Chapter 02: Challenge
The silver lights of dawn washed the sky, shining down on Stone City.
In front of Du Clan’s main entrance, a large crowd had been gathering from early in the morning. The atmosphere was buzzed with excitement as nosy neighbors converged to join in the fun. Today, Du Clan was holding a guards’ tryout, and a long queue of people can be seen at one side of the stage, everyone raring to go.
Even those not participating in the tryout came to watch; after all, this type of lively event is rare for them.
Many Du Clan members were present at the main entrance, and apart from them, there were many patrolling guards in the vicinity, deterring anyone that was looking for trouble.
"Isn’t that Du Clan’s foolish young master? Still standing on that barren hill like an idiot."
"How strange, that stone tablet is not there anymore."
Onlookers crowded outside Du Clan’s main door; necks were stretched high and low to get a glimpse at the distant barren hill. On that barren hill was a purple robed youth who seemed to be fiddling with something in his hands. Residents within the city all knew, other than the infamous foolish young master of the Du Clan, there isn’t a second person who goes to that barren hill.
In these ten years, the nickname fool and Young Master Du Shaofu go hand-in-hand, it is well-known for many years and was a staple topic of gossip among Stone City folks.
As for Du Shaofu, being a young master of the Du Clan in Stone City was considered as having a privileged background. Unfortunately, when he was tested for martial pulse at the age of six, it was determined that he wasn’t suitable for cultivation due to his broken veins.
In this world, affluence and respect are directly related to strength; the despair of not being able to cultivate martial arts is unimaginable. However, with Du Clan’s prestige in Stone City, Du Shaofei was able to live a normal life though he was unable to practice martial arts.
But what made matters worse was, after the test result was made known to the public, Young Master Du’s mental state became unstable and somehow ended up in front of the stone tablet on the barren hill in the midst of a violent storm. Suddenly, lightning struck the stone tablet and the poor young master who was right in front suffered an unexpected misfortune. The actual fact was that lightning struck Du Shaofu instead of the stone table, causing him to fall into a coma for three days and three nights.
Since then, the young master was often seen standing on the barren hill before that stone tablet. In the beginning, it was only for a few hours, but as time passed, the duration gradually got longer and longer. Sometimes, a crazed look was etched in Du Shaofu eyes, acting weirdly, and sometimes making gestures that made him look like a maniac.
Du Clan hired healers to cure Du Shaofu but to no avail, their only choice was to give up.
In the span of ten years, the words ‘foolish young master’ spread from Du Clan’s compound to the entire Stone City. Now, everybody knows that there was a foolish young master amongst the Du juniors.
"If all of Du Clan’s juniors were like him, it will be so much easier today."
An unshaven man with slightly dark skin looked at the distant figure on the barren hill and uttered lightly to himself.
"Du Clan juniors’ are out."
"It is said that among the juniors, Du Yu and Du Xue are the strongest, they possess a fifth-grade martial pulse talent with a fourteen years old Houtian sixth layer. They could probably enter Xiantian by the time they reach seventeen or eighteen years old! A Xiantian that is of seventeen or eighteen years of age, the chances of such genius appearing was one in a million."
Several young girls and boys stepped out from Du Clan's compound and stood neatly in a horizontal line at the stage. Though these juniors were young, their aura silenced the crowd instantly, the crowd’s attention fell on these juniors.
Du Qi took the stage and announced: "Guards tryout begins now, those undefeated within three moves are eligible to be Du Clan’s guard.”
"Om!"
A bell rang out, one by one, strong men leaped onto the stage and started sparring with those young girls and boys.
"Clang Clang!"
"Pop!"
Various sounds of metals clashing, palms and fists colliding, coupled with occasional shouts and cheers, there is a lively event going on that could be heard from miles away.
With all the attention being directed towards the stage, no one paid any notice to the youth on the barren hill.
"Why did the stone tablet crumble, after the first style, there was the second style.”
On the hill, Du Shaofu delved into a pile of powdered rubble, raising a large screen of dust in the air, dirtying his originally clean purple robe. His dusty face emphasized his pearly white teeth.
"Well, it seems the second style is really not here."
Du Shao Fu patted his body to clear away the dust and sands. On his resolute face was a pair of bright eyes with a hint of a sparkle deep within; nothing about his face showed that he’s the infamous fool the entire city gossiped about.
"Boom!"
Congealing a handprint within his palm, a stream of yellowish qi rushed out, making his purple robe flutter and his surroundings fluctuating as if it was about to shatter. The inexplicably flowing qi added an overbearing atmosphere to Du Shaofu, “The first style is successful; my current martial pulse should be comparable to someone with a second-grade pulse.”
The whole thing was unbelievable, even to Du Shaofu. It was like the first style on the (now crumbled) stone tablet was created especially for people like him – people with broken veins; those who could comprehend and cultivate it could restore their broken veins, allowing them to be able to practice martial arts.
The dense cracks and grooves on the stone tablet were somehow related to a human’s martial pulse, and Du Shaofu, being born into an old heritage martial family could gauge the strength in his body, he estimated that it was close to a general second-grade pulse. However, Du Shaofu also noticed that there is something special about his martial pulse, although it was similar to the general second-grade martial pulse, there was something different.
Successful cultivation of the first style enables the broken martial veins to be restored. If he could locate the second and third style stone tablets, who knows how strong his martial pulse can be. Du Shaofu looked forward to that day with anticipation.
"At least I’m able to practice now, but first, I must find a way to erase the nickname of foolish young master.”
Du Shaofu retrieved his handprint, and xuanqi[1] dissipated within his palm as a sharp glint flashed across his eyes. He was well-known throughout the city as a fool, and all this while, everyone took it to be the truth, believing he was a real idiot.
Du Shaofu did not mind being called a fool, he even welcomed it for it allowed him to comprehend the stone tablet without any disturbance.
But now, since he reached minor completion in practicing the ancient stone tablet first style, a fool who is cultivating will not receive the family’s resource support, and what he needed most now is resources. Not to mention, it wasn't pleasant being treated as a fool daily for the past ten years. Du Shaofu would start getting back the things that were taken away from him these past ten years.
"Pop! Pop!"
On the stage in front of Du Clan's main entrance, a dozen of Du Clan’s thirteen to fourteen years old girls and boys were against challengers older than them with either their bare fists or with a sword.
Although these Du Clan juniors were young, they handled those men with ease, with just a move or two, these challengers were defeated. The onlookers secretly felt astonished and respected the Du Clan even more.
"Isn’t it just enduring three moves, fight ah!"
"This time, we must be selected as Du Clan’s guard, fight ah!"
Looking at the strengths of these young girls and boys, the stage fight got even more fervent; if they could enter Du Clan and learn martial skills, they would become stronger!
Unfortunately, from the many men who rushed up in excitement, only a few managed to remain undefeated after three moves on the stage. In less than an hour, the two to three hundred people who eagerly rushed up the stage were being thrown down the stage one by one. However, it was obvious that the Du Clan’s juniors were at their limits due to their heavy breathing.
Finally, there were twenty people that barely managed to withstand three moves, most of them were injured in one way or another, nevertheless, they were excited to have stayed on stage.
No one noticed Du Shaofu coming down from the barren hill as everyone’s focus was on the stage.
Du Shaofu squeezed through the crowd to watch the stage fights, looking at the movements of his so-called cousins, occasionally scowling and pondering at Du Clan's martial arts, moving his hands under his long-sleeves discreetly.
"Why are there so many flaws with Du Clan’s martial arts, maybe it is just me overthinking."
Muttering lightly to himself; Du Shaofu got increasingly confused as he stood in the crowd, he has seen family members practicing the clan’s martial skills before; however, at that time, he didn’t understand anything. After he comprehended the stone tablet and re-analyzed Du Clan’s martial skills, he finally understood some of the theory.
And now, looking at these Du Clan martial skills being displayed, Du Shaofu saw too many weaknesses and flaws.
"Stop! Twenty places are filled, the tryout ends here.”
The last person was selected at the expenses of spitting a mouthful of blood to withstand the third move. Du Qi, who was at the corner of the stage went up to the man and said, "Congratulations, you have successfully passed the tryout and are selected to serve the Du Clan as a guard. Those who are selected and is injured will receive free treatment from the Du Clan medicine courtyard.”
"Thank you, Deputy Commander."
Twenty strong men nodded happily, as Du Clan’s guard, the treatment benefits are truly better.
"Ai, quota’s already filled, today’s trip was in vain."
"Du Clan’s juniors are really strong despite their age!"
When Du Qi announced the results, many of those who were still waiting beside the stage had their stomachs churning in regret. If they had known, they would have come earlier to wait in line. The crowd began to disperse as the buzz of excitement starts to wane.
Everyone, including the Du Clan juniors, was about to leave, today was just a preliminary test; the level is lower than the strict requirements within the clan.
"Slow down."
At this time, in the midst of the twenty men that were successfully selected as the new guards, an unshaven man with tanned skin jumped out and took a step forward, lightly saluting, then looked at Du Qi; he gathered his courage and asked, "Deputy Commander is it true that as long as someone defeats or attain a tie in battle with a junior who is the direct descendant of the Du Clan, he can be Captain Guard?"
Note:
Energy from cultivation.