When Kai came back to the cave to eat, Old Man Mo glanced at him and shouted in shock:
"Boy, what happened to you?! How are you absorbing energy this fast? Your heart is overflowing with it! Are you even human?!"
"Other people can't do this?" Kai asked dumbly.
"No. For some people it takes months to absorb this much energy! Listen to me carefully…" Master Mo's expression turned serious and thoughtful.
"One day you'll go out into the world, and then everything will depend only on you… But I must warn you—no, I order you! Never cultivate in front of other people! Your body is very strange. If anyone sees how fast you cultivate, they might assume you have some miraculous artifact… Believe me, even that suspicion alone is enough for you to die before you understand what happened." The old man stared straight into his eyes as he spoke.
"Master Mo, I understand. I'll be careful," Kai replied seriously. But at that moment, his mind was screaming about the Sphere. He was sure it was the cause…
Now he fully understood that he had to be extremely careful with others. Fortunately, his master had already grown very close to him. At this point, Mo was more like a real grandfather than just a teacher…
"Don't get all gloomy. In the outside world, it's perfectly normal to cultivate in seclusion. Nobody wants to be disturbed or have their secrets exposed! Heh-heh," the old man added encouragingly.
In the days that followed, Kai continued training under the torture of the King of Lust, constantly tempering his heart in hellish agony. At some point he felt the energy begin to spread through his body…
According to the technique, it was now time to temper the skin, muscles, tendons, and organs. This stage was supposed to be far more painful and much longer than the last…
Sitting in the lake, Kai suddenly noticed a new silhouette forming above the water, this time male. His appearance was somewhat similar to the female figure—black body, no face—but this new king had a muscular build and a single short horn jutting straight out of his forehead.
The figure slowly walked up to Kai and punched him square in the chest with all its might! That huge fist came with an unstoppable aura, as if it wanted to devour everything in its path!
Boom! — A deafening sound rang out!
But to his surprise, Kai felt nothing… The demon slowly began to sink into his body, as if it were melting into Kai's skin through its outstretched arm.
"Ghh!" Kai groaned involuntarily.
In that instant, unbearable pain exploded throughout his entire body. All his soft tissues began to contract violently, filling him with a sensation of intolerable burning. Kai felt as if he were being burned alive!
"So this is the King of Pain?! And I still have to circulate my energy on top of this… A technique with 'Torture' in its name definitely lives up to it…" Kai forced out ironically.
He forced himself to sit straight and began circulating the cultivation technique with all his might. Veins bulged across his face and body, his expression was incredibly strained—but he didn't make a sound.
Kai felt his muscle fibers tearing again and again all over his body. In their place, the energy would rush in and rapidly restore them. The newly formed fibers felt stronger and more elastic, as if they were soaked in energy.
With each destruction, his flesh intertwined more deeply with the energy in his body, forming a sturdy bond. Under the King of Pain's torture, his body seemed to be repeatedly breaking itself down and rebuilding.
Kai felt like he was burning in flames but couldn't die. Over time the sensation spread from his skin to his muscles and tendons, and when it went deeper still, it reached his organs. The King of Pain's torture became absolutely unbearable!
After a week without seeing Kai, Old Man Mo grew worried and went to check on him. What he saw horrified him…
"What a terrifying technique! Who could possibly endure this?!" the old man shouted in shock.
"M… Master… I… I'm ashamed to ask this… but could you bring me food?" Kai squeezed out hoarsely.
"Huh?" Mo blurted, frozen for a second.
"Of course! Of course! You can leave that to me!" he said at once, then hurried off toward the cave.
A short while later, he came back with a pot of stew. He had chopped the meat into tiny pieces so it wouldn't need chewing. Mo handed the bowl to Kai, and the boy downed it in one gulp. Then he polished off a second bowl, and then a third…
This hellish training went on for nearly a month until, at last, Kai finally exhaled. All the strength he had left was just enough to climb out of the lake and take a few steps… On the tenth step, he collapsed to the ground and instantly fell asleep. Fortunately, he had managed to stay conscious through the entire torture of the King of Pain.
Kai held out only because he kept absorbing energy and remained in the lake the whole time. But the moment he relaxed, exhaustion took over and he immediately lost consciousness…
After three days of sleep, he woke up and devoured almost half a beast carcass in one sitting. He was surprised to find his body brimming with energy, and all the food seemed to be digested almost instantly, feeding his flesh.
"I've tempered all my soft tissue!" Kai shouted happily.
"Yeah, kid. It's sickening just looking at you…" the old man muttered, glancing sideways at him. "What are you, Heaven's own son? Or did a god kiss you on the ass? I've never seen body tempering this dense in my life! You could probably kill a high-stage Warrior already!" Mo grumbled irritably.
But inside, he was incredibly happy. He knew his own martial path was already over; he wouldn't achieve anything more. But his disciple was a completely different story…
If Kai could keep developing long enough, he would surely reach unbelievable heights! In this world, the bond between master and disciple was like that of parent and child. Any parent rejoices in their child's success as if it were their own. A student might even surpass his teacher—and by doing so, allow the teacher to rise higher in spirit as well.
"Don't worry, Old Man Mo. One day, luck will shine on your street too," Kai joked, teasing his teacher.
He was amazed by his own body and watched the energy flowing through it. Even within that flow, he could see incredibly fine patterns and tiny characters…
After a few days of rest, Kai decided it was time to begin cultivating the third King—the King of Envy, who would temper his skeleton. So he headed back to the lake as usual…
After several days, Kai felt something strange. The energy pushed by his heart spread through all the muscles and skin, then slowly seeped into his bones.
The penetrating effect was surprisingly enhanced by the cold of the lake, which seemed to drill into his bones as well. Kai watched as the third king began to form beside him—the King of Envy.
The silhouette looked like a skeleton wrapped in black flesh. Small spikes jutted from various parts of its body, and its head bore a "crown" made from similar bony growths.
The King of Envy slowly approached Kai and sank its claws straight into his skeleton. In the next instant, it repeated what the others had done—slowly merging into his body. But this time, the process came with the cracking and grinding of Kai's bones, bringing a whole new level of agony!
As the third king's energy passed through his bones, they split and cracked along their entire length and even inside, inflicting fresh torture with every moment. After a few days, Kai felt the process was too slow, so he swam to the center of the lake, where it was even colder. Then he dove straight to the bottom…
Thanks to his tempered flesh and organs, even his lungs had begun to absorb energy. Now, staying underwater for an hour was no problem; he only surfaced occasionally to breathe and eat. The rest of the time, he endured the King of Envy's torture. Whenever his bones shattered, energy rushed in to repair them.
Kai began to notice that his regeneration speed had increased significantly. Every cell in his body was slowly improving. With such uniform tempering, the energy spread much faster and more efficiently, managing to heal even the freshest wounds.
His bones crackled all throughout his body. Sometimes they bent unnaturally, cutting into his flesh as they shifted! Even after the outer shell of the bone had fully hardened, the bone marrow continued to be reborn. Kai felt as if molten metal were being poured inside his bones!
In this fashion, about two months went by…
When Kai finally surfaced, he felt as if his bones were as strong as metal! He was so excited he could hardly wait for the "gifts" of the two remaining kings.
He immediately began preparing to cultivate the next torture. Over these months he had endured so much that he'd stopped paying attention to pain entirely.
The next step was tempering the eyes and all the senses—the torture of the King of Rage. If the first three tortures had strengthened his endurance, regeneration, strength, speed, and durability, this one would sharpen his senses.
When the King of Rage began to form, something happened that Kai did not expect. The King looked at him, turned around… and simply vanished!
Kai mulled it over and came to the theory that the fourth king required a different approach. Reflexes had to be trained in motion! You couldn't develop them just by sitting still in the water. He truly needed to move and stimulate all his senses.
"Of course! Master Mo's training!" Kai exclaimed suddenly and ran off to tell the old man what had happened.
The starry sky blanketed the forest…
Master Mo calmly watched Kai, then suddenly waved his hand, plunging the world into darkness once more. Earlier, Kai had asked the old man to create this kind of environment for his training…
And he'd been right to do so! After half an hour, a tall black figure began to form, with two black flames burning where its eyes should be. Its mouth twisted into a vicious, fanged grin. Strangely, the King of Rage actually had a distinct face, and three horns that curled from its forehead all the way to the back of its head.
In the next second, however, the figure vanished.
Kai felt something slam into his head. His eyes burst into searing pain, and all of his senses were thrown into chaos. For a few seconds, he completely lost his sense of orientation!
Two streams of blood trickled from Kai's eyes, and a faint black smoke—similar to what surrounded the King of Rage—began to seep out. Though the pain was intense, his eyes suddenly seemed to be able to see in the darkness. He could even make out exactly where Old Man Mo was standing!
Smiling through the pain, Kai said:
"Begin, Master!"
Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh! — At that moment, the sound of stones flying at him filled the air.
To his surprise, those throws felt way too slow… Kai quickly snatched three stones out of the air and threw them back!
"Heh-heh-heh! Don't get cocky!" the old man laughed darkly and began hurling new stones with real force. This time, they were infused with his energy! It looked like if Kai took even one hit, it would punch straight through him!
A fierce battle began and lasted for several hours straight. Kai could feel his senses growing sharper and sharper. He was overjoyed, while Old Man Mo was once again stunned…
How can this brat see through my illusion technique? Even if it's a simple one, it should still be impossible for an ordinary Cultivator to break it. Just what kind of monstrous cultivation technique did I give him…? the old man thought, eyes shining.
Day by day, Mo gradually increased the pressure and speed. Eventually, they even started throwing dulled daggers instead of stones!
These battles went on for almost two months, until Kai felt that all of his senses had been fully tempered. Now, even in total darkness, it seemed he could see, hear, and smell every change around him.
"Boy, you're terrifying… If I live long enough, you'll become a threat even to me! Heh-heh," Mo laughed, patting Kai on the back.