Master

Wang Chun was pacing back and forth in his room, impatient for the arrival of the young prodigy. The long unfulfilled wish that the village chief and he shared could finally be achieved. With Jiang Ting's talent, he definitely could do it!

He came to the window, gazing at the afternoon sun blazing high in the sky. His thoughts couldn't help drifting to that fateful night 50 years ago. Suddenly, a mad grin spread across his face. 'Finally, I can't wait!'

At this point, Zhao Song walked into the room, followed by a young man dressed in simple brown robes. He had a bamboo sword strapped across his waist. His black hair was cut short, and he was wearing plain training shows. One look and nobody would think of him as the most prodigious martial arts talent in the village.

"I've brought him here as per your instructions, Master," stated Zhao Song, before standing to the side quietly.

Jiang Ting stepped forth, "Greetings, headmaster. Brother Zhao said you wished to see me?"

Wang Chun looked at the youth in front of him, before letting out a hearty laugh. "Hahaha. Indeed, I have something to ask of you."

"Please, headmaster."

"I, headmaster Wang Chun of the Fudi academy would like to officially take you as my disciple. What say you, young man?"

"It would be my honor."

"I've already consulted your grandfather..." Wang Chun's voice trailed off, as his jaw dropped. This kid who stubbornly refused to join the academy all the years directly agreed to become his disciple? He didn't even want to consult the old man on the mountain first. Didn't this turn out a little too smoothly?

Of course, what Wang Chun didn't understand was that Jiang Ting considered him as a fatherly figure and wouldn't refuse his offer even if his grandfather had different ideas. What surprised him, however, was that that from master's words, it seemed as if his grandfather had agreed to this arrangement? How auspicious. Of course, someone who could undergo rebirth such as himself would be the very personification of auspicious. This thought made him happy.

Wang Chun shook off all these distracting thoughts, "As you already must know, the martial artists in the village are all in the initial stage of the body forging realm, that is its first three levels. Only the core elders of the academy are in the middle stage, that is at the 4th level of body forging. We don't have anyone above at this moment. Anyways, since I have you here, might as well take the opportunity to teach you my martial art. It is a grade 5 martial art called the Red Tiger Battle Art."

"Yeah, I saw it on your statue, sounds nice." Jiang Ting was already getting comfortable., speaking as if he and Wang Chun were old pals.

Wang Chun and Zhao Song felt something was wrong but couldn't quite put their finger on it. Fortunately, this pair of master and disciple was very socially awkward, otherwise Jiang Ting might have got a beating. Of course, Jiang Ting knew them well enough, thus daring to act that way.

Wang Chun continued, "As I was saying, Red Tiger Battle Art is a grade 5 martial art. The higher the grade, the stronger the martial art. Currently, there are no grade six martial arts in the academy, and the 11 grade 5 martial arts including Red Tiger Battle Art are the peak.

These martial arts generally correspond to the grade of their creator. Of course, if one's martial art was weaker than that created by another martial artist of the same level, that would invite a lot of ridicule. As a result, the effectiveness of a martial art almost always corresponds to its grade.

Yet there still exist differences between the strength of martial arts of the same grade. For example, my Red Tiger Battle Art is the strongest grade 5 battle art in the academy. Even outside, you would be hard pressed to find a superior grade 5 martial art.

Red Tiger Battle Art is an offensive martial art, there are defensive and speed based martial arts as well. Feel free to look through the martial arts in the library and find what suits you the best. If you feel the grade 5 ones to be unsuitable, find something among the grade 4 ones that you are compatible with. No pressure. Now let's go outside."

The headmaster's house was inside the campus and had a vast training field around it. As the three of them came in front of the house, Wang Chun turned to look at Jiang Ting and Zhao Song and said, " I will demonstrate the technique now. Go to the library and study it in detail later. Once you have doubts, you can approach me in the middle of the night if you have to, its not a problem at all."

Zhao Song frowned. 'How come master never treats me like this.' Then he remembered how strong Jiang Ting was three years ago. He didn't dare to complain.

After that, Wang Chun started demonstrating a set of moves. The first time, he went slowly, and the martial art wasn't anything showy like Jiang Junie splintering the sky, yet both Zhao Song and Jiang Ting watched carefully. The former had seen the master at work for seven years now and knew how much power this martial art could pack when his master used his full strength. The latter watched carefully since he had sparred with his master at full strength and was even more keenly aware of how powerful his master was when using it. Even outside the village, his master could be considered one of the top martial artists at the fourth level of body forging.

Wang Chun was just demonstrating the martial art for Jiang Ting to get familiar with the basics, so he purposely slowed down his movements in order to let Jiang Ting observe properly. Even with him slowing things done, however, the strength unleashed was still capable of generating a breeze. Soon, he stopped, saying to Jiang Ting, "Alright, off you go to the library."

"Yes, master." replied Jiang Ting, giving a deep bow before marching off.

"Huh, so he does have some etiquettes, muttered Wang Chun before returning to his place.