A Failure's hopeful Journey

Inside the punishment hall, You Xi Wang discovered the whole new meaning of pain. His knuckles were already scraped, not because Zack had a physique of iron or something which led his hands to be hurt. It was he, himself who put a little too much strength in his fancy head bobbing punches he adapted after recalling an old anime from the earth. Now that he was standing inverted on his hands, the pain came hugging his mind. This was not enough because this cake was incomplete without the whipping he was subjected to every hour, true cherry on the top. 

He diverted all his spiritual energy to his arms and his back while he adjusted his legs to a perfect balance point. This helped him leave his legs be as they were not whipped. His punishment required him to stand like that for 11 hours. It was only 6 in the evening when he entered the punishment hall. It has been only two hours since then and he did not know how long could he stay like that. 

The system came to rescue his sorry ass. 

[Master.] an unsympathetic voice rang inside his mind. You Xi Wang asked in annoyance. 

'Yes, want to joke? Come on, go on.'

[Master, your whole existence is a joke in my eyes so I could not bear to waste any more sense of humor on you. Now if you please don't mind, stop being a sour-ass jerk. You got yourself in this shit. My purpose is to help you and I will help you only if you are willing.] the system hitting him down then helped him up.

'Oh, how can you help me?' You Xi Wang ignored the poisonous early half of the sentence.

[It is time you start learning about soul skills. Inside the soul sea located in the brain of a human being, time flow is slower than it is on the outside. You can go in there and cultivate your soul skills. I will, on the other hand, manage your physical body.] the system spoke about his idea.

You Xi Wang was bewildered when the system said that it will manage his physical body. He was scared that the system might take over his identity. Just as these thoughts were running wild in his mind. The system sensed it and lashed out.

[Aww, is the master afraid of me. Hahaha, has anyone ever told you, that you are such a treasure. I mean how do you think of all this? I can't express how ashamed I feel at this moment. Is your brain filled with dog shit you bitch? Do you not understand the concept of primary and secondary? For fuck's sake, grow up.] the system was sarcastic and then he went ballistic on You Xi Wang. 

The master understood that he was just imagining a bit too much and focused on his soul sea. The surroundings changed, he looked around and a world with a blue sky, endless ocean came into his sight. You Xi Wang was standing on an island, not bigger than a king-size bed. You Xi Wang moved his feet and felt the sand grains underneath his feet. It was a pleasant sensation. He raised his hand but was shocked when the palm of his hand was only as big as that of a baby. 

The system spoke, [This baby represents your soul power. It will grow as your strength grows. Usually, when a cultivator achieves the realm of The primal soul, only then can they come here. You are an exception as your soul fused and it woke up the Soul Embryo. Your spiritual energy nurtures the soul over time. It will not grow significantly stronger until you actually reach Primal Soul Realm but yes, you can stay here and exercise your soul control and learn the mysteries ahead of time. After the Primal soul reaches the peak stage, a cultivator has to go through a heavenly tribulation to achieve Nirvana Rebirth. When your soul and physique is at its peak. It has the potential to go against the will of the heavens and thus comes the tribulation. Heavens do not tolerate something that defies it not until they can pass the trial.] the system explained the reason why You Xi Wang should practice his soul skills. 

You Xi Wang sat down on the island floor and started to meditate. He focused and the spiritual energy inside his soul sea started to revolve around him and slowly started to fuse with his soul physique. This process was very slow and it had almost no effect on his strength. The system also performed his tasks. The spiritual energy inside the punishment hall was almost negligible, it was to prevent the punished person from regaining his/her strength and avoid the pain inflicted by the machines. 

The system used spiritual energy with much better efficiency than You Xi Wang himself did. The spiritual energy was now focused on the joints of his hands such as elbows, shoulder, and wrists. The energy was also channeled through the muscles every ten minutes to prevent them from tearing. The machines came to give You Xi Wang's back 10 lashes. This time system did not use the spiritual energy to cover the whole back but focused it on the point of contact. 

...

Inside the mansion, people were aware of the pain You Xi Wang was facing when they heard the words from people who went to check on him. You Xi Wang was the youngest in the family. A cousin of his was just two days older than him. There were some who were a month older. Unlike some families in Metropia, who treated their weak members like trash, You family implemented a, treat them with love policy. They believed that those who are not good at martial arts can be good in other fields. There was a time when You family was not any different from other families. They changed after a girl in the family rose to power with only her skills in business. She was blessed with a good brain and when she was sent out from the family, she started her own small business and when the family was in need she came forward and pulled the family back to where it was. Today You family have a lot of big businesses such as Tianlong technologies, Zhengyi Mining, Hei Gui pharmaceuticals, etc. 

These businesses may not be the big shots in the world but they were still not at the bottom of the world as well. You family have maintained these businesses with hard work and they also came to understand the value of each and every member from the incidents in the past. Since then they never looked down on anyone. So when You Xi Wang was born with narrow meridians the family did not abhor him for his weakness but even nurtured him with love. You Xi Wang also used his spiritual energy to enhance his brain back then and he became the youngest person ever to learn every book in the Codex Hall written on Material science. 

The council awarded him with the moniker of The Maestro. The family was overjoyed at that time. You Xi Wang was only 14 that year and he also gave valuable advice is business-related issues sometimes. If not for his mother Chen Limao, who believed that the children of the family should have a normal upbringing, he would have been managing the business in the family already. 

At this moment You Zhichi, You Naixin, Chen Qianbei, and Emily were sitting inside a pavilion in the garden and none of them were talking. Celestia ran to them with Maya in her hands, she innocently looked at them and when she saw the atmosphere was a bit heavy she quietly came and sat down by Chen Qianbei. 

You Zhichi saw that this little girl had one of her braids undone and there was a mark on her neck which she was desperately trying to hide by pulling over the shoulder of her dress. She asked, "Celes, how did your braid came undone? And what is that mark on your shoulder?"

Celestia bowed her head and bit her lips because she did not want to lie, she chose to avoid answering it. Chen Qianbei put her hand on her head and asked in a soft voice, "Celestia, what did aunt teach you? What should you do when an elder asks you a question?"

Celestia was smart and understood that she can not avoid answering this question, so she looked up to her face and spoke in a soft voice, "Kiki and Jojo told me that lashes leave deep wound, so they wanted to gather all the kids to go and gather medicine from the herb garden. But aunty Lily said children should not interfere with adult matters. So they canceled going there. I asked Maya if she can make me invisible, then we went inside the herb garden and plucked a rejuvenating peach from the tree. One of the branches got stuck in my hair so the braid came undone, as for the scratch it was from the thorns in that bush. I had to hide from that guard uncle."

Everyone shook their heads while they wondered how come this little girl was so clever to go inside the garden and come back without getting caught. You Naixin spoke, "Celes, you should not steal things."

Celestia pouted, "Granny Xin, can I not take a rejuvenating Peach for my big brother from my family herb garden, if not because I was afraid of getting punished by the guard uncle, I would have gone in the open." she puffed her cheeks in protest.

You Zhichi came and hug her and spoke in her ears, "Yes sweetheart, next time you go out in the open, okay. This is your family and no one will punish you." Celestia has accepted them as their family and her statement clarified that. This was a happy thing for them. 

The time passed and they all kept waiting in the pavilion, Celestia fell asleep with her head in Chen Qianbei's lap. Emily was anxious, she called Susan, told her the whole incident, and asked her to come home in case any medical help is needed. The latter agreed to it with no hesitation. The night was about to end, to the family, this night was like an era of darkness. They all were gathered outside in the garden where the entrance of the basement was located.