Chapter 15 (1/2)
Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
Xu Yi’s interest was piqued. He approached, only to see the crowd gathered in front of a white tower-like structure. From afar, he could see a large antique golden sign hanging from the centre of the white tower. On the sign were the three words: Martial Lecture Hall! He thought, Could it be a place that teaches all there is to learn about the Martial Way?
As he was wondering, his eyes landed on a bunch of carved text on the wall of the white tower. After sweeping his eyes across the text, he had managed to read everything.
It was a narrative, recording the year and month that the Martial Lecture Hall was built, the subject matters, and so on.
The narrative was dry, but from it, Xu Yi found what he wanted.
It seemed that the Martial Lecture Hall was official property, built by the Dayue Imperial Court in order to recruit men.
The world was dominated by the Martial Way, with different sects and families being established. For the disciples and members of large sects and powerful families, they receive training from a young age, and techniques are passed on to them from their elders. When it came to progression in the Martial Way, their path was much smoother compared to the average person.
On the other hand, for the poor commoners, hard work and toiling could bring about some initial success but rarely any hopes of further progress.
The Dayue Imperial Court had built the Martial Lecture Hall for the common practitioner to receive education, in order to win over the many practitioners across the country.
After reading the narrative, Xu Yi was overjoyed, almost wanting to cheer out loud.
His experience was, after all, quite a miracle. He had reached the peak of Body Forging, entering the realm of martial experts, but his knowledge in the Martial Way was greatly lacking. His accomplishments today were solely based on the unimaginably tough training he had put himself through, and the brilliance of his Ox Demon Strong Fist.
Liaochen was a disciple of an esteemed sect and had passed on the Ox Demon Strong Fist to Xu Yi, but that was just to repay his debt to him. Other than that, he had not given any advice to Xu Yi on how to practice the Martial Way, and he had not even talked about any Martial Way classics or basic martial knowledge.
Over the past three days, other than restoring his strength at the Mu’s, Xu Yi had spent even more of his time on contemplating his future.
No matter how he thought about it, he merely had two primary missions. One was to thoroughly eliminate Zhou Daogan, and the other was to find Liaochen’s precious scriptures and return them to the Heavenly Jhana Temple to fulfil Liaochen’s dying wish.
And to accomplish these two missions, the only thing he could rely on was his own cultivation in the Martial Way.
Breaking through the Body Forging stage and entering the Qi Ocean stage! That was Xu Yi’s first goal as of now!
If not, even Zhou Shirong, a man of a family of slaves, could easily send him to hell, not to mention taking on Zhou Daogan.
As such, what Xu Yi kept thinking about was how to find a “teacher” to receive some education in the Martial Way. With his chance discovery of the Martial Lecture Hall, he was naturally overjoyed.
At once, Xu Yi quickly made his way forward, only to see someone in the middle of the crowd, hauling a dense, black stone weight. After a careful look, he found that it was actually made out of heavy iron.
A man in a black shirt pointed at the stone weight and loudly exclaimed, “By the heavenly grace of the Imperial Court, we have once again come to our annual lecture. You all are the talents of this town. Should you gain any enlightenment from this lecture, remember this kindness graced upon you by the Imperial Court, and train hard in the Martial Way in gratitude to the heavens…”
After a long speech like that from a government official, the man in black stepped back, pointing to the stone weight. “Let’s begin according to the rules!”
The moment he stepped back, the man in green closest to the stone weight quickly stepped forward. In front of the stone weight, he began a flurry of exercises, then, with a loud roar, he bent over and grabbed the stone weight. With another loud roar, his muscles bulged as he raised the weight above his head.
Immediately, the crowd roared with cheers and applause.
With a bang, he dropped the stone weight. Delighted, the man in green held his fist in a salute and walked into the gates of the Martial Lecture Hall with broad steps.
With the flashy opener from the man in green, the enthusiasm of the crowd was stoked. In just a few minutes, around fifty people had a go at the stone weight, but only less than half passed.