As the saying went, a great master produced great disciples.
Old Man was highly renowned in the Land of Reeds, a famous warrior and swordsman.
His swordsmanship was superb, and he had taken many disciples.
His swordsmanship had been established not through talk, but through killing.
The Land of Reeds revered martial prowess to an extreme. They also made no distinction between single-edged blades and double-edged swords, so although they used the former, calling them swords was fine.
It had reached the point of violence, worship of strength, and even bloody cruelty.
Things were very strange among Old Man's disciples.
Every disciple he taught had one ultimate goal-to kill him, or be killed by him.
This had to do with Old Man's rules. In truth, he had the interests of his school at heart.
To receive Menkyo Kaiden, one had to be more skilled than one's master.
The only way to prove they surpassed their master was to kill Old Man.
A duel with real swords, one dying and one surviving, was the most direct proof.
It ensured that each generation's master had to possess the greatest swordsmanship.
The school had to be the strongest, too. Ideally, they could hang up a plaque proclaiming them "Invincible in the Land of Reeds."
Old Man had worked toward that, and had indeed hung such a plaque in his dojo.
But he later left, pursuing greater swordsmanship in a wider world.
And so he came to the Lands Between.
His departure caused quite a stir. His disciples would not stand for it.
Their master had left and abandoned them.
Old Man's rule of "dueling your master with real swords" had its flaws.
Such a rule easily led to excessive competition within the school, because only one person could receive Menkyo Kaiden.
Whether inheriting