The person who came suddenly in my vision as i turned was a young man with a side bang as well as brown hair tied in a top knot bun and a scar at his right lower eye, he was taller than me by a few centimeters, his body from underneath his brown robe indicate a well toned muscles and a quite fit body, not to mention the fact that he was most likely at the Martial Artist Rank .
Due to the fact that this is your first offense and you probably don't even know that what you did was wrong, i will treat this as if nothing happened, but i hope you will consider the fact that the penalty of being found doing this again would be to cripple you and kick you out, even with you paying the tuition fees, understand ? .
I'm already dranched in sweat so that severe penalty was no longer able to affect me much, i was just thankful that things will end like this, i cupped my fist and bowed to the guy in front of me and said :
" Thank you for your guidance Senior Brother, I'm sorry for doing something reckless .
In response he handed me the wooden piece once again and told everyone to get back to training, they complied with his orders but some of the guys who were wearing a silver colored robes looked at me with pity in their eyes, weirdly enough the guys who were wearing bronze colored robes were the one that were happy with me joining they were smiling ambiguously at me, the senior named Fu then asked me, saying :
What's is your name, junior brother ? .
I said in the most respectful tone i can master :
I'm called Tian Long, Senior Brother .
I was still lowering my head down not wanting to offend him in any way, but then he surprised me when he said :
Tian Long, Tian Long, i seemed to have heard of that name, tell me do you have any relation with a man called Lu San ? .
My surprise was apperant on my face that i didn't even need to answer the question, he continued to say :
So you are the prodigy that uncle Lu said he would recruit for the Dojo, at what stage of Martial Arts are you ? .
I was beginning to have a bad feeling about this, this feeling had the same taste to the feeling i got before when the instructor was trying to sell me the idea of joining this particular Dojo from before, but now i believed that there was no time to dwell on this, not wanting to waste the time of the man in front of me, i replied to his answer with nodding and said :
" I did listened to the instructions of Instructor Lu and came to register her, but i don't believe I'm a prodigy, i can't tell whether I'm talented or not, after all i still hadn't even trained in Martial Arts yet, but i was hoping that would change today .
The conversation became weird, due to the fact that he was beginning to touch my muscles and body, but i guess i was a bit overreacting, after he finished doing whatever that is, he said :
You really don't have an ounce of Blood Qi in you, why did uncle Lu then said you were a Martial Arts Prodigy, how weird .
I was still cupping my fist and lowering my head, still trying to calm my heart from the startle before, but after telling me to train good, he was about to leave, i called him and he turned to look at me with a frown, completely different to the previous humble and easy-going attitude, but he was just staring at me wondering why i called him .
" Well, instructor Lu told me to enter the Dojo but didn't tell me any more details on what i needed to do around here, i have no clue about any of what i should be doing, so o was hoping you can help me with that, Senior Brother Fu .
I saw that his frowned deepened, but then he suddenly returned to his easy-going character from before and his mouth even curved into a smile, then he said in an amusing tone :
I was about to do this, but i was just messing with you, you really are clueless about how this Dojo works, aren't you, what can i say, typical work from Martial Uncle Lu, i guess .
You guys can go and continue training outside, clean the training Hall on your way out .
He ordered all the guy to go training in the Courtyard outside, even though the Hall was literally massive in size, he then asked me a question, he said :
Do you know how to read ? .
I weighted the question he was asking for a few seconds in mind then i nodded my head .
You can stop bowing already, I'm not accepting you as a disciple, even if you keep kowtowing until you die, I'm merely guiding you here .
He said that and cracked a joke at the fact that i kept bowing my head after each and every word he say, i couldn't help but smile as well at his words and ease up a little more, my back was beginning to hurt from keep doing this .
Will then, let's start by telling you the basics, you will need to listen carefully because I'm telling you this once, you paid enough money to be treated as an Inner disciple in the Dojo for 3 months, then you will be given a test if you were to succeed you will be able to keep continuing as an Inner disciple for a one more month for free, but after that month you will need to provide two taels of silver if you wish to continue be treated as an Inner disciple in the Dojo .
And that's only because you have successfully finished your challenge, if you failed you would get kicked out of the Dojo and the 4 taels you paid before will be doubled and you will need to pay 8 taels of silver to get another chance to be accepted again and be treated as Inner disciple .
You could also challenge someone for their Outer disciple status, but i don't recommend you doing that, because from what i was able to understand from Uncle Lu words, your situation is bad, most of the guys who are here even as Outer disciples are guys who came from big families .
So unless you are certain of crushing the backing behind them with your own strength or show enough talent so you could become a Core Disciple, i believe you should just pay the 8 taels willingly as long as you don't want to be killed on the street for offending someone that you shouldn't have .
His tone was nonchalant as he talked about life and death as if it really didn't matter much to him and i was beginning to believe that this was indeed the case, he really didn't care in the slightest .
But at least he gave me a good advice nonetheless, I'm intending to keep it in mind, my heart was bleeding inside of me at the thought of having to pay 8 taels for a second try, but I'm already determined to give up pursuing Martial Arts if i didn't achieve much on my first try, so talking about paying for a second was quite far fetched .
For you to become a Core Disciple, you either would be picked by the master after your talent catching his attention or you will need to prove yourself as worthy to be one by challenging a Core Disciple, but i need to warn you beforehand, in Martial Arts competition of this caliper, fists had no eyes, meaning you could still be injured severely or even killed and no one would batt an eye .
Also you need to understand that all Core Disciple are Close Disciples to the Master of the Dojo, so they get taught personally by him and get the benefits of enjoying a better treatment, they are also revered as Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters by all those who train in the Dojo and only third in power to the Dojo master and the two guardians .
So you need to check whether you are powerful enough to challenge them, before throwing yourself into the pit of fire on impulse .
" Senior Brother Fu, could i ask how many Core Disciple does the Dojo master have and what is the criteria for the Master to choose a Close Disciple ? .
You already putting the cart before the horse, i see, but i will tell you that currently the Core Disciples that the master have is 6, 4 Senior Brother and 2 Seniors Sisters and I'm one of them, I'm Ranked first in term of the overall strength .
For some reason I'm beginning to think that the guy in front of me was a fraud, he lowered his voice to almost inaudible level of voice as he said those last words, seeing my weird eyes, he squinted his eyes at me, forcing me to discard of these thoughts completely, he then continued to say :
Cough, where were we at, oh right, right, but if you think due to the existence of us 6 that we are the only Close Disciple the Master has, then you thought wrong Master Close Disciples are 7 in numbers, including us 6, there's is another Close Disciple, but that guy is a prodigy, his name is Lu Chiang, be sure to greet him properly, he is training currently with the Inner Disciples .
That guy was the only guy that good accepted by the Master when he was still in the Flesh Tempering Realm, he is 12 years old and already reached Flesh Tempering Realm 5th layer and he is rumored to be even more remarkable than the young masters in the Lu Family, even though he was of common birth, that guy's Martial Talent really make people envious .
As for the criteria to be chosen as one that is completely up to your talent and your ability to catch the Master's eyes, I'm really optimistic about you, uncle Lu rarely make a mistake in his judgment .
Feeling me beginning to become down, him misunderstood it as me being depressed about my own talent, so he continued to to say :
I can understand your concerns, but don't worry you will be guided through every step you will take in your practice, just try to do your best and aim to become a Core Disciple, the benefits that comes with becoming one is immeasurable for your current self .
If you as Inner Disciple able to get 1 nutrition soup every month, then the core disciple have the chance of enjoying Blood Nutritious Soup that had many benefits on the Blood Qi of the Martial Practitioner, not to mention the ability to get a medical baths that heal the hidden wounds and help in healing the side effects of practicing External Martial Arts, which allow the practitioner more time to practice and numerous other benefits .
One of them should be very precious to you, it's protection, becoming a Core Disciple will be widespread and make people think twice before crossing you due to the Dojo backing you up, you can go around causing as much chaos as you want and no one would be able to judge you other than the Master of the Dojo, so cheer up .
He said those last sentences in trying to cheer me up, but he misunderstood one thing, the reason to why was i currently down was because i was distressed of the situation i was in, the guy named Lu Chiang, i know that guy, he didn't seemed to know of me, but I'm very certain that he was the same guy that i heard Lu Si boasting before .
Yes, Lu Chiang was the prodigy son of Lu Si, an idiom appeared on my mind that i didn't know whether to laugh or cry at, A Dog Father Birthing A Tiger Like Son .
That is the same guy that i will be forced to greet appropriately as a Senior Brother, i didn't seem to have interacted with him at all, so i at least hope that he as well don't know me in person, but even if he didn't know me in person, there is still the possibility of his father telling him about me, how many people are called Tian Long in the entire city, i need to keep my distance from that senior brother no matter what .
Luckily it seemed my resentment is only directed towards the dog father of his, phew, i thought that i will need to fight a person who already a Martial Apprentice with my current strength, so that was at least a bit of relief, making a Martial Arts Prodigy who had the full support of the Dojo Master was no way a good thing, so i pray that he never know about me .
But it was a great surprise to find out about the Blood Nutritious Soup, the distress i felt before was swept away in an instant, in place was a huge yearning towards getting my hands on those Nutrition Soups, even the one i will be getting every month as an Inner Disciple seemed to be quite the thing to be expected, i finally acknowledged the words that instructor Lu told me about not losing hope and the possibility of finding something that could fix me, i was glad that i heard his advice .
But the words that he said about the side effects of practicing External Martial Arts had me a bit perplexed, i don't know what he meant by External Martial Arts nor did i expect that there are side effects with practicing Martial Arts, so the happiness i just felt was quite short-lived, what was exactly going on .
As if he finally was aware of my perplexed face, he asked :
What is wrong with your face, don't you like my way of explaining things ? .
I hurriedly bowed in front of him and denied thinking of anything like that sincerely, he chuckled a little and this time he helped me up and said :
I'm just poking fun at you, just ask what you wanted to ask, for the sake of Uncle Lu face, i will answer all the questions that i can answer and let me give you a little bit of advice here, Martial Arts is a way you take so that you become free, not bound yourself with fear and doubts is a crucial, if you want to achieve something on the path of Martial Arts .
You keep bowing for every small thing happening, that won't do you any good on the long term, it might even i don't like to admit this, but i was actually the same like you on my first time meeting the Master, but he told me something that till this day is still benefiting me greatly .
HE TOLD ME THAT PRACTICING MARTIAL ARTS IS LIKE BARELY KNOWING HOW TO SWIM, BUT YOU TRIED TO RECKLESSLY FIGHT THE TIDE, WILL YOU ABLE TO SURVIVE, IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE WILL TO CONTINUE FIGHTING YOUR WAY THROUGH .