The merely eight year old Li Tian had to stay alone with those grey bats in that pitch black cave with an intense pain that spread thoroughly throughout the body.

The intense pain gradually dulled his senses decreasing the speed of the swinging sword, however, the thought of the sect, his beautiful master would increase the courage in him to increase and he would clench his teeth struggling to regain composure while swinging the azure sword over and over again.

Shangun Bingying had her face pale with each passing minute. The horrible pain and agonizing cries broke her heart into pieces. She desperately wanted to pick him up from the cave and comfort him, however, she refrained herself from doing so. Her conversation with the second elder had made her realize she is destroying his future. He can become a prodigy with the whole planet in his hands if he is given the right training. She was shocked by the result though, he has persisted for 10 whole minutes. The grey bats specialize in bringing pain, they stimulate the body to go to extremes.

While cultivation is about gathering Xuan from the surroundings, mental power is extremely important in determining the future of a cultivator. Patience, endurance and hard work are key qualities for a cultivator to succeed. This is an extremely harsh method to give these qualities in a cultivator while it may seem very cruel to an eight year old boy. It will help him become a warrior with an iron will.

His persistence to endure pain lasted a whole hour before he became unconscious. That very moment an icy wind blew by separating the boy from the bats. The icy mask of indifference from Shangun Bingying fell as she shed tears seeing the body of Li Tian. There were multiple scratches and no part of flesh in his body was left untouched. It was a gruesome sight filled with blood and broken bones. The sword retained its icy edge but was filled with blood of those bats.

She fed him a blue pill while carrying him to another cave. The cave had a deep pool with medicinal strength filled with precious elixirs. She had been struggling to give them to him when he was at Martial Apprentice stage but she wanted to see his potential. She ripped apart what left of his clothes before laying him in the pool. As soon as the flesh injuries began to heal she left the cave placing clothes for him to wear.

As soon as Li Tian woke up he saw himself laying down on the pool for some reason his hands could only go a little deep before facing obstruction. He stretched himself finding himself free of pain. His muscles look a little more flexible. He could feel his movement a little faster. Excitedly, he changed his clothes.

He remembered the pain he suffered in the cave and began to tremble with fear. He did not know whether he would be courageous enough to face the cave again.

Right then an icy voice came from afar "I was happy to see you persevere and face the challenge head on. What are you shaking for? You will have to face it every day and the length of your survival will have to increase each time you go into the cave. Take this meal as punishment"

Shangun Bingying had added herbs making the meal very disgusting to it and had to find a reason to make him eat it as punishment.

Li Tian pleadingly asked "Master do I really have to train like this every day?"

"This is just the beginning of our training. If you are unable to handle it then you can quit already. I have told you a number of times you are better suited to be a scholar." Shangun Bingying icily rebuked. "If you want to be a cultivator come quickly after finishing the meal with the sword I gave you"

"Okay"

Li Tian finished his meal quickly and went to the training room with his master.

She had a purple sword that looked to be a set with the azure on he held. "Your movements with the sword are clumsy. The sword is the best of all weapons. Mastering the sword means mastering the weapon of destiny. I will teach you four strokes, watch carefully for you need to be able to master them.

The purple sword moved creating afterimages, the sword rays shining majestically proud as she started teaching the four strokes to Li Tian. She gave him a detailed explanation while demonstrating it two more times.

Li Tian was taken to the icy cave of the grey bats during the morning which would follow in him forbearing until he was knocked unconscious. He would find himself in the pool as he regained his consciousness. The torture was so terrible, that it scared the living lights out of him but the face of his beautiful master would make him endure it every day. The afternoon would follow in him trying to master the first of the four strokes. After that night, would be the moment he would hold the hand of his beautiful master to cultivate. That was by far his favorite moment of the day.

It would be followed by the rushed breathing of his master after 2 hours and him being slapped for no reason at all. He would have to cultivate the remaining time of the night holding a blue ice bear. He would dread the time to sleep though as it would be accompanied by nightmares of those bats and the following would give a physical manifestation of them as well.