Silver Star Instructor
“Alright. Follow me, Lin Zhi!”
A middle-age-looking man walked in through the door. He had a fierce beard that looked like it had never been shaved. Raising his sharp brows, the man said with an annoyed tone, “What are you still standing around for? Hurry up. I’m going to show you where you’ll sleep and you’ll start working tomorrow. Hmph, don’t blame me for not warning you now, but working as a trainer is not a job normal people can handle!”
Lin Mu Yu nodded and followed behind the man.
As they kept walking, Lin Mu Yu finally couldn’t help but ask, “Old man, what’s your name?”
After being called an old man, this bearded guy immediately shouted, “My name is Zhang Wei, a level 58 Battle Saint and a silver star instructor. I’m only 23 years old, so if you call me ‘old man’ again, I’m going to snap your little neck!”
Lin Mu Yu nodded, “Instructor Zhang, are silver star instructors very strong?”
“Hmph, you’ll know soon enough.”
Zhang Wei pointed to the silver star on his chest and laughed coldly, “The instructors in the Temple are categorized into 4 tiers: gold, silver, bronze, and iron. Don’t think because I’m not in Heaven realm yet, that I won’t be able to teach you a lesson! Off with you, we’ll soon be at your room.”
“Yes, sir.”
……
Although there weren’t very many residences inside the Temple, at least everyone had a single room to themselves. Lin Mu Yu’s room was a little worse for wear. A large crack lined the wall and allowed the cold wind to sweep right in. The brick-hard cotton quilt clearly had not been washed in heaven knows how long. Zhang Wei brought Lin Mu Yu to the room, then left immediately after telling him the direction to the cafeteria and where he will need to work tomorrow.
Since he lives here now, Lin Mu Yu felt like he might as well make it more comfortable. Dropping down Prairie Fire in his room, he headed down to the stable to feed his horse before returning back to his room. Given the bright sun outside, he took out the quilt and sheet for a wash. As he was hanging up the bed sheet to dry, he heard strange moaning from the neighboring room, sounding as if someone was relieving himself.
Lin Mu Yu didn’t want to be too nosy since he just got here, but after tolerating it for quite a while, the voice was still going at it. Finally, unable to bear it for any longer, he walked to the door and knocked, “Are you alright?”
“I’m okay… who are you?” The person inside asked.
“My name is Lin Zhi, the new trainer.”
“Oh? A new trainer? Then you’ll be in for some pain.” The voice hesitated, but continued, “Lin Zhi, come in.”
Pushing open the door, Lin Mu Yu saw that a person lay stiffly on the bed. He was moaning in pain, probably due to the countless bruises covering his arms and face. His eyes were swollen black and blue. Perhaps this person originally looked handsome, but now he was incomparably sorry looking. Frankly, he almost looked like he had been beaten into a human meat bun!
“What happened to you?” Lin Mu Yu wanted to laugh, but did his best to hold it back. Remembering that he was at least a somewhat-decent human being, so he shouldn’t be laughing at someone else’s misfortune.
The “wounded” grimaced painfully as he complained, “Of course it’s that bastard Zhang Wei. He keeps using his position of instructor to pummel us trainers without holding back. There isn’t a single trainer here that Zhang Wei had not beaten with his fist!”
Lin Mu Yu asked with a grim expression, “Do you mean trainers can only be sandbags for instructors?”
“Why else do you think I’m like this? The Temple’s rule is that trainers absolutely can’t fight back, or either they can’t be trainers.”
“Huh…”
Lin Mu Yu looked at the fellow’s swollen head and nearly broke into laughter again. Pulling out a bottle of healing balm, he said, “I’ll help you apply some medicine, so don’t start screaming now.”
“Okay, I won’t… AH, ow, ow ow! You bastard, go lightly!”
“…..”
The quality of a first tier medicinal balm was as good as it sounds. After several minutes, the wounded person’s pain lessened significantly. Finally able to talk clearly, he introduced himself as Qin Ziling. Because his family name was Qin, it was said that he was of the Qin empire’s royal bloodline, but of a branch that had fallen long ago. His father was waiting to see him awaken the God Binding Chain martial spirit, but…
“What did you end up awakening?” Lin Mu Yu asked.
Qin Ziling opened his hand and a small plant appeared in the middle of his palm. Recognizing it, Lin Mu Yu immediately blurted out, “My, my… A dogtail flower?”
“Would you have died if you didn’t blurt it out?” Qin Ziling looked grudgingly at him.
“Don’t worry about it. Even the most worthless martial spirit can be strong if trained well.” Lin Mu Yu opened his hand and cradled his orange gourd comfortably in his palm. Smiling, he continued, “Look at my Green Gourd. It’s a rank 10 spirit, but look at how much I’ve been able to improve it.”
Qin Ziling was speechless when he felt the power emanating from the gourd spirit.
……
When the day neared noon time, Lin Mu Yu helped Qin Ziling out of bed and walked together towards the cafeteria. Still worried about his situation, he was like a startled fletchling and looked around anxiously. He said to Lin Mu Yu, “Lin Zhi, the right half of the cafeteria is where the instructors eat. We trainers have to stand near the short wall on the left to eat.”
Lin Mu Yu was dumbfounded. It seemed like a strict class difference existed between instructors and trainers, but perhaps that motivated people to work harder in order to move up in ranks.
More and more people came in to eat. There were instructors and trainers among the crowd, but the difference in stance distinguished the two types. The instructors seemed to always have their heads up high and backs straight, especially the silver and gold star instructors. They looked like they just wanted to rub their shiny emblems on everyone’s faces..
“Oh, look who’s here. The sandbag prince looks like he’s all better today, huh?” A silver star instructor looked at Qin Ziling and ridiculed.
Qin Ziling grudgingly chewed on his food. A trainer’s lunch consisted of three rations of grain, a piece of large flatbread, and a bowl of meat soup. Although it was called meat soup, in reality, it was nothing more than a thin soup with some cabbage stalks and the occasional hint of oil. Lin Mu Yu didn’t mind it since he was not a picky eater anyway.
However, the silver star instructor continued, “Oh sandbag prince, I heard you’re a royal descendant. You should have awaken the God Binding Chains, right? Hahahaha. Why don’t you call out your dogtail flower to give us a good laugh now! Hahahaha!”
Everyone broke into a laughter. Embarrassed, the red-faced Qin Ziling couldn’t do anything but poke at the mushy flatbread in his bowl with his chopsticks.
Lin Mu Yu couldn’t endure it anymore, so he stood up and faced the silver star instructor, “He is a worker of the Temple, so he is no different from you. Stop humiliating him like this, since it’s like humiliating yourself.”
This instructor immediately became furious. Gazing at Lin Mu Yu, “Who do you think you are? A mere trainer. Do you think this is your place to speak?”
As he spoke, his body bent forward slightly. At the next moment, he came crashing down towards Lin Mu Yu with the image of a bear spirit on his shoulder. This was a cultivator trained in power, so no wonder he was so contemptuous. It’s a wonder how many people had been put to a disadvantage by that attack!
“Watch out!” Qin Ziling shouted in horror.
But Lin Mu Yu was unusually calm. With a whirl, he took several steps back and called out his gourd spirit. With the double layer of Dragonscale Rampart and Ebony Shell, he raised his defensive power to the maximum and pumped himself full of true energy!
*Boom!*
A loud noise sounded on impact and created waves of air that surged out chaotically.
Qin Ziling didn’t even dare to look. When he opened his eyes again, he was surprised to see that the silver star instructor had been thrown back several meters away. He landed on the floor in a sorry state, whereas Lin Mu Yu looked like nothing had happened.
“Ahahahahaha… Instructor Lei, what happened to you?” The group of instructors began to mock the instructor named Lei Ying.
His face flushed red in embarrassment, Lei Ying let out a hmph and walked out of the cafeteria. He wanted to get revenge immediately, but he had realized with the short encounter that Lin Mu Yu was actually very strong.
….
On the way back to the residence, Qin Ziling was so happy that he was about to dance and gesticulate for joy.
“Lin Zhi, that was amazing. Did you see Lei Ying’s face when they started mocking him? Hahaha. Many of us trainers had been heavily wounded by his bear spirit shoulder tackle before, so you’ve done a great favor to all of us today by beating him like that!”
Lin Mu Yu smiled, “Ziling, you should try to become stronger too, or else you’ll still be a sandbag to them.”
Qin Ziling’s expression darkened, “Do you think I don’t want to become strong? My father had placed his hopes on me at a very young age, but there is a great difference between people’s talent and I know myself well enough. I’m almost 30, but I still haven’t been able to break into Earth realm, plus I awakened a garbage tier martial spirit. I think this is as far as I can get…”
Lin Mu Yu didn’t know how to comfort him, so he just patted Ziling’s shoulder and said, “It’s alright. Everyone’s born to do something in life…”
Qin Ziling didn’t get what he was referencing, but it did sound somewhat reasonable.
When evening arrived, Lin Mu Yu left the temple and went to see Chu Yao at the pharmacy. Of course, with the knowledge from the Medicine God Index, Chu Yao was already greatly valued at the panacea division. On the first day, she was already invited to the second alchemist division. To say it plainly, Chu Yao definitely had a better day at the panacea division than Lin Mu Yu did at the temple.
“Ah Yu!”
Chu Yao was ecstatic when she saw Lin Mu Yu. She hurried along and gave him a tour of the whole division, but there wasn’t much to see aside from alchemists at work.
When the sky was already pitch black, Lin Mu Yu returned to the temple.
Staying inside his room, he began train. There was not enough room inside for him to practice Sonic Blade, so he began to meditate. Slowly, he began to filter and refine his true energy. In truth, cultivation is an unending process of refining and purifying one’s true energy, which enables one to become stronger through this process.
……
At this moment, in Dragonseeker Forest…
Under the moonlight, a row of rock walls stood like sharp knives in the forest night. Hints of light emanated from a sunken depression beneath the rock overhang.
The night’s dew dripped from a tall pine down onto the snowy-white back of a young girl. She loosened her robe and applied the freshly made balm onto the wound on her back. A wave of fiery hot sensation made her clench her teeth in pain. Small threads of sparkling tears trailed down the side of her lashes and drew a path on her face.
Ignoring the growling pangs of her stomach, she looked at the pitch black forest around her and sniffled. Her finely crafted nose hung high as she sorrily blurted out, “Did I mess up somewhere? Why does the goldsore balm hurt this much… It probably wouldn’t hurt like this if Mu Mu made it instead…”
She looked up at the starry sky and mumbled, “Mu Mu, you’re still alive, right?”