Instructor Sun took a few steps away from the training ground, and Zhao Changhe followed. Then Instructor Sun asked, "You came to ask about the Blood Baleful Art?"
Zhao Changhe nodded. "Yes. Please instruct me."
Instructor Sun seemed about to say something, then stopped himself. After a pause, he said, "The Blood Baleful Art is unrivaled in ferocity. It's certainly powerful, and it suits someone your age... but it has quite a few drawbacks. You'll have to switch to the Blood God Art later to remedy them. Unfortunately, the Blood God Art isn't easy to obtain. Even core members must render great service, and they still might not be taught the complete art. If you're hoping to practice the Blood God Art someday, you should prepare yourself for that."
Zhao Changhe bowed again. "Thank you, Instructor. I understand."
Instructor Sun nodded. "Also, you can't practice a cultivation art without learning combat techniques. I'm sure you saw yesterday's Chaos Era Ranking. Our cult leader had broken through one more heavenly layer than Yue Hongling, so why did he lose? Most likely, his techniques weren't as good. He's been busy with cult affairs these past few years and may have neglected his training. Having his halberd broken once isn't necessarily a bad thing."
Zhao Changhe coughed dryly and said nothing. You're just going to bad-mouth the cult leader like that? Still, it was a good example, simple and easy to understand.
Instructor Sun continued, "Everyone here practices with a saber. Do you know why they all use sabers rather than other weapons?"
Zhao Changhe answered without thinking. "Because sabers are the quickest to pick up? As long as you have some strength, even wild hacking and slashing gives you a certain amount of fighting power. The same beginner would definitely be less dangerous with a sword than with a saber."
That was why Zhao Changhe himself had used a broad saber in his dreams. Otherwise, with swords all over the ground, why would he have picked up a broad saber and refused to switch...? Even now, unlike others, Zhao Changhe hadn't agonized over how dashing swords looked, or the whole notion of living out one's dreams with a flute and a sword. He needed to become capable of fighting as quickly as possible. Looking dashing wouldn't put food on the table.
"Correct. Sabers and spears are the quickest ways to gain fighting power. Swords are much harder to pick up," Instructor Sun said. "There are plenty of heroes in the martial world who have never learned any internal true qi or any advanced external cultivation methods. With nothing but a saber, they've carved out a place for themselves. The saber is the most widely useful weapon in the martial world."
I get it, Zhao Changhe thought. That's what all the background extras use. There really are plenty of them.
"The Blood Baleful Art has several accompanying fist, sword, and saber techniques. Among them, the Blood Baleful Saber Technique is an exceptionally ferocious saber art. Since you've been taught the Blood Baleful Art, you're automatically qualified to learn this saber technique. But you've never learned to use a saber, so there's no rush... As it happens, ours is a new branch, and a large number of newcomers are starting from scratch. Come here every day from now on and learn the fundamentals with them. Once you're ready, I'll teach you the Blood Baleful Saber Technique."
Zhao Changhe was delighted. "That's wonderful news. I thought I'd have to find some other way to obtain a saber technique."
"No need. You've submitted your pledge of allegiance. What's yours is yours. What outlaw has the patience to haggle and count every last copper? That's fucking petty."
Instructor Sun's words clearly betrayed his dissatisfaction with Branch Chief Fang. Zhao Changhe didn't dare say anything, but he secretly enjoyed it.
From the look of things, Instructor Sun wasn't an ordinary teacher. At the cult's headquarters, would a position like his correspond to an elder in charge of passing down techniques? A protector? Those were senior figures, the cult leader's right-hand men. That meant Instructor Sun was probably one of the highest-ranking people in the branch, with enough standing to challenge the branch chief.
"All right, enough pleasantries." Instructor Sun had the brisk manner of a bandit den about him. Without wasting words, he began teaching. "The Blood Baleful Art has no true qi circulation routes, but it does have a method for activating the blood's vitality. The basic method must be practiced alongside the basic movements. Just refer to the manual for those... But you obviously won't grasp the knack of channeling force just by reading a booklet. You have to do it like this..."
Zhao Changhe soon immersed himself in it. The instructor's words echoed in his ears, and he seemed able to see the vital blood circulating inside his body, like a stream that was gradually surging and boiling from its quiet flow.
Before long, he felt a burning heat, like the feeling of watching his team lose in the World Cup until his eyes went red with rage. His eyes reddened, his head clouded, and one rush of hot blood would be enough to make him smash the television to pieces.
The strength he could unleash in that state was naturally far greater than usual. Did the Blood Baleful Art let someone deliberately enter that worked-up state?
More wondrous still, when he had tried learning those movements last night, his legs had grown weak and sore after only a short time crouching, until he simply couldn't hold on. Now, though, a warm current from who knew where seemed to ease that soreness and strengthen his muscles and bones, allowing him to keep going longer and longer.
This was only the beginning. What would happen once he mastered it?
Was this a demonic art?
At some point, the instructor's voice had faded away. His surroundings grew noisy, sounding a little like... a university dining hall after classes ended.
Zhao Changhe slowly opened his eyes.
It really was a fucking dining hall...
A cook had pushed a cart over, carrying a wooden tub of cooked millet mixed with wild greens and even a few flecks of meat. Its savory fragrance reached him from afar. The cult members who had been training swarmed over with bowls and chopsticks, and the cook served them one by one.
Zhao Changhe's stomach was growling now, too. The hunger brought on by that morning's practice of the Blood Baleful Art felt as fierce as if he hadn't eaten all day. He raced back to his room to fetch his bowl.
When he got there, Luo Qi was nowhere to be found. Zhao Changhe paid it no mind, grabbed his bowl, and ran back out for food.
At its core, this mountain bandit stronghold was still a religious cult, and it had rules. The jostling chaos he had imagined was nowhere to be seen; everyone queued in an orderly fashion. Zhao Changhe habitually joined the back of the line and craned his neck to look. He noticed that the cook followed a system when serving food. Some people didn't get so much as a speck of meat in their bowls, while others, like that Zhang Quan from earlier, actually received nearly half a piece of braised pork.
The others gazed at the meat in their bowls with envy, but none took their temper out on the cook. Perhaps Instructor Sun oversaw rewards and punishments here. Whoever he said could have meat got meat.
When Zhao Changhe finally reached the front, the cook glanced at him and, sure enough, gave him a piece of braised pork, considerably larger than Zhang Quan's. Zhao Changhe was delighted. Instructor Sun really did treat him well. Meat was far too important to him now!
He happily carried his bowl out of the crowd, only to see Zhang Quan approaching with several others and a mocking half-smile. "Well, well. A whole piece of meat..."
Zhao Changhe's expression darkened. He frowned. "Surely this isn't worth souring relations over? This kind of brain-dead villain act is pretty low."
"Relations? What fucking relations do we have with you?" Zhang Quan didn't understand the latter half, but sneered. "A backstabbing bastard who won the cult's favor by sticking a blade into his own young master and got taught the Blood Baleful Art-that was bad enough. Now you're sucking up to Instructor Sun and getting our meat portions cut. Relations?"
Zhao Changhe was speechless. "So, in plain terms, this is all over a piece of meat."
A vicious gleam flashed in Zhang Quan's eyes. Of course it was over a piece of meat. What was so strange about that? From something as small as meat to something as important as cultivation arts, it all boiled down to "resources." Even without a pretext, they would find one to seize them, never mind from a newcomer like him. They were demonic cult bandits. Since when had they ever offered anyone courtesy?
He couldn't be bothered to waste more words on Zhao Changhe. He waved a hand. "Take it!"
Several bandits friendly with him rushed in from either side. With a bowl in his hands, how was Zhao Changhe supposed to fight? He struggled to protect it, fending them off here and dodging there, taking several blows to his back. The wild greens topping his bowl spilled out.
A crowd gathered nearby, cheering noisily. They seemed to consider a scene like this perfectly normal.
He could faintly hear whispered remarks. "This Zhao Changhe's been hogging all the limelight. Even I'm sick of him. Zhang Quan's doing a fine job putting him in his place."
"Instructor Sun seems pretty good to him. He took him aside for a private talk... Isn't Zhang Quan afraid the instructor will reprimand him?"
"What's there to fear? Anyone with eyes can see Branch Chief Fang dislikes him. How much can Instructor Sun favor him?"
Amid the whispers, no one noticed Zhao Changhe's eyes growing redder and redder, like blood.
That urge to smash the television while watching a match surged through him. Zhao Changhe abruptly stopped dodging and hurled his bowl hard against the ground. "If I don't get to eat, you think you will?"
Crash! The bowl shattered across the ground. Rice and meat scattered among the porcelain shards, leaving nothing anyone could eat.
Zhang Quan and his group froze. "Fuck. This bastard's ruthless."
"Ruthless?" Zhao Changhe whipped his head around, his eyes filled with brutality and madness. "You think that's the end of it?"
The others were still staring regretfully at the food on the ground. Before any of them could react, Zhao Changhe lunged forward and seized Zhang Quan by the collar.
He moved with truly matchless speed. Even Zhao Changhe didn't know when he had become so fast. Hot blood surged through his legs, and he shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow. When he caught Zhang Quan, not only had Zhang Quan failed to react, but Zhao Changhe himself was momentarily stunned.
He had no time to savor that sensation. With a hook of his foot, he slammed Zhang Quan neatly to the ground. Then he grabbed Zhang Quan's hair and viciously forced his head down into the scattered food. "Want to eat? I'll give you all you can stomach!"
A thud, accompanied by Zhang Quan's piercing scream, made everyone around them shudder.
This bastard was truly ruthless! There wasn't just food on the ground-there were broken pieces of the bowl! That slam would leave Zhang Quan disfigured. If a shard pierced his eye...
Only then did Zhang Quan's friends react. They charged in like madmen. Some kicked Zhao Changhe with all their strength, while others tried to pull him away. But Zhao Changhe neither dodged nor ducked, taking their punches and kicks head-on as he continued gripping Zhang Quan's head and smashing it into the food again and again. No one could pull him off.
After four or five blows, those pulling at him cautiously withdrew their hands. Those kicking him no longer dared to kick. All of them slowly backed away.
Zhang Quan lay on the ground, utterly silent and motionless.
Breathing heavily, Zhao Changhe stood and turned his expressionless face toward them. "What's wrong? Wasn't he the one who wanted my food? Is it my fault he ate too much? Do you want some?"
Zhang Quan's friends trembled with fear and avoided his savage gaze. Everyone instinctively cleared a path, watching Zhao Changhe stride away.
Before you continue