Chapter 4: Comboing Trees, First Lecture,
The night after speaking with the Elder, Axilya stood deep in the woods outside of the village, standing in front of the largest tree she could find. 'Truly monstrous in size.' A hand reached out with a light slap, and a thrummm shook her body as the tree didn't even sway slightly. "This'll work."
Taking a deep breath, her eyes would instinctively close as she dived into her memories. 'If I remember correctly, if I want to learn how to use a melee weapon, I first have to master my body and mind. First step of mastering the body - Fists! Learning how to fight without a weapon so you can later learn that weapon! The second step isn't just being able to perfectly control your body, but also the weapon!
Then there's the mind. Your mind has to be in the perfect state. I don't have any cultivation techniques for weapons, and all I have are very rudimentary fist techniques everyone is taught... But I'll have to make do! I'll work on my fighting on this tree, and I'll run through the branches and foliage for my footwork. Ji Ning might have had a Zifu-palace mentor who had reached The Dao - but wouldn't I be letting down my bloodline if I couldn't do this by myself?!?'
Her hands wrapped in some of her old clothes she had torn apart, she raised them up as if there was someone in front of her she had to guard against. 'Right! Keep the wrists locked! Wrists and back of the hand in a straight line with the elbow. Lead with the index and middle finger knuckles! Each simple motion, every single thing I know has to be done millions of times until it's engraved into my bones and very essence! Jabs, Crosses, Hooks, Knife Hand, Uppercuts and Hammer Fists! That's all the different types of punches I was taught, so that's what I'll master! Then my stance! My guard! Once I get used to throwing the punches, I'll draw out a range for different elven body parts on the tree.
Even when Ji Ning had obtained Immortality, in order to become the greatest Sword Master in his Chaos World - he returned to simplicity. To the basics, and from there once more worked his way up, yet he kept those basics and used them for the rest of his life. It's this way in every cultivation novel! Simplicity, Complex, and then Simplicity once again! The cycle always continues, but it always ends in one thing - simplicity.'
Determination blazing in her eyes, the first punch was thrown out towards the tree.
-???-
"Monster, what a fucking monster! Fuck! What bullshit luck. Damn Lady of the Void! Fuck. If she wasn't born in this barren place..." Their pupils dilated. "Each punch is better than the last! Even without any techniques, she'd reach this Chaos Worlds Dao in a century, and that's in this place where Heaven and Earth are sealed!" With gritted teeth, they'd come to a decision. "Fine Void Lord! Fine. Damn crazy maniac, why does she always have to be right? Tch." Reaching up they'd pluck a singular strand of light blue hair, before breathing on it. A moment later it silently sunk into an invisible and unsensable egg.
-Three days later, the fields-
Her voice was quiet as she worked the fields shoveling snow, yet each of the three people near her could hear every single word. "We Elves are not meant for cultivation, as such the best way to begin our journey is using cultivation aids. We don't have that - but what we do have is snow and the cold. The cold assaults the outside of our body, and the snow assaults the inside! The cold carries the harsh Ki of the world, whereas the snow holds more moderate Ki. With the combined effort, your muscles and Dantian which rests slightly above your stomach will be affected.
We exercise - or work our fields with the harsh temperature barraging us, with the softer snow to offset. Then - you meditate more sedately, relaxing yourself and letting the snow slowly calm down your overworked muscles, body, and mind. Eventually, your Dantian will open up - and a burst of Ki will surge into your muscles where it'll be stored. The opening of your Dantian, and Ki being stored in your muscles will cause you to be stronger, faster, and the like. But note - you can't yet store Ki inside your Dantian. You can only do that at 'Pulse Condensation'."
Taking a few minutes break from talking to let her listeners take that all in, she'd chew on some snow before picking back up her lecture. "It's important to note that when you step into flesh training, that Ki WILL go into your Dantian. Your job as a cultivator is to move the Ki into the muscles. Note - you aren't refining or tempering your muscles, you're merely storing Ki inside of them. This is why if a cultivator in the Strength Stage runs out of Ki, they'll be drastically weaker compared to a cultivator at any of the other stages. Now let's talk about the specific ways one can speed up the opening of their Dantian. More specifically - breathing exercises."
She continued on like this for the entire day of work - just as she had done the other three days after talking with the Elder. Merely five days into her 'awakened life', she was a Teacher to 3 students - of which of course all 3 were her adopted family, stepped into Strength Training, and had begun the sacred art of learning how to beat people up. 'Rather productive. Once I step into the 'Basic Level' I'll be able to be more open and start trying to teach everyone. After all, technically speaking the Basic Level is a Houtian-level skill. Although I'd expect most Pulse Condensation and at least a few Bone Forging to be at that level, after all, who knows how old they are? Unlike a human, they could be 300 years old, or even 400, and still have combat power!'
Having finished work for the day, instead of going to begin training, Axilya walked toward the house of a friend - well, everyone was 'friends' inside the village! There were only 87 of them after all. But what was special about this friend was his hobby! He was great at carving wood, whittling, and things of that nature. Most Elves naturally picked up quite a few hobbies, but he was truly talented in this area. 'Of course, his other hobbies include gambling with any merchants that come by, drinking them under the table, and hookah, but who's counting those?'
Knocking on the door of his house a tired and slightly slurring voice shouted out, "Who is it?"
"It's Axilya. Open up Haryk!" Her voice rang out louder than usual, but still just as clear - and just as frosty and monotone.
"Agh! Come on in." Opening the door Axilya stepped in, immediately being blasted by a wave of heat, and the aroma of fruit wine. Eyes darting about she'd spot him laying down in his hammock, left pant leg rolled up showing off his stump for a leg, and a cup of wine in hand. Fiery red hair rolled down his scarred face as Haryk blurrily stared at her. "What d'ya want Axilya?"
Walking a bit closer, her nose would wrinkle as the stench of alcohol increased. "I'd like for you to make me a wooden saber, slightly curved upwards near the tip."
He confusedly blinked at her for a moment before asking, "Why do ya want that?" Having said that he took a sip of his wine.
"I broke through to Strength Training."
His eyes went wide at the simple, cold, and to-the-point words and he choked on the wine he just had taken a sip of. Letting out a wheeze he slammed on his chest, before taking a gasping breath of fresh air. A moment later he let out one last cough and sat up straight. "For real? Well, shit! Of course, I'll make one. It's gonna cost ya though, it'll take me quite a bit to make a properly balanced one."
Nodding her head to his words, and not even blinking at his choking fit Axilya would say in response, "I'll teach you how to cultivate as payment?"
He blinked, "Sure. Who doesn't want to cultivate? Be a bit stronger, a bit faster. Drink more wine. But it's not like it's going to do me much good." At that last part, he'd wave a hand towards his leg.
For a brief moment, a smile spread across her face before it went back to neutrality just as usual. "If you reach the stage beyond Houtian it's said that you could regrow lost limbs. Isn't it worth it to try?" 'I don't actually know that - it could be different. But Xiantian Fiendgods could indeed regrow their limbs, even some Houtian can if they have a top-tier technique!'
For a brief moment, Haryk's eyes lit up, before they returned to being hazy and dull. "Like I could ever reach that."
"You don't know if you don't try, what, you aren't willing to take a gamble with no stakes to lose?"
At her words, he took a swig from his cup of wine before he nodded. "Alright! You have a deal."
So, from that day forward - she gained another thing on her schedule, an hour a day teaching Haryk.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
BalancedSelfInsert
BalancedSelfInsert These chapters take so long to write compared to the Naruto fic, simply because I'm constantly researching and adjusting things. Sadly, Desolate Era and Martial World have a lot more information to pour through than slowly getting stronger through training, and massive bursts of strength gained through specialized training.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone