Heavenly Vast Martial Arts Hall

After leaving the little tavern, Zuo Yi walked several hundred meters along the tree-lined road and arrived at Hangcheng University, where he had once studied.

It was summer vacation, and the campus was nearly deserted. Only a few students were playing football on the vast field, while several teaching buildings wrapped in glass curtain walls behind them gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight.

Zuo Yi looked at his alma mater through the fence but did not go inside.

Though it held many wonderful memories for him.

Continuing to the intersection, Zuo Yi turned right toward the nearest bus stop.

He had walked this road countless times. When he had studied at Hangcheng University, he often took Bus 208 from here, transferred to Bus 97 at Nanqiao Station, and returned to Riverside Town.

When he reached the bus shelter, Zuo Yi's gaze fell on the illuminated advertisement panel: Heavenly Vast Martial Arts Hall was hiring combat and swordsmanship instructors. Professional Grade Three and above; salary negotiable.

The white lettering on the red background was highly conspicuous. Aside from the two large lines of text, there were no decorative images, only an address and contact number beneath them, making it exceptionally simple. It was probably a temporary recruitment ad, the sort that would be taken down after a few days.

Zuo Yi could not help but feel moved.

Just then, a bus pulled into the stop. It was Bus 208, the one Zuo Yi had intended to take.

But he did not board it. Instead, he turned and left the bus stop, returning to the intersection. After waiting for the green light and crossing the zebra crossing, he walked another hundred meters or so and arrived before an old building.

The more than twenty-story building had clearly been around for many years. Most of the paint on its exterior walls had been worn away by wind and rain, leaving it dull gray and rather ugly. All sorts of messy signs hung from it, mostly for hotels, beauty salons, educational institutions, and the like.

Zuo Yi easily found the sign hidden among them, bearing the words "Heavenly Vast Martial Arts Hall (4th Floor)."

It was still the same old sign.

With a smile, he stepped into the building. Rather than taking the elevator, he climbed the stairs to the Heavenly Vast Martial Arts Hall on the fourth floor.

He was very familiar with this place, as well as Heavenly Vast Martial Arts Hall.

He had trained in combat and swordsmanship at Heavenly Vast Martial Arts Hall for nearly two years, and during that time, he had earned his Professional Grade Three swordsmanship certificate. He had benefited immensely.

If not for that period of martial arts training and the skills he had mastered, Zuo Yi might have died in the jaws of a Dire Wolf shortly after being transported to Sadea World. There would never have been the person he was now.

That was why, when he saw Heavenly Vast Martial Arts Hall's recruitment advertisement at the bus shelter, Zuo Yi had come over without hesitation.

After five or six years apart, Heavenly Vast Martial Arts Hall seemed not to have changed much. The reception desk at the entrance looked even more worn-down, and a chubby, round-faced young woman sat behind the counter, playing on her phone.

Zuo Yi walked over and lightly tapped the counter with his fingers.

The round-faced young woman immediately snapped awake. She instinctively stood up and gave Zuo Yi a professional smile. "Hello, sir. Would you like to learn combat or swordsmanship? The swordsmanship instructors at Heavenly Vast Martial Arts Hall are the best..."

Zuo Yi quickly gestured for her to stop. "I'm here to apply for a swordsmanship instructor position."

"Applying to be an instructor?"

The round-faced young woman was clearly somewhat disappointed, but she quickly smiled again. "Please have a seat inside. I'll go get the hall master."

Zuo Yi nodded and followed her inside.

The round-faced young woman had Zuo Yi wait in the reception room while she ran off to find the hall master. She did not even pour him a cup of tea.

Rather than sitting and waiting in the cramped reception room, Zuo Yi went farther inside, into the training hall where the martial arts hall's students normally practiced.

The Heavenly Vast Martial Arts Hall's training area was a little over three hundred square meters. There was a combat ring on one side and a competitive swordsmanship ring on the other. Some fitness equipment stood by the windows, all as old as the flooring.

The weather outside was scorching, but the air conditioning was not on in the training hall, making it stuffy and hot. The two standing air conditioners in the corner were purely decorative. Aside from a few people cleaning the place, there were no students around.

Just like before.

The sight before him made Zuo Yi sigh inwardly. Heavenly Vast Martial Arts Hall's business had never been particularly good, and now it seemed even worse.

It probably would not last much longer, would it?

He could not help wondering whether coming here to apply as a swordsmanship instructor had been the right decision.

In Zuo Yi's memories, there had been no such professional martial arts halls twenty or thirty years ago. The martial arts schools he had seen in the city when he was young were mostly taekwondo schools, traditional martial arts schools, boxing gyms, combat gyms, and the like.

Later, these various types of martial arts schools were gradually replaced by standardized martial arts halls. A nationwide martial arts alliance and martial arts competitions emerged as well, establishing a martial arts assessment system of Amateur Grade Five and Professional Grade Nine.

Later, the World Martial Arts Alliance Tournament was born, and the biennial World Martial Arts Alliance Tournament became a martial arts spectacle watched by the entire world.

Aside from strengthening his body, Zuo Yi had learned martial arts and swordsmanship mainly to protect his mother. He had considerable talent in both combat and swordsmanship, but he had never considered taking a professional path, so he had simply used his spare time to study at the martial arts hall.

Back then, Zuo Yi had been more curious about martial arts than anything else. He had never looked deeply into what might be hidden beneath it all.

Now that he stood at an entirely different height, looking back at the emergence of martial arts halls, martial arts alliances, martial arts competitions, and the martial arts assessment system, he could clearly see a complete training system for prospective superhumans.

It was like the knight selection system of Sadea World. Through basic training for large numbers of commoners, outstanding talents were selected for focused cultivation, thereby stimulating them to awaken supernatural power.

However, Sadea's system had existed for more than three eras and had been perfected in every respect.

In comparison, Blue Star's martial arts system still had a long way to go, and the range of people it affected was relatively narrow.

Zuo Yi did not know much about the situation abroad, but at least that was the case within Daxia.

As he was thinking, the receptionist from earlier approached with a tall young woman.

The woman wore a neat, plain white martial arts uniform. She had a graceful figure and a beautiful face, with a hint of heroism between her brows.

When she saw Zuo Yi, her brows knitted slightly as she studied him thoughtfully.

Zuo Yi greeted her first. "Senior Sister Shang, it's been a long time."

This beautiful woman was Shang Yulin, the daughter of Shang He, the hall master of Heavenly Vast Martial Arts Hall. She was also a swordsmanship instructor.

Shang Yulin was actually two years younger than Zuo Yi, but according to the martial arts rule that those who entered the path first came first, regardless of age, Zuo Yi, who had trained at Heavenly Vast for two years, had to call her Senior Sister.

"You're Zuo Yi!"

Shang Yulin finally confirmed his identity. After all, the two had not seen each other for five or six years, and Zuo Yi had changed quite a bit from before.

"It's me."

Zuo Yi asked, "Senior Sister Shang, isn't Master Shang here?"

He had just heard the receptionist say she was going to get the hall master, but Shang Yulin had come out instead.

Though he had paid to train there, Zuo Yi and Shang He shared a relationship of teacher and student. Thus, he called Shang He Master Shang rather than Hall Master Shang.

When Zuo Yi asked about Shang He, Shang Yulin's eyes dimmed. "My father passed away half a year ago."

"Master Shang passed away?"

Zuo Yi was immediately shocked. "How did that happen?"

When Zuo Yi had trained at Heavenly Vast Martial Arts Hall, Shang He had been in his forties, not yet fifty. He had been a strong, vigorous middle-aged martial artist. How could he have suddenly died only a few years later?

Shang Yulin shook her head, seemingly unwilling to say more. She changed the subject. "Zuo Yi, are you here to apply for a job?"

Zuo Yi said, "I saw Heavenly Vast's recruitment advertisement at the bus stop over there, so I came to take a look. I didn't expect..."

Shang Yulin hesitated for a moment. "Let's talk inside."

Zuo Yi had no objection and followed Shang Yulin into an office farther inside.

This was where Zuo Yi had first met Shang He back then. The room was small, furnished with only a desk and two old sofas. On the bookshelf to the right of the entrance stood Shang He's memorial portrait, with a small incense burner placed in front of its frame.

Zuo Yi saw incense sticks and a lighter beside the burner, so he said, "Senior Sister Shang, I'd like to offer Master Shang an incense stick."

Shang Yulin silently nodded.

Zuo Yi took three incense sticks and lit them with the lighter. Holding them in both hands, he bowed three times before Shang He's portrait.

He placed the incense into the burner and silently said in his heart, Master Shang, I still don't know the cause of your death, and Senior Sister isn't willing to say. If you died wronged and unjustly, then I will clear your name and seek justice for you, so you may rest in the River Styx.

As soon as that vow formed in Zuo Yi's mind, Knight's Heart immediately reacted. The faith imprint representing the keeping of promises suddenly trembled.

It had recorded his vow!

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