Li Xiuwen fell silent for a long moment. The Four Seas Hall Master raised an eyebrow. "You don't even have another hundred?"
"No."
"You're determined to practice martial arts even if you have to sell everything you own? I thought you had a little money put away."
"..."
"Let me make this clear first: if you can't pay the monthly fees later, I'll kick you out immediately."
At that, Li Xiuwen brightened. "I understand. Thank you, Master."
"Come on. Time to train." Huang Sihai turned and walked away.
"Don't we need an apprenticeship ceremony?" Li Xiuwen asked casually.
"Where did you hear that?" Huang Sihai frowned.
"I read it in the newspaper."
"Pointless formalities. Nothing but relics of the old days... These days, efficiency is what matters. Pay up, get service. No money, get lost."
"Understood."
"Boy, don't think I'm vulgar. This is Fragrant Sea!"
On the training ground, Huang Sihai beckoned to Li Xiuwen. "Come meet your senior brothers and sisters."
Li Xiuwen looked around. "I'm Li Xiuwen. I joined today. I hope you'll all give me some pointers."
"Li Xiuwen? With a name like that, shouldn't you be studying hard? What are you doing learning to fight?" The short-haired female student Huang Sihai had just reprimanded giggled.
"Studying? To hell with that! How could studying be as fun as fighting?" Li Xiuwen said with a laugh.
"Young brother, you're mistaken. How could studying be useless? Throughout history, which grandmaster wasn't a person of vast learning?"
An old man in a training outfit covered in patches stroked his beard with a chuckle, speaking in a pedantic tone.
Li Xiuwen hastily bowed. "Thank you for your guidance, sir. May I ask who you are?"
The man had white hair but a youthful face, brimming with vigor and spirit!
With that bearing, he was probably one of the hall's instructors.
The female student snickered. "New guy, don't let him fool you. He's a student here too, not an instructor."
"As the saying goes, when three walk together, one is sure to be my teacher..." Exposed by the female student, the old man tucked his hands into his sleeves and lowered his head, muttering.
"I've introduced myself. May I ask your name, senior brother?" Li Xiuwen asked.
The old man was about to speak when the outgoing short-haired girl said with a laugh, "His name's 'As the Saying Goes'!"
The old man flushed. "My humble name is Chen Xun. I'm a few decades older than you, so just call me Brother Chen."
"Sure thing, 'As the Saying Goes,'" the short-haired girl chimed in.
"Hello, Brother Chen." Li Xiuwen smiled.
"Li Shuzhen. I only joined a month before you." The short-haired girl playfully held out her hand. "You can call me Senior Sister A Zhen."
"I'm Cheng Kuiqiang. I joined with A Zhen." The tallest male student scratched the back of his head. "Everyone calls me Big Silly Qiang."
He looked rather simple and honest, with a square face. He stood six feet three, wearing a short martial outfit with a sweat towel draped around his neck.
"I'm Liu Da. Got here a few days before you." A somewhat skinny boy walked over with a smile. "I'm only studying for two months. If it doesn't work out, I'm going home."
"Are you from Northern Sheng?" The accent sounded familiar to Li Xiuwen, and he smiled.
"I fled the famine all the way here. I'm gonna make something of myself here!"
Li Xiuwen greeted everyone in turn, shaking hands and bowing.
Finally, he came to a youth with faint eyebrows and thin lips, whose rather expensive clothes and distinctive bearing set her apart from the others. "And this senior sister is?"
"Liu Chun." The youth did not offer her hand, merely answering in a flat tone.
Li Xiuwen smiled, withdrew his hand, and respectfully said, "Hello, senior sister."
"Senior Sister A Chun's amazing. She got the basics down in three days and became a proper martial artist," Big Silly Qiang said enviously.
"Master, I'm going to practice now," Liu Chun said.
With that, she left.
Huang Sihai looked at Li Xiuwen and said:
"Old Chen wasn't wrong. To learn martial arts, you at least need to be literate. Otherwise, you won't even understand the manuals.
There are over a hundred martial arts halls in the Walled City, and our Four Seas Martial Arts Hall is one of the few that teaches students to read and write.
Even if you never achieve anything on the Martial Way, literacy alone will put you a cut above ordinary people in the Walled City."
"Wonderful!" Li Xiuwen applauded. "Master, you're the very model of a great hero in my eyes, serving the nation and its people!"
"I wouldn't dare call myself a great hero. I just don't want our younger generations unable to read Great Sheng's writing, reciting that crude foreign language all day," Huang Sihai said.
"Master, when will I start learning to fight?" Li Xiuwen asked.
"What's the rush? Before you learn to fight, you need to learn to distinguish bones. If you don't even understand the structure of the human body, how are you supposed to fight?" Huang Sihai said.
He beckoned Li Xiuwen over to a model of the human body, with an anatomical chart posted on the wall beside it.
"The human body has 206 bones, 360 acupoints throughout the body, twelve primary meridians, and eight extraordinary meridians... All of these are closely connected to the Martial Way. Can you read?"
"A little," Li Xiuwen said.
"The human body's structure is vast and complex. You won't learn all this in a short time. Remember what I teach you today, and it'll be enough to get you through the three gates."
"Master, what exactly are these three gates?"
"Skin Membrane, Dragon Muscle, Tiger Aspect... Once you pass all three gates, you've completed your apprenticeship. There won't be many people in the Walled City who dare mess with you," Old Chen could not resist interjecting.
"Mm." Huang Sihai nodded without interrupting. Old Chen liked showing off, but he really did know quite a lot and helped shoulder some of the teaching duties.
"Which gate have you reached, sir?" Li Xiuwen asked curiously.
"Don't go asking about that. When practicing martial arts, you must never reach beyond your grasp. Master even one gate, and you'll have enough to establish yourself in the Walled City."
"Oh." Li Xiuwen seemed to understand.
Skin Membrane, Dragon Muscle, Tiger Aspect... These would be the goals he worked toward from now on.
"By the way, Master, if I learn our martial arts, will I be able to catch bullets with my bare hands like Inspector Lei?"
Li Xiuwen put on an innocent air as he asked, wanting to sound out the hall's capabilities in advance.
At that, Huang Sihai could not help scoffing:
"I've seen far too many ignorant brats like you in all my years running this hall.
Every other word out of your mouths is some renowned master or one of the Four Great Inspectors.
The gap between one person and another can be greater than you could ever imagine.
With the same master and the same resources,
some people break through all three gates in a year.
Others spend their whole lives training at the first gate and never break through."
"Then what do you think of my Martial Constitution?" Li Xiuwen asked with a sheepish smile.
Huang Sihai shook his head. "You won't know what your Martial Constitution is like until you train. I don't like turning people away just because of their Martial Constitution or age.
Judging only by your outer bone structure, your frame is well proportioned, your arms reach past your knees, and your hands and feet are broad.
Not bad. You barely qualify as... an average physique.
But cultivation on the Martial Way is also affected by the so-called Inner Aspect and aptitude, so I can't judge your Martial Constitution."
Li Xiuwen felt relieved. An average physique was decent enough. At least he was not at the bottom.
What he did not know was that, to Huang Sihai, everyone had an "average physique."
The reason was simple. If people heard they had a "servant physique," most would immediately give up learning martial arts. Wasn't there something better they could spend that money on?
Huang Sihai had no intention of letting a juicy morsel escape when it was already at his lips.
There were no strict standards for determining Martial Constitution in the first place.
It was all experience passed down through generations, much like the art of judging horses at a racetrack.
"Thank you for the lesson. I'll keep my feet firmly on the ground." Having learned how difficult the Martial Way was, Li Xiuwen did not lose heart. Instead, he was full of drive.
Seeing Li Xiuwen so spirited and innocent, Huang Sihai felt a little guilty and consoled himself:
It's only a well-intentioned lie.
Besides, he had not completely deceived Li Xiuwen. Inner bone structure and aptitude really did matter,
and there had been martial artists judged to have a servant physique who went on to soar.
They were simply... vanishingly rare among martial artists as a whole.
If Li Xiuwen truly reached a profound level someday and could assess his own Martial Constitution, Huang Sihai would tell him the truth then.
Child, I saw your understated bone structure and the light in your eyes, and knew you must possess keen understanding. That's why I used a well-intentioned lie to persuade you to stay.
Li Xiuwen would even have to thank him for it!
Before you continue