The Mysterious New Instructor (4)

"The Devil Race has already slaughtered tens of millions of our compatriots, staining the earth red with their blood. For three thousand years, our Six Great Temples have never dared slacken in the slightest. For the continuation and inheritance of humanity, for the day when we can reclaim all that we have lost and drive out those cruel, vicious devils, we have given everything—until the last drop of life burns away."

"Long Haochen, remember this well: the Devil Race is an enemy with whom we share a blood feud as deep as the sea."

Xingyu's voice was deeply stirring. Even nine-year-old Long Haochen felt his blood begin to boil at those words.

"The Devil Race is an enemy with whom we share a blood feud as deep as the sea," Long Haochen repeated firmly.

Xingyu nodded. "Everything we do is to drive them from our homeland, reclaim all that we have lost, and protect our loved ones. Tell me—if one day we fail to stop the Devil Race's invasion, what will happen when they reach Odin Town? What kind of disaster will your friends, and your mother, face?"

Long Haochen shuddered violently. The determination in his eyes grew even stronger.

Seeing him like this, Xingyu revealed a trace of satisfaction in his eyes. He could naturally tell that the little fellow had already engraved his words deeply in his heart.

"That is all for the history lesson today. Starting tomorrow, I will tell you about the origins of the Six Great Temples. Next, I will teach you human writing and some knowledge related to the Devil Race."

For the entire morning, Long Haochen was immersed in the various stories Xingyu told. Compared with Balza, his former chief instructor, this new teacher brought him far too many new things. He cited classics and examples, explained things simply and directly, and seemed to possess an inexhaustible breadth of knowledge. After only one morning, Long Haochen already felt that his mind had been enriched with a great deal of knowledge. He immediately came to like Teacher Xingyu.

"Tomorrow morning, I will test you on everything I taught today. All right, let's eat. Afterward, you may rest for half a shichen."

As he spoke, Xingyu seemed to perform a magic trick. Within seconds, all kinds of food had been laid out on the wooden table.

A faintly scorching energy rose from Xingyu's hand. Under Long Haochen's dumbstruck gaze, the food immediately began to give off steaming heat and a rich fragrance.

There was a large bowl of crystal-clear, plump white rice; four generously portioned dishes, two meat and two vegetable; and a bowl of fragrant chicken soup that made Long Haochen swallow at once. Because his family was poor, he had never eaten such fine food in all his life. Just looking at it made his eyes go straight.

Xingyu took out two pairs of bowls and chopsticks. "Eat. When you are done, you can rest for a while."

Long Haochen suddenly sprang to his feet and hurried over to Xingyu. With a thud, he dropped to his knees.

"What are you doing? Don't you know that a man has gold beneath his knees? How can you kneel so easily before others?" Xingyu snapped angrily.

Long Haochen lowered his head and stammered, "Teacher, I, I..."

"What do you mean, 'I'? You want to kneel over a tiny favor? Have I been teaching some groveling worm?" Xingyu's voice grew even harsher.

In a low voice, Long Haochen said, "Teacher, I wanted to ask if I could eat a little less every day, then bring some home for Mother every week. Mother has never eaten anything this delicious either."

Xingyu froze. His anger vanished without a trace in an instant, and his whole body seemed to stiffen. Because Long Haochen had his head lowered, he did not see that his mysterious new teacher's lips were trembling slightly. Something crystalline had appeared in his eyes as well.

Slowly rising to his feet, Xingyu pushed open the door and walked out. Yet his voice carried back inside. "Get up and eat. I promise you, as long as you train hard under me and meet my requirements, I will have a meal delivered to your mother every day from now on."

"Thank you, Teacher!" Long Haochen was overjoyed. Still on his knees, he turned toward the door and knocked his head against the ground several times before rising and digging into the tempting food.

Xingyu stood outside the door, head tilted up toward the sky, as though struggling to suppress something. In a voice only he himself could hear, he murmured, "Humility, honesty, compassion, courage, fairness, sacrifice, honor, perseverance, benevolence, justice... What is he still lacking? Is he truly a born knight?"

By the time he returned to the wooden cabin, little Haochen had already finished lunch. Yet half of every dish remained untouched, and he had even filled a bowl of rice and placed it on Xingyu's side. Seeing him return, he hurriedly stood up and looked at him respectfully.

"The room next door is yours. Go rest for a while. I'll call you when it's time."

"Yes." Long Haochen felt that Teacher Xingyu was a gift from heaven, and he happily went to rest.

Half a shichen later, Xingyu called Long Haochen out.

"From this afternoon until tonight will be your training time. Take this." Xingyu handed Long Haochen a pair of emerald-green bamboo swords.

These bamboo swords were much lighter than the wooden sword Long Haochen had originally used. One in each hand, they felt almost weightless, yet he could sense their toughness.

Xingyu grabbed his arm and leaped into the air again, flying down toward the foot of the mountain. In only a short while, he brought Long Haochen to a spot halfway up the mountainside.

Pointing at a large rock ahead, Xingyu said, "This is a natural Owl Ant nest. There are tens of thousands of Owl Ants inside. Though these insects do not yet count as Magic Beasts, they are highly aggressive, especially toward intruders. Remember—use your bamboo swords to protect yourself."

With only that simple instruction, before Long Haochen could understand what was happening, Xingyu kicked away the large rock before them. Amid Long Haochen's cry of alarm, he sent him into the pitch-black cave beneath it.

A gentle force supported Long Haochen's body as he fell. He dropped about five meters before his feet finally touched solid ground.

The rock above his head had already returned to its original position. He could not see his hand before his face, though before the rock closed, he had vaguely seen that the space around him was roughly ten square meters.

At that moment, a buzzing sound rang out. Long Haochen suddenly felt as if countless densely packed things had appeared around him, flying at him from all directions.

Only then did he understand what Teacher Xingyu had meant. Instinctively, he began swinging the pair of bamboo swords in his hands.

However, all he had learned at the Odin Sub-Temple were the most basic techniques—slashing, chopping, thrusting, and the like. Facing the frenzied Owl Ants, whose numbers he could not even begin to count, he was bitten in several places almost instantly.

Intense pain erupted from all over his body. Little Haochen immediately cried out in agony, and the bamboo swords in his hands became disordered.

"This is one of your training methods, and also your first test. If you cannot endure even this, you can go down the mountain tomorrow."

Xingyu's voice entered Long Haochen's ears, settling his panicked emotions slightly. But the pain wracking his body only grew more intense. His clothes could not block the Owl Ants' bites at all, and even as he swung his bamboo swords wildly, he could clearly feel them striking countless objects.

"I can endure it!" Long Haochen shouted. Thinking of his mother, thinking of what Xingyu had told him today, courage suddenly burst through the shackles of fear. He desperately swung his bamboo swords, driving away the Owl Ants that ceaselessly attacked him.

"Though you cannot see right now, all you have lost is your sight. You still have hearing, smell, touch, sensation, even taste. Use every ability you possess that can help you feel everything around you..."