After my body had healed from the "vacuum" training, we ventured to a secluded area of the Ocean Realm. A barren and peaceful horizon, where no schools of fish dare to travel.
"Not a soul in sight. Does that mean I get to go all out?"
My master turns around. He stares at me with a twinkle in his eyes.
"Stay where you are."
Then he flies 500 meters back from me at lightning speed. Oh, I can't wait until I can do that.
He raises his hand and summons the air.
Suddenly, a string of countless leopard pufferfish come rushing towards us.
They line up to form a minefield between us. The water heats up with their presence, warming my skin.
Then he says, "Today, you're going to swim through this field and reach towards me. That's all."
That's it? That's all I have to do? The pufferfish floats unassumingly. They don't look that nasty. I smirk, relieved that this seems like an easy task. I got this in the bag.
I stretch my fins and tail, ready for action.
"Can't I blow them away with my elemental air blast?" I take a deep breath, ready to unleash my power.
Long Fei arches his brow.
"Are you sure you want to do that?"
He flicks his fingers up, removing one blowfish away from the rest.
Then he directs a small gust of wind towards the small creature; it inflates three times its size. The size of me. My jaw drops. Maybe I won't do that.
I begin to tremble, my instincts telling me that today's training will be worse than before.
Then he adds, "Oh, by the way, they're poisonous. Try not to get pricked by them."
With a flick of his fingers, he returns the pufferfish to its original position.
"Go for it." He takes a book out of his sleeve and starts reading.
My eyes survey the live minefield. How can I go through this poisonous labyrinth without hurting myself? And then it starts to move. It's a moving poisonous labyrinth?! Talk about adding pressure!
As I edge toward the maze, I carefully swim around one, only to be pinched between the other two. I yelp, as they all start inflating. Their needles prick my skin, and a surge of pain floods me. My vision blurs, and my head throbs. This is not training. It's just another form of torture! He needs to know the difference between training and torture.
My body shudders and then goes numb as the poison courses through. My cheeks swell up, I take a deep breath and wait for the paralysis to cease. I try again. I can't see any way around this. I swim upwards; the minefield follows. I change my trajectory and swim down; they follow me, blocking my path. This lethal dance is not fun.
Maybe I'm overthinking this? How about if I just charge straight through? I take a deep breath, mentally preparing myself for another onslaught. This is going to hurt. No pain, no gain. And charge!
I only managed to get past a couple of mines before they inflate and pinch me between them. Ow! My face swells up. The poison sears through, numbing my body. And they push me back, tumbling to the start again.
As I wait for the poison to dissipate, my mind reels as the paralysis subsides.
I screamed to my master, "If you wanted to get rid of me, you could have just asked. You don't need to torture me, you know."
He didn't reply. I swear by the sea, there's a smile tugging at his lips as he flips a page.
I sigh. There has to be a way through this. He has always given me a hint. What was the hint? He moved a mine away and made it puff up, deflate, and move it back. I wonder if I can do that. Well, not at my level. So he just wants me to go through it, and reach his side. To move forward, everything except for my fins and tail can go numb. This is going to be an excruciating experiment.
I steel myself. Here goes nothing.
I headbutt the first blowfish, flicking it upwards. It puffs up, causing a ripple effect; the others on its side start puffing up and sticking together. I use a small gentle air blast to blow the other one away. And just before it puffs up, I slam my head against it, moving it aside.
I repeat this vicious cycle as I power through the minefield. My head throbs, my back stings, my belly aches. One fin stops moving, but my tail, I make sure my tail is not affected. I feel like I'm dying but I must press on. I refuse to give up.
I grit my teeth as my other fin begins to freeze. Over my dead body.
Ow! Pain burns me as I continue to headbutt, blow gusts of wind, and flip my tail as fast as possible until I make it to the other side. My head is swelling, mostly bruised and battered, out of breath.
I crumple into a heap on the sand. I don't think I can go on any further.
I gasp, struggling to breathe, exhausted, and accidentally inhale some sand. I splutter.
Everything hurts—unresponsive.
As I wait for the paralysis to cease, I glance at my master. Why is he so tough?
As my fins and tail start to tremble I force my body up and finally announce to him with half my lips still swelling:
"I'm here now. Can we go eat yet?"
Long Fei puts his book back in his sleeve, and with a flick of his wrist, he extracts a few blowfish from the labyrinth, summoning a bubble around them, and air cooks it.
The aroma of air-cooked pufferfish tickles my nose, drool drips from my half-swollen lips.
He presses a few acupressure points on my body and the pain subsides. I wriggle and open my mouth. Why didn't he do this earlier?
My master's eyes soften as he feeds me and pats my head.
"Well done, for getting this far."
A smile trembles on my swollen lips. At last, a rare praise from him.
If I knew that pufferfish were this delicious, I would have eaten them all. Maybe in the future, I should give my obstacles a taste first before charging in.
Then, my body shudders, and I lurch.
A bright ethereal light engulfs me as I float away.
Heat prickles my skin, and my heart races.
Am I evolving?