In the blink of an eye, several more months had passed.
Jingliu had grown considerably taller. In another two years, when she turned eighteen, she would likely reach around 168 centimeters in height.
The last traces of childhood on her face had gradually faded away through the many battles she had faced.
During this period, Kanzaki significantly increased the intensity of her daily training.
She now trained under a weight load of four hundred catties and sprinted four hundred li at no less than two hundred li per hour.
These figures had once seemed impossible, but as Jingliu grew and her body developed further, they had become achievable goals.
She swung her sword ten thousand times each session.
Her precision training required landing seven strikes within two seconds, with five of them accurately hitting vital points.
Her flexibility training was now complete, requiring only periodic maintenance.
After finishing these, she would select one specialized resistance exercise from options such as high-temperature, low-temperature, or lightning resistance.
One of them always pushed her to her absolute limit, often causing her to lose consciousness.
She still could not even clear the medium difficulty level for high-temperature training, let alone the cold or lightning resistance courses.
The medium threshold sat at 600°C, while the highest indicator reached 910°C.
It sounded extreme, but the people of the Xianzhou, blessed by the Abundance, could endure temperatures of over two hundred degrees for short periods even as ordinary citizens.
Yaoshi's grace had spread far and wide. The Abominations constantly devoured one another, plundering blessings and spawning countless monsters with bizarre abilities.
In the Xianzhou's records of major Abomination threats, there existed species capable of unleashing high-temperature flames that could reach a thousand degrees.
Every aspect of Cloud Knight training served a clear purpose: to prepare them to face powerful enemies of all kinds.
This was also why retired Cloud Knights fell into the mara-struck state at a much higher rate than ordinary people. The foes they faced were simply too ferocious, forcing the Knights to constantly walk the line between life and death.
Even with supplementary medicine to protect her internal organs, Jingliu could currently last less than an hour in an environment approaching 600°C.
Besides the ongoing exercises, two more specialized drills had yet to begin.
One was impact resistance training.
After carefully evaluating Jingliu's current physical condition, Kanzaki had decided to postpone it for the time being.
It would not be too late to begin in a few more years.
In the Tomomu family's two-thousand-year tradition of specialized training for their descendants, impact endurance training only started at age sixteen.
Jingliu was nearly sixteen now, but she had begun her training quite late compared to the family standard.
The family's children usually started their special training at age six. Five years later, regardless of their progress, they were sent to the battlefield to temper themselves through real combat.
Only after years of accumulating injuries and growing accustomed to that pain could they undertake impact resistance training.
In short, it required a full ten years of preparation.
Jingliu had only become his disciple at thirteen. Now at sixteen, she had experienced only a handful of small-scale battles.
She had yet to face dangerous Abominations such as the Borisin or the Wing-Makers, nor had she clashed with the artifact beasts or warships they commanded, let alone sustained serious injuries.
Progress could not be forced.
Martial training was like constructing a tall building. The foundation was everything.
A weak foundation would severely limit how high one could ultimately rise.
Skyscrapers were never built in a single day. They had to endure years of wind and rain while standing on a solid base capable of supporting their immense weight.
Only after he himself had become a master did Kanzaki truly understand how much care and effort his parents had poured into raising their children.
Since impact resistance training was on hold, he moved on to the second remaining item: agility training.
The enemies Jingliu had encountered during her expeditions so far were not particularly fast, so dodging their attacks had not been difficult. The speed and stamina she had built through long-distance running were sufficient for now.
But the truly powerful Abominations of the Abundance were an entirely different matter.
To say nothing of the Wing-Makers, who excelled at flight and could reach speeds of nearly eight hundred li per hour.
Even the Borisin, the most numerous and persistent threat to the Xianzhou for many years, demanded excellent agility. Without it, one would surely suffer when facing these foes.
When Borisin entered their lunar madness state, existing Xianzhou records showed that ordinary Wolf Soldiers could reach running speeds of three hundred li per hour. Powerful Nest Fathers could hit around five hundred li, rivaling even the Wing-Makers.
In that frenzied state, their regenerative abilities and attack power increased dramatically as well.
This was precisely why the Cloud Knights emphasized coordinated combat. Without two or three warriors working together, the Borisin were extremely difficult to bring down.
When one person could not suppress multiple enemies with raw power, speed and footwork became the deciding factors between life and death.
Cloud Knights might not always be the strongest attackers, but a lack of offensive power could be compensated for by comrades.
However, if one's speed was insufficient to react to and evade lethal strikes, very few allies could save them.
With his decision made, Kanzaki looked up toward the exit of the women's high-temperature training room.
Xueyi emerged, carrying the unconscious Jingliu in her arms.
"In today's high-temperature session, she lasted fifty-two minutes."
"Thank you for watching over her," Kanzaki said as he gently took his disciple from Xueyi's arms.
An improvement of two minutes from three days ago. Not bad. He was confident she would reach the full hour mark before long.
The standards varied by temperature level. At the lower threshold of 400°C, the requirement was six hours. The medium level demanded two hours, and the high level required only half an hour.
She still had a long way to go.
Even wrapped in the standard heat-absorbing training robe, Jingliu's skin temperature remained well over two hundred degrees Celsius.
Yet Kanzaki felt no discomfort holding her. With his Pure Yang physique, he could move freely even in temperatures exceeding a thousand degrees Celsius.
"It's my duty. I'll return to my own training now. I'll have to trouble you again tonight with my little sister's treatment, Lord Kanzaki."
Xueyi bowed slightly before turning and heading back into the training room.
Kanzaki gave a small nod, lifted Jingliu, and carried her out of the training grounds. They boarded a star skiff and flew back home.
With Xueyi gone, it was Hanya's turn to oversee Jingliu's medicinal bath.
Everything should have proceeded as usual, but this time, something unexpected happened.
The emerald-green medicinal liquid used for body tempering did not gradually clear as it had in previous sessions.
Hanya looked on in confusion.
Kanzaki was equally puzzled. He reached for Jingliu's wrist and checked her pulse.
Both wrists gave the same result: stable.
"Strange..."
Kanzaki brought up the relevant interface on his Jade Abacus and carefully reviewed the preparation records for each medicine.
Everything had been done strictly according to protocol. There were no errors.
"Could it be that she didn't push herself to her limit today?" Hanya suggested.
"No," Kanzaki replied, shaking his head.
After a moment of thought, he inserted several more silver needles into acupoints that helped clear the meridians, but the medicinal liquid still showed no change.
Looking at Jingliu's peaceful sleeping face, his brow slowly furrowed.
"Help me sit her up. I need to check the current state of her internal organs."
Hanya assisted as requested.
Jingliu's once slender frame had quietly filled out, now showing the soft contours of a growing young woman.
Kanzaki paid no attention to that. Once the silver needles were placed in the specific acupoints near her vital organs, he lowered her body back into the medicinal bath and checked her pulse once more, searching for any subtle changes.
A short while later, he released her wrist.
"How is she?" Hanya asked, concern evident in her voice.
Lord Kanzaki rarely frowned like this, so she feared something serious might be wrong with Jingliu.
"From now on, she no longer needs these medicinal baths for body tempering."
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200 - Stones
400 - Stones
600 - Stones
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