Two hours later, Yan Ping heard her disciple finally hoisting herself over the railing. She smirked behind the teacup. Flying up the tree house was merely a red herring. The true lesson was scanning the tree for hidden footholds carved into it. Over the years, the footholds had been covered over by tough bark. However, Anji can easily kick the bark. The difficulty was in locating the hidden footholds.
Red-faced and exhausted, Anji flopped over on the front deck. She thought she would fall over as she climbed. Looking down halfway through her climb, Anji's fear propelled her onwards even when her nails were chipped and fingers bled. She eventually realised that the same technique of coating her feet with energy could be used on her hands. After doing so, Anji almost immediately located all the strange carved spots along the back of the tree.
"Don't just lie there," Yan Ping frowned. "The forest is full of natural energy. If you circulate that, you'd recover within a few minutes."
