As Anji’s head poked out of the mattress tunnel, she wriggled free with some difficulty and remained lying flat on the ground, panting. It was a lot harder than she thought it would be. Even with the finishing line in sight, Anji couldn’t move a muscle. Her heart was racing crazily, and she felt light-headed. However, unlike before, Anji did not feel nauseous and managed to remain conscious.
Mingfeng did not say anything to cheer or rush his daughter. He wanted Anji to understand her new limits and challenge them. Gu Ying watched silently, believing in Anji’s determination not to abandon the challenge in its last stretch. Beside her, Lizi was wringing her handkerchief. After two months of training with Yan Ping, Anji had improved so much! Seeing her young mistress accomplish this much was a miracle. The Celestial Dragon Sect owed Yan Ping a lot for helping their youngest mistress.
After ten long minutes, Anji finally regained some strength to pick herself off the floor. Her legs and arms were trembling, and almost every part of her body hurt. However, she would crawl to the finishing line even if she had to!
Using the mattresses behind her as support, Anji pulled herself up into a standing position. Her legs were shaking like a newborn deer. However, her eyes locked onto the finishing line without wavering.
Mingfeng swelled with pride with every step Anji took towards the finishing line. It took her almost twenty minutes to finish the four obstacles, and she only needed another twenty steps to finish the entire obstacle course. After the eighth shaky step, Anji tripped when her leg felt too heavy and fell forward with a gasp. She cushioned her fall with both arms and groaned at the impact. There was no strength left in her muscles but the finishing line was so close!
Unwilling to throw in the towel, Anji tried to get up again but only managed to turn to the side and barely lift her head up. Her limbs felt like dead weight, refusing to budge. Breathing heavily, Anji growled in frustration as she wriggled her body from side to side. Slowly but surely, the finishing line became closer and closer.
By now, the audience in the training hall was silently rooting and cheering for Anji. Thirty minutes of struggles later, their youngest princess was only a few inches from the finishing line!
Pausing for the sixth time since her fall, Anji looked at the finishing line right before her eyes but out of grasp from her fingertips. She was so tired, and her eyelids felt as heavy as her body. However, she stubbornly refused to fall asleep even if she couldn’t move another inch.
Unlike earlier when she was panting, Anji’s breathing was more evened out now and relaxed. She stared at the finishing line blankly and zoned out, unable to hear the cheering from the servants watching her from the sidelines.
Unlike Gu Ying and Mingsheng, Lizi had lost control of her excitement and started to shout words of encouragement. Her excitement and enthusiasm resounded with the other servants who were also watching. Even the guards on duty joined in, hollering at Anji not to give up.
Unlike the servants and guards who had a lower level of cultivation, Mingfeng and Gu Ying noticed something different about Anji. She had long gone past her physical limits. It was a shame that she could not complete the obstacle course, but she had done her best. They were proud of her. Yet, Anji seemed to have another trick up her sleeve.
For the next fifteen minutes, the cheers continued resounding in the hall, attracting the attention of people passing by who had also come to witness the youngest princess’ challenge. However, Anji remained motionless, only blinking occasionally on the ground. Mingfeng did not allow anyone else to interfere. If his daughter did not admit defeat or lose consciousness, it meant she had not given up.
It was tough to watch, but nobody called Zhao Mingfeng a heartless father. Out of all the people watching Anji, their sect leader had the most pained expression, which contradicted his words. They were absolutely sure that once this was over, he would coddle his baby girl and spoil her as much as he could while chanting his apologies.
Drifting between the conscious and unconscious realms, Anji only heard the muffled cheers from those watching on the sidelines. The only thing that remained constant was the sight of the finishing line that she could not reach.
"Reach it," Anji told herself, willing her fingers to move. If she extended her arm a little more, she would be able to touch it. Yet, her body refused to listen.
"Reach it!" Anji willed harder. The energy in her body circulated quicker than before as she increased her determination. They flowed from her golden core into her meridians from the valves to every core. However, there wasn’t enough energy to go around filling up each core.
"Reach the line," Anji stared at the unmoving image before her. After circulating the energy in her body, her mind grew clearer. However, her body remained immobile. The pain lessened in certain areas, but her strength did not return.
Willing the energy to circulate straight into her right arm, Anji re-routed her energy flow in hopes of creating a miracle. The more qi she circulated into her right arm, the less heavy it felt. After many cycles of short circulation, Anji finally managed to twitch her fingers. It was far from enough to move her limb, but it was progress.
The first finger twitch and unusual alertness in Anji’s eyes made Mingfeng’s heart jump. Gu Ying instantly recognised what her young mistress was doing as well. Anji was only in the Initial Core stage. Yet, she was already able to gain some insights into the cultivating methods of those in the Strengthened Core and Refined Core stages. It took Gu Ying many years to reach the Solid Core stage and, most recently, a peek into the Enlightened Core stage. However, Anji was only a beginner who officially started cultivating a week ago. Was she about to break through already?
By now, the indoor training hall had gathered over three hundred onlookers of all backgrounds. The servants started retelling the story of Anji’s tremendous feat to the newcomers, who were mostly inner disciples of the sect, although a few elders were present.
Shutting out all the external disturbances, Anji wondered if she could borrow the power of energy circulation to speed up her muscle recovery. According to her shifu, energy could be used in many ways. Recovery was one of them, even if it was a skill, not many cultivators actively practise. Most cultivators considered recovery and strengthening as a passive side effect or perk that came with cultivation, even if Yan Ping disagreed with the notion. The effectiveness of enhancement or recovery could drastically be improved with enough practice, according to the Mystical Qilin Sect’s research, although they still require more proof to release that research. Chapters first released on novelFɪre.net
Thirty minutes soon turned into an hour but Anji showed no signs of progressing or giving up. However, the unusual alertness in her eyes sparked a new quiet wave of murmurs as the cheers quieted down. The servants who had been there since the beginning had no idea what was happening, and some left to return to their work. Only some of the inner disciples and elders who remained seemed excited by Anji’s motionless progress.
Two hours after the start of the obstacle course, Anji finally moved her hand. It was languid, and she still trembled a lot. However, Anji’s eyes were trained on the distance between her fingertips and the finishing line.
Mingfeng held his breath as his baby girl approached the end of the course. The moment her index finger crossed the edge of the finishing line drawn in chalk on the floorboard, the sect leader was the first to cheer and rushed towards Anji.
Now that she had accomplished her goal, Anji finally relaxed and felt the repercussions of her recklessness. Thankfully, her father was there to scoop her up and carry her. She was too tired to move but, even through the exhaustion, managed a huge grin at him before closing her eyes and snoring in his arms.