A loud knocking woke Yu Feng up from his slumber, his back aching slightly. The insides of his eyelids were whitened slightly with the sun directly shining on them. He blinked blearily, confusion swimming in his brain at his location. Then the events of yesterday came rushing back to him, and he shot up in his bed, his back groaning at the sudden movement. The bed did not agree with him.

  The person was still knocking at the door intermittently. "Yu Feng, please wake up, or you shall be late for your lessons," a voice called out.

  Swinging his legs out of the bed, he brushed his robes down and opened the door. For a second, he was unable to place the name of the person before him, before realising it was Gong Wei, one of the people from Shen Yao's group.

  Seeing him emerge, Gong Wei gave him a small bow. "Good morning Yu Feng. I hope your sleep was restful?"

  "Uhh, yeah it was fine," he replied, stifling a yawn.

  "Good. Shen Yao sent me to remind you that lessons for the day shall be starting in half an hour, so you should get ready."

  Yu Feng glanced at the rising sun, blinking slightly in its glare. He bowed towards Gong Wei, thanking him. "Thank you for waking me up. I shall join you guys in some time."

  Nodding amiably, Gong Wei jogged off up the path, most likely to his quarters. Turning back into his room, Yu Feng let out a sigh. Yesterday was real. His family must have reached the village by now, and found out he had fled. How would they react?

  Slightly offset from the path was an outhouse and a natural spring, where Yu Feng freshened himself up. Donning his sect robes, he exited his house and started walking down the mountain path. Near the outpost was about a group of hundred students, all standing about restlessly. Spotting Shen Yao and his gang among them, he made a beeline, not wishing to interact with anyone else.

  Clocking Yu Feng coming over, Shen Yao smiled and called out loudly, "Good morning Yu Feng! I hope my messenger reached you?"

  Yu Feng cringed slightly. The last thing he wanted was attention. He knew he was going to make a fool of himself in his lessons, and the less people who knew him, the better. Reaching the group, he bowed slightly and greeted them. "Good morning everyone. Gong Wei did wake me up, Shen Yao. Thank you for looking out for me."

  Shen Yao waved his thanks off. "It's what I would do for anyone who needed it."

  Unbidden, the thought of Xian Chen and his scowling face entered Yu Feng's mind, but he swept it away. He was making friends. No need to antagonise them unnecessarily.

  "Everyone, ATTENTION!"

  Like a sleeping beast that had come to life, everyone around Yu Feng snapped to their feet in one smooth movement. Shen Yao grabbed his shoulders hard from behind, and forced his body to follow the motion. Gong Wei to his side put a finger to his lips discreetly, eyes continuing to stare ahead.

  Yu Feng's confusion was only deepened when they all started marching forward as one entity, Yu Feng somehow emulating their movements clumsily. From behind, he caught Shen Yao whispering to him.

  "Just keep following what everyone is doing. They take discipline in this sect very seriously, and you do not want to test the instructor's patience. It's not worth it."

  Yu Feng nodded stiffly, indicating he had heard the instructions, and put some more effort into copying the group's rhythm. Soon, he was marching in time, their feet thumping as one against the stone pathways in the forest.

  A few minutes of marching later, they emerged into what looked like a training field. Disciples spread themselves into neat rows, following an unknown structure. Yu Feng found himself beside Gong Wei and a girl with deep brown hair, marked with silver streaks.

  Looking ahead, Yu Feng had to blink multiple times to make sure what he was seeing was correct. In front of the rows of students stood a giant of a man. And he was not a normal giant like Yu Feng, who was generally taller than most people. No, this man was more than two heads taller than Yu Feng, so much so that he could look over the entire group easily. His hair was a wild shock of red, and his beard too was long, reaching almost his waist, cinched with a clip at the end. He was completely topless, which showed off his brutish body, riddled with all sorts of scar lying on top of sinuous muscle. His hands seemed like they could encircle a man's torso and crush it like a grape.

  "GOOD MORNING RECRUITS!!"

  Yu Feng was embarrassed to say that he flinched. But the giant was loud, and it felt as if his voice had penetrated a part of his ears that had not heard noise before. As he was recovering, the group of students all shouted as one.

  "GOOD MORNING INSTRUCTOR WU TAO!!"

  The man gave a booming laugh. "HAHA, YOU ALL SEEM ENERGETIC TODAY. HOPE YOU ARE READY FOR SOME GOOD EXERCISE!"

  The faces of those around him twisted in phantom pain and displeasure, but they all still collectively responded, "YES INSTRUCTOR WU TAO."

  The man grinned, his expression completely at odds with his intimidating body. "Good. But before we start, is there a recruit here named Yu Feng?"

  Yu Feng looked around for a second before realising it was he who was being called upon. Panic hammered in his heart, as Gong Wei looked at him with interest. Slightly trembling, he raised his hand in the air, above the heads of the others.

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  "There you are. Come forward young man," their instructor commanded.

  The crowd around him parted evenly, allowing him passage. Trying a smile, but only managing what he was sure a grimace, he stepped through the group. The crowd was not talking, but curiosity was evident on their faces. He reached the instructor, all the while staring at the ground, not daring to look up. He must have messed up somehow, even before the first day started.

  "Look up young man. I'm not going to eat you alive."

  Slowly raising his head, he met the eyes of the barbarian before him.

  A roar so loud that it shook the heavens rang through the air. A dragon, the size of a mountain swam through the air, its green eyes burning with wrath. Its jade scales glittered in the sunlight, a dangerous beauty all over. A white mane drifted along with the wind, originating from its head, where rested two horns of pure bone wood.

  On the ground below, far from the heavens where this dragon travelled threateningly, the earth was bending around a singular point. A man stood in the center of a crater larger than a city, rubble rising in the air, going against the Law of the Earth. A blood red aura pulsed over his body, bathing the surroundings in a red hue. The cry of various beasts and demons roiled in that aura, begging to be unleashed. The giant gave a huge battle cry, his blood-like hair and beard flowing in the aura. Grinning madly, he crouched, tensing his legs for a jump.

  One second, he was there on the ground. The next, the crater had expanded even more, cracks running deep into the earth, while a red comet shot through the air at a blistering pace. The dragon regarded this comet with imperious fury, and opened its mouth, a bright green light glowing within. A split second later, a beam of green liquid energy lanced through the air, right at the comet. They collided in midair, but the comet cut through the beam like a large rock in the middle of a river, splitting the energy apart. The remnants of the beam bore into the earth, drilling into the earth deep mines. The comet meanwhile, unimpeded, reached the dragon.

  It collided with the underside of the dragon's snout with a boom that was heard all over a hundred mile radius. There was silence for a second, then the clouds were scattered violently with the battle as the center. The dragon went streaking through the sky, faster than the comet had been, while air rushed into the now vacuum, bringing with it rain and thunderstorms. Off in the distance, behind the man's back, lay a city, its inhabitants safe and worry free.

  The vison ended, and Yu Feng's knees buckled, but he managed to steady himself before he could fall to the ground.

  "Ho? Not a bad seed!" the man-god above him exclaimed. Yu Feng once again raised his head, but did not dare to meet his eyes. This was a cultivator. This is the power that lay at the end of the road, able to shape the landscape and change the weather.

  "Young Shi Qiang told me about you. Said that you enrolled yesterday, so you needed some extra instruction. Well, for this class's basic purpose, there is not much to improve upon in your regard," Instructor Wu Tao told him. The crowd in the back seemed to be trying to hear their words, but somehow it seemed that the man had kept their conversation magically private.

  "Thank you f-for the praise, Instructor. But may t-this one ask what the class is about? This one apologises for his ignorance." Yu Feng bowed low, his voice trembling slightly as he said these words.

  The giant looked over at the crowd for a second, then shrugged, deciding that they could wait for a minute more. "This class is for new recruits to cultivate their body," he explained to Yu Feng. "Meridian Enforcement is painful, and an unprepared body will find it tough to handle. So I train your bodies in this class, to prepare you for that step."

  "But you," he poked Yu Feng with a finger, "have a good foundation already. Looking at your body, I'd say you are used to physical labour."

  Yu Feng nodded slightly, then said with a small voice, "That is correct, Instructor. This one has worked on a farm since childhood."

  Instructor Wu smiled at him warmly, as if understanding perfectly what his concerns were. "Do not fret, young Yu Feng. In this sect, discipline and ability take precedence over origin. You are all equal in my eyes."

  Yu Feng let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. He had been afraid that the instructors would be subservient to nobles, but he was happy to know that was not the case.

  "But, that is to not say there is no room to move forward," the instructor said again loudly. "Wait here on the side."

  Leaving a bewildered Yu Feng behind him, Instructor Wu Tao stepped forward and addressed the group.

  "Recruits Shen Yao, Cai Lingxin, Ma Ping and Xian Chen, please step forward."

  The four people stepped out from within the crowd with slight confusion on their faces. Shen Yao was there, his slightly too pale face even more pronounced in the sunlight, while Xian Chen stood there with his perpetual scowl. Cai Lingxin turned out to be the girl who was standing beside him, and Ma Ping was someone who was of similar build to Yu Feng, just like an inch taller and very, very tanned. They all lined up in front of Instructor Wu Tao respectfully, and bowed low.

  Waving Yu Feng over with a hand to join them, Instructor Wu regarded them with an appraising eye, before nodding in satisfaction.

  "You all are currently above the standards that this class requires for you to pass, and thus, will not learn anything if I put you with the others. Instead, you will be doing some special exercises of my own creation," the man instructed.

  At first, they were confused, before bowing in unison. "Thank you for your generosity, Instructor Wu Tao."

  "Don't thank me yet," he grinned evilly. "Once you are done, it will be a miracle if you are able to walk straight." A chill shot down the five's spines, and the rest of the recruits looked at them with a mix of envy and pity.

  With the introductions done, the class began in earnest. While the rest of the recruits ran laps around the field at a blistering pace, the five special ones stood in the center, waiting for their instructions.

  Instructor Wu Tao showed them a pose, and they were supposed to copy it best as they could. He stood on one leg, hooking the other behind him like a scorpion tail, and bending his back so his torso was parallel to the ground. Demonstration done, he then asked his students to hold the pose for one minute.

  The next couple hours were hell for Yu Feng. He was made to twist his body in shapes he didn't know a body could hold, and shown the meaning of pain to muscles which he didn't even know existed. The rest of the five were also in a similar position, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Shen Yao seemed more adept at the flexible stuff, while Yu Feng and Ma Ping beat him when it came to endurance. Xian Chen and Cai Lingxin were equally balanced.

  By the time training was done, Yu Feng was ready to move on to the next life. He lay on his back, panting heavily, the sun shining through his eyelids as sweat dripped all over him. He groaned in protest when two arms hooked themselves under his, and lifted him to his feet bodily. He was like a puppet, just following the motions, as Gong Wei and another of Shen Yao's group led him and Shen Yao to a nearby stream to wash up.

  Disrobing, he just plopped into the waist high stream, floating in its gentle waters as the water washed away his sweat and cooled his body. If everyday was going to be like this, he would be a corpse before long.

  Soon, he washed away the grime, and put on the sect uniform, and followed the rest of the recruits to another part of the sect, to take on the next lesson. He just wished it would not be as exhausting as this.