“Again”, Manzi’s monotone voice caused Ip An’s immense dread to further increase. With both fists, the skin completely torn off, muscles and tendons exposed he sluggishly punched the wooden board in front of him with his right. Where Ip An had been punching over the last few hours, a small sphere of dry, dark blood had formed.

As Ip An’s fist impacted against the familiar wood, a sharp pain stabbed into his fist, causing it to ache, his body begging him to stop. His shoulders were on fire, completely exhausted from all the rotation and explosive movement.

Just as Ip An was expecting the pain to continue, Manzi gave a short clap, “Well done, I am pleased.”

Breathing heavily, his fists drooped down by his sides, he looked at Manzi with a distant stare wondering if this was the end of it. He could feel himself preparing to tear up at any second from the pain, but he resisted the urge.

“From hereon, today’s training will become your daily routine”, Manzi declared, his short jet black hair slightly ruffling in the wind, “Pain makes you strong, those who do not know pain as well as you, are weaker. If you know pain more than anyone else, you will be unrivalled and have nothing to fear.”

Ip An began to internally regret his decision to become Manzi’s student so hastily, he should’ve asked what he would be doing. But, here he was now. This torturer, his so-called master had put him through hell. He had been punching a wooden board that Manzi had suddenly erected with alternating fists for four hours at a constant pace. If Ip An didn’t keep up with his pace he would get brutally kicked in the abdomen, which would send deep, rupturing pain throughout all his organs. Luckily, he learnt very quickly what the timing was and only got kicked three times.

Ip An had cried. A lot. But halfway through, he ran out of tears, the only signs of his weeping being his incredibly red cheeks and red eyes. After this session, Ip An didn’t like Manzi. He despised him. He hated his very existence. But he was too beat up to care, he needed to heal and rest. However, when hearing he would be doing this every day he looked down at his blood-soaked hands, in disbelief at how he would be able to recover for tomorrow. By the end of the week, wouldn’t he bleed out?

Manzi’s next words rang like bells, giving Ip An some much-needed relief, “What I put you through today has been very intense, but I am not a sadist who likes to cripple young children. Out the front of the house, I have prepared a herbal bath for you to soak your whole body in. Through this method, you will completely recover and be able to train again tomorrow with no worries.”

Ip An followed Manzi to the front of the house, where his small hopes for a session of relaxation were quickly crushed.

Several meters in front of the house, stood a waist-height barrel filled with poisonous green liquid, with green leaves floating about in it. A horrible stench wafted into nostrils as his eyes met the brown barrel, though he was unable to close his nose due to the current conditions of his fists.

“Strip, then hop in”, Manzi said, observing the reluctant Ip An.

Although Ip An wanted to protest, his fists were in more pain than what he was smelling. Even though he hated Manzi right now, he knew that he could at least trust him that the herbal bath would help heal him from his training. In just a few moments, Ip An stripped, using some awkward movements to take off his clothes due to his destroyed fists.

With no further hesitation, he hopped into the surprisingly warm bath, the only thing good about the bath. The putrid smell became even worse as he sat in the barrel, his nose only a very short distance away from the strange-coloured liquid. As Ip An sat in the bath, his body completely submerged apart from the top of his neck and his head, he could slowly feel the pain in his fists fading away.

Due to Ip An’s tired mind, his aching hands and his desire to just relax, the next hour flew by extremely quickly. Suddenly, he was awoken by Manzi, who was giving him a stern look, “ Get out now. You’ve exhausted all of the bath’s herbal properties.”

Slightly unwilling but happy to leave the bath, he hopped out of the bath, the herbal bath’s water dripping down him. Ip An then dried himself and accepted the new clean robes Manzi had gifted him with.

As Ip An was dressing, he subtly noticed that his fists were no longer in pain and had miraculously completely healed. In place of his injury was now new, tender white flesh and skin. In fact, it felt like he held a stronger connection to them after all the suffering he put himself and his fists through. Ip An looked back at the barrels with an incredulous look, trying to wrap his head around how a herbal bath had healed his injuries. He had vaguely heard of such things, he knew they were most likely to exist and to actually work as they were rumoured to, but it hit entirely different when he had just undergone the experience himself.

Finally finished with his training, but dreading the fact he still had to do this every day from now on, he spent the rest of his afternoon meditating inside his room. He gently pondered upon the sensation of his inner qi sitting within his lower dantian. As of now, Ip An still had to get familiar with his inner qi before manipulating it, because if he made a mistake with his inner qi early on, there was a high chance an accident may occur and he could potentially, injure, cripple or even kill himself.

After that, he would have to learn to manipulate it and then learn to use it to the specifications of the techniques he would practice. This, even for Ip An the suddenly proclaimed genius, would take him a whole year to accomplish. Still, this was freaky fast as others would take upwards of even ten years to accomplish what he would in one year.

Yet, this was but an estimation from Manzi. Ip An saw some truth in this though. As Ip An was currently meditating, he felt that the connection he had with his inner qi was slightly intimate, like that of a mother and their child. It felt warm, comforting and gentle to sense his inner qi.

Later, as Ip An had his dinner, he asked Manzi about certain things concerning his training.

“I will give you a firm reminder of the process I am putting you through. You will first have to forge a body that can be put through even the worst pain imaginable and endure through the toughest of situations. Train your inner qi to a profoundly deep instinctual level using the techniques I train you in. And lastly, you will form a powerful killing intent through glorious battle and slaughter. In that order, no other way will you do this”, Manzi finished his meal of rice, vegetables and meat long ago. It was a meal that he and Ip An had every day, though he wasn’t complaining as it was much better than what he had been eating his whole life.

“This is the method I believe is suited best for your long term-potential”, Manzi noted, gazing at the front of Ip An’s hands with squinted eyes as he ate with his wooden chopsticks.

“I will say this now, I will not allow you to leave until I squeeze every single bit of potential I can out of you. It will be a waste of your talent if I don’t do it. Your life from now on will be incredibly tough and filled with many days that you wish your suffering would just end already. Your existence too painful to consider anything else, but the ending of that very pain. But once you have completed your training, to a level where I feel like I have nothing else to teach you, you will be free to walk your own path if you so wish”, Manzi’s words gave Ip An something to look forward to.

Ip An wanted to train in martial arts, but Manzi’s method was just too brutal and involved too much pain for him to handle. He wanted to practice it in a way that involved hard work, but not torturous pain for extended periods of time. He was scared, very scared of all the pain he was going to potentially be put through in the future. That’s why, after Ip An escaped from the dinner table and slept that night, he began to silently cry in pain.

“You are always free to give up any time you want, but just know that from that point on you will never amount to anything but trash”, Manzi’s words struck him deeply. This caused Ip An to become very split between the decisions he had right now.

He could either train under Manzi training and fulfil his potential to its fullest, or go his own way with no one to guide him. He would sitll progress but without Manzi’s guidance or any light in the darkness, he could get lost and end up doing useless things. Ip An wanted to tap into the talent the best he could. He knew he only had one life, he knew that he apparently had talent that was coveted by countless martial artists that were willing to train much harder than him, but was it worth going through all this pain?

He spent several moments pondering this question, the words echoing out throughout his mind several times, begging for him to answer its calling. That’s when several images suddenly flashed through his mind. His grandfather’s cold hands, Manzi’s boulder-dissolving punch, and the arduous three-month journey filled with countless peril. His duty of fulfilment to his grandfather, his aspirations to strive for strength and all his prior effort that he spent getting here.

He was still at the starting line, and this was the last time. The very last time he would hesitate, or dishonour these things. Ip An’s hairs stood on their ends, goosebumps forming as an iron resolved slowly formed.

Pain?

He would embrace it.

Strength?

He would become unrivalled.

He made these two promises to himself. He was not going to let life make him question what he was doing and for what reason. He would never stop. Never.

The next day, Ip An arrived at the side courtyard with Manzi, his eyes filled with a newfound determination. He knew Manzi’s training was going to be hell. But, with the strength, he saw he possessed. He had no doubt of the effectiveness of his methods. He would do this, and become stronger. No matter the suffering he would have to go through.

Ip An stared at the wooden board in front of him, waiting for Manzi’s signal, his eyes seemingly staring through it.