[Modified Dark Flower Cultivation Method has reached Ordinary attainment level.]

  “Ah come on, that was nothing for you little monk!”

  “I don’t want to talk about that. Just teach me how to fight.” He muttered, covered in sweat and internal bruises.

  He cursed her painful cultivation method. Bing Xin made him repeat what she demonstrated until he heard the notification that he attained an Ordinary attainment level — the lowest of attainment levels. Ultimately, it paid off.

  “You don’t know how much of a boon I’ve given you. Now inside this chamber are… hm, let’s see. Three of those old bird’s spawn. Kill them. Take their Hell Shards. The more Hell Shards you take, the more I can help you all the while strengthening yourself.”

  “I don’t know if I can. I ran from that big one—”

  “A shame to see how you’ve fallen.” Bing Xin said before adding, “Then kill yourself doing so.”

  Dejiu scoffed. “Fine, fine. Just three, right? Are you sure I can kill them? Do you have a feud with this daimon you call an old bird?”

  “You know nothing of their progenitor, nor will I tell you because I cannot speak of his true name, little monk. Otherwise, you would die a timely and excruciating death. Just fight as I told you and remember how we’ve gone over the cultivation method. You’ll learn the Wilted Stem technique that way. Don’t worry, the Seekers Accord will confirm if you learned it.” Bing Xin laughed.

  He sighed. Jumping in place to get blood pumping through his veins, Dejiu stepped down towards the chamber the stairs led to. Hours have passed and despite how much he yelled past the ordeal Bing Xin forced upon him, the Hollow Talons haven’t ascended to find him in such a vulnerable state.

  Okay… left in the dark as usual. Dejiu thought with a frown, half wishing she’d say something. Not saying anything now, huh?

  His steps echoed and slowly the chamber revealed itself. Dark and hellish, odd pieces of carcasses littered the rugged black stone ground. At least it was brighter though — more and more of those openings on the walls illuminated the chamber in all of its hellish glory.

  And she said I’ll have to venture to the Seventh Hell’s floor? Dejiu’s frown somehow lowered even further. Glancing at his wounded leg and arm, he found himself wishing he’d at least pack some healing pills or elixir… well if he had any in the first place.

  Taking a steady breath, he took a final look at the safety of the entrance room, double-checking that his spade was all fine and dandy. He’d made all the preparations he could. It’s time to enter.

  “Damn geezers.” He cursed just as the harrowing wingless bird-like daimons came into view. He shook his head to throw off his nerves, Seventh Hell creatures or no, it wasn’t like him to quake in his boots at the first sign of a fight when strength was his goal all this time.

  Dejiu threw his head around, looking all over the walls and ceiling for more of the creatures in case Bing Xin lied. Nothing. He could feel his heart thumping in his chest, failing to calm even as he leaned onto the soiled cave wall. Pain, thankfully easy to ignore, shot through his arm and leg, radiating from his bandaged wounds in lockstep with his heartbeat.

  “Hoo…” He groaned to himself. “At least they aren’t like the big one.”

  An aggravated cawing followed the three Hollow Talons’ carnage. They trampled their way to Dejiu from the other end of the chamber. Dejiu took a deep breath and calmly brandished his spade as he recalled what Bing Xin told him just moments ago. Make them come to you. Huh.

  A single Hollow Talon barreled ahead of its brethren and approached Dejiu rapidly. Furious, yet eager to decimate the young bald monk.

  Dejiu ran forward, the Hollow Talon spreading its in response before slinging them ahead to meet him.

  The true weak points, he reminded himself, catching sight of a dim glow amid the creature’s dense, rocky feathers. Bing Xing’s guidance echoed in his mind: Ignore the hollow shadows. Strike only where the faint light breaks through.

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  Although he could brute force his way again as he did with the first Hollow Talon, it wasn’t sustainable.

  Dejiu darted to the creature's right and braced low. He lunged with his monk’s spade, the blade slicing forward to pierce one of the glowing points of cracked feathers in the creature’s abdomen. The Hollow Talon shrieked, its long limbs clawing at the ground, momentarily stunned as dark ichor speckled from the wound.

  The faint glowing meant they were still healing — weaker than the dull rock-grey ones. He thought. He wasn’t done, after all this Hollow Talon gave him the courtesy of meeting one-on-one.

  The hardened steel pierced through the bulbous weak points, spilling dark ichor freely across the floor as it clattered against the stone below with a harsh clank. The Hollow Talon screeched. Flailing, desperate to rid itself of the weapon embedded in its torso.

  “Leave it wallowing in its own guilt, little monk. Let its blood spill helplessly.” Bing Xin laughed as Dejiu dashed to the pair of Hollow Talons. “Now, the Withered Stem reinforcement technique!”

  [Prana: 11/29]

  Confirming he had enough prana in case he messed up his first true prana technique, Dejiu inhaled sharply and cycled his prana, following the volatile current Bing Xin demonstrated for him.

  Immediately he felt his meridians sprain and almost burst, but the pain came with a burst of physical might all over his body — the first method of the Dark Flower cultivation — Wilted Stem.

  He tensed and took advantage of the Hollow Talon’s poor senses and slid his knee in a quick pass from the wicked talons lined at his head.

  With gritted teeth from the searing pain of his strained meridians, Dejiu lunged, his hand stiffened like a spear. He drove his fingers with precision into the faintly glowing gap in the first Hollow Talon’s chest, feeling the hardened carapace yield beneath his strike. Sickly ichor oozed from the wound, spilling over his hand, thick and foul. The daimon shrieked and staggered. It wasn’t dead.

  Then the remaining Hollow Talon was on him, talons flashing in the dim light. He rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the slash. His body ached from the Wilted Flower reinforcement technique. It's only a temporary burst of strength after all. The prana technique seeped into the muscles and bones, increasing the amount of strength that the body could output beyond being safe — something he found himself liking due to the lack of stringent requirements to learn.

  “Of course you like it, you misfit monk!” Bing Xin laughed, her voice dripping with mockery as Dejiu narrowly dodged a talon that whizzed past his bald head.

  He scowled, but not before a different voice intruded into his mind and characters appeared.

  [You have slain an Impure Daimon: Hollow Talon]

  Dejiu smiled, but not before his hand impaled the remaining Hollow Talon. Without pause, he dislodged his hand and circled around the daimon and found another faintly orange chink in its array of stone feathers. His hand spilled more ichor, some even splattered on his face but he didn’t mind because he heard confirmation of the kill.

  [You have slain an Impure Daimon: Hollow Talon]

  “One left my little monk, quickly go and retrieve the Hell Shards!” Bing Xin said with glee before he heard something else.

  [Wilted Stem Technique has reached Ordinary attainment level]

  Finally! He smiled.

  Bing Xin said he was supposed to hear both the cultivation method’s and the technique’s Ordinary attainment level almost concurrently because of the overlap in skill. All the technique was is just the Dark Flower cultivation method used in motion and cycling the same way instead of sitting and drawing in prana.

  He smiled just before his reinforcement technique wore off and he felt… weak. Incapacitated even. Wheezing out and in the Seventh Hell’s air, he looked at the carnage of his doing.

  Amitabha, did Teacher Jiansu ever say that daimons may find enlightenment in death? Hard to imagine.

  After a few seconds, his hands rummaged through the holes of his making and he pulled out three Hell Shards and laid them on the ground.

  “Hurry, boy. I’m getting hungry.”

  “Just wait. I need a moment to take it in. You know that I haven’t even seen two of such treasures at once, let alone three.”

  “Bah, treasures? Those measly things? In time, you’ll drown in such level of wealth.”

  “Wealth? This lowly monk wouldn’t dare think such a thing!”

  “Hush, boy. Your greed knows no bounds.”

  “Ahem. Right, sorry Miss. I’ll be taking them now.”

  [You have acquired a Hell Shard (Impure)]

  [You have acquired a Hell Shard (Impure)]

  [You have acquired a Hell Shard (Impure)]