The scene was deathly quiet, the moment that the instructor arrived, all the guards stood steady as before, seeing me with a sword in hand and a fellow servant on the ground, no matter how much instructor Lu San favored me, that didn't stop him from appearing directly in front of me like teleporting and fixing me in place using one hand, while roaring strongly at me saying :
Have you gone mad, Tian Long, what did you do ? .
My eardrums were hurt just from hearing him roaring like that, his roaring voice sounded even stronger than the roaring of a lion back in my old world, his strength also gave the impression of him at least being at the same level strength as a lion, the moment his hand landed on my shoulder, i felt like i was holding a mountain on my back, i couldn't even muster enough strength to move a finger .
That forced my whole mind to go blank, if the man in front of me wanted to kill me, it won't probably take him much effort to do so, bare handed at, that what shocked me to the core, i suddenly was reminded of what Lu Jiu did before and how he changed completely to a different person after the fight started and after taking that weird stance of his and the shock in my heart and mind only deepened .
Seeing that i wasn't speaking, he seemed to have labeled me as guilty and he suddenly raised his hand and was about to slap me, just him barley raising his hand up, i already felt that my whole body was screaming at me to run away, but that wasn't possible, i involuntarily tried to muster any amount of words to say, but words were stuck in my throat due to fear .
I don't know how any of this was possible, but one thing i was currently certain of, if that slap of his landed on me, i would be dead, almost at the death door, i was able to muster enough strength to point at the guy who collapsed to the floor .
Only then did the strong man in front of me finally let go of me, the moment he let go of my shoulder, i felt like my legs were made of jelly and i directly collapsed on the floor, looking to be quite lost in thought and i was indeed was .
The Man who almost killed me just now, looked completely different to the man in my memories, his complexion was never this cold nor was his voice .
He was a burly man with a tanned skin, he has a tanned, weathered skin tone, his skin was quite rough his chest was quite broad loaded with all kind of muscles, he had black hair, brown bright eyes, he looked to be in thirtieth, he normally looked quite kind and approachable, but now no one was able to look at him in the eyes currently .
Even the guards were staring at the floor without even breathing afraid of catching instructor Lu's attention .
He first checked the pulse of the guy on the floor then shook his head and stared at one of the guards and asked with a deep frown on his face :
Tell me what happened ? .
The guy in question body shook slightly, but he soon bowed hurriedly and said while cupping one of his hand around his fist in greeting :
Replying to the instructor, what happened was like this, servant Lu Jiu challenged family slave Tian Long to a duel, which the latter only agreed to after the first agreeing to put 2 silver taels as collateral and they are in the hands of old Han .
He stopped talking as if was afraid of impacting himself and the other guards, if he were to say any more, but one look at the still unsatisfied with what he had heard instructor Lu and who suddenly stood up from beside Lu Jiu's body, shattered his resolve as he continued to say :
Lu Jiu then used The Charging Tiger Martial Art, trying to overwhelm Tian Long and and maybe even severely injuring him, but due to him chewing more than he can swallow and using a Yellow High Grade Martial Art without being even a Martial Apprentice, resulted in him losing control of the circulation of the technique, becoming unable to stop it, even after it sucked up all his Blood Qi, it began eating all his life force and he ended up losing rationality and in the end, his life as well .
The man came to me and the expression in his eyes seemed to have become a little bit more gentle, as he began patting me on the shoulder, with much gentle force than before, but i was completely engrossed in thought to notice all this happening .
The instructor then snapped his finger in front of my eyes and i returned from the detached state that i was in, after seeing me regaining clarity, he helped me up and vanished from in front of me and appeard in front of the guard and said in a domineering voice :
Y'all are really good guys, you saw a servant using a Martial art from who knows where and instead of stopping him from causing ruckus, you let him do what he liked, really, really good guys you are .
From the onlookers pov, he seemed to be praising them, but as you look at the ugly expression on their faces, you would be able to understand that he wasn't complimenting them at all .
All of them lowered their heads in shame, all but one person, he seemed to have a little bit of backbone, enough to at least allow him to talk back to the insanely strong instructor, he coughed a bit then began saying cupping his fist politely in front of him:
Instructor Lu, your words are harsh, how were we know that things will become like this, you like us know that by the rules of the family we are ordered not interfere with what the servants do to one another, if they were to challenge each other to a duel, so our hands were forced too, you see .
Oh, i see, i see, so you already were bought prior to all this, guess that was at least good in a sense, i would now be able to inflict as much punishment as i see fit upon all of you ande everything will go according to the family rules as well .
At him saying this, all the guards had their faces become aghast at how easy he accepted their words, but then this amazement of their was short-lived and it soon become deep sorrow, the guy who talked confidently just now, began saying in a stammering manner :
But, but, but we weren't bought by anyone, it is clearly written in the family book rules that we can't interfere with the battle between the servants, if the two parties already agreed to duel, we aren't presumptuous enough to go against the family's rules, i hope instructor Lu can understand that our hands were really forced here .
So you are suggesting that i was the one being presumptuous then, Lu Han .
This slave didn't mean, instructor Lu clearly misunderstood .
You are even calling me a short-sighted person, well what do you think the best punishment suitable for you, Lu Han .
The old guard named Han knelt down and kept kowtowing while asking for mercy from the instructor, saying that not even after swallowing a thousand courage, would he be brave enough to do something like this and he asked the instructor for a bit leniency, which was given to him and the other guards, the instructor said :
Just so that all of you are aware for the reason you were being punished for, the instructor then pointed his hand towards all the gus that were injured due to Lu Jiu losing control of himself and going crazy just now .
He then continued to say :
Your excuse is good, you indeed acted as the family rules, but what did you do when the family rules were being challenged and other people got involved in the fight, what did you do to prevent that, you are all Martial Apprentices, yet you weren't able to subdue a guy that hadn't even become a Martial Apprentice yet, useless, you are all bunch of usless, 40 lashes for each and everyone of you, old Han i heard that you are still stuck in Flesh Tempering 5th layer, i will be helping you by giving you a chance to finally break through the peak of middle stage, 70 lashes, I believe this amount will be enough for you to finally have a breakthrough .
The guards all but old Han cupped their fist and said in unison :
Thank you for being lenient .
Old Han face was completely ugly and he only regained his composure after he heard the other guards words, only then did he too cupped his fist and said the same, albeit with a bit of unwillingness in his tone .
The instructor snorted and appeared in front of old Han and told him to hand it over, old Han didn't understand what to hand over exactly, so he asked about what " it " meant, the instructor directly slapped him with enough strength that i was able to see a few teeth coming out of his mouth as a result of .
The instructor then told him to hand over the 2 silver taels, at the mention of this, the face of the old Han was black as the bottom of a pot, he didn't hand the silver taels, but said :
Instructor Lu this is a matter of integrity, Tian Long hadn't won the fight, so i'm protecting him from being subjected to the resentment of Lu Jiu by doing that, please understand .
The instructor and everyone looked at the shameless Old Han with a look that seem to imply " who were you trying to fool ", the instructor snorted at him, then said two words, those two words were enough to force him tho hand over the silver taels, the instructor said :
80 lashes .
The guy whose name was Old Han hurriedly handed the one tael of silver and the other pieces of silver, then instead of glaring at the instructor, he actually began to glare at me with the intent to kill someone on his face, but i was so engrossed in my own thoughts now to see that or even care about it much .
Just now all that happened had unlocked another core memory from the original Tian Long's memories, this new core memory was about the reality of the world that guy lived in, allowing me to finally understand what those weird feelings i kept feeling yesterday were .
First the reality about this world, all i currently know about it was that it was a cruel world of Martial Arts, yes Real Martial Arts that seemed to grant those who practice it a huge increase in their strength, resilience,speed, energy and on and on, that was in itself a shocking piece of information that shocked me to the core, but it was still somewhat comprehensible as that was almost similar to the Martial Arts on my previous world, or so i at least was thinking during the fight was the late Lu Jiu .
But i was confronted with the ugly truth about the difference in the actual amount of strength that someone can have after practicing the Martial Arts here in this world only after i came face to face the wrathful Lu San .
This world was really a complete different world, not a timeline as i was thinking before, no this was a cruel world where strength reigned supreme, a world where Martial Artists were on top of the hierarchy pyramid above all others, ruling others through strength, my civilized mind that was still stuck in the modern day way of thinking, almost went crazy at this realization, this world was being operated on one law, YOUR STRENGTH HERE DETERMINED YOUR VALUE .
I was an idiot, that was the only current thought that i had on my mind, i kept cursing myself for my stupidity, i finally understood why was the original Tian Long so stubborn and so determined on pursuing the Martial path, the feeling of your life and death being determined completely by the whims of someone else was truly an uncomfortable feeling .
Due to him not being able to choose a Martial Art that he could start training in due to him being a family slave, he was given guidance by instructor Lu that it would be best for him to join a Martial Art Dojo where he would be able to finally learn Martial Arts, or he should just accept his fate and join the Lu Family as a servant .
That what led the original Tian Long to begin selling all his belongings and doing all kind of works just so that he can amass the amount of money needed to join Solid Rock Fist Dojo recommended by the instructor .
That led the original Tian Long to caught the attention of Deacon Lu for some unclear reason which in return led to his death, the feeling that i was having before was related to the accumulated resentment towards Deacon Lu .
Something that if not unsolved, will keep haunting me for who knows how long, how to solve that resentment was quite easy, i just need to cut the cause and effect between me and that Deacon Lu, meaning that i need to kill him .
The thought of killing him came to my mind all of a sudden as if confirming that my thoughts were right, i involuntarily looked at the body of Lu Jiu next to me and i couldn't help but wonder what kind of compensation did Deacon Lu promised that guy, when i was reminded of the last words i heard him saying before he collapsed on the floor .
He was saying something about a Pill, was that the reward he would have gotten if he was able to successfully deal with me, if i had take him head on like the voices in my mind was telling me to, i would have been laying on the ground just now, even though he was originally weaker than me .
He was much stronger due to the fact of the Martial art he was using, he sacrificed his life just so that he can gain a quick victory over me, but sadly for him i wasn't the original Tian Long .
My head was beginning to hurt me thinking about all of this, conspiracy,the cruel reality of my new life, how wrong was my line of thought, all kinds of bad premonition were now assaulting me, luckily someone seemed to be aware of this, a hand suddenly patted me again on the shoulder with a bit more force than before, enough to jolt me awake, helping me regaining my clarity, at least a little bit of it .
I saw that the instructor was once again standing in front of me and stuffing two silver taels in my hand, telling me :
You did good .
I hurriedly cupped my fist and politely thanked him for his kind words, i then noticed that Old Han was looking at me in a weird away, but now more familiar with the nature of the people in this cruel world, i was able to understand that he was holding me responsible for taking away his things, it seemed that even if i have fought and won, i wouldn't have been able to get my reward .
For the first time in my life, i felt that it wasn't something good to have much money in your hands, but soon that thought was thrown out to the back of my mind, replaced by another strong and determined thought, that thought was :
WILL THIS AMOUNT OF MONEY EVEN BE ENOUGH TO ALLOW ME SURVIVING IN THIS CRUEL WORLD OF MARTIAL ARTS, REAL MARTIAL ARTS ?! .
SURELY NOT .