"Ai?! Are you dumb or what?! I don't care if you're a cultivator and heal faster than normal people, why would you ever light your arm on fire?!" The medical attendant hit me on the back of the head while yelling in my face.
I could only tolerate it, as my arm's recovery was in her hands, "Auntie, auntie, I was using a technique but my sword broke-"
"THEN GIVE UP!! Aiya, you guys are going to torment me for years to come aren't you.." She sighed and put her face in her hands.
"S-sorry, Auntie, um, I'm gonna head off now, my daily trainings will be soon.."
She didn't respond, so I just tried my best to walk away and not be consumed by the awkwardness.
My entire right arm was covered in bandages, and it was a bit rough to move, but it shouldn't hinder my ability to train or fight-
"Disciple Yan Mo, get your red-haired, burnt-arm ass over here!" The baldy instructor's familiar voice ringed out.
'Ah…even more trouble is it?…'
I put my head down, sullen, and waddled over to my instructor, "Disciple Yan Mo is present, trainer"
He crossed his arms and stared me down, he was a large man, easily over 2/3 of a swordspan's length (6'6+)
"You impressed me."
Huh? Wasn't I supposed to get a scolding and a beating?
"Your creativeness led to you obtaining a crucial breakthrough in your martial art and an enlightenment in the path of Tao. Not just that, you also showed to me that you are a great genius, beyond that of your peers. Infact, when I first saw you, I thought you of inferior to Li Baiyu, who easily overpowered the wooden dummies at the entrance examination, but you've proven to me that currently, not only are you superior to him, but your talent is leagues beyond his as I see it."
What is happening? And why is he telling me this? Surely he's not just trying to raise my ego?
"From what I've seen of your family heirloom technique, you belong to a powerful faction, and most likely came here to develop as an individual away from your parents and family stress," he put a hand on my shoulder, as if trying to relate to me.
You could say something like that, maybe 500 years ago…
"But it is my duty as your instructor to lead you on the path of righteousness, so your vision will be clear and your goals pure. Many rising stars around your age often let their egos inflate and focus on materialistic worth and raising their power in any possible way as to achieve their own goals. So I ask you this in order to try and help you, what is your dream goal in doing all this training?"
My dream goal huh? Well I suppose my first goals are to win the Mount Hwa tournament, and to afterward rise my family's influence to join the Five Noble Houses again…but those are all goals that could be achieved within a lifetime.
So what is my true goal? What would I do after achieving these first two goals of mine? What use do I have for this power?
As a follower of the Tao, no matter if I control it or I let myself flow with it, I've lost any interest in gaining many riches, influence, or women.
I don't truly care if I become famous, nor if I hold a high social position.
Is it to live peacefully alone then? No that makes no sense, because there's nothing stopping me from bringing my current physique and skills to the woods or mountains and live as a hermit.
Then…I guess I would hate to see anybody else suffer the same downfall of my family. To see their own siblings, uncles, aunties, and parents skip days of food at a time just to nurture my own training.
Then, my true goal would lay in how to stop this situation from happening to others, to do that I also need to see the cause and root of the problem.
Poor social status, lack of wealth, discrimination for one reason or another, the existence of a 'noble' only forces the existence of the 'poor'
But overwhelming this is impossible, and a dreamy utopia such as that is even more unlikely..
But…
"I guess my goal with this cultivation and life I have…is to try my best to lighten the burden of the poor and weak, to give them more opportunities to enjoy their life, because life here is not meant for constant burden and work, but to explore, to see, to walk along the Tao and see what your individual purpose really is."
The baldie instructor looked at my eyes with care, seeing if I was trying to play him or give him a true answer.
"Your understanding of the Tao is increasing so fast…I commend you, you're free to go, rest up, in less than a Yucheon winter will come, and with winter will come the tournament."
The instructor turned his back and looked off into the wilderness dramatically.
I simply nodded and bowed, "En," and I took my leave, heading into my dorm to rest for the night
.
.
.
The training for the next 10 days went by without a hitch, just that Baiyu started keeping to himself a lot more and stopped glaring at me whenever he could. Truly humbled he was I guess?
These past 10 days, I just couldn't get to the fourth stance of my technique, hopefully I either breakthrough in the last 10 days coming up to winter or hope that the three basic attacks will be fine!
Suddenly, the instructor had stopped us, "As many of you have probably been counting, in only 10 days time, we will be having the Black Robe Winter Tournament, but since you're first-years, often times it ends up being embarrassing"
Wow, how inspirational
"But no more! This year I want us to be different, for the next 10 days you will be split up into pairs and pushed out into the wilderness to train and gain a sense of how the world works! Don't worry, I will always be around so you won't be in any lethal danger, but that doesn't mean slack off! Now, you will be split up into these pairs:
Li Baiyu and Guo Yanzhi
Mu Qianying and Luo Soso
And finally Yan Mo and Yao Kun
Get to know each other pretty well and…head off! You will be forced to survive, hunt, shelter, and hopefully not encounter mountain bandits, but I'm sure you'll manage!"
The instructor smiled then waddled off elsewhere…Yao Kun huh? If my memory serves me right it must be that one Zhongnian wannabe who uses a curved blade.
He approached me first, he had short black hair and didn't seem to be too noticeable. On a quick size-up, he seemed…weak, too weak to be a black robed disciple, or is it just that I've surrounded myself by great talents like brother Zhi and Baiyu?
"Ahem..should we get to know each other formally then? I am Yao Kun of the Gansu Yao Family"
I think I recognize that name, one of the branches of the Zhongnian Sect. Now, the sect prides itself on being neutral with a balanced doctrine. It's just the 'middle path' of the martial world.
That's what makes its rivalry with Mount Hwa so fiery. Mount Hwa plum blossom swordsmen can be regarded as one of the most flashy and powerful, and upholding to specific strict standards and taking only the highest of righteous paths. While within the righteous factions, Zhongnian and Mount Hwa is about as polar opposites as you can get.
"I am Yan Mo of the Gansu Yao Clan"
He seemed shock and put his hands on his waist, suddenly speaking with a warmer tone, "You're from around here then? That's great! I assume you also wish to do well in the Dragon-Phoenix exams in order to join Zongnian, right?"
Aha....how do I break it to him that I'm not only technically from Mount Hwa, but that I also generally dislike Zhongnian.
After all, if you're going to be a cultivator, going to flow with the way, why be so...boring? So bland, so neutral. It makes you uniformed and similar to everyone else, even if you do end up being great, what's the point of it if your face and martial arts are so generic that even your own elders would have a hard time differentiating you from the others?
"Ahem, er, I'd say I want to build my own path, maybe get famous as a rogue cultivator?"
A mostly-truthful lie, atleast for the first three years of my journey. That is what I aim for, if I build a higher name for myself before entering the Mount Hwa tournament, then I won't have to deal with all the bs of nobodies trying to trash on my name. If that happens, I might just attack them before the tournament starts!
"Oh I see, like the Wide Blade of Gansu? Or maybe even the Righteous Arrow of Sichuan?"
"En, en, something along those lines would be best."
"I'm happy for you, but don't you worry that you might reach your ceiling? I mean the Wide Blade of Gansu is pretty strong but compared to the first-tier disciples of any great sect, he's just a bit above average, isn't he? Personally, I'm the oldest sibling in my home and I want to join Zhongnian to get stronger and to train my siblings after! Then, hopefully, they will let my own home become one of their subsidiary branches, oh how great that would be!"
Ah? This...his goals feel similar to mine. I am also the oldest sibling, the one to be heir to the Yan Clan Patriarchy, and even though I want to get out of being a subsidiary branch, I do want to bring fame to my own home, and to train my household...
And didn't my brother Zhi also say he's the only cultivator of his own home? He probably wishes for greatness to his own family name as well...I had just complained about Zhongnian and now here I stand, a hypocrite.
Besides my lofty goal that I told my instructor and this Five Flames Art, what really separates me from the rest? This art might be great, but my ancestor surely didn't rely on just that to bring himself to greatness. I'm able to forge my own path, but would it not be easier if I had complementary techniques? Hmm...
"Say, brother Kun, don't you fight with a curved blade? What say you we spar? I really wish to see the differences between your curved blade and my straight sword"
"That...came out of nowhere, but sure! I will spar you!" Yao Kun reached for his blade on his back, unsheathing it with a single hand.
Me, Baiyu, and Brother Zhi are the top three best performing disciples, but that does not mean I can underestimate my opponent in front of me, after all, they had to pass the same examination that I did in order to get here!
I'm going to take this spar as a measure of my strength just a week before the winter tournament and, if I'm smart enough for it, learn something out of his own blade that I can incorporate into mine!
I unsheathed my own sword, a training sword of course, and took a defensive stance with a steady foundation, "Since you're my senior, I'll let you have the first hit, brother Kun!"
"Jungdo Yonggeommu (Middle Path Dragon Saber Dance), Second Stance--"
Yao Kun rushed forward, feinting a thrusting attack before spinning clockwise and aiming his large blade straight for my neck! It moved like a surgical blade, it wasn't necessarily flashy despite it's spinning, it would be effective...
"Hyeongyeol Chakseon (Line-Cutting at Hidden Meridians)!"
If I hadn't already faced a more skilled opponent with better faints! It was too slow and he spun too early!
I easily slashed at his blade, pushing him backward, I moved forward but only gave a few, basic slashes. I wanted to see more! Show me more of your arts!
"Underestimating me will be a mistake, even if I was only the fifth-best examinee at two yucheons ago, I have grown immensely since!
Third Stance!"
He rushed at me again, spinning and spinning again, which reminded me a lot of Baiyu's Moonlight Drown stance, but this was different! His saber is shorter than a normal sword, but it's easier to create a crushing attack with just a light twist of the wrist! If he notices an opening and decides to strike, I'll take heavy damage!
I was backed more and more, ten steps, twenty, thirty, just how much conditioning has he done?! Did he do additional laps while the rest of us were passed out from exhaustion?
"Yongmyeong Beopryeon (Roaring Dragon's Refined Method)!"
His stance, combined with his relentlessness and physique, is several times more dangerous than Baiyu's spinning attacks!
There's nothing I can do!