Scarlet argued in an annoying screech. Alex couldn't understand much, but he understood that she wanted to keep the Qi flowing so that she could breakthrough even more.
Alex sensed her cultivation base and it was at Skin Tempering 5th realm. If she was indeed allowed to keep it going, she would probably advance through the Self-Tempering realm very fast and would be quite a bit of help to Alex.
However, this was coming at the cost of everyone in the tribe no longer being able to grow. So, Alex didn't feel right.
"Can you put back the fire or not?" he asked. "I promise you will still get to cultivate with the Qi."
Scarlet looked at Alex intently, trying to search for any hint of lying. However, when she realized that he was being truthful, she decided to do as he asked.
She flew to the spot where the Qi was being siphoned up and flapped her wings once to create a small ember of Phoenix fire. The fire caught on to the Qi that was coming up and suddenly grew to become actual flames that didn't extinguish at all.
The Sacred flames were back.
"Oh, thank god," the chief looked very relieved when he saw the sacred flames burn in the hall again. If they hadn't come back, they wouldn't know what to do at all.
"How is that bird able to bring back the Sacred flames?" Li Yun asked.
"Well, this bird is the descendant or at least a kin of the bird that your Sacred flames originate from," Alex said. "So, she seems to be able to easily get rid of it or bring it back."
"Wow, really? Doesn't that mean that she is sacred as well?" she asked.
"You can call her whatever you want to call her. Which brings me to a request I want to make," Alex said.
"What request?" the chief asked. "You can ask anything that you want."
"Yes, I would like to request a portion of the day or night when the Sacred flame is least used to allow my bird to extinguish it. There is Qi underneath this location that she can use to grow stronger," Alex said.
"Extinguish the flames?" the chief looked at Scarlet with a deliberating eye.
"I think that is fine, father," Li Yun said. "After all, we've already seen her bring back the flames, so there should be no problem, right?"
"Yeah, I suppose so," the chief said. He thought for a bit and said, "alright, I will agree to your request. After midnight, we don't really need to use the Sacred flames unless there is an emergency, so your sacred bird can use it at the time."
"Great," Alex said. "As a thank you, why don't I help you guys learn Qi cultivation too? You will find the wonders it can do and make your life so much easier."
"Qi cultivation… can we do that?" the old man asked curiously.
"I don't see why not," Alex said. "Once you've reached a certain level, which will take you a few years, you will be able to fly, use various different powers…"
Alex paused. He was so excited to tell them about everything that Qi cultivation could do that he didn't even stop to think how they will be learning it for years to reach the level he said they will.
'If I'm not here to teach them, or if Scarlet isn't here to get rid of or bring back the flames, they won't succeed at all,' he thought.
"We can really fly?" Li Yun asked excitedly.
"Um… please don't get too optimistic just yet. You will have to spend a lot of time cultivating for that to happen, and with you constantly needing the sacred flames to be burning, I'm not certain we can bring out enough Qi from underground to fill the area such that you can absorb a lot of it," he said.
"Oh," Li Yun got a little sad. "Well, you can't have something without giving up on something else, I suppose."
"Anyway, we can talk about this later. The people outside must be waiting for the news," the Chief said.
Alex nodded and they opened the doors to the halls to let the people know that they had reinstated the Sacred flames.
Alex took back Scarlet after telling her that she could use the Qi later tonight after everyone had fallen asleep.
The sun had just risen past the horizon and the day had begun.
The first thing the people did was go fetch some water. Alex jumped down the cavern to see where the water came from and was surprised to see a rather massive well in the ground with water coming up to halfway up the well.
Alex wondered how they would get the water up the cliff when a person threw something into the well. He looked closely and saw that it was a large pouch made from beast leather that could hold at least 10 liters of water.
It wasn't the only pouch as there were multiple people there, all waiting with the pouch. When the pouch filled up, the person who threw it in fished the water out and jumped up the cliff back onto the top of the canyon.
Then, another person threw in their pouch and started doing it all over again. Alex finally understood how they got water without any buckets or items of some other sort.
Once the people were done getting water, they moved on to what would otherwise take the most time in their day. That was getting beat up.
Alex watched, half horrified and half surprised at the fact that people were getting beat up by others and had happy looks on their faces.
He understood that they weren't happy because of the pain, but because this pain was going to make them stronger in the long run. However, that couldn't stop him from being weirded out.
The adults were being beaten up by other adults, ones that were certainly weaker than him, and the kids were jumping off of the edge repeatedly so that they could break their bones and get hurt.
"There you are, I was looking for you," Li Yun said as she came from the side. "I was looking for you."
"Sorry, I was looking around at what the tribe members do to pass their time. What did you need me for?" he asked.
Li Yun handed him something which Alex took without question. Then he looked at it and let it unfurl in his hands to reveal that it was a whip.
"Why are you…" he understood why it was without having to finish the question.
"Come on, hit me. Since you're so strong, I should be able to improve very fast," she said.
"Uhh… can I not? I don't feel right hitting a girl who isn't even defending," he said.
"What? Stop being a wussy and hit me. If I'm not against it, why are you?" she asked.
Alex hesitated for a bit and sighed. "Fine," he said and clutched the whip tightly.
Li Yun turned around to expose her half-naked back and waited for Alex to start. "Come on, hit me already," she said.
"Yes, yes," Alex said and tried to hold back his strength before swinging at her.
*CLACK*
The whip made a sharp sound as it struck Li Yun on the back, causing a slight wound to form on it. Even through the dark skin, he could see the skin turning quite red at the point of contact.
Li Yun grunted in pain, but she could handle it. "Hmm? What are you waiting for? Continue," she said.
"Okay," he said and whipped her again.
Li Yun held back her moans from being hurt, and Alex struck again. He whipped her again and again, multiple times.
Each time she was whipped, a different part of her back was injured. After a while, Alex managed to injure every single part of her back.
"Ughh… now my legs too," she said.
Alex nodded. He started whipping her legs this time around and soon enough her legs were fully wounded as well.
Li Yun turned around with a pained look on her face, but the clear determination to continue on. "Now the front," she said.
Alex didn't want to hit her from the front, but he gave in to her demand and started whipping her again.
In less than 15 minutes, the girl was wounded from head to toe with not a single part of her skin that wasn't lacerated, swollen, or bleeding.
"That should be enough for now. You should go heal," Alex said.
"No, not yet," the girl said through tears and grunts. "I'm not hurt as much as I can."
"You're covered in wounds from head to toe. What else do you want me to do? Break every bone in your body?" he asked.
The girl gave a cheeky little smile. "Yes. Now do it, please."
Alex hesitated for a bit before sighing again. 'I don't think I can ever get used to the way of these tribe folks,' he thought before starting to break her bones one by one.
He flinched every time her bones cracked under his hands and then proceeded to break other bones.
Finally, after everything was broken, he stopped. "We're done now, right? Don't tell me to hurt your internal organs or anything like that," he said.
"No, no, we're done," the girl said as she lay on the floor unable to move. "Umm… can you help me to the room? I can't move right now."
Alex chuckled a bit. "Yeah, let's go," he said as he carried her in his arms and took her to the hall.
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