2 Months (Part 1)
(2 Months Earlier)
(Bu Cai Pov)
Sitting on the back of Nero as he was flying, I started to feel bored and began talking to Hou,
"Uncle Hou, father told me you will also be teaching me but just told me it was about survival outside the sect, Can you tell me what you will teach me"?
Hou grinned, and said,
"That is true young master, however, my training will be something more difficult in certain aspects from your training with your father, and a different type of training from what you have previously experienced".
This peaked my curiosity as from my train of thought, how could something be more difficult than being trained until my body was on the verge of collapse, and then having a beating session with my father that was under the guise of 'Sparring'.
Hence i doubted such a method of training existed and i grew arrogant and said,
"If it is so difficult and special as you say, then you have caught my attention, I request that we begin training as soon as possible as i always want to improve myself."
His grin grew wider as he asked for confirmation,
"Are you sure young master? Master ordered that once it begins, it will not stop until we have to reach the capital."
I replied confidently,
"Of course we should begin now, the longer I get to train the better, Are you looking down on this young master just because i am young? Uncle Hou, I demand to know what sort of training this is, that you say it is more difficult than my father's, and if you are wrong, I'll be telling him that you are talking behind his back and undermining his training."
He then nods his head then tells Nero to fly down.
As we get closer to the ground I see the area around from above and i start to get a bad premonition.
A huge Forest and Giant trees is all that can be seen for miles.
Once we get to the ground and get off Nero, Uncle Hou begins to give me a brief of what the training will consist of,
"The first phase will take up a month and a half, this part of the training will involve me teaching you how to survive in the wilderness that is infested with numerous unexpected dangers for half a month, and afterwards you must survive by yourself for a month and head towards the capital."
I cold sweat trickled down my back after the realisation of what I've gotten myself into, but I am not frightened as if i get in danger, Uncle Hou will surely save me.
But as if understanding what i was thinking he said afterwards,
"After the Half month wilderness survival training, I will not be allowed to help you regardless of the circumstances, even if that means death or serious injury, as the master believes that if you can't even survive outside by yourself, What's the point in you trying to become great in the outside world?"
After hearing that even my father agreed, I could only nod in agreement, and start to take this incredibly seriously.
And so began my 2nd training Arc;
I learned how to make a fire from scratch; Which is honestly quite easy if you know the right materials to find, or if you have immense strength on both arms like me so that you can rub 2 pieces of wood quickly (Thank you High School Physics) and voila, Fire.
I learned which fruits are edible and common characteristics of poisonous ones, and some that can be used to bait animals for hunting; so now I could at least make sure I don't poison myself to death when looking for some vegetables for my balanced diet.
I also was able to learn a bit about hunting and even catch a few rabbits (Don't underestimate normal animals as although they don't have 'Spirit' in their name they all have taken in some Qi through living and eating other organisms, hence they can be strong for normal people and, still a bit difficult for people like Bu Cai, There are still young animals without haven taken in much Qi and hence are weak, however most have taken in some amount of Qi) which made me quite proud of myself, Although killing and gutting them was not the funnest of experiences.
And throughout the half month I have learned a lot about survival and now felt slightly better about having to live in this place for 1 month.
Well I was Wrong.
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(After A Month)
(Third Person Pov)
A Young Boy could be seen lying in a bush, his white robes that were once clean and tidy were now ragged and dirty, he had a foul stench coming from him which was due to the feces smeared all over him.
Although he was in such a state, he completely disregarded it and had his full concentration focused on one point; The deer in front of him.
The deer was huge; It could tower above the tallest of men, and it's clean and beautiful light blue fur covered it. All these factors caused the deer to look majestic and beautiful and other than it's size, you would think it was relatively harmless;
well you would be wrong.
This Four legged creature was called an Azure Shrew Deer, It was called as such due to it's incredible senses and large body which could in fact move relatively swiftly.
This Deer was a devious creature.
It would make Prey and Predator alike, feel slightly dazed by it's signature Blue fur and it's cute features made it look relatively harmless, therefore the other creature slightly lowers it's guard.
A big mistake.
The Deer would then take the opportunity to lash out and slam into the creature or stomp on it's body with devastating force and ending it's life before they could even react.
The Young Boy, Bu Cai, had stalked this deer for hours to wait for a moment were it would let it's guard down for Bu Cai to then slice it in half with his Blade.
Finally, the deer had stopped to rest and without hesitation Bu Cai dashed out and enacted the most powerful slash he could muster right on the deer's neck when he got into an optimal position.
The next moment, The deer was decapitated and all Bu Cai could see the deer's lifeless body from the lower part of the neck down, and a fountain. A fountain of blood which rained down on Bu Cai from above.
However he was unphased by all the blood on him as he had seen much over the past month.
He then walked towards the Body and swiftly lifted it up and ran as fast as he could. He knew that other creatures would be able to pick up on the smell and left the head behind for distraction, whilst he charged to his Base, which allowed Bu Cai to have a vantage point if a bunch of beasts went for him.
After arriving to a cave that was quite well hidden he placed the deer down and made sure to cover it so the scent would't be so potent.
He then went back out of the cave to thoroughly scout for any Possible threats.
After finding nothing, he lowered his guard a bit and was about to go back and prepare the meat when suddenly a chill ran down his spine and his instinct was screaming to move.
His body complied shortly after and he flashed from his previous position several meters forward by using his absolute maximum speed.
Looking back to see there was nothing, he felt danger behind him; and this time he couldn't escape.
Bu Cai began to think about the time when he felt his consciousness leave him and he descended into the abyssal darkness called death. However back then he had nothing to live for; Nothing to strive for; Nothing to hope for.
But now, he didn't want to die.
He couldn't.
His First parents.
His Sect.
His First real friend.
They were all going to be slaughtered brutally by that Bastard Long Tian, and he was going to die a dog's death in the middle of Nowhere?
He couldn't believe he had failed in life,
..again.
However no attack happened...
he slowly turned his head around around and saw Hou looking at him with surprise, and happiness.
Needless to say, after all that mental pressure and stress, Bu Cai fell to the ground and lost consciousness.
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(Bu Cai Pov)
I wake up to the smell of meat, Beef?
I quickly open my eyes and wake up, I see Hou preparing the deer I hunted and after noticing I was awake, he said
"You have really shocked this old man with your performance. Originally, your father and I both anticipated that you would fall into a dangerous situation and then I, who was on the sidelines watching the entire time, would save you and teach you on how you could improve. However you have far surpassed our expectation."
"Not only did you adapt very quickly, you could also hunt Beasts like an Azure Shrew Deer, that even experienced hunters would find medium difficulty in Hunting."
"After witnessing such a performance i could't help but test the limits of your instincts and let out some of my battle intent and attacked,
But you dodged!"
After taking a breath to regain his composure, he continued,
"Afterwards I then went further and let out some killing intent, not only did you not immediately faint, you also stayed standing!"
"The requirements of being able to stay standing against someone who has a cultivation and intent which is of a far higher level is to have an astonishing will to live. This will to live is not something many can have unless they have a strong purpose, and how could a who has just reached the age of eight have such a strong purpose?"
After he said that, a gigantic pressure descended on my shoulders, which took me straight to my knees and I could barely breathe.
He then said with curiosity and seriousness,
"So this leads to my question,
...What is your purpose?"
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Author's notes:
Just some development for Bu Cai, and allowing him to mature and get used to the brutality of the World of Xianxia. He is now familiar with killing and is accustomed to it, Albeit being animals it is still development.
and if out have any reviews/areas of improvements feel free to comment and i will try to improve it for next time as i am kinda in the dark on how I'm a doing.
Thank you for reading the chapter and i hope you enjoyed it!