If he was attracting attention before, well, now, he was the center of it. This foul mouthed loli really had a way with words. He couldn't help but smile at the irony of him being publicly grilled by a little girl. Obviously, that made her even more furious as she began to stomp on the ground. She was truly a kid.

Jin chuckled as he answered: " I'm here for the lesson, what else? "

She looked at him like at an idiot. Of course, she knew he was here for the lesson. Why else would he be here?! Did he take her for a fool?! Was he making fun of her?! She took a deep breath to calm herself and tried to speak without screaming. She tried. She succeeded but the anger was still felt and the tone was still not far from a scream: " Why are you not sitting on a mat? "

Jin nodded at the question. Indeed, why wasn't he? He was clueless too. If he had known, he would have asked for one wherever he was supposed to get one. He just didn't know about it. So, he answered truthfully: "I don't have a mat and wasn't aware I needed one. As you know, I don't know much about all this and just entered the sect "

The calm tone and easy explanation made the little girl relax. She acknowledged what he said and thought he might make sense. Mats were given to new disciples but there really shouldn't be many new disciples starting straight from the inner court... Maybe they forgot to give him a mat or to even tell him about it as it was something so obvious to everyone here.

She decided to forgive his transgression since it seemed like it couldn't be helped. Still, she didn't want him to remain sitting on the ground. If the teaching elder saw a disciple sitting on the ground, dirtying the robe...and an inner sect one at that...doing it during his lesson...

It might end up badly for everyone.

She decided to take one for the team and, as the senior sister, guide this poor lamb of an idiot little brother. She quickly took a pose that she believed highlighted her seniority. Which to Jin was just a little girl trying to act big and was no more than a funny and usual sight. And she said: "It can't be helped then, come with me, my mat is big enough for us two. Once we finish the lesson, I will take you to get one of your own "

While Jin didn't really care about it, it's true that he didn't feel that good being the only one without a mat. And since she was being nice and helpful, he had no reasons to reject her. What's more, she was closer to the front than he was considering the direction she came from so he would likely hear and see better from over there. As such, he got up, slightly dusted his robe, bowed slightly and thanked her: "I appreciate your kindness, thank you"

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The little girl nodded at his polite speech and told him to follow her as she led the way. As such, under the gaze of just about everyone, the inner court youth went to sit on the petite girl's mat with her, far closer to the teaching podium. There were still a few mats closer but the place she took was relatively good. Jin was very satisfied.

There was still some time until the lecturer was supposed to arrive and start so, as a kid, the curious girl began to send arrows of questions to Jin about how the inner court was like. Since she was his benefactor right now, he decided to humor her curiosity a bit. It didn't cost anything and he might be able to benefit again from this. Maybe she was used to arrive early and get great seats and he could keep on freeloading?...

…

As soon as an elder in silver robe with a yellow belt appeared walking through the gates gracefully, all discussions stopped in the teaching grounds. The elder was of relative age, looking like he was in his forties. He had short dark hair, green eyes and a beard. He looked quite handsome for his age and was a well-built man, definite proof of his martial prowess. If Jin had the strength, he would have asked for a spar. Of course, he didn't.

The man watched over the crowd of outer court disciples. The teaching grounds were very large. It was a must considering that they needed to accommodate tens of thousands of disciples. Right now, however, there were no more than five thousand. This was, after all, an entry-level lesson. The very basics. While it was mandatory for new entrants, he did not plan to roll call and didn't care if everyone came.

What mattered to him were those that came while not being 'forced' to. They were those who had already heard this lesson a year ago or years ago in fact. The people who came back to learn once again about the basics were those worth lecturing for. They were those who truly understood the most important fact behind cultivation: The foundation is key.

His gaze hovered on the first few ranks of mats and he spotted many faces that he knew...He was quite surprised to find an inner sect youth sitting there on someone else's mat though. It was a nice and welcome surprise to him. To think his entry class would even attract a little monster from the inner court. Then, he noticed the golden fist pin and understood the reason. This was a kid who entered straight to the inner court. The kid was a new entrant but considering that he was an inner one, the course wasn't mandatory... Yet he came.

This meant that the kid not only had proved his battle sense to be overwhelming but that he was wise enough to understand where he stood when it came to cultivation. While it was intriguing that he sat on an outer kid's mat, it didn't matter much.

The elder nodded to himself as he thought that it might be worth it to pamper the kid a little since fate brought him to his lesson. This kid had higher future prospects than the others and even himself.