Chapter 7: Formal Training

  Without any prior notice, on a certain m—when everyone had expected the instructor to lead them in martial practice—a lecturer suddenly arrived and gathered everyone in the main hall for a lesson.

  This lecture had nothing to do with the Imperial Heaven Scripture everyone had beeing before. Instead, the lecturers discussed very practical trainihods:

  For example, breathing teiques to serve stamina; methods of exerting force by using the correct muscles; and ways to protee’s joints. And so on.

  Most of the group felt perplexed. They had all experienced a long trek while fleeing from the Northern Frontier and had each developed their own uanding of how to serve energy and protect themselves. So why was Hanging Fate Manor pg sun emphasis on these most fual teiques?

  —What did it mean? It meant the good days were over!

  Only a small portion of the group, including An Jing, became alert. They realized this was a signal. An Jing carefully noted every teique the lecturers taught, even if he had already learned most of them before. He still wao fill in any gaps and pick up anything useful.

  That very afternoon, everyone—including An Jing—truly uood just how formidable the “formal training” could be.

  The one leading the team that day was her than the one-eyed instructor. “Our Hanging Fate Manor has always held to the principle of seleg the best from among the best. We prefer quality over quantity wheowing the true legacy to formal disciples. Siamina and enduran the foundation of our martial system, running a plete physical drill all at oesting everyone’s limits—is absolutely essential.”

  “Right now,” he tinued, “we’ll run up and down the mountaiimes.”

  When he finished speaking, he led the way himself at a run. An Jing, as the de facto leader at the head of the group, could only follow suit.

  Now he uood: the half-month of retive ease had merely been a way to let this new batch of disciples recover physically, get enough rest, and develop some initial sense of unity.

  Essentially, it was all about ying groundwork—so they wouldn’t end up urinating blood as soon as they trained, or colpsing from suddeion if the iy went up!

  Truth be told, after experieng the Frost Camity, esg from the Northern Frontier, and then being specifically chosen by Hanging Fate Manor, most of these Children of Camity were quite gifted, with strong endurand willpower—not to mentio physical strength.

  Moreover, that half-month of rest had not weakeheir stamina. On the trary, it had substantially improved it.

  These carefully selected boys and girls were ier shape than many adults.

  However, Hanging Fate Manor was located deep among the mountains, and the slope of the path leading up and ded between twelve to twenty degrees—some ses were nearly sheer.

  One round trip spanned over five li ed mountain roads.

  Running ten of those round trips under such harsh ditions… by any measure, it sounded extreme.

  Worse yet, they had to match the instructor’s pace. They could not slow down; if they fell behind, they would drop out.

  Sure enough, before pleting even four round trips, some people had already slowed to a jog aually fell behind, uo keep running.

  By the sixth or seventh round trip, over half of them had colpsed.

  “The passing mark is probably just finishing half, right?”

  At that point, An Jing still had plenty of strength to spare.

  After all, he had practiced martial arts. Fifty li of mountainous terrain would at most tire him out. The breathing aion teiques he had mastered made it easier for him to keep going. He even had the energy to gnce back at his panions to see who had potential.

  When he did, he reized a few familiar faces.

  First, there were two from his same dormitory: Zhang Ying and Ye Xiuyuan.

  Zhang Ying’s family had been hunters in the mountains. Since childhood, he had followed his parents through rough terrain, so naturally his stamina was good. Although he looked out of breath, his steps were steady.

  He was rather straightforward by nature. He had once felt unvinced about An Jing’s status as “Senior Brother” and “leader.” On the sed day after arriving at the manor, he challenged An Jing to a test of strength. An Jing pressed him down with one hand until Zhang Ying’s legs nearly buckled. From then on, Zhang Ying accepted An Jing as his “Big Brother” and stuck by his side.

  Ye Xiuyuan, oher hand, came from a family of schors and was rather reserved, yet very clever.

  An Jing khat before Zhang Ying challenged him, Zhang Ying had spoken with a group led by Ye Xiuyuan. Once Zhang Yied the waters, Ye Xiuyuan alsnized An Jing’s leadership, calling him “Big Brother.” In fact, he often took the initiative to decre that everything should be do An Jing’s dire—like a pnted agent helping reinfor Jing’s authority. Without that, it might have been much harder for An Jing to secure his position as “Senior Brother.”

  Ye Xiuyuan’s stamina was not impressive; even after half a month of rest, he was still quite thin. However, he had memorized every teique the lecturers had demonstrated. He spent the m and lunchtime practig them, and—somehow—he mao keep pace, following right behind An Jing.

  Besides those two, there was also a young woman named Gu Yeqi running close behind An Jing.

  She was from An Jing’s hometown and was the one whose chilbins had been healed. She was a year youhan An Jing. After seeing him haggle with the one-eyed instructor, selling himself for his mother’s sake, she greatly admired him and began following him everywhere.

  Gu Yeqi’s entire family had once served a rge medial estate. Their lineage possessed a set of ied martial arts—though not very advanced, it gave her a solid foundation. Like Zhang Ying, she was obviously gasping for air, yet still mao persist.

  Notig An Jing’s gnce, she beamed a wide smile at him.

  Out of these three, Ye Xiuyuan sted until about the seventh-and-a-half round trip before his eyes rolled bad he fainted. Gu Yeqi endured until almost the ninth. Zhang Ying could have finished all ten alongside An Jing if he hadn’t tripped himself. But once you took a hard fall at that stage, it usually meant you passed out shortly thereafter.

  It was at that moment they fully uood why the manor was named “Hanging Fate.”

  An hour ter, out of more than two hundred people, only fourteen remaianding after pleting the entire run.

  “This many?”

  The one-eyed instructor seemed surprised. He had not run slowly—he had even accelerated toward the end. C over fifty li of mountain roads in under an hour, half of it uphill and half downhill, was well beyond what an ordinary person of Great could manage.

  Only truly exceptional children could finish the full run.

  He could not help but ugh. “You really are a talented batch. More than half of you ran at least half the distance, and fourteen of you still had energy left at the end. Across the past ten years, none of the groups bined matched what you’ve just done.”

  Immediately after, though, he wore a rather troubled expression. “But now, how should I decide who’s the standout leader?”

  At those words, An Jing remained motionless, merely lifting his brow ever so slightly. The other thirteen who pleted the entire run all turheir heads at once, fog their gaze on him.

  The one-eyed instructor looked at An Jing as well. A grin tugged at his lips. He waved his hand. “tinue! Head back to the manor and lift the stone locks two huimes!”

  Three more people colpsed uhe strain of lifting stone locks, but the training did not stop: two hundred repetitions of wielding a long staff, two hundred punches in horse stawo huone-lock squats in pce… Before he passed out, An Jing found himself lost in thought: “Are we really going to do this every day from now on?”

  Even he felt a trace of dread when faced with such a brutal, old-schimen that practically targeted the legs in every possible way.

  But he did not have time to dwell on it for long.

  Because ohird day, ten people applied to challenge An Jing’s position as “Senior Brother.”

  (End of Chapter)