After hearing Xingjuan's perspective, Junjie was a little stumped. The way he had thought about it may have been wrong, but wasn't what she was saying a little... shameless?
'Ah, what a bother. Why do I even care anyway?'
Junjie realised perhaps he had been wrong all along and resigned. He wasn't the senior here after all, and a good majority of the time, the senior is right.
"I see. Thank you for your guidance, Ms. Xu."
Without further ado, he retreated back to his room, enjoying what little period of peace he had left. Unfortunately, he was unable to make any more breakthroughs in his comprehension, but the new perspective did provide him with a very important epiphany, which will surely be beneficial in the future.
It was then that the gates of hell opened and a demoness appeared to drag him to the most torturous depth. In other words, Lihua came into his room and dragged him outside before committing murder in broad daylight.
It had taken only 10 minutes to knock out Junjie this time, and that includes the time she had to spend breaking down his door and dragging him outside.
Thus a dastardly routine commenced, where Lihua would beat Junjie every hour, and after he tried his hardest to recuperate while simultaneously trying to comprehend the body-refining technique.
The only time when he found even a hint of salvation was when the sun disappeared over the horizon and Xingjuan began cooking. After dinner no more beati- 'training sessions' happened, and Junjie could finally rest.
By the time he stumbled to his room, covered in bruises and other fleshly wounds, he felt as if he was stuck in a state of lucidity. The only thought he could produce was,
'Sleep. I need sleep.'
Thus, he collapsed on his bed and rested to his heart's content, allowing his wounds to begin repairing. It was only when the sun came back to taunt Junjie that he faced the wrath of the demonic tyrant once again.
It had taken him several days to comprehend the next part of the text, but when he finally did, his eyes swelled up with tears. He had finally done it! He had... he had what exactly? Comprehended the first portion of the technique?
He had gone through all this bullshit, and all he had comprehended was the first part of the technique!? The Path of the Divine didn't sound so terrible anymore, but if he was this weak-willed, he would have long run away from this accursed place. Jia Junjie's stubborn character persisted yet again.
Although he hadn't comprehended much, he did finally understand how he should go about establishing his foundation and awakening his spiritual veins. The technique hadn't told him a whole lot, but he figured he had the idea.
Spiritual veins are what absorbed Qi and guided it to the dantian. Most people, hopefully including Junjie, were born with spiritual veins, yet at birth they were unawakened.
How did one go about awakening their spiritual veins?
Why, wasn't it simply indulgence?
That's right! One had to indulge in the essence of Heaven and Earth and will their spiritual veins to awaken.
'Will? What does will even have to do with anything anyway? Y'know what, forget it, I don't even care about normalcy anymore!' He had really lost the plot.
So where would someone find a land rich with the essence of Heaven and Earth? His mind wandered to the area he had first woken up in, but then, as if no thoughts had entered his mind in the first place, he forgot.
He had to ask Xingjuan if he wanted answers. Opening his doors before the hour mark, he went to the living room, where he found her lazing around on the couch. The woman deserved a break after all; she was a very diligent mother.
Her eyes were closed, and suddenly Junjie was hesitant to wake her from the solace of sleep. He would feel pretty guilty if she had missed out on the very precious commodity known as sleep! Before he turned around and left, though, her eyes snapped open and looked right at him. At this moment Junjie looked a bit weird, standing over a sleeping woman and all.
"I'm too old for you, y'know, kid?" She said in a half-joking voice.
He swiftly replied,
"I kno—Ah, you see, I appeared to have almost said something with lethal consequences. Anyway, I'm here to ask you something." Her eyes narrowed at that first part but gradually softened as he kept speaking.
"Understood a bit more of that manual, eh? That must mean you know how to awaken your spiritual veins then, right?" She quickly understood why he would appear before her again.
"Yes, but where can I find an area rich with the essence of Heaven and Earth? I would like to try awakening them as soon as possible."
"You really are a bit slow, aren't you, kid?" She let out a hearty laugh before continuing,
"This plot of land has one of the densest Essence concentrations in the forest and surrounding lands. Why else would we build a house here?"
'Huh, for real!?'
So following the steps, all he had to do was will his spiritual veins to awaken? He had really wanted it before, so what had to change? It felt like he wanted it as much as possible, but little did he know that was as far from the truth as a lie is.
"Well, if that's the case, then how do I will them to awaken?" He had wanted to take a shortcut. Unfortunately shortcuts are for losers, and Xingjuan didn't raise losers.
"Meh, I dunno." She said before closing her eyes and seemingly returning to the sweet embrace of sleep.
"Are you shitting me!" He had felt so indignant. Begrudgingly, and also because he didn't want to whine to the woman taking care of him, he returned to his room. Though, just as he opened the door that connected the living room and the hallway, Lihua intercepted him and grabbed his hand.
"It's about that time, isn't it?" She seemed to enjoy their 'training sessions' much more than he did. Considering that she had already awakened her spiritual veins and was half finished building her dantian, she was much stronger than he was.
Unable to resist her grip, all he could do was cry and beg for mercy. But instead of ignoring his calls for help this time, she actually stopped walking and looked at him. Hesitating for a moment, she finally spoke,
"You're different. Did you understand something again?"
She was much more perceptive than she let on. How could she have known unless she was listening in on his and Xingjuan's brief conversation?
"Yes, I now know what I must do to awaken my spiritual veins. I am merely struggling to will it into happening."
"Ah, then let me show you, young man." He had actually held a small hope that she would sit down with him and guide him with his cultivation, but alas, the dreamer is nothing but a fool. It was then that she kept dragging him, and he knew, at that precise moment, he might never be liberated from this abusive cycle.