The unremarkable Knight had no intention of showing off further. He merely said that foreign countries gave preferential treatment to martial artists from Red Pine, and he was already used to it.
Even if Jin suppressed martial artists who pursued advanced studies in Liang, Great Liang would not care, nor would it get angry over it.
There was a saying: being ignored by your enemy was the greatest humiliation!
The unremarkable Knight told them that they were simply five martial artists from Jin. They should not reveal their identities as hostages-that would be best for everyone.
If any of them were unwilling, Red Pine Martial Academy also had corresponding arrangements for hostages who made their identities known.
He did not say what those arrangements were, but clearly, they probably would not be much better than Jin Garden.
The five hostages nodded repeatedly. None asked why Red Pine had chosen to do this.
Was the Martial Academy playing with fire? Probably not. Jin Garden's thirty hostages were entering six mid-tier Martial Academies, and the arrangements were likely similar at all of them.
As for Great Liang's intentions, even if they could not work them out, they could more or less guess.
If these thirty hostages stayed in Jin Garden, they could only be hostages, walking corpses. They did have some value, but... not much!
Since that was the case, why could Liang not find some new uses for them? They were sitting idle anyway.
Only Wu Youren's thinking was a little more active. "Then, when we enter the Martial Academy, will we live with the other foreign martial artists?"
He had thought of international student dormitories.
"You can choose that, but I wouldn't recommend it." The unremarkable Knight smiled. "Haven't you always wanted to defeat Great Liang?"
"If you don't live with ordinary martial artists, you'll miss the chance to come into contact with Great Liang's society."
His words were extremely frank, but they could not conceal his arrogance... We can give you an opportunity, but are you up to it?
Feng Qianjun was thinking about something else. "How many of the Jin martial artists here come from powerful families?"
"You're their leader, aren't you?" The unremarkable Knight had a very sharp eye.
Then he smiled faintly, a hint of cruelty showing in his eyes. "There are plenty of children from powerful families. They aren't hostages. They all came willingly!"
He bared his gleaming white teeth. "Jin needs Great Liang, not the other way around."
The next moment, he composed his expression, replacing it with a kindly smile.
"All right, that's enough of that. Once you enter the Martial Academy, you are martial artists from Jin here to study."
"Thank you for your guidance, teacher." This time, He Wenhao reacted first.
He raised his hands in a cupped salute and spoke solemnly. "We will keep it firmly in mind... and ensure that Jin and Liang remain friends for generations."
"Friends for generations... heh." The unremarkable Knight gave a dry chuckle. "Let's hope so."
In any case, the five hostages arrived at Red Pine Martial Academy that same day.
It was raining at the Martial Academy when they arrived, too, and they were more than a month late for this intake's "admissions period"!
However, the Martial Academy did not recruit through a college entrance examination. Besides the main intake period, quite a few people entered at other times.
Especially since the five of them were "foreign martial artists," the rules were somewhat more relaxed.
When they registered their identities, the other four people from the Martial Academy disappeared, leaving only the unremarkable Knight to help with introductions and coordination.
Wu Youren's standing and status were both low, and he was the last to be settled in.
But after seeing the arrangements for the four before him, he had a rough idea of what treatment he would receive.
He was assigned to a four-person dormitory room already occupied by two youths from Liang. He was the third.
When the two learned that he came from Jin, they were noticeably indifferent toward him.
He did not mind, though. Fawning on the powerful and looking down on the lowly was human nature, especially here on Liang's soil.
The real question was whether these two had other, hidden identities or missions to carry out. That was hard to say.
As a newcomer, Wu Youren did not want to cause any trouble. It was best to keep as low a profile as possible at first.
He believed that those in the Martial Academy who knew their identities could not possibly stop observing the hostages for some time.
The night passed without incident. Early the next morning, Wu Youren went out to learn about the Martial Academy.
The entire Martial Academy covered roughly two square kilometers and had seven or eight thousand martial artists. Ninety percent were Knight Apprentices, while ten percent were Knights pursuing advanced studies.
There were over two thousand teachers, more than half of them above the Knight rank, as well as three or four thousand maintenance and service workers.
That was enough to call it a ten-thousand-person Martial Academy. Liang reportedly had eight Martial Academies of this level.
If one Martial Academy had two thousand Knights, would eight not have over ten thousand?
The good news was that the Martial Academy had a techniques hall where cultivation methods and combat techniques and tactics could be obtained through exchange.
Wu Youren found it somewhat unbelievable: would Liang let foreign students learn such things and take them away?
He had intended to investigate, but on second thought, he had only just arrived. There was no need to draw everyone's attention right away.
Asking directions along the way, he went to the academy administration hall to complete the procedures left unfinished the previous night.
These involved things like an identity token. One item worth mentioning was a communication wristwatch.
The vast majority of people in Liang had one, but the hostages in Jin Garden could forget about it.
The person who gave him the watch glanced at him and said meaningfully, "You'd best not damage it."
People in Liang bought their basic watches from the authorities.
Only foreign martial artists received this additional gift from Red Pine Martial Academy-it was all included in the hefty tuition fees.
But that glance made Wu Youren strongly suspect that his watch might have something extra added to it.
At least it was not as conspicuous as an electronic ankle monitor.
After that, Wu Youren spent almost an entire day looking around and roughly figured out the Martial Academy's basic functions.
Its structure was more like a martial arts hall. There were no classes or anything of the sort; martial artists sought out masters themselves.
As for how many years a martial artist had spent at the academy, one could only make a rough judgment based on dormitory assignments, and even that was not particularly accurate.
Only the academy administration possessed exact information. Ordinary students had no way of knowing.
The area where Wu Youren currently lived was one of the "new martial artist zones."
How did martial artists cultivate if they entered the academy without taking a master? The Martial Academy offered public lectures that students could attend.
Some public lectures were free, while others charged a fee.
The students' most basic duty was to participate in the Martial Academy's irregular combat assignments. As long as they passed, they could remain at the academy to study.
In short, studying at the Martial Academy depended entirely on self-discipline. Nobody forced anyone, and simply drifting through the days was also allowed.
Then why could the Martial Academy attract martial artists? Mainly because it had comprehensive cultivation facilities, and, more importantly-there was absolutely no shortage of sparring partners!
Practicing martial arts was not cultivating immortality, but methods, companions, wealth, and location still mattered.
For finding a suitable sparring partner, or several different types of opponents to spar with, the Martial Academy was the unrivaled choice.
Beyond that, the Martial Academy was a suitable place to socialize and find appropriate combat companions.
So, in essence, it was not an academy. It truly resembled a martial arts hall more, or perhaps a small society.
If someone did not want to work hard, absolutely nobody would supervise or pressure them.
In that respect, it was rather like paying for a gym membership. Whether one trained was entirely up to the individual.
Speaking of expenses, this was also a place where money flowed like water.
Before the hostages came, the Office of Protocol's people had told them that Liang had paid their basic room and board at the Martial Academy.
Besides maintaining basic appearances, this also emphasized its authority over them. There was no need to elaborate.
But those expenses were merely the basic requirement for entering the Martial Academy. Here, even a decent serving of meat had to be paid for out of one's own pocket.
Blood food, taking a master, hiring sparring partners, and such were where the real money went.
Wu Youren had dinner at the dining hall and felt... it was more or less the same as at the hostage residence.
He could not afford the paid food, so he could only gorge himself on the free food-quite a few martial artists did the same, so he did not particularly stand out.
He had not gone far from the dining hall when two people blocked his way. They were Feng Qianjun and He Wenhao. "Youren, wait."
Wu Youren looked left and right, feeling a little helpless. "Look, we've only just entered the academy. In theory, shouldn't we keep a lower profile?"
Back in Jin Garden, what Liang guarded against most was the hostages forming connections among themselves. Was this not going a little too far?
Feng Qianjun smiled unconcernedly. "This is only human nature. Surely you don't think keeping a low profile will put them at ease?"
Their identities were something they could not wash away. He believed they should do whatever they needed to do, as long as they did not step out of line.
He Wenhao also said, "Apart from the academy authorities, nobody else should be paying attention to us yet... The Martial Academy has plenty of people coming and going."
Put plainly: do not take yourself too seriously. This was not the hostage residence. Knight Apprentices were everywhere.
Wu Youren understood that too, so he nodded slightly. "All right, enough of that... What did you two want to see me about?"
"We do need to reduce our visible contact from now on," Feng Qianjun said solemnly. "But among ourselves, we need a proper framework!"
He felt that after the five hostages entered the Martial Academy, they could not simply be turned loose like sheep, each going his own way.
They should secretly establish a contact network, never forget their identities, and be able to advance and retreat together if anything happened.
But forming a small group required someone in charge, and Feng Qianjun felt: who else but me?
"I have no objections." Wu Youren did not dare have any, either. "But I think our priority in the short term should be fitting into the Martial Academy."
"Other actions can wait for now."
"Then, the funds for our activities..." He Wenhao trailed off. How could they accomplish anything in the Martial Academy without money?
Even after entering the Martial Academy, they still had to pay their contributions to the Hidden Dragon Plan, and the Office of Protocol's ten-percent cut could not be reduced either.
The only expense removed was the tribute to the guards-they were no longer in Jin Garden, beyond the guards' reach, so what right did the guards have to collect it?
For Wu Youren, he only needed to hand over seventy percent of his allowance. The remaining thirty percent, three times two made six... He could have six silver dollars a month!
Yet Feng Qianjun already had his eye on even this little money. That was really rather...
He nodded slightly. "We really shouldn't collect any, lest it draw attention."
Was that what I fucking meant? He Wenhao was a little speechless.
But he was not the one collecting the money, and Feng Qianjun himself had kept silent, leaving him to play the villain.
So he did not want to speak either-the one collecting the money could step forward himself.
"Anyway, let's keep in touch." Feng Qianjun was not annoyed. He really did not think much of a few silver dollars.
Back in Great Jin, that would not even cover a tip for a servant running an errand.
(Two updates at the start of the month. Please support with continued subscriptions, votes, and bookmarks.)