Chapter 29 - Training

The next morning Shen Xia woke up tucked snuggly under her covers. She sleepily looked around the room, feeling somewhat confused. "A dream?" She was unsure if what had happened last night was a dream or not. She could vaguely remember that handsome man stroking her ears and then falling asleep with the calming scent of mint filling her nose. 

She rolled over and looked at the clock and groaned, seeing that she had to get ready for school already. "Starting today, I need to start cultivating again… Or else I will be forced to wear heavy clothes year round." 

Sighing, she took her shirt off and looked at herself in the long mirror on the wall. Her snow white skin glistened in the light that was cascading in through the part in the curtains. She spent some time checking herself over in the mirror. She still looked the same as always. Her slender petite body was something many girls wished to have. Although her hair was in disarray from sleeping, she noticed her tail had an extra shine to it today. She pulled her tail to the front and examined it. It even felt a little softer than usual. "Strange..." 

Cocking her head to the side in confusion, Shen Xia decided to just ignore it and go about her business. She walked to her closet and pulled out a set of clothes to wear after her bath. Her new bedroom was almost thirty times bigger than her previous one and also came with its own bathroom that also had a shower and bathtub installed. She gathered her things and headed into the bathroom to take a quick shower. 

After a nice hot relaxing shower, Shen Xia got dressed and went to go downstairs to have breakfast. On her way out of her room, she was met with a sleepy looking Shen Lingxin. "Xin'er, good morning."

"Mmm… Fluffuwafu... " Shen Lingxin seemed to be drawn to the freshly blow dried tail that was bouncing up and down in front of her and reached out to rub her face on it. 

Shen Xia's hair stood on end by the sudden attack on her tail and wanted to pull away, but Shen Lingxin seemed to have a death grip on it, causing her a little bit of pain when she tried to pull away. "Xin'er, let go!" 

"Hmmm? Ahh! Xiaxia, I'm sorry! I was half asleep." Hearing Shen Xia's yell fully woke Shen Lingxin. Fear filled her eyes as she lowered her head. She was afraid Shen Xia would come to hate her for doing such a thing to her. She did not wish to lose the warmth of familial love that Shen Xia had given her. More than anything, she did not wish to feel alone again. 

Sighing, Shen Xia reached out and patted Shen Lingxin's head as she gently explained. "Why are you like a frightened rabbit? It is not like you did it on purpose. My tail is just a bit sensitive, is all."

"Mmm… But still sorry, Xiaxia, I will try to be careful from now on." Shen Lingxin made a mental note not to do such things anymore.

"Alright, enough apologizing, people will think I am an evil sister if you keep doing that. Come, let's go have breakfast." Shen Xia said with a smile as she took Shen Lingxin's hand and pulled her along.

She walked into the dining room, where she saw her grandma and grandfather already waiting for her. "It seems our princess slept in." Quan Xinya's teasing voice came from behind her. Shen Xia turned to see her best friend, all sweaty from her morning workout. 

"Mmm… I had the weirdest dream last night." Shen Xia thought back to her dream and began to blush.  She cursed the handsome man in her heart for showing up in her dreams.

Lilith, who was standing behind Quan Xinya, held her head and shook it as she whispered softly: "Master, you will need to work harder to make Mistress like you..." She then walked around Quan Xinya and announced: "Starting tomorrow, Xiaxia, you will need to get up early. You will be learning how to fight from Xinya and me. I will personally come and yank you out of bed whether you want to or not." Being a vampire, Lilith really didn't need to sleep, so she never had an issue getting up early. 

Shen Xia groaned when she heard this, but she still reluctantly nodded her head. She already knew how to fight, but this was all something she learned on her own and not taught by others. Having proper training would be best. But for some reason, she felt that she was about to be put through a training from hell. "Okay, feel free to drag me out of bed..."

"Good! Glad you are so on board. Now wear these from now on your ankle and wrists." Lilith, with a bright smile, handed over four five pound weights. 

"What!? Do we need to go this far? I mean, I am pretty fit already, so needing to wear weights is a bit much..." Shen Xia looked at the weights being handed over to her with a reluctant look. She did not wish to wear such heavy things all day long.

"Oh? Then would you prefer to wear this?" Lilith pulled out two large twenty pound dumbbells from only god knows where and held them out, still smiling like a ray of sunshine as if what she was doing was perfectly normal.

"Grandma!" Shen Xia had no idea how she would even wear such things all day! She could only rely on her grandma to help her out. Although this was what was going on on the surface, deep down she wished she knew where Lilith even pulled those out from!

"Xiaxia, behave and wear the wrist and ankle weights, she is doing this for your own good." Zi Shu could see what Lilith was doing and she agreed with her method of trying to strengthen her granddaughter. Only when she was strong could she fight some of the battles that still laid ahead of her.

"Mmm… Xiaxia, once you reach the second level of cultivation you will need to work on your body and strengthen it to continue cultivating.. Don't just stop at the second stage."