7 The Straw Hat Boy 2

Wang Li Tian was therefore the perfect candidate for the Brave Heart Manual. From the beginning, the innocence of the eight year old child had astounded Mu Zhi Xuan. Not only that, disregarding the fact that he did not know his master before, he left for the hilly forest to look for medicinal herbs so as to help a stranger. Li Tian was an outright good person from the heart and there was nothing that could change that fact.

The only problem was that his disciple had basically zero IQ and teaching him anything for take double or maybe even triple the effort. As such, Mu Zhi Xuan had forcefully made Li Tian comprehend about a third of the Brave Heart Manual. It was an arduous process, but it needed to be done.

"A person who was spoon fed from beginning till end, shall not progress further in the road of cultivation than someone who had to face challenges and solve them by themselves." This was repeated to Li Tian throughout their time together.

Li Tian recovered from his day dreaming as he walked towards the Southern Wind Academy. Outside, there was already a queue of youths awaiting their turn to register for the Selection Test. As expected, mostly were teenagers and few were younger children and adults. It seemed like those that were young, were too young, while those that were adults, were too old to enter.

When it was his turn, Wang Li Tian stated his name and placed his hand on the Spiritual Stone, which he once used as a child. The spiritual stone did not even shine as usual. This made the other youths around Li Tian scoff in contempt.

"Did you see that person who just tested out his spiritual root? The stone did not even glow slightly! He was so useless to the point that there was no reaction! HAHAHA!"

"Look at how that boy dressed up! He is definitely a country bumpkin! Not sure why he even bothered to apply to enter the academy."

"It is crazy how he did not even show a tinge of embarrassment for his trash spiritual root. I'm sure he does not even know that there is a minimum cultivation level to enter the selection test."

The words of disdain did not enter Li Tian's ears at all. By cultivating the Brave Heart Manual, one of the side benefits was that, most of the time Li Tian would be in a state of Calm Mind. Essentially, he would rarely get distracted by others and would only focus on their objective. The Straw Hat boy headed for the Cultivation Stone as he released his spiritual energy into it. This time, there was a reaction and it glowed at the cultivation level of Early Body Enhancement Stage.

The students around that had criticised Li Tian before, finally kept their thoughts to themselves. For now, the Country bumpkin was barely able to enter the selection test. Now, they would keep an eye on him and maybe take advantage of Li Tian to proceed on to be an outer disciple.

With that settled, Li Tian's selection test was set to take place two days from now. The boy had some time to relax a little before proceeding for the test. He had come a long way and luckily for him, his master had left him a few gold coins. Checking into an inn, Li Tian stayed in his room and cultivated once again. Ever since he met his master four years ago, Li Tian had undergone changes in many ways. On of which was his discipline when it came to cultivation. He was not lazy and would continue to work hard to improve his cultivation level. In the end, Li Tian's current goal for training was to see his master again. And that, was only possible if he could get to the Martial Continent.

…

Two days passed by quickly and Li Tian had finally left his room. Carrying everything that he had brought with him, Li Tian left for the Southern Wind Academy Entrance. The boy did not have a tinge of nervousness in his bones. Even when standing amongst the crowd of youths that were also fighting for a spot in the Academy, Li Tian was unfazed. It was only when Li Tian noticed a familiar figure in the crowd, did his emotions start to sway.

"Big sis Rou Xuan.."

The girl that Li Tian had missed for over four years had finally appear in front of him. Over that period of time, Jiang Rou Xuan had matured greatly. Not only did her personality become more grounded, her looks had become prettier. Without much effort, she stood out in the crowd of youths. Her pale white skin and oval face, coupled with her bright red full lips and big clear eyes, she was going to be a goddess when she grows up.

Wang Li Tian smiled to himself when he realised that Rou Xuan was enrolling into the Academy at the same time as him. He had wanted to know how she was doing all this time, whether or not she had missed him. He wanted to apologise for disappearing. After all, he had broken his promise with her.

For now, he watched from afar. There were several virtues that master had engrained into him in that one year of tutorship and one of them was patience. He would always say: "A true martial cultivator must not be rash when it came to making decisions. Only those that master the art of control, would be able to think clearly and make the correct moves."

Looking around Rou Xuan, Li Tian noticed that there were a group of individuals that were by her side. They were none other than Rou Lang and his lackeys, all of them had never liked Li Tian. Back when Li Tian was young, they would always play pranks on him or tease him for his lack of intelligence. If anyone were in Li Tian's shoes, they would know that they would not get a chance to interact with Rou Xuan while her brother was around her. It was best to wait for a better moment.

In Li Tian's case, that was not the reason for why he did not walk up. Rather, he was waiting a better time, solely because he wanted to give Jiang Rou Xuan a bigger surprise! If Mu Zhi Xuan was around and heard Li Tian's thoughts, he would've most definitely vomit blood. So this was how my disciple understood Patience?!