C17 Training to be Beaten

Zhou Lin, without tapping into her Genuine Qi, was still significantly stronger than Qin Chuan. She advanced a step, her right fist clenched, and swung it directly at him. Her punch wasn't particularly fast, but it packed a ferocious power. If Qin Chuan wasn't careful in dodging, he was bound to take a beating.

Facing Zhou Lin's seemingly diminutive fist, Qin Chuan was on high alert. Instinctively, he sidestepped, pivoting his body, nearly evading the punch. But Zhou Lin was quick to adapt, her leg sweeping behind his heel, sending him tumbling to the ground.

"Do you really think an enemy will only strike with fists? What good is dodging a punch if you're open to other attacks? If I had wanted to kill you, that kick would have been the end. Let's go again!"

Training brought out a sternness in Zhou Lin. She didn't mince words as she chastised Qin Chuan, who, far from feeling humiliated, took her critique to heart and rose to his feet, ready for more.

"Now, you attack," Zhou Lin commanded.

Without hesitation, Qin Chuan launched into his offensive.

"Your punch is too slow. Didn't you eat enough?" she taunted.

"Such an unstable stance. Who gave you the confidence to kick?"

"That punch is so feeble it wouldn't match up to a woman's. Are you sure you're a man?"

"Hurts, doesn't it? Go on, cry out. I won't mock you."

In the arena, Qin Chuan was gasping for air, his face slick with sweat, his training clothes drenched. Every part of him ached, his body felt like it was falling apart. If possible, he would have lain down right there for a restful sleep.

Zhou Lin, in contrast, was the picture of composure, her gaze cool and mocking as she watched Qin Chuan struggle.

"You boasted about enduring any hardship. Yet, not even an hour in and you're faltering?"

Qin Chuan longed to counter her jibes, but he was too breathless to speak, his defiant glare the only protest he could muster.

Seeing his resilience, Zhou Lin refrained from pushing him further. She leapt from the arena and headed to the nearby maintenance pod, beckoning him over. "Come here, strip down and get inside."

Qin Chuan made his way off the arena, each step laborious. He barely reached the pod when Zhou Lin, growing impatient, stripped him down to his black shorts.

Surveying the bruises marring Qin Chuan's slender frame, Zhou Lin nodded in approval. She then pushed him into the pod and activated the nutrition conditioning mode.

The pod filled with a deep green nutrient solution, and Qin Chuan couldn't hide the pain that flashed across his face.

It hurt like hell, yet it felt incredibly relieving.

Submerged in the solution, Qin Chuan felt as though countless tiny hands were massaging and soothing his muscles, a blissful sensation he'd never known before.

But the bliss was fleeting. Twenty minutes later, Zhou Lin pulled Qin Chuan from the pod. The bruises had vanished, his body felt rejuvenated, even stronger than before, as if he'd broken through a previous limit. This newfound power surged through him, igniting a rush of exhilaration.

"My beating wasn't for nothing."

Qin Chuan gazed at Zhou Lin with eager eyes. His previous resistance to the beatings had transformed into an eager anticipation for them!

"Forget it. Given the state of your body right now, you can only handle one nutrient solution soak per day. Any more than that and you'd be overwhelmed," Zhou Lin said with a dismissive glance at Qin Chuan. "Get dressed and go train on your own."

Though Qin Chuan felt a twinge of regret at not being able to continue the blissful experience, he was generally a contented person. He swiftly donned his freshly cleaned training attire and approached his backpack, retrieving items from within. The backpack, touted as a space bag, had a capacity of merely two backpacks at most. It wasn't very spacious, and the one million in cultivation resources it contained only filled about half of it, far from full.

Qin Chuan laid out the cultivation resources and meticulously inventoried them. Among them were one hundred packets of advanced spirit powder, one hundred tubes of advanced nutrition paste, and a softly glowing, light purple liquid in a bottle. Known as Violet Spirit Liquid, it was highly beneficial for Brain Domain development. A small bottle like this was valued at a staggering six to seven hundred thousand!

Surveying the cultivation resources spread before him on the ground, Qin Chuan sighed. One million in resources might sound substantial, but it was just enough to get him to the Perfection of the Body Tempering Stage, and that was with extreme frugality. The resources he'd need for future cultivation would likely cost a fortune.

Not to mention, the nutrient solution he had soaked in earlier was worth well over a million. He wouldn't have asked for such a luxury if Zhou Lin hadn't offered it herself. Though Zhou Lin hadn't made much of it, Qin Chuan had etched her generosity deeply into his heart.

He now had a glimpse of understanding as to why Wang Wenxue had agreed to be Liu Cheng's girlfriend, though he didn't necessarily condone it.

Shaking off his wandering thoughts, Qin Chuan focused on the task at hand—cultivating his Brain Domain. He carefully extracted three drops of the Violet Spirit Liquid and applied them to his forehead.

As the liquid spread evenly across his skin, a cool sensation washed over Qin Chuan's brain, emptying his mind and plunging him into a state of serene confusion.

The sensation was fleeting; within three minutes, the Violet Spirit Liquid's effect dissipated. Qin Chuan reluctantly emerged from the ethereal state, his eyes closed as he tuned into his body's transformations. His perception had sharpened, and his understanding of his physical self had deepened.

"This Violet Spirit Liquid truly lives up to its name," Qin Chuan mused, opening his eyes to regard the bottle in his hand. With roughly a hundred drops, he could cultivate in that transcendent state for about a hundred minutes, potentially enhancing his Brain Domain by 5%.

Yet, the thought of running out of Violet Spirit Liquid—and not having the funds to buy more—cast a shadow over him. Cultivation was indeed a steep climb for the impoverished.