to rest her mind a little for a few days before continuing again.

Ki was called to meet with Miranda who had completed one of her tasks.

Stood before Ki was an old man with long white hair and a long beard and moustache.

On the old mans hands were signs of self tattooing on the back of his hand and wrist, he flexed his fingers habitually as if training to keep his fingers, hands and wrists flexible and increase his control over his hand movements.

'Although a lot of different martial arts use similar exercises for grabbing actions or training to use hidden weapons there are also different exercises for different types of roles too. Whether it is a doctor using acupuncture methods to an artist or this old man in front of me. From him habitually exercising I can tell he takes his craft seriously.' Ki nodded in appreciation. "Nice to meet you. I am Ki Bombyx and I have asked you to come here today to complete a request. However the contents of the markings must not leave this room so there must be some restrictions set if you wish to live afterward, I am sure you are smart and experienced for your age so I doubt I need to tell you the alternative option should you learn of the markings and wish to escape my control to spread them."

The old mans eyes flickered with a small amount of interest. "I am reaching an old age so I have encountered a couple of different kinds of clients. All I wish is to improve my skills and make a living doing what I love. So long as I can continue then I do not mind staying so I would like to know your request."

"Good, I hear you originate from the southern continent but moved into the central lands in your earlier years." Ki decided to ask him just to confirm his decision. "Are you certain you wish to complete this task?"

"I don't see why not." The old man shrugged.

Ki looked deep into the old mans eyes before asking. "How much do you know about the eastern continent?"

The old mans voice seemed excited. "That place seems like heaven for an old man like me but I am too weak to even survive in such a place. Those mystical techniques and the patterned bodies… this old man would love to study them."

"But aren't mystical arts banned within the central lands?" Ki added.

"Peh… anything the martial alliance can't understand or seems a little wicked in their eyes they will ban it. I believe there was once a story of a royal concubine who was a Gu user who came from the eastern lands once. She was lower in ranking and what followed was a series of mysterious deaths of the empress and other high ranking concubines. In the end the concubine was executed and the blame was put onto the eastern lands, as for whether she did it or not nobody truly knows but since then most mystic art user would be killed if they displayed their skills in public." The old man frowned in disgust.

'It seems he has quite the interest in it. So it seems like I do not have to waste my time doing them myself when giving others mystical arts." Ki felt happy after hearing his interest in the east and placed a cup filled with water on the table and dropped a tiny red worm into the drink. "If you wish to continue then drink. It will do you no harm as long as I you do not spread the techniques or tell anyone about the use of mystical techniques. Since we have started you no longer have the option to back out now."

The old man noticed the tiny red worm within the cup which was barely visible after looking for some time, if he didn't see Ki put it into the water he would of never noticed it if he just picked up the cup and drank it immediately. "You don't say… is this Gu?"

"Yes this is a vitality Gu, while it does have its uses for remaining in a persons body and helping me detect your whereabouts after it enters your body, the main ability of this Gu is in its ability to kill the host and transfer the vitality from the hosts body to the main gu master. You would be completely safe with it in your body and suffer no harm but should you trigger my urge to kill you I would activate the worm. It would then kill you and drain the remaining vitality from your body and send it to me." Ki answered him patiently. "So will you drink?"

"Hahahahahah. You are an interesting kid! I'll drink." The old man laughed happily before drinking from the cup. "You were right I don't feel any different."