Forgotten One

It was the next day after Lei Shu was brought to the cave. He woke up and went straight to the medicinal bowls that were on the bench. These bowls would no doubt spark his journey in becoming an expert. Even though Lei Shu couldn't cultivate, the medicine still worked to strengthen his body.

He spoke, "Today will be the beginning of my journey." He sat down and picked up a sharp rock. He brought it up into the air and began slashing his own body. Blood slowly began to drip down his limbs.

Anyone who saw Lei Shu would think that he was a mad man. Sitting in a cave alone while striking himself over and over again, who wouldn't think he was insane?

"This feeling, this pain, everything is only temporary. To increase the absorption of the medicine my wounds must be exposed so that the medicine can flow throughout and heal. The medicine naturally heals me and while I'm healing my body becomes a bit more powerful every time."

Lei Shu thought up a crazy idea, "Why don't I just go outside the cave and gain experience." With experience, he would know how to deal with his surroundings and with this adaptation he wouldn't be surprised by much.

Lei Shu began to creep closer and closer to the exit until he heard something terrifying. It was the sound of two beasts fighting and the mere shockwaves sent him 2 steps back. He hurriedly ran back to the cave; he couldn't go out yet. It was far too early.

Lei Shu sat back down and began to think, "Right now my body can only handle one bowl of medicine a day. If I try to take any more my body may begin to break down under the power. I have to slowly become accustomed."

For the next 7 days, Lei Shu would wake up, batter himself with weapons, and soak his body in medicine. At night Lei Shu would try his best to go out of the cave and measure his improvements. Although he improved every day, the improvements weren't good enough. Without enough power, there was no way he could survive.

Lei Shu began racking his brains, "Is there really no way I can survive, did this old man really send me to my death. No that's not it, there has to be some way." Lei Shu was preparing to go to sleep as it was his 7th day in the cave. Lei Shu would only have 1 more week to prepare for the trial of life and death. His eyes were hazy, and he looked toward the cave entrance gloomily. He then slowly began to close his eyelids, "Well, I guess that's a problem I can focus on tomorrow."

Right before Lei Shu closed his eyes to go to sleep, his eyes jolted 3 giant bodies into his vision. The 3 giant beast bodies that Senior Mo Fen killed were still there. He instantly got up and thought of the medicine. If he could make more, maybe he would be strong enough for the trial.

"Of course, senior wouldn't send me to my death with no way out, I just had to use my brain a bit" he said.

Lei Shu then began to frantically look around. He needed a way to drain the massive bodies without wasting a drop of blood, everything they had was crucial to his success. He didn't want to waste such a good opportunity. Lei Shu immediately thought back to his memories of Earth, he wasn't the brightest kid in school, but Lei Shu always believed that the school system was utter bullshit. What he did remember was how a pully worked.

He immediately tore off parts of his robes, his entire upper body now b.a.r.e. Countless injuries were covering his body. It was no longer fat and round; it looked a bit more refined and his height seemed to have grown some. Lei Shu didn't seem to mind. He took his robes and tied them around the feet of the 3 corpses. He took the robes and brought them over a stone protrusion in the cave and began to pull with all his might. It took 5 whole minutes, but Lei Shu finally got the 3 bodies to hover above the ground, however, they were barely off of the ground. Even so, he placed the bowls under the corpses and let the blood drip into them.

Slowly but surely, he would have more blood for his medicine. Now all he needed were those plants, he found a book that had the recipe in the cave. The plants were called withered ghosts and the medicine required at least rank 1 spiritual beast blood. Lei Shu was shocked inside because he knew that it would take 2 or 3 peak body tempering cultivators to take down a peak rank 1 spiritual beast. He was shocked but also comforted in his soon to be masters' strength. Lei Shu truly was grateful for this opportunity.

But at this point he was utterly exhausted, he set up the corpses and by morning he would have at least 2 bowls filled. Once he woke up, he went straight outside the cave, near the entrance were many withered ghosts that he could use to concoct more medicine. Lei Shu quickly grabbed two stalks before he heard the footsteps of a beast, he hurriedly rushed back in. Now he had enough to make 2 bowls of medicine.

"With the help of this medicine, I can survive to truly become Mo Fen's disciple." Lei Shu was about to begin refining the medicine, but the withered ghosts were giving off a smell of death. Lei Shu recognized that the plant smelled of poison that only Earth had. He took the plants and let them soak in water, the water immediately began to darken. After 15 minutes all the water had turned pitch black. Lei Shu was shocked as he assumed there would be a minute amount of poison, but he had a huge portion.

"So, if the plant is cut or soaked, the poison will be released, so that was why none of the beasts dared touching it." Lei Shu had thought of another scheme, if he could use this poison successfully in combat, he may be able to save his life if he encountered any danger. He stored this liquid away into a corner and covered it for later use. Then he went back to the plants and began turning them into mush. He then took the blood and began to slowly add it to the mush, mixing it, waiting, and then adding more blood. He planned to create one big pot. This was also the method the book listed.

Soon enough he had a giant pot, filled to the brim with medicinal soup. His poison still had very little use; it was still a liquid so he could do nothing with it. It would be very hard to use if he couldn't vaporize it.

Everyday Lei Shu would feast on the meat of the beast corpses, and this would slightly to a degree, strengthen his whole body. Until one day he bit down into something, it tasted like rubber and he couldn't tear through it. There was one opening but it looked like a sac, there were a few drops of a liquid inside the sac but when it came out of the opening it immediately evaporated into nothing. Lei Shu was shocked because he knew the smell,

"This is poison, but why so little. Maybe when Senior fought with the beast it used it all up. Then this must be the beasts' poison chamber."

Lei Shu immediately turned around and went to the corner of the cave. He lifted his bowl of poison he had crafted before. He took the bowl and slowly poured the poison into the poison chamber. That beasts' poison chamber slowly began to swell up and with it, a smile appeared across the face of Lei Shu. "As long as I squeeze a bit, the poison will begin to come out as a vapour and harm anything it envelopes." Lei Shu put the last drop of poison into the chamber, carefully making sure he made no physical contact with any of it. He was bare-bodied, so the poison would take immediate effect.

Lei Shu once again began to soak in the medicine. While looking at the 3 beasts that were hung up, their bodies completely mutilated, he was even quite frightened that he managed to eat these beasts and be fine. One of the beasts was blue and it appeared to be a wolf, it wasn't too large only coming up to his waist. It had blue fur on top, glowing yellow eyes, piercingly sharp teeth and white fur on its underbelly. The other beast was a black horse, it looked just like the ones on Earth, but its eyes were read, and it had countless scars from battle. The hair on his tail was blood red as well as the bottom of its hooves. The last beast was the one Lei Shu had used to upgrade his poison. It was a spider with 8 legs and 12 eyes. Its body was hairy, and its entire body was an ugly brown. Its eyes were light green and within its neck was the poison chamber. Lei Shu then came to a sudden realization, "If I used the spider to help me, why can't the horse and wolf do the same."

It was 2 days until the upcoming life and death trial. Lei Shu was working frantically to gain as many advantages as possible. His body had been refined throughout these days with the medicine. He had a poison chamber as back up if he ever got into a sticky situation. Now he was leaning over the wolf's body.

"RIP RIP RIP"

All you could hear was Lei Shu viscously rip out the teeth of the spiritual beast wolf. He finally had the biggest tooth, almost as long as a hand. He sharpened it against the stone and brought it to a point. It was sharp enough to get the job done. He fashioned the bottom of the bone into a hilt so that he could hold it. It was basically a makeshift dagger. He hid the dagger under his robes and his eyes immediately shifted to the horse's corpse. A low sneer could be heard from Lei Shu, he began to rip handfuls of the horses' red hair out. Tissue and skin were littered on the floor and the other pieces were barely clinging to the corpse. The whole time Lei Shu didn't bat an eye, he smiled but only he knew what he was thinking about.

"I have countless means to keep myself alive. Way more than anything I had when I began. I still have more than enough medicine for the 2 days until the trial. Let's make a bet with the devil." Lei Shu then closed his eyes to sleep.

The next morning was the day before the trial would commence. Lei Shu immediately got up and went outside of the cave. Now he was able to freely spar and even get away from some of the beasts. Still, he wasn't able to kill any and that was a huge problem. Lei Shu needed more strength, because without killing anything, he wouldn't have any food. He didn't know how long the trial was or what the trial even was about, but he knew that he at least needed a means of food.

Suddenly he whispered to himself, "Time to make that bet."

Lei Shu ran straight into the cave and went towards the bowl of medicine. It was only a bit under halfway, but it would last him another week if he went with a bowl per day. Lei Shu began taking out more bowls.

Mo Fen looked at him in the distance, he was quite pleased with his preparations. Lei Shu was calm and composed throughout, never stressing. Truth be told, Mo Fen was always in the distance watching, he wouldn't let a potential disciple die before he had even undergone the trial. Whenever larger beasts would stumble near the cave he would make sure to scare them away. Mo Fen then looked at the boy as if he was crazy, "Is he going to take multiple bowls of medicine?" Mo Fen thought.

Lei Shu paced back and forth in the cave, deep in thought. He slowly closed his eyes and turned around, slowly increasing his speed until he was full sprinting. He then jumped into the air and

"PLOP"

He canon balled himself into the entire pot of medicine.