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0005: Wolven Trials

"Teacher!"

Baiyun watched as the kid ran off towards the temple doors, his little footsteps pattering. He followed speechlessly, placing the chair back into its original spot.

Now at the door, the kid closed his eyes and took a deep breath, gathering his qi. Then with a swift motion, he kicked the door with all his might! A loud bang echoed and the wind whistled. Above the door, two jewels lit up.

Baiyun shook his head. Challenging a mortal to a fight when he was that strong? Was the kid trying to kill him? In his past life, he certainly had seen his share of young masters who would not hesitate to tear servants from limb to limb, if not for the luxurious carpets beneath their feet.

A minute passed.

The martial elder shoved the door open, squatting down to the young boy with a grin. With his hand, he tousled the hair of the young boy who squirmed.

"What's wrong?"

The kid, whose eyes were red with hints of tears, seemed to grow more upset at those words.

"That servant over here, he was sleeping on your chair! When I challenged him to a fight to defend your honour, he refused!" he pointed to Baiyun.

The giant of an elder turned to look. Baiyun felt uneasy for a moment, but the man merely laughed.

"Hahaha! Then how should we punish him, Mo?"

But his voice was playful. Baiyun was relieved that the elder wasn't taking offence, but he felt annoyed right after. Why did he have to get caught up in this farce?

Mo thought for a good few moments but nothing came out of it.

"...hnn! I don't know! And stop calling me that, my name is Mohei!"

"You're giving up so easily?"

The elder flicked the boy in the forehead as he spoke.

"Gahhhh! Why'd you do that?" Mohei yelled.

But suddenly, his eyes lit up.

"Oh, I thought of something! That servant should make a new chair for you, one as good as yours!"

The elder flicked Mohei's forehead again.

"Ah! Stop doing that!"

Mohei rubbed the red spot on his forehead and glared at the elder with wronged eyes, but the Elder had already turned away.

"Baiyun!" the elder called to him.

"Yes, elder!" Baiyun said, as respectfully as he could.

Elder Guan Qiang beckoned for Baiyun to approach, then handed him a book.

"Take this and do the exercises here. I expect you to arrive an hour early each morning and practice until the rest of the disciples arrive!"

"Yes, elder!" Baiyun nodded.

The elder reached into his bag again and passed him a set of training attire.

"And wear these! You can change behind that corner."

Baiyun nodded yet again. He glanced at where the elder pointed and frowned slightly. Such a huge temple, and he couldn't be bothered to build a changing room for the disciples?

He reluctantly listened, walking over and hastily putting on the garments. In the background, he heard the slam of a door, likely Guan Qiang re-entering the temple.

They were form fitting plain grey robes, with long baggy pants beneath. Mohei glared at him as he walked out from the corner in his new attire, but Baiyun ignored him.

He stared at the book in hand, a worn out stack of paper bound by brown string titled "Basic Martial Training". He flipped through the pages and found many diagrams of basic punching and kicking routines with simple text descriptions.

Behind him, Mohei approached.

"You're a disciple here?"

Baiyun didn't answer. He followed the stretches shown on the first page. But he still remained vigilant, ready to dodge at any time, in case Mohei lost his temper and attacked.

"Why'd Master accept a servant like you anyway?"

Mohei walked a few circles around Baiyun and waved at him, then finally realised he was being ignored. He stomped his feet angrily.

Then, he stood brazenly in front of Baiyun and stuck out his tongue, copying the exercises but doing them 10 times faster. Baiyun was rendered speechless by the pettiness. At the very least, Mohei seemed to be a normal enough kid.

An hour passed shortly. One by one, disciples arrived, chattering to each other as they sat on the training grounds.

Mohei and Baiyun stared at each other, one indifferent and one frustrated, before the two of them joined the rest of the group.

Guan Qiang swung the temple doors open, and the disciples all stood up in unison.

"Good! Everyone is on time."

He nodded as he scanned each and every disciple. A few of the disciples nervously straightened up or tightened their untidy attire as his gaze landed on them.

"Today is a special day. We'll be doing actual combat training!"

Mumbles of dismay echoed through the crowd. Baiyun frowned. What exactly was that reaction? But noticing the elder's stare turning to him, he awkwardly put on a smile.

"But Elder!" a young girl suddenly called out. "We've only been training for a month. Shouldn't that be after 2 months of training?"

Baiyun was surprised. Were all the disciples here really that new? Then, what was with the strength Mohei showed?

"Oh? I thought you lot were ready, but it seems some of you aren't that confident. Very well, I won't force you. If you think you're behind the others, you can choose to sit aside." Guan Qiang laughed.

"Grr..."

The young girl grumbled but went silent. Baiyun shook his head internally.

Guan Qiang clapped once loudly, the force stirring up the fallen leaves scattered around.

"Wolves! Out!" he yelled.

Behind the temple doors, loud muffled howls could be heard. The doors swung open with 4 lights, two massive wolves revealing themselves.

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They were almost as tall as the Martial Elder, and the length of two grown men lying down. Around their necks were loose collars with jades hanging from them.

But behind them, a pack of small wolf pups rushed past them. They were fully covered in leather armour and furs, with mask-like white helmets that lacked eyeholes. Even their ears were covered, appearing as two horn-like cones. Latches in the helmet allowed their mouths to open, revealing their tongue and sharp teeth as they panted.

Baiyun was stunned. The elder was pitting children against spirit beasts? And those helmets... did they suppress the sight and hearing of the wolves, forcing them to hone their qi sense instead? It seemed this was training for the wolves as well.

At the very least, the young beasts were no larger than the disciples.

"Ahh! Wolves!"

Some of the children began to shout and cry as the wolves rushed over, the giant ones following right behind. The young beasts then ran back to the elder's feet and sat, wagging their tails respectfully.

"Stop crying!"

The disciples quickly stifled their tears as Guan Qiang stared sternly at them.

"Each of you will face a wolf in combat shortly. The wolves are well armoured and can resist even the attacks of Foundational cultivators, so go all out!"

As the elder spoke, he pulled out neck guards from his bag, tossing them towards each of the disciples accurately. The children scrambled to catch theirs, but most weren't as quick as Baiyun with the elixir, so many neck guards tumbled to the ground.

Baiyun put his around his neck. How ironic for the elder's pets to be better armoured than his disciples.

"Baiyun!" Guang Qiang interrupted his thoughts. "You are new here, but I won't permit you to skip this practice."

The disciples stared at him in surprise.

Baiyun felt uneasy, but nodded as he held back a frown. Did Guan Qiang "throw the kids to the wolves" early merely as an excuse to test the claims Earthquake told him? Most likely, the spirit had found the corpse of the spider he dispatched.

It was certain the elder thought he had some rare constitution or talent for combat. He took a deep breath. Truthfully, he would have preferred not to draw attention. Drawing the attention of elders would only make it harder for him to do anything secretively. But if it came down to it, playing the role of a talented combat servant could also lead to certain opportunities.

"Yes, elder!"

Guan Qiang nodded.

"Do your warm ups! Combat training begins immediately after!"

"Yes, master!" the disciples echoed.

Baiyun had already done his warm ups, but he followed anyway. He watched the other disciples carefully, noting down the small mistakes he had made and correcting his movements.

From the corner of his eye, he saw the little wolves doing warm ups of their own as well, supervised by the giant wolves. Baiyun's eyes twitched.

Meanwhile, Guan Qiang checked on each of the disciples, ensuring they had worn their neck guards properly. He chided a few of them, straightening and tightening the collars despite their protests.

"You think it's hard to breathe? It'd be harder to breathe with your throat torn out!"

The disciples were frightened and quickly tightened their neck guards.

Soon, the warm ups were complete. Both the wolf pups and the disciples paced about. But the wolves paced out of impatience and excitement, and the disciples out of anxiety.

The elder nodded and crossed his arms.

"Warm ups are complete. Who will volunteer to go first?"

The disciples stared at each other uncertainly.

But Mohei looked up with a smug grin on his face.

"I will go first!" he announced.

Baiyun noticed Mohei was sneaking glances at him, but he ignored them.

"Very well!"

Guan Qiang walked over to Mohei and ruffled his hair, ignoring the boy's squirms.

"Baiyun, you're up first!" the elder yelled.

What? Baiyun was stunned.

"Huh?!" Mohei yelled. "Master, that's unfair!"

"Be quiet." the elder shooed the boy away as he stomped indignantly.

Baiyun sweated a little. He was now certain the elder only pushed the lessons ahead to test him! What an irresponsible man... Truthfully, he would have preferred to watch another disciple face the wolves first, then gleam what he could from that.

Guang Qiang was likely overestimating him, not realising another beast had done most of the damage to the spider.

As Baiyun stepped forward, one of the small wolves leapt over to face him. He could not see its eyes, but even with the mask between them, he could sense its cautious gaze.

Behind him, he heard a loud thud followed by clattering metal. He turned around and saw a weapon rack tipping back and forth, rattling noisily. Guan Qiang pulled it out from his bag moments ago and tossed it onto the ground carelessly.

"Take your weapon of choice or go unarmed!" the elder boomed.

It would be suicidal to go unarmed. Baiyun looked through the arsenal of weapons and had a moment of indecision.

In the thousands of years he had lived, he always scoffed those pursuing the mastery of combat. An old memory of something he said in his younger years came to mind.

"Combat techniques? They are merely a waste of time. In the time they spend honing their techniques, I'll cultivate beyond their reach and crush them with sheer might!"

Baiyun sighed to himself on the inside.

Those arrogant words would still hold true if he was an elite of a powerful sect, with boundless talent and plentiful resources. But he was now a pitiful servant, unable to even cultivate normally.

Wanting to overwhelm his opponents with superior cultivation was just a distant dream now.

On the rack before him, there was not a single weapon he was proficient in. He did know some combat arts, but they were mostly spells, something he could not use now.

The closest thing to a weapon he had used was a smithing hammer, along with farming implements. Back in his younger years in his past life, he originally aspired to be a blacksmith. But after facing a major setback, he gave up, switching to alchemy instead.

...

"Indecision?" the martial elder asked.

Only a few seconds had passed, but he sensed the boy's hesitation.

Baiyun shook his head and grabbed a small mace. Now was not the time to reminisce. Against leather armour supposed to resist even the attacks of a Foundational cultivator, sharp weapons would be useless. Blunt weapons were far more likely to be painful.

Or at least, that was how he assumed it worked.

Mixed in the crowd, Mohei suddenly tiptoed, cupping his hands to shout.

"Hah! What a tiny weapon! Perfect for a weakling like you!"

Baiyun ignored him. He scanned the rack one last time and grabbed a wooden shield as well, then nodded to the elder.

"I'm ready."

"Good. Anything goes in this fight." Guan Qiang said. "Whoever gives up or is incapacitated loses. After I count to 5, the fight starts!”

The elder took several steps back, and the disciples quietened. He began to count down.

"Five!"

...

"Four!"

...

"Three!"

Baiyun got into a defensive stance, holding up his shield towards his opponent. The small wolf turned to one of the larger wolves briefly as if to look for affirmation, then back toward Baiyun. Then it snarled at Baiyun, baring its teeth.

"Two!"

Baiyun took a step forward as the wolf arched its back.

"One!" Guang Qiang yelled. "Begin!"

The wolf took off with a growl, disappearing into a blur as it lunged at Baiyun. There was no time to dodge or react. He felt a powerful force slam into his shield, sending him airborne! Baiyun grunted as he hit the ground with a painful thud, his shield spinning away out of the reach.

He groaned at the pain that shot through his body, but the wolf did not wait. It shot forward towards the fallen boy with its teeth bared once more.

A strange air suddenly surrounded Baiyun, time seemingly slowing.

He swung his mace towards its head with all his might. But as it slammed into the pup's mask, its teeth had already sunken into his leg. The wolf was disorientated by the blow and jumped aside, but the damage was already done.

“Ahhhhh!” the children screamed.

Baiyun winced as white hot pain shot through his leg, crimson blood dyeing his robes. Some of the children even began to cry. At the corner of his eye, he saw Mohei covering his mouth, but he had no time to pay heed to that.

The wolf narrowed its eyes beneath the mask.

Prey.

With its fastest lunge yet, it disappeared into a blur of grey.

But it was not the delight of ripping flesh that greeted its mouth.

Baiyun reacted with inhuman speed, raising the mace towards it before it had even lunged. By its own momentum, the wolf forced the weapon down its throat!

"Hrkkk!"

The wolf toppled onto the ground and clawed at the weapon in panic. But Baiyun's eyes were cold. He ignored his wounded leg and got up. He pressed the beast down with a foot and grasped the mace tightly, holding it in place.

It did not show him mercy when he was down, so neither would he.

"Stop! Baiyun wins!" Guan Qiang declared.

Baiyun finally let go of the wolf and it spat out the mace with a choked whimper.

Mohei and the disciples stared at him in shock as his leg continued to bleed profusely.

He breathed heavily, his heart thumping like a drum. He was just as shocked as them by his own victory; that decisive move of his was mostly by impulse.

One of the giant wolves stared at Baiyun with killing intent as the little one ran to it pitifully. But just as quickly as he sensed it, it faded away.