Chapter 3 - Martial Hall
--In the middle of the night, at one of the houses in Sun Clan--
In the room one could see a young man with a frown on his face. There was an old man kowtowing before him.
"Leave it to me Young Master. Even though we couldn't defy third elder, i will get rid of him as soon as we enter black forest." said the old man solemnly.
"His luck is real good since he could return from the black forest last time. But you should make this clean as much as possible. Make it seem like a beast attack. Don't disappoint me, this time don't leave things to luck." said the young man. This man was exactly the Sun Guo. Over ten years he wouldn't say much about this cripple because he had to give face to third elder. But recently after the departure of the third elder, this cripple only stayed as a burden. Even obstructing him from having some fun with girl servants. So he dropped all the pretenses.
"You may be dismissed." After sending the servant of his friend, he pushed the matter back of his mind. This servant was already second layer of Qi Condensation, so he wasn't waiting for any mishaps to happen this time. Thus he started cultivating with his mind at ease.
---
When the first light of the day shined upon Long Yang, he opened his eyes. He checked the condition of his body and pleasantly suprised that it healed complately. 'It seems something is really different with this Azure Dragon Cultivation Art. This green Qi in my meridians seem very nutricious to my body.' thought Long Yang.
When he saw the killing intent in Sun Guo's eyes and heard summoning him three days later, he couldn't help but feel threatened. The death of Long Yang before seemed fishy in the first place and when he heard people started to go missing, he thought about taking this matter very seriously.
'This so called System has given me my current Cultivation Art. But what is this System in the first place?' thought Long Yang seriously. Everything happened too soon and without any lead he couldn't even sit still and ponder about too much. He was only aware this cripple body which he got from its past owner has healed. And he owed this to the so called System he heard as soon as he opened his eyes in this world.
'The only thing i am sure of is i am not on Earth anymore and i have another chance for me to live a new life. Possibly eternal one at that too, if i can push it till the end.' thought Long Yang. Despite the current world he is in seemed very cruel and unforgiving, he found it very adabtable. At least by the looks of the people he saw so far, most of the people were very basic and easy to read. But he couldn't blame them for it. Cultivation was a tranquil and lonely road, most of the cultivators would live their lives behind closed doors, always trying to reach a higher realm. And this got him thinking 'Then what is the point of cultivating if all you could sit still day after day and not find joy anything in the life? At least i have a clear path before me. That can make me an immortal, but there seemed too many people wasting their lives cultivating lower grade Cultivation Arts, such as Violet Fire Art of the Sun Clan. They would cultivate all their lives and perish in the end not achieving anything. Maybe their only hope is the scarce resources they can find and have a greater chance of success.'. Long Yang felt like he finally started to understand the reason behind the cruelty of this world.
All of these only hardened his resolve to get stronger. If he couldn't get strong, don't think about eternal life or the new adventure of exploring this new world, he couldn't even live through till next week.
When he thought about it, only way to get stronger right now is to reach second layer at his cultivation and find a proper martial art to use. In his last life there were some techniques that said they're using inner Qİ or Chakra, but they didn't seem very useful even in this world. He got that in the second he glanced the Iron Claw of Sun Guo. 'I should be reaching the second layer in a day or so with my cultivation art, i still need to find a martial art for myself.' thought Long Yang and remembered there was a Martial Hall in Sun Clan, which is open for servants and family members who officially started their cultivation journey by reaching the first layer of Qi Condensation. Martial arts had multiple grades, such as Mortal Grade, Earth Grade, Heaven Grade, Immortal Grade. And each grade has 3 different level of power, Low, Medium and High. And of course with the increasing grade and power of the technique, there was a greater effort that need to be put into too. First floor of the Martial Hall was for servants and there was only Low Mortal Grade Martial Arts and a couple of incomplete martial arts. Second floor was for the family members and it was said to be included even Earth Grade Martial Arts. Third floor was only for the family heir, so one wouldn't even hear the rumors about it.
'Might as well give it a try, even if it's a low grade martial art, it would be better than my current usage of Qi. Which is basically compared to nothing when i think about the things i saw in my memories.' thought Long Yang and slowly got up and left the room.
---
When Long Yang reached the Martial Hall, he only saw a single person who was sitting behind the counter which was right before the entrance of the Hall. This person looked very old with his long white beard and he was sitting there with closed eyes. When he heard the footsteps he slowly opened his eyes to check the newcomer. When the gaze of the old man fell on him, Long Yang felt like he was completely seen through. He felt nothing could escape the old mans tranquil eyes. The old man was the elder who was tasked to protect the martial arts from stolen, and check the authority of the others who wants to pick an art for themselves.
When he saw the black haired and tall young man stand tall before him and could look at him with calm eyes, he couldn't help but be surprised. But he was more puzzled to care about that. 'Wasn't this young man the so called cripple of the clan? Why would he even visit this place?' when his thoughts reached that far his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Long Yang? You brokethrough!?" said the old man with expectation.
"Hm. I recently stepped on the first layer of Qi Condensation, Senior." said Long Yang with his head slightly bowed.
"Do you mind if i check myself? It is really uncommon for someone relatively old to start feeling Qi, when you almost reached your twenty."
"Of course Senior. Even i myself am surprised, it seems heavens didn't lose hope in me completely." said Long Yang before stretching his arm towards the old man. He knew people would feel the Qi in his merideans with checking his pulse.
When the old man checked his pulse he suddenly started to laugh "Hahaha good lad. Come choose a Martial Art for yourself. It seems the third elder didn't take care of you for nothing. You should visit him when he returns.".
Long Yang couldn't say he wouldn't probably be around when he returned so he thoughtfully nodded and pushed the matter back into his mind.
"You should probably know but this first floor is for servants, you may choose a Martial Art that suits you for yourself. But be careful, don't bite more than you can chew. Cultivation is a long path, you should start with a solid foundation, don't choose unnecessary flashy or high grade techniques that doesn't suit you. It would only burden you on the long run." warned the old man before closing his eyes again. When he closed his eyes it felt like the Earth has reclaimed his usual calm. He couldn't even feel the sitting old man.
'Probably a Foundation Sea Expert huh...' Long Yang couldn't help but sigh when he saw the difference in stages clearly with his own eyes. He turned and found his way to bookshelves. There were over ten bookshelves brimming with books. Some were sword techniques, some were saber... When he saw all kinds of martial arts he can choose, Long Yang felt a little bit overwhelmed with the situation. But when he thought about how he couldn't even afford a sword, let alone a halberd he always wanted in his past life, he quickly dismissed such techniques. They wouldn't help solving his shortcoming problems he currently had. It may be a waste to give too much time on a martial art he didn't really want, when he thought about all the years he lost before even achieving the first layer, he didn't feel that bad about it anymore.
He started checking the martial arts one by one. Crouching Tiger Fist, Rising Phoenix Claws, Unbreakable Iron Fist...' Wow, every single one sounds more arrogant than the one before it.' he couldn't help but give a chuckle. And most of them were Low Grade Mortal Martial Arts, there were some higher ranks but they were all incomplete martial arts. One wouldn't even dare think about using them before old age, maybe then one could try to have some enlightenment by studying them.
He continued checking them one by one and couldn't decide which to choose. But when he was thinking if he should just pick randomly, he saw a martial art called Dragon Stretching Its Claws. He was gonna bypass it too but it was then he felt his green Qi surging when he took the book in his hand. It seemed his unique Qi was somewhat desiring it. The situation puzzled him but he thought 'Maybe this is the so called fate. I was gonna pick randomly anyway, might as well pick this as it's random enough.'. When he looked the book more in detail, he saw it was an incomplete Middle Earth Rank Martial Art, and which is worse it was even incomplete by more than fifty percent. But he was too much hooked into this so he just let it be. 'I can choose one more suits me in the future when i reach Mount Emei Sect, until that time initial stage of this marial art would be enough for me.' thought Long Yang. Mastering and improving a martial art was hard, one could divide it by stages. Such as Initial stage when he just scratched the surface of the martial art. After that came Proficient, Mastery and Perfection stages. With how incomplete this martial art was it would be miracle if he could reach even the Proficient stage.
With those thoughts in mind he walked the counter again, the old man gave him a deep look. When he saw the martial art he chose he frowned.
"Are you sure you want to pick that?" said the old man solemnly.
"Yes, Senior. I feel a connection with me and the technique so i decided to give it a shot." said Long Yang with an answer not far from the truth.
The old man gave one last look to him and dismissed the Long Yang. When he left the building, the old man sighed and said "I already gave him the explaination but he didn't cherish it. Young men these days are really too rush.". After saying that he closed his eyes again and return to his cultivation.