I took a quick look at the tent city, it ranged for hundreds of meters. Little tan and white tents like a sea of large grass. Stalks of humans weaving in and out as the wind blew in. Turning my eyes to the left of the great sea of tents, were people training. They look disorderly and ruin the visages to the right. The brown dirt kicked up as few people spar.
Compared to past military training facilities, well Earth, this depicted a poorly put together outpost. Sitting to the right of the tent city is a large ship hovering over the dark green grass, looking like a giant behemoth roaring into the sky.
The Pervert stood on the hill overlooking his shitty outpost with pride. He looked down at me and found my face as a stark resemblance of a calm pond.
“We are just picking up the last person here, which is you. Cough, let’s go down.” He lost his thought and rushed down.
I chuckled in my heart as we reached the gate of the tent city.
“Pack up. We are returning!” The man bellowed and reached back for me but missed.
He grumbled and as he clenched and unclenched his fingers as if he expected to grasp something.
Two men with rugged appearance halted a step before the man and bowed.
“General Zhou Chang, is he the last one?” the one with the scar across his cheek asked.
General Zhou looked at me after puffing his chest but deflated upon seeing me not even paying attention to them.
How could he even compare to some of the succulent women who had trained a level of fitness where their asses were perfectly round and breast floated as if they defied the heavens since birth.
Tsk, I knew I made the right decision.
“Yes, he is the promising kid I mentioned before.” he said with a teary-eyed expression. “Anyway, let’s not waste time. It is a three week journey back and I don’t want to let my brother claim all the good missions.” He clapped his hands as if to wipe away the emotions of the past.
They had already taken dozens of steps towards the flying ship when he realized I was still watching the women take down their tents.
“Young man!” he snorted, his voice traveling across the distance to explode in my ear.
I jerked, bringing out my short sword in defensive posture. Flames surrounded me in an instant, leaving only contours of my body visible.
“Wow, he has a pretty good reaction.” the unscarred man said.
“Yeah but he takes a little too much after our General.” the scarred man said.
General Zhou lips twisted into grimace, “Get your butt over here!”
I coughed and sheath my sword before appearing by his side as the flames faded away into petals that drifted on the afternoon breeze.
All the women stopped what they were doing to watch the red-orange petals drift past them. Fading away at some point like melted snow under the beaming light of the arrogant sun.
I smirked and walked towards the spirit vessel, every step, more petals drifted up and away.
General Zhou fists clenched so hard that the air could be heard exploding within.
“Fucking show off at such a young age.”
“How old is he?” the scarred man pointed out
General Zhou starred both of his right and left hands down before marching forward.
“The brat around twelve or eleven summers.”
Both men's eyes widened as they thought back to their younger days and they were merely body tempering experts at that age. They nodded their heads and whispered.
“He must be from some clan in the central kingdom.” Scarred man suggested
“A big shot illegitimate son. Just look at his skin color.” The other man pointed out.
“Mm, you are right. That’s barbarian coloring.. Isn’t it said that it is usually extremely hot year round in the south?”
“I heard from my sister’s friend that a lot of powerful tribes exist in the south. They have this powerful fire arts that is boosted with their bloodline power. Maybe..”
“Will you both shut the hell up?!” General Zhou spun around on the ramp leading up.
He sighed loud enough to cause people to cover their ears as blood trickled out.
**
I stood on the deck going through tai chi like dance. It was taught to me by my father then perfected by what I had experienced in previous life.
There had been this one guy who came from a rich ancient martial arts family background, an asian. He set up a dojo for more money but it was more of a traditional showy art rather than realistic street fight art. However, the purpose of it was to stretch and work your muscle groups and give rhythm to your body groups.
In fact, it was an excellent way of harmonizing martial skills in this world. For example, flame lotus dance in the Heavenly Sins scripture is an extremely offensive moveset without a decent movement technique.
Maybe they did not provide a body movement technique because there was one within the movements but could it realistically be compared to an extensive movement technique? The answer is no, if I didn’t modify cloud stepping art into Lotus adrift art, then I might have been at a disadvantage.
Now though, as I danced in the morning sun and petals scattered around me, making me look like I was playing pirate in autumn leaf piles. I realized the slight differences between me and these veteren soldiers.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
While my father taught me to lose excess movements when striking from the shadows, he also told me that dawn is beautiful because it is showy. If I am like a flower that blossoms, then nobody will notice the thorns hidden below.
They were like big showy tigers and bulls. Each of their strikes disturb the air, scaring the birds from the nest. Each of their kicks cause dust storms. At the end of their practice, they are sweaty and gleaming like frozen chunks of ice set out under a hot sun. What I mean to say in simple terms is their moveset is telegraph.
I came to a stop and grabbed a towel off the towering pillar bottom ring, where the ropes are usually attached to. I began drying the sweat from my body as General Zhou walked over, while acting like he had not watched me since I woke up.
I've seen all kinds of perverts before but this guy really scared me. Reminded me of the rumors that priests take little choir boys into the back to teach them about the word of God. If it wasn’t for the two people by his side, I might have jumped off the ship.
Cough, I wasn’t an extremist but I heard women cry during anal sex and that’s when they had lube and all kinds of understanding to prep them. What kind of knowledge did these guys have? It is better to be an extremist than to be forever imprinted.
“This is my disciple, Fan Wen, and my daughter, Zhou Wuhan.” General Zhou folded his arms over his chest as if he had a lot of bragging right.
I glanced at Fan Wen who looked a little rough but seemed sort of impressive. The girl was pretty and could probably be considered top beauty in some city but she was only heavy in the front. Just stepping to the side and glancing at her bottom that didn’t add any drag to the clothes she wore, was a tell tale sign.
She wasn’t my type at all.
“I see you were training. It’s best to work out your flaws with someone experienced watching. Spar with my disciple here and it's okay if you can’t hold out. I’ll still be able to see your imperfections and give you precise help.” General Zhou had a weird smile on his face as he pushed his disciple out.
I took a drink before placing my stuff down and walking to empty space. Let’s get this easy fight over with.
Fan Wen took an easy stance. A horse stance with his fist near his navel and his other before him, he did this weird pre-dance.
I tilted my head and thought this clown wouldn’t even start before I grew up and became a man again. I shifted my body to the side and began walking towards him. He looked at me weird but had a sneer on his face.
When I got in range, he took a step forward with his left leg and I saw his right arm arch back where his elbow was behind him. Even though he jabbed with his left arm, it was an obvious feint.
Just like I thought, his right leg stepped forward, feet digging into the wooden deck as his right fist shot through the air.
Impressive display of traditional fighting technique.
Too bad. Too bad.
I crouched and spun a low kick at the side of his overextended knee. Listening to him suck in a breath as his left leg staggered to the left and he lifted his weight off the right. His punch didn’t even make it to me before it lost its power.
I grabbed his wrist before he could pull back and pulled him forward. Throwing him further off balance and then I rain palm strikes into his chest like I am the IP Man.
He coughed out blood as he staggered backwards from my blows, I walked him all the way until he collapsed on his ass. I spun on my left leg, sending a knee strike towards his temple when someone grabbed my knee.
I knew it wasn’t the lass because I heard her gasp when Fan Wen spitted out the blood. I wiped my tinted eyes of the red and looked at Fan Wen’s savior. The scarred guy who met me outside the ship.
He dropped my knee and threw a simple punch at me that was much faster than the Fan Wen’s. It didn’t have any wind blocking it.
I stepped in and to the side, letting it roll past my ear. I barely got my hands up in cupping motion to receive his knee strike that lifted me in the air. My cupping hands change directions upon catching sight of his other fist coming at the corner of my vision.
Like cotton receiving an egg, I absorbed his punch and allowed the force to push me away. The scarred man grunted and took a step forward. He gave me not a single break. His attacks were all lethal but I could feel that he was holding back. He felt stronger, as strong as the General, but I could clearly see he was keeping his power at the range of a Peak Golden Core.
Or else, I would have been flatten easily.
We dance across the deck, both taking the quickest and easiest method of attack or defense. Only putting in enough effort to dissolve the attacks or cast them, but as I was on defense, he would surely tire first. Regardless of it he was a Nascent Soul expert or not.
“That’s enough!” General Zhou's voice sounded like a cannon going off.
I dropped into a low crouch, taking deep breaths, slow breaths to even out my breathing. I felt sweat dripping into the cut on my cheek from his first punch. However, I still kept my guard up as he hadn’t lowered his attacker stance.
Fucker testing me like this. Such a petty move.
“Good lad. Very Good.” General Zhou clapped but there was a frown on his face as he looked at his disciple.
“Wuhan, go show…” General Zhou paused and turned to me. “I didn’t even ask your name, did I?”
I laughed and straightened up, “Quinn.”
He nodded and waved at me, “Go take Quinn to register and get his clothing and badge. Also, take him down to the blacksmith and tell the blacksmith I owe this kid two customizable Grade 7 weapons.”
Zhou Wuhan pouted in a cute way before beckoning to me. She skipped off and I followed. She led the way down as if she was too proud to initiate a conversation with me. Zhou Wuhan pointed at an old man sleeping on a chair behind a counter.
“Old man Lu, got someone for you.” She said in that kind of voice that made people feel like she was trying to be cute and young while looking old.
I shivered and turned to the old man. He got up and studied me for a second before disappearing into the back. He came back with a blue satchel with dragon emblem and four military tunics, pants, caps, and boots.
He passed a shield shape badge to me that had two swords cross on it.
“Put a drop of blood on the badge.” the old man croaked out.
I pulled out a dagger and poked my finger before squeezing a little drop of blood onto it. It flashed bright blue before settling down.
“The badge has several functions, one for identification, two for recording your achievements at all times, three for allowing you to pass messages between your commander, squad, and/or partner. Four, for being a beacon. The sixth and seventh are just things to ensure the badge isn’t lost and placed in enemies hands.” The old man spoke out in a very hoarse voice.
Old man Lu passed over the satchel first. “You are given a storage bag which can hold four barrels worth of stuff, four uniforms, and a badge. Go down to the blacksmith to pick up your one weapon.” The old man passed it over as he spoke.
I put the stuff into the satchel and hung it from my shoulder.
Zhou Wuhan led me to the blacksmith next.
“This is our best Blacksmith, he repairs weapons and on the occasions makes them to sell. Old man Xue, this lad has specific order. Two custom grade seven weapons.”
The burly blacksmith was flipping through a thick book while leaning on a counter. He looked up from it and smiled at me before grabbing a pencil and thick parchment.
“Describe it for me..”
“I can draw it out for you, which would be best.” I interrupted.
Old man Xue passed it over without further ado, I began sketching out the short sword in the pattern of katana, and a recurve bow I saw used for practice during an olympic competition. Even though they used a more modern design bow, this should be about the same in power.
Xue questioned me on length and I showed him my arm as a comparison, he took out a jar of strings and measured it before nodding, making notes in a corner.
“Take two days for the sword. Four days for the bow as I have to temper the wood.” He waved us away as he studied my design.
Next place she took me was where everybody got their pills and elixirs. I pocketed my set, and then was led to the dining hall and from there to a room which I seemed to share with two others. They took one look at me before closing their eyes. This room was much better than the big area I lived in before.
I put my stuff down and began practicing just like these fellas.