Selection Assembly

"You just said your brother-in-law was a soldier. Soldiers all practice the military's standard Great Strength Vajra Qigong. That is the most rudimentary introductory art there is. How could it have let you develop a fire affinity?!"

By the end, a trace of sharpness had crept into his voice.

"I started with Great Strength Vajra Qigong. After I learned to sense qi, my brother-in-law taught me the Flameheart Method!"

"The Flameheart Method?!" Old Xing's expression tightened at those words. "How would your brother-in-law know the Flameheart Method?!"

"He said the Flameheart Method was a battlefield trophy. He found it on an enemy he killed!"

"That makes sense!" Old Xing nodded thoughtfully. "The Flameheart Method is an introductory cultivation method of the southern Profound Fire-Worshipping Cult. Many of their disciples practice it. The cult and the imperial court are as incompatible as fire and water, and clashes are common. There's nothing strange about your brother-in-law getting his hands on it. Still, he has some nerve, letting you practice it. Crude though it is, the Flameheart Method is an introductory method for cultivating fire-element inner energy. Its means of absorbing and converting fire-aspected primal energy are remarkably sophisticated, far beyond commonplace stuff like Great Strength Vajra Qigong. Wasn't he afraid you would suffer a cultivation deviation and burn to death?!"

Little Leopard's inward smile grew even more bitter. Wang Tianlei had never taught him this; he had secretly learned it himself. But that was not something he could say aloud, so he could only smile bitterly.

"Still, this works out well. The Flameheart Method you practice is perfectly suited to our martial arts, and you've laid an excellent foundation. That saves me quite a bit of trouble!"

As Little Leopard listened, he actually heard delight creeping into Old Xing's voice. And his words sounded nothing like something a blacksmith ought to say. He sounded more like a sect elder responsible for teaching martial arts. Little Leopard could not help looking up in astonishment.

"There's no need to be surprised. When your brother-in-law taught you martial arts, he must have told you something about the martial world, right?!"

"He did tell me a little, but he doesn't know much himself!"

"Naturally. The affairs of the martial world are tangled and complicated. He's only a soldier. How could he know so much?" Old Xing said, clearly finding that reasonable.

"Master, are you actually some great expert?!" Little Leopard asked quietly, with a conspiratorial look that made Old Xing laugh.

"What great expert? Your master is only an ordinary disciple of the Wu Household. I can hardly call myself an expert!"

"The Wu Household?!"

"Yes, the Wu Household-the owners of this Wu Ironworks, the Wu Household of Cloud Province!" At the mention of the Wu Household, Old Xing's bearing abruptly changed. Even his slightly stooped back straightened. "Come, Little Leopard. Let me explain the Wu Household to you!"

The Wu Household of Cloud Province was universally recognized as an Aristocratic Clan of metalworkers. Their ironware business extended across the world, and their wealth could rival a nation's. Naturally, preserving such wealth required powerful martial arts and a formidable backer.

The Wu Household lacked neither.

At this point, their origins had to be explained. Five hundred years earlier, the Wu Household's founding ancestor had been an ordinary blacksmith. But his aptitude was exceptional, and his comprehension extraordinary. The leader of the Heavenly Dragon Way at the time had taken notice of him and accepted him as a disciple.

The Heavenly Dragon Way was one of Great Jin's three major sects, and one of the foremost great sects in the world. Experts gathered within it like clouds, and it was also a powerful supporter of the Great Jin Imperial Clan.

After entering the sect and cultivating diligently for several years, the Wu ancestor attained mastery of his martial arts. He became one of the world's few Ninth Rank experts and established the foundations of the Wu Household.

In martial arts, the Wu Household possessed the cultivation arts passed down by their ancestor, which could make someone a Ninth Rank expert if mastered. As for backing, they had the Heavenly Dragon Way behind them. Some of their outstanding younger members were also regularly sent to become its disciples. Who would dare provoke them?

Thus, over these several centuries, the Wu Household's business had grown steadily larger, gradually developing into what it was today.

Someone might ask: the Wu Household's connection to the Heavenly Dragon Way dated back five hundred years, so why did the sect still protect them?

That had to be explained through business. And discussing business meant discussing its most fundamental element: money.

The Heavenly Dragon Way was one of the world's foremost sects. Its holdings were vast, its operations extensive, and its appetite enormous. Martial experts had to eat too. Food required money, and cultivation required spiritual medicines and resources. Where did that money, those medicines, and those resources come from?

They could hardly go down the mountain all day, every day. Even if they did, the world was so vast that however many people the Heavenly Dragon Way had, they could never finish searching it!

Thus, great sects like the Heavenly Dragon Way had numerous subordinate forces to handle all of this for them.

It was like a landlord collecting rent. Landlords owned many fields, but they did not farm them personally. Their households could never cultivate so much land themselves, so they had to rent it to tenant farmers. Yet at the end of every year, the landlord's harvest was always much greater than a hired farmhand's. The principle was the same.

The Wu Household was one of the Heavenly Dragon Way's subordinate forces in the secular world, one of its tenant farmers. Their business might be enormous and their earnings substantial, but a considerable portion had to be offered to the Heavenly Dragon Way. It could be considered a disguised protection fee.

Of course, the Heavenly Dragon Way merely served as the Wu Household's backer. It could not intervene every time the household encountered trouble, or it would be worked to death. Thus, the Wu Household also maintained its own martial strength-and very powerful martial arts at that.

The Wu ancestor had come from the Heavenly Dragon Way and practiced its Nine-Dragon Divine Fire Art, which naturally passed down through the household. Besides that art, there was the infinitely powerful Eighty-One-Form Chaotic Wind Hammer Method, which he had devised in a moment of Enlightenment while working metal. Today, the Nine-Dragon Divine Fire Art and the Chaotic Wind Hammer Method had become the divine arts that safeguarded the Wu Household.

The Wu Household wielded immense power, but its actual members, including collateral bloodlines, numbered only a few thousand. Nor could all of them amount to something. Besides, the more people there were in a household, the more conflicts and troubles arose, and the more incessant the infighting became. Relations between the main family and its collateral branches, in particular, grew increasingly delicate. Thus, fresh blood from outside was needed too. Gradually, the household had become like the martial sects, taking in disciples far and wide.

In a sense, then, the Wu Household could be considered the cream of the tenant farmers. Besides cultivating the landlord's fields, they had fields of their own: wealthy farmers among the tenants.

These disciples were naturally not mere apprentices. With its wealth and influence, the Wu Household had recruited countless apprentices over the centuries. From among them, those with good aptitude and keen comprehension were chosen for admission and taught introductory cultivation methods. Further selections then identified the outstanding ones, who were allowed to study more advanced arts.

The so-called master craftsmen were apprentices who had been taught the basic introductory cultivation methods but could advance no further as disciples.

These people learned the introductory method of the Nine-Dragon Divine Fire Art, gaining some understanding of how to control fire-element primal energy. They were also taught the first nine forms of the Chaotic Wind Hammer Method. Since the Wu Household's ancestor had gained Enlightenment into his hammer technique through metalworking, the technique naturally contained profound principles of that craft. With the two combined, even if their martial skills were not great, their mastery of metalworking surpassed ordinary blacksmiths by far more than a single notch.

These people formed the backbone of the entire Wu Lineage and were also its elite. Old Xing was one of them. Men like him, who retired as they grew older and became instructors, also bore another mission: selecting talent to supply the Wu Household with fresh blood.

And the Little Leopard before him was an excellent fit-indeed, a rare talent.

At eight years old, he had already cultivated Internal Energy, and fire-element Internal Energy at that, sharing the same essential workings as the Nine-Dragon Divine Fire Art. While practicing the fundamentals of the hammer technique, he had even entered a state of Enlightenment. This showed that he possessed tremendous potential in the technique. Failing to nurture someone like him properly would be nothing short of a loss for the Wu Household.

Little Leopard stood quietly, listening as Old Xing explained the entire situation, and began weighing things in his mind.

By the sound of it, Old Xing wants me to join the Wu Household. Hmm, thinking it over, that's not a bad choice. As the saying goes, a great tree offers welcome shade. The Wu Household has vast holdings and resources. Sheltering beneath that great tree wouldn't shortchange me, and someone would even teach me martial arts for free. Not bad, not bad!

"Did you understand everything I just told you?!"

As he pondered, Old Xing's voice reached his ears.

"I understood!" Little Leopard hurriedly replied.

"Good, then. What are your thoughts?!"

"I'll leave everything to you, Master!" Little Leopard said hastily. At this point, even if he had other ideas, he could not voice them.

"Mm!" Old Xing nodded in satisfaction, his expression turning solemn. "Outside just now, you met my requirements and hammered through the wooden post. You won't need to keep practicing behind the others anymore. You've practiced the Flameheart Method and even cultivated flameheart inner qi. That's truly excellent; it saves me a great deal of trouble. I'll teach you the introductory method of the Nine-Dragon Divine Fire Art and the Nine-Form Hammer Technique. Oh, right-your brother-in-law was a soldier, so the fist technique you learned from him should be Slay Through a Thousand Armies. That technique is steeped in the aura of slaughter and serves a great purpose on the battlefield, but its power is less impressive in single combat. I'll teach you another fist technique. As for a body-tempering fist technique-!"

At the mention of body-tempering fist techniques, Old Xing's expression dimmed. "Keep practicing the army's Bear Demon Fist. If you can pass the Lineage's selection two years from now, when you're ten, you'll have a chance to learn a Bone Tempering fist technique."

"A Bone Tempering fist technique?!" Little Leopard's eyes lit up. The Bear Demon Fist was a Skin Training technique, and he had already practiced it to the limit his body could endure at its current stage. But he had never encountered a Bone Tempering fist technique. Tai Chi Fist also had Bone Tempering effects, but, much like its movements, it produced results far too slowly.

"Master, if I pass the selection, can I learn a Bone Tempering fist technique?!"

"Yes. Once you pass, you'll become an inner disciple. Naturally, you'll have the opportunity to practice more advanced Bone Tempering fist techniques!"

"What is the Selection Assembly?!"

"The Selection Assembly is an annual gathering our Wu Household holds for all apprentices, to select the elite among them. Any apprentice who has reached ten years of age is eligible to participate. But the selection process is extremely strict. Although you have an excellent foundation, you mustn't grow careless. Over the next two years, you must devote yourself to your training. Do you understand?!"

"I understand!" Goudanzi replied respectfully.