"Hah!" Mei shouted as she punched.

Her arm muscles felt tingly as streams of qi coursed through her body.

But that was all to it. The accumulated qi was wasted, barely making her attack any stronger. Mei sighed. This was a lot harder than she thought it would be.

After trying for a few more minutes to no avail, Mei snatched the manual off the grass and flipped through it with a frown. Inside, diagrams showing how qi should flow through were drawn beautifully, but Mei couldn't make head or tails of it. How was she supposed to know how the meridians in her body were arranged?

These diagrams are only for reference, so do use divine sense to examine your own meridians. Everyone's meridians are unique so it is important to adapt the technique to fit your own body.

I understand. It's frustrating, it's hard! I've had the same thoughts when I was starting out cultivation too. But try not to ask your master for help unless you really can't, even after countless hours of struggling, It might be easy with someone's help, but what about techniques you learn in the future? Mastering the art of adaptation is very important!

While Mei understood where the author was coming from, she couldn't use divine sense! This stupid book was clearly meant for Foundational cultivators...

She wasn't all that surprised. After all, Luye said most people only started cultivating their body after reaching the Foundational realm. But it was still super frustrating!

Left with "no choice" after only 10 mins of failing, Mei decided she definitely had to ask an elder for help.

Though... she wasn't sure which elder to ask. She was a bit worried the elder would just shoo her off for wasting their time. Plus, it was a little embarrassing.

After a little thought, Xuefang, the axe elder came to mind. He did seem to like training people. Plus, Mei found him a lot less intimidating after learning about the cat incident.

But at the same time, the thought of bothering him on a rest day didn't sit well with her, and training was 2 days away. It would be too late by then!

Oh well. Might as well try out the "Might of Trees" technique first before asking for help. She made herself comfortable under the shade of a tree and began reading.

Slowly, she flipped through the manual. Mei was pleasantly surprised to find this technique was a lot simpler! It didn't require her to master and adapt a specific qi flow, but was as simple as unleashing the power of the wood qi stored within the body itself.

She continued to read for a few more minutes before getting up, eager to try the technique out. Closing her eyes, she took deep breaths, trying to focus. Right now, what she needed to do was to sense and control the wood qi within her body.

In the first few moments, she felt like she was staring at a starless night sky, not a speck of wood qi visible. But after a few seconds, she sensed the first mote of wood qi appearing! One by one, stars materialised in the previously empty sky, growing in number and intensity. Before long, the entire sky was covered in countless stars.

She called upon the power of the wood qi...

Unleash!

As the wood qi rushed through her body, she felt her body stiffen and toughen at the same time! It didn't actually make her any stronger, but her newfound durability gave her a strange sense of power.

Ah... She had a strong urge to punch something. Unable to resist her impulse, she punched the tree beside her. Not too hard though, because she was worried it would hurt.

Thud!

Not feeling any pain, she began punching harder and harder. To her delight, her fist only felt slightly numb after punching with full force!

Mei halted the technique after a few more punches, grinning with satisfaction. For a technique, this was too easy! She sat down to cultivate for a few minutes, absorbing the abundant wood qi. Normally, she didn't need to absorb qi since she had reached the peak of Qi Gathering, but practicing the techniques had depleted some of it.

"Oh? Back so soon?" said a raspy voice.

Mei nodded awkwardly to Luye. She decided not to bother Xuefang and ask the crow instead.

"Well, you see..." she slowly explained her problem to the bird.

Luye nodded patiently, then let out a strange caw-like laugh.

"Kakaka! I had a feeling you'd struggle with the techniques!" she said. "You managing to use Might of Trees so fast is surprising though, I thought you would need help with both of them!"

...

Why didn't Luye tell her that then? What a mean bird.

"Hei Ye! Take care of the counter while I help this girl!" she said, then turned to face Mei. "Follow me, Mei Xiu!"

"Gehh." another raspy voice answered.

A grumpy looking crow took her spot on the wooden stand. Luye flapped out of the library, Mei following.

Later that night...

"I'm so tired..." Mei groaned. "Can we continue this tomorrow?"

Even after hours of Luye's coaching, she was still struggling with Harmonic Strength. Who said body techniques were easy? Which part of this was easy?

She really wanted to go back to her dorm and relax...

"How do you expect to get a good rank if you aren't willing to put in the effort?" Luye scolded. "Where did all your enthusiasm from earlier go?"

Mei wanted to cry...

The sun was starting to rise, casting its beautiful orange light across the sect.

Mei's face was blank as she robotically let out another punch. While it seemed she was doing it half-heartedly, the punch was swift and filled with surprising force.

"Caw! That's enough for today!" Luye looked rather proud. "Basic mastery in just a night! Aren't I an amazing teacher!"

"Urgh..."

"If you ever need help again in the future, don't be shy! Most disciples I coach don't ask for my help again, strangely enough! Kakakakaka!"

Luye let out strange laughter as she flew off.

That slave driver! From how the crow laughed, Luye definitely knew why disciples didn't want to consult her! There was no way she was ever going to ask that stupid bird for help again!

Exhausted, Mei laid flat on the stone floor. Actually... screw it. She was just going to sleep here.