Shutian, Xiaotong, Neng, and Pengfei sat together in a small room of the Sect Leader’s residence. It had been hours since Chen Rulan had delivered them here and left again with the patriarch.

  “I think they forgot about us.” Shutian complained. “I didn’t even get to eat lunch before we got rounded up.”

  “Why don’t you go stuff your face at the dining hall? Dinner should be starting soon. Might be your only chance to get a fresh meal. Once they find out Pengfei is full of shit, they’ll put us all back in the cliffs.”

  “I didn’t make it up, asshole.” Pengfei protested to Xiaotong’s remark.

  “Of course not, young master.”

  “I’m still unclear on why you were on that side of the mountain. You were in a cliff cell, but Elder Rulan was making you run?”

  Neng’s question went unanswered as Chen Ji entered the room. The small man had returned to his strangely cheerful self since showing his more menacing side to Pengfei a few weeks ago.

  “Come along boys. We’re going to find somewhere to put you up while we sort all this out.”

  The four disciples gave each other questioning glances as they followed the head of the discipline hall out of the building but only Pengfei spoke up.

  “Have the other elders returned, sir? Did they find anything?”

  “The elders are back and everything is fine. No cause for alarm. You’ll hear all about it when you rejoin the other disciples. Until then, we need to find somewhere for you boys to sleep.”

  “What do you mean, sir? Can’t we just go back to our dormitories?”

  “Haha…no. You’re all still under punishment.”

  The disciples groaned collectively as Chen Ji led on.

  Like his friends, Pengfei looked longingly at the Dining Hall as they passed. The other Jin disciples were crowding into the building for the evening meal. Some called out to the four of them or waved but none approached while they were escorted by Elder Chen Ji.

  --I guess we’re still on grain balls and dried meat. It ‘d be easier to accept if Elder Rulan hadn’t been bringing me fresh lunch every day… bastard kept reminding me of what I was missing out on… am I being ungrateful? Probably.--

  They weaved through the familiar buildings of the sect, past the Scripture Hall and training ground, to another group of dormitory buildings.

  “These were supposed to be for the new generation of disciples. The renovations were never finished, but it should be livable. Even though you’re back at the main sect, you’re not to leave the building or interact with the other disciples until your punishment is over.”

  Chen Ji left them at the door to one of the abandoned living quarters. Inside, they found bedrolls and the same rations they had been ‘enjoying’ at the cliffs. Once they were sure they were alone, Neng continued his questioning.

  “So, start from the beginning. Why were you out there?”

  “I got sent to the cliffs for fighting Hongyu. After a week, Elder Rulan came by and said training was going to get more difficult soon, that I needed to catch up before then. So, he’s been making me run the mountain, trying to catch me up on some other stuff.”

  “And that’s where you found that …?”

  “It was a leg. And yeah, in a cave off the path. The cloth looked like the robes those black-clad assholes wear, but I’m not sure. And there was a dead mountain goat out front. It was all weird as fuck.”

  “Whatever. At least it got us out of those cells. Maybe we’ll be able to stay warm at night.” Shutian grumbled then walked off to pick some food out of one of the large urns. Xiaotong followed his dour friend.

  Pengfei turned back to Neng. “I feel like they’re not showing the proper amount of concern.” The two picked up their bedrolls, moved them away from the drafty area near the door. “Have you ever heard of someone called the ‘Mountain King’? I thought I heard one of the elders say it when Master Rulan brought us here.”

  “Mountain King? Huhh… I read about a leader of the Green Forest Bandits who called himself the King of the Black Mountains, but that was fifty years ago.”

  “Well, probably not him then.”

  Neng chuckled and redirected the conversation. “So, did you kick Hongyu’s ass?”

  “He beat me like a stray dog, but I got him with a couple good hits at the end.”

  “Feel good?”

  “Sooo fucking good.”

  They laughed and walked over to the others, looking for their own portions of dinner.

  ******************************************************************************

  If Pengfei had any hopes that leaving the cliffs would provide a reprieve from his grueling training schedule, they were quickly dashed. Chen Rulan came to find him at the usual time of morning and even insisted on keeping to a similar regimen. The most notable difference was the inclusion of the three other disciples.

  The boys wondered if it was just a way to keep an eye on them. Make sure word of Pengfei’s morbid discovery did not leak out before the elders deemed fit.

  Whatever the reasoning, Elder Rulan worked them hard. He introduced them to a new and even more arduous path along the mountainside.

  In truth, there was no path, just a vague point of the finger downhill. While the rest of the Jin disciples made their way through the beginning of an ordinary day, Shutian, Xiaotong, Neng, and Pengfei ran and scrambled over wild terrain.

  By the third day of their morning runs, they had picked out a route of their own. The disciples had stayed together the first couple days but annoyance had gotten to them now. Shutian was the one who finally said it aloud.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “Screw this. The elder never said we couldn’t use qinggong.” He bounded up the slope with unnaturally long and easy strides. Xiaotong sped after him a moment later without a word.

  Pengfei could feel Neng giving him sidelong glances and eventually conceded.

  “Just go.”

  “…Thanks. See you at the top!”

  Neng burst after the others and quickly disappeared around a large slab of rock.

  “Assholes…”

  Pengfei cursed his companions but really lamented his own lack of movement techniques. Of course, the underlying problem was actually his inability to sense and use his qi. His attempts using the ‘Mystical Heaven Infinite Skill’ cultivation method were still fruitless. He had been meditating less frequently during his punishment but still tested himself at least once a week, to no avail.

  --At least I can breath a little easier now

  While he couldn’t match his friends’ speed when they used their internal energy, it was not due to a lack of physical stamina. Boredom was more of an issue than fatigue now. He glanced around, able to appreciate the stark beauty of the scene since he didn’t have to gasp for every bit of air.

  The four disciples had jogged downhill on the Tibetan side of the mountain, with the lake of Kotra Tso visible on the horizon. On the ascent, the snowcapped peaks of Mount Liushi and the rest of the Kunlun range towered overhead.

  The looming giants threatened Pengfei with vertigo so he cast his eyes downward again, only to notice something odd. A line on his forearm he had never seen before.

  “Is that… a muscle?”

  He turned his arm over to examine it as he trekked upward. The veins beneath the skin were more pronounced, the wrist slightly thicker.

  --Nice!--

  The boy marveled at the slight change to his physique and wondered at the cause.

  The answer came to him as he rounded a large boulder. Neng stood at a vertical rockface, the most direct way up the mountain, trying but failing to get past a first foothold. It was maybe six or seven times the height of the boys but still nothing compared to the cliff that had been their home until recently.

  Pengfei ran straight to the rock and quickly climbed past his friend.

  “See you at the top!” He called back and received a dismissive snort from Neng.

  They had discovered this climb on the first day of their communal training. Pengfei had tried to guide his friends up it but only Neng had the patience to stick it out. The others preferred to work their way up on an easier but longer route.

  Pengfei’s newly calloused palms locked on to minute bumps or slid into tight crevices of rock. Pulling himself upward was difficult but the burgeoning muscle in his arms and back answered the call. His toes instinctively found their place and pushed him upward.

  Near the top of the short climb he paused to take a breath while balanced on a particularly secure outcropping. He hugged the rock to keep his weight over his feet, as Chen Rulan had previously told him. While his cheek touched the cold stone Pengfei caught sight of Shutian and, further back, Xiaotong. They had diverted around the climb once again.

  Pengfei was gripped with a sudden competitive urge and darted upward. The detour Shutian had chosen would add several minutes and Neng didn’t seem to be making any progress on his climb.

  --I can beat them to the top. I’m gonna beat them!--

  He was up over the ledge a minute later. The rest of the way was still a treacherous slog uphill

  --But I can run in.--

  He sprinted flat out and put his improved stamina to the test.

  A look over his shoulder to where Shutian’s detour would join the slope. Still nothing. Pengfei pumped his legs and felt the already tired thighs begin to burn. Another look downward and Shutian was there and bounding upward.

  --Just one more rise!--

  The finish line of Pengfei’s secret race was just ahead. He ran for all his worth, sensing Shutian right behind him. The fire he had been feeling in his belly with every workout rose to greet him again but he persisted.

  Pengfei crouched and jumped to the top of a large rock, then bounced off it to land on the little plateau where Chen Rulan was waiting. Barely a second later, Shutian landed next to him.

  “Oh… didn’t realize you were … behind me.” Pengfei panted and hunched over his knees, then slapped Shutian on the back.

  “Whatever.” Shutian pushed past and reached for the food that the elder had brought for them.

  Pengfei drank from a water skin and grimaced at the burning in his abdomen.

  Chen Rulan didn’t say anything to either disciple. Instead, he walked a short distance away and looked downhill to check on the progress of the other disciples.

  Pengfei took the opportunity to turn to Shutian and ask quietly, “So… how have you been?” When he was met with a blank stare, he continued. “Last time I saw you, you were trying to run away from the sect. I dragged you back against your will and saved your life from hardened killers. It was a whole thing. Remember?”

  “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

  Shutian brushed him off but seemed uncomfortable at the mention of the incident in the valley. The midnight escape, the chase, the dramatic confrontation when Pengfei had finally caught him.

  “Seriously, though.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really!” Shutian sighed at Pengfei’s prodding but elaborated, “Elder Chen Ji came to talk to me a couple times while I was at the cliffs. He said some things that made a lot of sense.”

  “Oh! Good, glad to hear it.” Pengfei dropped the matter, and let the other disciple continue his meal. “That old psycho never came to visit me…”

  “Sounds like you had a good time with Chen Rulan though.” Shutian gave a barely perceptible grin as he stuffed food in his mouth.

  “It was – “

  “He was a lazy shit.” Chen Rulan called over his shoulder. “Completely disregarded his training the moment I was out of sight.”

  “No, sir! I didn’t, I mean –“ Pengfei stammered out his lame excuses. “ – well, I suppose I neglected the sword a bit. I just preferred to practice the ‘Heaven Shaking Fist.’”

  “Oh, so you’re not lazy. Just disobedient. Haha…well, let’s see how fruitful your misspent training time was.”

  Xiaontong appeared on the little plateau, followed a few moments later by Neng. Xiaotong was still panting heavily, but the elder was already rushing them into the next phase of the day’s exercise.

  “Pair up, practice the empty-hand.”

  Chen Rulan seemed to genuinely enjoy training disciples. As the fatigued disciples moved, he called out corrections or affirmations as appropriate.

  Pengfei had felt the man’s enthusiasm for teaching within the first week at the Kunlun sect, and that fervor was evident now in his gruff words. The tone was harsh, but each comment was meant to improve the recipient.

  The small group allowed Chen Rulan to devote personal attention to each disciple, and the boys still had training partners of the appropriate size and skill level. The elder’s attention came to rest on Pengfei during his latest round of sparring with Neng.

  “No, keep your distance! Use your footwork.”

  “But I’ve had good luck with fighting in close” Pengfei protested, referencing the tactic he had used in his most recent brawls with friends and foes alike.

  “You need to learn new things. Start with ‘range’. You need to know when you’re in your opponent’s range and when he’s in yours. How big a step do you need to take in order to reach him?”

  Pengfei circled around, trying to gauge the distance. He threw a few probing strikes but they were all short. Neng didn’t even flinch. When the boy attacked in return, Pengfei made short hops backward to stay just out of reach.

  “Good” Chen Rulan appraised. “But you can make the steps even smaller. Stay just barely out of his range. And if he’s not going to make contact, you don’t need to parry the punch. Keep your guard tighter.”

  Neng generously fed Pengfei several more basic strikes in order for him to feel the distance. Chen Rulan moved over to watch Shutian and Xiaotong practicing together and similarly coached them on their bare-handed techniques.

  The sun moved on its arc through the sky. The temperature was comfortable but Pengfei could still feel his skin suffering under the intense rays as the hours passed.

  --I’ll be dark as everyone else soon…if all my skin doesn’t peel off.--

  They were practicing just outside the sect’s main compound, so Chen Rulan only needed a few minutes to make his way back for the afternoon training session. But he left his four special projects with an assignment before he made his way to the rest of the Jin disciples.

  “Pair up. You, carry him on you back from this rock to that one. Then switch on the way back. One hundred laps.”

  It took three laps for the elder to disappear completely. When he did, Shutian and Xiaotong immediately ceased their exercise, sitting in the shade of a large boulder.

  “Alright, hop off.” Pengfei said to Neng, pausing his motion. Instead, heels kicked at Pengfei’s butt and Neng clicked, like he would a lazy donkey.

  “Yah, boy, yah!”

  “Come on, man, I’m tired!”

  “Yah!”

  “Fuck!”

  Neng didn’t rest when it was his turn either, clearly taking the honor system more seriously than the other pair. He doggedly forced Pengfei through the laps without rest, while Xiaotong and Shutian laughed and jeered from the side.

  --Ten.--

  --Twenty.--

  --Thirty.--

  --Forty-two? Forty-three?--

  “How many is this?”

  “Yah!”

  --Mother fucker…--

  His breath was still there but the muscles in his legs were shaking, and worse, the fire had begun to rise in his belly again. Pengfei winced and slowed at the burning sensation.

  --Fifty--

  --Sixty.--

  --Seventy.--

  Night was encroaching. No more jokes or encouragement. Neng was struggling visibl. The fire had spread through Pengfei to his chest and arms. He poured sweat, and not just from the exercise.

  He was unable to bear it any longer. Pengfei fell to the ground and writhed in pain.

  The others watched, dumbstruck, as he screamed.

  “IT BURNS!”