《My Path of Justice》


 Chapter 1: Muyou and Yiqi

    *rustle* *rustle*


    "Get back here you rascals!" furious roars echoed through the forest, as two boys were being chased by another black-robed figure.


    The black-robed figure was a disciple of a sect called "Wind Sword Sect". His long black hair was being tied into a ponytail and he was only about 1.5m tall, looking not older than 10 years old. As he was chasing, he was busy throwing rocks at the two figures ahead.


    "Just leave us alone, we were just foraging for berries around the area!" Yiqi shouted back. Yiqi was the taller one among the two boys being chased. He was around 1.6m tall, very toned and tanned, like a child of the jungle.


    "Yea! We were not even interested in any of your third-rate Wind Sword Sect''s martial arts!" Muyou sneered and stuck out his middle finger. Muyou unlike Yiqi, looked just like any other village boy, 1.5m tall, had quite a fair complex and had long hair.


    "You... You..." upon hearing the words "third-rate", the black-robed figure was furious. "If I don''t beat you two up today, I will not even qualify to be an outer disciple of Wind Sword Sect! In fact my name will not even be Yang Jie!"


    *Plop!*


    Just as he finished his sentence, he fell into a hole. It was a wild boar trap!


    "You dumbass! That was a hole people dug to catch wild boars and instead it caught you! You can''t even spot a wild boar trap! Guess Wind Sword Sect disciples are not any better than wild boars!" Muyou laughed as they ran deeper into the forest.


    By now Yang Jie''s face was red from both embarrassment and anger. Although he was in the bottom tier of the Wind Sword Sect, he never expected to be humiliated by two village rascals. He was sweeping the courtyard when he discovered Muyou and Yiqi sneaking around suspiciously. When he noticed they were not wearing the Sect''s clothes and went to approach them, they immediately climbed over the wall and ran. He thought that he could capture them easily, but now he was the one stuck in a hole. Now, his pride as a Wind Sword Sect outer disciple was tarnished.


    "YOU TWO! Don''t let me see you ever again!"


    As Muyou and Yiqi heard Yang Jie''s roar, they giggled and continued to run.


    After an hour of running, they stopped at a river and began to take a break.


    "Damn. That Yang Jie was the most persistent guy we had ever encountered. The people from the other sects gave up after chasing us for 1km, but that freak chased us for 10km." Muyou lamented as he leaned back onto a rock.


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    "Luckily there was the wild boar trap, if not who knows how long he would have continued to chase us. We had better avoid Wind Sword Sect from now on." Yiqi replied as he passed Muyou a bun. Due to them growing up in the forest ever since their parents disappeared, they were able to spot any dangers or traps, not to mention a simple wild boar trap.


    After catching some fishes, they proceeded happily back to their hideout. Their hideout was actually a small cave, which was quite well-camouflaged. Only if one look closely, then they would spot the cave. Moreover who in the right mind would bash through the thick bushes just to inspect the cave.


    When they reached back into their hideout, it was already night-time and they started to cook their fishes. As they cooked, they started to inspect their loot from Wind Sword Sect.


    Actually, Muyou and Yiqi was at the Wind Sword Sect to steal their martial art tomes. However, the security for the Inner Parts of the Wind Sword Sect was too tight, so they could only sneak around the Outer Parts and steal the basic Wind Sword Sect.


    There were a total of 5 books laid out on the ground; "Basic Qi Circulation", "Introduction to Inner Strength Cultivation", "Basic Sword Stance I", "Basic Sword Stance II" and "Qing Gong Art".


    "Why do these sects even bothered to teach these useless crap down." Muyou grumbled as he flipped through the books. "Other than the Qing Gong Art, the rest are crap."


    "Don''t worry Big Brother, we are already quite strong for 10 year olds. Compared to the outer disciples, we can certainly win them in a duel." Yiqi tried to console Muyou, as he lifted up a rock and dragged out a bag.


    Inside the bag, there were dozens of martial art tomes which they had stolen from various sects through the years. However, they only managed to steal from second and third rate sects, they never dared to sneak into the 5 Great Sects of the Dong Jing region.


    After putting the 5 new tomes into the bag, they turned to grab their cooked fishes. However, instead of seeing their dinner, they saw an old man sitting at the entrance of their cave eating their dinner.

 Chapter 2: The Unexpected Guest

    That old man had long gray hair and was dressed in a red robe with black dragons on it. When he noticed that Muyou and Yiqi were staring at him in shock, he smiled at them and continued munching on his fish.


    "Not right. We have set up so many traps around the cave, it''s almost impossible for anyone to sneak into our cave." Yiqi was shocked and slowly approached his sword.


    "You damn old geezer! How dare you simply sneak into our place and steal our food!" Before Yiqi could reach his sword, Muyou took out his metal chain and whip towards the old man.


    *Bam!*


    The metal chain slammed onto the ground barely missing the old man. Muyou continued to advance forward and swung his arm sideway, causing the metal chain to swing towards the old man again.


    *Bam!*


    Again, it missed the old man and slammed onto the side of the cave. Muyou started to frown his eyebrows. "It seems that this old geezer is not so simple" Muyou''s accuracy was actually dead-on, but the old man was avoiding the attacks with such calmness and swiftness that Muyou started to doubt his own accuracy.


    "Interesting, never would I have thought to encounter a chain user out here in a remote jungle. However, all chain users have a weakness, which is close combat!" The old man finally spoke and suddenly leap towards Muyou.


    In just an instant, the old man was already in front of Muyou. Muyou was shocked at how much distance the old man covered in just a blink of an eye, but he quickly regained his composure.


    Just as the old man stretched out his palm to hit Muyou''s stomach, Muyou''s leg lept upwards and delivered three consecutive kicks. There were three loud booming sounds as  Muyou''s kicks clashed with the old man''s palm.


    Muyou was sent flying back. As he tried to stand up, his legs crumbled and he knelt onto the ground. "This old geezer''s strength is too monstrous." Muyou spurted out blood as he clutched his knees.


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    "That was the first stance of the Yellow Tiger Sect''s 15 Thunder Drill-Kicks, and this rascal actually managed to master it. Seems like he is not any ordinary rascal." The old man''s eyes lit up as he wiped the dust off his robe.


    Just as he was about to take another step forward, Yiqi leaped towards him and slammed his sword on the ground shaking the whole cave. The sword was a huge 1 metre tall bronze sword, which looked so heavy that even adults would have difficulty exerting full control over it.


    "Esteemed elder, I hope you would forgive my brother for his aggression. Please forgive him just this once." Yiqi clasped both of his hands and bowed towards the old man.


    "Impressive. This kid managed to have such control over this huge sword. Seems like these two kids have some potential." The old man muttered to himself as he glanced at Yiqi and Muyou who was trying to recover the strength in his leg.


    "Why are you apologising to that old geezer who stolen our dinner! Let''s attack together Yiqi!" Muyou roared as he swung his metal chain.


    Yiqi sighed and bowed to the old man again before grabbing his sword. He kicked his sword, causing it to swing upwards in the direction of the old man. Just as the old man took a step back, the chain suddenly appeared at the old man''s left ankle.


    The old man snorted and leaped upwards to avoid the chain, but in the air was Yiqi already prepared to jab his sword towards him. The old man waved his sleeve and deflected Yiqi''s jab and sent Yiqi hitting the cave wall.


    At this instant, the chain below the old man started swirling up towards him, like a snake chasing a bird. However, the old man snorted and unleashed some of his Qi. Muyou lost control of his chain and both the chain and Muyou was being blown back.


    The old man descended onto the bag of tomes and sat on it smiling at Muyou and Yiqi.


    "Have we had enough my little friends?"

 Chapter 3: Grandmaster Hong

    Muyou and Yiqi stared at the old man in disbelief.


    Although they had already ascertained that the old man was stronger than them, but to deflect all of their attacks with such ease was simply mind-boggling.


    "Grand... Grand... Grandmaster... This old man is a grandmaster!" Muyou and Yiqi glanced at each other before backing further up.


    Meanwhile, the old man simply sat there browsing all of the tomes in the bag.


    "Hmmm... Basic Sword Stance I, worthless book... Dragon Fist I, more like Worm Fist, another useless book... Thunder Drill-Kicks I, worth a read but still useless..." The old man continued rummaging through the bag without paying any attention to Muyou and Yiqi.


    "ahem." Yiqi cleared his throat and clasped his fist. "Yiqi pays respect to grandmaster. May I know how do we address you?"


    "Muyou pays respect to grandmaster too."


    Muyou following Yiqi''s lead, stood up and clasped his fist too. He understood that the disrespect that he had displayed earlier, could easily warrant both of them being killed by that old man.


    The old man looked up and glanced at them. Muyou shuddered when he saw the sharp gaze of the old man, he felt like he was a prey being inspected by a predator.


    "Not bad not bad... These two lads are quite promising, although their fundamentals are rubbish, but their fighting prowess were not that bad."


    The old man nodded as he stroked his beard. Initially, he thought he was stealing some bandits'' food, never did he expect this cave to be two boys'' hideout.


    "Since you called me grandmaster, you can address me as Grandmaster Hong. Who is your master and why are you hiding in this cave?"


    "We are Sect-less and do not have any master. We are orphans and this cave is our home. We learnt martial arts by reading these tomes." Yiqi replied respectfully, while also glancing at the tomes worriedly. If those tomes were stolen by Grandmaster Hong, all of their efforts would have gone to waste.


    "Why not just join a Sect? With your current standard, most of the Sects out there would gladly accept you."


    Grandmaster Hong''s eyes glowed with curiousity. By now, he was interested in Muyou and Yiqi.


    "Bah! Those Sects are worthless. We joined the Wudang Sect, but all they did was make us do chores and listen to the boring lectures. We were not even allowed to spar or hold a sword, we were simply free labour! Furthermore, the seniors even beat us up to extort our meals. Wudang is simply a group of losers!"


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    Muyou sneered. His face had an ugly expression and was turning red from the anger. "We would never become strong in Wudang, thus we escaped! But, we will certainly return the favour next time!"


    "HAHAHA!!! You really remind me of my younger self! You two have pretty good talent considering you reached this stage without any guidance. You two will definitely become strong martial artists in the future!"


    Grandmaster Hong roared in laughter. He had taken a liking to them, especially Muyou.


    "Since our meeting here can be considered as fate. Grandmaster Hong, will you please accept us as your disciples! Muyou and I will definitely not disappoint you!" Yiqi and Muyou knelt down and clasped their hands. They had seen how powerful Grandmaster Hong was, and they knew that what they lacked most was a master.


    Grandmaster Hong paused for awhile. "Considering how far they have advanced without any guidance, they have some talent... It will be quite a waste to see them continue advancing aimlessly..."


    "Hmmm... I have never accepted any disciples in my life. I have lived life freely, like a cloud in the sky, never tied down by anyone. I do not plan to change my lifestyle." Grandmaster Hong said as he walked towards Muyou and Yiqi.


    "However, seeing as how you called me Grandmaster, I don''t mind giving you two some pointers. Also treat this as a payment for the dinner I stole from you guys."


    Upon hearing this, Muyou and Yiqi''s eyes lit up as they started kowtowing to Grandmaster Hong.


    "Why are you two kowtowing to me? I am not your master, I am merely giving you some guidance as a payment for the fishes that I ate, keep that in your mind, I Grandmaster Hong has no disciples." Grandmaster Hong smiled. "However, if I were to hear a single word of complaint from you two about the training, I will leave straightaway."


    "Don''t worry, nothing is too hard for us! We will feed you with a sumptious meal everyday! You can repay us by teaching us everyday!" Muyou chirped happily.


    Grandmaster Hong was quite glad to have met Muyou and Yiqi. It seems like he can use them to relieve his boredom for the next few days. Although he had taken a liking to them, but he planned to leave after a few days, he never wanted to become too attached to anybody. A few pointers from Grandmaster Hong would be extremely beneficial to them, even more beneficial than a few months of training in Wudang.


    In the cave, laughters could be heard through the night as Grandmaster Hong, Muyou and Yiqi stayed up the whole night talking and joking with each other. They were like best friends who have just met up after 10 years.


    Little did Muyou and Yiqi knew that this encounter with Grandmaster Hong would drastically change their path in life.

 Chapter 4: Start of Hongs Training

    "COCK-A-DOODLE DOO!"


    With the crowing of roosters, it was now dawn as the sun slowly rose. As the various beasts of the jungle emerged to start another day, Muyou, Yiqi and Grandmaster Hong had already started their day.


    "So Muyou is ten years old and Yiqi is nine years old, and they picked up their martial arts from these random tomes they have stolen... Hmmm... How should I proceed from here..."


    Grandmaster Hong had learnt more about them after chatting with them through the night. He saw potential in them, but due to their unstructured learning with no guidance, he was unsure of their basic knowledge regarding martial arts.


    "Now, can any of you two explain to me what is the difference between Inner Strength and Qi?" Grandmaster Hong asked. This was a basic question and he hoped that they could get it correct, so he could skip all this basic boring introduction.


    "I know I know!" Muyou raised his hand immediately. "Inner Strength is the physical capability of a person and Qi is the spiritual energy gathered! Inner Strength allows you to punch a hole through a person, but Qi allows you to directly attack a person''s internal organs!"


    After hearing that, Grandmaster Hong nearly fainted. "How ignorant can these kids be!"


    Meanwhile, Muyou was smirking and felt very proud of his answer. Grandmaster Hong shook his head and glanced at Yiqi. Yiqi merely shrugged his shoulders and gave a sheepish look.


    "Guess I will have to go through the basics of martial arts to you guys." Grandmaster Hong sighed, the thought of having to give a long lecture already made him bored. He was hoping for some action, some entertainment to relieve his boredom.


    "Listen up! To practise martial arts, you have to understand Inner Strength and Qi. Inner Strength is more than physical strength. A person''s strength will be limited by his physical attributes no matter how hard he trained. Look at me, I am so small compared to this tree." Grandmaster Hong lectured as he walked towards a huge tree.


    "With just my physical strength, I can never hope to topple this tree with my palm, because there is a limit to how much strength my arm muscles can exert. However if I were to utilise my inner strength..."


    *BAM!*


    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.Grandmaster Hong slapped the tree with his palm, and the tree toppled. Witnessing this, Muyou and Yiqi''s eyes sparkled. They were amazed.


    "So simply put, inner strength helps you overcome the limits of your physical strength, it is like a realm above. Naturally, martial artists focus on their inner strength more. However, that does not mean you can neglect your physical strength training, if your physical strength is shit, you can forget about having a top-class inner strength."


    Muyou and Yiqi continued to listen attentively, this was the first time they heard a proper lecture regarding martial arts. Moreover, Grandmaster Hong''s explanations were so succinct, the Wudang lectures paled in comparison.


    "To train your inner strength, you also have to understand your body''s meridian points. Meridian points are the major blood flow crossroads in your body. Many people would tell you that in your body there is a total of 150 meridian points, however I can confidently say that there is a minimum of 158 meridian points. The inner strength energy is carried by your blood. In a normal human body, most of the meridian points are only partially opened by about 10%. By fully unblocking a meridian point, your inner strength will grow faster and you will be able to utilise more inner strength. So the more you fully unblock, the better it will be."


    "Ok now, to increase your inner strength, there are inner strength exercises where you have to focus on grasping your inner strength energy circulating inside your body, and all of your body functions including your heartbeat and breathing rate. However, my personal philosophy is that your body is like a vassal which contains the inner strength. So unless your physical strength is up to par, I would forbid you from cultivating inner strength."


    Muyou and Yiqi''s faces sank at this point. They were really eager to start growing their inner strength. Grandmaster Hong smiled, when he saw their gloomy expressions.


    "However, both of your strength were monstrous. To be able to wield that metal chain and that huge ass sword with such proficiency, by simply relying on brute force, you have passed my test."


    Muyou and Yiqi immediately jumped to their feet, eager to start training.


    "Regarding Qi and Martal Arts Stances, I will teach you two some other day. Now are you guys prepared for my speciality, Hong''s Hell Training Lesson I?"


    Grandmaster Hong''s eyes sparkled and he grinned at them. "This is going to be entertaining."

 Chapter 5: Inner Strength Training

    "Grr....."


    It was already noon, with the sun hanging high up in the sky. Grandmaster Hong was lazing on a rock, roasting a rabbit that he just caught. In front of the rock, was Muyou and Yiqi in horse stance, holding two buckets of water each.


    "Damn it, we have been scammed, how is this going to train inner strength. This is just physical training. That Grandmaster Hong was just lazing around there the whole day without giving any pointers."


    Just as Muyou was about to straightened his knees, a pebble flew towards his leg.


    *Thud!*


    Muyou immediately bent his knees back to 90 degrees, in the standard horse stance. This had been repeating for the whole morning. Grandmaster Hong had been shooting pebbles at them if they were to slacken their posture one bit and warned them that if they collapsed, there will be no lunch for them.


    "Why can''t you be like your younger brother. He only slackened his posture once, and he immediately learnt his lesson after being hit by a pebble. Whereas you, I have been shooting pebbles at you the whole morning." Grandmaster Hong lazily nagged at Muyou while munching on his roasted rabbit.


    Muyou''s face turned sour and he grumbled in his heart.


    After an hour, Grandmaster Hong leapt down from his rock and started clearing the leaves on the ground, drawing a pattern on the ground. After closer inspection, actually it was a path being traced from the rock to Muyou and Yiqi.


    "Ok, look at those two roasted hares on the rock, they are your lunch, to get there, you have to use your legs to trace this path which I have drawn for both of you. However, you have to maintain this horse stance and continue holding those two buckets of water. Remember, focus on your leg muscles and your body function as you move. When you are moving, your whole body should be still, and only your legs moving. Focus on your leg movement, your heartbeat, breathing rate, everything! Grasp your whole body and do not neglect any part of it when you move!"


    Grandmaster Hong shouted as he waved his sleeve. "And who knows, maybe they will be able to have a glimpse of their inner strength energy."


    Yiqi started moving. Even as he moved, his whole body was still in the horse stance and his legs maintained at the 90 degrees.


    "Grr.. Maintain my breathing rate... Control my heartbeat... Separate my leg movement from the rest of my body and pour all my energy into it..."


    Yiqi gritted his teeth as sweat started pouring down his face. By now his whole body was drenched in sweat and was starting to tremble. His legs were moving at a snail pace, but he was definitely making progress.


    Grandmaster Hong nodded his head in satisfaction, then glanced over at Muyou.


    Muyou looked more frantic than Yiqi and his whole body was trembling furiously. He was trying to accomplish too many tasks at once, and his whole mind was panicking.


    "Look at the path... Control my heartbeat... Maintain the stance... Move my.. Argh, where is the path again..." Muyou kept murmuring to himself.


    *Crunch!* *Thud!*


    Muyou had gone out of the path and stepped on a leaf. Just as he stepped on a leaf, a pebble flew towards him and hit him on the stomach, causing him to fall backwards.


    "Restart! You need to stop panicking if not you will never have your lunch!" Grandmaster Hong shouted. He knew that this exercise was not easy, especially after maintaining the horse stance for the whole morning. However, this was the fastest way for them to grasp their whole body and inner strength. It was after pushing their body to the limit, then they would have a higher chance of a breakthrough.


    Muyou gritted his teeth as he climbed back to his feet and went back to his horse stance. Luckily, when he fell, he did not spill much of the water or he would have to run to the river to refill.


    Meanwhile, Yiqi was already halfway through. His body had become steadier, and his trembling had stopped. His eyes were focused on the path ahead, and his breathing had stabilised. As Yiqi started to grasp all of his body functions, he began to feel the inner strength energy circulating inside of him. By slowly utilising this inner strength, his leg movement was becoming smoother.


    "Talent indeed." Grandmaster Hong''s eyes lit up when he saw Yiqi''s movement. He could sense that Yiqi had begun to grasp his inner strength. When he turned to Muyou who was still at his starting point, he let out a disappointed sigh.


    "Ok... Lets do this. Grasp the whole body, be a master of your body... Separate the functions... Focus on the path... Focus on the legs..." Muyou talked to himself as he looked attentively straight ahead on the path.


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    After 15 minutes, Yiqi finally reached the rock and happily put down his water buckets. As he grabbed his roasted hare on the rock, he stared at Muyou. Muyou was still at the starting point. At this point, Yiqi and Grandmaster Hong were worried about Muyou''s progress.


    Suddenly, Grandmaster Hong realised Muyou''s body has relaxed but still maintaining the horse stance and carrying the two water buckets. His breathing and pulse rate have stabilised drastically. Just as he was about to nod his head in approval, Muyou closed his eyes and started tracing the path with his legs.


    Yiqi stared in disbelief while Grandmaster Hong nodded his head in approval. Muyou''s movements were smoother than Yiqi, moreover, he did it from his memorisation of the path. Muyou''s leg movement was like a master painter''s brush strokes.


    "YOSH!!!"


    In just 5 minutes, Muyou had reached the rock and he let out a huge roar of satisfaction. He was tired but was extremely satisfied with his performance. He had finally managed to grasp the inner strength within him! He leapt up to the rock and immediately started to devour his lunch.


    "There are tremendous potential in these two boys if I were to guide them who knows how far they will go. Hmmm, let me see how far I can push them in these few days before I leave." Grandmaster Hong stared at them hungrily chowing on their lunch. Grandmaster Hong and wandered the country for many years, and had guided quite a number of people whom he had met. However, due to his quirky personality, his training was unorthodox and extremely tough. Most people would give up after his first session. Out of all the people he had guided, only less than 10 managed to last through the first day. The longest he had stayed to guide a person was 15 days, but that person was a genius and Grandmaster Hong left because he felt bored.


    "We will proceed with the second lesson after your two finish your lunch! If you have noticed the path which I have drawn to this rock, was quite an unusual path. In fact that path was part of the leg movements of an Inner Strength Cultivation exercise. In tracing that path, you should have realised that you had to constantly circulate the Inner Strength around your legs."


    Muyou and Yiqi nodded their heads furiously as they continued chomping on their lunch. When they were tracing the path, they had to constantly focus on the distribution of the internal strength in their legs. As they progressed, they realised that they were more proficient in the usage of internal strength at various parts of their leg muscles.


    "This will allow you to have better control of your inner strength, which will be very useful. In fights, if you were able to distribute more inner strength to your point of contact with your opponent, you might be able to overpower him despite having a weaker inner strength. That is because you are more proficient in controlling your inner strength."


    Grandmaster Hong walked towards the front of the rock and looked up at both of them.


    "Now you better watch closely, the Inner Strength Cultivation exercise I am about to demonstrate to you two is something I have developed myself through the years. I call it the Destroying of Limits. This exercise will allow you to not only gain better control of your inner strength but also increase the growth of your inner strength."


    Grandmaster Hong started to demonstrate the Destroying of Limits. It was indeed a difficult exercise to master, as almost every limbs of his were in action. His movements were very slow, but in his slowness there were acuteness.


    *Pop!* *Pop!* *Pop!*


    With each slow strike of his, contained all of his inner strength. With his four limbs in action, his internal strength was being circulated at a very fast rate. Although his strikes were very slow and gentle, but Muyou and Yiqi realised that within all of the strikes contained a deadly amount of inner strength.


    *Pop!*


    Grandmaster Hong finally stopped and looked up at their astonished faces.


    "This might look very easy, just randomly circulating your inner strength. However, there is a certain sequence to it, in fact all of the Inner Strength Cultivation exercises in the World have a certain sequence. These sequence were formed on the knowledge and trials of previous masters. So if you were to just randomly circulate your inner strength and exert it at random points, you will certainly suffer an injury." Grandmaster Hong warned them with stern eyes. "Oh, and whatever I am going to teach you, do not ever pass them down to anybody else without my permission. Not even your loved ones or future children. If you do, I will personally hunt you down and strip you of all of your martial art skills."


    Muyou and Yiqi shuddered, this was the first time they had felt Grandmaster Hong''s killing intent.

 Chapter 6: No rest for you

    It was now dusk, Muyou and Yiqi had spent the whole afternoon trying to memorise and master the Destroying of Limits exercise. Grandmaster Hong had used a wooden stick to guide their strokes and their circulation of their Inner Strength.


    "Let''s call it a day!" Grandmaster Hong sat down as he drank some water from the bucket. Guiding their movements personally for the whole afternoon was indeed quite tiring. Especially for Grandmaster Hong who was used to lazing around.


    Muyou and Yiqi had a very puzzled look on their face. Grandmaster Hong had been too lenient in the afternoon training, far more lenient than the morning training. Grandmaster''s training could not possibly be so simple.


    Just as they were about to head back to their cave, Grandmaster Hong raised his hand.


    "Who said you two can just return back to the cave to rest? I''ve only said that the day is over, but the night training has just begun!"


    Muyou and Yiqi groaned. Although they had already expected that the afternoon training would not end just like that, they still hoped to rest.


    "You two are to go out and hunt three wolves each before returning to the cave. Once you bring back three wolves'' corpses, then you can return to the cave to rest. Remember, I want the whole corpse, not just the skin or the head. Oh and settle your dinner yourselves."


    Just as Grandmaster Hong started to walk away, Yiqi shouted, "Grandmaster Hong! What about our weapons, can you give us back our weapons?"


    Grandmaster Hong turned his head and smiled. "No weapons until I said so. Your body will be your best weapon. Be careful not to end up as dinner for the wolves."


    Just like that, Grandmaster Hong sent a weaponless 10 year old and a 9 year old boy to hunt for wolves. Anybody would call Grandmaster Hong insane or a sadist sending young boys to die.


    "Grandmaster Hong is insane!" Yiqi muttered to Muyou, who nodded silently.


    As the night falls, night predators started to emerge out of their caves to hunt. In the middle of the jungle, there was a fire and laughters could be heard. It was actually Muyou and Yiqi who were eating their dinner. They had managed to kill a deer, eating a portion of it as dinner while scattering the remains around them as bait for the wolves.


    "It was just one day of training and we have improved so much!"


    Muyou and Yiqi were conversing excitedly about their improvements. After one day of training, they were able to kill a deer with their bare hands! Although they struggled quite a bit, they were very satisfied with their performance.


    As they continued laughing away, they felt several eyes staring at them. When they turned around, they noticed that they were surrounded by a pack of wolves, numbering to around a dozen.


    "Well well, guess it is finally time for work." Muyou stood up as he threw away the bone he was gnawing on.


    "Big Brother, don''t just rush straight into them, remember Grandmaster Hong''s teachings." Yiqi reminded Muyou, he was worried that Muyou would be over-confident.


    "Bah! Don''t nag too much."


    Muyou and Yiqi were now standing with their back facing each other.


    "AWHOO!"


    After several loud howls, 4 of the wolves charged straight towards Muyou and Yiqi.


    "Keep calm, keep calm. Remember to be the master of your body... Gather your inner strength and circulate them like the Destroying of Limits exercise." Muyou and Yiqi desperately tried to calm themselves and remember Grandmaster Hong''s teachings.


    As the first wolf pounced towards Muyou, Muyou simply twisted his hips and delivered an uppercut to it''s stomach. The wolf was sent flying away. As another wolf tried to attack Yiqi''s right leg, Yiqi dragged his right leg backwards, and delivered a slap to the wolf''s face, sending it tumbling away.


    These movements seemed pretty normal, but there were minimal wasteful moves. Every muscle movement served a purpose in avoiding an attack and delivering a blow. The blows dealt by them, were filled with their inner strength. Although they had not cultivated a monstrous amount of inner strength or completely mastered the control of inner strength, they were able to gather and utilise whatever little inner strength they had. A blow with inner strength was several times more powerful than a blow relying just on brute strength.


    As the other two wolves attacked Muyou and Yiqi, they utilised parts of the Destroying of Limits exercise again, the footworks to avoid the wolves and the strokes to strike the wolves. Although they appeared to be handling the situation with ease, they were sweating profusely. They were focusing heavily on their usage of inner strength.


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    After being repelled by Muyou and Yiqi, the wolves returned to the rest of the pack as the pack started to circle around Muyou and Yiqi. Moreover, other than forcing the wolves back, their attacks did not seem to critically wound the wolves.


    "Guess, this might not be so easy afterall... Let''s hope we survive the night." Muyou said with a bitter smile. Yiqi frowned a little too. "Don''t worry if Grandmaster Hong gave us this mission, that means it is within our capabilities."


    "AWHOOO!"


    After another howl, all of the wolves charged towards Muyou and Yiqi simultaneously. It seemed like they were going to launch simultaneous attacks.


    "COME YOU BEASTS! LET ME SHOW YOU WHO IS THE BOSS!" Muyou roared as he leapt forward. Meanwhile on Yiqi''s side, he took a step back and stretched out his hand readying for the attack.


    Both Muyou and Yiqi were totally absorbed in this battle. With each attack and defence movement, they were trying to link the moves with the Destroying of Limits exercise. Each footwork, each stroke, each punch and each kick, they thought of the moves in Destroying of Limits exercise and rapidly circulated their Inner Strength.


    However, the simultaneous attacks launched by the wolves proved too much for them to handle. They were struggling to circulate their Inner Strength around to deliver deadly blows to every one of the attacking wolves, and to execute the footworks swiftly. Soon, scratches and bite-marks started to appear on Muyou and Yiqi''s bodies. The wolves were not any better too. They started to limp and showed other signs of injury, as Muyou and Yiqi repeatedly landed blows on them, blows which contained Inner Strength.


    Meanwhile on top of a tree nearby, stood Grandmaster Hong watching cautiously.


    "This is the fastest way to master the control of your inner strength and grow your inner strength. By throwing yourself into danger, and being pressured to constantly quicken your moves. Who would have thought of this genius method, except for me! Hahaha." Grandmaster Hong laughed in his heart as he nodded approvingly.


    True enough, in this battle, Muyou and Yiqi''s Inner Strength have improved significantly. The constant quickening of circulation of Inner Strength, the pressure to force Inner Strength around the meridians had caused some of the meridian points to widened by a little bit. When dealing out simultaneous blows, they had learnt to split their Inner Strength. When they were entangled with a wolf, and it was too late to circulate their Inner Strength to deal with another approaching wolf, in that moment of pressure, their body would manage to squeeze out an additional tiny amount of Inner Strength. Muyou and Yiqi did not know of these improvements because they were too busy in focusing on the wolves.


    This method of training, was indeed a madman''s way of training.


    "STOP THERE!"


    Muyou leapt forward and slammed his right leg onto the head of a wolf who was trying to escape. Two hours had past and 10 of the wolves were either dead or critically wounded on the ground.


    *BAM!*


    Yiqi delivered a swift punch and sent the last wolf flying. After a tough battle, Muyou and Yiqi had finally killed twelve wolves!


    "We did it... We killed..." Muyou muttered as he collapsed onto the ground.


    Yiqi limped to Muyou and lied down beside him. "Yes we did it... Don''t sleep, we have to return to the cave with the corpses." Yiqi said with a huge grin on his face, but as he completed his sentence, he too slipped into unconsciousness.


    Suddenly, Grandmaster Hong descended from the tree and rushed towards them. Muyou and Yiqi were now covered with wounds and their clothes were drenched with blood, at first sight people would have thought they were dead.


    Grandmaster Hong immediately popped two medicinal pills into Muyou and Yiqi''s mouth, and inspected their pulses.


    "Phew. Luckily they merely fainted from exhaustion. If these two talents were to die, it will be a waste. They really surprised me, taking down twelve wolves. It seems like their rewards from tonight''s battle were greater than what I expected." He sighed as he inspected their injuries.


    "Since you have done much better than what I have expected. Let me give you two a present."


    Grandmaster Hong smiled as he took out a pocket of silver acupuncture needles.


    "Let me help you unblock the eight hidden meridian points"


    The eight hidden meridian points were not part of the 150 meridian points, but were the eight additional meridian points which only a few people like Grandmaster Hong knew of. These eight meridian points were not any ordinary meridian points!

 Chapter 7: Qi

    Hi all, in this chapter, I have changed the term "martial arts stances" to "martial arts skills". Basically, Martial Arts Skills is a set of stances/moves. Enjoy!


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------


    Two weeks have past since Muyou and Yiqi met Grandmaster Hong. In these two weeks, under Grandmaster Hong''s instructions, Muyou and Yiqi were only to train their inner strength.


    They trained and sparred in the day, then went deeper into the jungle at night for their daily hunting missions. In this insane training regime, both of their internal strength grew rapidly and they had grown more proficient in utilising it. If they were to battle a normal wolf, it would not be able to put a scratch on their body.


    "Hmmm... I''ve stayed quite long with these two lads, this is really not my style... Guess I will guide them on their Qi cultivation and a bit on Martial Arts Skills.Then I will depart." After these two weeks with Muyou and Yiqi, Grandmaster Hong started to view them as his own kids or disciples, which was why he took their foundation training so seriously. However, this was exactly what Grandmaster Hong feared. After some life-changing experiences, he was determined to remove all of his worldly attachments.


    "Ok you two lads. Now let''s move onto Qi and Martial Arts Skills." Grandmaster Hong said. With just these few words, Muyou and Yiqi''s eyes lit up. They had been bugging Grandmaster Hong to teach them Qi and Martial Arts Skills, but Grandmaster Hong persistently refused.


    Upon seeing their happy faces, Grandmaster Hong smiled.


    "Qi is the Essence Energy inside of everybody. Unlike Inner Strength Energy which is constantly circulating your meridian channel, Qi is stored in your Dantians. There are three Dantians, Upper Dantian, Middle Dantian and Lower Dantian. In these, Qi is stored in a pool. To utilise Qi, you have to be able to bring forth it from any of these three pools. Qi is something very hard to grasp and is a major factor which separates martial arts practitioner and a normal person. Now watch me."


    Grandmaster Hong raised his two fingers and pointed towards a tree.


    *Bang!*


    The tree exploded into pieces! This was totally different from the previous time where he use a slap to topple the tree.


    Grandmaster Hong glanced at Muyou and Yiqi''s shocked faces, and he cleared his throat.


    "That was a Qi attack. I have gathered some of my Qi and shot it towards that tree. This is how Qi can be used for battle, you can directly shoot it, infuse it into your weapons or even just release it to overwhelm your opponents. However, if your opponent has a strong inner strength, you have to exert a huge amount of Qi to injure him."


    He raised his two fingers again and pointed towards Yiqi.


    At this point, Yiqi felt a sharp stab towards his right shoulder, it was like an invisible knife piercing towards his bones. He could his muscles ripping. He immediately circulated his inner strength towards that part.


    Yiqi pushed his right shoulder forward and *Bam!*. There were now smoke coming out from his shoulder. The pain had faded and he felt that his shoulder was perfectly fine again.


    "Just now I have only shot a small amount of Qi and you have managed dissipate my  Qi attack with your inner strength. Remember the Qi in your dantians is limited, if you used up them, you will have to wait for them to rejuvenate. As for how long, it depends on every individual."


    Muyou and Yiqi nodded furiously. This was the first time somebody was teaching them about Qi.


    "There are three different types of Qi. Blue, White and Formless. Everybody starts with Blue Qi, then breakthrough to White and then Formless. The breakthrough is extremely tough, and you have to do it for all three Dantians. So we would call a person with White Qi in all three Dantians, a Perfect White."


    "Now start meditating and focusing your mind on your Upper Dantian point first." Grandmaster Hong threw a piece of paper towards them. On that piece of paper, the positions of the three Dantian points were shown.


    Half a day had past and it''s night time. Muyou and Yiqi had sat there like a statue for the whole time. Yiqi had sensed a small pool of Blue Qi in his Upper Dantian. Now he was trying to gain control of the Blue Qi, he had only been able to cause the Qi to tremble slightly. For Muyou, he was already able to control his Blue Qi, and was now trying to sense his Blue Qi in his Middle Dantian.


    Grandmaster Hong was shocked at their progress, even Yiqi. Most of the sects would not teach Qi to their Outer Disciples. Even for the Inner Disciples, most of them would take years to comprehend and gain a basic control of Qi. People who were able to comprehend their Qi in less than a month, were called prodigies.


    Another week had past, other than short mealbreaks, Muyou and Yiqi were focused solely on comprehending their Qi. Yiqi were now able to comprehend his Qi in all three Dantians, but he was still not very proficient in utilising it. For Muyou, he too had also comprehended his Qi in all three Dantians, he was now able to shoot his Qi out.


    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    *Bang.*


    Muyou gathered all of his Qi and shot towards a tree, but it only left a small dent and produced a small banging sound. He couldn''t help but sulk, it was such a different result from Grandmaster Hong''s demonstration.


    "HAHAHA! That is already very good, for somebody who had only learnt of Qi the previous week! It''s only natural that your Qi pool is still small!" Grandmaster Hong roared in laughter as he saw Muyou''s reaction. He was secretly relieved, that Muyou and Yiqi were still quite "normal" in this aspect. If they were to start with a monstrous amount of Qi, he would be very sure they were not from this World.


    "Alright! Both of you are good enough, now let me teach you two how to cultivate your Qi. In cultivating your Qi, you can increase your Qi pool and also increase the quality of your Qi. As you cultivate your Qi, you will find the colour slowly changing from blue to white, although it will be a very slow process. And by slow I am talking from a 50 year old geezer''s perspective!"


    Grandmaster Hong laughed and threw out a tome. On it was titled "Yin-Yang Qi".


    "This is a gem for even the experts, so you two better take care of it! Start meditating the Ying-Yang Qi to cultivate your Qi. I will be in the cave."


    With that, Grandmaster Hong leapt off. On his face, was a very bitter smile.


    Muyou and Yiqi not noticing the weird expression on Grandmaster Hong, instantly picked up the tome and started memorising it. As they focused on their upper dantian and meditated using the "Yin-Yang Qi", they felt their Qi churning furiously.


    Before they knew it, it was already dawn. They had spent the whole night meditating "Yin-Yang Qi", they were too engrossed to even notice the amount of time passed.


    "Grandmaster Hong! That Yin-Yang Qi was really awesome! Do you want to test our Qi now!" Muyou shouted as they entered the cave.


    But there was only silence.


    "Grandmaster Hong?" Yiqi raised his eyebrow, Grandmaster Hong has never slept past dawn. They glanced around, and they could not find Grandmaster Hong''s traces. Instead they spotted two tomes and a letter on them.


    "Weird, what stuff is he planning now." Muyou muttered as he grabbed the letter.


    On the letter was written:


    "Dear Muyou and Yiqi,


    These three weeks were truly enjoyable for me. However, I really cannot bring myself to stay any longer. Please forgive this selfish old man for his sudden departure.


    Before I depart, here is one last mission for the both of you: CONQUER THIS JUNGLE.


    Ony after conquering this jungle, then you can venture out into Jianghu. When you are out in the Jianghu, do not bring shame to my teachings! With both of your talents and my guidance, any Sects would readily welcome both of you with open arms. Remember , I am not your master, so you can feel free to acknowledge other masters.


    I have also left behind two tomes "Fists of Defiance" and "Spectral Nymph". These are martial arts skills created by me, my two most precious babies. However don''t think that I am so nice to give you the whole set haha! They only contain the first Five Stances. After all I can only fully pass down my martial arts skills to my disciples.


    Go therefore and rampage through Jianghu! Let the whole world know of your names! Grandmaster Hong


    Grandmaster Hong"


    Muyou and Yiqi were choking on their tears as they read the letter. Although Grandmaster Hong had never officially recognised them as disciples they had always regarded him as their first master.


    As they looked up, they saw some sword carvings on the walls of the cave.


    "


    Carve your own path,


    Defy the conventions,


    Create your legacy,


    Shake the heavens!


    Like a Cloud I come,


    Like a Cloud I leave.


    -Hong WenQi


    "


    Muyou and Yiqi kowtowed three times before this carvings. "Grandmaster Hong, we will never forget your kindness towards us. Regardless of how vast the Jianghu is, we will definitely meet again." They clasped their hands and bowed.

 Chapter 8: End of the training

    For the next 3 years, Muyou and Yiqi completely immersed themselves in training. Aside from training, every month they would plunge themselves deep into the jungle, attempting to complete the last mission. In each of their ventures, they had never succeeded in reaching the mountain at the center of the jungle. One time, Muyou''s right arm was almost bitten off by a tiger, another time Yiqi was smacked into a three-day coma by a large alligator. During these 3 years, they had stared death straight in the face for dozens of times. It was also because they had each other''s support, that they were able to avoid the grim reaper''s scythe.


    "Let''s go! Let today be the day we venture out of this jungle!" Muyou glanced at Yiqi as he pointed towards the mountain. Yiqi nodded and immediately sprinted up the mountain. After 3 years, their aura resembled a veteran warrior who had rampaged through several battlefields. Their bodies were now covered with wounds and scars, Muyou''s chest had a huge slash mark inflicted by a bear and Yiqi''s left cheek had a scratch mark left behind by a tiger. Comparing their looks three years ago and now, would be like comparing tamed farm pigs to ferocious wild boars. However, their height seemed to have not changed one bit. This had been one of their sore spot.


    As they reached the top of the mountain, it was barren of trees and littered with corpses. The mountain top looked like a battlefield, and in the middle of all the corpses stood a gorilla covered in red fur. It was about 2.5m tall, and with each breath it took, smoke emerged from its mouth. Gorillas were usually vegetarian and very shy creatures, but this gorilla was like a big red killing machine and would feast on the flesh of it''s victims. This gorilla was simply a freak of nature.


    The previous time Muyou and Yiqi encountered this gorilla, they were sent fleeing with broken bones and heavy internal injuries. Luckily they used the gorilla''s strikes momentum to escape, if not they would have been among the pile of corpses. Since then, they trained for another 3 months and additionally comprehended the fifth stance of "Fists of Defiance". This time round, they were determined to show that gorilla who was the boss.


    "ROAR!!!!"


    The gorilla bellowed as it slammed its gigantic fists on the ground. It swiped its arms, sending the rubble and bones on the ground to fly towards Muyou and Yiqi.


    "Spectral Deformity!"


    Muyou and Yiqi executed the second stance of "Spectral Nymph", as they avoided the flying rubble with ease. It was a defensive technique comprising of complex footwork also granting the user the agility to avoid attacks. It looked like, despite the massive amount of rubble sent flying towards them, they were constantly able to move into any gap available.


    Suddenly, Yiqi stopped in front of a big rubble flying towards him. "TAKE THIS BACK!" Yiqi roared as he punched the rubble, sending it back to the gorilla.


    *Bam!*


    The gorilla lifted up its fists and smashed the rubble into pieces. However, just as the rubble was being slowly fragmented into pieces, Muyou was already in front of the gorilla. The rubble was actually a decoy, Yiqi used the rubble to block the gorilla''s view of Muyou''s advancement.


    "Inside Beast!"


    This was the fifth stance of "Fists of Defiance" which they had just mastered and it was the most complex move. Muyou delivered what seemed to be a normal punch to the gorilla''s chest directly, however this punch was extremely deadly. This stance allowed the user to after striking the target, deliver another wave of Qi energy directly into the target. Yiqi''s inner strength was not strong enough to deliver a critical strike past the gorilla''s thick hide, however using "Inside Beast" another fist shaped Qi flew straight into the gorilla''s body. It felt like there was a beast rampaging through it''s internal organs.


    The gorilla was sent flying back about five meters, and it spurted out blood.


    "ROAR!"


    The gorilla was now extremely furious, it did not expect to suffer such heavy internal injury in just a single exchange.


    "Treading on Shadow!"


    Yiqi suddenly appeared behind the gorilla, as if he emerged from the gorilla''s shadow. Before the gorilla had a chance to recover or respond, it could sense a huge amount of Qi emitting from Yiqi.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    "Fist that Dominate!"


    Yiqi punched in the direction of the gorilla, and a large fist-shaped Qi banged against the gorilla, sending the gorilla flying again. This was the first stance of "Fists of Defiance".


    "Ruthless deed!"


    Before the gorilla had even landed on the ground, Muyou descended from the sky onto it. He executed this second stance of "Fists of Defiance"  and delivered five consecutive strikes. One on the head, two on the chest and two on the hip. Each strike was deadly and designed to cripple its target.


    *Boom!*


    The gorilla was now lying on the ground, with blood oozing out from all parts of his body. It did not even have a chance to counter-attack and it was already one step into the grave. In these three years, Muyou and Yiqi had accumulated tremendous battle experience. One important lesson which they learnt was that always seize the initiative and never let the opponent recover. This was the swiftest way to end a battle.


    By now, the gorilla was coughing out blood with each breath it took. It knew that its chance of victory was close to zero, and it had to escape ASAP! Just as it was glancing around searching for an escape route, Yiqi and Muyou leapt in from opposite sides!


    Muyou and Yiqi had practically trapped the gorilla!


    The gorilla was trembling, as it tried to quell the frantic fear within it. In its eyes, Muyou and Yiqi were like two grim reapers swooping in.


    "INSIDE BEAST!" Muyou and Yiqi roared out as they delivered a punch each directly to the gorilla''s chest. It started to tremble furiously as blood started to foam out of its mouth. Its internal organs were shattered as it slowly slipped into unconsciousness. With this, the king of this jungle was slain and they had finally conquered this jungle.


    "Phew! This stinky gorilla has finally died!" Muyou wiped his sweat off as he lied down on the ground. In this battle, Muyou and Yiqi had used up more than half of their Qi. If they had not successfully delivered a heavy blow when the gorilla let its guard down, this battle would have been more complicated. It may even be a pyrrhic victory for them.


    "Guess we have finally completed Grandmaster Hong''s last mission." Yiqi let out a tired smile. "We can finally leave this jungle."


    "That''s right, Young Brother. Finally..." Muyou let out a laughter as he raised his fist towards the sky. Thinking back at how they were chased out of their village. How they were scavenging for food. How they left Wudang. How they stumbled onto this cave. How they managed to hunt their first meal. How they stole various sect''s manuals. And how they met Grandmaster Hong.


    The next day, Muyuo and Yiqi were in the cave kneeling in front of Grandmaster Hong''s carvings. They had collected all of their stuff and were going to enter the Jianghu.


    "Grandmaster Hong, we will forever remember your teachings and your kindness. Although you refused to acknowledge us as your disciples, but you will always be our first master. Now that we have finally completed your mission, we will leave this cave. Your teachings, we will always keep them in mind. If fate permits, let us meet again."


    Muyou and Yiqi kowtowed three times. In their hearts, they knew that the strength which they possessed today was bestowed by Grandmaster Hong. Without Grandmaster Hong, they would still be two rascals creating havoc.


    As they walked out of the cave, they picked up their weapons for the first time in more than three years. Although their weapon proficiency had not improved one bit, but their inner strength had improved by leaps and bounds. The metal chain and 1m tall heavy bronze sword appeared to be very light to them. "Guess it may be time for us to start stealing some weapons martial arts skills." Muyou laughed, as Yiqi grinned back. This was the start of a journey, a journey of how two young men rocked the whole Jianghu.


    This was the start of a journey, a journey of how two young men rocked the whole Jianghu. How they forged their own path, leaving their names behind to be revered for generations!

 Chapter 9: Xie Tieba

    It was now noon, and the Glory Marsh City was buzzing as usual. Merchants were hawking their wares on the street, restaurants buzzing with hungry customers and the city guards patrolling around the city. Among this busy crowd, were two young boys dressed in fur and torn garments. They were Muyou and Yiqi. After leaving the jungle, they ended up in a nearby city, and that was the Glory Marsh City


    "Stinky beggars, get out of the way!"


    "Get away from them dear, lest they stain your clothes."


    "How could somebody stink like that, how long has it been since they bathed."


    As Muyou and Yiqi walked on the streets, countless of people were jeering at them and throwing insults. They were very annoyed, but they did not let it show on their face as they maintained a calm expression.


    *Growl....*


    Their stomach rumbled. It has been a whole morning since they ate any food, moreover boys of their age required a huge amount of food. They did not expect that their first step to "shocking the world" would be so embarrassing.


    With their strength, they could have easily robbed the travellers they encountered on their way to the city. But Muyou and Yiqi had their morals and would not stoop so low, as to harm and rob strangers.


    "What should we do Big Bro... We do not have any money, we can''t buy food or settle our accommodation tonight." Yiqi asked Muyou with a very pitiful tone. He was feeling very helpless and insecure in this large crowd, afterall they had been living in the wilderness for a long time.


    "Don''t worry. I''m sure there are some way to earn quick bucks in this city. Let''s just explore this city for awhile more." Muyou assured Yiqi. He tried to sound confident, but he too was feeling helpless.


    As they approached the middle of the city, they saw a huge crowd cheering. In the middle of the crowd was a circular arena, and there were two men sparring. One of them was a middle-aged man ripped with muscles and bald. The other one was just a young teen with an average build.


    "Beat him! Beat him!"


    The crowd turned even crazier as the bald man slammed the young teen onto the floor.


    "I ADMIT DEFEAT!" The young teen shouted out frantically with blood spurting out of his mouth. Just as the young teen shouted, the bald man had already sent his fist flying towards the young teen''s shoulder.


    *BAM!*


    What followed was a dead silence. The whole crowd, including the judge was stunned. "Sorry, guess I was too caught up in the battle. Fists have no eyes in battle." the bald man grinned as he stood up.


    The young teen was now groaning as he clutched onto his right shoulder. The impact just now should have broken his shoulder bones, crippling him forever.


    "Winner, Xie Tieba!" An old man leapt up onto the stage and hastily announced, as he signalled the crew to help the young teen off-stage. Again, the crowd went into the crazed cheering. They were hungry for battles, they simply wanted entertainment. Although they felt sympathy for that young teen, but this was part of the battle.


    "Tieba, after winning 10 matches consecutively, you have already earned 50 silver coins. Would you like to collect your winnings, or would you like to continue?" The old man asked. After Xie Tieba had dominated the arena for the whole morning, fewer people were willing to enter the arena, and of course this affected their betting business too.


    "Of course continue!" Xie Tieba roared as he paraded around the arena with an arrogant look on his face. He loved basking in the crowd''s attention and more so, the easy money. 50 silver coins in just 1 morning, it was too good to stop now.


    After 5 minutes, Xie Tieba was still alone on the arena. Nobody in the crowd dared to go up after seeing how Tieba crippled the young teen.


    "Damn... Did I went too far in crippling that guy and scared away any potential opponents." Tieba frowned. The old man looked quite irritated too, this was bad for the arena''s business


    After another 10 minutes, Tieba announced, "If the next person is able to defeat me! He shall win all my winnings, which is 50 silver coins!" After this announcement, the crowd started chattering furiously. This 50 silver coins proved to be very attractive.


    Muyou''s eyes instantly lit up, this could be the solution to their money woes. "I''m going up!" Muyou said excitedly to Yiqi.


    "Wait! We still don''t know how strong that Tieba is. What if you end up being crippled like that previous guy?" Yiqi was very worried, afterall it was better to play safe in an unfamiliar environment.


    Muyou grinned, "Don''t worry, how can he be compared to that monster gorilla which we defeated. I''m not so dumb too, if I sensed any threat to my life, I will leap off the stage immediately." He patted Yiqi on the shoulder and leapt onto the stage.


    As he landed on the stage, everybody was shocked, especially Tieba. After crippling his previous opponent, he did not expect a young boy to challenge him.


    "Young boy, are you sure you are supposed to be here? Where is your guardian?" the old man tried to urge Muyou to not fight Tieba.


    "I''m simply here to win that 50 taels. Is there an age limit?" Muyou retorted.


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    After observing Muyou''s attire, Tieba sighed, "So it''s just a beggar boy wanting some money. Do you even have the deposit to enter this fight?"


    "There is no age limit, but to enter the arena you need to pay a deposit of 10 silver coins. Do you have the capital?" The old man said as he reached out his hand.


    Muyou furrowed his eyebrows, he was penniless so how could he pay the deposit. However, the 50 silver coins were simply too lucrative, it could solve their financial woes for the next couple of months.


    Just as the old was about to urge Muyou off the arena, Muyou raised his hand.


    "Money, that I don''t have! However, I have a healthy body and a whole life ahead of me! I am going to wager myself! If I lose, I will be your slave for the rest of my life, that surely is worth more than 10 silver coins."


    The old man was flabbergasted. "Who in the right mind will sell his whole life away for just 50 coins."


    The crowd was sent into another wave of madness. A boy wagering his life in a duel, that was a first for them.


    "Sure, why not? Don''t worry, I will not cripple you. I do not want to cripple my own slave." Tieba let out an evil smirk. In his mind, this fight was a sure win for him and Muyou was going to be his slave. "I never thought that 50 silver coins are all it is needed to attract some desperate beggar to sell his life. Seems like I''m going to gain a slave for free." Tieba chuckled to himself.


    The old man sighed and shook his head, he was quite reluctant to see a young boy sell his future away. However, he could not stop this duel since both parties had consented to the conditions. He simply waved his hand and leapt off the stage.


    "Muyou, 13 years old, please." Muyou bowed then signalled for Tieba to attack.


    "Tieba, 35 years old! You can start calling me Master Xie!" Tieba let out a huge laughter and dashed straight towards Muyou.


    "Muyou is so going to die. 13 years old and becoming a slave under Tieba, his life is going to be a living hell. There is no way he can last more than 1 stroke." The crowd all believed that Muyou was going to be thrashed. Among the crowd was Yiqi, he was speechless. He would never have imagined Muyou wagering his life, now he was very nervous.


    "Have a taste of your Master Xie''s punch!" Tieba roared as he threw out his punch. He was actually conserving half of his strength, intending to just knock Muyou out of the arena. The crowd including the old man shut their eyes, they could not bear to witness it.


    Muyou simply smiled. In his eyes, Tieba''s attack was full of openings, avoiding his punch was as easy as counting 1,2,3. Muyou did not use any martial arts skills, he merely used some simple footwork and avoided the punch.


    "How can I have a taste of your punch if you are aiming at air?" Muyou quipped.


    An irritated look appeared on Tieba''s face. "Don''t worry, I will make sure you have a good taste of it!" He responded with a calm voice, as he surged towards Muyou again.


    However, none of his punches managed to land on Muyou. His anger rose with each miss, he could not believe he did not even have the ability to catch a small boy. The crowd was now looking attentively, the sight of Muyou prancing around with Tieba furiously chasing was an amusing one.


    "You stinky monkey, do you know anything other than running?!"


    Tieba continued to chase Muyou around the arena for whole minutes as he continued to hurl insults. Muyou was smiling the whole time, he was amazed at how Tieba was even dumber than a wild beast. "He must be the perfect model of all muscles and no brain."Muyou mused to himself.


    Muyou suddenly stopped at the edge of the arena. Upon seeing this, Tieba immediately rushed in to prevent any possible escape route.


    "HAHAHA, you have no more means to escape!" Tieba laughed. He was tired of all the chasing, so he was definitely not going to miss this golden opportunity.


    As Tieba threw his punch towards Muyou, the crowd gasped. "This is it..." The crowd thought that Muyou had no way of escaping this blow now, and the victor was undisputably Tieba.


    Just as Tieba''s punch was going to hit Muyou, Muyou simply slid to the side and stuck out his leg.


    *Bam!*


    Tieba had fallen off the arena and onto the ground! "He really is a dumbass, even dumber than the wild beasts." Muyou snickered. He could not believe that Tieba would fall for such a simple trick.


    Muyou turned to the old man and raised his eyebrow. Everybody was shocked at this scene, including the old man. Tieba was already viewed as the victor even before the match began, never would they imagine that Muyou would send Tieba flying off the arena. Even though in their eyes, Muyou won by employing little tricks, but it was a shocking result nonetheless.


    Upon seeing Muyou staring at him, the old man recovered from his shock and cleared his throat.


    "Winner, Muyou!"


    As this announcement rang out, the crowd was sent into a craze. It was a totally unexpected result!

 Chapter 10: We meet again

    Yiqi heaved a sigh of relief. "Big bro''s way of doing things is too reckless." He recounted back to when Muyou announced the wager, he still could not believe Muyou dared to bet his own life. He stared at Muyou who was now parading around the arena.


    "Little friend Muyou, so after deducting the deposit from your winnings, you now have 40 silver coins. Would you like to collect your winnings, or continue?" the old man asked in a clear voice as he took out a string of silver coins.


    Muyou strutted towards the old man, as he smiled, "Of course I will collect the 40 silver coins. I do not dare to push my luck."


    However, nobody noticed Tieba who was fuming on the ground. Anger was pouring out from his eyes, as he clenched his fists. Never did he imagine that he would have lost all his 50 silver coins, and to a 13 year old rascal. Moreover, he believed that Muyou won him by trickery and not by skills or strength. This was an insult!


    "DIE!"


    Tieba bellowed as he charged towards Muyou. At this moment, Tieba truly resembled an insane beast, he had lost all sensibility.


    "BECAREFUL!" Yiqi screamed out as he surged towards the arena, attempting to stop Tieba.


    Muyou had totally let down his guard, he did not expect Tieba would go against the rules of the arena. He had not known how a human heart could be more complicated than that of a wild beast.


    Before Muyou could even turn around, Tieba had landed a punch on his stomach.


    "Pffttt...."


    Muyou spurted out blood as he was sent flying across the arena like a ragged doll. Muyou did not have the time to react or to prepare his defences.


    "Preposterous!" The old man choked Tieba and glared at him with an immense killing intent. "This is the official duel arena of Glory Marsh City! The dignity of this arena represents the city! How dare you, a mere insect, desecrate the honour of this arena!"


    As the old man''s voice boomed, the whole crowd was stunned into silence. Everybody could feel the anger in each of his words. The meek old man who had always treated everybody courteously had transformed into the God of Wrath.


    Tieba''s face turned green and was desperately kicking his legs, as he tried to gasp for air.


    "From now on, don''t ever let me see your pathetic face again!"


    The old man flung his arm and threw Tieba off the arena, glaring at Tieba as Tieba scurried away like a rat.


    Muyou''s face was very pale as blood was leaking from his mouth. "Damn, that pig really spent his whole life training his strength." Muyou muttered to Yiqi, as Yiqi held him up. Although Tieba''s footworks and strokes were horrendous, but his strength was no joke. Muyou had only himself to blame for this injury of his.


    "Little friend Muyou, I apologise on behalf of the Glory Marsh City Arena. Please accept this as our compensation." The old man offered a small brown purse.


    Yiqi received it on behalf of Muyou. As they peered inside, they pleasantly surprised. The purse contained a string of 40 silver coins and also 5 silver ingots. Each silver ingot is equivalent to 10 silver coins, so through this battle, they had earned 90 silver coins.


    "Thanks for this token. We will now excuse ourselves." Yiqi clasped his hands, then supported Muyou as they left the arena.


    Soon after they left, and with Xie Tieba gone, the arena was buzzing again as new challengers entered trying to earn some quick bucks. However, the old man''s previous display of power and the drastic change in attitude had left a deep impression on many people. Now, they treated the old man with much more respect.


    Muyou and Yiqi hurriedly found an inn and booked a room for Muyou to recuperate. They also ordered a huge amount of food with all sorts of meat, they were starved! As they wolfed down their lunch they marvelled about how delicious these dishes were. After all, they had only been eating roast meat or meat stew in the jungle, they never had the chance to eat real delicacies.


    In just fifteen minutes, they had devoured the whole table of dishes! They leaned back on their chair and let out a satisfied burp. Yiqi glanced at Muyou and asked, "How long do you think it will take for you to recover?"


    "I''m not too sure. I think I will recover completely in about a month." Muyou replied as he climbed onto his head preparing to go into meditation. Although his complexion had improved after filling his stomach, his face still looked quite pale. He was also quite annoyed that his carelessness had resulted in this injury.


    Yiqi nodded his head, they could easily afford the meals and accommodation in Glory Marsh City for a month, money to them was not an issue.


    After a week, Muyou and Yiqi finally decided to further explore the city. They had secluded themselves in their room for a week of recuperation and training. To their delight, Muyou''s recovery was proceeding faster than expected, with his injuries having recovered by about 50%. Thus, they decided to spare a day to explore the City.


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    Their first stop was a clothing shop. After receiving weird stares on the street again, they had decided that their first priority was to change their clothing. They had also left their weapons back in their room, to avoid unnecessary attention. Afterall, Yiqi''s heavy bronze sword would definitely attract lots of attention.


    After half a day of shopping, they proceeded happily to a restaurant. They had purchased some medicine for Muyou''s recovery and also herbs that the shopkeeper boasted which would boost one''s inner strength.


    Just as they were enjoying their lunch just like other customers, there was suddenly a huge ruckus at the entrance of the restaurant.


    "What do you mean that there is no seat for me!?"


    A roar rang throughout the whole restaurant. Muyou and Yiqi''s eyebrows furrowed, that voice sounded too familiar for comfort. They looked towards the entrance and saw a bald man. He was Xie Tieba!


    "Damn it... Are we connected by the red string of fate... How can I be so unlucky." Muyou cursed in his heart. Muyou and Yiqi immediately shrank and hid their faces, trying to remain low-profile and avoid unnecessary conflict.


    The waiter tried to pacify Tieba, but his words fell on deaf ears. Tieba was stomping around the restaurant trying to find an empty seat.


    "Please don''t come here, please don''t come here." Muyou and Yiqi prayed in their heart as they continued to hide their face.


    When Tieba strode past them, they closed their eyes hoping Tieba would not recognise them. Furthermore, they had changed their clothing, Tieba should not be able to recognise them in just a glance.


    Tieba suddenly stopped and turned around. He stared at Muyou''s back figure with an inquisitive glance. The hatred Tieba had for Muyou was immense, so immense that he could never forget Muyou.


    "So it is this stinky beggar monkey! I see you have used my 50 silver coins to buy some new clothes and enjoy some nice food." Tieba let out an evil grin as he walked towards them. He was convinced that after his punch, Muyou should be fatally wounded and not able to move around like the previous battle.


    "Tieba, my Big Brother has won the battle fairly. Please do not create unnecessary trouble here." Yiqi immediately stood up between Muyou and Tieba.


    "So there is another monkey here, doesn''t matter! I will repay you two for the favour earlier on!" Tieba roared as he threw out a punch towards Yiqi.


    Yiqi looked very annoyed, he was the type of person who disliked unnecessary trouble. He would prefer to de-escalate conflicts if possible, but seems like this Tieba was too much of a pig head.


    With just some simple footwork, Yiqi had already dodged Tieba''s punches and was already crouching down and grabbing Tieba''s hips. With just a simple throw, he threw Tieba out of the restaurant. Everybody in the restaurant was watching with their mouths wide open. For a young boy to throw Tieba around effortlessly, it was simply an incredible sight.


    "DO YOU WANT TO DIE!" Tieba let out another furious roar as he charged into the restaurant, towards Yiqi again. While all of this was happening, Muyou was happily eating his dishes on the table. As he heard the roars of Tieba, his face had an even larger smile. Tieba was indeed like a pig indeed.


    Yiqi sighed, he did not want to cause a huge commotion nor harm Tieba, but Tieba gave him no choice. Since Tieba wanted a contest of strength, Yiqi would grant him that!


    Yiqi''s eyes were filled with resolve as he gathered his inner strength. He had decided to meet Tieba''s punch with his own punch.


    *BAM!*


    The two fists collided with a loud bang. What was even more shocking for the spectators, was that Tieba was sent flying. He hit onto the wall of the restaurant and traces of blood could be seen from the side of his mouth. He clutched onto his right arm, but the whole of his right arm was limp. That punch from Yiqi had broken several of his bones in his arm.


    What was more shocking, was that Yiqi looked perfectly fine. He merely rubbed his fist and calmly walked towards Tieba. Upon seeing Yiqi walking towards him, Tieba was scared shitless. A kid had just so easily overwhelm his strength which he was so proud of. He knew that if Yiqi wanted to kill him, it would be a piece of cake.


    Yiqi squatted down and stared at Tieba in the face.


    "We just want to have some peace. I would really appreciate it if whatever enmity between my brother and you would end at this particular moment. We will not create any trouble for you, but I hope you will do the same. If you were to continue making things difficult for us, you will not be able to get away so easily."


    As Yiqi gave his warning in a cold tone, he maintained his gaze on Tieba''s eyes. After delivering his warning, Yiqi went back to join Muyou. Tieba was left sitting there like a statue. After hearing that warning and felt Yiqi''s killing intent from the gaze, he almost pissed himself.


    Tieba hurriedly ran out of the restaurant, as the people in the restaurant turned their stares towards Muyou and Yiqi. They knew that these two boys were not simple figures to be ruffled with!

 Chapter 11: Lin Donghai

    As Muyou and Yiqi were enjoying their lunch, a young lad approached them.


    "Hi my two young friends, I am Lin Donghai, 16 years of age. I believe you two are not from Glory Marsh City, and have lots of burning questions. So how about purchasing some information regarding this city? This will be especially helpful. Moreover, you do not need to pay a single copper coin before hearing any of the information. After this session, you can decide how much were the information worth." As Donghai pitched his sales, he resembled a professional salesman. He was dressed in a green scholarly robe and was holding onto a wooden fan, if not because of his pitch, people would have thought of him as a scholar.


    This indeed sounded like a fair deal, Muyou and Yiqi had no reasons to reject. Moreover, Donghai did not lace his pitch with bullshit flatteries and went straight to the point. This caused them to have a favourable first impression of Donghai.


    "Sure, why not?" Muyou smiled as he gestured Donghai to take a seat. Donghai bowed and took his seat. "I am Muyou, thirteen years old and this is my younger brother, Yiqi, twelve years old."


    "I am Muyou, thirteen years old and this is my younger brother, Yiqi, twelve years old." Muyou introduced themselves.


    "It is nice to meet you two, let me give you guys an introduction to this City." Lin Donghai started his ''lecture'' as he waved his fan.


    "Glory Marsh City has been established ever since the beginning of Song Dynasty. Among the five provinces in Song Dynasty, it is located in the Southern Province. It is the second largest city in the Southern Province, only second to the Soaring Crane City. In the Southern Province, we are at the Dong Jing region which is deep in the South..."


    Lin Donghai continued to drone on as Muyou and Yiqi listened attentively. This was indeed a very useful opportunity for them to learn more about the Jianghu.


    After about 10 minutes, Lin Donghai finally paused. "So that sums up the introduction of Glory Marsh City. Any questions?" He queried as he drank a sip of tea.


    Muyou and Yiqi''s minds were still processing what Donghai said. They have learnt that in Glory Marsh City, there were dozens of clans. The clans were ranked as small, medium and great. There were 24 small clans, 10 medium clans and 5 great clans. The 5 great clans comprised of the Yang, Chen, Luo, Yun and Tai. Among the 5 great clans, the Tai family was indisputably the first in ranking, due to them being the City Governor.


    However, the true power in the city was not the Tai family, but the Panther Guards. They were the auxiliary force in charge of the Southern Province, their power covered the whole Southern Province. In Song Dynasty, there were 5 divisions of guards. In the Northern Province there was the Swan Guards, Southern Province the Panther Guards, Eastern Province the Eagle Guards, Western Province the Wolf Guards and in the Central Province the Dragon Guards. The Dragon Guards was the most prestigious division, as they were also in charge of the Royal Capital.


    The Panther Guards headquarters was in Soaring Crane City, but they had a branch in every Southern Province city.


    Donghai had also explained more about the Dong Jing region. There were many sects, such as the Wind Sword Sect and Yellow Tiger Sect. When Muyou and Yiqi heard of the names of these sects, they blushed a little as they recalled the days when they were stealing tomes from them. Other than these local sects, there were the 5 Great Sects; Wudang, Misty Fog, Shiquan, Bloody Asura and Celestial Dream. These 5 Great Sects'' main branches were actually located in the Central Province, the ones located in Dong Jing Region were merely one of the many outer branches. Despite being an outer branch, these 5 Great Sects still had tremendous influence over the region.


    "So, where can we buy first-rate martial arts tomes? Specifically weapon martial arts manuals?" Muyou asked. Muyou and Yiqi''s aim had always been to grow stronger, so naturally they should be seeking martial arts manuals. They had also not given up on training their weapon skills, metal chain and the heavy sword. Them being young boys, they still had the thinking that fighting with weapons would be much cooler than bare-handed.


    "That will be a bit hard..." Donghai shook his head.


    "Can this amount buy any?" Yiqi took out 3 silver ingots and placed them on the table. Each silver coin was worth 100 copper coins and each silver ingot was worthed silver coins. Thus, these 3 silver ingots were considered to be a very high buying price.


    Donghai bit his lips and answered, "To be honest, it is not about the money... Even if you take out 3 gold ingots, it will still be impossible to get your hands on a first-rate martial arts tome. First-rate martial arts skills are usually kept really tight in clans and sects, which will only be passed down within their inner circle."


    Muyou and Yiqi could not hide the disappointment on their face.


    "By the way, are you two from any clan or sect?" Donghai could not help but ask. He was very curious about their identity, especially after Yiqi''s display of strength and Yiqi casually taking out 3 silver ingots.


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    "We do not belong to any clan nor any sect." Muyou replied nonchalantly.


    "Why don''t you two join a sect? You can try the Great Sects, I''m sure you two can enter with your current strength. If you are in a Great Sect, they may impart their martial arts skills to you." Donghai suggested.


    Muyou waved his hand and shook his head. "Nah, not our style."


    "Guess that concludes our business. Here is your payment" Yiqi said as he put a silver ingot on the table.


    "That... That... I''m afraid that is too much." Donghai was shocked at how much they were going to pay him. "The information I gave you simply isn''t worth 1 silver ingot. Just 50 copper coins would do." Although Donghai was a businessman, he would never commit daylight robbery.


    "It''s alright, just take it. Treat the change as a gift of friendship." Muyou pushed the silver ingot towards Donghai. After the conversation, he felt that Donghai was a man of integrity, more so after Donghai rejected their initial offer. He knew that to survive in the Jianghu, he would need reliable friends. In Muyou''s judgement, Donghai would be an excellent friend.


    Donghai had a very bitter expression on his face, he still felt it was unrighteous of him to simply take the silver ingot.


    He suddenly took out a map and offered it to them. "This is a map of Glory Marsh City and its surrounding. I have made this personally through my observations and knowledge, there are several useful information inside which are not commonly known. Treat this as my gift of friendship."


    "It is my honour to have made friends with you two today. If you two need any help, feel free to drop by the Lin Clan." Donghai cupped his hands and bowed. Just as how Muyou and Yiqi had a favourable impression of him, he too liked their characters and hoped to be friends.


    "Don''t stand on the ceremony! We are now friends!" Yiqi quickly lifted Donghai up and offered him a cup of tea.


    Donghai spent the whole day giving a detailed tour of the City, he showed them where the various clans were and the attractions.


    One month had passed.


    Muyou and Yiqi were now residing inside Donghai''s manor in the Lin Clan. Lin Clan was one of the 10 medium clans. Donghai was one of the many families of Lin Clan. In this one month, Muyou and Yiqi had frequently visited Donghai, so Donghai offered them residence at his manor.


    They usually spent much of the day sparring and exchanging pointers. In one of their usual sparring session, a servant came rushing in.


    "Not good Young Master! Not good! There is somebody making trouble in our Lin Inn!"


    Donghai''s face turned sour. "Brother Muyou and Brother Yiqi, I''m afraid our session has to stop here. I have to settle some matters." Donghai hurriedly tried to excuse himself.


    "Why don''t you let us accompany you? With more people on your side, you will have an easier time chasing those troublemakers off too." Muyou smiled. Such entertainment was hard to come by, how could he bear to miss this show.


    "Hmmm... Sorry to bother you two again." Donghai hesitated before agreeing. There was no harm in letting Muyou and Yiqi tag along.


    Though Lin Clan was a medium clan, they were the weakest among the medium clans. Ever since their patriarch was fatally injured five years, their standing in Glory Marsh City had plummetted. Moreover, the family heads were constantly plotting against each other and coveting for personal small gains. In the Lin Clan, the only few people who still cared wholeheartedly about the clan were the patriarch, Donghai''s father and Donghai. Since 5 years ago, Donghai had been training hard and seizing every opportunity to earn a little extra cash for the Lin Clan. That was also how he met Muyou and Yiqi, by trying to earn some spare cash through selling information.


    When they arrived at the Lin Inn, they saw the ground floor was already thrashed. It was as if a whirlwind had just swept past the inn. In the middle of the inn, were 6 teens still wrecking havoc to the inn.


    "XIE TUBUO! WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING!'' Donghai let out an angry roar as he stomped towards them. His face had turned red and veins were popping out of his head. His former scholarly appearance had totally disappeared, now he looked like somebody who was about to murder.

 Chapter 12: Glory Marsh City Competition

    "Oh it''s Brother Lin!" Among the 6 teens, a plump teen holding onto a metal club stood out with a grin on his face. "I was out with my friends so I brought them here for a meal. However, the service and food here were atrocious, so I decided to help Brother Lin in teaching the staff here a lesson."


    "Don''t need to thank me, it is just a small matter." Tubuo, the plump teen, chuckled as he lifted up his club. Tubuo''s plump physique, fair complexion and his chubby cheeks made him look like one of the three little pigs.


    At this point, Donghai could not bear it any longer. "What do you mean by that! How are we going to do business! Who is going to compensate us! Just because we are down now, doesn''t mean you can step all over us!" He exploded and stomped towards Tubuo.


    Tubuo took out a silver ingot and smiled, "Don''t worry Brother Lin. Of course Xie Clan will pay for the damages. In fact, my father even offered to buy over this inn. Don''t worry, we will definitely give you a good price. I''ve heard that Lin Clan''s financial status is quite dire now, let the Xie Clan help."


    This was pure humiliation for Donghai and the Lin Clan. Not only did Xie Clan constantly oppressed Lin Clan, now they''re openly trying to take over Lin Clan''s business.


    "Damn it! Tubuo, there is a limit to how overbearing one can be!" Donghai roared as he kicked a broken table towards Tubuo.


    Tubuo''s widened his eyes as he swung his metal club. With just 1 swing, the table was shattered to pieces.


    "Looking for a fight? Xie Clan has never shyed away from fights!" Tubuo signalled the 5 other teens behind him to attack.


    Donghai did not care about the numerical disadvantage, he just wanted to thrash the 6 of them into bloody pulps.


    As they threw their punches towards Donghai, Donghai continued charging forward.


    "One''s Bitter Laugh!"


    Donghai executed the first stance of Lin Clan''s secret technique, Scholar''s Ascension. He started waving the fan in his hand as if he was writing a word, the ¿à (Chinese word for bitter) word. As he finished the word, he let out a huge "Ha!" shout.


    Suddenly, there were *Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak!* sounds and the 5 teens were kneeling on the floor clutching onto their hand. Their wrists had been totally dislocated. As they were groaning on the ground, their groans indeed sounded like one''s bitter laugh.


    Donghai continued charging towards Tubuo.


    Tubuo let out a huge snort and swung his club towards Donghai. Just as the club was about to hit Donghai, he leapt back.


    "Escape? There is no escape!" Tubuo snarled as he leapt towards the Donghai, wanting to close the distance.


    At this moment, Donghai''s eyes glittered. Just as he landed, he immediately leapt towards Tubuo. Donghai''s speed coupled with Tubuo''s momentum, Donghai closed the distance between them rapidly.


    Tubuo was shocked, it was too late for him to respond. Donghai swiftly delivered a jab towards Tubuo, like how a fencing expert would execute his finishing blow.


    A trickle of blood started to emerge from the side of Tubuo''s mouth. There was no explosive force in this jab, but Donghai concentrated his inner strength onto the the point of contact. Donghai''s fan was like a tiny dagger, piercing through Tubuo''s defences. This jab, had already broken several of Tubuo''s ribs and did considerable damage to his lungs.


    "You... You..." Tubuo dropped his club as he clutched onto his chest tightly, trying very hard to breathe.


    "You all better leave the compensation behind and scram!" Donghai snarled. "Do not think that we Lin Clan are easy pushovers!"


    The 5 teens immediately went to help Tubuo up and scrambled out of the building. At the entrance, Tubuo looked back and glared at Donghai. "You better watch out during next month''s Glory Marsh City Competition! Not all of Xie Clan''s youngster is as weak as me." With this warning, they left.


    Donghai collapsed onto the floor letting out a bitter laugh as he surveyed the damages. Muyou and Yiqi were still standing at one corner of the inn, watching silently. They had witnessed how Donghai''s pride and clan was trampled, but they did not know how to console Donghai.


    "Lin Clan is pitiful right? We are trampled on by other clans, but we can''t do anything." Donghai looked at them. Muyou and Yiqi remained silent, they did not know how to answer the question.


    "What about the Glory Marsh City Competition Tubuo mentioned? With your skills, you already defeated Tubuo. You can probably get first and help the Lin Clan''s status." Yiqi asked.


    "About that... No chance no chance." Donghai shook his head. "Among the youngsters in Xie Clan, Tubuo is not even in the top 3. Whereas, I am the strongest youngster in Lin Clan."


    "By the way, what is this Glory Marsh City Competition?" Muyou could not help but to ask.


    "It is a yearly martial arts competition organised by the Tai Clan, for the youngsters below 18. Various Sects will be present to witness the event. In fact, the main purpose of it is for various families to showcase their youth''s talents, hoping that some big Sects will recruit them. I''ve heard that last year, Celestial Dream Sect recruited the champion." Donghai sighed.


    Muyou''s eyes lit up. "That sounds like fun."


    "Oh ya, you two were looking for weapons martial arts skills. The Panther Guards will also be witnessing the event, and they have an impressive weapons division, with a long history. However, I have never heard of them extending an invitation to any participants before."


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    Upon hearing that, Muyou and Yiqi started to put some thought into this competition. After this month, they had realised their training had slowly reached a bottleneck. Although their Inner Strength and Qi had been steadily increasing through practising Grandmaster Hong''s Destroying of Limits and Yin-Yang Qi exercise, they felt that something was lacking. Moreover, they were really bent on learning weapons martial arts skills. It was a good opportunity for them.


    "Can we join this event?" Muyou queried.


    "As long as you are under 20, you can join. However, each participant must pay a fee of 1 silver ingot. That is why most of the participants are from Medium and Great Clans, not every family can afford this exorbitant fee." Donghai paused, "However if you two want to join this event, I supposed I can help you ask..."


    Muyou raised his hand to stop Donghai. "It''s alright, Yiqi and I can settle the fee."


    Yiqi took out his purse and both of them started to count their remaining money.


    "2 silver ingots, 3 silver coin and 50 copper coins... We will be poor again..." Muyou grimaced as Yiqi rummaged through the purse. Both of them looked like small kids trying to dig up their savings to buy some candies.


    "Sorry to bother you to help us settle the administration. Here are our entrance fees." Muyou tossed 2 silver ingots to Donghai.


    Donghai grabbed onto the silver ingots and looked towards them. "Don''t worry, with your skills, I can be sure that many Sects will be dying to recruit you after the Competition!"


    This one month passed by in a blink of an eye as the 3 of them spent everyday training. Although they could not exchange their martial arts skills, they exchanged pointers and helped each other to refine their techniques.


    It was now the morning of the competition and the central area of the city was even more busy. There was a huge make-shift platform built around the arena, to accommodate the audience. The central area looked like it had transformed into a colosseum. Below the platform gathered the excited participants. Tensions were high in the holding area, as many of them were exchanging glares at each other.


    At one corner, seated 3 youngsters on the ground. They were Muyou, Yiqi and Donghai. They were ignored by the other participants, and they were quite happy with it.


    "Why didn''t you two bring your weapons along? Without weapons, you will be at a disadvantage against other participants." Donghai was quite puzzled, fighting bare-handed was never a good idea.


    "The Martial Arts Skills we know are only for close-combat. If we were to randomly swing our weapons around in this competition, we would only embarrass ourselves. That is why, we really need Weapons Martial Arts Skills." Yiqi let out an embarrassed laugh, while Muyou could only sigh. When surveying the participants, they saw many cool weapons, even Donghai had a fan as a weapon.


    *Dang!*


    Suddenly, a bell rang and everyone became silent.


    An old man stood on the stage and announced, "I am Tai Shan and I thank you all for coming down to witness this event! This year, there are 40 participants. The first round of this competition will be a 4-way fight on the stage. The 40 participants will be split into groups of 4, and only the winner of the 4-way fight of each group will proceed onto the second round. Now let us commence with the first round!"


    *Dang!*


    The audience started clapping furiously, they had been looking forward to this exciting yearly competition. Furthermore, most of them had placed bets on the Great Clans'' participants.


    "Group A. Chen Luo, Ding Xing, Luo Ke and Muyou!"


    Muyou sprang up and chuckled, "Guess I will be the first one to shine!"


    "Don''t end up losing the first round! The 1 silver ingot would have been really wasted." Donghai warned Muyou, as he simply waved his hand.


    As Muyou stood on the arena, he surveyed the other 3 competitors.


    "A sword, a spear and a pole..."  Muyou shook his head. "And I''m here bare-handed, totally uncool."


    "Look there are the representatives of Chen Clan and Luo Clan! Even the Medium Clan''s Ding Xing is inside. This group will be tough! Who is that youngster going up bare-handed, he will definitely be the first to get eliminated!" The audience were chattering away while the 4 participants went up onto the arena.


    Chen Luo, Ding Xing and Luo Ke stared at Muyou and had a very curious expression. They had grown up in Glory Marsh City, so they knew each other. However, Muyou was a total stranger to them.


    "Did you left your weapon at the holding area? Do you want to go take it now?" Ding Xing asked politely.


    "Errr... No it''s alright, I have no weapons." Muyou answered sheepishly.


    This made them looked even more puzzled. Just who is this youngster?!


    "Group A, Battle Start!" The old man shouted and rang the bell.


    *Dang!*


    The first battle had begun.

 Chapter 13: Talents Emerge

    "Ahem." Muyou cleared his throat and rubbed his nose. It had been 1 minute since the battle started and Muyou was totally ignored by the other 3. The other 3 competitors were fighting fiercely with each other, totally neglecting Muyou''s presence. In their eyes, a stranger like Muyou who was not armed, was not a threat to them at all.


    Muyou looked around and realised that the audience was laughing at him. He glanced at Donghai and Yiqi, who were giggling at his current predicament.


    Muyou frowned with frustration. "If they are not going to come at me, I will go to them!" Muyou ran into the middle of the battle.


    Upon seeing Muyou jumping into the middle of the battle, all 3 of them leapt back.


    "What the heck is that retard doing!"


    "Does he want to die?!"


    "Who is that retard!"


    The audience was as astonished as the other 3 competitors. Who in the right mind would charge unarmed into the middle of a weapons battle. The 3 competitors kept staring at Muyou, they were unsure of what to do.


    Seeing how he had made the atmosphere awkward, Muyou sulked. This was not the entrance he had in mind. He wanted to awe the audience with his entrance, not scaring away the other competitors. This was not a good impression to give the Sects watching


    Seeing how nobody was approaching him, Muyou ran towards Ding Xing. With just 2 steps, Muyou was already in front of Ding Xing and readying his punch.


    Upon seeing how he was going to get punched in the stomach, Ding Xing recovered from his shock and readied his pole to defend.


    *BAM!*


    Muyou''s punch had snapped Ding Xing''s pole into two and sent him flying out of the arena. Blood was trickling down from the corner of his mouth as he laid on the ground groaning.


    This one move had silenced the audience.


    The other 2 competitors broke into cold sweat as they continued staring at Muyou from a safe distance. However, Muyou stood there with a puzzled look. He had only used 20% of his inner strength and he did not expect it to be so powerful. After all, he had spent his previous years in the jungle battling wild beasts. Furthermore, even though Grandmaster Hong had imparted techniques to them, Muyou thought that those techniques were just any other run of the mill techniques and that Grandmaster Hong was simply boasting.


    "Time to test it out again." Muyou leapt towards the other 2 competitors.


    Chen Luo and Luo Ke knew that they could not let down their guards. They immediately thrust their sword and spear towards Muyou.


    "Hmph, their strokes have so many openings. How different is it from randomly swinging their weapons around. Won''t they feel embarrassed." Muyou mused to himself as he easily dodged their attacks.


    *Bam! Bam!*


    Muyou swiftly delivered 2 punches and sent both of them flying out of the arena. In these 2 punches, Muyou further reduced his inner strength to 10%. Although they were not wounded like Ding Xing, they too could not withstand that strength and were sent flying out of the arena.


    "Guess 10% of my inner strength is what these youngsters are able to withstand." Muyou nodded his head as he stared at his fist.


    "Winner of Group A, Muyou!" The old man announced and the crowd was sent into a frenzy again.


    "Quick! Go get the information of Muyou!"


    "What!? Muyou is only 13 years old!? How can we not even notice the existence of this kind of talent? Which family is he from?"


    The various sects were turning crazy. The agility, speed and strength which Muyou displayed shocked them, moreover he was only 13 years old.


    Although this event was for various sects to recruit the outstanding youths, the bigger sects never placed much emphasis on this competition. The youths who were recruited in this event would just be an Outer Disciple, the bottom tier of the sect. The truly talented youths were already directly recruited by the sects, this event was simply pointless for them. Thus, this event was actually a chance for the "second-rate youths" to get into the sects.


    There were exceptions, mainly the young masters of Great Clans'' main branch. They would be learning their clan secret skills, before joining any sect. However, chances of them joining this competition were still low as most of them already had guaranteed places in the sects, so when they finished learning their clan secret skills they would directly enter the sect.


    Therefore, for a youth with monstrous talent like Muyou to suddenly appear, caused much excitement in the sects.


    Muyou went back to the holding area and joined Yiqi and Donghai. The other competitors were looking at him with wary eyes.


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    "I didn''t know you had such great inner strength like Yiqi!" Donghai said excitedly, although he had sparred with them, they only used their techniques to exchange pointers and did not use inner strength.


    Muyou smiled at Donghai and turned to Yiqi, "Young Bro, just use about 15% of your inner strength is enough. These youths'' strength are vastly below Xie Tieba''s strength."


    Yiqi nodded while Donghai was even more shocked upon hearing that. "Only 15%... How strong are they?!" Donghai knew they were strong, but if that strength which Muyou displayed was only 15%, he could not imagine how monstrous they were.


    As they waited for Yiqi and Donghai''s turn, they continued to spectate the other group matches. In Group B, C and D matches, there was only a youth which caught Muyou and Yiqi''s attention. He too eliminated his opponents effortlessly and sent the whole crowd into a craze. Donghai introduced to them that he was Yun Chen, 17 year old from the Main Branch of Yun Clan. Like other Great Clan''s Main Branch young masters, he was talented and he remained in his Clan to learn Yun Clan''s martial arts. However, Donghai found it puzzling for his participation in this Competition, usually Great Clans would only send their youngsters from the outer branches.


    "Hmph! You call this talented? He wouldn''t even survive a night in Grandmaster Hong''s training, am I right Yiqi?" Muyou said haughtily as Yiqi nodded in agreement.


    In Group E, it was finally Yiqi''s turn.


    Even though the other competitors saw that Yiqi was unarmed, they did not dare to underestimate him as they saw him together with Muyou. Thus, they concluded he should be a strong opponent.


    As soon as the match started, all 3 of them rushed towards Yiqi as they hoped to eliminate this sense of uneasiness first. However, Yiqi was not any bit weaker than Muyou.


    *Sha! Sha! Sha!*


    Their weapons kept slicing thin air as Yiqi dodged them with ease. Suddenly, Yiqi grabbed one of them and threw him out of the arena. This shocked the other 2 as they retreated in unison. Unfortunately, their speed was far too inferior compared to Yiqi''s speed.


    A pair of hand suddenly grabbed onto them by their collars. Yiqi slowly lifted them up in the air as they struggled. It looked so effortlessly for Yiqi.


    "I... I... Admit... Defeat..." The 2 of them gasped for air as they admitted defeat.


    Yiqi dropped them and cupped his hands. "Thanks for the match."


    With that, the crowd was sent into another frenzy. The sects too were scrambling around trying to find information about Yiqi. Muyou, Yun Chen and now Yiqi, 3 geniuses appeared in this year''s competition!


    As Yiqi went back to join Muyou and Donghai, Muyou was quite unhappy as he muttered, "Showoff..."


    Yiqi merely smiled at Muyou, he knew that Muyou was unhappy that he had to share his limelight with Yiqi.


    In the Group F, G, H and I groups, appeared 2 promising youths. Xie Kang and Tie Shang. Both of them were young masters from the Main Branches of Medium Clans Xie and Tie. Although they did not appear to be as skilled as Yun Chen, they still managed to eliminate their opponents rather swiftly.


    In last match, group J, it was finally Donghai''s turn. After waiting for so long, Donghai could not contain his excitement any longer, as soon as his name was mentioned he dashed up onto the arena.


    Once the battle started, Donghai defeated his competitors swiftly. He too, stayed back in Lin Clan to learn the Lin Clan''s Martial Arts Skills. He was a genius who the Lin Clan''s patriarch spared no efforts to cultivate. Thus his skills could not be compared to the other "second-rate youths" in this competition. In participating this competition, he hoped to attract a Great Sect''s attention.


    "What is witht this year''s competition!? There are 6 youths with monstrous strength!"


    "Nah, it''s just because the other youths are so weak! Only those small sects would hire them."


    The crowd started chattering as the preparations for round 2 of the competition was commencing.


    Meanwhile, in the VIP section sitted an old man dressed in a black robe, each side of the robe was embroidered with a golden panther.


    "Great Sir Lu, luckily you have decided to witness this year''s competition. It is truly unprecedented that there are 6 talented youths in a competition. Are you interested in any of the youths?" Another old man sitted beside said courteously. This old man was the city lord of Glory Marsh City, the patriarch of Tai Clan, Tai Sheng. He was dressed in a golden robe with the symbol of Glory Marsh City embroidered on his chest.


    "No rush..." The Old Sir Lu said calmly as he sipped his tea. "Lets see how the upcoming rounds go."

 Chapter 14: Donghai unleashes

    For the second round of the tournament, it was a simple 1 vs 1 duel for the remaining top 10. Muyou, Yiqi, Yun Chen and Xie Kang were not paired against each other, so they managed to enter the Top 5 without much trouble. However for Donghai, he was paired with Tie Shang.


    "Hmph, I have heard that you have injured my brother Tubuo. To think I am paired with you, Heaven must be helping me exact revenge. " Tie Shang said with an arrogant voice as he grabbed his metal club.


    "Don''t be too arrogant, you Tie Clan have been oppressing the Lin Clan for years. Now let me show the whole City where does your Tie Clan actually stand." Lin Clan rebutted. Lin Clan and Tie Clan had been loggerheads for years, and Donghai resented them for their excessive oppression.


    "Less talking and accept your defeat!" Tie Shang let out a huge roar as he charged towards Donghai.


    Donghai did not dare to let his guard down, as Tie Shang was much stronger than Tubuo and had even learnt the Tie Clan martial arts skills.


    Donghai kept leaping back to keep a safe distance. After all, Donghai did not want to risk being hit by that metal club.


    After chasing Donghai for quite a bit, Tie Shang was very annoyed. He stopped and got into a stance. He was half-squatting and he raised his club pointing towards Donghai, like how a warrior preparing to thrust his spear would look.


    Donghai immediately adopted a defensive stance. He knew that whatever was going to happen next, was not going to be beautiful.


    "Cannon Thrust!"


    Tie Shang shouted as he suddenly exploded towards Donghai. This was the first stance of Tie Clan''s Martial Arts Skill, Beast Explosion.


    Donghai''s eyes widened as he sensed the incoming danger. He did not dare to even relax one bit as he hurriedly executed One Bitter''s Laugh.


    *Bam!*


    Donghai retreated 10 steps as he spurted out blood. Tie Shang''s haughty expression was replaced with a solemn face. If he did not pull back in the last minute, his wrist would had been shattered. That was the power of One Bitter''s Laugh, a defensive technique which allowed the user to shatter the weak part of the incoming attacker''s body part.


    However, Tie Shang''s Cannon Thrust was still too insanely powerful. Despite pulling back in the last minute, he still managed to heavily injure Donghai.


    Donghai was now clutching onto his chest as he tried to steady himself. The attack just now had broken some of his ribs and injured some of his internal organs.


    "Let''s see how you receive this strike! METEOR STRIKE!"


    Tie Shang leapt into the air as he prepared to deliver a deadly strike downwards. This was the second stance of Tie Clan''s Beast Explosion.


    "Isn''t that the second stance of Tie Clan''s Beast Explosion!?"


    "Donghai is going to die! The power of this stance is insane!"


    The audience were stupified. Tie Clan''s Beast Explosion was well known for its overwhelming strength, and now Tie Shang had even used the second stance.


    Donghai spat the remaining blood in his mouth as he opened his fan.


    *Swish! Swish! Swish!*


    As Donghai started waving his fan around, his strokes looked like he was tracing the outlines of a lotus flower.


    "Oh my God! Isn''t that the Lotus Bloom from Lin Clan''s Scholar''s Ascension?!"


    "Both of them had grasped the second stance of their Clan''s martial arts! They''re genius!"


    The crowd was sent into a frenzy again.


    At this moment, the fight between Tie Shang and Donghai looked like a meteor crashing down on a blooming lotus. However, cuts started to appear throughout Tie Shang''s body and Donghai was increasingly pressured till he was bending backwards.


    Tie Shang''s face started to turn pale as he swung his body and tumbled backwards. The crowd was shocked that Tie Shang was the one who retreated, as it looked like Tie Shang was the one overwhelming Donghai. But, only Tie Shang knew the deadliness of the Lotus Bloom. Those cuts he suffered on his body were getting dangerously close to his vital points. There were cuts on his throat, eyelid and wrist. Each of those cuts were delivered to end the opponent''s life.


    Donghai''s face turned even paler. He knew he had to end this as soon as possible, his stamina could not hold on much longer.


    "Guess I have to end this now." Donghai eyes turned serious as he held up his fan.


    As he swiped his finger across the fan, a dark blue qi in the shape of Ò» emerged from the fan.


    "Thats... Thats... The third stance of Scholar''s Ascension, One Word Kill! That kid already knew how to use Qi at this point!"


    The representatives of the sects were going wild. A person who could use Qi would immediately qualify to be Inner Disciple for various of the Sects.


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    "Ha!"


    Donghai closed his fan and shot the Qi towards Tie Shang.


    Tie Shang was now terrified, he was still unable to utilise Qi. He raised his metal club, attempting to smash the Qi attack, but it proved to be useless.


    *Bam!*


    Tie Shang''s metal club was shattered and he knelt onto the floor vomiting blood. Although he was not dead, but his internal organs were severely injured and required a long time to recover.


    "Winner, Lin Donghai!" The old man announced as medical staff rushed up to the arena to attend to Tie Shang.


    Donghai let out a smile as blood continued to trickle from the side of his mouth, he had over-exerted himself. "I''ve finally defeated Tie Shang... I''ve managed to regain some honour fo the Lin Clan."


    "Donghai! That match was awesome! Be proud of yourself!" Muyou patted Donghai on the back.


    Donghai let out a chuckle as he turned to the old man Tai Shan and said, "Dear Sir, I think I am unable to proceed onto the next round."


    Old man Tai Shan nodded as he announced, "Lin Donghai had withdrawn from the next round, thus there will only be 4 competitors! Next round will be a 1 vs 1 duel to determine the finalist! Now lets proceed, first round Yiqi and Xie Kang!"


    Yiqi''s face beamed as he was glad that he did not have to face Muyou before the finals.


    "Big bro, see you in finals!" Yiqi said as he leapt up onto the arena.


    Xie Kang frowned when he heard that statement from Yiqi. He felt severely underestimated by Yiqi, and as a young master from the Xie Clan his pride was hurt.


    "Round start!"


    As soon as the round started Xie Kang charged towards Yiqi with his blade.


    "If you continue to underestimate me, you are going to get hurt!" Xie Kang roared as he delivered a slash towards Yiqi.


    Yiqi was quite startled when he heard that accusation, it was not that he underestimated Xie Kang, but Xie Kang was really nowhere near Yiqi.


    As Xie Kang continued to deliver slashes, Yiqi continued to dodge with minimal effort as he continued to ponder if he had really offended Xie Kang.


    "Blade''s Fury!"


    Xie Kang was furious by now and had unleashed the first stance of Xie Clan''s martial arts.


    "Spectral Deformity!"


    Yiqi''s agility had a tremendous boost as he dodged Xie Kang''s blade fury and rapidly approached Xie Kang.


    Before Xie Kang had the chance to react, Yiqi was already in front of him as he whispered, "I was not underestimating you, but you are really not a match for me. Since you want to test me, I will show you the difference in our strength."


    When Xie Kang heard that his whole mind went into shock as he stared at Yiqi readying his punch. Yiqi now had now concentrated 50% of his inner strength onto his first and was waiting Xie Kang to use his blade to block. He wanted to destroy both Xie Kang''s weapon and defence to let him know the vast difference between them.


    At the moment when Xie Kang raised his blade to his chest to block Yiqi''s punch, Yiqi''s punch suddenly flew forward in a flash.


    *Bam!*


    In just a blink of an eye, Xie Kang flew out of the arena and even crashing onto the walls of the audience area. Xie Kang was embedded onto the wall and resembled a mural art piece. His blades had already shattered and he was profusely vomiting blood.


    "Oops, did I go too far?" Yiqi regretted his action, they had no enmity. However Xie Kang wanted to protect his pride, so Yiqi gave him a taste of Yiqi''s strength.


    "Winner, Yiqi!"


    "HOLY!!! Yiqi is only 12 years old and he is already so monstrous!"


    "Did anyone see his strength! It is insane!"


    "His agility and speed before that were even more amazing, I had never seen such a footwork!"


    The crowd''s stares were now concentrated on Yiqi. Old Sir Lu who was seated at the VIP area was also looking at Yiqi with curious eyes.


    "Next round, Yun Chen vs Muyou!"


    Muyou sprang up as he tapped Yiqi on the shoulder.


    "Young Bro, now it''s my turn! See you in finals!"

 Chapter 15: Champion

    Yun Chen vs Muyou! This was a match-up which everyone had been looking forward to. A Great Clan''s young master against an unknown genius. Yun Chen''s reputation in the Glory Marsh City was not any lower than that of a genius too. His growth had been monstrous in the Glory Marsh City and even Great Sects had offered him a place, but he wanted to stay and master his Clan''s Martial Arts Skills. He had immersed himself in training and had never participated in this competition. His sudden appearance in this year''s competition led to everyone thinking that he might had already mastered his Clan''s Martial Arts Skills."I will be going all out at the start, so be careful." Yun Chen warned Muyou as he readied his sword.


    "I will be going all out at the start, so be careful." Yun Chen warned Muyou as he readied his sword.


    Muyou simply smiled as he gestured Yun Chen to come at him.


    "One Step Kill!"


    As Yun Chen took his first step, he suddenly burst towards Yun Chen. As the name sounds, after one step Yun Chen was already in front of Muyou as he prepared to slash Muyou.


    "Seems like he really is different from the other contestants." Muyou thought to himself as he executed Spectral Deformity.


    *Sha!*


    Yun Chen frowned as he realised he was slashing thin air just barely missing Muyou. This was the first stance of Yun Clan''s Melody of the Sword, and ensured the user to kill as swiftly as possible. He was pretty sure he had not missed, but Muyou''s Spectral Deformity made Yun Chen suspecting that his accuracy was lacking. "Maybe I need to practise even harder next time."


    Muyou was still standing there admiring that sword skill executed. If Muyou had not learnt Spectral Nymph skillset, he would have trouble escaping unscathed. However, Muyou''s dazed expression further confirmed Yun Chen''s thinking that it was him who missed and not Muyou who dodged.


    "Interlude Stabs!"


    Yun Chen suddenly delivered 6 rapid stabs towards Muyou. His stabs were so fast that Muyou could not really tell the sequence of the stabs, it looked like all of them were delivered at the same time. Although Spectral Deformity boosted Muyou''s agility to dodge attacks, but Muyou''s perception was not high enough to comprehend that attack.


    After numerous life and death battles in the jungle, Muyou''s emotions were replaced by his battle instincts. He knew this was not the time to panic. He immediately calmed himself and prepared to receive the attack. He knew that if he could not avoid the attack completely, the least he could do is to minimise the damage.


    Although he could not differentiate the sequence of the 6 stabs, he could feel the pressure of the stabs. Thus, he used his body to detect the stabs. This was a high-risk manoeuvre, if he failed to dodge, he would suffer a grievous injury. However this was a gamble he was going to make. With Spectral Deformity, the moment he felt the stab approaching his vital regions, he would dodge. Thanks to this, Muyou suffered some cuts and not life-threatening blows.


    "Phew, this guy is fast." Muyou leapt back as he inspected his wounds. From the looks of the exchange, it looked like Muyou was being overwhelmed by Yun Chen. Yun Chen looked perfectly fine while Muyou''s robe were torn and had blood dripping all over it.


    However, Yun Chen was the one extremely worried. He had exhausted most of his stamina and had executed 2 stances from Melody of the Sword, but he only managed to scratch Muyou. Moreover, he knew that Muyou still had not given his all.


    "If you can take my next attack, I will accept defeat." Yun Chen said as he readied his trump card. He was preparing to put his all in this final attack.


    "Bring it on!" Muyou was not going to make the same mistake and get wounded again. After all, nobody likes to get injured.


    Yun Chen closed his eyes as he held his sword up. He then used his finger to flick onto the tip of the sword.


    "Ding."


    It was a soft sound, and everybody could see the sword vibrating. Slowly, there were Qi forming around the Sword.


    "Pronto Slash!"


    Yun Chen slashed the sword and the Qi was sent slashing towards Muyou. Yun Chen had exhausted all of his Qi in this attack, this was his trump card. There was no way anyone could escape from this attack.


    Muyou steadily stretched out his palm.


    "Subduing Palm!"


    Muyou let out a huge shout and Qi flowed out from his palm and formed a large palm-shaped Qi figure in front of him. This was the fourth stance of Fists of Defiance, and it was the only defensive stance they had learnt.


    The crowd was now holding their breath, as they were about to witness the clash of the 2 Qis. Inner Strength was something which everyone could train, however Qi was the crucial factor which separated a true martial art cultivator and a normal human. To see 2 youths clashing with their Qi, this was a sight for many people in Glory Marsh City.


    As Yun Chen''s slash Qi was about to reach Muyou''s palm-shaped Qi, Muyou shouted "Subdue!" and the palm-shaped Qi suddenly closed its fingers, like it was a hand crushing an egg.


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    Yun Chen''s Qi slash had been forcibly dissipated, as Muyou''s palm-shaped Qi crushed Yun Chen''s Qi attack like a hand crushing an egg. There were no explosions or any loud sound but merely a sizzling sound.


    Witnessing that, Yun Chen collapsed onto the floor as he let out a loud laughter. "I''ve lost! I''ve lost!" He knew that he had no chance in winning against Muyou. He had exhausted all of his Qi in his trump card yet Muyou crushed the attack so simply.


    "Winner, Muyou!"


    The crowd was on the edge of their seats. That martial art skill displayed by Muyou had left them speechless. Furthermore, Muyou was not from any clans in Glory Marsh City nor any of the sects. This unknown dark horse had suddenly shocked everyone. Even Old Sir Lu was very intrigued in Muyou.


    "Who is that boy?" Old Sir Lu turned and asked Tai Sheng.


    "I''m afraid I have no idea too, I have never seen him before." Tai Sheng continued inspecting Muyou. To have advanced this far without the support of a sect, Muyou''s power baffled Tai Sheng even more.


    "Now, without further ado, let''s proceed onto the Final match, Muyou vs Yiqi!"


    When Yiqi leapt up onto the stage, Donghai smiled at the sight of both Muyou and Yiqi on the arena. He never would have expected that these two friends he made would be so monstrous.


    "Same rules as always?" Yiqi let out a cheeky smile.


    "Same rules as always." Muyou nodded. Yiqi and Muyou had always compared their strength through a simple exchange of punch. They would put all of their Inner Strength into that punch, and let the exchange decide the victor. This was because in the jungle, they were focused on conquering the jungle as soon as possible. Thus if they were to go all out in their sparring, they would suffer heavy injuries which would delay their progress.


    Yiqi and Muyou slowly gathered their inner strength in their fist.


    "3, 2, 1!"


    As both of them shouted the countdown, they charged forward and unleashed their punch. When their fists met, there was a huge *Boom!* sound and the crowd could feel the blowback.


    "This level of inner strength... Impossible..." Old Sir Lu''s could see through the rough amount of inner strength was contained in this exchange.


    After about 10 seconds and the dust had settled, both of them took a step back.


    "Guess, this is my loss again." Muyou bowed as he massaged his right arm. His whole right arm was feeling sore and numb after that exchange.


    "Don''t be discouraged, if we were to compare Qi attacks, I would have lost." Yiqi said as Muyou let out a smile.


    Muyou looked up to the crowd and shouted, "I, Muyou have lost! Yiqi is the winner!"


    The crowd found it unbelievable, how could the high-anticipated final showdown between two geniuses be concluded like this.


    "Booo!! Booo!!"


    The crowd started jeering at them, leaving them speechless. It was a match between Muyou and Yiqi, how could the crowd be so thick-skinned to dictate the match.


    Suddenly a figure descended onto the stage and let a loud shout "Silence!"


    The jeering stopped and when the figure turned to face Muyou and Yiqi, he was Tai Sheng, the patriarch of Tai Clan.


    "The yearly Glory Marsh City Competition has ended. The winner will be Yiqi. Now please do not make things difficult for them." He said in a calm tone. Then he said to Yiqi and Muyou "You two follow me, there is somebody who wants to meet you two."


    "Is there any prize for winning this competition? Like secret martial arts manual or secret pills?" Muyou asked as they followed Tai Sheng.


    Tai Sheng let out a huge laughter as he heard Muyou''s question. "You''ll see." He said in a secretive tone, like he was teasing Muyou.


    After walking for about 5 minutes, Tai Sheng brought them to the City Governor office. He stood outside the room and said, "You two can go in yourself. Remember, the person inside is not to be offended at any cost."


    Muyou and Yiqi was very curious, why was Tai Sheng not going in and who would command so much respect from the City Governor.


    As they opened the door, they saw an old man inside drinking tea. He was dressed in a black robe, with a golden panther embroidered on each side. He was Old Sir Lu.

 Chapter 16: Recruitment

    In case if you guys are confused with the categorisation, you can check here.


    Inner Strength: Human Body (normal people), Iron Body, Marble Body, Jade Body, Beast Body, Fiend Body, Celestial Body, Immortal Body.


    Qi: Blue I, Blue II, Blue III, Perfect Blue I, Perfect Blue II, Perfect Blue III, White I, White II, White III, Perfect White I, Perfect White II, Perfect White III, Formless I, Formless II, Formless III, Perfect Formless I, Perfect Formless II, Perfect Formless III


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------


    "I heard esteemed elder is looking for us." Yiqi cupped his hands as he bowed.


    "Come and take a seat, I''m not going to eat you two up. Let''s just have a chat." Old Sir Lu laughed as he saw Muyou and Yiqi''s tensed expression.


    As Muyou and Yiqi sat themselves beside Old Sir Lu, Muyou could not help but to ask for the reason of this meeting.


    "Have you heard of the Panther Guards?" Old Sir Lu asked. Muyou and Yiqi nodded their heads. "Panther Guards are the auxiliary force of the Song Dynasty in charge of the Southern Province. They are the most powerful force in the Southern Province." Muyou answered.


    "Not quite not quite." Old Sir Lu shook his head. "Panther Guards is not just Song Dynasty''s auxiliary force in the Southern Province. Panther Guards is also the the elite military unit of Song Dynasty in charge of Southern Province."


    "Are you here to recruit us into Panther Guards?" Yiqi asked.


    Old Sir Lu let out a huge laugh as he proceeded to sip his tea.


    "Do you think anyone can just enter Panther Guards? With your standards, you will most likely die in the first mission."


    After hearing that, Muyou and Yiqi''s expressions sunk. Old Sir Lu''s words were like cold water, dampening their mood.


    "Don''t worry though, very few people enter Panther Guards directly. I am here to invite the both of you to join Panther Academy. I am an elder in that academy and you can address me as Elder Lu."


    Panther Academy, that was new information for Muyou and Yiqi.


    "Panther Academy recruits only the top young talents from all over the Southern Province. Based on the competition just now, only the both of you qualify to enter. As long as you are below 20 years old and a citizen of Song dynasty, nothing else matters. Inside there, we will provide the best teachers, best training and materials to groom you. That is why, even sects will send their best students to Panther Academy for training."


    "After 2 years in the Academy, you will then spend another 2 years being attached to a Panther Guards unit. If you pass the evaluation in the 2 years of attachment, you will officially be promoted to the Panther Guards. After being promoted, you will then choose to serve in the Panther Guards under different schemes."


    Muyou and Yiqi were intrigued, however they were worried about their freedom being restricted.


    Muyou asked "If we join Panther Academy and then the Panther Guards, will we be confined to it forever? Will we be able to join another sect or follow another master in the future?"


    "HAHAHA! Panther Guards never restrict one''s freedom." Elder Lu laughed. "After the 4 years, which path you choose will be up to you. That is why, many grandmasters in Southern Province are actually part of the Panther Guards. However, if you are to continue serving Panther Guards, there will obviously be more benefits. Only in crucial events, such as a foreign invasion, then there will be an activation by the Panther Guards. Other than that, you are free as the clouds."


    "There is a reason why most sects send their young disciples to Panther Academy. The training in Panther Academy will ensure your growth to explode. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I will be heading back to Panther Academy tomorrow, if you accept this invitation, you two meet me at City Governor Office tomorrow noon. I hope you two will not waste this opportunity."


    Muyou and Yiqi rose and bowed to Elder Lu. "We will join Panther Academy! Tomorrow we will meet Elder Lu again."


    Elder Lu smiled, it was an unexpected surprise that he could find 2 talents in this Glory Marsh City competition.


    Later that night, in the backyard of Lin Clan Manor, there were 3 people admiring the moon and the starry skies.


    "I did not expect that both of you would be accepted into Panther Academy. Congrats to you two again." Donghai said as he waved his fan.


    "Thanks, what is your plan now though? Did any sects approach you?" Yiqi asked. In fact, Muyou and Yiqi could not bear to part with Donghai, they really hoped that Donghai would be recruited into Panther Academy with them.


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    "There are numerous sects who approached me, in fact I even had an offer from the Shiquan Sect. However, I rejected all of their offers for now." Donghai sighed. "With the Lin Clan declining as each day passes, this clan is the greatest worry of mine. Although I can join Shiquan Sect to raise Lin Clan''s prominence, but I''m afraid the Lin Clan cannot sustain much longer if I were to join Shiquan. Thus I have decided to remain back until Lin Clan''s financial status stabilises."


    Donghai''s plight was indeed quite pitiful. Most young masters were supported by the clan, but Donghai was already supporting the clan at such a young age.


    "It''s alright though, I will continue to train hard. Not only will I be the wealthiest merchant in Glory Marsh City, I will also aim to be the strongest martial artist in Glory Marsh City!" Donghai said proudly.


    "How can you be limited to just this Glory Marsh City! When we come back next time, you will help us in fulfilling our dreams in conquering this jianghu!" Muyou roared.


    "HAHA, sure thing. What can we do next time?"


    "Why don''t we wander around the Jianghu and defeat all the experts?"


    "I don''t like that, why don''t we create a sect. Let''s make our sect the strongest in the Jianghu, that will be true pinnacle."


    "What an ambitious dream! Seems like I have to start amassing money for the construction!"


    "Then we will depend on you hahaha!"


    The night passed as the three good friends continued to talk about their future ambitions. 3 young kids talking about conquering Jianghu.


    Next day early morning, Muyou and Yiqi had already arrived at the City Governor Office.


    "I see that you two are eager to join." Elder Lu nodded. "Guess we can leave now."


    After bidding goodbye with Donghai and the city governor, Tai Sheng, Muyou and Yiqi climbed into a carriage with Elder Lu sat inside. The carriage looked very plain and normal, did not look like a carriage befitting of the status of the Panther Academy. Moreover, they only had 2 panther guards escorting their carriage.


    The journey to Panther Academy took roughly about a month. Thanks to the 2 panther guards, nobody dared to disturb the carriage. During this month, Muyou and Yiqi learnt much more about cultivation and the jianghu. Other than Panther Academy, each province had their own academy too, for example the Eagle Academy for the Eagle Guards in the Eastern Province.


    They had also learnt that there was a general classification to classify a person''s strength. Out of the 150 conventional meridian points, if a person had unblocked 25-50 meridian points, he would be given the term Iron Body. 50-75 a Marble Body, 75-100 a Jade Body. After a person had unblocked 100 meridian points, the person''s inner strength and body would undergo a tremendous transformation. The person''s inner strength would be much more deadly than before and breakthroughs would be even harder. After that 100-110 would be termed as Beast Body, 110-120 Fiend Body, 120-130 Celestial Body and 140-150 Immortal Body. Muyou and Yiqi had already reached Iron Body, however Grandmaster Hong had helped them unblocked the secret 8 meridian points, causing their inner strength to be monstrous compared to a typical Iron Body. Elder Lu too suspected that their inner strength was too powerful for an Iron Body, however when he inspected their meridian points, he could only sense the 150 conventional meridian points and missed out on the 8 secret meridian points.


    Elder Lu had also explained the theory of Qi to them. Qi unlike Inner Strength, did not originate from one''s body, but from the external World. Qi cultivation techniques like the Yin-Yang Qi were to help the cultivator to absorb Qi from the surrounding into their Dantians and transformed it into their own Qi. Qi''s growth was even slower and tougher than Inner Strength. Most people could never grasp the concept of Qi. One had to condense their Qi in their dantians to a point where it became thick enough which would then turn into perfect Qi, and had to do this for all 3 dantians. Once it had become perfect blue Qi, then the cultivator had to learn a new "White Qi Cultivation Technique" to cause the perfect blue Qi to breakthrough into White Qi. Qi cultivation techniques were only effective for specific tiers; blue, white and formless. If a person had 1 dantian of perfect Blue Qi, he would be at the Perfect Blue I, 2 dantian of perfect Blue Qi would be Perfect Blue II and 3 dantian of perfect Blue Qi would be Perfect Blue III. For Muyo and Yiqi who had only grasped the 3 dantians and still cultivating their Blue Qi, they were at Blue III. If they had a breakthrough to condense 1 dantian of perfect Blue Qi, they would advance to Perfect Blue I.


    For Muyou and Yiqi who were at Blue III and had an Inner Strength that seemed higher than Iron Body, Elder Lu had high expectations of them. Out of all the this year''s new recruits in Panther Academy, Elder Lu was confident that they would rank within the top 10.


    After 1 month of listening to Elder Lu''s stories of the numerous prodigies in Panther Academy, Muyou and Yiqi were very excited about entering Panther Academy.

 Chapter 17: Entry into Panther Academy

    When Muyou and Yiqi reached the Panther Academy, they were shocked at the sight of it. Panther Academy was like a castle by itself, even bigger and grander than Glory Marsh City. Inside the academy, at the main courtyard, was a huge statue of a panther, with a majestic pose. When Elder Lu brought them to the main courtyard, there were thousands of youngsters gathered there.


    "Elder Lu, I see you have recruited these two kids. Where did you recruit them from?" an old man approached them. Judging from his robes which were the same as Elder Lu, he seemed to be another Elder of Panther Academy.


    "Oh Elder Hao, I was just visiting Glory Marsh City and I chanced upon them. They are very promising." Hearing Elder Lu praised them, Muyou and Yiqi could not help but to smile.


    "I see I see, it''s rare for you to see you praising anyone." Elder Hao nodded his head as he inspected Muyou and Yiqi. "Although Elder Lu had approved of you two, there is a compulsory test for all entrants into Panther Academy. You two can go queue up over there for the test."


    "Roger Elder Hao. Thanks Elder Lu for the past 1 month." Muyou and Yiqi bowed before proceeding to the queue.


    "Which sect or clan did they have as their backing?" Elder Hao asked.


    "None." Elder Lu let out a smile. "But you will see."


    Elder Hao sighed and shook his head. Elder Lu seldom participated in the recruitment, most of the times he would come back alone. However, at times he would bring weird entrants back. The previous time Elder Lu brought back a boy who was an anti-social and never got along with anybody in the Academy. One time, when a group of other students stole his sword to harass him, he went berserk and crippled every one of them. From then on, nobody dared to approach him. Elder Hao still remembered how much of trouble that incident was and how much administrative work he had to handle at that time. Now, he was praying that Muyou and Yiqi would not stir up a storm like that previous guy.


    As Muyou and Yiqi joined the queue, they realised that all of the entrants queueing up were indeed different from the youths at Glory Marsh City. Just by one look, they emitted the aura that was much stronger than Chen Yun or Donghai.


    After an hour of waiting, Muyou and Yiqi finally reached the entrance of a room. This room was the so-called inspection room, where an instructor would personally test if the entrant had passed the entrance criteria.


    "Next!"


    A shout echoed from the room and Muyou entered the room. Inside the room, the inspector was a middle-aged man who had the looks of a seasoned warrior.


    "That pole is for measuring your inner strength and that rock is for measuring your Qi. To pass, you have to be at least at the Iron Body and Blue I level. Now go punch that pole first." That man instructed as he pointed towards the pole.


    "Alright." Muyou walked up to the pole and dished out a normal punch. After he punched the pole, there was no reaction causing Muyou to be puzzled. Muyou was inspecting the pole as he tried to figure out how did this pole work in measuring the inner strength.


    "You idiot! Use your inner strength. If you don''t use your inner strength, how is it going to measure your inner strength!" The man scolded Muyou.


    "But... That pole... I''m afraid to break it..." Muyou said softly.


    "Just hit it! It will not break, stop wasting my time." That man was exasperated at this point.


    "Alright." Muyou gathered his inner strength as he punched the pole. However, he still did not use all of his inner strength as that pole really seemed to be ordinary. Muyou had broken large rocks and split trees with his inner strength, how could his inner strength not break this pole. Thus, he only used half of his inner strength.


    After punching the pole, a horizontal strip of light glowed on the surface of the pole. It was not very long, only about a 10cm long.


    "Initial levels of Iron Body, pass. Now go place your palm on that rock and inject your Qi into that rock." the man said with a disinterested tone. He could tell that Muyou did not use all of his inner strength, but he did not care. As long as Muyou passed the criteria, he could care less. After all, spending the whole day in this small room repeating this test procedures would make even a saint grumpy.


    "Here I go." Muyou placed his palm on that rock and injected his Qi into it.


    Suddenly, 3 bright blue lights appeared on the rock.


    The man''s eyes lit up when he saw the 3 lights. "Blue III level... Mastery of all 3 dantians... Wonderful." Out of all of the entrants he had tested today, only 3 other people were at the Blue III level. For a youth below 20 to reach Blue I level would be termed as impressive, Blue II level would be regarded as a genius while Blue III level would be monstrous.


    "Ok you pass, you go exit from this other door." the man directed Muyou to the door on the other side that he entered. "Go to the Accommodation Tower in the East Wing and choose a bunk. Report back at the main courtyard at 6pm for the inauguration ceremony."


    Muyou bowed and thanked the tester as he exited and waited there for Yiqi.


    Yiqi entered the room next and the same instructions were given to him.


    "Bam!" Yiqi gathered all of his inner strength and dished out a heavy punch on the pole. After the tester instructed him to use his inner strength, Yiqi obeyed his instructions. However, Yiqi concealed his inner strength from the 8 hidden meridians. He did not want to face the torrent of questions he had received from Elder Lu again.


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    A long horizontal strip of light appeared on the pole, it was much longer than Muyou''s strip of light. This strip of light was about 40cm long.


    "Peak levels of Iron Body... Monstrous..." Peak levels of Iron Body meant that Yiqi had already unblocked about 47 meridian points. Just a few more and Yiqi would breakthrough to  Marble Body.


    "Ok now go place your palm on the rock and inject your Qi into that rock."


    Yiqi placed his hand on the rock and injected his Qi into it. Two bright blue lights appeared with a third slightly dim blue light.


    "It seems you had not achieved the complete mastery of your third Dantian. Just a little more, you will be Blue III level. Blue II level for you, that''s a pass."


    After receiving further instructions from the tester, Yiqi exited the room and found Muyou. Both of them proceeded to the Accommodation Tower as they discussed about that testing pole and rock. Both of them were very amazed at how there were materials that could measure one person''s strength.


    When they reached the Accommodation Tower, they realised that their intake batch was allocated to the bottom levels of the tower. The upper levels of the tower were occupied by the senior batches. Even though they only had the first 4 levels, the Accommodation Tower was very big and had about 100 rooms on the first 4 levels.


    Muyou and Yiqi eagerly rushed up to the fourth level and started browsing for a good room. The fourth level rooms had the best view among the levels allocated to their batch. Some rooms were taken already, but there were quite a number of rooms that were still vacant. It was only noon, which meant that majority of the new students had not yet arrived. Each room had 3 beds, which meant that the students had to share the rooms with 2 other people.


    After browsing the whole floor, Muyou decided on a room which he claimed had the best ventilation and view. There was no air-conditioner or automatic fans during their time, thus the ventilation of the room was very important. If a room had poor design and ventilation, it would be very stuffy and become unbearable during hot days. Yiqi did not really care, he just followed Muyou''s decisions.


    When Muyou and Yiqi returned to that room, another student had just entered into that room and was unpacking his stuff. However that did not matter as there were still 2 vacant beds which was just nice for them.


    When that student noticed Muyou and Yiqi, he immediately introduced himself. "Hi! I''m Yue Han, 13 years old this year! Nice to meet you two, guess we will be roommates!" He was dressed in scholarly robes and had quite a lean build, he did not look to be very strong. Compared to Donghai, he carried a much more scholar-ly vibe.


    "Hi, I''m Muyou 14 years old and this is my younger brother Yiqi! Nice to meet you." Muyou and Yiqi greeted him.


    "I have to say you two have great judgement, I can assure you two that this room is the one that has the best fengshui.Picking this room is the best choice you have made today." Yue Han said. Feng Shui? Muyou and Yiqi did not know anything about fengshui.


    After chatting for an hour, they went on with their individual business. Yue Han lied on his bed reading some books, Yiqi sat on his bed cultivating his Qi while Muyou was leaning on the window looking outside his room admiring the view. After Yiqi heard from the tester that he had not mastered his 3rd dantian, he felt even more determined to break through to Blue III level.


    As the sun was starting to set, it was already the late afternoon. Muyou and Yue Han were already napping, only Yiqi was still awake cultivating his Qi.


    Suddenly there was a huge ruckus on the 4th floor, people were shouting and there were banging on the doors. This woke Muyou and Yue Han from their naps and alerted Yiqi. Muyou went to open the door and there was another student standing outside the door.


    "I''m She Gou. May I know which clan and which sect do the three of you belong to?" That student asked warily.


    "Why? Is it any of your business?" Muyou replied grumpily. He was just awoken abruptly from his nap and he was certainly not in a good mood.


    "There is an un-written rule in Panther Academy that states that only the students from the Clans of Nobility or the Great Sects can occupy the highest level allocated to each batch. So, if you are not from a clan of nobility or the great sect, I will have to ask you to evacuate to the other floors." She Gou''s tone was still very polite.


    "Ridiculous." Muyou sneered as he slammed the door in She Gou''s face.


    When he returned to his bed, Yue Han had a worried look.


    "Should we just go to the third floor? It would not be good if we become the target of the other students." Yue Han proposed. He was from a military clan and had was not in any sect. He was painfully aware of the standings of the Noble Clans and his status compared to them.


    "Nah, rooms are a first-come-first-serve basis. And what is that ridiculous un-written rule, we only need to follow the official rules. If there is no official rule about this, then it does not concern us" Muyuo replied nonchalantly as he tried to get back to sleep.


    Yiqi sighed as he was aware that this would not end like this. Yue Han still had a worried look as he kept glancing at the door.

 Chapter 18: Im no pushover

    "Bang Bang Bang!"


    True enough, this was not going to end like this.


    "They''re back, should we just move out?" Yue Hao proposed again.


    "Don''t worry so much, let me handle this." Muyou assured Yue Hao as he went to open the door.


    When Muyou opened the door, there was already a crowd of people gathered in the hallway watching the situation.


    Standing in front of Muyou were She Gou and another student. Muyou frowned when he saw the student beside She Gou. He recognised that student''s attire instantly. It was the Wudang''s attire, how could Muyou not recognise it. Those days of being bullied in Wudang were engraved firmly in Muyou''s mind. However, this Wudang student in front of him was an Inner Disciple which was what people would call a true Wudang practitioner.


    Wudang prides itself as a righteous and chivalrous sect, thus they would usually accept orphans. That was how Muyou and Yiqi got into Wudang. However good Wudang''s intentions were, things didn''t always turn out the way intended. In Wudang, the orphans were usually treated like servants and bullied by other members.


    "What do you want?" Muyou demanded. He was now in a worse mood after seeing that Wudang''s attire.


    "I am Hai Cheng from Wudang. Maybe She Gou did not make himself clear just now, but this floor belongs to the great sect and the noble Clans. If you could prove your Clan or sect status, we will not disturb you further." Hai Cheng said in a cautious tone.


    "The regulations did not mention anything about this, so piss off."


    As Muyou tried to close the door again, he was stopped by Hai Cheng.


    "I would then have to ask you to leave this floor, the same applies to the two of you." Hai Cheng said as he peered into the room. "If you don''t want to do it the nice way, then don''t blame me when things get rough."


    Yue Hao started packing his stuff as he persuaded Muyou, "It''s only the first day, let''s not ruin this auspicious occasion. Muyou and Yiqi let''s just move."


    Just as Yue Hao was about to walk out of the room, Muyou stopped him.


    "No Yue Hao I won''t allow you to leave this room. In fact, I will even ensure that this arrogant prick will not get even a single room on this floor." Muyou said as he glared at Hai Cheng. He was now officially pissed at Hai Cheng and determined to pit himself against Hai Cheng.


    "Big Bro, don''t be like this. Yue Hao if you want to leave we wouldn''t stop you, but you should remember that even when resolving conflicts, there is a limit to how much you should give in. Do not end up being mistaken as a weakling and letting other people climb all over your head" Yiqi advised Yue Hao while still calmly sitting on his bed.


    When Yue Hao heard this, his face slumped. Yiqi''s words had some truth to it. It was not wrong to be the nice guy, however, there is a difference between being a nice guy and being mistaken as a weakling. This was something which Muyou and Yiqi had learnt during their days in Wudang.


    Although Yiqi felt that this issue was indeed quite silly to be escalated into a fight, but this room was occupied by them first. Since Muyou did not want to give up this room, the other party had no right to coerce them.


    "What are you waiting for? If you want to leave then get the hell out." Hai Cheng scowled at Yue Hao.


    After hearing that, Yue Hao knew that Yiqi was correct. Yue Hao was being bullied out of the room, and him moving out now would just cement other''s view of him as a weakling. Nobody would see it as a gesture of kindness, but an act of weakness.


    Yue Hao ignored Hai Cheng as he turned back to put down his stuff.


    Hai Cheng was infuriated when he saw that Yue Hao had ignored him. Just as he wanted to grab Yue Hao, Muyou firmly gripped onto his arm.


    "I won''t think about that if I were you." Muyou said with a mocking tone. "Now would this great Wudang Disciple please excuse us."


    He released Hai Cheng''s arm as he retreated back to his bed.


    Hai Cheng''s face was now red with anger. He did not expect that these 3 students with no background would dare to disregard him, an Inner Disciple of Wudang. Even in Wudang, the outer Disciples revered him like a God.


    "You lowly animal! Know your place!" Hai Cheng roared as he attempted to kick Muyou just as Muyou turned around.


    Fortunately, Muyou had already learnt his lesson from the previous sneak attack from Tieba which gave him a serious injury. With his guard already up, Muyou leapt into the air to avoid the kick and sat on his bed as he smiled at Hai Cheng.


    Hai Cheng was even more enraged when he saw Muyou sitting on the bed taunting him. He immediately charged forward and wanted to punch the lights out of Muyou. Yue Hao who was at the side was witnessing this with a horrified expression. He did not think that he could be compared with a Great Sect Inner Disciple, and with Hai Cheng''s current anger, he would probably be beaten up next.


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    "Preposterous!"


    Yiqi roared as he suddenly surged towards Hai Cheng. This took Hai Cheng by surprise. He tried to retreat but it was too late.


    "BAM!"


    Yiqi had already pinned Hai Cheng on the ground when everybody realised what was going on. Meanwhile, Muyou was just sitting on his bed smiling. He knew that Yiqi''s temperance the best. Yiqi was very kind, quiet and would treat everybody with respect, unlike Muyou who would constantly taunt others. Yiqi would tolerate insults and criticisms as he too believed that de-escalating conflicts were the best solution. However, there was a limit to his kindness and if somebody were to cross that, that person would be in for a surprise. There is a saying that never anger your nicest friend, because when the nicest guy gets angry, he would also be the scariest guy. This was especially true for Yiqi.


    "You... Release him!" She Gou screamed at Yiqi.


    Yiqi looked at She Gou with a cold gaze as he twisted Hai Cheng''s arm.


    "Ahhhh.. ahhhh.." Hai Cheng moaned in pain.


    "I will break his arm if anybody dares to make any noise." Yiqi firmly gripped onto Hai Cheng''s arm as he slowly gazed at the surrounding audience. His gaze was like a knife piercing into the surrounding students'' hearts.


    "Do you... Know who you are going against... Let him go and.." She Gou stammered as he refused to believe that Yiqi would break Hai Cheng''s arm.


    "AHHHHH!!!" Hai Cheng started screaming before She Gou could complete his sentence. Yiqi had twisted Hai Cheng''s arm and stared at She Gou as he broke Hai Cheng''s arm.


    She Gou was not the only one being scared speechless, the surrounding students, faces had all turned pale including Yue Hao.


    After gazing around the surround students slowly, Yiqi finally spoke.


    "There is no official rule that says the fourth floor belongs to anybody. Since we have occupied this room first, it belongs to us. We were just minding our business and you came and try to bully us out of this room. Just because we did not fight back, did not mean that we are to be bullied."


    "Do not think that we are scared of you. There is a limit to how much we are willing to tolerate. If you want to try us, be prepared to face the consequences."


    Yiqi''s warning was soft yet deadly. Everybody could feel their hairs standing up, especially Hai Cheng. Nobody dared to make any noise.


    "Young bro, I think that''s enough." Muyou said as he walked towards Hai Cheng.


    "Now Dear Wudang Disciple, I hope you have gotten the message from my younger brother. This room belongs to the 3 of us. From now on I hope that we will be like how river water doesn''t mix with well water, we will each mind our business. If you were to make trouble with any of us again, I cannot assure you that I will be as nice as my younger brother and let you off with just a broken arm." Muyou said lightheartedly as he stared down at Hai Cheng.


    Although Muyou''s tone was very lighthearted, but everybody could sense the threat in his speech. Moreover, when he said that Yiqi was nice, everybody was shocked. If breaking a Great Sect''s Disciple arm was considered nice, they could not imagine what Muyou would do.


    "Now now, everybody the show is over." Muyou clapped his hands as he tried to disperse the crowd. Yiqi then threw Hai Cheng towards She Gou.


    She Gou carefully supported Hai Cheng as they walked away. Hai Cheng''s face had a mix of fear and anger as he looked at Yiqi and Muyou.


    Muyou and Yiqi did not care about the crowd that was still standing there as they returned to their room and closed the door. This incident would be known as the "room 421" incident.


    Other than Hai Cheng, the next person who was most troubled over this incident was Yue Hao. He was now contemplating his future in Panther Academy. Yue Hao had effectively pitted himself against the whole of Wudang camp in Panther Academy, there was no way out. Regardless of how much he feared the Great Sects, he still had his pride. There were some things which Yue Hao would never do, such as cowering in front of Wudang begging for their forgiveness. He would also never be another person''s lackey.


    "Sorry for dragging you into this mess." Muyou said sheepishly.


    "It''s alright. Guess we are all in this together." Yue Hao said. "If they were to think that I am a weakling to be bullied, then I will show them how wrong they were."

 Chapter 19: Panther Fists

    For the inauguration ceremony, the new batch of students was gathered in the main courtyard, in front of a stage.


    When Muyou, Yiqi and Yue Hao arrived at the main courtyard, it was already very crowded and they could only stand at the back. However, they realised that they received lots of stares. The "Room 421" incident seemed to have been spread throughout the new batch of students. Some people looked at them with fear, some with admiration, some with contempt, some with amusement and some with anger. In one corner of the crowd, were the students from Wudang, and they were glaring at Muyou, Yiqi and Yue Hao. Amongst them were Hai Cheng who was in a cast.


    "Guess we have really made Wudang our enemies, I hope they don''t try anything silly." Muyou shrugged his shoulder as he ignored the others'' gaze.


    Suddenly the chatter died down as everybody looked towards the stage. On the stage was Elder Hao, smiling as he gazed towards all of the new students.


    "I am Elder Hao and I welcome you all, the 87th Batch on behalf of the Panther Academy." Elder Hao smiled.


    The crowd of students erupted into cheers. Panther Academy was a gathering place of the cream of the crop and to enter into Panther Academy was every Southern Province young martial art cultivator''s dream.


    "Everybody here is a genius in their own right. In these 2 years of training in Panther Academy, everyone of you will undergo an intensive training regime. This regime will be unlike any training you had been through. It will be tough, but it will also allow you all to experience an unprecendented growth." Elder Hao continued his welcome speech as he looked at the students'' awe-struck faces.


    What Elder Hao said was not an exaggeration. There was a reason why every Sect and Clans would send their greatest talents to Panther Academy. It was because Panther Academy was an academy created by the Imperial Family to nurture future leaders of the country.


    "Now, please proceed to the Logistics room to collect your training attires. After that, please rest early. You are going to need the rest for tomorrow''s training." Elder Hao ended his speech as he exited the stage.


    The students had collected several sets of training attire and Panther Academy uniform. The training attires were sleeveless black robe with a short pants, very simple design. The Panther Academy uniform was just an external black outer robe which had a white panther embroidered on the right chest.


    After collecting, Muyou, Yiqi and Yue Hao had an early night. However, there were other students who spent the night partying away.


    It was the next morning at 5am, everybody was still sleeping away. The sun had not even risen yet, however the training for the 87th Batch of students was about to begin.


    "EVERYBODY ASSEMBLE AT THE SOUTHERN HALL IN 5 MINUTES!" A loud shout boomed throughout the accommodation tower. This shout woke everybody up and left them in shock. All of them hurriedly dress into their training attire and rushed down to the southern hall.


    Despite being woken up suddenly, Muyou, Yiqi and Yue Hao looked very fresh as they rested early the previous night. However, those students who were partying the night away looked like they were still half-asleep.


    "I am the head teacher for the 87th Batch, you can call me Instructor Wang. Now, for the next 3 months, everyday we will start with a warm-up. This warm-up will be a 10km run. Now let''s start."


    With just a simple introduction, Instructor Wang started the run.


    When Muyou, Yiqi and Yue Hao were running in the middle of the pack, they received lots of stares. Muyou and Yiqi, who were dressed in the training attire, revealed the scars on their forearms for the first time. They had numerous battle scars on their forearms from their time spent in that jungle. The sight of their forearms shocked many students, as they could tell that Muyou and Yiqi had many deadly encounters. For the students in Panther Academy, most of them were geniuses in their hometown, so they were very well-protected. They were like young calfs who were bred in the best conditions, while Muyou and Yiqi looked like they were young calfs who spent their days rampaging in the wild.


    Yue Hao too were taken aback by their scars. "Seems like Muyou and Yiqi are not simple figures." Yue Hao thought. It seemed like every moment he would learn something new about Muyou and Yiqi.


    After reaching the 2km mark, Instructor Wang suddenly sped up. This caused many students to start to stagger behind. They had also entered the forest located behind Panther Academy. The path became uneven, rocky and slippery, the difficulty to keep up with Instructor Wang''s speed increased by several-fold. At the 4km mark, only 100 people were still able to keep up with Instructor Wang''s speed. The other 200 were still struggling at the back at their own pace. Muyou, Yiqi and Yue Hao were still able to keep up with his speed. Yue Hao was from a military clan, thus since young he had been undergoing such basic fitness training. Muyou and Yiqi who had spent most of their life running around in the jungle, thus this run was considered quite a breeze to them.


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    At the 6km mark, they approached a hill and Instructor Wang started speeding up again. With this increase of speed and the difficulty of running up a hill, only 50 people managed to keep up with Instructor Wang. Muyou, Yiqi and Yue Hao were among the 50 people, but they were giving it their all just to keep up with Instructor Wang''s speed. Luckily, this was the most difficult part of the run and the rest of the run was just running back to the Southern Hall.


    When they reached back, there were only about 40 people who were able to keep up and they all looked like they were about to die from that run. Instructor Wang inspected the students who were able to keep up and nodded his head in satisfaction.


    "40 people... Not too bad..." Instructor Wang seemed to be quite pleased with the 87th Batch.


    "That concludes the warm-up! You guys can go to the canteen and grab your breakfast. Meet back at the Southern Hall at 7:30am!"


    "Sir, what about those students who still had not finished the run?" A student asked as he was trying to catch his breath.


    "Same for them! If they return at 7am, then they only have half an hour to eat! If they return at 7:30am, then they would not have any time to eat."


    This shocked the students. The thought of going through the trainings with no breakfast made them shuddered. Many of the students patted their backs for keeping up with Instructor Wang and were even more determined to keep up with Instructor Wang in the future.


    Other than receiving a few stares from other students, nobody had created any trouble for Muyou, Yiqi and Yue Hao. The morning warm up run had already drained everybody of their energy, as they simply dragged their body into the canteen and wolfed down their breakfast.


    After the breakfast, they were divided into 10 classes of 30 students. Muyou, Yiqi and Yue Hao were in a class under Instructor Pang. When they looked around at the students in the same class as them, they realised that everybody in this class was of common birth. There were no students from noble clans or great sects in this class. It seemed like Panther Academy still placed some focus on one''s status and background.


    "Today, I am going to teach you guys the Panther Fists. This is a move which everybody in Panther Guards have to know. There are five stances to this move, now watch the first stance."


    Instructor Pang curled his fist like a panther paw and he leaned slightly backwards. Suddenly, his fists shot out in a spinning motion. His fists were like a shredder, shredding through the air with a *Cha Cha Cha!* sound.


    "This is the Tearing of Disarm. This stance is meant to counter your opponent''s attack. If you master this stance, you can completely tear apart your opponent''s arm and weapons."


    When Instructor Pang finished his demonstration and explanation, all of the students in the class were filled with excitement, especially Muyou and Yiqi. They were not like students from other sects, so they only had the two martial art skills passed down by Grandmaster Hong. Although the two martial art skills were very powerful, they were still incomplete as Grandmaster Hong refused to pass down the full set. Thus, they were very eager in learning new martial arts skills.


    "Now follow my motion. With the fist up, you have to gather your inner energy and bring it down like this..."


    Instructor Pang went through the motion slowly with them and meticulously going through every small detail. He catered to every students'' learning speed and ensured that nobody was lagging behind.


    In the afternoon, Instructor Pang brought them to the forest again and led them to a waterfall.


    "Now all of you go stand under the waterfall and execute the Tearing of Disarm."


    It might seemed like a cliche method, but the impact of the waterfall was very effective in strengthening one''s body and help in mastering martial art stance. With the impact of the water constantly hitting on their arm as they executed the stance, they had to use all of their inner energy just to execute it once. All of the students, after executing the stance once had to rest for a moment before executing it again. However Muyou and Yiqi were constantly executing the stance under the waterfall.


    After a while, Instructor Pang and the other students were all staring at them. The amount of inner energy and stamina they had were incredible. Even Yue Hao who was resting at one corner was staring at them in amazement. Another purpose of this training under the waterfall was to squeeze out all of the student''s inner energy which will allow for faster growth. However, Muyou and Yiqi were able to constantly execute the stance under the waterfall, and their stances were getting better with each execution.

 Chapter 20: Who do I see again?

    "Muyou and Yiqi, come here." Instructor Pang called out to Muyou and Yiqi. He had decided to test both of them.


    When the other students saw Muyou and Yiqi being called over, they too followed over wanting to see witness the commotion.


    When Instructor Pang instructed them to demonstrate the Tearing of Disarm, Muyou and Yiqi simply nodded their head as they started getting into the stance. Their arms movement had a certain stable pace to it, they were neither rushed nor sluggish. There was no extra movement, as each stroke executed by Muyou and Yiqi was designed to tear the opponent apart.


    *Cha cha cha!*


    These sounds echoed loudly as everybody was stunned silent witnessing Muyou and Yiqi''s demonstrations. Instructor Pang''s face was bursting with excitement! "These 2 are geniuses!" Instructor Pang muttered to himself excitedly. Most of his previous students would take 1 week to comprehend each stance and 1 month to master a stance. However, Muyou and Yiqi took just half a day to master the first stance of Panther Fists.


    "Good good!" Instructor Pang exclaimed. "You 2 have mastered the Tearing of Disarm! That''s very good!" Instructor Pang could not stop himself from continuously praising them.


    Muyou and Yiqi simply stood there looking quite sheepishly. The "Destroying of Limits" exercise which Grandmaster Hong had taught them, greatly helped them to comprehend martial arts skills.


    The surrounding students had mixed expressions, some had looks of admiration while some had looks of dejection. Compared to Muyou and Yiqi who had mastered the Tearing of Disarm, most of them still could not comprehend it.


    "All of you are geniuses in your own right, if you put in hard work, you will master this soon too." Instructor Pang encouraged his class when he saw their dejected faces.


    Instructor Pang then handed Muyou and Yiqi each a jade token with a Panther engraved on it. "This is the Panther token. In Panther Academy, we encouraged competition with oneself. You should not compete with others but yourself. Thus with every breakthrough you shall be awarded a Panther token." Instructor Pang explained. "This token can be used for exchanging precious herbs or blood essence which will increase your growth. It could also be used for the renting of the Qi cultivation cave, this will be explained to you next time."


    "How about martial art manuals? Do we need to use these tokens to exchange for martial art manuals?" A student asked.


    Instructor Pang smiled and shook his head. "Of course not, the martial arts manuals in Panther Academy can be accessed by every student. After all, every single one of you is a genius in one way or another. However, one can only access one martial arts manual at a time. Which means, you can only access another martial arts manual after you have comprehended the existing martial arts manual you are holding onto."


    "I have seen some students who went straight to learning the high-tier martial arts manual. However, even after 2 years, they could neither comprehend the high-tier martial arts manual nor learn a new set of martial arts skill. Thus, I would advise you all to start from the low-tier martial arts skills."


    After hearing Instructor Pang''s explanation, everybody had a better understanding of how Panther Academy works. Panther Academy was not like other sects or academies, where they promoted cut-throat competition, rather Panther Academy really focuses on individual growth.


    "Now all of you go back and practise the first stance!" Instructor Pang commanded the surrounding students.


    After witnessing Muyou and Yiqi''s mastery of the first stance, the students were even more motivated to train. Yue Hao was the first one, to rush back to the waterfall to practise the Tearing of Disarm. As a fellow roommate and a fellow "enemy of Wudang", Yue Hao did not want to be a burden to Muyou and Yiqi.


    After the crowd had dispersed, Instructor Pang looked at Muyou and Yiqi with an approving glance.


    "Now, I am going to demonstrate the second stance of Panther Fists. It''s called the Hunter of the Night."


    Instructor Pang crouched his body as he started charging towards a rock. Halfway through the charge, he changed his direction and started circling around the rock. Suddenly, Instructor Pang leapt back to his original position. However, nothing seemed to have happened to the rock.


    "Erm... Instructor Pang, what was that?" Muyou could not help but ask. Muyou and Yiqi were looking attentively at the demonstration but they could not comprehend that stance. Moreover, there seemed to have no change to the rock.


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    "Go take a closer look at the rock." Instructor Pang smiled as he revealed the chunks of rubble on his hand.


    When Muyou and Yiqi went to inspect the rock, they were shocked. There was a small and concise hole in the rock, it seemed to have been punctured by Instructor Pang''s fist. However, it was a silent, quick and deadly stroke by Instructor Pang.


    "That is the essence of Hunter of the Night. This stance is deadly and swift. Once you have mastered this stance, you will be able to execute this stance to the effect like my demonstration. Your opponents should not even know what has hit them. Although this is the 2nd stance of Panther Fists, this is one of the more complicated stances among the five stances. Now, this stance places lots of focus on the footwork and you have to..." Instructor Pang started explaining the Hunter of the Night to Muyou and Yiqi.


    At night, it was free time for the students, however, the students would utilise this time to train their inner strength and cultivate their Qi. On Muyou, Yiqi and Yue Hao''s way back to their room, they received dirty stares from the noble students, especially the Wudang disciples. They did not create any trouble yet, so Muyou simply disregarded all the dirty stares. Moreover, everybody was too tired with the training and only focused on their individual training. Nobody wanted to waste any time to stir trouble.


    This routine went on for the first week. The training was extremely beneficial for their growth, especially the morning run. It seemed like a normal 10km run, but after every run, Muyou and Yiqi would feel that their inner energy was completely drained. Muyou''s inner strength had reached peak of Iron Body, with only 1 more meridian point to Marble Body. Yiqi''s inner strength had already reached the initial stages of Marble Body. Their inner strength growth in this week was incredible. Muyou and Yiqi could not help but think that if 1 week in Panther Academy was so effective, then how powerful they would be in 2 years time.


    However, their Qi did not seem to experience much growth. Other than their individual Qi cultivation during their night free time, they did not have any other training regarding their Qi. They had asked Instructor Pang, but Instructor Pang said that only after the first 3 months, then they would start undergoing training for their Qi. So, Instructor Pang urged them to focus on their martial arts skills and inner strength first.


    The Sunday was a free day for the students, so Muyou, Yiqi and Yue Hao decided to use this day to explore the Panther Academy. Afterall, all of them had Panther tokens now so they decided to see what they could do with it. Yiqi had 16 Panther tokens because he had comprehended the Panther Fists and broken through to Marble Body. Each stance comprehended would be awarded 1 Panther token, if you had comprehended a complete set of martial art skills you would be awarded another Panther token, breaking through from Iron Body to Marble Body would be awarded 10 Panther tokens. Thus, Yiqi had 16 Panther tokens whereas Muyou only had 6 because he had not broken through to Marble Body. On the other hand, Yue Hao only had 2 Panther tokens because he had only comprehended the first 2 stances of Panther Fists.


    Instructor Pang wanted Muyou and Yiqi to go to the Panther Martial Collections Hall to start learning another martial art skills, however Muyou and Yiqi insisted on mastering Panther Fists first before starting to learn another martial art skills. Although Muyou and Yiqi had comprehended the whole set of Panther Fists, they had not mastered the last 2 stances of Panther Fists. Compared to the other 4 stances, the first stance Tearing of Disarm seemed to be very rudimentary. Just to comprehend the 5th stance, took Muyou and Yiqi 2 whole days.


    Their first stop was the Panther Medicinal Hall, they had decided to see what precious herbs were there which could help their growth.


    When they saw the Panther Medicinal Hall, they realised that there was a huge crowd gathered at the entrance.


    "What do you mean we have to pay you a Panther token to enter? Do not be overbearing!" a disgruntled student shouted.


    "It has always been this way. Commoners like you all should pay a portion of your Panther Tokens as tributes to us. Demanding only 1 Panther token is already being merciful on our part." Another student said arrogantly. He had long wavy black hair, skin as smooth as silk and a perfect complexion. Just looking at him, everybody could tell that he was of noble birth and had eaten many precious tonics.


    "Hai Cheng, keep a look out here and collect a Panther Token from everybody. I would be going in first." that noble student instructed Hai Cheng before strolling into the Medicinal Hall with his entourage of other students.


    "Understood." Hai Cheng bowed respectfully before turning towards the crowd. "You all heard Pang Jing! All of you commoners, pay a panther token before going in! If not, don''t blame me for being uncourteous."


    Muyou smiled as he witnessed the scene. "It seemed like this Wudang disciple had not only recover, but had also become a lackey. How low can he sink..."

 Chapter 21: Forced Entry

    The crowd of students were reluctant in giving away their hard-earned Panther token, yet they did not dare to blatantly disregard Pang Jing''s words. Thus, they simply continued crowding around the entrance protesting.


    "You''ve heard Pang Jing, 1 token per entrance. That''s the rule set by the noble students, I would advise you all not to challenge that rule." Hai Cheng smiled at the crowd as he stretched out his hand demanding for Panther Token as entrance fee. Hai Cheng was very satisfied with Pang Jing entrusting this task to him, now he had a chance to better his relations with the noble students. Moreover, he felt that he was a level above from these commoner students.


    The politics of power in Panther Academy was very complicated when geniuses from all walks of life gathered together. There was an unspoken hierarchy in Panther Academy which everybody silently acknowledged. The students who were at the top of the hierarchy were the students from the most distinguished noble background, they were  the sons of Vassals of Song, people who were conferred with Prince-dom. They held the titles of Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount and Baron. In the whole Song Dynasty, they were only below the Royal Family and even the Emperor had to treat them with dignity. Below that were the students who were the sons of Ministers in the Royal Court. Due to the power Ministers held in the Royal Court, they were treated as people with noble status. After that were the sons of Knights, generals who were conferred noble titles. Pang Jing was the son of a Knight.


    Below these nobles, were then the common people. However in the common people hierarchy, their status were determined by the Sects they were in. People like Hai Cheng who had the backing of Wudang, a Great Sect would naturally be at the top of the hierarchy of the common people. Muyou and Yiqi who were sect-less and had no background would naturally be at the bottom of the hierarchy.


    Hai Cheng''s smile suddenly froze when he noticed Muyou, Yiqi and Yue Hao making their way through the crowd. When Muyou noticed Hai Cheng was staring at them, he merely gave Hai Cheng a smile while continuing to squeeze his way through the crowd.


    When they reached the entrance, Hai Cheng stood in front of them blocking their way.


    "Great Wudang Disciple, would you mind making way for us? We are intending to enter the medicinal hall." Muyou said sarcastically to Hai Cheng with a smile.


    Hai Cheng let out a snort. "You want to enter? Sure. Pay up 3 Panther Tokens and you three can enter."


    Muyou glanced at Yiqi and Yue Hao before shrugging his shoulder as he sighed, "If a great Wudang Disciple like you are so poor that you have to beg for Panther Tokens here, what makes you think us poor commoners will have any Panther Tokens. I would advise you to collect Panther Tokens from your dear Noble friends, maybe you will have more luck."


    Muyou let out a laugh before continuing his way into the medicinal hall with Yiqi and Yue Hao. Yiqi remained silent and had a nonchalant look as usual while Yue Hao appeared to be much more confident than his first encounter with Hai Cheng.


    Hai Cheng was fuming mad after that sarcastic remark by Muyou. "Are you purposely looking for trouble!" Hai Cheng let out a loud roar as his hands shot out wanting to choke Muyou.


    Before Hai Cheng''s hand could touch Muyou, Muyou had already grabbed onto Hai Cheng''s wrist. With just a simple application of force onto his wrist, Muyou was able to force Hai Cheng to kneel down onto the floor in pain.


    "I called you Great Wudang Disciple was because I was trying to be nice. If I were to be frank, I would have called you a dog. And guess what? A good dog does not block other''s path, so scram." Muyou said coldly before he threw Hai Cheng''s hand back.


    Hai Cheng tumbled on the floor for a few rounds as he rubbed his wrist. Muyou and Yiqi continued staring at him with disdain, it was like he was worth less than a dog in front of them.


    How could a Wudang disciple stand this kind of humiliation?! To be called a dog and being thrown around in front of so many other students. If word of this was to get out, how could Hai Cheng hold his head up high in Panther Academy.


    "Tearing of Disarm!"


    Hai Cheng charged towards Muyou like a mad man as he executed the first stance of Panther Fists. The other students were horrified at Hai Cheng executing Tearing of Disarm towards another student. This stance was a deadly fist and would cripple the target.


    However, Muyou simply stood there as he sniggered at Hai Cheng''s execution of Tearing of Disarm. Hai Cheng did not have a complete mastery of this stance and his emotions now were getting the better of him. Thus, his execution was extremely sloppy and erratic.


    With Muyou''s superior mastery of Tearing of Disarm, he had already identified numerous openings which he could take advantage of to counter Hai Cheng.


    *Bam!*


    With a swift punch, Muyou''s fist had evaded Hai Cheng''s attack and simply sent Hai Cheng flying back a few feet.


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    "Look at you now, you can''t even clear your mind to execute the stance properly. Your execution just now was simply a disgrace to the Panther Fists. You are so pitiful that I do not even want to have a duel with you right now. Just go away." Muyou waved his hand as he entered the medicinal hall. Yiqi and Yue Hao followed in while having pitiful gaze at Hai Cheng.


    Hai Cheng was now in a state of shock. He felt humiliated, angered and most importantly helpless.


    Many students seized this chaotic situation and slipped into the medicinal hall while others were still standing there contemplating. After a while, everybody simply rushed into the medicinal hall, ignoring Hai Cheng.


    "Hai Cheng... So what should we do about them?" She Gou who was beside Hai Cheng all along stammered as he stared at the students surging into the Medicinal Hall.


    "What else can we do!?" Hai Cheng bit his lips as he slammed his fists onto the floor. He had hoped that by sucking up to Pang Jing, he would improve his status in Panther Academy. However, not only did he fail the task given by Pang Jing, he was publicly humiliated by Muyou. Hai Cheng resented the fact that he failed to be clear-headed which resulted in Muyou countering his stance. Hai Cheng firmly believed that it was his rashness which caused his stance to be countered. He could not imagine that him a Wudang disciple would be weaker than a random sectless kid.


    Inside the Medicinal Hall, it became very crowded as the students crowded around the counters.


    "Now I know why the noble students wanted to limit the students who can enter." Muyou let out a bitter laugh as he looked at the huge number of students crowding around the counters. Luckily for Muyou, Yiqi and Yue Hao, they entered before all the other students, thus they were already at the front of the counters checking out the menu for exchange.


    "Hmmm... It seems like 1 Panther token can only be exchanged for the Fiery Boar Blood Essence. The effect says that if you drink the essence, it will boost your inner strengh. Especially if you are at the Iron Body stage, it can help you unblock up to 2 meridians." Yue Hao was reading out the menu. However, Yue Hao only had 2 panther tokens, so he did not have much choice to choose from.


    "Don''t worry, you will have more chances to earn Panther Tokens. Just get 1 of the Fiery Boar Blood Essence first, treat it as a reward for this week''s hard work." Yiqi encouraged Yue Hao.


    "What about you two? You two have quite a lot of Panther Tokens, you can exchange for so many spiritual herbs. Look there is this Snow Ginseng and there is..." Yue Hao was rambling on as he got more excited as he flipped the pages.


    Yiqi and Muyou could not help but to laugh at Yue Hao. Yue Hao was like a kid in a candy shop, wanting to purchase everything that he saw.


    "This is just the first week, we should not splurge our panther tokens. Who knows what other use this panther token can be used. Furthermore Instructor Pang mentioned something about Qi Cultivation Cave." Muyou said as he pondered on how many tokens he should spend today.


    Meanwhile, in another corner of the Medicinal Hall was Pang Jing and his entourage. Pang Jing had a very irritated look as the serene atmosphere of the medicinal hall was broken by this horde of students.


    "That Hai Cheng had better collected tokens from everyone of them." Pang Jing glanced at the entrance of the medicinal hall. He would certainly not mind this crowd of students in medicinal hall if Hai Cheng had collected a panther token from everyone of them.


    "Let''s go." Hai Cheng said as he strutted out of the medicinal hall. With such commotion in the medicinal hall, he had lost his mood to stay any longer in the medicinal hall.


    When he reached outside, what greeted him was a scene of Hai Cheng sitting on the floor with dishevelled hair.


    "What happened?" Pang Jing looked at Hai Cheng as he questioned Hai Cheng. When Hai Cheng heard Pang Jing''s voice, he was startled from his state of shock as he scrambled towards Pang Jing.


    "Forgive me for failing to collect the entrance fee! There was a student who..." Before Hai Cheng could even finished his sentence, Pang Jing kicked him in the face.


    "You useless fool. You really disgrace the Wudang name." Pang Jing chided Hai Cheng before walking off.


    She Gou stood at the side was staring in shock. He did not expect Pang Jing to further humiliate Hai Cheng, afterall Hai Cheng was a Great Sect''s disciple.


    "Muyou.... Muyou.... This debt I must repay you tenfold!" Hai Cheng gritted his teeth as he clenched his fists so tight till blood started dripping from the fists. He seemed like a real mad dog now.

 Chapter 22: 52 Meridians vs 60 Meridians

    It was already dusk as the students streamed out of the medicinal hall. Almost all of the students would spend hours in the medicinal hall browsing the exchange menu and memorising the various precious herbs available. Their current lack of Panther Tokens did not stop them from checking out the expensive herbs. It was like a window shopping experience for most of them, spending hours just looking around.


    It was the same for Muyou, Yiqi and Yue Hao too. They were busy examining the various pictures and descriptions of the herbs, so that if they were to ever encounter one in the future they would not dismiss them as ordinary plants. Moreover, the information on the effects of various animals'' blood essence and body parts shocked Muyou and Yiqi. After reading through, then they had realised that during their 3 years in the jungle, how much of such precious resources had they threw away. For example, the huge gorilla which they spent so much effort to kill was actually a Mountain Gorilla. The bone marrow and blood essence of the Mountain Gorilla were actually worth 5 panther tokens each!


    When Muyou and Yiqi recalled how they toss several valuable beasts'' corpses aside in the jungle, they felt like slapping themselves. Who knew how many more precious herbs Muyou and Yiqi had ignored previously too.


    Thus, they stayed until the Medicinal Hall closing time. They were determined to commit all of these information to their memory.


    When Muyou, Yiqi and Yue Hao left the Medicinal Hall, it was already late into the night. Although they were mentally exhausted, but each of them were extremely happy with their haul. Yue Hao had exchanged 1 of his panther token for a fiery boar blood essence. Muyou and Yiqi had only used up 2 of their panther tokens each to exchange for the Deep Marsh Mushroom for each of them. It was only the first week and they did not want to go on a spending spree.


    Next day morning...


    "What!? You guys did not go and get a new martial art skills manual!?" Instructor Pang shouted at Muyou and Yiqi.


    Muyou and Yiqi were the most promising students Instructor Pang had ever taught, so he had extremely high hopes for them. In the training, he would devote most of his attention to Muyou and Yiqi which would inevitably cause some students to resent this favouritism.


    However, Muyou and Yiqi''s flair in mastering the Panther Fists caused many of the other students to acknowledge their potential.


    "We wanted to master the fourth and fifth stance before moving on to a new martial arts skill." Yiqi answered.


    "You two... How many times must I repeat myself that the fourth and fifth stances are extremely complicated. It was already an unprecedented accomplishment that you two managed to comprehend all 5 stances in one week. Most of the students in Panther Academy will just move on after barely comprehending the 5 stances, there were very few students who managed to master Panther Fists while in Panter Academy. Even I took 2 whole years to master the whole Panther Fists." Instructor Pang was exasperated at this point. He did not want to see Muyou and Yiqi waste their time on this, it would be more beneficial for them to learn as many martial arts skill as possible. After learning, then they could take their time to master the martial arts skills.


    That was also a reason why Panther Academy gave tokens upon comprehension of a stance but not mastery. It was because mastery of martial arts skills simply required too much time and certain stroke of enlightenment. The geniuses gathered in Panther Academy were still in their youth, and this was their best learning phase. Many people thought that it would be a waste of a person''s youth if he was to simply waste it away on mastering one martial arts skill.


    "Please just let us try. If we fail to master these 2 stances in 3 weeks time, we will immediately pick up a new martial arts skill. Moreover, we will listen to your instructions from then on..." Muyou tried to negotiate. Muyou and Yiqi understood the vast difference between mastery and comprehension of a martial arts skill. During their time in the jungle, they had felt the power difference between mastery and comprehension of the martial arts skill. Thus, they were very unwilling to pick up a new martial arts skill before mastering the Panther Fists.


    "Haiz.... You two... Ok, I will give you two till the end of this month. 3 weeks from now, if you still fail to master the last 2 stances, you 2 will listen to me from then on." Instructor Pang gave in reluctantly. 3 weeks were a lot of time, especially with Muyou and Yiqi''s talent in learning martial arts skills.


    For the whole of first week, Muyou and Yiqi always stayed in a secluded corner during the training. They did not have much interaction with the rest of the class, except an occasional chat with Yue Hao and the usual Instructor Pang''s pleas.


    During the morning warm-up run, they would encounter Hai Cheng and he would kept glaring at them. Hai Cheng did not seem to be seeking trouble for them, thus they also left Hai Cheng alone.


    One week have past again and Muyou and Yiqi were focusing on trying to master the fourth stance. This fourth stance was called "Panther''s Charge", it caused the user to lock onto the target and charge towards it. It was very effective in closing large distance in a short time and then delivering a deadly burst. It was basically like a panther surging onto its target and pouncing onto it. Muyou and Yiqi were able to execute the Panther''s Charge with an effective radius of 10m, however, they still felt that something was missing. It was like they were missing the essence of this stance. When they compared their stance to Instructor Pang''s, theirs was like a kitten trying to pounce on a cotton ball.


    When Muyou and Yiqi were training in a secluded corner as usual, a group of students from their class approached them.


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    "Yes?" Muyou looked at them.


    "I am Zi Long, a fellow student in your class. I wonder if any of you two are willing to have a sparring session with me?" A student stepped forward and asked courteously. His body muscles were ripped and he had sharp facial features with a chiselled jawline.


    "Did Instructor Pang agree to this?" Muyou asked while glancing over at Instructor Pang and the other students who were making their way over.


    "He agreed to it. Don''t take this the wrong way, this is just a friendly spar to exchange pointers." Zi Long hastily tried to clear any misunderstanding.


    Muyou and Yiqi were Instructor Pang''s favourite students and they did not socialise much with the other students in their class. Thus, they understood that there would certainly be other students who resented Instructor Pang''s favouritism.


    "Just agree to it. Zi Long is also another talented student in our class, he has sparred with almost every student in the class." Instructor Pang said as he glanced at Muyou and Yiqi.


    Muyou and Yiqi looked at the surrounding students and could see the excited expressions on their faces. Yue Hao who was amongst them nodded his head, trying to urge Muyou and Yiqi to spar with him. Seeing Yue Hao''s approval of this sparring session, Muyou and Yiqi accepted it.


    "I will go first." Muyou said as he walked towards the center of the training area.


    "Zi Long please do not exert your full inner strength, this is only a friendly sparring session to exchange pointers. You have already unblocked 60 meridian points while Muyou is still at 52." Instructor Pang said as the referee of the match.


    Before Zi Long could answer, Muyou raised his hand to cut him off.


    "Don''t need for that, come with me at your full inner strength. The numbers and categories are not everything." Muyou said confidently. This was not because of his hidden 8 meridian points, but because he was confident in his superior control of inner strength. During his time in Panther Academy, he had realised that many students and instructors placed heavy emphasis on raising the levels of inner strength but neglecting the control and distribution. Inner strength had became like a number game, with everybody rushing to reach the so-called "higher levels of marble body". However these were merely human constructs, categories given by human to easily estimate a person''s strength. Grandmaster Hong had taught Muyou and Yiqi that large amount of inner strength would be nothing without a proper control.


    Everybody was shocked at Muyou''s statement, especially Zi Long. "I really don''t think it is such a good idea, this is just a friendly sparring session. What if you get injured..."


    "If you don''t believe me, deliver a punch with all of your inner strength. If I am hurt, I will not hold it against you." Muyou stepped back as he held his hand up beckoning Zi Long to strike.


    "If you insist then watch out." Zi Long warned Muyou as he started gathering his inner strength in his fist.


    After a few seconds, Zi Long let out a huge shout and sent his fist flying towards Muyou. It was an all-out punch which Zi Long had gathered all of his inner strength with much effort.


    Muyou took a deep breath and extended his palm towards Zi Long''s punch.


    "Bam!"


    Upon impact, there was a loud bang. However, Muyou did not retreat a single step. He stood firmly at his original position as his hand clutched onto Zi Long''s fist tightly. Muyou''s arm seemed perfectly fine and he was not injured in any way.


    This sight caused all of the spectators to be astonished, even Instructor Pang.


    "How... How is this possible... I am at 60 meridian points, while you are at 52 meridian points..." Zi Long stammered as he looked at Muyou in shock.


    "Why are you all so obsessed with the numbers and levels... Do they mean everything?" Muyou shook his head. "Now let me show you how a 52 meridian points can make you kneel."


    Muyou''s hand which had clutched onto Zi Long''s fist started to exert more force.


    "Ahh.. Ahh... Ahh.." Zi Long started to moan in pain as he felt as if his fist was being crushed between 2 huge rocks. He tried desperately to pull his fist out, but Muyou had firmly gripped onto his fist.


    Muyou started to exert even more force, causing Zi Long''s face to turn pale white. By this time, he was in so much pain that he was unable to stand. He knelt down on the floor as he tried to struggle out of Muyou''s grip.


    Upon seeing Zi Long kneeling on the ground, Muyou let go of his fist. This shocked everybody even more, especially Instructor Pang. How could a 52 meridian point body dominate a 60 meridian point body? This scene just doesn''t make sense to them.

 Chapter 23: Mastering the control of inner strength

    "How did you manage to do it?" Some of the students could not help but ask. They could not make sense of what they had just witnessed.


    "That''s simple, superior control of my Inner Strength." Muyou said casually as he twirled his finger.


    This simple answer by Muyou caused many students to be dumbfounded, they could not comprehend the crux of Muyou''s answer. However, Instructor Pang seemed to have understood something and was in deep thought.


    "Huh? Control of Inner Strength?" Many students could not help but to start pondering on Muyou''s reply. They had never put much thought in the control of inner strength. To them, inner strength was like normal strength, it was something innate. Just like carrying a basket, everybody would just simply carry it and not put much thought into carrying a basket. This sort of thinking was being influenced their perception of Inner Strength too. Unfortunately, Inner Strength had far deeper secrets.


    "Yes, have you all thought of trying to control your inner strength?" Muyou asked the everybody. "In all of your pursuit for the increase of Inner Strength, you all have neglected in honing your control of your Inner Strength. This had resulted in your body being filled with a vast untapped amount of Inner Strength when you are in fights. You are unable to harness your full potential of Inner Strength in a short time. Your opponents will not wait for you to gather your Inner Strength too. Thus, although Zi Long is 60 Meridian Points, his punch was not the full strength of a 60 Meridian Points."


    As Muyou explained the intrinsic details of Inner Strength, many of the students looked like as if they had been enlightened about something and was in deep thought. Instructor Pang was nodding as he recalled his days in the Panther Guards, when he was out on the battlefield. Instructor Pang was different from the students, he had spent years fighting deadly battles and these battles caused Instructor Pang''s control of Inner Strength to grow instinctively. It was like Muyou and Yiqi''s night training under Grandmaster Hong. However, Instructor Pang did not put much thought into it and was merely happy with his growth. Now that Muyou mentioned it, Instructor Pang started to piece the information and his experience together.


    The students on the other hand, were all geniuses who trained in a protected environment. They all just went through the rigid syllabus and teachings, and were blindly pursuing the increase in the number of meridian points. To them, the number of meridian points meant everything.


    "But how do you hone your control of your Inner Strength?" Zi Long asked.


    "If you re-examine your Inner Strength cultivation exercise closely, it should have certain parts where it help you train the control of your Inner Strength. If it doesn''t have, you should probably toss your current Inner Strength cultivation exercise out and get a new one." Muyou said as he looked at the surrounding faces. "However, that process is the slow and gradual process. The fastest process will be to go out to the battlefield and have near-death battles. I am sure Instructor Pang can attest to that."


    Instructor Pang was startled when he heard that last sentence, it seemed like Muyou had an even more profound knowledge about Inner Strength.


    "I guess Muyou''s words make sense..." Instructor Pang nodded his head as he saw the faces of the students turned towards him.


    "But you are only 14 years old, what kind of possible near-death experience could you have gone through?" A student mentioned.


    Muyou did not bother to answer that question, he merely removed his upper training attire revealing his torso. This caused everybody to be even more astonished, even Instructor Pang was shocked.


    Muyou''s body seemed like a war veteran''s body, it was marked with several scars. Especially the huge slash wound across Muyou''s chest, everybody realised that Muyou had stood in front of the death''s gate several times.


    "Thanks brother Muyou for your pointer, I will not forget what you have said." Zi Long bowed respectfully.


    "Ok everybody go and train. Regarding what Muyou had said just now, all of you should go back tonight and ponder upon it." Instructor Pang clapped his hands as he tried to disperse the crowd.


    "Woah Yiqi, what kind of training did you two went through?" Yue Hao whispered to Yiqi.


    "It is a secret." Yiqi shushed Yue Hao as he smiled.


    "Geez." Yue Hao rolled his eyes as he chuckled. "Ok then, I will be off to train."


    Now, it was only Instructor Pang, Muyou and Yiqi left.


    "Who was your teacher?" Instructor Pang asked as he inspected both Yiqi and Muyou.


    "We do not have a teacher, we only met an old senior who gave us guidance for about three weeks. He did not accept us as his disciples. As for his identity, I am afraid I cannot say." Muyou answered courteously.


    Instructor Pang rubbed his chin as he nodded his head. "Since that is the case, then I shall not inquire more. However regarding what you said just now about Inner Strength, was it being taught by your old senior?"


    Muyou and Yiqi nodded.


    "I see... As an instructor, I obviously want the best for all of my students. These first three months in Panther Academy are meant to focus on the students'' training of Inner Strength and bare-handed martial art skills. So, is there any training method you two know which will benefit their Inner Strength training greatly?" Instructor Pang asked.


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    "I am sure you already know the answer Instructor Pang." Muyou teased him cheekily.


    Of course Instructor Pang knew that combat experience would boost his students strength greatly, the deadlier the better. The greater the risk, the greater the gains. However, Instructor Pang did not want to take this route as he did not want to put his students in too much of a danger.


    "I know of a way Instructor Pang." Yiqi said as Instructor Pang looked at him excitedly. "Arrange sparring session with other classes, preferably with one that is stronger than our class. However, only instruct our students to only defend and counter-attack. After each session, our students will most likely be beaten up as long as rules and limits are agreed on. This is the least risky method I can think of."


    This sounded like a good plan to Instructor Pang as he was thinking about it. "I will see what I can do about it." He said before leaving. "But both of you better not slacken off your training!"


    Of course, Muyou and Yiqi did not waste any moment off training. After all, they were in Panther Academy to grow stronger. When they consumed the Deep Marsh Mushroom they got from the Medicinal Hall previously, they felt that it was indeed very effective. After consuming it, they felt that their Inner Strength cultivation effectiveness was boosted by 100% for 2 hours. It was then, Muyou and Yiqi realised how fortunate the nobles were to have ate spiritual herbs since young.


    However, Muyou and Yiqi did not splurge their Panther Tokens and go on a spending spree on the herbs. They were prudent in their spending as they only spent another 2 Panther Token to buy another Deep Marsh Mushroom. They were not in a rush to seek breakthroughs in their meridian points, but they took it slow and made sure they had mastery over the control of their inner strength.


    The next day, the students were gathered around Instructor Pang as he made an announcement.


    "Later in the afternoon, I have arranged a sparring session with Instructor Liu''s class. This sparring session is for you guys to improve the control of your Inner Strength. You all are only allowed to defend and counter-attack, and are not allowed to defeat or injure the opponent. Take this as a beating session by them, as you improve the control of your Inner Strength. I am sure none of you object to this?"


    All of the students shook their heads. After witnessing Muyou''s strength and how he overwhelmed Zi Long, they were determined to follow Muyou''s method to grow stronger. Zi Long especially, looked at Instructor Pang with very determined eyes.


    "And, can I ask that you all do not share this information with the other classes?" Muyou stood forward and cupped his hands. In these 2 weeks of interaction with the other students, he did not have a good impression of other students. Especially how they looked down on him because of his common background. He definitely would not seek trouble from them, however he would not share good things with them too.


    The students agreed to Muyou''s request without any hesitation. They too did not like the other classes of students. The students from this class were all from very ordinary background and did not have any sect backing, they were at the bottom of the hierarchy in Panther Academy. Most of them had been subjected to cases of ridicule, bullying and even extortion.


    "Ok, after lunch we would meet at training courtyard F. Remember my instructions, this sparring session is to strengthen all of you. You are there not to win the sparring session, but to train your control of your inner strength. A simple sparring loss is nothing considered to your journey to get stronger. " Instructor Pang reminded the students again.


    After lunch, the students proceeded to training courtyard F promptly with Instructor Pang.


    "I say Instructor Pang, how sad is it for you to be in charge of a commoner class again. You were such a valiant warrior during your stint in the Panther Guards, how can you constantly be allocated the commoner class? After this batch, I will help you speak to the Headmaster to let you take charge of a better class." Instructor Liu chuckled as he patted Instructor Pang''s shoulder. The surrounding students could easily tell that it was a back-handed compliment. Instructor Liu was much older than Instructor Pang, his face had quite a number of wrinkles and his hair and beard were already gray.


    "You jest Instructor Liu, I am fine with this class. However, I would like to thank you for agreeing to this sparring session. This sparring session will certainly allow both of our students to improve their training." Instructor Pang ignored the sarcasm behind Instructor Liu''s greeting.


    "Of course, I want my students to test their strength, after all the training routine gets boring after a while. However, do not blame me if your students get beaten badly, my students are not very good in controlling their strength." Instructor Liu laughed.


    "No problem, just go all out on my students. Physical wounds such as bruises and scratch wounds are perfectly fine, just as per our agreement, no life-threatening wounds, no permanent injuries and no crippling of the opponent."


    "I see, you must be quite confident in your current batch of students." Instructor Liu let out a huge laughter. He stroke his beard as he nodded his head. It was obvious that he did not put Instructor Pang''s student in his eyes. He too was very particular about the hierarchy. Although his students were not of noble background or from great sects, they were from small sects in the Southern Province. They could be said to be in the second lowest of the hierarchy. Thus, when Instructor Pang offered a sparring session, Instructor Liu agreed to it immediately. He wanted to use this sparring session to boost the confidence and ego of his students.

 Chapter 24: A Thrashing Session?

    The students from both Instructor Pang and Instructor Liu class had now gathered behind their respective instructors.


    "All of you spread yourself out in this training hall. This training hall has more than enough space for all of you to hold sparring sessions concurrently. So make sure all of you have enough space, I do not want to see any accidental clashes happen." With a simple command from Instructor Liu, his 30 students immediately spread out throughout the 4 corners of the training hall.


    Instructor Liu turned to his students and said sternly "Do not forget my instructions and my teachings." The students nodded their head before dispersing to find their sparring partner.


    When everybody found their partner, Instructor Pang nodded his head.


    "Now before we start, remember inflicting grievous injuries is prohibited. If the opponent surrenders, you must stop your attack. If not, let the sparring sessions begin!" Instructor Liu waved his hand signalling the start of the sparring sessions.


    The students under Instructor Liu were extremely hot-blooded. Once the sparring session had begun, they immediately unleashed their attacks. To their pleasant surprise, their opponents seemed to be struggling to cope with their attacks.


    All of the students under Instructor Pang were focused entirely on trying to control their inner strength to block the attacks. When the students under Instructor Liu saw that their opponents were only defending, they had a greater sense of confidence in their prowess. If they ever realised that they were being used for training purposes, their pride would be completely trampled.


    At one corner, Yue Hao had already been knocked down several times, but he never failed to climb back onto his feet. "Again!" Yue Hao shouted as he gathered his Inner Strength. At another corner, Zi Long''s body was already filled with bruises. As he tried to control his inner strength to block the numerous attacks delivered by his opponent, he finally realised how hard it was to truly master the control the inner strength. Although he was already at 60 meridian points, he was still unable to control and distribute his inner strength to block the fast attacks.


    Meanwhile, at Yiqi''s opponent was bewildered at how tough Yiqi''s body was. Every punch and kick he dealt on Yiqi''s body, he felt like he was hitting a steel wall. Yiqi''s face had a serious expression, as he was focused on controlling his Inner Strength. No matter where his opponent struck him and how fast the strikes were, Yiqi would have already protected that part with sufficient inner strength. Even when the opponent dealt simultaneous blows to him, he was able to split and control his inner strength proficiently.


    On Muyou''s side, he was behaving very differently from Yiqi. He was leaping around his sparring area and dodging all his opponent''s strikes. His opponent was chasing Muyou like a mad dog. However despite his utmost efforts, he was unable to catch Muyou.


    Muyou understood that Inner Strength could be used for agility too. He had concentrated his Inner Strength to his feet, and with simple footwork he was able to dodge attacks efficiently. Moreover, his escaping skills were incredible too. With just one leap, Muyou¡¯s opponent had to use 3 leaps to cover the same distance. Muyou had intentionally let his opponent strike him a few times, but he was able to block all the strikes. His opponent too felt like he was hitting a rock. Muyou was disappointed in his opponent¡¯s strikes as they were still slower than the ¡°Interlude Stabs¡± executed by Yun Chen. Thus, Muyou spent most of the sparring time literally running circles around his opponent. Whenever his opponent tried to punch him, he would leap to the back of his opponent. This made his opponent spinning around on the same spot trying desperately to hit Muyou.


    ¡°Sparring session stop!¡± Instructor Liu called out. It had been 2 hours and many of the students were exhausted.


    ¡°I think that is enough, don¡¯t you think so Instructor Pang?¡± He turned towards Instructor Pang.


    ¡°I agree. All of my students gather at our usual training courtyard!¡± Instructor Pang nodded his head.


    Before Instructor Pang took his leave, he bowed to Instructor Liu. ¡°Thanks for agreeing to this sparring session. If you are willing, we can have another sparring session soon.¡±


    ¡°Sure, no problem, but you should let your students recuperate for a while though. Your students look like they are in a pretty sorry state after this sparring session. Give them some time to nurse their injuries.¡± Instructor Liu chuckled before walking away. He was very pleased with the results of the sparring session. This sparring session was more like a thrashing session and it re-affirmed his students¡¯ strength. He was smiling the whole time when he witnessed how Instructor Pang¡¯s students were only defending and getting beaten up the whole time.


    ¡°Guess that is the extent of those commoners, the gap between my students and them is so vast.¡± Instructor Liu thought happily to himself. ¡°However, this batch of commoner students had got to be the worst batch ever. Even the past few batches were not as weak as this.¡±


    Instructor Pang smiled as he witnessed Instructor Liu¡¯s arrogant attitude. This thrashing session was his intention all along.


    As Instructor Liu gathered with his students, he could tell that his students¡¯ confidence grew tremendously after the sparring session. This pleased Instructor Liu.


    ¡°So how was the sparring session?¡± He asked his students.


    ¡°Easy as beating a chicken!¡±


    ¡°No challenge at all! They¡¯re so weak that there is no difference between them and punching bags!¡±


    ¡°They are only capable of defending against our attacks with no chance to strike back! They are no different from thrash!¡±


    His students were all brimming with confidence and boasting about their sparring sessions. All except two, the two who sparred with Muyou and Yiqi. Their faces were incredibly gloomy as they listened to the ceaseless boasting by their classmates.


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    ¡°My opponent was like a monkey. I was unable to catch him at all, his speed was something I had encountered before.¡±


    ¡°My opponent was like a steel wall, no matter where I strike I was unable to wound him at all. Even I who had 54 meridian points could not harm him at all.¡±


    The two of them spoke up, silencing the rest of the class.


    Instructor Liu frowned his brows. He was aware of his students¡¯ strength and capability. The two students should not be so weak as to even fail to wound another student.


    Before Instructor Liu could speak, a large burly student stood up.


    ¡°You two must have been slacking off during training. Don¡¯t worry, in the next sparring session I will take on the guy who you say was like a steel wall. I don¡¯t believe that with my 65 meridian points I will be unable to strike him down.¡± The large burly student proclaimed.


    ¡°Leave the monkey guy to me. Let¡¯s see how he escape my speed! In this class, the fastest guy has got to be me.¡± Another student stood up and proudly thumped his chest.


    Instructor Liu nodded his head staring at his students with pride. ¡°Good, good! Don¡¯t worry too much, this sparring session has proved how strong you guys are. Just continue the training I have prepared for you all. I will arrange another sparring session with Instructor Pang.¡±


    Meanwhile at Instructor Pang¡¯s side, all of the students except Muyou and Yiqi, were badly bruised. They were busy rubbing their wounds as they settled down around Instructor Pang.


    ¡°How was the sparring session?¡± Instructor Pang smiled.


    ¡°How do you think it feels to be thrashed like dogs?¡±


    ¡°They were obviously stronger than us, plus we were only able to defend. We were like punching bags!¡±


    ¡°My opponent even used stances from the Panther Fists! Looked at these scratches on my arm!¡±


    The students grumbled and complained incessantly. To most of them, it was the most humiliating day of their life.


    However, there were some students such as Yue Hao and Zi Long who gained some enlightenment regarding the control of Inner Strength. They were silent and still trying to recollect their sparring sessions.


    ¡°Remember what I have said regarding this sparring session?¡± Instructor Pang reminded the class. ¡°This sparring session is to improve your control of your inner strength, this sparring session is to allow you to grow stronger. If you had put your heart and mind into trying to control your inner strength during the sparring session, then you should have gained something from that session.¡±


    ¡°So what if they are stronger than you? This is not a life and death battle. In sparring with stronger people, you will improve faster. While your opponents, they continue to grow more arrogant in their strength. You guys should be grateful for this kind of exercise. I had to undergo years of deadly battle in the warfront to be able to master the control of my Inner Strength.¡±


    ¡°If you all were to continue having that false sense of confidence in your strength merely based on your number of meridian points, you all would end up dead outside this academy. Have you ever wondered what if your opponent on the battlefield was Muyou, but you underestimated him due to his meridian points? What would be the outcome?¡±


    Under Instructor Pang¡¯s lecture, the class turned quiet as they became guilty of their previous complaints. Muyou and Yiqi were standing at the side nodding in admiration of Instructor Pang¡¯s teachings. It seemed like Instructor Pang though young, was different from other instructors.


    ¡°Now, take the rest of the day to nurse your wounds and think about what I have just said. Do not let this sparring session go to waste. From tomorrow onwards, the morning shall be training of the martial art skills and afternoon will be the internal sparring session to improve the control of your inner strength. When I have successfully arranged a sparring session with another class, then I will inform you guys.¡± Instructor Pang said as he threw out several bottles of medicinal oil.


    ¡°Share these bottles among yourselves, they are very effective for light physical wounds.¡± Instructor Pang waved his hand as he left the courtyard.


    That night, the students all gathered out in the courtyard to share their experiences about the sparring session. They shared what they had learnt and some enlightenment they had regarding control of the Inner Strength.


    Yue Hao also successfully dragged Muyou and Yiqi out of their room to the courtyard. The other students were elated when they saw Muyou and Yiqi, and they immediately started to bombard Muyou and Yiqi with numerous questions. Muyou and Yiqi were reluctant to share pointers with the other students initially, but when they saw how genuine the other students were, their reluctant faded away. Thus the night went by with Muyou and Yiqi guiding the other students on the control of Inner Strength.


    Meanwhile seated on a nearby rooftop was Instructor Pang drinking wine from his wine gourd and witnessing his class. He was very satisfied with his class newly ignited thirst for strength. The thrashing session also had another purpose, which was to cause his students to be desperate for strength. Most of the students had been protected and lavished with praise for their whole life, so being humiliated in that sparring session showed the students how weak they truly were.


    ¡°It seemed like my plan and efforts did not go to waste afterall.¡± Instructor Pang let out a huge grin as he took another huge gulp of wine.

 Chapter 25: New Martial Skills

    Note: I''ve received feedback that my previous white font is un-viewable for some users. Do let me know if this is better or the previous white font. Do let me know if you can''t see the font too! Thanks!


    --------------------------------------------------------------


    *Bam!*


    A huge rock was smashed into bits as Yiqi stood calmly on the impact site.


    ¡°Woah! Yiqi, your Panther Charge was so amazing!¡±


    The group of students standing at about 20 meters away from Yiqi were cheering in amazement when they saw the prowess of Yiqi¡¯s execution of Panther Charge, the fourth stance of Panther¡¯s fist.


    One week had passed since the previous sparring session with Instructor Liu¡¯s class. In this one week, the class dynamics had went through a drastic transformation. The class seemed to have established a much closer bond after that humiliating experience. Muyou and Yiqi had always started to socialise more with their classmates. They would regularly exchange pointers with their classmates regarding martial arts skills and the issues regarding Inner Strength. The class had also unofficially recognised Muyou and Yiqi as the leaders of their class due to their strength.


    Instructor Pang was secretly delighted at this development, little did he expect that sparring session would spark the growth of resentment towards the bullying actions of the other classes. This common feeling caused the class to unite together, which Instructor Pang would be happy. Furthermore, how Muyou and Yiqi had taken a more active role in helping the rest of the class made Instructor Pang even more pleased.


    ¡°Woah younger brother, it seemed like your mastery of Panther Charge had reached unprecedented heights.¡± Muyou complimented as he led the class towards Yiqi.


    ¡°Are you sure those words should be coming out from you?¡± Yiqi smiled at Muyou.


    Upon hearing that remark from Yiqi, Muyou could only let out a dry cough. In fact, Muyou¡¯s mastery of Panther Charge was not any lower than Yiqi¡¯s.


    ¡°Stop comparing, both of you are leaving the rest of us in dust. Most of us are still trying to master the first and second stances.¡± Yue Hao sighed as the rest of the class nodded in agreement. In this week, Instructor Pang had arranged internal sparring session every afternoon and everybody had the chance to witness Muyou and Yiqi¡¯s monstrous strength.


    ¡°What are you all doing?! Just standing down there and chit-chatting?! Stop slacking all of you!¡± A shout echoed through the forest. That was the sign of Instructor Pang approaching.


    ¡°Run! Run! Instructor Pang is here!¡± The students started to shout as they dispersed in all directions. On the students¡¯ faces, were cheeky smiles as they let out waves of laughter.


    ¡°Haiz... These kids¡­ Always slacking off when I¡¯m not around.¡± Instructor Pang leapt down from a tree as he shook his head helplessly. This scene was like a mother hen trying to catch its mischievous chicks. Three weeks had passed, and the students and Instructor Pang seemed to have develop a close relationship. This was why they dared to be so informal and candid towards Instructor Pang. Instructor Pang was also not like the usual rigid senior, thus he did not mind this type of relationship.


    ¡°Good job in mastering the Fourth Stance, your learning potential never fails to amaze me. However, our agreement still stands. One more week for you to master the Fifth Stance.¡± Instructor Pang turned his gaze towards Muyou and Yiqi.


    Out of all of the students who dispersed, only Muyou, Yiqi, Zi Long and Yue Hao who remained. Muyou, Yiqi and Zi Long could be considered the strongest trio in the class while Yue Hao could be considered the smartest in the class.


    ¡°I think we will give up on mastering the Fifth Stance. It requires a huge application and control of Qi, so we will only resume our efforts after the Third Month when our Qi training starts.¡± Muyou replied with a dejected tone.


    Instructor Pang¡¯s eyes lit up when he heard that reply. Finally! Finally, the two geniuses in his class were willing to start learning new Martial Art Skills.


    ¡°Ok, you two can go to the Panther Martial Collections Hall to get a new martial art skills manual to learn. Regarding which martial art skills, I will leave it to both of you.¡± Instructor Pang said as he leapt off trying to catch the other students.


    When Instructor Pang left, Zi Long leaned on a tree as he sighed.


    ¡°You two have already mastered four stances of Panther Fists, while I have only mastered the first two stances of Panther Fists. Both of your learning speed is indeed too fast.¡± Zi Long could not help but to marvel at them.


    ¡°At least you have already mastered the first two stances. The rest of the class like me have already given up on mastering the stances of Panther Fists and went on to learn other martial art skills.¡± Yue Hao said as he proceeded to sit on a rock.


    ¡°That is because your heart was not even in learning martial art. After comprehending the first five stances, you immediately went to pick up some weird book on formations and tactics.¡± Muyou retorted. When Yue Hao was learning the Panther Fists, he was like an unwilling student being forced to study a subject he had zero interest in. However, when Yue Hao went to get a new manual on formations and tactics, he was immersed in that manual for an entire day.


    ¡°Formations and tactics are not something to be under-estimated you know, a good formation can allow you to overpower somebody much stronger than you. You know my father used to¡­¡± Once on the topic of formation and tactics, Yue Hao will spare no effort in lecturing the others. Muyou could not help but to groan as he regretted in leading the conversation to this topic.


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    At the end of the day, before the class was dismissed, Instructor Pang made an important announcement.


    ¡°Tomorrow afternoon we are going to have another sparring session with Instructor Liu¡¯s class.¡±


    This announcement caused the eyes of the students to burn with excitement. Finally, the time for revenge had arrived!


    ¡°However, the same rules apply. This sparring session is a training session for you guys! Use this chance to put what you have learnt into use. Trust me, this training session will be an important warm-up for the upcoming special event at the end of the month.¡±


    Some students were disappointed that they could not challenge the other class, while the others were perfectly alright with the same instructions. With their growth in the past week, all of them were confident that they were able to defend most of the attacks.


    ¡°So tonight all of you please rest well.¡± Instructor Pang dismissed the class.


    After dinner, Muyou and Yiqi headed over to the Panther Martial Collections Hall to select a new Martial Arts Skills. They tried to convince Yue Hao to tag along, but he was too engrossed lying on his bed and reading his Formations manual.


    When Muyou and Yiqi entered the Panther Martial Collections Hall, it was like a huge spiral library. There were numerous tomes stacked in the shelves with various labels. Near the entrance, sat an old man reading a book lazily. Although he was dressed in an Elder¡¯s robe, he had quite a sloppy appearance that was different from other Elders.


    ¡°State your name and batch.¡± He said lazily as he put away his book.


    ¡°I am Muyou and he is Yiqi. We are from the 87th Batch.¡± Muyou and Yiqi cupped their hands as they bowed courteously.


    ¡°87th Batch¡­ Muyou and Yiqi¡­ From Instructor Pang¡¯s class¡­ Oh, it has been 3 weeks and you guys had not retrieved any new martial arts skills? Both of your learning speed are indeed quite slow¡­¡± The elder mumbled as he flipped through a huge book.


    Muyou and Yiqi only let out an embarrassed smile. It appeared that the elder had mistakenly thought that Muyou and Yiqi had only comprehended the Panther Fists after 3 weeks. If he were to know that Muyou and Yiqi had already mastered 4 out of the 5 stances, his attitude would be completely different.


    ¡°Ah, I am Elder Kang, I am in charge of the Panther Martial Collections Hall. Now go and select a manual.¡± Elder Kang waved his hand as he slumped back into his chair and continued reading his book.


    Muyou and Yiqi immediately ran around browsing the various manuals, like little children who were visiting the library for the first time. After an hour, Muyou and Yiqi had settled down in their respective sections in the library as they carefully inspected the manuals in the section. After browsing through most parts of the library, they had a rough idea of what type of martial art skills they were going to pick up.


    After another hour, Elder Lang let out a grumble. ¡°Are you two done? It is almost closing time¡­¡±


    ¡°Ok, we are done!¡± Muyou and Yiqi hurriedly arranged the manuals back into the shelves before grabbing onto their selected manual.


    ¡°Come show me your selected manual before leaving.¡± Elder Kang instructed as he took a registry and a brush.


    ¡°Here is mine!¡± Muyou said gleefully.


    ¡°Shadow Kicks¡­ Are you sure you want to learn this? Although this has only 3 stances, but I am sure after browsing through, you know how hard this skill is?¡± Elder Kang frowned. ¡°Moreover you took 3 weeks just to comprehend the Panther Fists¡­ This Shadow Kicks is even harder than Panther Fists. You cannot learn a new skill until you comprehend this. Are you sure you still choose this?¡±


    ¡°It is alright, I still choose this.¡± Muyou nodded his head.


    Elder Kang only sighed as he wrote down the details on the book before turning towards Yiqi. ¡°What about you?¡±


    ¡°Elder Kang, this is my choice.¡± Yiqi smiled.


    ¡°The Impenetrable Body¡­ Gosh, what is wrong with the both of you? This is a martial art skill that will drastically alter your body¡¯s constitution. It is ridiculously hard for you to comprehend it in two years.¡± Elder Kang lamented in exasperation.


    ¡°I still want to choose this, Elder Kang.¡± Yiqi insisted.


    ¡°Ok ok¡­¡± Elder Kang shook his head as he recorded the details on the book.


    ¡°I have to warn you two, after a month, you two will have to return this book to this Hall regardless of your comprehension level. Moreover, you cannot make any copies of any books you borrowed from this Hall, anybody found guilty will be severely dealt with. Only when you have comprehended the martial art skills, then you can borrow another new manual.¡± Elder Kang said as he closed the book.


    ¡°Haiz, the both of you picking such a hard skill to start with, I am afraid both of you may be stuck with these skills till your graduation. Do you two actually think this Panther Martial Collection Hall is actually only for the students? The manuals here are also for the Panther Guards, you can say that only the easier skills in this Hall are actually meant for the students.¡± Elder Kang continued to nag at them as he showed them out of the Hall.


    Muyou and Yiqi did not mind Elder Kang¡¯s lecture at all, after all they were very excited with their new Martial Art Skills. This could be counted as a skill which they chose themselves.

 Chapter 26: Battle of speed

    Sorry for the long inactive period. It has been like 8 days since I''ve written a new chapter! I was literally swamped with assignments in the past week. It has been a real hell-ish week for me. But it''s over!! For now, so I will start churning out new chapters!


    ------------------------------------


    Next day afternoon, Instructor Pang and Instructor Liu''s class gathered at training courtyard F again for another sparring session.


    "It has been about a week since the previous sparring session. I hope your class has been doing well." Instructor Liu casually greeted Instructor Pang.


    Instructor Pang simply smiled and nodded. "Shall we begin then?" With a wave of his hand, Instructor Pang''s class had spread throughout the training courtyard.


    "Of course, my students have eagerly waited a week for this." Instructor Liu raised his hand and his students paired up accordingly with a partner each.


    In Muyou''s corner, stood a lanky student who had eyed Muyou since the start.


    "Do I know you?" Muyou asked. He was getting quite uncomfortable with the way that lanky student was staring at him.


    "I have heard of your agility and speed in the previous sparring session. Today, let me witness your agility and speed." that lanky student rubbed his chin as he grinned at Muyou.


    Muyou shuddered as he tried to avoid the gaze.


    "What''s wrong with him, he is like some creepy stalker." Muyou thought to himself. "It seems this Academy has some weird students..."


    In Yiqi''s corner, stood the burly student who proudly boasted of his 65 meridian points strength. The burly student and Yiqi simply stood there staring at each other in silence. Both of them were confident in their own strength and did not require any words to boast their strength.


    "The sparring session will start now! Same rules as last week, do not critically wound your opponent, especially my students do not end up crippling your opponents." Instructor Liu announced.


    When Instructor Liu''s students heard that last sentence, they chuckled. However, Instructor Pang''s students all frowned their eyebrows. That last sentence was a total insult to them.


    "You better run." The lanky student laughed as he charged towards Muyou.


    "I had better keep a safe distance from this creep." Muyou shuddered as he quickly retreated.


    They kept at this game of catching for half an hour. The weird thing was that Muyou could not seem to shake that lanky student off. Regardless of him increasing his speed, abrupt changing of directions or leaping a long distance away, that lanky student was able to keep up with Muyou. Moreover, that lanky student did not appear to be in any difficulty keeping up with Muyou.


    "Your footwork is really quite impressive, unfortunately playtime is over. Watch my qinggong." that lanky student suddenly sped up. His movements were still the same, but he appeared to be much lighter. He was like a leaf soaring through the wind. With each step forward, he was able to stay in the air for 3 seconds.


    Muyou was shocked when he saw the lanky student''s qinggong, this was the first time he saw somebody employing the qingong technique against him. He had heard of qinggong techniques, but like other students he preferred to learn combat skills first. Moreover, he was very confident in his "Spectral Nymph" skills.


    "It seemed like I could not avoid him without using Spectral Nymph..." Muyou muttered to himself. He did not want to use any martial art skills in these sparring sessions, he just wanted to train his basic footwork and his agility.


    Muyou suddenly stopped in his tracks as he turned and smiled at that lanky student.


    That lanky student roared in laughter when he saw Muyou stopped running. He thought Muyou must had gave up in escaping. It seems his qinggong was indeed formidable, he was confident that nobody in this batch could match him in speed.


    Just as that lanky student was about to grab onto Muyou, Muyou suddenly pushed himself off the ground and floated a few meters away.


    "What..." That lanky student was slightly annoyed, but he was not overly concerned as he leap towards Muyou again.


    However, this pattern kept repeating itself. Whenever he was about to reach Muyou, Muyou would float away again. Muyou was like a plastic bag floating in the air, and whenever that lanky student rushed towards Muyou, Muyou would float away in the wind.


    This was the first stance of Spectral Nymph, Whispering Wind. This was a stance which required minimum effort from the user, but simply utilising the force produced by the charging opponent. The downside of this stance, was that the user could not control the direction of movement since it was only borrowing the force of the opponent. However, this was more than enough to deal with that lanky student.


    Furthermore, that lanky student was over-confident in his qinggong. He had lots of excessive movements and made no attempt to move concisely. With each attempted attack, he generated lots of wind and force towards Muyou. Whispering Wind was the perfect counter to his qinggong.


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    That lanky student was now enraged, how could his qinggong and speed which he was so proud of failed him. Was his qinggong not good enough? Was his speed not fast enough? Impossible, none of the students in his class could even come close to his level. How could this student from the worst class in Panther Academy beat his speed.


    "What weird technique are you using!" that lanky student asked exasperatedly.


    "Oh was I using any technique just now? I don''t know about any technique. Can you please enlighten me on what technique did I use?" Muyou teased him back. Muyou was feeling pretty happy seeing how angry that lanky student got.


    "You... You... Without that weird technique I would have caught you long ago!" he was now half-panting and half-shouting with his saliva spouting all over.


    "That does not change the fact that you can''t even catch me... I am still standing here, come catch me. Didn''t you say you were going to catch me? Didn''t you say playtime is over and you were going to let me witness your qinggong? Well, I am still waiting to witness it." Muyou continued teasing him back.


    That lanky student was now trembling in anger, as he clenched his fists.


    "I swear I am going to catch you and beat you up to a pulp." he roared angrily.


    "Oh? You think you have the capability to beat me up?" Muyou raised his eyebrow. It seems that Muyou who focused on training his agility and footwork, was being seen by others as a strategy of the weak. That lanky student believed that Muyou''s inner strength and combat skills must be below average like him for Muyou to focus on his speed.


    "It looks like I am being severely underestimated." Muyou grinned as he crouched down preparing to attack that lanky student.


    When the lanky student saw that Muyou was going to attack him instead of running away, he was surprised at how effective his taunt worked. "That Muyou must be an idiot, falling for such a simple taunt. I am going to enjoy slowly beating this monkey into a pulp." He thought to himself as he rubbed his fist.


    *Zhoosh!* *Bam!*


    Before he could even react, he was already lying on the ground under Muyou''s feet.


    "What was that!? What just happened?!" He could not comprehend what had happened in that few short seconds. He saw Muyou charging towards him, however what happened afterwards were in a blur. He faintly recalled seeing Muyou transforming into a panther, but he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.


    "What technique did you use?" He struggled to ask as he coughed out some blood. He was trying very hard to utter out those few words as his chest was still stomped underneath Muyou''s feet.


    "You can''t even tell what was that? That was a stance in the Panther Fists... What have you been doing?" Muyou was genuinely shocked at his question. Muyou had just used the fourth stance of Panther Fists, the Panther Charge. He thought that by now every student should be familiar with all of the stances of Panther Fists. Thus, that question by that lanky student took Muyou by surprise.


    "Don''t lie to me, how could that be a stance in Panther Fists. None of the stances were so powerful, they were merely basic attacking skills." The lanky student laughed bitterly. However, when he saw Muyou''s solemn face, he started to ponder on the Panther Fists.


    Suddenly, his eyes began to open up and he stared at Muyou in shock. "Could it be... That... That it was the Panther Charge?" He asked.


    Muyou simply nodded his head.


    "But how could it be... The Panther Charge you used was... It was so different... The speed, the execution, the... Was it some secret technique you know regarding the Panther Charge?" He protested. He simply could not accept that Muyou executed the Panther Charge.


    Muyou did not answer his question. Muyou frowned his eyebrows as he took away his foot that way stepping firmly onto that lanky student.


    "His comprehension of the Panther Fists is so low, so low till he thought that the Panther Fists was just a basic combat martial art skill. How could the traditional martial art skill of the Panther Academy be so useless... Moreover this was a compulsory martial art skill to learn. The Panther Academy who only accepts geniuses, how can it force the students to waste their time in learning some second-rate martial art skills." Muyou thought to himself. It seemed that the geniuses in Panther Academy may not be so smart after all.


    On the stage of the training courtyard were Instructor Liu and Instructor Pang. At this moment, Instructor Liu was astonished as his tea-cup was shaking non-stop in his hands. It was not only because of how Muyou trampled his opponent, but he had also witnessed the developments in Yiqi''s spar.

 Chapter 27: Battle of True Strength

    Back to the start of the sparring session.


    "Let me warn you, I am now of 67 meridian points now. My strength is going to be very different from your opponent last week." The burly student warned Yiqi. He was very proud of his advancement. It was said that as one proceeded on the path of cultivation, the growth at the later stages would be slower and harder. However, he had spent all of his Panther Tokens on herbs to increase his cultivation speed. His growth now could be considered as fast and furious.


    Yiqi simply nodded as he gestured the burly student to attack.


    "Watch out then!" The burly student roared as he unleashed his punch towards Yiqi.


    Yiqi extended his palm as he attempted to block the punch.


    *Bam!*


    Yiqi retreated a few steps as he rubbed his wrist. That punch was certainly not light.


    "Hahaha, I had told you not to under-estimate my strength." The burly student grinned as he was feeling extremely satisfied with his punch.


    "Again." Yiqi said calmly as he steadied himself.


    "Oh?" The burly student raised his eyebrow. After examining Yiqi, he charged towards Yiqi again.


    This time, his punch was being deflected by Yiqi''s swipe of hand. He unleashed consecutive strikes for several minutes, but every blow was being blocked by Yiqi. Every one of his attack was being defended by Yiqi efficiently. His punches were all being deflected by Yiqi with minimal effort. It was like Yiqi had pinpointed the weak points of all of his punches.


    He was getting increasingly impatient as each minute passed.


    Suddenly, he launched a kick towards Yiqi''s stomach, causing Yiqi to instinctively to kick against his feet. This resulted in Yiqi flying back for a few meters.


    "I''ve got you now!" The burly student crouched down and instantly burst towards Yiqi who was still in the air.


    When Yiqi saw this, he became alarmed. This was the Panther Charge! Yiqi was especially vulnerable in the air with no stable foothold. Moreover, his opponent was already charging towards him. Yiqi instantly gathered all of his inner strength to his arms and raised it to block the incoming attack.


    *Boom!*


    After this huge impact, Yiqi was sent tumbling backwards a few rounds.


    "Even if you are not critically wounded, your arm should require a few months to heal." the burly student gloated as he walked towards Yiqi. He had unleashed all of his strength into that fourth stance of Panther''s Fist and he had executed when Yiqi was still vulnerable in the air. This could be considered as his final move, he was absolutely very nobody in this batch would be able to defend against this move. This was how confident he was in his strength! Other student could win him in terms of martial art skills, techniques, agility, speed or Qi, but strength-wise he was absolutely confident.


    However, the burly student froze in his tracks when he saw Yiqi standing up looking fine. Other than some dust on Yiqi and some tears on Yiqi''s attire, Yiqi was uninjured. Yiqi stood up and adopted a defensive posture again.


    How could this be!?!?


    "Again." Yiqi said in a soft tone as he motioned for the burly student to attack again.


    "How is your arm ok? I am sure my punch landed on your arms!" The burly student shouted out in confusion.


    "Yes you did." Yiqi nodded his head.


    "What is your meridian points?" The burly student started to suspect that Yiqi actually had a higher meridian point and was merely concealing his strength.


    "60 meridian points." Yiqi answered as he witnessed the burly student''s eyes widened in astonishment. In fact 60 meridian points was before including his 8 hidden meridian points.


    "I am 67 meridian point!? How is this... How..." The burly student''s mind could not comprehend what was going on. His strength which he had been so confident of, had failed to overpower an opponent who was weaker than him. Logically speaking a 67 meridian point should trump a 60 meridian point.


    When Yiqi heard this, he shook his head. Yet another martial artist who was blinded by the numbers again. Another martial artist who was blinding chasing these numbers and breakthroughs that they did not consolidate each of their new breakthrough strength. They ferociously devoured numerous amounts of medicinal herbs and constantly seek for breakthroughs. However, cultivation was never meant to be so rushed. It was supposed to be a slow and steady pace, to focus on consolidation of strength. Without a good foundation, the next breakthrough would have even less benefit.


    This burly student who were so recklessly advancing in his meridian points without stopping and consolidate his strength, had lost so much potential strength. Each of his breakthrough now reaped lesser strength than his previous ones because of his weak foundation. Moreover, those lost strength could never be regained fully. How could one reach great heights if his foundation was weak and rushed.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "Yet another wasted talent." Yiqi sighed as he looked at the burly student in pity.


    "What do you mean by that?! Wasted talent?! I am only 14 years old and I am at 67 meridian point marble body! How many people can have such achievements? Even you, a 60 meridian point dare to call me a wasted talent?! You must be using some secret defence technique!" The burly student roared in anger. He had been called a genius the whole life, even in his small sect he was named a prodigy and in his class he was the strongest student. Now this sect-less peasant grew so cocky after blocking one of his attack and dared to call him a wasted talent.


    "Do not think you can beat me just after blocking one of my attack. If you had balls, then receive this next strike!" The burly student''s eyes glowed with a killing intent. He was determined to make Yiqi pay for looking down on his strength. He would not kill Yiqi, but he would make Yiqi suffer and retract his words.


    The burly student leap up into the air and curled up his body, like a coiled up spring in the air, ready to burst any moment.


    This was the third stance of Panther''s Fist, the Hunter Descends! The coiled up body would explode towards its target with the assisting momentum of gravity. The destructive strength from this stance could not be under-estimated.


    However, judging from the burly student''s poor control of his Inner strength, it was unlikely that he had decent mastery of any martial art skills. Everybody had a unique body and constitution, thus mastery of martial art skills could only be attained by one''s own enlightenment and efforts. One had to figure out the most effective way of distributing their inner strength to attain the maximum power of the martial art skills.


    The teachings of the martial art skills only imparted the basic execution of the skills. Only after adapting the martial art skills to your own body and figuring out the most potent way of distributing your inner strength during the execution, then would you have mastered the martial art skills. Thus, comprehending a martial art skill could be said as just the tip of the ice-berg, only bringing out the basic power of the skill. Moreover, without a solid control of one''s inner strength, a full mastery of martial art skills would be almost impossible. And all of this was just concerning Inner Strength, martial art skills which Qi could be incorporated into had not been brought into the equation. This could be seen that the path of martial growth was not as simple as chasing numbers.


    "Receive this!" A loud shout rang through the air as the burly student uncurled his body and suddenly exploded towards Yiqi. He resembled a panther launching from a tree branch downwards onto its prey.


    However, Yiqi who had a more complete mastery of this stance, had already pin-pointed numerous openings which he could exploit. He could see that the burly student''s inner strength was incoherent.


    Since the burly student wanted a contest of strength, Yiqi would not exploit the openings or dodge the attack. He would take the attack head on!


    Yiqi gathered all of his inner strength, including his 8 hidden meridian points. He gathered all of his inner strength onto his chest, as he puffed out his chest to receive the attack straight-on.


    *BAM!*


    The punch landed on Yiqi''s strength, but Yiqi''s face had no reaction. Yiqi''s footing was still stable, his chest was still puffed out and his face had no reaction. On the contrary, the burly student''s face gradually turned green and his fist that was on Yiqi''s chest began to swell.


    "Ahhhhhh...." The burly student retracted his hand as he knelt on the ground and moaned. His fist had been shattered on that impact instead of Yiqi''s chest. He felt like he was punching a steel wall, an impenetrable steel wall. How could this be?!


    Of course, Yiqi had gathered the maximum potential of the 60 meridian points and his 8 meridian points to his chest. Whereas, the burly student could only bring out a fraction of the 67 meridian points and could not concentrate them onto his fist. Therefore, it was like a glass smashing against the concrete wall. Of course the glass would shatter.


    Yiqi turned around and saw Muyou waving madly to him. Muyou too had finished his match, and his opponent was lying on the ground appearing in a worse state than Yiqi''s opponent.


    "STOP!!!!" A shrill scream rent the air. Everybody turned towards the source of the scream and saw Instructor Liu standing up looking flustered. The tea-cup in his hand was already shattered into pieces.

 Chapter 28: Hunt for balls!

    "What is this?!" Instructor Liu shot a glare towards Instructor Pang.


    "What do you mean?" Instructor Pang smiled at Instructor Liu, as he calmly sat down and took a sip of tea.


    "That that!!" Instructor Liu pointed towards Yiqi and Muyou. "Explain that!!"


    Instructor Pang gave a very puzzled look, "I am afraid I do not get what you mean."


    Instructor Liu could no longer hold in his anger as he slammed the table beside them into pieces. "Stop feigning ignorance! Didn''t we agree on no mortal injuries? Wasn''t that the rule?! Why is one of my student now lying on the ground vomiting blood and the other one with a shattered fist?"


    By now, every student was now staring at Yiqi and Muyou. Everyone was shocked at how Yiqi and Muyou completely overwhelmed their opponent.


    "Hey hey, don''t you find that accusation kind of unfair. The student had a shattered fist was injured because of his attack, my student did not even attack him. If you want to blame, blame it on your student for not knowing his place. The other student did not suffer any major injury, just a night of rest he would be fine. I''m sure you can tell that the attack avoided all of his bones and vital organs." Instructor Pang said it loud and clear. "When my students were being beaten black and blue did I raise any objections?"


    "You... You..." Instructor Liu stuttered in anger. "You... You sure are good..."


    "Let''s go!" Instructor Liu walked off the training courtyard with his students following closely behind.


    As they left, all of them shot dirty stares at Yiqi and Muyou. Both of them had trampled the prides of the class.


    "Woah Yiqi! What is your chest made of? Are your bones made of steel? Muyou, you too, stomping the opponent onto the ground!" Yue Hao marveled as he walked over.


    "Haha just lucky." Muyou grinned. "You too, you seemed to be in a better shape than last week."


    Yue Hao''s face revealed an embarrassed smile as he scratched his head.


    The class also began to crowd around Muyou and Yiqi, asking all sorts of questions.


    However, Instructor Pang was still standing at his original position with a worried look. Never in his wildest imagination, he would have thought that this simple sparring session would create such animosity between him and Instructor Liu. However, what had happened had already happened.


    "Now now, quieten down." Instructor Pang said as he waded through the crowd of students. "I am sure after this one week of practice on your control of Inner Strength, you all should have realised how different this sparring session was compared to last week''s."


    The students nodded. In this sparring session, they felt much stronger and tougher. Even against opponents who had a higher meridian point, they were not at a disadvantage. Compared to last week, they only suffered some bruises here and there, they were not in such a sorry state.


    "There would not be anymore sparring sessions with Instructor Liu class, so all of you work hard during the daily training. Remember pursue quality and not quantity. Focus on your foundation, your basic control of your Inner Strength. Reckless growth will only foster false arrogance. I am sure you all have witnessed the state of Yiqi''s and Muyou''s opponents."


    Instructor Pang paused for awhile staring at all of the students'' faces. He then sternly said, "From now on, do not seek trouble or start any conflicts with other students, especially Instructor Liu''s students. Do you all understand."


    "Yes..." The whole class replied with a serious tone. They understood that judging from Instructor Liu''s reaction, today''s matter may have implications.


    "Alright, that is the end of today''s training. All of you go rest up, I will see you guys tomorrow." Instructor Pang dismissed the class.


    "Everybody, we are sorry to have caused trouble for all of you." Yiqi and Muyou bowed as they apologised.


    "No need for apology, I am sure all of us approve of that." Yue Hao hurriedly tried to assure Yiqi and Muyou. The other students also echoed his sentiment. After being thrashed by the other class, they felt very satisfied seeing Muyou and Yiqi completely dominate their opponents. It was like helping their class regain a bit of their pride.


    -----------------------------------


    One week had past, with everyone deeply immersed in training. The breakthroughs in meridian point for the class had slowed down, but that was because the students took time to stabilise their breakthroughs. With each new meridian point, they seek to consolidate their newly-gained strength and maximise the potential of their new meridian point before going for another breakthrough.


    Muyou and Yiqi devoted most of their time to their new martial art skills. Muyou and Yiqi had already memorised the Shadow Kicks and Impenetrable Body respectively, but they were still working on comprehending them. These new martial art skills were indeed difficult to comprehend, and much more difficult to master. However, they also knew that the skills that they had chosen were among the more powerful martial art skills available in Panther Academy. They would rather spend more time to master one powerful martial art skills, than master numerous mediocre martial art skills. This was something most students would not dare to do. The fear of failure to comprehend the martial art skill and being stuck with it deterred many students from the more powerful martial art skills.


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    During one of the morning run session, Head Instructor Wang announced a special event.


    "Today marked the end of the first month, and we are going to have a special event for the whole day. These small brown balls are hidden around the jungle area, the various running paths we had went through for the past month." Head Instructor Wang revealed a brown ball, no bigger than the size of a ping-pong ball.


    "Look at this map, the whole wilderness is split into different zones. If you have realised our morning runs only cover zone A." He pointed to the map, circling the zone A. The wilderness shown to consist of zones A - F. Zone A was the border jungle surrounding the wilderness area. "Thus for today''s event, all of you are only to stay in Zone A. There are other instructors on the borders patrolling. Anybody who venture into other zones will be fined 10 Panther tokens!"


    When the whole cohort heard of the 10 panther tokens fine, they shuddered. 10 panther tokens were a lot to the students.


    "For each brown ball you have collected, you can exchange it for 1 panther token. You all have until sunset." Instructor Wang threw the brown ball on his hand deep into the forest.


    "Event start!"


    With this announcement, all 300 students rushed madly into the forest. A brown ball for a panther token, this was an easy way for them to earn some panther token!


    "Stop squeezing damn it!"


    "Give way to the Pang clan''s young master!"


    "Which bastard shoved me just now?!"


    The entrance towards the jungle was like a marketplace full of aunties squeezing for freebies. The so-called geniuses of the Southern Province were behaving like the beggars on the street.


    After a few minutes, the crowd had finally dissipated as majority of the students had already entered the area hunting for brown balls. Instructor Pang''s class then proceeded to stroll in. The other students wanted to rush in initially, but they decided to stick to Muyou and Yiqi.


    "Eh? Why are you all following us?" After running a distance, Muyou and Yiqi realised the class was following them tightly.


    "I thought it would be best if we follow you two for this event. This would ensure that everyone''s safety." Yue Hao said sheepishly while Zi Long nodded his head.


    "Oh my goodness..." Muyou smacked his forehead. "We are hunting for brown balls, not killing wild beasts... If we were to hunt for brown balls as a group of 30 students, how many brown balls do you think we can get?"


    "That is true..." Yue Hao muttered.


    "Ok everybody if you are still worried about your safety, then split into groups of two. This event is just hunting for brown balls, there should not be much danger." Muyou said as he waved his hand.


    With this, the class went their separate ways in pairs. Muyou went off with Yiqi, and Yue Hao left with Zi Long.


    After traversing for 500 meters, Muyou and Yiqi suddenly stopped in their tracks.


    "Come out you guys, do you think that we would not notice that you all had been following us since we entered the jungle?" Muyou shouted as he glanced at his surroundings.


    "I have to compliment you for detecting us..." Hai Cheng emerged from behind a tree as he clapped his hands. After that about 10 more students came out and surround Muyou and Yiqi.


    "How did you manage to find out that we were tracking you?" Hai Cheng asked.


    "Hmph, a group of kids like you all want to play assassin? Do you all really think you all are professional assassins or soldiers?" Muyou retorted. "All of your footsteps were so heavy coupled with your loud and irregular breathing. Some of you were already panting after chasing us for 200 meters. Moreover, you all kept rustling the tree-leaves. Even your grandmother can hear you a kilometer away."


    Hai Cheng''s face turned ugly. It was true that they were trying to imitate the assassins tracking their targets, but from how Muyou described their actions, they seemed like a group of kids trying to play make belief war games. It made them seemed childish and retarded.


    "Then do you know why are we having this conversation right now?" Hai Cheng said with a cold smile.

 Chapter 29: Ambush

    "Oh how would I know?" Muyou gave a puzzled look. "We are not the ones stalking you, but you all are the ones stalking us."


    "Do you recall our previous encounters then?" Hai Cheng said as he twirled a tree branch that he picked up.


    "You mean those two times when you were beaten up like a dog?" Muyou smiled.


    "Yes, today it is payback time for the incidents at the dorm area and the medicinal hall." Hai Cheng gritted his teeth as he glared at Muyou and Yiqi. The stare from Hai Cheng was one of deep resentment.


    "Ha, payback? Just based on your ability?" Yiqi let out a laugh. This was getting ridiculous, this Wudang disciple after being thrashed around twice still did not know his limits.


    "No no no, not just based on my ability. But based on our abilities combine." Hai Cheng shook his head as the other 10 students sniggered.


    "It is too late to regret your past actions now..." She Gou who was standing beside Hai Cheng grinned. "Attack!"


    With that shout from She Gou, the other 9 students charged towards Muyou and Yiqi. However, they did not attack Muyou and Yiqi, they started to circle around Muyou and Yiqi.


    "Oh? The third stance of Panther Fists, Hunter of the Night. Seems like they had some brains to do some planning beforehand." Muyou mused to himself.


    Unfortunately their mastery of this martial art skill were too low compared to Muyou and Yiqi. Even though this stance was supposed to cause the opponents to be unable to track their movements, but Muyou and Yiqi could grasp all of their locations.


    "Don''t beat them up too much! Leave some action for boss and I." She Gou let out a hearty laughter. With this formation set, it seemed impossible for Muyou and Yiqi to break out.


    Suddenly one of the students appeared beside Muyou, preparing to strike Muyou. However, just as he appeared, Muyou''s defences was already up. Muyou countered his punch with Tearing of Disarm.


    *Cha Cha Cha!*


    This loud tearing sound rang out and the student fell onto the ground grabbing his bleeding arm. His arm had scratches so deep that his bone was exposed.


    "Argh!!!'' He screamed. "My arm!!!"


    Before anybody could react, two more students from the encirclement had already executed the strike from Hunter in the Night, targeting Yiqi.


    Yiqi was already prepared for the strikes. He twisted his body as he grabbed both of the students'' wrists and slammed both of them onto the ground.


    Yiqi slammed them with such huge force that their shoulders dislocated and the length of their arms increased by a few cm.


    Strength. Technique. Speed. Muyou and Yiqi completely outclassed the other students. In just the initial exchange, 3 of the students were already down. Despite Muyou and Yiqi were the ones being trapped, they became the ones doing the slaughtering.


    The 6 remaining students continued to maintain their encirclement and was still in their Hunter in the Night formation, anytime ready to strike Muyou and Yiqi. However, none of them dared to strike after seeing the initial exchange of strikes.


    "Hmph! If none of you dare to attack, then let me come to you." Muyou sighed with annoyance.


    Panther''s Charge!


    *Bam!*


    Muyou had already broken out of the encirclement. In fact, he did not only break out of the encirclement, he slammed 1 of the student while on the way out. The student was sent slamming on the trunk of the tree like a rice bag. In his eyes was an astonished look, before he slumped unconscious.


    The remaining 5 students immediately retreated to increase their distance.


    However, Yiqi had already leap into the air.


    Hunter Descend!


    Yiqi flew down onto one of the retreating students like a meteor strike.


    *Thud!*


    The student pinned down by Yiqi vomited out blood before his eyes rolled back.


    Another 2 down! This was an utter domination by Yiqi and Muyou. 9 students had trapped Muyou and Yiqi in their Hunter of the Night formation, but 5 of them ended up being taken down by Muyou and Yiqi.


    4 remaining


    "What... How is this possible..." She Gou stared in disbelief. He could not believe the sight before him. Everyone in Panther Academy could be considered the cream of the crop in the young generation of the Southern Province. None of theses students were a filler, everyone of them would be established figures in the future, future leaders of the Song dynasty. However, Muyou and Yiqi had so easily taken down 5 of them despite being outnumbered. These students Hai Cheng chosen, were the inner disciples of the sects in Southern Province. They were the pride of these sects. Although they were not of noble clan or great sect, their sects were quite established in the Southern Province. If their patriarchs were to know that they were being pummeled like chickens by another fellow student, how angry would they be.


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    "What... are you... What are you all doing!?" Hai Cheng roared as he started to shake in anger. "All of you attack them at once! They are only two people!"


    "But... They are much stronger than us..." One of the student stammered as he looked fearfully towards Hai Cheng. "You have seen... Their... Their strength... You have..."


    "Shut up!" Before he could finish, Hai Cheng shut him up. "9 of you are unable to win 2 students! Moreover, 2 sect-less students with no background! If words get out, are you all still able to hold your heads up high in Panther Academy! You all would be a great disgrace to your sects!"


    The student stole a glance at Muyou and Yiqi. He saw Muyou and Yiqi were staring at this spectacle with amusement as they walked towards him. With each step, his fear grew inside his heart. He saw the horrifying injuries inflicted on the fellow students, and he definitely did not wish to be on the receiving end.


    "Sorry, this task, it is not within our capabilities. We will bid our farewell here." He hurriedly apologised to Hai Cheng before scuttling out of the area with the other students.


    Hai Cheng''s face turned red from anger with veins popping out. His plan had actually failed so miserably right in front of him.


    "Hey! Don''t run away, what about your fellow injured students here? Don''t leave them alone here!" Muyou teased the escaping students.


    "Good... Good... Today I admit defeat before you two, be prepared the next time we meet." Hai Cheng gritted his teeth as he stared at Muyou and Yiqi.


    "Let''s go!" Hai Cheng gestured to She Gou to leave. Just as they were about to leave, a shout rang out.


    "Wait!"


    When they heard this word, they shuddered. This was the word they were praying very hard not to hear.


    When they turned around, they saw Muyou smirking at them.


    "Why the hurry to leave? After spending so much time and effort tracking us, don''t you want to spend more time with us?" Muyou smiled coldly.


    "What do you want?" Hai Cheng asked warily.


    "Hmmm... What do I want... I don''t know... Maybe you could help me with this?" Muyou rubbed his chin as he stared at Hai Cheng.


    "If you have nothing to do, then do not waste our time. Goodbye." She Gou said hurriedly as he turned around trying to leave.


    Just as he took his first step, Yiqi suddenly appeared right in front of him.


    Treading on Shadows! That was the third stance of Spectral Nymph.


    "What... How... How did you get behind... Get behind me..." She Gou broke out in cold sweat.


    "Get back!" Yiqi growled as he punched She Gou.


    That punch was the Fist that Dominate, the first stance of Fists of Defiance!


    She Gou raised his arms to defend, but it was utterly useless. His defence was completely overwhelmed as he was sent flying like a broken kite. That punch was simply too brutal, too domineering, it simply tore apart She Gou''s defence.


    After flying for about 10 metres, She Gou landed on top of a tree. However, he was already unconscious and foaming blood.


    Standing beside Yiqi was Hai Cheng. By now, he was petrified after witnessing everything. That speed and footwork which Yiqi employed to reach behind She Gou, that power behind the punch. Hai Cheng witnessed all of these close up and he knew he had absolutely no chance against Muyou and Yiqi.


    "Leave? How could you two leave so easily? How could we let you two mastermind to simply leave like that? In order to prevent future trouble, we have to address the root of these issues, am I right?" Muyou''s words gripped Hai Cheng''s heart.


    "Address the root of these issues", how could Hai Cheng not understand the meaning behind these words?


    "What do you two plan to do?" Hai Cheng glanced at Muyou.


    "Well, heard of the three strikes rule?" Muyou stared at Hai Cheng as he raised up his hand.


    "First strike, the incident at the dorm. We had warned you not to make any trouble after that." Muyou held up his index finger.


    "Second strike, the incident at the medicinal hall. You actually attacked us despite the previous warning." Muyou then held up his middle finger too.


    "Now this... Gathering 10 students to ambush us... This is the third strike..." Muyou shook his head as he held up his ring finger too.


    "Three strikes... With this, we have no choice but to solve this enmity once and for all." Muyou''s tone suddenly turned cold as he shot a killing stare towards Hai Cheng.


    Hai Cheng gulped as he saw Muyou mouthed the word "kill".

 Chapter 30: Another Spar

    Regret never flashed across Hai Cheng''s mind. In his mind there was only one word now, RUN!


    He wasted no time as he turned around and tried to make a run for it. Throughout his whole life, he had lived a sheltered life, growing under the protection of his clan and Wudang. Even though he had experienced some setbacks, those were simply obstacles which Hai Cheng felt annoyed about. This was the first time, he felt fearful for his life. He simply could not comprehend what this pair of mad siblings would do.


    He sped off without looking back, running desperately for about 1km. After stopping down to catch his breath, he looked around only to find Muyou and Yiqi trailing behind him leisurely. The moment he caught sight of them, he would immediately turn tail and run.


    This carried on for about 10km. With each sight of Muyou and Yiqi, Hai Cheng grew more fearful and desperate. It was pure torture for Hai Cheng. He slowly gave up on the notion of escaping from them, so he decided to change his escape strategy. He started to shout loud pleas of help while he ran.


    "HELP!!! I am being slaughtered!"


    "Somebody save me!!! They are planning to kill me!"


    "Somebody is trying to kill a Wudang disciple!!"


    Hai Cheng had already thrown away all of his pride and face. All he wanted was to escape from Muyou and Yiqi''s clutches. Muyou and Yiqi simply continued to follow him, watching his actions with amusement.


    After another half an hour, Hai Cheng who was getting increasingly frantic, finally tripped and fell flat onto the ground.


    "Help!! Help!! Somebody save me from two murderers!!" Hai Cheng was still screaming as he scrambled on the floor trying to get away from Muyou and Yiqi.


    "Finally done running?" Muyou revealed a sinister smile as they strolled towards Hai Cheng.


    "Don''t come near!! Go away!! Don''t! You can''t kill! The school rules... Another student... Wudang will not let... the school rules say... I am a Wudang disciple... Help!!" Hai Cheng blurted out incoherently.


    Yiqi shook his head at this pitiful sight. How could a great Wudang disciple be such a coward. Hai Cheng caused several of his "friends" to be injured because of his scheme yet he did not even attempt to put up a fight.


    "Don''t worry we certainly would not kill you, we are just going to teach you a lesson." Muyou coaxed Hai Cheng. "Now can you tell us, what must we do in order for you not to create trouble for us in the future?"


    "Just let me go! I promise I would not get in your way in the future! We will be like river water and well water, we will not cross each other''s path!" Hai Cheng said frantically as he looked like he was on the verge of bursting into tears.


    Muyou shook his head, "I am afraid it would not be just so simple..."


    He continued to walk towards Hai Cheng whose face turned paler with each step of Muyou.


    "Hold your steps!"


    A shout suddenly echoed out as Muyou was about to reach Hai Cheng. When Muyou glanced at the surrounding, he saw 5 students emerged from the woods.


    "Hai Cheng, what have you gotten yourself into now..." One of the student stepped out and stared at Hai Cheng. From the way he carried himself and the aura he gave off, it was evident that he was the leader of this group of students.


    "Pang Jing save me! These two students want to kill me!" When Hai Cheng saw Pang Jing, his eyes was filled with hope again.


    Pang Jing frowned before turning to Muyou, "Fellow student, I do not know how Hai Cheng has offended you. However, I will not allow other people to bully my underling."


    When Hai Cheng heard the word "underling", his face was filled with pride. This caused Muyou and Yiqi to lose any of their respect left for Hai Cheng. This guy actually took pride in being somebody''s lackey.


    "I am afraid we cannot just let him off. He gathered 10 students to ambush us. If we were the weaker ones, do you think we would still have the ability to stand here and have this conversation?" Muyou shook his head. "This Hai Cheng must be taught a lesson."


    "I see..." Pang Jing nodded his head as he inspected Muyou and Yiqi.


    "Two of them actually managed to hold off ten students... It looked like they had some potential..." Pang Jing mused to himself.


    "I am Pang Jing, may I know how should I address the both of you?" Pang Jing cupped his hands as he greeted Muyou.


    "I am Muyou and he is my brother Yiqi."


    "I see, Muyou and Yiqi. This is indeed Hai Cheng''s fault... How about this..." Before Pang Jing finished his sentence, he glided towards Hai Cheng.


    *Pak Pak!*


    He delivered two tight slaps onto Hai Cheng''s face. Two palm marks appeared on Hai Cheng''s face as his cheeks swelled. However, Hai Cheng did not resent Pang Jing''s actions at all, he continued to kneel down behind Pang Jing with his head looking down.


    "These two slaps, considered as my punishment on behalf of both of you. Take it as an apology from me. I can assure you that Hai Cheng will no longer create trouble for the both of you." Pang Jing smiled.


    What blasphemy?! Just two slaps and everything is over? What kind of joke is this? Muyou was obviously not going to accept this settlement. Just as Muyou was about to voice his objection, Yiqi patted his shoulder to stop him.


    "We appreciate your gesture. We will not pursue this matter further, and we hope Hai Cheng will do likewise." Yiqi said. "We will take our leave then, farewell."


    Just as Yiqi and Muyou was about to leave, Pang Jing sent a signal to one of the student beside him. When the student saw Pang Jing''s signal, he nodded.


    "Please wait!" that student called out. "Since it is so rare that we are gathered here, why don''t we have a friendly spar to know each other better?"


    This halted Muyou and Yiqi in their tracks. What rare meeting, what friendly spar? This is totally bullshit! That Pang Jing never intended to just let us off so easily!


    However, they failed to comprehend Pang Jing''s true intentions. After hearing about Muyou and Yiqi fending off 10 other students, he had to confirm their strength. Pang Jing was a guy who never trusted the rumours, he would have to personally witness it. Seeing is believing, this was Pang Jing''s way of action. He sent one of his underling to spar with them in order to affirm their strength. If they were weak, he would not let them leave so easily. On the other hand, if their strength was not exaggerated, he would try to recruit them into his faction. This was the thinking of the heir of a noble clan, somebody who had dabbled in the political games.


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    "Why? This event has no need for any sparring... If we were to waste more time here, we will not be able to hunt for the balls." Muyou said with an annoyed tone. Muyou and Yiqi were irritated with these series of events.


    How did a simple event became so complicated?


    "Don''t worry, if you were to spar with me, I will give you 5 balls as a friendly token." The student took out 5 brown balls from his pouch. "This is not disadvantageous to you in any way."


    "Ok!"


    Seeing the 5 brown balls, Muyou accepted the sparring session immediately. 5 balls gained just like this? Free balls? Whoever refused would be a fool.


    "Let''s start!"


    Muyou planned to get this over and done with in the shortest time possible. He felt that if he did not break away from these people soon, more complications will entail.


    "Good! Watch out!" The challenger exclaimed as he grabbed kicked a rock the size of a car tire towards Muyou.


    "What... This guy did not even waste a single second..." Muyou thought to himself as he leap upwards to avoid the rock.


    When Muyou was in the air, he suddenly realised that it was a bad move to simply leap into the air. Now he was currently extremely vulnerable and an open target for the opponent. He desperately glanced around to locate his opponent.


    Suddenly, he saw another two rocks flying towards him.


    "Damn it... Is this guy''s hobby to send rocks flying around..." Muyou frowned. Muyou was unable to dodge in mid-air, he could only use brute force to break the rocks.


    Fist that dominate!


    Muyou roared as he unleashed two consecutive punches, that shattered the rocks.


    *Bam Bam!*


    The moment he landed, another rock was flying towards him again.


    "Were there so many rocks around this area?" Muyou was extremely frustrated now, that opponent did not give him any break. Moreover, the rocks were coming from various directions, which meant that the opponent was constantly on the move.


    Muyou executed Fist the dominate once more and break apart the rock.


    "You can''t win by just defending you know?" The opponent stood behind another rock as he taunted Muyou.


    "That''s it... You think you are in a circus? You want to keep sending things flying? Let me send you a present!" Muyou thought angrily to himself.


    After a few seconds, the dust had started to settle and everybody was squinting their eyes, trying to figure out what was Muyou doing.


    After a few glances, the opponent''s eyes suddenly widened when he saw Muyou''s actions. Muyou''s Qi was rapidly consolidating around him, pouncing around him in a panther''s shape. With every passing second, the panther-shaped Qi appeared to be deadlier.


    This was the final stance of Panther''s fist, Panther Unleash!


    Everybody''s stares became intense. For Muyou''s Qi to take on such a vivid panther shape and giving off such an oppressive feeling, one could only imagine what level had Muyou''s mastery of this stance reached.


    The opponent no longer dared to play around, as he hurriedly gather his Qi and execute Panther Unleash too. When Muyou saw that, he simply smiled as he continued to consolidate his Qi. The panther-shaped Qi became even livelier, crouching, pouncing and letting out small growls.


    The opponent''s Qi remained stuck remained at a blob-shaped Qi, and it could not match Muyou''s panther-shaped Qi in any way. This was the difference in their mastery of the stance.


    "Take this!"


    The opponent could no longer hold it in as he frantically shot his Qi towards Muyou.


    When Muyou saw that, he calmly extended his palm, and his panther-shaped Qi let out a roar before pouncing towards his opponent.


    Pang Jing nodded his head as he let out a smile, the result of this battle was obvious.


    *Vroom!"


    When their Qi collided, Muyou''s panther-shaped Qi overwhelmed the opponent''s Qi and continued to charge towards his target.


    "Ahhh!!" His opponent''s legs gave way as he fell onto the ground. He was completely oppressed by the Qi charging towards him, he was now a sitting duck. However, being hit by this Qi would be no joke, he would definitely suffer from some gruesome injuries.


    Suddenly a rock was sent flying towards the opponent, knocking the opponent out of the way.


    *Bam!*


    The rock had exploded and turned into dust. What kind of insane power of could turn a rock into dust. Imagine if that Qi hit the opponent instead of the rock, what would have happened?!


    "I am sorry for interrupting the spar, but I had no choice but to prevent him from being killed." Pang Jing stepped forward as he apologised to Muyou. "As a compensation, I offer another 5 balls."


    Muyou glanced at the opponent who was lying on the ground in a daze, with traces of blood seeping from the corners of his mouth. Although he had suffered some light injuries, if he were to be hit by the Qi, his life may really be forfeited. Thus, Muyou was in fact quite grateful to Pang Jing for intervening.


    "Thanks, I guess I will accept it." Muyou swiftly collected the brown balls. In just a few minutes, they had gained 10 brown balls.


    "We will bid our farewell here, thanks for everything!" Muyou and Yiqi hastily bid their farewell. They wanted to get away from Pang Jing and his gang as soon as possible!


    "Wait!"


    Muyou and Yiqi''s hearts sank again... What do they want now... Muyuo and Yiqi felt like they were unable to extract themselves from this quagmire.

 Chapter 31: Recruitment

    "May I know what fellow student Pang Jing has for us?" Muyou turned as he forced out a smile on his face.


    "Oh it''s nothing much, I just wanted to ask if you want to join my faction?" Pang Jing gave a warm smile.


    "Faction?" Yiqi was puzzled at Pang Jing''s invitation.


    Before Pang Jing could reply, Hai Cheng immediately replied.


    "Young master Pang Jing is inviting you two to join his faction in Panther Academy! If you join his faction, you will have his protection and backing. After graduation, you will even be in his unit. Young master Pang Jing''s father holds the status of Knight and has the title "Protector of the South" conferred by the royal court. The Pang clan has been one of the leading noble clans in the Southern Province and his father is the indisputable military figure in the Southern Province. If his father says one, no other general dares to say two. So the military unit formed by young master Pang Jing after graduation is going to be the top military unit in Southern Province. Following him, your future as a Panther Guard is going to be limitless."


    Hai Cheng said all of this in one breath, and the more he said the more excited he became. It was as if he believed Pang Jing to be his God or his saviour.


    Pang Jing obviously kept quiet and simply closed his eyes as he listened to Hai Cheng rambled on. If he was to say such stuff about himself, he would appear to be shameless. However if Hai Cheng was the one to say such stuff about Pang Jing, he would not refute it and just appreciate these praises. This was what made Hai Cheng such a good underling.


    "So you want us to be your underling?" Muyou asked as he raised his eyebrow.


    "No no no... Underling is such a distasteful word. I am simply asking if you are willing to be my follower? I assure you if you two were to join my faction, you two will only stand to gain and not lose out in anyway." Pang Jing courteously replied.


    Before Muyou or Yiqi could reply, Hai Cheng added in, "Do not forget his father is the Protector of the South, the most powerful general here. Moreover, Young Master Pang Jing is the heir of the Pang Clan, sooner or later he will achieve the title of the Knight. His faction already has more than 40 people and many students are still requesting to join."


    Muyou rolled his eyes when he heard Hai Cheng''s shameless promotion.


    "Sorry young master Pang Jing, we are not looking to join any faction. We appreciate your kind intentions but we are afraid we..." Muyou rejected politely.


    "No rush no rush." Pang Jing interjected. "Go back and take a few days to think about this. You will soon see that joining my faction will have its benefits even in the Panther Academy."


    "Thanks then, we will consider about it." Muyou and Yiqi then swiftly turned and leave. This time round, they were relieved that nobody stopped their departure.


    "Young Master Pang Jing, I am so sorry for failing the task!" After Muyou and Yiqi''s departure, Hai Cheng hurriedly went before Pang Jing and knelt down.


    "It is alright, at least we managed to scout both of their strength. We have an unexpected harvest instead." Pang Jing let out a sinister smile.


    "Hai Cheng, from now on do not create any trouble with the both of them. If I were to find out that the two of them join other factions because of you creating trouble for the both of them..." Pang Jing''s face became stern as he stared intently at Hai Cheng.


    "I understand! I understand!" Hai Cheng frantically tried to assure Pang Jing. Although he had some enmity with Muyou and Yiqi, he would never dare to disobey Pang Jing. He was not so dumb to incur the wrath of Pang Jing over some personal conflicts. All he had to do was to avoid Muyou and Yiqi until they joined Pang Jing''s faction. Then as the "senior" he would gladly discipline them.


    Muyou and Yiqi who had already departed, were relieved that they could finally start hunting for the balls.


    They spent a few hours searching for balls, but could only find a few balls. They searched high and low, but only found 5 balls in those few hours.


    "All of the balls must have been taken by other students. It is all Hai Cheng and Pang Jing''s fault. If they did not delay us, our result would not have been so miserable... Even that 10 balls are not enough for compensation." Muyou was quite gloomy.


    "It is alright, we still have a few more hours. Let''s just speed up the pace of our search." Yiqi tried to be optimistic.


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    Just as they were conducting their search, they saw a small group of 3 students.


    "Hey fellow students! How are the both of your search?" One of the students called out when they saw Muyou and Yiqi.


    "Not bad not bad." Muyou gave a short reply. He was very cautious with his words around unfamiliar faces now. Who knew if they were another noble student or some petty student, if Muyou were to say anything more than necessary, he might be embroiled in another complicated situation.


    "I see, which faction are you in?" The student asked.


    "Oh?" Muyou was surprised the student would ask about faction. Was this student going to invite Muyou and Yiqi to his faction? It seems like faction was the hottest thing in Panther Academy right now.


    "We are not in any faction." Yiqi calmly replied.


    "I see..." The student muttered as he slowly revealed a sinister smile.


    Suddenly the 3 students dispersed and surrounded Muyou and Yiqi.


    "Since that is the case, then we will have to ask that you hand over your balls. If you hand over your balls, we will let you off." The student threatened Muyou and Yiqi.


    "Weren''t we just supposed to hunt for balls? Isn''t this against the rules of this event? Just let us go our separate ways, this will make things less complicated for both parties" Muyou tried to reason with the students.


    "Rules?! Hahahaha! Didn''t you hear Head Instructor Wang''s briefing? There are only two rules and none of them consist of fighting. As long as we don''t kill you, nothing will happen to us." The student scoffed at Muyou.


    "Moreover, I don''t think that things are complicated at all. In fact, the situation is pretty simple. There are 3 of us and 2 of you. So hand over your balls and you can go away unharmed." The student was very confident in their numerical advantages.


    "Hmmmm..." Muyou started to rub his fist. "Since you put it this way, we do not have to hold ourselves back then. Yiqi lets go!"


    With this shout, Muyou and Yiqi sprang towards the students.


    This action caught the students off-guard. They had always been the ones to seize the initiative to attack. Furthermore, they had saw Muyou and Yiqi diligently searching for the balls in every nook and cranny. Thus, they were confident that Muyou and Yiqi were not fellow robbers like them.


    Within a few minutes, Muyou and Yiqi had already sent the 3 students sprawling on the ground and letting out miserable groans.


    "Well, thanks for your kind donation of 15 balls!" Muyou said gleefully as he counted his harvests inside the bag he seized from them. Muyou and Yiqi had 30 balls now, 10 from Pang Jing, 5 from searching and 15 from these robber-students.


    This bountiful harvests of 15 balls made their searching effort seemed futile. In just a few minutes, they gained 3 times the harvest of their hours of searching.


    Muyou and Yiqi had their principles though, they would not rob other people. It was only if other people were robbing them, then they would seize the robbers'' balls. If not, they would continue to search.


    "Please let more robbers target us..." Muyou prayed silently as they continued to search for balls. Unlike Yiqi who was calmly searching every corner, Muyou was getting impatient.


    Luckily for Muyou, in the next few hours several groups of students actually targeted them. Needless to say, the robber-students found out the hard way that Muyou and Yiqi were no mere lambs waiting to be ambushed.


    It was going to be sunset and Muyou and Yiqi started to proceed back to the entrance.


    "Hahaha, looks like we have quite a bountiful harvests... 104 balls. Hahahaha." Muyou was overjoyed at their harvests, and how they spent more time beating up the robber-students than searching for balls.


    "It was all because of you, making so much noise, attracting all the attention." Yiqi sighed. He would prefer to avoid conflicts as much as possible, but with Muyou it seemed like an almost impossible task. He had a feeling that this event caused them to make several new enemies. Although the robber-students were in the wrong and had their just desserts, they would certainly not let Muyou and Yiqi off just like this.


    "Aiya Yiqi, didn''t everything end well? Look 104 balls hahahaha." Muyou was in a celebratory mood.


    One was gloating over the harvest, the other was worried about the implications.

 Chapter 32: Factions

    When Muyou and Yiqi returned back to the starting point of the event, the area was already swarming with students.


    "Muyou! Yiqi! Over here!" Yue Hao was shouting from a corner as he waved his hands.


    "What happened to you guys?" Muyou asked when he saw the sight of the other classmates. Almost everybody was in a rather poor shape, it was as if they had just came out of a battlefield.


    "Nothing... Just some minor scuffles here and there." Zi Long said. However, he was not in any better shape; his shirt had several tears and there were bruises and scratches on his face and body.


    "Those don''t look like any minor scuffles. Did you all fight with the groups of robber-students?" Yiqi glanced at their injuries.


    The other students hung their heads in shame when they heard Yiqi.


    "We split up into groups of two to hunt for balls, but who would have known that other students would resort to violence to extort us of our balls. Of course we were no pushovers, we stood up to them and this is the end result... We are still too weak..." One of the students said helplessly.


    "Let''s not talk about such sad stuff, Muyou and Yiqi how is your harvest?" Yue Hao tried to the change the topic as he sensed the atmosphere turning increasingly depressing.


    "Oh, we had collected 104 balls!" Muyou said.


    "104?! Holy shit, that is a lot! How did you guys managed to find so many balls!?" The students who heard Muyou''s answer gasped. 104 was an almost impossible number to reach, considering how there were only limited number of balls for the whole cohort.


    "Well, most were... ahem donated... by other students." Muyou rubbed his nose. "Well, we will go and exchange our balls for tokens first."


    Meanwhile at another corner, Pang Jing sat facing a group of students.


    "Young master Pang, the task is completed. Almost all of the faction-less students have been targeted and warned by us during this hunt. After a few more days, these students will beg us to take them in." A student respectfully delivered his report to Pang Jing.


    "Good good... We are going to step up on the recruitment and overtake Xiao Lei''s faction." Pang Jing nodded his head.


    This event was not so simple and straightforward. The noble factions had already stepped up their plans to intimidate and recruit the students from the smaller sects and the sect-less students. These were the commoners and the nobles had no qualms using force to intimidate them.


    Those robber-students were not just random small groups, but they were actually sent out by the nobles to intimidate all of the faction-less students. This would serve a lesson that without a strong backing, one could not survive in Panther Academy.


    At another corner was Xiao Lei with his faction.


    "What? There were 2 students who managed to overpower you all?! Only 2 of them and none of you can settle them?! Who are they?" Xiao Lei glared.


    "We only know they are called Muyou and Yiqi... We do not know anything about them." One of the student came forward reluctantly.


    "Muyou and Yiqi... Interesting, those 2 guys who beat Hai Cheng up on the fourth floor... Find out more about them. Who are their backers? Are they in any factions? Are they hiding anything from their background? Did they conceal their clan or sect? I want these information in 3 days." Xiao Lei rubbed his chin.


    After exchanging the balls for tokens, Muyou and Yiqi went back to where their class was gathered. The sight of their classmates nursing each other''s wounds made Muyou and Yiqi felt pity for them. However, Muyou and Yiqi were glad that they had some backbones to stand up for themselves unlike Hai Cheng and She Gou who were typical cowards.


    "By the way Muyou and Yiqi, are you two planning to join any faction?" Yue Hao asked.


    "Faction again? Why does everyone keep throwing this word around during this event?" Muyou thought to himself.


    "Not for now. Do you know a lot about the factions in our cohort?" Yiqi wanted to know more about the workings of their cohort.


    "Ok, basically in our cohort of 300 students there are only 3 noble factions. The Pang Faction, Xiao Faction and Ouyang Faction. Each of these factions are headed by a young master from the main family of their clans. Pang Faction is headed by Pang Jing, the 2nd young master of the Pang main family. Xiao Faction is headed by Xiao Lei, the 3rd young master of the Xiao main family. Ouyang is headed by Ouyang Huo the 1st young master of the Ouyang main family. The Pang and Xiao clan held the title of a knight noble clan, their patriarchs were renowned generals. The Ouyang clan was the clan of a royal court minister." Yue Hao explained.


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    "Unlike us, the noble clans will not sent the sons of the main family alone to Panther Academy. When their young masters reached the age of 13-15, they will gather the sons of the branch families, their staff and vassals and send them to Panther Academy to assist the young master. Even after graduation, they will serve the young master''s Panther Guard army unit. This is also why in each cohort, there are only a few noble clans. Technically, the other students like us will be roped in as vassals or subordinates of the noble students."


    "I see... Why don''t you all join their factions? If you join their factions, you will receive protection from them or achieve greatness in their army units" Muyou asked.


    "Haiz... Do you think the noble students really want to recruit us?" Yue Hao sighed. "We are the lowest form of existence in their eyes. We come from a commoner family and does not belong to any sect. Ouyang Faction does not even want to recruit us, to Ouyang Huo we are insignificant existence. Pang Faction and Xiao Faction have the most aggressive recruitment. However, they want to recruit us not because they appreciate us, but because they want us to be their grunts. If we are to join, we will have to pay 1 panther token every week, 3/4 of our rewards from events will be collected by them and we will be the servants of the Faction. We will have no future in their Factions, later on when we are in their army unit we will be cannon fodder."


    That really sounded like a sad fate.


    "So what are all of your plans?" Muyou looked at all of the dejected faces.


    "We don''t know for now, that is why we want to also know what are Yiqi and your plans?" Yue Hao replied dejectedly. In fact, all of the class wanted to follow Muyou and Yiqi. They had witnessed Muyou and Yiqi''s strength, how they beat up a Wudang disciple and the students from Instructor Liu''s class. After interacting with Muyou and Yiqi for a month, the students also knew that if they followed Muyou and Yiqi, they would not be badly treated.


    "We are not sure yet, give us a few days to think about this." Muyou shook his head. In fact, Muyou and Yiqi knew what their classmates were thinking, but they needed time to process these information and decide on their next course of action.


    4 days later.


    "Young master Pang Jing, we have successfully recruited another 40 students, boosting our faction strength to a total of 120 members." A student reported.


    "Only 120? Why are the numbers so low? Did the Xiao faction manage to snatch all the other members? Or did the Ouyang faction made their move to snatch other students?" This result was lower than what he expected.


    "We are not sure of the other 2 factions, but there is one weird thing. We are unable to recruit a single student from the commoner class." The student replied.


    "Hmmm... That is weird... Go find out more about this situation. Oh, and approach Muyou and Yiqi again, spare no effort to recruit them. I have a feeling they may be related to this situation." Pang Jing frowned his eyebrows.


    In another training courtyard, Xiao Lei was furious.


    "What?! Our total strength is only 100? That is severely below my expectations! What is going on!?" Xiao Lei roared. "I want you all to go find out what the hell is going on! And make sure this time you all managed to recruit Muyou and Yiqi, if not do not come back and see me."


    "Yes young master Xiao Lei!" The students shouted as they immediately scurried away.


    Meanwhile, in a room was Elder Lu and Elder Hao.


    "Elder Lu, this time you have brought in another two trouble-makers..." Elder Hao sighed as he looked out of the window.


    Elder Lu let out a laugh. "Why do you say so Elder Hao? Isn''t everything calm now."


    "Now... Yes, calm now... For now..." Elder Hao mumbled as he continued gazing at the training courtyards.

 Chapter 33: The Professor

    After another few days, Muyou and Yiqi went to the Panther Martial Collections Hall again. The two weeks deadline was up and they had to return the manuals back.


    When they entered the panther Martial Collections Hall, they saw Elder Kang lazing in his chair reading a manual as he lazily fanned himself.


    "Good afternoon Elder Kang, we are here to return our manuals." Yiqi took the initiative to greet Elder Kang.


    Elder Kang looked at Yiqi with a slightly annoyed look as he slowly rose from his chair.


    "Take out the manuals and put them on the counter." Elder Kang grumbled as he took out the large book which kept the records. It was obvious that he was slightly unhappy that Muyou and Yiqi had disrupted his morning.


    Muyou and Yiqi could sense that Elder Kang was not in his best mood, thus they did not say any additional words and promptly took out their manuals.


    Muyou though, was slightly unhappy. For absolutely no reason, he had to deal with an old man''s stinky face in the morning. "If you are such a lazy pig, then open the Panther Martial Collections Hall later." Muyou thought to himself as he glanced at Elder Kang''s incredibly slow and lazy movements. It was as if each step and each movement sucked the life out of Elder Kang. "How could this old zombie be an elder?"


    "Alright, report your names." Elder Kang mumbled as he flipped through the large book.


    "Yiqi and Muyou from the 87th batch here." Yiqi said respectfully.


    "87th batch... Yiqi and Muyou... Oh you two! The two rascals who refused to heed my advice and picked Impenetrable Body and Shadow Kicks." Elder Kang looked as if he had just woken up from his previous half-dead self.


    He grabbed the two manuals as he casually flipped through them.


    "So I bet these two weeks were completely wasted right? I knew it, these two manuals were not for the likes of Panther Academy students, they were the higher tier manuals." Elder Kang grinned at Muyou and Yiqi.


    Before Muyou and Yiqi could reply, Elder Kang continued his speech.


    "I bet the both of you must be very worried now. You two must be worried about getting stuck on these 2 manuals and unable to learn anymore new martial art skills in the rest of your time in Panther Academy. Hahahaha, only if you two would heed my advice." Elder Kang let out a hearty laugh. It was as if he took pleasure in their misery. Muyou and Yiqi were rendered speechless. Muyou wanted to give Elder Kang a good smack, but Elder Kang was after all an Elder of Panther Academy.


    "Do not worry though, let me tell both of you a piece of good news. All that stuff about only being able to pick up another manual only after comprehending the previous one is all fake. Those stuff were being thrown around to prevent Panther Academy students from wasting their 2 years in this Academy attempting to learn high-tier martial art skills. In the past many students were like you, they had unrealistic goals and they jumped around from a high-tier martial art skills to another for 2 years. In the end, they became a master of none and jack of few trades. Thus we spread this informal rule around to ensure that students start from the low-tier martial art skills and slowly progress their way up."


    Elder Kang stopped as he glanced at Muyou and Yiqi.


    "However for both of you, this tactic was useless after all. You have wasted your past 2 weeks. Who knows if you will waste the rest of the two years in trying to comprehend other high-tier martial art skills." Elder Kang chuckled.


    "Why are you so sure that we will not comprehend these martial art skills?" Muyou could not hold it back in and decided to question Elder Kang.


    "Oh? It seems like you have something you want to say." Elder Kang raised his eyebrow as he looked at Muyou.


    Yiqi who was standing beside Muyou pulled his shirt attempting to tell Muyou to stop challenging Elder Kang. However given Muyou''s temperament, Yiqi''s attempt to de-escalate the situation failed.


    "Yes. The way you put it, it was as if we would never comprehend any of the high tier martial art skills." Muyou stepped forward.


    "Hahaha, little student that is up to you not me to say. Why don''t you show me what you have already learned regarding Shadow Kicks? That is if you can." Elder Kang walked out of the counter area.


    "Show you? Even if I executed the Shadow Kicks, do you even recognise the Shadow Kicks? The way you put it, it was as if nobody can learn this martial art." Muyou said.


    "Less talking and more action." Elder Kang raised his hand with the gesture of beckoning Muyou to attack.


    "Muyou I think it is better to stop here." Yiqi hurriedly advised. He feared this might leave some bad blood between the elder and them, which would be bad for their future days in the Panther Academy.


    "Relax, he asked me to show him what is Shadow Kicks. How can I refuse an instruction from an elder?" Muyou smiled.


    "Becareful!" Muyou suddenly let out a shout as he stretched out his right leg.


    Nebulous Unraveling!


    This was the first stance of the Shadow Kicks! The kick by Muyou appeared to be very straightforward and simple. However, when it was about to strike Elder Kang, Muyou''s kick became foggy and blurred. It was as if Muyou''s leg had became formless and shapeless. With this strike, the opponent should be bewildered and could not grasp the kick, leading to the opponent being unable to counter or defend. This was the essence of Shadow Kicks, the attacks were all complicated and the true fatal strikes were hidden within the feints from the opponent''s perception.


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    "Oh, you have already comprehended the first stance of shadow kicks!" Elder Kang was taken by surprise. He would never had imagined that Muyou could already comprehend the first stance in just two weeks.


    "However this is still not enough." Elder Kang let out a smile as he reached out his hand.


    "Break!"


    With a shout, Elder Kang had broken Muyou''s attack and had grabbed onto Muyou''s leg firmly.


    "What?!" Muyou and Yiqi were shocked that Elder Kang had so easily broken Muyou''s Nebulous Unraveling.


    Elder Kang casually tossed Muyou''s leg, causing Muyou to fly 5 meters back and land beside Yiqi.


    "Not bad that you have comprehended the first stance of shadow kicks, I have to say I had underestimated you. However, it is still quite lacking. Your comprehension of this stance is only at the basic level, you have not grasped the essence of this stance." Elder Kang nodded his head in approval as he stared at Muyou.


    "Your strike was too slow, Shadow Kicks may be about bewildering your opponent, but the stances were never about slow strikes. Speed and confusion combined together will serve as a deadly strike."


    With one leap, Elder Kang flew towards Muyou. He stretched out his leg, executing Nebulous Unraveling similar to Muyou''s previous execution. However, his stance was swift and deep. Just looking at his Nebulous Unraveling, made Muyou felt like he was staring into a black hole. It was as if his whole consciousness was being suck into it and he could not move his body to defend.


    Seeing this, Yiqi jumped out to defend Muyou. Yiqi brought up both of his arms as he directly blocked Elder Kang''s kick.


    "Bam! Bam! Bam!"


    Elder Kang had landed three solid kicks on Yiqi''s arms, right shoulder and stomach. However, Yiqi''s legs were still firmly planted on the ground and body was still kept in the upright position.


    "Oh? You are the one who practised Impenetrable Body. Good defence good defence." Elder Kang stepped back as he scrutinised Yiqi. Although he had already reserved a huge part of his strength, he was planning to send Muyou flying out of the Panther Martial Collections Hall. After seeing that Yiqi received the the kicks head on and did not budge an inch, he was quite impressed.


    "Elder Kang you over-praise." Yiqi replied courteously. He could tell that Elder Kang had only used a small part of his strength. However even with this small part of Elder Kang''s strength, Yiqi did not feel good about taking that three kicks. When he received the kicks, his stomach felt like it was being twisted and he almost vomited. Even now, his muscles were feeling extremely sore and numb.


    "Don''t be so humble. I supposed your mastery of Impenetrable Body now should be about 10%? In just 2 weeks, this progress could be considered monstrous. If you mastered this Impenetrable Body, for an opponent to inflict physical harm on you, his inner strength must be several times higher than yours." Elder Kang continued to praise Yiqi.


    Yiqi simply smiled as he nodded.


    "You there, learn to be more humble from your brother." Elder Kang looked towards Muyou. Muyou hearing that simply kept silent as he nodded. He had no more doubts regarding Elder Kang''s ability.


    "A word of advice. Do not think that only your generation produces genius. Every generations have their own genius. Just because you are young and experiencing explosive growth, does not mean that you are un-rivaled in the whole Jianghu. Do not think that old men like me are weak targets. In this jianghu, there are numerous old freaks and grandmasters who look like they are about to kick the bucket any time. However if you were to enrage them, you might not know how did you die."


    As Elder Kang droned on and on, Muyou and Yiqi listened attentively. Especially Muyou, he felt ashamed for severely underestimating Elder Kang''s strength. It was the same as the first time as he met Grandmaster Hong, Muyou simply thought of them as an old easy opponents.


    "Let me tell you, I was a genius back in my day too. In fact when I was young, I was called a genius of the genius. Do you know what nickname the other people gave me? They called me the professor. Because nobody in the Panther Academy had mastered more martial art skills than me. In fact, out of all of the martial art skills in this hall, I have mastered more than three quarters of them. Do you think that I am a weak old man and that was why Panther Academy assigned me to be in charge of this hall?"


    "I demanded to be allocated to this job, I chose this job. So many Panther Guard units kept approaching me to recruit me to join their units, but I rejected all of them. What job can be better than this? I can read all of these manuals all day long. What more interesting things are there compared to learning martial art skills. Let me tell you..."


    For the entire time, Yiqi and Muyou did not dare to make a sound. They simply stood there listening to Elder Kang talk about his past, his glory days and his passion.


    After an hour, it was only when another student came into the Panther Martial Collection Hall, then Elder Kang stopped.


    "Ok, that is it for today. If you two want to borrow other manuals come back again." Elder Kang waved his hand as he walked back to the counter.


    After finally being dismissed from Elder Kang''s lecture, Muyou and Yiqi felt relieved. As they exited from the hall, they looked at the student who was entering with gratitude.

 Chapter 34: Forming my own faction

    After Muyou and Yiqi''s trip to the Panther Martial Collections Hall, they stopped by the medicinal hall. Both of them could be considered loaded with Panther Tokens now. Since the first week, they had only spent less than 10 Panther Tokens on the spiritual herbs.


    It was not because of them being stingy and liked hoarding Panther Tokens. Today was the day they were finally going buy a herb which they had been eyeing for a month.


    "We want two of this." Muyou said to the counter staff as he pointed to a picture on the menu. It was the Silverback Gorilla''s Heart. This was the item which Muyou and Yiqi had been saving up for, which cost 50 Panther Tokens. In the Medicinal Hall, there was a wide variety of medicinal items. There were items which could increase your inner strength growth aiding the next breakthrough, increase the Qi cultivation, heal inner injuries, antidotes to poison, refine the quality of one''s inner strength, etc. Items which refined inner strength or Qi were the more expensive ones. The Silverback Gorilla''s Heart was an item which helped one refines his inner strength. This was why although it was the cheapest item which refined he inner strength, it still cost a massive amount of 50 Panther Tokens!


    Muyou and Yiqi were very excited about this Silverback Gorilla''s Heart. The breakthroughs for each new meridian point were becoming increasingly more difficult and time-consuming. However, they were never the types who wanted rapid and unstable growth. They preferred quality over quantity. Thus, they decided to splurge their Panther Tokens on the Silverback Gorilla''s Heart. They were very excited as to the effects of this Silverback Gorilla''s Heart and promptly left the Medicinal Hall after they had acquired what they wanted.


    When Muyou and Yiqi  went back to their usual training courtyard, there was surprisingly a crowd gathered there.


    "Muyou and Yiqi! You two are finally back!" Yue Hao exclaimed when he saw them. The crowd turned around and looked at them, as if the crowd had been waiting for them.


    Among the crowd was Instructor Pang''s class, Muyou and Yiqi''s 28 classmates. There was nothing peculiar to their presence as this was their class training courtyard. However, other than their classmates, there were about 10+ odd people gathered there too. When Muyou saw the faces of the 10+ people, he groaned a little in his heart.


    These 10+ people, were people from Pang Jing''s faction and Xiao Lei''s faction. For the past few days, these people had been constantly pestering Muyou and Yiqi in attempting to recruit Muyou and Yiqi. They had thrown out all sorts of offers and incentives in hopes of luring Muyou and Yiqi. There were promises like letting them be in the upper ranks of the faction, receiving a weekly bonus Panther Tokens, having more underlings under them, all sorts of benefits. However, Muyou and Yiqi rejected all of their offers.


    Despite these continuous rejections, these people did not seem to give up. On the contrary, they became even more stubborn. They were like those persistent sales agents who refused to give up.


    "Muyou and Yiqi we need your final answer now." A tall and tanned student stood out and approached them. He looked like he was about 18 years of age and much older than other students. This student was Xiao Zhen, one of Xiao Lei''s trusted aide.


    "Yes let''s settle this issue once and for all." Pang Sheng looked towards Muyou and Yiqi. Pang Sheng was of average height, however he looked to be quite skinny and had a neat long pony-tail. He was Pang Jing''s trusted aide.


    Muyou and Yiqi were not unfamiliar with them, as they had been pestering Muyou and Yiqi countless of times for the past few days.


    "What do you all mean by settling this issue? We have already given you two our answers. We do not want to join any factions. How can we make this even more clearer for both of you to understand? We will not join Pang Jing''s faction nor Xiao Lei''s faction." Muyou was getting exasperated now.


    "So you are planning to form your own faction?" Xiao Zhen asked.


    "Huh? What do you mean by forming our own faction? There are only the two of us, what kind of faction could we possibly form?" Muyou was puzzled.


    "Only the two of you? All of your classmates, all 28 of them claim that they are following you. Isn''t this equivalent to forming your own faction?" Xiao Zhen said as he glanced at all of the other students.


    Before Muyou and Yiqi could reply, Yue Hao pulled both of them to the side as he explained the situation to them.


    "As you know all of us do not want to join Pang Jing or Xiao Lei''s faction as we were going to be merely exploited and bullied in their factions." Yue Hao said as Muyou and Yiqi nodded their heads.


    "However, when they started to recruit us, we had to give a reason to reject them. Thus we said we were going to follow both of you. Somewhere down the line, the message started to change a little and was misunderstood a little and the whole story changed. So now, the situation was that everyone believed that you two had formed your own faction and that we were in your faction. Even some of the students truly believed that we were in your faction. That was why Pang Sheng and Xiao Zhen were so desperate to recruit the both of you. Recruiting both of you meant that your whole faction would become their faction''s branch."


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    After hearing this explanation, Muyou and Yiqi were a little taken aback. They had no idea at how absurd the situation had became. They also understood why Pang Sheng and Xiao Zhen were increasingly desperate in their approaches.


    "So what do you say? If you join us, you will not be neglected by young master Pang Jing and you will get to keep your current faction members." Pang Sheng asked again.


    "Don''t listen to them! Everybody knows that Pang Jing is a scheming bastard, you can never trust his words. Behind his every action, there are a thousand different schemes! Join young master Xiao Lei, he is a guy who admires strength and power! Once you prove your strength to him, you will be a treasured member in the faction." Xiao Zhen called out.


    When the students from Pang Jing''s faction heard Xiao Zhen''s insult of Pang Jing, they started to rebut.


    "What do you mean that our young master is a scheming bastard! Do not slander our young master!"


    "You brute! Just because our young master is smarter than Xiao Lei, you dare to accuse our young master of being scheming!"


    "Do not listen to him! Our young master is as honorable as Guan Yu!" (Guan Yu was a general in the Three Kingdoms era, late Eastern Han dynasty. Other than his bravery, he was also known for his loyalty to Liu Bei.)


    When the students from Xiao Lei''s faction heard the rebuttal, they started shouting out insults of Pang Jing again. This led to the whole situation turning into a protest between of both their factions as the other students watched in amusement.


    "Quiet!" Xiao Zhen roared. Surprisingly, his voice was even louder than all of the bickering students'' voices combined. Muyou and Yiqi were also surprised at Xiao Zhen''s roar.


    "If there was some roaring martial art skill, this Xiao Zhen is going to be the perfect candidate for it." Muyou mused to himself.


    After the commotion had quietened down, everybody turned their attention to Muyou and Yiqi for their answer.


    "Regarding the issue of my faction, we will settle it ourselves in private. I supposed there is no reason for me to explain these private matters to either of you?" Muyou said.


    "What about pledging your allegiance to young master Pang Jing? We can seek his assurance on letting you retain your autonomy regarding issues of your own faction?" Pang Sheng said with a desperate tone.


    Before Xiao Zhen could butt in and counter-offer, Muyou raised his hand.


    "Sorry the answer is still no. Yiqi and I will not be joining either of your factions. The reasons are simple. We do not like to be under anyone. Moreover, our relationship to Pang Jing and Xiao Lei are like a stranger relationship. How can we simply pledge our loyalty to somebody we are totally unfamiliar with. We have only met Pang Jing once and exchanged only a few words. For Xiao Lei, we have not even met him. Therefore, I hope that you all can convey our reply to your respective young masters." Muyou gave his definite answer.


    Pang Sheng had a dejected look as he sighed, "If that is your final answer, then we will report this back to our young master." With that he led his faction students away.


    On the other hand, Xiao Zhen had a rather furious look. "You two do not know any better!" With this one statement, he stomped off with his faction members.


    After they had left, the training courtyard was only left with Instructor Pang''s class.


    "So have all of you really decided to join my faction?" Muyou asked as everybody nodded.


    Seeing their responses, Muyou turned towards Yiqi for his opinion. Yiqi was calmer and a better decision-maker than Muyou. Forming a faction in Panther''s Academy was not an insignificant matter.


    "If all of you have decided to join our faction, then we will not reject. In this faction, we do not oppress nor sabotage one another. Although we term it as faction, we are essentially a band of brothers, there is no superior or underling here." Yiqi said as the students'' faces brightened up. "Every ship needs a captain and every dragon needs a head. Thus, for our faction, I nominate Muyou as the leader."


    With this declaration by Yiqi, the students started to cheer as it meant that their faction had officially been formed. Obviously nobody would reject the notion of Muyou being the leader. They had long ago treated Muyou and Yiqi as the leaders of the class.

 Chapter 35: Pang Jing and Xiao Leis responses

    After finally settling this issue, Muyou and Yiqi retreated back to their room. They needed a quiet place to consume their Silverback Gorilla''s Heart.


    They brought the stove from their common area into their room and started preparing their Silverback Gorilla''s Heart. According to the staff at the Medicinal Hall, the best way to consume the Silverback Gorilla''s Heart was to boil it and turn it into a soup.


    "Yuck, this tastes horrible." Muyou groaned as he took his first sip. Because they were extremely eager to try the Silverback Gorilla''s Heart, they did not put any seasoning or extra ingredients. It was purely Silverback Gorilla''s Heart and water. Needless to say, the soup tasted horrible and it had a raw aftertaste to it.


    His face had a disgusted face as he looked at Yiqi downing his bowl.


    "Whatever" Muyou muttered as he pinched his nose and gulped down his bowl at one go. The heart was being shredded into pieces so that it was easier and more convenient to eat. After Muyou finished his bowl, his face turned purple as he felt like puking.


    The Silverback Gorilla''s Heart had a very distinct raw and meaty taste which would cause one''s stomach to turn inside out.


    "Are you alright?" Yiqi looked towards Muyou with a concerned gaze. Muyou simply nodded his head as he tried to straighten himself. Soon both Muyou and Yiqi were already sitting in meditative state as they were circulating their inner strength waiting for the effects to kick in. These herbs were not like injections, the effects do not kick in immediately.


    After about 10 minutes, Muyou and Yiqi started to feel their body heating up. Their blood began to churn. They felt as if their meridians were being pounded by their inner strength as if they were being being refined in a cauldron or furnace. This sensation caused their skin to turn as red as a tomato and they began to perspire profusely. This was a very uncomfortable and quite painful experience, and all they could do was to grind their teeth as they endured through it.


    After another hour, their faces began to relax as the effects gradually wore off.


    "Phew, that was quite a hellish experience." Muyou said as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.


    "But the effects of these herbs to refine inner strength are really amazing." Yiqi nodded his head in approval.


    As the saying goes, a good medicine tastes bitter. The experience was a painful one, but the benefits Muyou and Yiqi reaped were much greater than the previous herbs they had consumed. Although the effects were not as drastic as transforming the whole body or purifying all of the impurities, they felt that their blood had became more refined and that the quality of their inner strength had increased.


    "I wonder what the effects of the higher quality herbs would be... A pity they cost a bomb." Muyou started to daydream about all of the higher quality herbs they had seen back at the Medicinal Hall.


    "Imagine if those rich noble kids and great sect''s core disciples were already taking these high quality herbs and medicine since young, then it is natural that they are much stronger than ordinary youngsters. But this is such an unfair method." Muyou began to complain. It was only until he had entered Panther''s Academy then he was able to access these medicinal herbs. Moreover, after he consumed this Silverback Gorilla''s Heart, then he realised how truly beneficial were these items. And if there was some rich noble young master who had been consuming these rare high quality herbs since young, then they would be peerless.


    "But aren''t we still here in the end?" Yiqi smiled. "Aren''t we on the same level as them now?"


    Upon hearing that Muyou grinned. Although they had not sparred with the noble young masters, most of the other students were not their competition at all.


    Meanwhile, the news of Muyou forming his own faction had been reported back to Pang Jing and Xiao Lei.


    "I am sorry for failing this task. Regardless of what I said, they were reluctant to join our faction." Pang Sheng reported as he bowed his head.


    "No worries, you have already done your best. It is within my calculations that they would not join our faction nor Xiao Lei''s faction. Furthermore, you have adhered to my instruction which was not to get on their bad side. This is already a good result." Pang Jing said as he patted on Pang Sheng''s back.


    "Thanks Young Master for the praise!" Pang Sheng bowed. "But Young Master what is our next plan? I supposed that Xiao Lei will not simply accept no as an answer."


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    "Hahahaha, that Xiao Lei. Let him do what he wants, we will just wait and see." Pang Jing let out a laugh.


    "But Young Master, that Muyou and Yiqi had insulted your name by rejecting your invitation. They had no respect for you!" Hai Cheng shouted.


    "Oh? So Hai Cheng, tell me what should I do about it?" Pang Jing looked at Hai Cheng with a curious look.


    Upon seeing Pang Jing asking for his opinion, Hai Cheng became more confident as all attention shifted onto him. This was the time for Hai Cheng to shine! This was an opportunity for Hai Cheng to accomplish something for Pang Jing!


    "Hmph! That Muyou and Yiqi, they are mere peasants! Young Master, I will volunteer to lead 30 students to oppress them. Give me 3 days, and I will ensure that they will come crawling to you begging for you to accept them!" Hai Cheng boasted.


    "So you are going to use force and beat them till they submit?" Pang Jing smiled.


    "Yes Young Master! I will beat Young Master''s name into them, so in the future they will know that Young Master is not somebody they can offend." Hai Cheng answered. Hai Cheng''s answer caused several students to nod their heads in approval as they felt that Muyou and Yiqi had sullied Pang Jing''s face by rejecting his invitations.


    "Ridiculous!"


    Pang Jing shouted angrily. This shocked everybody as they were wondering which part of Hai Cheng''s proposal had infuriated Pang Jing.


    "Now all of you listen up! My face and my name, only I have the say in it. If I do not feel offended or shamed, what right do you all have to make the decision for me?! I do not want to see anyone of you misusing my name to create trouble outside." Pang Jing glared at all of the students as they furiously nodded their heads.


    "So what if Muyou and Yiqi reject my invitation? Does that warrant me making them my enemies? If that is the way you all do things, then the only thing which you will accomplish in my faction which is to help me make more enemies. We are going to have so many enemies because of such thinking and we are not even going to know we die in the future. If I were to behave like all of you, do you think I will be standing here today?"


    "Mark my words, do not make unnecessary enemies. One more enemy is one more headache. Instead of declaring war onto them, think of how we can use them to our advantage. So now, I do not want to see anyone of you creating trouble for Muyou''s faction. If anyone of you were to spoil my plan, I will break your four limbs and soak you in a wine jar for the rest of your life!" Pang Jing said as he stared coldly at Hai Cheng. Hai Cheng could sense that the last few sentences were a warning to him.


    Pang Jing then turned towards Pang Sheng. "For the next few weeks, just focus on cultivating good relationship with Muyou''s faction. That Xiao Lei will send them to us soon."


    "Understood Young Master!" Pang Sheng did not dare to relax one bit.


    At Xiao Lei''s side, the response was quite different.


    "What?! Muyou and Yiqi dared to reject my invitation?!" Xiao Lei fumed. "Do they know who I am!? Do they know what they are doing!?"


    "Yes Young Master, we have said everything we could but they have decided to form their own faction." Xiao Zhen said.


    "Form their own faction?! They would rather form their own faction than join me!? Do they think I am just an average Joe on the street? I have heard about their strength which was why I thought highly of them. However they over-estimated themselves and decided to form their own faction to oppose me." Xiao Lei gritted his teeth.


    "What should we do next?" Xiao Zhen asked.


    "Since they are not in Pang Jing''s faction or Ouyang Huo''s faction, that means they do not have any backing. If that is the case, we do not have to show any mercy to them! From now on, go and oppress them! Make life difficult for all of the members in Muyou''s faction, make life as miserable for them as possible. Break their whole faction and show them how stupid it was that they did not choose to join my faction!" Xiao Lei instructed.


    "Yes Young Master!" All of the students around Xiao Lei answered in unison.


    "Do you think I, Xiao Lei is a person to be ignored just like that? Let me show you the power behind my name." Xiao Lei grinned.

 Chapter 36: Core Elemental Formation

    With Xiao Lei declaring hostilities with Muyou''s faction, the seemingly peaceful days appeared to have ended for them.


    Every time they met a member of Xiao Lei''s faction, they would be openly taunted, teased and ridiculed. Even though these were merely childish verbal ridicules, they were just teenagers. After some time, brawls began to erupt between Muyou''s faction and Xiao Lei''s faction. The elders and instructors turned a blind eye to these incidents as long as they did not go out of hand with serious injuries.


    Muyou''s faction was only 30-man strong while Xiao Lei''s faction was 100-man strong, so Xiao Lei had a numerical advantage. However, even without the numerical advantage, Muyou''s faction members were weaker than Xiao Lei''s faction members. Thus, most of the fights ended up with Muyou''s faction members as the losers.


    Muyou and Yiqi had been challenged to fights several times too. Initially they were one-on-one fights, but when Muyou and Yiqi won the fights the battles became three-on-one fights and five-on-one fights. They started to lose some fights and had some minor injuries as well.


    "Damn... Everyday we are being jumped on by the Xiao Lei''s faction members... This is pure torture man..." a student was grumbling as he took out some ointment to rub his bruises. It was the regular daily night meet-up for Muyou''s class as they previously gathered to train together. However since the daily battles with Xiao Lei''s faction, they did not have the energy nor strength to continue training at night. Thus, for the past 2 weeks, they gathered together to nurse their injuries and complain about their fights.


    "If this goes on for another 2 weeks, I am going to die of the injuries... Every night I went to bed with aches everywhere..."


    "This is not going to end, Zi Long recently defeated one of them and was only jumped at by another student. Even Muyou and Yiqi had to start fighting against 5 students each at one go!"


    "Yea, 100 vs 30, we are just going to get swarmed by their numbers..."


    The students were complaining incessantly, but it was hard to blame them. It was never a good feeling physically or mentally to be thrashed around for the past 2 weeks.


    "Is this not a good chance for us to grow stronger?" Yiqi suddenly spoke up as everybody turned silent. "Each of these fights are a valuable experience for all of us. In these fights, there are no consequences if we lose. They cannot kill us or cripple us, but are just using their strength to oppress us. On the other hand, each of these fights allow us to gain battle experience. Fighting with stronger opponents with no consequences, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for all of us to grow stronger!"


    What Yiqi said was true. After fighting these battles every single day for the past 2 weeks, they had grown stronger at a faster rate. Just as how athletes and sportsmen would improve much faster if they constantly pit themselves against stronger opponents, this theory was the same for martial artists too.


    "Yiqi, we understand what you are saying... But the next monthly event is in 1 week''s time. If this continues, we are not going to be able to win a single Panther Token..." Zi Long said what was on everybody''s mind at that time.


    "Hmmm... True enough... Even if our strength are equal, they have the numerical advantage. When we are in the event, we will probably be targeted by Xiao Lei''s faction." Muyou muttered as he rubbed his head. The monthly event is an important opportunity for all of them to earn some panther tokens. It would be best if they could complete the event smoothly, but judging from the current situation with Xiao Lei''s faction it would be highly unlikely.


    "Actually I have an idea." Yue Hao said. "In this 1 week, I can teach you all a formation. This will greatly boost our fighting capabilities as a team. Thus, during the event we will have a chance to fight back at Xiao Lei''s faction."


    "Formation? Are you sure this is effective?" Muyou asked. Formation was something very foreign to the students as their whole life''s training had always focused on raising one''s individual strength. Moreover so far their training in Panther''s Academy had been focused on strengthening individuals.


    "Certainly! In war, the soldiers utilised formations to attack and defend. Those lone soldiers who are running around alone, are usually the first to die. Formations will be extremely useful in team fights." Yue Hao said confidently. After all, formations and tactics were his fortes. He spent most of his times reading books on formations and tactics instead of learning new martial art skills.


    "Now I am going to teach you all a formation called Core Elemental Formation. This formation has 5 gates, the metal, wood, water, fire and earth gates. In order to execute the full strength of this formation, it will require 5 users to act as the 5 gates. The moves of this formation will allow the 5 users to cover each other''s blind spots and weaknesses. It will minimise the openings and maximise the effectiveness of your attacks. " Yue Hao lectured as he took 5 rocks and started imparting the formation to the other students.


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    "This formation has 3 different variations, namely Attack, Capture and Defend. With these 3 variations, the gates would shift accordingly. The Attack and Defend variations are very straightforward, they are used for offensive and defensive purposes. These 2 variations will allow you to take on numerous opponents simultaneously. As long as you stay in formation, you should not be easily overwhelmed by the opponents regardless of their numbers. The Capture variation is only effective against one opponent, and the formation must surround the opponent within it. The Capture variation is meant to trap and subdue a much stronger individual." Yue Hao said as he moved the 5 rocks around to show them how the formation worked.


    "Are you sure this formation can subdue a stronger opponent? By logic, a stronger martial artist is able to rampage through a group of weaker martial artists. Even if he is surrounded, all he had to do is to focus his attack on an area to break out of it." Zi Long asked.


    "As long as the strength level is not too big, formations will be effective. Have you all heard of the 5 Demons from the Bloody Asura sect? They managed to actually defeat a grandmaster. No grandmaster had managed to penetrate the defences of the 18 Bronzemen of Shaolin. Despite the 5 Demons and the 18 Bronzemen of Shaolin not being grandmaster-level, how are they able to fight against grandmasters? It was because of their formations, never underestimate the power of formations. With the Core Elemental Formation, you will not be able to fight against the Elders, but it should be sufficient for us to fight against Xiao Lei''s faction." Yue Hao became increasingly excited. One could see that nobody is more well-versed and interested in formation than Yue Hao.


    "Ok then let''s go with your plan." Muyou said as Yue Hao''s eyes shone.


    "Ok! Everybody look closely. The essence of this formation is..." Yue Hao gathered the students closer as he began demonstrating the formation. This was the first time which the students were learning formation.


    Meanwhile at Xiao Lei''s side.


    "Young Master Xiao Lei, the members of Muyou''s faction are very stubborn. Regardless of how many times we have beaten them up, they refuse to submit to us." Xiao Zhen reported.


    "Oh? Looks like they have some backbone after all. Is there any notable members in Muyou''s faction?" Xiao Lei asked casually.


    "In Muyou''s faction, there are 3 incredibly strong members. Muyou and Yiqi are the two of them, we require more than 5 members to suppress each of them. I suspect that they are even stronger than the core members of our faction. The other one is a guy named Zi Long, he is not as strong as Muyou and Yiqi, but his endurance is insane. He is like a punching bag which cannot be knocked down." Xiao Zhen said.


    "Interesting. I am even more interested in them now, they are the kind of people I want to recruit the most. Strong people with backbone, if they join my faction I will be able to openly suppress that scheming bastard Pang Jing." Xiao Lei nodded his head.


    "Do not worry about that Young Master Xiao Lei! After next week''s monthly event, they will realise that their only option is to join our faction. They might be able to endure it now, but when they realise that they can''t earn any Panther Tokens during the monthly event, their only option is to join us. However..." Xiao Zhen paused as a concerned look appeared on his face.


    "However what? are you worried about?" Xiao Lei asked impatiently.


    "What about Ouyang Huo and Pang Jing''s factions? What if we drive them to the other 2 factions? Would we not become the public number 1 enemy?" Xiao Zhen asked as he furrowed his brows. This was his number 1 worry now. If they not only failed to recruit Muyou''s faction but ended up pushing them to the other 2 factions, their plan would backfire completely.


    "Hahaha!!! So you are worried about that! Don''t worry about that. Ouyang Huo is a prideful person, all of his faction members are from his branch families and vassals. He will never recruit Muyou or Yiqi. About Pang Jing, I suspect he will play some tricks during the monthly event. During the event, I will lead the core members to crush Pang Jing. This way, with Pang Jing crushed and Ouyang Huo disinterested, Muyou''s best option would be to join us." Xiao Lei rubbed his chin as he grinned.


    For now, it looked like the next monthly event which was one week away would be the crucial factor for the factions.

 Chapter 37: Preparations

    *Bam! Bam!*


    Muyou just threw out two punches to deflect the incoming attacks. Before he even had the chance to relax, he sensed another kick approaching from his right side.


    ¡°Ugh!¡± Muyou bit his lips as he desperately leap towards his left direction. By now, Muyou was drenched in sweat and he was trying hard to catch his breath.


    ¡°Now! Change to the Capture Variation!¡± Zi Long bellowed as the other four students immediately went into their respective positions. Even before Muyou had landed, he was already surrounded.


    ¡°Damn...¡± Muyou gritted his teeth, he had been trying his hardest to avoid being trapped in this Capture Variation. Based on the previous training, he knew that once he was trapped in the Capture Variation, the difficulty of escaping would increase by almost tenfold.


    *Bam! Bam!*


    Muyou just threw out two punches to deflect the incoming attacks. Before he even had the chance to relax, he sensed another kick approaching from his right side.


    ¡°Ugh!¡± Muyou bit his lips as he desperately leap towards his left direction. By now, Muyou was drenched in sweat and he was trying hard to catch his breath.


    ¡°Now! Change to the Capture Variation!¡± Zi Long bellowed as the other four students immediately went into their respective positions. Even before Muyou had landed, he was already surrounded.


    ¡°Damn...¡± Muyou gritted his teeth, he had been trying his hardest to avoid being trapped in this Capture Variation. Based on the previous training, he knew that once he was trapped in the Capture Variation, the difficulty of escaping would increase by almost tenfold.


    ¡°Ok Muyou you lost.¡± Yue Hao who was observing from the side announced. As he announced, the other students spectating clapped their hands.


    ¡°You were awesome, none of us will be able to put up such a defence against the formation.¡± Zi Long walked up to Muyou as he patted Muyou¡¯s back. Zi Long and the other four students¡¯ faces had an exhausted expression as they panted heavily. Although they had successfully captured Muyou, they had clearly expended a significant portion of their energy.


    ¡°This formation is indeed amazing, even I am helpless facing it hahaha.¡± Muyou laughed as he sat on the floor.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be so humble haha, if you were to go all out, we would have been injured and you could break this formation.¡± Zi Long said.


    ¡°Same for you guys, if you all were to go all out, I would not escape without heavy injuries.¡± Muyou said. Zi Long did not reply but merely smiled at Muyou.


    ¡°Guess this should settle us for tomorrow.¡± Yiqi who was leaning on a nearby tree said. They had spent the past six days solely focused on training in this Core Elemental Formation. When Instructor Pang learnt of their plan, he did not oppose and even offered to help out in their training. Although he was not well-versed in the formation, he was a valuable sparring partner and with his combat experience, he offered many practical tips regarding the execution of the formation.


    The whole class had been training hard in preparation for the upcoming monthly event, especially after most of them had been ¡°robbed¡± during the previous event. Moreover, the upcoming event they had a bigger obstacle which was the Xiao Lei¡¯s faction. Therefore, the past 6 days, their daily schedule was training together in the formation and then sparring with Xiao Lei¡¯s faction members during their free time.


    ¡°Ok, let¡¯s go through over the teams again for tomorrow. The thirty of us will be split into six teams of five members.¡± Yue Hao took out a sheet as he started preparing the class for tomorrow¡¯s event. Yue Hao had unofficially took on the role of the strategist in the class.


    ¡°The first team would comprise of Muyou, Yiqi, Zi Long, Situ Dao and me. The second team would comprise of ¡­ The third team¡­ The fourth team¡­ The fifth team¡­ The sixth team¡­¡± Yue Hao read out the names as he started allocating everybody into different teams.


    ¡°The first team is the strongest team and will be undertaking the most dangerous part of the event tomorrow. They will be acting as the vanguard. More specific instructions will be announced tomorrow after Head Instructor Wang disclose the event details tomorrow.¡± Yue Hao said as he turned towards Instructor Pang and smiled. ¡°Instructor Pang, do you have any hints or tips on what tomorrow¡¯s event is?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha, forget about getting anything out of me.¡± Instructor Pang let out a laughter. ¡°Although I do not know of the other students¡¯ strength, I can tell that you all are definitely well-prepared for tomorrow¡¯s event. Just go in with confidence and do your best in tomorrow¡¯s event. But remember your life is more important than the panther tokens. Regardless of what may happen during tomorrow¡¯s event, treat them as lessons.¡±


    ¡°Ok everybody rest well tomorrow will be the big day!¡± Muyou clapped his hands. He was very satisfied with the preparation for tomorrow¡¯s event.


    The next day morning, the whole batch was gathered around the event gathering area as Head Instructor Wang and the other instructors stood at the front. However, this event was already looking very different from the previous monthly event as the students were more organised than the previous month. In the previous month, most of the students were gathered in random groups whereas in this event, the students were clearly gathered in four factions.


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    The biggest groups occupied the left and right side of the area, with Pang Jing¡¯s faction on the left and Xiao Lei¡¯s faction on the right. The middle side was occupied by a relatively small group compared to Pang Jing and Xiao Lei¡¯s factions. Although the middle group only numbered about fifty people, they stood out from Pang Jing and Xiao Lei¡¯s factions. They were the Ouyang Huo¡¯s faction.


    And at the back, was Muyou¡¯s faction which had only thirty people.


    ¡°Hi Muyou, how have you been?¡± Pang Jing walked towards Muyou.


    ¡°I¡¯m good, thanks young master Pang Jing for your concern.¡± Muyou replied courteously.


    ¡°No need for such formalities, you can just call me Pang Jing.¡± Pang Jing laughed. ¡°By the way, I have heard of the situation between Xiao Lei¡¯s faction and your faction. Do you need any help? I can provide some assistance during this event.¡± As he said this, about fifty of his faction¡¯s members came over. ¡°I can send fifty people to support your faction during this event.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s alright, but I think we will be fine on our own.¡± Muyou rejected his offer.


    ¡°Ok then, remember if you have any problem feel free to approach me.¡± Pang Jing said as he returned with his faction members.


    On the way back, he called Pang Sheng over. ¡°Take 3 members and go watch over Muyou during the event. Do not expose yourselves under any circumstances. Report to me before you undertake any action.¡± He whispered to Pang Sheng.


    ¡°Understood.¡± Pang Sheng nodded his head.


    ¡°Muyou, we had better be wary of Pang Jing. We do not know if he has kind intentions. Compared to Xiao Lei, he is far more complicated. Moreover, that time when we were ambushed by Hai Cheng and ten other students, all of them were in Pang Jing¡¯s faction. I think they could have been under Pang Jing¡¯s instructions during that attack.¡± Yiqi warned Muyou.


    ¡°Uhm.¡± Muyou nodded his head as he stared at Pang Jing¡¯s back. It would be good if he had another ally in Panther Academy, but as Yiqi had mentioned, he did not know if Pang Jing was sincere in his intentions.


    ¡°Settle down everyone!¡± Head Instructor Wang boomed. ¡°The second monthly event is about to commence and here are the instructions!¡±


    ¡°This event will be in Area C, it will be very different from the previous event. In this event, you will not be collecting balls, but you will be capturing the grey wolves in the Zone C. For each grey wolf you capture, you can exchange them for ten panther tokens each. The leader of the grey wolf pack which is about thrice the usual size and has a white patch on its forehead, is worth a hundred panther tokens.¡±


    When the reward was mentioned, everybody became excited. One hundred panther tokens! That was equivalent to one hundred balls which was near impossible for an individual to collect in the previous event!


    ¡°However, this event has some special rules. No weapons are allowed in this event and the wolves must not be killed or crippled to be exchanged for tokens. Treat the wolves as like hostages, you subdue them, restrict their movements or even render them unconscious, but they must not be dead or crippled. Thus, this is a capturing mission or a kidnapping mission. The skills you learnt in this event will be useful in some of your future missions.¡± Head Instructor Wang said.


    ¡°The event will start in fifteen minutes, use this time to plan and prepare. The event will end when at 8pm sharp. Tokens will not be given out to students who reach back later than 8pm. That¡¯s all!¡± Head Instructor Wang concluded his briefing before sending out the various instructors to Zone C first.


    The four factions immediately gathered in their individual groups to discuss the tactics.


    ¡°Ok, this will make things much easier. Team two to six will hunt down the normal grey wolves. If they are too hard to subdue, then use the formation. Team one will hunt the leader of the grey wolf pack. Remember, always stick to your teams and beware of other faction members. Other than Xiao Lei¡¯s faction, the other factions may not necessarily be our allies.¡± Yue Hao started giving out instructions.


    ¡°That being said, do not go around making trouble for other people. This includes Xiao Lei¡¯s faction. This event focus is on the grey wolves not the other students. Thus, focus your energy on capturing the grey wolves. Unless the other students create trouble for you, do not go pick fights with other people.¡± Yiqi warned the other students.


    ¡°Ok everyone! Follow me into Zone C!¡± Head Instructor Wang suddenly shouted before running into the wilderness area with everyone following closely behind.


    After about five minutes of running, Head Instructor Wang stopped as he looked around.


    ¡°Ok, 8pm everybody will gather back here. The second monthly event will start now!¡± Instructor Wang launched the event with a wave of his hand.