The Ashes of Fate - Chapter 7: Formal Training

Translator – Synthsoon

One morning, without any notice, when it should have been the time for the instructor to lead Martial Arts practice, it suddenly turned into a lecture in the lobby.

This time, the lecture had nothing to do with the book “The Emperor of Heaven” that they used to recite, instead it was about some very practical training techniques.

For example, breathing techniques that save energy, the proper way to use your muscles, techniques to protect your joints, and so on and so forth.

Most of them were a bit confused, as they had experienced the long journey escaping the Northern Territories and had their own understanding about techniques used to save energy and protect themselves.

Why was the Life Suspending Manor so adamant about teaching them these basic skills?

–What did it mean? It meant the relaxing times were over!

Only a small number of people, including An Jing, were alert, knowing that this was a signal – An Jing had carefully memorized all the techniques taught by the instructors, even if they had already learned them before, it didn’t matter, there was always something more they could learn.

In the afternoon, everyone, including An Jing, learned the true terror of ‘formal training’.

The one-eyed instructor was the one who led the group today, “We at the Life Suspending Manor have always adhered to the creed of selecting the best among the best, and formal disciples that are awarded with our true teachings are rare. Physical endurance is the foundation of our lineage of Martial Arts, so it’s very important to have a complete physical training session, to test out everyone’s limitations.”

“Now, we will first go up and down the mountain for ten round trips.”

Right after he finished talking, he led everyone on their arduous run. An Jing was silently recognized as their lead runner, so he had no choice but to follow.

Now he truly understood why the first half of the month was so relaxing, it was only there to allow this group of children to recover their strength and spirit, while developing their initial sense of unity.

In essence, it laid the foundation, lest they urinate blood after practicing for a little bit, or die suddenly after an intensive training session!

In truth, most of the Children of Calamites who had experienced the Frost Scourge and had been specially selected by the Life Suspending Manor were talented, with strong endurance and will, their physical strength was definitely not weak.
This half-month of rest and recuperation didn’t lower their physical strength, on the contrary, it greatly strengthened it.

The physical qualities of these selected teenagers even exceeded those of ordinary adults.

However, the Life Suspending Manor was located in the midst of numerous mountains, and the slope of the road up and down the mountain ranges ranged from twelve to twenty degrees, and some places were even precipitously steep.

It was a rugged road with a round trip of more than five miles.

It was so difficult already, but to also go for ten round trips… This intensity was a bit too much, no matter how you think about it.

What’s more, they must keep up with the speed of the instructor, they couldn’t slow down, since they would fall behind if they did.

As a matter of fact, before four round trips, some had already slowed down, and had even fallen behind.

When they reached six to seven round trips, more than half of the group were down.

“The passing standard of the test should be at five round trips or so, right?”

An Jing still had a lot of energy left.

After all, he had practiced Martial Arts, so the 50 mile trail was a bit tiring at most, and the breathing methods and techniques he had mastered were enough to make it easier for him to persevere compared to the others. He even had the heart to turn back and observe the fellow runners with ‘potential’ around him.

And upon doing so, he saw a few familiar faces.

First of all, there were two people who shared the same dormitory as An Jing. One was called Zhang Ying and the other was Ye Xiuyuan.

Zhang Ying’s family were once hunters living in the mountains, he grew up following his parents in the mountains, so his physical strength wasn’t bad at all. Although he looked out of breath, his pace was still quite stable.

He was a simple boy, he didn’t accept An Jing’s status as ‘senior brother’ at first, so he challenged An Jing’s strength on the second day, after An Jing almost single-handedly forced him to his knees, he accepted his strength and has followed him ever since.

Ye Xiuyuan’s family was once full of poets and writers, and his character was quite gloomy, but he was very smart.

An Jing knew that Zhang Ying had spoken to a group of people before he came to challenge him, and the leader of that group was Ye XiuYuan.

After using Zhang Ying to test An Jing’s strength, Ye XiuYuan also recognized An Jing as the boss, and if he didn’t take the lead convincing the others to listen to An Jing, An Jing wouldn’t have stayed as ‘senior brother’ with this little trouble.

Ye XiuYuan’s physical strength wasn’t too good, he was still quite thin after half a month of cultivation, but he seriously memorized all the skills taught by the instructor. He practiced before and after lunch by himself, so he wasn’t too far off from An Jing’s level.

In addition to these two, there was also a young girl following An Jing.

Her name was Gu YeQi, she was from An Jing’s hometown, the one who was cured of frostbite. She was one year younger than him, and had seen him bargaining with the one-eyed instructor to sell himself to save his mother. This act earned her admiration so she followed his lead everywhere.

Gu YeQi’s family used to be a big one, it had a pharmacy business and also its set of family Martial Arts. Although it wasn’t strong, the foundation was solid, like Zhang Ying, even though her breathing wasn’t stable, she was still able to hold on.

Noticing An Jing’s gaze, she revealed a big smile.

Among these three people, Ye XiuYuan ran seven and a half rounds before he rolled his eyes and fainted, Gu YeQi persisted to almost the ninth round, and Zhang Ying would’ve finished the run with An Jing if he didn’t trip over himself, falling at this point was basically the same as passing out.

At this moment, they thoroughly understand why the manor was named “Life Suspending”.

One hour later, out of more than two hundred people, only fourteen people could run the whole course and were still able to stand.

“So many?”

The one-eyed instructor was also quite surprised, his running speed wasn’t slow and he even accelerated during the last half. In less than an hour, they ran more than fifty miles of mountain roads, both uphill and downhill, this speed and difficulty definitely exceeded the limits of ordinary people of DaChen.

Only a truly ‘special’ child could run the entire distance.

He couldn’t help but smile, “Your group really is quite gifted, most of you reached the halfway point, and there are still fourteen of you who still have some energy left – the several batches of children from the past ten years who passed combined can’t even match your numbers.”

But then, he was quite ‘distressed’: “But in this case, how should I choose the leader of the team?”

Hearing this, An Jing froze and slightly lifted his eyebrows, but the other thirteen runners all turned their heads and looked at him.

The one-eyed instructor also looked at An Jing, the corner of his mouth lifted up and he waved his hand, “Continue! Go back to the village and lift the stone lock two hundred times!”

Lifting the stone lock made three more fall, but then there were two hundred more times of staff training, two hundred times of horse stance punching, and two hundred times of squatting up with the stone lock in place… Before falling down, An Jing fell into deep contemplation, “Are we going to train like this everyday from now on?”

Even he, when faced with this primitive exercise method which is even more horrible than modern leg training, felt a touch of panic.

But soon, An Jing had no time to think about these things.

Because three days later, a total of ten people applied to challenge An Jing’s ‘senior brother’ position.