The Fire That Burned Bright in His Heart Never Wavered, Because He Had Seen the Darkest Night

"Extra! Extra! Xingyiquan's Master Guo publicly declared his opposition to Commoner Faction members practicing martial arts. Where will Commoner Faction martial artists go from here?"

On the bustling streets, a newsboy clutched a thick stack of newspapers and cried out at the top of his lungs.

Huo Yuanhong bought a paper, tucked it under his arm, hurried through the swarming crowds and rickshaws, and entered a courtyard residence across the street.

"Senior Brother."

Huo Yuanhong bowed respectfully.

"You needn't call me Senior Brother anymore."

The man in the long robe within the courtyard did not even raise his head, continuing to practice his stance.

"The Jinmen Martial Arts Guild has already passed the Martial Prohibition Decree. From now on, no Martial Arts Hall will accept Commoner Faction disciples. Martial arts will be open only to the great clans..."

"You needn't come again."

Those calm words landed in Huo Yuanhong's ears like five bolts of thunder. A wave of dizziness swept over him.

"Senior Brother... Senior Brother must be joking. The Martial Prohibition Decree barring the Commoner Faction was only issued today, while I became an apprentice of this hall ten years ago..."

Huo Yuanhong tried his utmost to restrain his emotions, yet his voice still trembled faintly.

In the present-day Celestial Empire, the Commoner Faction did not merely refer to fallen noble families as it had in ancient times. It could also mean laborers, farmers, merchants, and poor households. The Commoner Faction in the Martial Prohibition Decree naturally referred to all common people apart from eminent aristocratic clans.

"...The Martial Guild's Martial Prohibition Decree indeed does not include someone like you, who entered long ago..."

The man in the long robe fell silent for a moment, then said coldly, "But whenever I see lowborn rabble practicing martial arts alongside me, I feel that the Martial Path has been defiled."

"Just because of that?"

Huo Yuanhong raised his head in disbelief.

"Just because of that."

The man in the long robe replied indifferently.

"But... but... Senior Brother, back then, you personally promised that if I worked for ten full years, you would introduce me to an instructor and give me the chance to learn real martial arts..."

"Two months ago, I had already completed ten years. You said then that you would pick an auspicious day and have me wait another two months..."

"You are the renowned Gentleman Sword. A spoken word is a nail driven into wood..."

"If you are dissatisfied with me, I can change. Even if I have to serve another ten years as an apprentice, I can do it. I can do anything..."

Huo Yuanhong spoke in a hoarse voice.

A lowly apprentice of common birth like him was essentially unpaid hard labor in a Martial Arts Hall. Unless he received a recommendation from a core disciple, he did not even have the qualification to train martial arts with an instructor.

And in order to learn real martial arts, during the years when he should have been playing to his heart's content and brimming with youthful spirit, he had kept his head down and served Gentleman Sword, a core disciple of the Martial Arts Hall, for ten years and two months!

A full three thousand seven hundred days and nights!

Not a single day of rest. Every day, he rose earlier than chickens and slept later than dogs.

He had been exhausted. Countless times, he had been so tired he nearly broke down. Yet at least he could count the days one by one, watch the dawn of hope descend bit by bit, and see himself drawing ever closer to his dream of practicing martial arts.

But now...

Just as he was finally about to touch that dawn, because of one offhand remark from this core disciple born into a great clan...

The world of his dreams was about to collapse.

"Since you put it that way, then let me put it another way."

Gentleman Sword's tone remained indifferent, and his gaze never once fell upon Huo Yuanhong. "Your conduct is improper. You failed your probationary period and have been expelled from the Martial Arts Hall."

Improper conduct...

Huo Yuanhong found it incomparably absurd, laughable.

This...

He could not even be bothered to come up with a decent excuse.

How could Huo Yuanhong still fail to understand? This so-called Gentleman Sword before him had never intended to honor his promise and make him a full disciple from the start. He had never regarded a lowly apprentice like him as a human being.

"For the sake of our having once been fellow disciples, I'll tell you one final thing."

Gentleman Sword said flatly, "In one month, the Martial Guild will hold a grand competition that will decide the fate of the Commoner Faction. Anyone under twenty-five who practices martial arts may take the stage. You may try as well..."

"In the end, if no Commoner Faction martial artist can win three matches, then the Commoner Faction practicing martial arts will be deemed a waste of resources. The Martial Guild will expand the Martial Prohibition Decree. Not only will the Commoner Faction be forbidden from entering Martial Arts Halls, they will not be allowed to practice martial arts at home either. Otherwise, the enforcement squad will arrest them..."

Not even allowed to practice martial arts at home!

Those words made Huo Yuanhong's heart sink completely.

Jin Gate's martial culture flourished. Martial Arts Halls occupied the most prosperous districts one after another and controlled the lifeblood of every trade.

Power controlled everything, and force controlled power. That was the state of Jin Gate!

Yet for hundreds of years, the true transmissions of martial arts had been tightly controlled by the great aristocratic clans!

The qualification to practice martial arts that children of great clans possessed from birth was, for ordinary people, an admission ticket they could scarcely win even after smashing their pots and selling their iron, exhausting every ounce of strength!

But as long as he could practice martial arts, he could endure any amount of hardship and perform any amount of grueling work.

The one thing he could not endure was being denied even the qualification to enter!

A martial competition to decide the Commoner Faction's fate...

It looked fair, but in truth it was a joke.

Children of great clans were nourished from childhood with the finest medicinal soups and personally instructed hand in hand by the best masters. Even with mediocre talent, they could still achieve something.

Meanwhile, children from ordinary families were already exhausting all their strength merely bearing life's burdens.

Just like himself: in name, he had spent ten years as an apprentice at the Martial Arts Hall and studied martial arts for ten years, but in reality...

Out of the twelve hours of every day, at least eight were spent doing miscellaneous chores. By the time he finished them, he was already worn out beyond measure. Where would he find the energy to practice martial arts?

What was more, all he had learned were a few crude external techniques, and even those were incomplete.

They had neither the time nor energy to practice martial arts, nor had they received real martial arts...

How were Commoner Faction apprentices like them supposed to fight those children of great clans, who had laid solid foundations from childhood and trained in true transmissions for years...

How could they fight?

Fight with their heads?

"When the time comes, I will represent the great clans. I will not allow any lowborn rabble to pass. If you dare appear before me, I guarantee I'll beat you to death."

Gentleman Sword's indifferent voice strangled the last thread of hope in Huo Yuanhong's heart.

"I can't practice martial arts anymore..."

Huo Yuanhong murmured softly.

He did not know how he had left. He only felt that everything around him had turned gray and white, distant and hollow. The pedestrians, rickshaws, and streets before his eyes all twisted and warped.

It was as if that familiar world were drifting away from him.

He did not know what else that core disciple calling himself Gentleman Sword had said.

It was as though he had been violently pressed into an icy river. Apart from the bone-piercing cold and nearly suffocating numbness, he could hear nothing, make out nothing.

His dream...

Had collapsed.

The world he had once longed for...

Was collapsing too.

He kept walking in a daze, walking and walking...

Only when he saw the familiar number 201 on the door did Huo Yuanhong's pupils gradually regain focus.

He was home.

He rubbed his face hard until he forced it into a smile. Only then did he slowly take out the key and open the door.

"A-Hong, you're back. Hurry and eat."

Hearing the movement, his father brought out the food that had been kept warm in the pot.

Two bowls of mixed-grain rice, a dish of stir-fried greens, a plate of scrambled eggs, and six crabs.

Jin Gate had nine rivers. Crabs were cheaper than rice, with enough to eat your fill.

As usual, Huo Yuanhong sat down, shoveled a mouthful of mixed-grain rice into his mouth, picked up some greens, then grabbed a crab, cracked its shell, and began to eat.

Under such overwhelming grief, he actually had no appetite at all. He did not even know what he was eating.

Yet he still forced himself to eat, pretending that he enjoyed it.

Because he knew that these seemingly ordinary dishes before him had been earned by his father, who rose before dawn and returned after dark pulling a rickshaw.

For all these years, he had stubbornly pursued martial arts, while his father had silently shouldered the family alone.

"How was your training today?"

His father asked expectantly.

"Very good. Senior Brother said I have great talent. He promised to help me fight for a core disciple position next month. He was worried I'd be too tired, so he even specially got me a few days off to rest..."

Huo Yuanhong raised his head. A smile filled his face, and his tone was easy and natural. Just like the past three thousand nights, there was not the slightest trace of the numbness and despair he had felt before entering the door.

"Good! Good! I knew our A-Hong was a genius! You'll definitely make something of yourself!"

His father's face was covered in stubble and marked by wind and sun. He was thin as a sheet of paper, and no one knew how he managed to pull that heavy rickshaw.

But whenever his son was mentioned, that face nearly crushed beneath life's burdens would reveal wholehearted pride!

Huo Yuanhong knew that, in his father's heart, his son was a genius. Two months ago, he had already completed his apprenticeship and become an honorable formal disciple. He was even highly regarded by a core disciple called "Gentleman Sword," with a boundless future ahead of him!

He did not want to disappoint his father, much less infect him with his own sorrow.

So he strove to create the false image of a genius, letting his father "know" that he was living well outside...

Very well...

"Dad, don't wear yourself out either. Once I become a great master, I'll buy a clean, spacious mansion and take you there to enjoy life..."

Happiness filled Huo Yuanhong's face as he used hollow words to desperately paint the world of his dreams.

Every year at this season, cockroaches scurried everywhere in this broken house. They even had to draw the curtains tightly to sleep.

When he was nine, he had said that he would buy his father a grand house.

He had kept saying it until he was nineteen.

His father had always believed him without doubt, always proud of his son who had entered a Martial Arts Hall.

"A-Hong, don't tire yourself out either. Dad isn't in a hurry, not in a hurry."

Seeing his father's proud smile, Huo Yuanhong lowered his head and stuffed a large mouthful of rice into his mouth, fighting back the sting in his nose.

He did not dare let his father know that he...

Had already been expelled from the Martial Arts Hall.

He dared even less to let his father know that, a month from now, even practicing martial arts at home would become an impossible dream.

His world...

Had already collapsed.

But his father's world...

Was still there.

At least, it was still there for now.

Just like during those more than three thousand days and nights, he had never dared let his father know...

That at the Martial Arts Hall, he was merely a laborer ordered about by others, merely an ordinary person so exhausted he nearly broke down, without even a chance to learn martial arts from an instructor.

Not the gifted son in his father's heart...

The one who had learned formidable martial arts and had a promising future.

"In one month, everything will end..."

Thinking of the Martial Guild's Martial Prohibition Decree, thinking of Gentleman Sword's cold indifference toward lowly apprentices as if they were not human, thinking of his father's unwavering support and sacrifices, Huo Yuanhong felt utterly stifled, so stifled he could barely breathe.

It was as if a ball of fire were about to explode from the depths of his heart!

Boom!!!

Accompanied by a tremendous roar, as though blazing flames had shot into the heavens.

In a blur, he truly saw a searing, brilliant flame ignite from the endless darkness within his heart, illuminating lines of text.

Fate: Martial Path to Divinity!

Effect 1: From this day forth, every day spent practicing martial arts will equal one year of progress!

Effect 2: The Martial Path will never regress, never lead to qi deviation, and will forever advance in the most correct direction, without end!