Chapter 118: Divine Flower (1/2)

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 pretendedshe 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 concludedXu 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 wasmany 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 wasbetter 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!”