In case if you guys are confused with the categorisation, you can check here.
Inner Strength: Human Body (normal people), Iron Body, Marble Body, Jade Body, Beast Body, Fiend Body, Celestial Body, Immortal Body.
Qi: Blue I, Blue II, Blue III, Perfect Blue I, Perfect Blue II, Perfect Blue III, White I, White II, White III, Perfect White I, Perfect White II, Perfect White III, Formless I, Formless II, Formless III, Perfect Formless I, Perfect Formless II, Perfect Formless III
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I heard esteemed elder is looking for us." Yiqi cupped his hands as he bowed.
"Come and take a seat, I'm not going to eat you two up. Let's just have a chat." Old Sir Lu laughed as he saw Muyou and Yiqi's tensed expression.
As Muyou and Yiqi sat themselves beside Old Sir Lu, Muyou could not help but to ask for the reason of this meeting.
"Have you heard of the Panther Guards?" Old Sir Lu asked. Muyou and Yiqi nodded their heads. "Panther Guards are the auxiliary force of the Song Dynasty in charge of the Southern Province. They are the most powerful force in the Southern Province." Muyou answered.
"Not quite not quite." Old Sir Lu shook his head. "Panther Guards is not just Song Dynasty's auxiliary force in the Southern Province. Panther Guards is also the the elite military unit of Song Dynasty in charge of Southern Province."
"Are you here to recruit us into Panther Guards?" Yiqi asked.
Old Sir Lu let out a huge laugh as he proceeded to sip his tea.
"Do you think anyone can just enter Panther Guards? With your standards, you will most likely die in the first mission."
After hearing that, Muyou and Yiqi's expressions sunk. Old Sir Lu's words were like cold water, dampening their mood.
"Don't worry though, very few people enter Panther Guards directly. I am here to invite the both of you to join Panther Academy. I am an elder in that academy and you can address me as Elder Lu."
Panther Academy, that was new information for Muyou and Yiqi.
"Panther Academy recruits only the top young talents from all over the Southern Province. Based on the competition just now, only the both of you qualify to enter. As long as you are below 20 years old and a citizen of Song dynasty, nothing else matters. Inside there, we will provide the best teachers, best training and materials to groom you. That is why, even sects will send their best students to Panther Academy for training."
"After 2 years in the Academy, you will then spend another 2 years being attached to a Panther Guards unit. If you pass the evaluation in the 2 years of attachment, you will officially be promoted to the Panther Guards. After being promoted, you will then choose to serve in the Panther Guards under different schemes."
Muyou and Yiqi were intrigued, however they were worried about their freedom being restricted.
Muyou asked "If we join Panther Academy and then the Panther Guards, will we be confined to it forever? Will we be able to join another sect or follow another master in the future?"
"HAHAHA! Panther Guards never restrict one's freedom." Elder Lu laughed. "After the 4 years, which path you choose will be up to you. That is why, many grandmasters in Southern Province are actually part of the Panther Guards. However, if you are to continue serving Panther Guards, there will obviously be more benefits. Only in crucial events, such as a foreign invasion, then there will be an activation by the Panther Guards. Other than that, you are free as the clouds."
"There is a reason why most sects send their young disciples to Panther Academy. The training in Panther Academy will ensure your growth to explode. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I will be heading back to Panther Academy tomorrow, if you accept this invitation, you two meet me at City Governor Office tomorrow noon. I hope you two will not waste this opportunity."
Muyou and Yiqi rose and bowed to Elder Lu. "We will join Panther Academy! Tomorrow we will meet Elder Lu again."
Elder Lu smiled, it was an unexpected surprise that he could find 2 talents in this Glory Marsh City competition.
Later that night, in the backyard of Lin Clan Manor, there were 3 people admiring the moon and the starry skies.
"I did not expect that both of you would be accepted into Panther Academy. Congrats to you two again." Donghai said as he waved his fan.
"Thanks, what is your plan now though? Did any sects approach you?" Yiqi asked. In fact, Muyou and Yiqi could not bear to part with Donghai, they really hoped that Donghai would be recruited into Panther Academy with them.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
"There are numerous sects who approached me, in fact I even had an offer from the Shiquan Sect. However, I rejected all of their offers for now." Donghai sighed. "With the Lin Clan declining as each day passes, this clan is the greatest worry of mine. Although I can join Shiquan Sect to raise Lin Clan's prominence, but I'm afraid the Lin Clan cannot sustain much longer if I were to join Shiquan. Thus I have decided to remain back until Lin Clan's financial status stabilises."
Donghai's plight was indeed quite pitiful. Most young masters were supported by the clan, but Donghai was already supporting the clan at such a young age.
"It's alright though, I will continue to train hard. Not only will I be the wealthiest merchant in Glory Marsh City, I will also aim to be the strongest martial artist in Glory Marsh City!" Donghai said proudly.
"How can you be limited to just this Glory Marsh City! When we come back next time, you will help us in fulfilling our dreams in conquering this jianghu!" Muyou roared.
"HAHA, sure thing. What can we do next time?"
"Why don't we wander around the Jianghu and defeat all the experts?"
"I don't like that, why don't we create a sect. Let's make our sect the strongest in the Jianghu, that will be true pinnacle."
"What an ambitious dream! Seems like I have to start amassing money for the construction!"
"Then we will depend on you hahaha!"
The night passed as the three good friends continued to talk about their future ambitions. 3 young kids talking about conquering Jianghu.
Next day early morning, Muyou and Yiqi had already arrived at the City Governor Office.
"I see that you two are eager to join." Elder Lu nodded. "Guess we can leave now."
After bidding goodbye with Donghai and the city governor, Tai Sheng, Muyou and Yiqi climbed into a carriage with Elder Lu sat inside. The carriage looked very plain and normal, did not look like a carriage befitting of the status of the Panther Academy. Moreover, they only had 2 panther guards escorting their carriage.
The journey to Panther Academy took roughly about a month. Thanks to the 2 panther guards, nobody dared to disturb the carriage. During this month, Muyou and Yiqi learnt much more about cultivation and the jianghu. Other than Panther Academy, each province had their own academy too, for example the Eagle Academy for the Eagle Guards in the Eastern Province.
They had also learnt that there was a general classification to classify a person's strength. Out of the 150 conventional meridian points, if a person had unblocked 25-50 meridian points, he would be given the term Iron Body. 50-75 a Marble Body, 75-100 a Jade Body. After a person had unblocked 100 meridian points, the person's inner strength and body would undergo a tremendous transformation. The person's inner strength would be much more deadly than before and breakthroughs would be even harder. After that 100-110 would be termed as Beast Body, 110-120 Fiend Body, 120-130 Celestial Body and 140-150 Immortal Body. Muyou and Yiqi had already reached Iron Body, however Grandmaster Hong had helped them unblocked the secret 8 meridian points, causing their inner strength to be monstrous compared to a typical Iron Body. Elder Lu too suspected that their inner strength was too powerful for an Iron Body, however when he inspected their meridian points, he could only sense the 150 conventional meridian points and missed out on the 8 secret meridian points.
Elder Lu had also explained the theory of Qi to them. Qi unlike Inner Strength, did not originate from one's body, but from the external World. Qi cultivation techniques like the Yin-Yang Qi were to help the cultivator to absorb Qi from the surrounding into their Dantians and transformed it into their own Qi. Qi's growth was even slower and tougher than Inner Strength. Most people could never grasp the concept of Qi. One had to condense their Qi in their dantians to a point where it became thick enough which would then turn into perfect Qi, and had to do this for all 3 dantians. Once it had become perfect blue Qi, then the cultivator had to learn a new "White Qi Cultivation Technique" to cause the perfect blue Qi to breakthrough into White Qi. Qi cultivation techniques were only effective for specific tiers; blue, white and formless. If a person had 1 dantian of perfect Blue Qi, he would be at the Perfect Blue I, 2 dantian of perfect Blue Qi would be Perfect Blue II and 3 dantian of perfect Blue Qi would be Perfect Blue III. For Muyo and Yiqi who had only grasped the 3 dantians and still cultivating their Blue Qi, they were at Blue III. If they had a breakthrough to condense 1 dantian of perfect Blue Qi, they would advance to Perfect Blue I.
For Muyou and Yiqi who were at Blue III and had an Inner Strength that seemed higher than Iron Body, Elder Lu had high expectations of them. Out of all the this year's new recruits in Panther Academy, Elder Lu was confident that they would rank within the top 10.
After 1 month of listening to Elder Lu's stories of the numerous prodigies in Panther Academy, Muyou and Yiqi were very excited about entering Panther Academy.