Returning from the Immortal World
Chapter 812: Crushing Torture

The Subaquatic Corvette was speedy and cruised under the sea, distancing itself a few thousand nautical miles away from Haiben Island in just a few minutes. After using the probing sensor to check above, it then surfaced near a desolate island.

"Let's land here." Tang Xiu stepped out of the hatch and stepped onto the sea's surface and then onto the island. Cheng Xuemei, who stood in the cabin door, watched in disbelief. Even though she had become an ability user herself, treading on the surface of the water so easily was something she couldn't possibly do.

"I'll come."

Cheng Xuemei took a deep breath and quickly manipulated the Earth element to condense and form a pathway to the outside of the cabin hatch. She then stepped out and walked along until she came to Tang Xiu's side.

"So how are you going to help me?"

Tang Xiu took a pack of gravity suits from his interspatial ring and handed it to Cheng Xuemei. "Put this on and then run around the island. Keep running for two hours without stopping every day. Then, I'll keep you accompany for sparring. That will allow you to familiarize yourself with your current strength."

Cheng Xuemei had become accustomed to the unusual things Tang Xiu took out of thin air, so she nodded and put the suit on. The suit was like mech-armor that directly wrapped around her body, yet she was confused and asked, "How does this suit affect me exactly?"

Tang Xiu just let out a pale smile and reached out to her shoulder. Red numbers appeared on it and the digits began to change.

"This is…"

Cheng Xuemei was shaken as she clearly felt that the suit she was wearing began to become heavier and heavier as the numbers changed. In just ten seconds, she felt like she was being crushed on the ground by the increased gravity, despite her physique being otherwise fine.

Tang Xiu pressed her shoulder again and the gravity abruptly kept at that level. He then said, "This is a gravity suit and the maximum gravity it can manipulate is to be about 36 times greater. What you're now enduring is 12 times the usual gravity of Earth. I think this is the limit you can take for now. Try to walk slowly under the gravity pressure and then run afterward. When it seems like your step feels like flying, you've completed the first stage."

"Do I start now?" asked Cheng Xuemei, still somewhat in disbelief.

"Time is money; wasting it is just shameful, no?" Tang Xiu nodded. "So, get started now! I'll be right behind you to supervise you for two hours. Don't let me down, got it?"

With explosive power in her bones after hearing Tang Xiu's words, Cheng Xuemei struggled to get up from the ground. She then took a few deep breaths and tried to lift her thighs.

BAM…

A step was taken under the pressure of twelve times the usual force of gravity, and Cheng Xuemei was still unable to control her own strength. Her body swayed and then fell heavily to the side.

"GET UP AND CONTINUE!"

BAM…

"GET UP AND CONTINUE!"

BAM…

"GET UP."

"..."

It was just simple walking. Cheng Xuemei was like a toddler who had just learned to walk. She tried her best to maintain her balance and attempted to lift her legs, falling again and again and then having to get up one time after another. The process was painful, but she gritted her teeth and persevered.

An hour and a half later.

Cheng Xuemei was now panting and wheezing, sweating profusely all over her body with a face flushed red. She even had green veins faintly protruding on her forehead. At this moment in time, she had nearly reached her own limit and overexerted herself, evident by her aching soreness which made it feel like a cushion of needles was pricking her.

"Huff… huff… c-can I… can I… have… some rest?"

After falling again, Cheng Xuemei didn't get up immediately but raised her beautiful face and looked at Tang Xiu. A bit of a painful expression could be seen in her eyes along with some hope.

"No." Tang Xiu flatly rejected the plea and indifferently said, "The tougher time you can endure, the better you'll be. You need to improve your physical strength to challenge your limits and stimulate your potential. You still have an hour. Persevere!"

Cheng Xuemei clenched her fist and gritted her teeth, struggling hard to get up. Her body was violently trembling which was accompanied with some tears of grievances in her eyes. She kept struggling bitterly to walk step by step. After the effort of working herself to death, she was able to make some progress. At the very least, she could now maintain her balance despite her speed being slower than the average speed of a walking adult.

After three steps, extreme fatigue engulfed her and she lost her body's balance again, falling heavily on the ground.

"Get up," said Tang Xiu coldly, hands folded being his back.

Tears finally flowed out of Cheng Xuemei's eyes. She struggled hard to slowly get up again. This time, it took her nearly half a minute to get up.

Lifting her legs! Stepping forward! And falling! Again, and again.

After repeating the same action dozens of times, it was about ten minutes away from the end of the two-hour training. She sat down on the ground exhausted, panting and gasping for breath. She tried hard to get up several times, but the aches all over her body were like pricking needles. However, they gradually became numb; even some parts of her body were itching.

"I… I-I c-can't -do it… anymore. Please… let me… have… some… rest."

The firm determination that was previously on her face finally disappeared as her beautiful face was now looking pitiful.

"If you wanna waste time here, sorry. I cannot and will not accompany you," said Tang Xiu apathetically. "Take a rest if you don't wanna have full control over your strength, nor become stronger as fast as possible. Cheng Xuemei, you used to be a policewoman and you're still a capable, strong policewoman in my eyes. At least you dare to accept the mission from the country, braving the risk and facing dangers to go to Japan alone. Hence, I look forward to your future."

The pitiful expression on Cheng Xuemei's face slowly disappeared. She angrily glared at Tang Xiu. She knew that Tang Xiu just deliberately goaded her to motivate her, but she still slowly climbed up.

Stepping forward, and falling again.

After she experienced three more falls but got up again, the itchiness from some parts of her body was as though being replaced by heat. The heat flow made her feel that the pressure was getting lighter and she was able to walk for seven steps this time before she fell down again, drowning in the warm sensation.

Tang Xiu squinted his eyes. As he saw Cheng Xuemei trying to get up from the ground again, he immediately came over to two steps in front of her. He then took out a chart of the human body's meridian routes in front of her. He faintly said, "You can have two hours of rest. During this time, however, try your best to clearly memorize the meridian routes on this chart, as well as the position of each acupoint. If you can do that, I'll teach you a set of immortal cultivation techniques, but if you fail, you'll have your exercise time increased by half an hour."

Cheng Xuemei couldn't help but shiver in fright. It took just two hours to make her feel like she was in hell. If that time were increased for another half hour, the torment would simply kill her!

"I'll try my best!"

Whether it was for the set of immortal cultivation techniques or to not have the exercise time increased by half an hour, she firmly made up her mind to try her best to memorize them.

Two hours later.

A smile hung on the corners of Tang Xiu's lips as he inquired, "So… have you memorized it?"

"Time's up already?" Cheng Xuemei looked up and quickly asked.

"Yeah!" Tang Xiu nodded.

Cheng Xuemei's mouth twitched a few times before she bitterly shook her head and said, "The meridian routes and acupoints on the human body's meridians chart are just too many. I… I can only memorize less than half…"

Tang Xiu took out a porcelain vase and threw it in front of Cheng Xuemei and then smilingly said, "Well, for you to memorize nearly half of them is already very good. But you'll still have a two and a half hour training tomorrow. Also, this porcelain vase has Body Tempering Liquid. Pour a drop of this medicine into some water in the bathtub inside the Subaquatic Corvette. Soak yourself in the water for half an hour, then come out again to begin the next training session."

Cheng Xuemei opened her mouth, wanting to tell Tang Xiu that she hadn't rested enough yet. After realizing that Tang Xiu wouldn't change his mind, however, she could only swallow her anger and crawled to get up from the ground, then she staggeringly walked step by step towards the Subaquatic Corvette.

At this time, she finally realized that the two hours of gravity pressure training was just a joke to make fun of her. It would take two hours to walk from here to the coastline where the Subaquatic Corvette was anchored, and two hours was also needed for the return journey if she didn't turn off the increased gravity. It would probably be much longer in a situation where her physical strength hadn't yet fully recovered.

'Shameless bastard.'

Cheng Xuemei cursed inwardly and gritted her teeth on the way back.

Tang Xiu still stayed closed to Cheng Xuemei and watched her continue to fall and climb up to walk again. The grin on his face was getting wider and wider.

At last, after spending two and a half hours, Cheng Xuemei and Tang Xiu finally returned to the Subaquatic Corvette. Tang Xiu took the gravity suit off of her and watched her enter the Subaquatic Corvette. He suddenly remembered that Cheng Xuemei had never used the bathing system in the Corvette previously. He had no choice but to follow her inside; he personally turned on the system and prepared a bath for her, poured a drop of Body Tempering Liquid, and then left.

The following half hour was an even more painful experience for Cheng Xuemei. The changes that the Body Tempering Liquid brought to her constitution resulted in her eyes to show pain, turning them bloodshot.

'How come I feel comfier now?'

After having soaked herself, Cheng Xuemei left the bathtub. She got dressed and felt that the soreness and pain had vanished entirely, replaced with a comfortable sensation all over. She could even feel her strength which had been fully spent was quickly recovering.

Tang Xiu sat in the rest area of the Subaquatic Corvette. Some food had been served on the table in front of him that he took out from the interspatial ring.

"Well, I changed my mind. Let's eat first. Enjoy yourself to the food and get four hours of sleep before you start the next training session."

Cheng Xuemei was indeed starving now. When she saw the food on the table, she immediately dashed and wolfed it down. Then she patted her small belly and belched contentedly.

"There's a bed next door; I already made the bedding. I'll wake you up in four hours." After saying that, Tang Xiu got up and walked towards the cabin hatch of the Subaquatic Corvette.

"Only four hours?"

Cheng Xuemei snorted discontentedly, but she still quickly walked toward the next room. She realized that the next training session would not be easy, so she needed to take time to rest. She could feel that her control over her own strength had increased a lot from that short training. At the very least, she didn't lose control and bump into things here and there in her regular activities.