At Violet Peak, two figures were together: a beautiful woman sitting on a stone, holding a gourd of wine in one hand and a red ribbon in the other, and a young man with delicate features standing in front of her, trembling slightly.
"Disciple, stop shaking, this is for your own good. If you want to awaken your lineage, you'll need to suffer. Don't be afraid, I won't whip you too hard." The woman said with a chuckle, her face flushed from the wine. She was drunk.
"Master, it's better if we do this after you return to normal." The young man said in a frightened voice, clearly terrified of being brutally beaten.
"I'm not really drunk. I'm a strong cultivator, do you think that can take over me? Ling Huo, you don't need to be afraid." The woman responded to her disciple with a gentle voice.
But to Ling Huo, it sounded like the whisper of a demon.
'Can I leave?' He swallowed nervously, watching his master swing the ribbon in rhythm with her wine drinking. She was totally unreliable; the only good thing was that she was beautiful.
If he had to describe her, he'd say she had purple hair like the purest purple paint, falling down her back in straight waves, and a beautiful pair of pupils the same color as her hair, but at the same time, different, as they seemed to carry a vast ocean, very bright and full of knowledge.
Her face was a perfectly sculpted work of art, and the blush made it even more beautiful; her skin was more crystalline than a piece of crystal.
'Beautiful, but so sadistic.' He was sure of that, especially because, a month ago, she chose him to be her disciple. Since then, she had been helping him awaken his lineage in a rather unkind manner, beating him every day with a smile on her face.
He wasn't convinced, but he thought he had been chosen to be a punching bag. He couldn't judge, but that possibility seemed almost true.
The woman in front of him, unaware of Ling Huo's thoughts, stood up from the stone.
"You can't leave. You'll have to endure it." She whispered again, this time exuding authority.
After those words, Ling Huo cried inwardly, preparing himself for his deplorable state after the beating.
"M-Master, be gentle." He accepted he was going to be beaten and, to reduce the pain, begged her to go easy.
"Okay." The woman agreed with her lips and then smiled faintly. "Here you go, disciple, this is slow."
She spun the ribbon in the air, giving it a few turns, then threw it forward. The object moved at the speed of a turtle, so slowly that it felt like time had slowed down.
Ling Huo, seeing that, felt a crisis. 'Why do I feel like this is worse than the times before?'
He panicked and quickly stepped to the side, but it wasn't far: he too was in slow motion.
"Dammit!" He cursed and realized it wasn't just the ribbon, but everything in that cursed place had slowed down. 'A crazy woman, she never goes easy... Even if I beg, it's useless.'
He grew frustrated and soon stopped trying to dodge. Letting out a sigh, he placed his arms in front, ready to block. At the same time, he watched the red line get closer and closer.
After several minutes, it reached him. The moment it touched him, Ling Huo felt like he was being pressed down by a mountain, crushing his whole body. Unable to hold it, he fell, bending his knees, and at that instant, he felt an intense headache from the pressure.
"It h-hurts..." He stammered, almost groaning in agony. Unable to bear it, he placed his hands on the cold ground.
Soon, he sank further, the ribbon still falling in slow motion, pushing him further down. The ground beneath his fingers shifted, his nails turned into shovels, tearing into the earth.
"Dammit! Does this sadist want to kill me? I'm just a mortal! My arms are about to break!" He let out his frustration as his bones creaked; a little more and they would break.
"Master! I can't take it anymore!" He shouted, his voice almost not coming out.
The woman, sitting on the ground in the distance, did nothing, ignoring his plea to stop. Lifting the gourd of wine to her mouth, after a sip, her face changed, no longer red but indifferent.
"Ling Huo, stop with this cowardly mindset! You are my disciple. Do you know who I am? I am someone who has mastered all pairs. I am betting on you because I can see your potential. If you keep this weak character, get out of my sight. If you decide that, I'll stop now. After that, never say you were my disciple, never say you were Nangong Xue's disciple again."
'What? I'm weak?' Ling Huo gritted his teeth and soon felt his eyes burn with invisible fury.
"Dammit! What do you think I am? I'm a damn mortal, who until recently didn't even know about these cultivator things! And it's my fault?"
He got angry, feeling his blood heat up unnaturally. His master's words really hurt him.
"Hehehe, a sadist indeed. I guess just because she's like this, everyone should follow her example."
He laughed out loud, not caring if she heard or not. Digging his nails into the ground, he used all his strength to rise. His muscles contracted, and his spine was forced to straighten.
At that moment, Ling Huo felt a numbness throughout his body, but out of pride, he got up. When he was standing, he grabbed the ribbon above him and threw a glance at his master.
"Stronger, Nangong Xue!" He didn't address her in the usual way; his temporary resentment wouldn't allow it.
Ahead, Nangong Xue smiled, showing her beautiful white teeth.
"I'll add more pressure, my brave disciple."
Finishing her words, she applied more force to the cord connecting them, ten meters apart, seeming like a thread of fate.
Behind, Ling Huo felt the pressure double. Once again, his knees threatened to give way, but unlike before, he wouldn't accept it easily.
'I won't surrender! I won't be weak anymore, not according to this woman!'
The moment he decided that, he dug his nails into the cord, holding the weight of a shroud. In the process, several parts of his body broke, but he still didn't let go.
Roarrrrr!
At that moment, Ling Huo roared in a non-human way. He didn't know how he did it, but it was instinct.
Soon after, inside his body, thunderous sounds echoed, and his blood was expelled, launching against his skin and breaking through it. On the outside, Ling Huo turned into a crimson man, holding the red cord, creating an unforgettable scene.
But it wasn't all for today. The moment the blood was expelled from his body, another liquid replaced it: a kind of golden fluid emerged.