"Are we there yet" Hua Lei asked Xiao Xiao shakily, he was sweating a brook

  "Nope" came a succinct reply from Xiao Xiao "well we are done warming up"

  Hua Lei spluttered "the heck!"

  "You mean that long distance run..."

  "Is just a warm up" she cuts in "now get on with your routine training!"

  I did my routine training the pushups, the squats, the stretches and even the basic punching and kicking kata. nearing the evening she then took us to locate a viable source of water, so that we could know if the area is fit to camp in. a water source was found it was a honest-to-god dyke spring easily drinkable

  I drank some water, feeling refreshed we set to build a bunker that will accommodate two people she then fixed up some dinner for the both of us of which I laid unto it like a starving ghost.

  The next morning was our sparring session where we'll 'trade pointers'. Now that's in her own words but to me, it was a beat down, she spared with me pressing me at every turn at least the fight didn't ended the moment it started anymore maybe she used both less power and also less advanced technique who knows, but I felt stifled as if I couldn't breathe or I'll be struck down that's how sparing with her is.

  By the third day I have started to adapt to the stifling pressure of her combat training session, still not that I'm close to having a snow-ball's chance in hell of trouncing her in sparring and the issue is that while there is an unending stream of water nearby, our food supply is running low and I almost exclusively eat food which are vital Qi rich.

  Xiao Xiao seems not to have noticed or maybe she did and did not deign to address it I'll never know, she then imparted the ESSENCE SWALLOWING ART unto me, I took upon it like fish unto water using the runic glyph's experience as foundation to quickly master the runes like before each runes corresponds to an incantation.

  At first I felt nothing you know life was business as usual then strangely I became a big eater of food in the past 2 days, leveling the mountain of food which originally I could not even hope to finish without eating it four times then Xiao Xiao gave the breaking news

  "There's no more food in the bunker we hunt" she said brandishing something that could have been an oversized longbow if I didn't have an idea of how strong she was I'd have been afraid that she'll injure herself.

  What do you mean there's no food I asked in shock, wondering why a supply of ration that should have been able to feed three of me for at least 15 days just ended short of a week

  Like I said previously we'll hunt" she just shrugged and picked up a long bow from the pie of weapons she brought with us and signaled me to pick up my own of which I took my pick from the 'weapon rack' if you can call it.

  I stopped wasting time and took a blade that is reminiscent of a katana or at least it's analogous in this world, curved like on, gripped like the one and the only one to differ slightly is the handle which is metallic and it's also casted in one piece not assembled but sharpened to the extent that I'm beginning to suspect that it can cut through diamond, we then set out to hunt.

  Motivated by the intense hunger he moved quickly alongside Xiao Xiao and felt that even if he met an elephant they're simply just gonna swipe it down easily and make a meal out of it. hours past they've not still gotten a track of any beast yet and to make matters worse the initial mastery of the ESSENCE SWALLOWING ART makes it run passively in the background.

  This in turn made Hua Lei feel like some stomach worm in there won't allow him rest, it's just a matter of time... there was a rustle, faint and far away at first then louder and nearer, till it became something akin to a beast stampede.

  We quickly got unto a tree and observed, it was a boar that was the first thing I observed then I noticed its size this is even bigger than I thought, I was eager to 'make a short work of it since it seemed to be a bit wobbly and some wound s has been spotted on its body making it an easy prey, 'I wonder, which beast it fought to get this amount of blood on its self'.

  I got down to confront the injured beast 'well hope today is a lucky...' the boar spotted me and without any hesitation charged bearing its tusks down on me. The boar consumed the distance of around 20 zhangs between us, appearing before me in a heartbeat.

  Shocked was an understatement to what I'm currently feeling yet no time for being shocked for the time for being shocked is the time one would be gored, vital Qi was pulled out from my secret space to reinforce my body.

  In a blink several things happened, noting that moving to either side of the boar is probably instant death, I relied on my basic movement training that resembles both the acrobatics and parkour, feigned frontal assault but hopped on its snout in the last moment.

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  That was dangerous, very-very dangerous in fact I don't think it will be good for my health to try that again and with the large amount of vital Qi expended in reinforcing my body to make such a fast movement it appears that I've bitten more than I can chew.

  I pulled out my katana and adopted an age old hunting strategy for warthogs, of which the hunter uses the forest trees to his advantage, I barely dodged another charge before I took the boar on a game of zigzag tag and finally taking position near the base of a large tree with the girth of around 7 feet.

  'This should do, at least concuss the damned pig long enough for me to deal a death blow', this time I intended to go on the offensive. the boar recovering its momentum from the last bout charged once more and I dodged just like before I seemed to have found this boars sweet spot for dodging mind you it is injured not by me at all but by its previous unknown assailant, I am just trying to exhaust it.

  It rammed onto the tree shaking it even the tree bark cracked and it gave a creak like it was going to be toppled, I wasted no time capitalizing on this opportunity and I struck for the first time with all I've worth and hopefully the only time... hopefully.

  The blade struck a tad below its neck and parted flesh, the boar squealed in rage and pain then swung its head, seeing danger incoming I got out of dodge but not totally, the part of the head not bearing the tusk struck me.

  I have already landed in a tumble some zhangs away from the beast before I could register that I was struck, I felt like I was ran over by a bus, being high on adrenaline I pushed through the pain to stand on my feet once more felt some more rumbles when trying to gather my wits.

  I opened my eyes dusting off some debris away from my face only to find a collapsed soon to be dead boar around three feet away, the hair on my neck stood on end as I darted to relative safety only to hear Xiao Xiao's chiming laughter.

  "My oh my young master, I never knew you were such a sacredly cat to be scared shitless by a dead little boar"

  "What do you know woman, you call this little?"

  "Yeah, isn't it just a mere vicious beast, you even took it out when you are a stage lower than the beast, injured as it may be".

  "Injured you say, I risked my life to battle the beast that even while injured it still out classed me and wait a minute during the fight where'd you go?"

  "Oh!, as you can see Young master before it skipped my mind there were a whole bunch of ferocious beast that I had to scare away in order not to allow them spoil the fun you were having with the boar."

  'Damned girl, she went off messing around now gloating about my mishap, watch how this young master fixes you, humph'

  The adrenaline high was fading and the ugly pains from the battle reared its ugly head, and I couldn't help but groan in pain, not to mention the ESSENCE SWALLOWING ART that is still running passively in the back ground causing a biting pain in my stomach over all I am best described as 'feeling like shit' right now.

  "Don't worry young master I found some herbs not completely attuned to vital Qi I'll brew them for your use, now let's go back." She made the boar vanish into a spatial pouch turned around and bolted yes that's what I said bolted, not I'm left to pay catch up as if my life couldn't get any harder.

  ******************

  LATER IN THE EVENING

  I had been run ragged that day, prior to the time I reached the bunker while sprinting at top speed for a long time to catch up with Xiao Xiao and for a long time I couldn't even see her break lights, she was gone, this is probably due the ridiculous speed of spirit refining realm cultivators.

  I then noticed that She was cooking, whipping up dinner out of the oversized boar I killed deep within the forest beyond our camp, she looked at me with a warm smile and handed me a bowl of soup.

  "Young master welcome" she greeted warmly "warmly here have a bowl of herbal soup for you"

  I grunted in tiredness and gobbled it down my gullet at once unceremoniously at that, it well tasted a little bitter I was in the process of using my ESSENCE SWALLOWING ART to digest it that I heard a voice behind my it was quite urgent

  "You better start meditating..." I never needed any more warning for I felt something akin to an explosive release inside me, it was vital Qi. Pain!, I knew pain, it scoured through my body and caused me to convulse if I do not quickly get over the pain I'm in then this will be the least of my problem.

  The vital Qi in what I drank was so concentrated and dense and I feel like I'm losing control, if I lose control of the Qi in my body it does not take a genius to know that I'm oh so totally fucked, but it will take a genius to know the true extent of how fucked I am.

  The vital Qi from the herbal soup scoured through my 'system' and it managed to make me sweat give me the pressing urge to wee and to poop simultaneously, this took a long time and I had transitioned from sitting lotus pose to 'corpse pose' that is to say being sprawled on the floor like a dead dog.

  "I survived Ha! HaHa!! HaHaHaHaHa!!! Ha! Hurlk!" I hurled, nothing came from my stomach, "Blregh!"ok maybe something indeed came after all it was stomach bile, not normal came with packages like the black fluid that smells a thousand times worse than the vomit you have during an alcoholic hangover.

  'Is this my insides, how rotten! can't stand it!' I was still deep in thought when I heard a panicked call from the only person with me in this forest

  "Young master, you reek!" Xiao Xiao shouted, "please go and have your bath, quickly!"

  "And young master, please do not attract scavenging ferocious beasts to our camp!"

  I had the urge to rip myself out of the cloth I'm in but it's that cloth that self do a lot of things including self cleaning and even to a mild extent body armoring, there's only how far you can push a mundane material even if you are at spirit refining.

  I pulled out of the cloth and stood in my birth day suit and ran like a madman is pursuing me to the nearest river located to wash away the gunk that my sweat pores secreted there's even some blood in it, I took care of my biological needs forced upon me by the herbal soup the girl concocted, when I found that those bodily ejections also had strange changed I grew mildly worried.

  I came back from the river good as new, I was on the way pondering why my body scent even became this appealing to me like I had a perfume applied which I obviously didn't so what is making me smell this good.

  I reached camp only to meet a sheet of white cloth which was left conspicuously by the door post with something under lest it gets dirty, I took the cloth wrapping it around my waist successfully canceling birthday suit mode, I then entered the bunker and checked my reflection in the mirror, found that this young master became a little more handsome and this same young master retired for the night.