Murim's Weakest Princess-Chapter 91: Circus Monkey

While Anji spent the next three weeks strengthening different muscles and increasing her stamina under her father’s tutelage, Yan Ping made steady progress with her recovery.

Initially, she thought it was troublesome to drink persimmon leaf tea daily when she was racing against time to recover her cultivation base. However, it was a token of gratitude from her disciple. Hence, the blind prophet drank it.

Over time, she slowly realised the difference the persimmon leaf tea had on her body. Anji must have gained more medical knowledge from Doctor He. How else would she know persimmon leaf tea was great at improving blood circulation and digestion and could aid in recovering Yan Ping’s physical condition?

After nearly a month of isolated recovery, Yan Ping finally regained enough power to reach the Refined Core level. Some people claimed that it was easier to regain a lost cultivation level if it was attained once. However, Yan Ping disagreed. Just because she knew what to do did not mean the process was any easier. If anything, it was more frustrating to know what must be done but have no ability to make further progress due to physical limitations.

Maybe she was getting on in age.

"Sect Leader Yan," Gu Ying greeted. "I’ve brought your meal for today."

Coming out from her meditative state, Yan Ping picked up her staff and slowly uncrossed her legs.

"Come in," she croaked, feeling her throat parched.

The first thing she did before eating was to ask about Anji’s progress.

"What did Mingfeng teach her this week?"

Smiling, Gu Ying placed the dishes in front of the blind lady and recalled their misadventure at the waterfall. To teach Anji basic balancing skills, the silly Celestial Dragon Sect Leader created a hanging bridge and a floating bridge in the rapids. Initially, he wanted to teach his youngest daughter how to row a single bamboo raft, but thankfully, his wife had more than enough common sense between them to stop him.

Hearing the trials that Anji had to overcome under her zealous father’s education, Yan Ping clicked her tongue in annoyance. She told Mingfeng to personally teach Anji how to cultivate, not turn her into a circus monkey. Why would a four-year-old child need to learn how to walk across a tightrope? In what situation would she need to learn how to balance on a single bamboo without learning the weightless footwork? It was maddening to hear how scatterbrained the entire Celestial Dragon Sect was.

"Tell Mingfeng that if he continues is clown of a class, I will personally forbid any visits from outsiders in my sect when Anji is in my care. Tell him to stop wasting time and start teaching her the basics of strengthening already! Before she arrives in my sect, she must be able to use qi to enhance her physical abilities. If she cannot reach the Solid Core stage, at the very least, she must have mastered the Strengthened Core stage. I don’t need her to coat her hand in qi to break a boulder. However, she should at least be able to use it to carry two buckets of water up a hill!"

Wordlessly agreeing with the blind prophet, Gu Ying waited for the frustrated old lady to finish her meal. As per custom, she brewed and poured a cup of persimmon leaf tea that Anji specially cultivated for Yan Ping.

"What do you think of my young mistress’ cultivation knowledge?" the bodyguard finally asked. "Previously, you said that she was secretly learning how to imbue energy into objects. The persimmon leaves were full of her weak energy traces. Has she improved?"

Unable to answer as she drank the tea provided by her student, Yan Ping wondered if Anji was applying her basic knowledge of seals and spells in this technique. It was not wrong. However, it was ineffective.

"If she intends to imbue objects with energy, it is more effective to seal it in. I don’t know where she learned this method of imbuing energy into other living things. However, changing the general structure of a living thing would take an extremely long time. It’s as if she’s attempting to create a spiritual herb artificially."

Gu Ying, who had only recently attained the lowest level of the Enlightened Core, had no idea what Yan Ping was referring to. The only form of energy channelling she used was into her sword. Sword energy was an advanced technique used to pierce through even the toughest metals. The stronger sword’s energy could render a weaker sword useless. However, the material receiving energy must be forged in the fiercest fire, or it would shatter easily. She had never tried channelling her energy into another living creature.

"The persimmon plant is growing much quicker than the others in the main courtyard that were taken care of by the gardeners," Gu Ying pointed out. "Is it possible that she is actually not trying to imbue energy into living things but attempting to make them grow quicker?"

According to her knowledge of Anji, there was a possibility. Children were usually impatient in nature. Anji loved to eat dried persimmons, and maybe this extra training was just an experiment of Anji’s to make the plant grow quickly.

Chuckling, Yan Ping shook her head. It was amusing how childish Anji was at times. Not ruling out the possibility, she simply told Gu Ying to keep an eye on Anji whenever she was secretly attempting to train her cultivation. There was no need to teach Anji advanced techniques yet. It was more important that the girl had a strong Initial Core foundation than quick progress. Her body needed time to catch up with her golden core.

"In terms of knowledge, my disciple will not be less impressive with any cultivator below the Solid Core stage," Yan Ping concluded. "However, she is lacking a lot of experience. Usually, the students in my sect learn strengthening by holding a basin of water over their hands while standing on one leg for an hour daily until they can do it easily for four hours. They learn to control their energy forms externally by folding paper cranes without touching the paper. If your sect leader still cannot find an effective way to teach my pupil, tell him to use my training method instead. I’ll give him two more weeks."

Clearing the dishes, Gu Ying nodded and agreed to relay the message. Then, she left quickly.

Alone in the cultivation chamber, Yan Ping stretched a little and picked up her walking staff. With a few swings, she noticed how much her strength had improved. Although she still had a long way to go before regaining the Radiant Core level, her recovery progress was much quicker than she thought it would be.

"At this rate, I might be able to exit seclusion in two more months," she gripped her staff tighter and stabbed the butt of it into the nearest wall.

The staff made a hole, and Yan Ping stuck her finger in it to measure the depth. Compared to the hole she made last week, it was deeper by about half an inch.

Satisfied, the blind cultivator resumed her previous meditation position and started to zone out again. This time, she would try to force open the doors of the Solid Core.