The Heavenly Qi gathered, and it was almost itme for lunch when he saw the notification.

[3,000 Heavenly Qi Gathered. You'll be sent on a special challenge.]

What?-

Huang Lu had not even fully processed it yet, but he was already in another part of the world. No. he probably wasn't even in the world. He was in a strange black place, and he saw a giant appear before him. He had an axe.

"Dodge my blows, young man." The axe swoosh, with the force of the heavens itself. It was so quick that Huang Lu couldn't react in time and he lost his hand. He screamed as blood flowed out, and he was absolutely horrified.

"My hand!" he shouted. His body felt like paper before the weight of that axe.

The giant laughed and boomed.. "Don't worry, your hand is fine. This is just the heavenly practice realm. The progress you make here and the feelings you feel are real, but you will return to your body."

The giant snapped a finger, and his arm was whole once more.

"Now, I'll give you a reward, depending on how many slashes you manage to dodge. Come, run, young man, run."

Huang Lu fled with all his life. His hand was back, but the pain was surreal and real. No, he felt nothing like it. He ducked and dodged, and ran. He tumbled, and the axe felt on his. It slashed him through his head.

He yelled in pain. "There's really no point yelling if none of this is real. After all, your broken head is only a feeling." He snapped his finger again and his head was whole. His head still hurt as hell.

He dodged and the man threw a smaller axe. He missed by a whisker, as he felt the edges of the axe slashed a thin layer of skin off his nose. It hurt as hell. "Fuck this. Fuck this fuck this so fuck much."

"Young man, cursing doesn't help. Run, Huang Lu, Run." The Giant roared.

Another axe hit, this time, squarely on his chest. He didn't even see it! How the fuck! He felt his innard spill out. The Giant snapped a finger and suddenly he was whole again. If this was some dream training sequence, this was shit.

"What if I stood here?" Huang Lu asked as he ran with all his might.

"Then I'll cut you down." The Giant smiled.

Huang Lu ran, and another axe wooshed. Wait. maybe there was a trick to this mission, and he remembered the ability he received from that other weird mission. He immediately turned to face the giant.

"Oh, a sudden bout of bravery?"

"No." Huang Lu charged in, and the giant was fast. His axe lobbed off one of Huang Lu's arms, but Huang Lu's other arm managed to hand a hit. "[The Banned Punch]"

He felt the giant rattle and shake. The giant stopped, and then gave a wide grin. "Ohohohoho. How cute. You think my axe is a technique that can be sealed?"

The axe wooshed the same, and this time Huang Lu's head got chopped off.

The giant snapped a finger, and he was whole again. He touched his neck. "Fuck you and fuck this shit."

"Did you ever wonder why the heavens do weird shit?" The Giant said. "No, do you ever wonder why the world is so shit?"

"No, why." Huang Lu actually asked that question multiple times as a street rat wondering where is the justice in the world. But now he had the power to enforce his version of justice.

"Because it's never meant to be anything else. Shit is the default form of the world."

Huang Lu dodged. Even if he didn't die for real, the sensation of having his head chopped off was something he liked to avoid. He lost his fingers as the axe landed squarely on them. "My fingers!"

A snap and they were whole again. "To be a cultivator, is to move. Either to rise, or to sink."

"I don't fucking care about that shit." Huang Lu said. "I just wanna live a good life."

"Don't lie to me. You do." The axe giant laughed. "You want a world with a sense of justice."

Huang Lu ducked another whoosh. "Yeah. so?"

"Good. The world always need people like that."

The giant stopped. "Oh time's up. You did pretty okay. 48 hits. That's normal as most guys go."

"There's more of this?"

"Of course."

"Anyway, off you go."

[You've completed the Giant's Level 1 Challenge]

[Your muscles are now even STRONGER].