Eris felt like her entire body was being crushed, making it difficult for her to even breath as she knelt on the floor. Never before had she been subjected to such cruel punishment, but that was all the more reason she had to stand up.
In that moment, nothing else seemed to matter to Eris anymore, not the uncertainty of her future, nor the pain of losing her arm, all her focus was on getting to her feet.
She had to prove to this bad woman that she wasn't a coward, that she wasn't weak, that she would protect her family!
Slowly but steadily, Eris managed to slide her right leg forward and plant her foot on the ground, pushing on it to lift her body up.
Just as she was exerting strength into her leg though, the pressure on her increased, trying to force her back down.
Gritting her teeth hard, the young girl no longer cared about the consequences and used the stump of her right arm to steady herself and fight back against the weight pressing down on her.
The wound, which hadn't fully healed yet, tore open and blood began soaking through the bandages, but Eris persisted, lifting her left knee off the ground as she gradually began rising up again.
With a loud stomp, Eris somehow got her left foot planted and started straightening her back, only for the pressure coming from the mean lady to increase once more, halting her in place.
By this point, stubbornness was the only thing keeping Eris from falling back down. She was exerting all her strength, to the point where her arms and legs were trembling from the strain, but she simply couldn't move anymore.
I can't give up here! Eris screamed to herself, determined not to surrender, her young mind rapidly searching for a solution, so way to beat this bad woman and prover her wrong.
Suddenly, it struck her, If I'm not strong enough now, I just need to get stronger!
Following that pure, innocent inspiration, Eris began circulating the Flowing Flame Art, desperately grasping for any extra bit of power she could.
At first, the Cultivation Technique was sluggish, barely operating properly; but as Eris continued chanting the Mantra to herself, something unexpected began to happen.
For the past 9 months, whenever Eris had cultivated, she had done so using the new method Lucas had invented, combining the Flowing Flame Art with the Unarmed Foundations Art. By now, this practice had become second nature to her and was something she did unconsciously.
Of course, trying to perform complex movements right now didn't even occur to Eris as she was barely able to stay on her feet; however, as she continued trying to circulate the Flowing Flame Art, her muscles automatically began tensing, contracting, and stretching in the patterns of the Unarmed Foundation Art's Forms.
This seemed to have little effect in the beginning, but as the subtle yet strenuous movements of her muscles continued, World Qi began flowing towards Eris.
Suddenly, the Flowing Flame Art began circulating faster, increasing at an almost astonishing pace as Eris drew in more and more World Qi. The movement in the air was so obvious that everyone in the infirmary immediately noticed it, like a gentle breeze had mysteriously brushed past them.
Lucas, Sasha, and Charles naturally didn't miss this either, and they were once again shocked by Eris' recklessness. Back when Eris first discovered how to combine these two techniques, she had done so on instinct and without consulting anyone, greatly frightening everyone around her; but what she was doing right now went way beyond even that.
The most astonished person in the room, however, was undoubtedly Celestina, who was thoroughly flabbergasted by what she was witnessing right now.
When she first provoked Eris earlier, Celestina never really expected the young girl to stand up.
Eris was young and naïve in the ways of the world and the difficulties of life, of that, there was no doubt; but, in Celestina's experienced eyes, this little girl had the spirit of a warrior.
When faced with overwhelming adversity, most choose to cower or hide, but a small few choose to fight, and Celestina was convinced that this great granddaughter of hers was a fighter, someone who would challenge the inevitable rather than simply submitted to fate.
All Eris needed was a little push, which was why Celestina chose to take an aggressive approach in the first place. She had hoped to pull Eris out of her depression and give her a goal to struggle towards, but it seemed she had greatly underestimated her young descendant.
Now, Eris was showing Celestina something beyond the latter's ability to comprehend. It was like watching a miracle, something she knew was impossible but was happening anyways.
Celestina had enormous amounts of experience both in cultivation and in battle, so this actually wasn't the first time she had seen someone suddenly growing stronger while confronting an insurmountable wall.
In the heat of a life-or-death battle, there were always those who could shatter their own limits and ascend to greater heights in order to survive, but every single one of the cases Celestina had witnessed or heard of involved a master with decades of experience who was at least in the Spirit Initiate Realm.
In fact, it should have been impossible for anyone below the Grand Spirit Realm to even cultivate while under these circumstances, but not only was Eris doing just that, the speed at which she was doing so was simply breathtaking.
With the possible exception of the last remaining member of her parent's generation, there was no one in the Rockwell Kingdom who was more familiar with the Flowing Flame Art than Celestina, so she instantly recognized that Eris was circulating it.
Celestina also understood perfectly what a child in the Sixth Step Body Tempering Realm should be capable of achieving with this Cultivation Technique.
Even if Eris was a once in a 100-year prodigy, there were still hard limits to how effective a High-Rank Spirit Grade Tier 2 Cultivation Technique could be, but judging from the flow around this little girl, it was obvious Eris was drawing in at least twice as much World Qi as should be physically possible, and that rate was still rapidly increasing!
Staring at this scene in disbelief, Celestina was suddenly reminded of what her new Disciple had said to her earlier, Is this what Lucas meant when he said he had a way to improve the efficiency of the Flowing Flame Art? If that's the case, he completely undersold it!
Celestina wanted nothing more than to study this phenomenon in detail right now, but she hadn't become one of the strongest, most respected masters in the kingdom without learning to control her impulses.
As far as Celestina was concerned, she had completed her original objective the moment Eris got out of bed and attempted to stand up on her own, proving the young girl had the will to fight and would no longer retreat into herself.
Seeing the young girl's dogged determination at that moment had been enough.
After that, Celestina simply wanted to see how far this great granddaughter of hers could go.
By the time Eris got both her feet under her, she had more than passed any test Celestina planned to give her, but just as Celestina was about to lift her aura pressure, this impossible scene appeared.
The test was no longer important, as this had now become a critical moment of opportunity for Eris.
Fully releasing her Soul Sense, Celestina could tell that Eris was on the brink of a breakthrough, so instead of easing off like she originally planned, she doubled down and actually increased the pressure, hoping to give her great granddaughter the final impetus which would allow her to ascend to the next step in her cultivation.
Eris herself had entered a kind of trance, where despite being battered and bloodied, her Cultivation Technique was circulating both smoother and faster than ever before, drawing in enormous quantities of World Qi that her body greedily refined.
Unfortunately, that alone wasn't enough.
The ambient World Qi in Redwood Town was simply too thin, unable to keep up with Eris' rapidly increasing demand, and the opportunity to break through seemed to be slipping through her fingers.
Just when it looked like all her efforts would be in vain, the density of the World Qi around Eris soared to an astonishing degree, becoming at least 10 times richer than normal.
Like a vortex, Eris sucked in the surrounding World Qi as her Flowing Flame Art circulated a dozen times faster than ever before, allowing her to smash through the bottleneck she was facing in an instant.
With a dull *bang*, the final barrier broke and Eris officially stepped into the Seventh Step Body Tempering Realm, months ahead of when she had expected to.
At the same time, Eris gathered all of her newfound strength and with a great shout, straightened her back fully, standing completely upright.
Tilting her head up, Eris glared into the eyes of the mean lady, as if wanting to declare she had won; but instead of finding a look of shock, defeat, or even anger, she was met with the kindest of smiles, filled with both warmth and pride.
Being looked at in such a manner, Eris suddenly felt embarrassed for some reason she couldn't explain, like it wasn't a stranger who was looking down fondly at her, but a close family member who was praising and congratulating her.
It was a confusing experience for Eris, but that was all quickly washed away when two familiar pairs of arms tightly wrapped around her and big wet tears began soaking her face.