Phoenix Rise: XieRong

Chapter 35 - The Want to Learn Everything

When night came gliding, XieRong and FeiHong waited for their teachers to arrive inside their courtyard.

XieRong had strapped her needles to her fore arms under each of her sleeves while FeiHong had her coiled whip and fan on her hip.

-Feng, I’ll be learning how to use you from today-

XieRong told the child spirit in her needles.

-Miss will use me?-

-I will learn to use you, but like I explained to you before inside the space, you will always hide your presence from others. Am I understood?-

-Feng understands.-

XieRong had played with the child spirit in the Phoenix ring like she had promised him but she had absolutely no idea as to how to use the needles. Or any other weapon for that matter.

The two generals of Guo family soon arrived.

"Uncle, this is the weapon I bonded with," XieRong said, handing over one needle from her sash.

"Needles; a tool for assassination. These are not easy to master, are you sure you want to use these?"

"Yes, uncle, but only after we finish on what we agreed upon doing first."

"Yes, yes, I remember. Qingong and basic martial arts. Let’s begin."

Thus XieRong’s hellish training began.

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He first made her run until she was panting for air.

Then came the worst part.

Her uncle made her stand in a sitting position with her back straight against a tree, putting small buckets filled completely with water on each of her thighs, shoulders, hands and one on her head.

"You lack strength. Before you learn how to fight, you will train your body. Learn to cultivate in this position. Each time a bucket falls you will stand here for another quarter Shi Chen. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," XieRong grit out.

"Uncle, before you leave, can you just tell me how the needles are used even if we aren’t practicing them today?"

"The needles require precision and excellent control over spiritual energy. When you fire a needle at a block of wood, your qi should be concentrated on its tip such that it passes through. Bonded needles need to be attached to you using threads made of qi so you can pull them back."

After his explanation was complete her uncle left for the night.

The bucket fell over many times, and each time XieRong would fill it up and let her sister place it on her.

-FeiHong, sit down beside me and hold onto my leg. I’ll try and meditate.-

-Jie, we can cultivate tomorrow. Why don’t you finish this and go to sleep?-

-FeiHong, I feel refreshed and stronger after cultivating, besides if I go into meditation in this position, the buckets won’t fall. Also, we have to cultivate a hundred times as much as others before we can breakthrough to the soul gathering realm. We can’t afford to miss our cultivation during the nights.-

FeiHong said nothing more as she pulled both of their consciences inside the Phoenix ring.

As soon as XieRong was in she went near the pond and started to cultivate when she felt her body in the actual world growing weary.

She cultivated until she felt her body regain its strength.

-FeiHong, do you have a wooden block in here, by any chance?-

-No, but if you want to practice using your needles, you can use any tree near you. I noticed that things that grow inside the space replace themselves if used and mend themselves if broken.-

XieRong decided to use a small rock she found next to the pond first.

She tried concentrating her on the end of the needle and pushed the needle into the rock.

The needle just scratched the rock.

XieRong tried again and again, until the rock began to have minute cracks on its surface than just a scratch.

When she had grown tired and irritated she started to cultivate again.

She repeated this process several times over.

"Jie, if you push yourself so hard on the first day, you won’t be able to give it your all for the rest of the week," FeiHong said coming to sit next to XieRong near the pond.

XieRong was angry and worn out.

She hadn’t progressed more than a minute scratch on the stupid rock.

"Leave me alone, FeiHong. I’m not in the mood."

"Jie, there’s no one who has learned anything within a day."

FeiHong took away the rock and needle from her sister.

"When I first entered the palace as the fourth prince’s wife, I was clueless. I didn’t know my duties nor did I know any of the four arts. I was schemed against by other consorts all the time."

"But you are so good at painting and chess and your manners are near perfection! Aunt said so herself."

"Jie, it took me years to get to where I am now. At first, like you, I couldn’t figure anything out. I was frustrated and stressed all the time, lashing out at people for no reason at all thinking that if I didn’t get better then I would be mocked at the banquets. But you know, it was a kind palace lady who taught me that it was okay to take my time doing things as long as I put my best into it everyday. She came to me everyday and taught me the ways of the palace. She taught me how to paint, sew, and how to play chess. I mastered all these things in a period of two years.

"Jie, you have taken on more than you can chew at once. Why not give yourself more time. If you can’t figure out something now, you’ll figure it out tomorrow, and if not tomorrow then the next day, but you’ll figure it out eventually."

"But how can I give myself time, FeiHong, when I don’t have any?"

"You do have time, Jie, it’s just that you want to do so many things, that you feel that it’s not enough. Why don’t we plan together what you will do tomorrow? Then I’m sure you will optimize the time you have."

"Okay."

"For now, let’s cultivate in the remaining time."

XieRong began to cultivate.

She felt her irritation and tiredness slowly wash away as she went into deeper meditation, trying to absorb as much water spiritual energy as she could.

FeiHong had started to act more mature after she had confessed to being reborn. She carried herself with grace and poise befitting that of an empress’s.

Soon, the sun had risen and XieRong woke up as soon as she felt her uncle approach.

"Good morning uncle," she greeted, trying to keep her posture now that she was conscious.

"Hm, good work. You’ll do this everyday until I say so otherwise."

"Xierong understands."

"Good, now go wash up with warm water. No need to come for breakfast, ask a maid to bring it to your room."

XieRong’s muscles ached and she was sore all over.

Once FeiHong had put all the buckets on the ground, XieRong painstakingly made her way to her room where Li Jia had already drawn a bath for her.

She got in and stayed in until the water had turned cold and the tip of her fingers had turned into prunes. She had breakfast in her room with FeiHong where they planned her day, then head to her mother’s courtyard for her lesson with her aunt.

After her lesson with her aunt, she went to the old man’s place to weed his lawn.

"Hey, old man! Why are you making me weed this lawn if you weren’t weeding this thing for years."

"Why, are you giving up after only one day? Where did the grit from the past week go?"

"Who says I’m giving up old man?"

XieRong turned her head away and continued to work.

She refused to admit that she was tempted to give up, especially not in front of that drunk old man!

Weeks passed and her uncle’s training got tougher and tougher.

Running with weights, then jumping the entire staircase with them tied to her waist and legs. Walking on bricks, then on the edge of a tub filled with sand and slowly removing the sand as the days passed by.

XieRong who at first had required a ladder to climb the wall, now jumped over it with ease.

Her cultivation had also improved significantly over the few weeks that had passed as the amount she cultivated inside the Phoenix ring through out the night and a Shi Chen in the day equalled to around two complete days of cultivation in actuality. The skills she possessed in the four arts had also been furthered under the guidance of her aunt and FeiHong.

Today, she would finally be done with weeding the drunk old man’s lawn and it would then be his turn to teach her.