Chapter 50 - Unexpected News (1/2)

As the training's intensity increased, Hei and Lian found themselves in an infernal situation - the poison they were injected with, was being given in ever higher quantities. At the same time, it was increasing in intensity. It was because Ye and Xing were unconsciously enhancing their poison as they continued to exhaust it, arriving at an apparently endless cycle.

The first week was the most intense and brutal of all - Hei and Lian came to have convulsions and drool in their mouth until they fainted regularly. If it hadn't been for Bao Bei to intervene in those moments of crisis, they would surely have died if left alone.

But even when they weren't training, the two of them were in a pitiful state. The pain and the poison that was still present in their bodies made it difficult even to walk or eat. Frequently, during the evening, they were victims of nausea coming to vomit or to have intense stomach attacks.

Fortunately, Bao Bei didn't request for them to continue their usual muscle strengthening exercises, leaving them some time to rest. However, she was uncompromising on one aspect - even in that state, they had to cultivate.

Cultivation required a clear mind to move one's inner spirit power but, exhausted by their training as they were, it was an arduous task to accomplish. Regularly, it happened that they would spend hours managing to complete only a couple of cultivation cycles.

In addition to cultivating, the two of them also had to participate in their alchemy and formation classes. Still, they weren't absolutely in an adequate mental state to concentrate and follow the arguments explained. Luckily for them, there were Ye and Xing with them who took care of taking detailed notes as they had done before.

During that time, the two little spirit beasts were feeling more and more uncomfortable because they could see the conditions in which Hei and Lian were and how, even during their moments of rest, they weren't free from the torment of the poison. They hated themselves because they were hurting two loved ones intentionally.

However, Hei, who noticed what they were feeling, began to console them every day with Lian, who started to caress the two little spirit beasts of her own accord. One positive thing about the training was the fact that she was showing a bit of her feelings, and at night, the four took the habit of sleeping all close together to encourage each other through that infernal period.

Bao Bei also felt terrible for the pain she was causing to her son, but she had already decided and had no intention of going back, she could only hope that the two of them would be able to overcome this training as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Shui, the buffaloes, and the bees looked after the fields and the greenhouse with theYe and Xing's help. Every day, they would go to the river to get water and take care of the plants following the instructions left by Hei. Especially for the greenhouse, the presence of bees proved to be fundamental given that they were small and were experts on flowers. However, just in case, they didn't deal with the poisonous flowers that were left to the little spider and the little snake.

Mi, too, the little bee spiritual beast, helped in that work. By now, she had learned a queen bee's duties, how a beehive was structured, and what were its activities. So she could finally go out with everyone else to help, even if it was an unusual behavior for a queen bee. She was then entrusted with the team of bees that was working on the greenhouse. In that way, she could improve her skills as a leader. In the evening, on the other hand, she entered the spiderweb house and ended up sleeping together with all the others.

But if the new training had put a strain on the spiderweb house's residents and their neighbors, it also affected the sect leader who became increasingly more concerned as the days went by.

She had left special orders to monitor Hei and Lian during their visits to the inner sect. However, not only did the two of them come only to attend lessons, when they attended the classes, their state was easily visible from their ashen and sickly faces. She didn't know what was happening to them and she didn't know if they would answer her questions. The only thing she could do was hope that the one who was training them knew what they were doing.

Fortunately, as the weeks went by, the situation gradually improved as the endurance level of the two youths reached a level where they were allowed to be able finally to perform some of their daily activities.

Since they were still small, Ye and Xing's poison, after being increased by a little, didn't undergo further improvements and wouldn't have done so until they had increased their spirit power with the cultivation used by spirit beasts.

At that point, Bao Bei stopped their training, believing they had reached a sufficient level of poison resistance and left Hei and Lian a couple of days of rest. So the two youths collapsed into a peaceful sleep for the first time in several weeks.

Whether it was a case or a sign of fate, that happened just in time because, during their days of rest, the dates for the inner member annual trials that would decide the ranking for the younger generation were declared.

Such trials were fundamental for the future of each younger generation's inner members because it would see the first 50 seats awarded with special rewards. It wasn't a euphemism to say that the younger generation's inner members trained themselves for all the year only for this event.

”Evaluation trials?” Hei asked the sect leader who had gone in person to inform him of the news.

In the end, the sect leader hadn't managed to contain her concern and had gone in person hoping to stop whatever Hei and Lian were doing so that they would be ready for the trials that would come soon.

”Yes, they are trials we do every year to evaluate the younger generation's inner members' progress. Those who don't show improvements or do not reach the minimum standards according to their individual age are deprived of the privileges for the younger generation and must apply to one of the sect's divisions and start working for the sect.

Those who fall within the minimum standards may remain to focus on their cultivation. Moreover, the first 50 are rewarded according to the results obtained. In particular, this year's top seven rewards are unique because they come from the private collections of each sect elders. There is no need to tell you the importance of these rewards and how they can help you with your cultivation.”

The sect leader looked carefully at Hei and Lian outside the spiderweb house. After several discussions, she was indeed able to convince the seven elders to accept that proposal with the excuse that it was to promote the growth of the younger generation in view of the future events that the Flower Sect would participate in. Obviously, she too had to concede something.

”The first place also has the possibility to request a second prize among the objects present on the ground floor of the exchange point. It can be anything from manuals to rare pills and other things. This proposal was put forward by the first elder as a price to increase the rewards for the first seven places.”