Chương 18: Selected
Most of the school representatives arrived promptly, within 15 minutes of the examinations themselves ending. It seemed like they were prepared.
However, there was one outlier: the Starry Kendo Academy representative.
It took him nearly 30 minutes to arrive, which ticked off contestants and representatives alike.
Yan Guang wondered whether he was just being fashionably late or intentionally wasting everyone's time to display some dominance.
Either way, the selection ceremony finally began.
A circular array of tables had been arranged, each representing a single martial school.
According to a simple explanation given by the examiners, all they had to do was walk into this circle when their name was called.
If a school were willing to accept a certain contestant as a student, they would simply raise their banner.
The student would then join any faction they were willing to join.
Somewhat differently from the previous rounds, the first name called was actually the undisputed first place, Chen Hao.
A whooshing sound could be heard as he walked in.
That was the sound of almost all the banners being raised simultaneously.
The Starry Kendo Academy, White Tiger School, and Elegant Crane School were all willing to accept him.
Even lesser-known institutes tried their luck. The Flame Saber School and the Iron Palm School raised their banners as well.
Some chose to keep their banners down, mostly because they followed super-specialized martial disciplines.
For example, there was only one school in Guming Town that preached the way of Sumo. Such practices were not suited to those without a certain build, so Chen Hao, despite his talent, still didn't fulfill their criteria for acceptance.
Still, almost a dozen banners were raised in unison.
"I apologize to any whom I may disappoint, but my heart lies with the sword.", Chen Hao stated before walking over to the booth of the Starry Kendo Academy.
The remaining representatives sighed before putting their banners down. This was expected. For years, any martial prodigy that emerged was snatched up by the Starry Kendo Academy, leading the other martial schools to slowly decay due to the lack of talent.
Next, Lin Sheng was called up to the stage.
Banners once again raised, albeit fewer than were raised for Chen Hao.
Ultimately, Lin Sheng chose the White Tiger School due to his preference for unarmed martial arts.
The same process repeated for third place, Zhang Wu, who ultimately chose to join the Elegant Crane School.
Finally, fourth place was called. Although fourth place was divided between Yan Guang and Han Jing equally, Yan Guang was called first.
Yan Guang wondered whether this meant that his performance in the second trial meant he was more valuable than Han Jing in some way.
As he walked into the enclosed circular area, Yan Guang felt nervous.
The eyes of many martial artists with years of experience and strength far beyond his own were watching his every move, evaluating him.
He saw tiny details that he was unable to notice from outside. Each representative was looking at a sheet they were provided, presumably with each candidate's test results written on it.
Yan Guang wished he could shout to the entire world that he was set up, that he was given a more difficult task on purpose, but how could he prove it?
He was just a nobody in this place, with no influence whatsoever. Any statement of his would be taken as a lie first and a truth second, only after gathering evidence, and who knew if there was any?
It was too risky.
After a period of deliberation, one representative finally began to move.
Ji Bei's hands slowly lifted the banner up.
At that moment, Yan Guang was supremely relieved. Although one banner might've been pitiful compared to the score of the other geniuses, he was glad to have been accepted at all, and that too by the very school he wished to go to anyway!
As the sigil of the White Tiger flowed in the wind, Ji Bei simply smiled at Yan Guang, beckoning him to come forward.
And come forward he did.
Ignorance was bliss, and Yan Guang was truly blissfully ignorant.
Joining Lin Sheng and the rest of his now-seniors, Yan Guang let out a sigh of relief.
A burly man patted his and Lin Sheng's shoulders before exclaiming, "Well now, junior brothers, you passed! My name's Gao Di, pleased to make your acquaintance."
Yan Guang and Lin Sheng reciprocated, both greeting their senior brother.
"Lin Sheng greets senior brother Gao Di."
Copying what Lin Sheng had just said, Yan Guang spoke,
"Yan Guang greets senior brother Gao Di."
Even after a month of living in this new world, Yan Guang still couldn't rid himself of his modernized accent, so he relied on parroting whatever others said.
In a way, it was like learning a whole new language.
Mentally, Yan Guang made a note for himself, When I become strong enough, I'll drag this world all the way to the 21st century!
After going over the formalities a little more, Gao Di finished the small talk and left with one final reminder: "Junior brothers, remember to go home and rest up. Start packing anything you might want to take with you. Oh, Yan Guang, I'm in charge of bringing you to the sect. What time would be fine with you?"
Yan Guang replied, "If it doesn't bother you, senior brother, we can depart tomorrow at dawn."
"Are you sure? Don't you want to bid your family goodbye and meet your friends once before you leave?", Gao Di asked with slight concern visible on his face.
Yan Guang responded, "I don't have a family."
Gao Di's face morphed into surprise and ensuing remorse.
"I apologize, junior brother. It was rude to ask.", he said with a tinge of pity in his voice.
Yan Guang knew he wasn't an orphan, so it didn't matter to him. His parents were still living their lives on a planet far, far away. He wondered how they were doing. Were they searching for him, or had they accepted that they would never find their son no matter where they looked?
Yan Guang wasn't sure which choice made him feel better.
The rest of the selection ceremony proceeded without any surprises. The remaining 11 martial artists were sorted into their respective schools, with another two joining the White Tiger School.
The two new disciples' names were Qi Wan and Tui Shen, and they were ranked 7th and 11th respectively.
Yan Guang made some small talk with both of them before he turned to leave.
Suddenly, Lin Sheng spoke, "Heard you were talking with that cousin of mine, Lin Yuan? That embarrassment is still a 3rd-rate. Knock some sense into him when you next see him."
Yan Guang gave Lin Sheng one last glance before taking his leave.
He was properly tired from the exams.
What he most needed now was a good night of sleep.
Leaving the martial arena, Yan Guang hobbled his way back to the inn.
Upon entering the first floor of the inn, the drunk strangers who frequented the inn cheered for him.
Yan Guang felt a smile break out across his face. After a month of being treated like air, he felt glad that people were finally acknowledging his existence.
The crowd of strangers that had gathered pushed him to the front of the bar and cleared a seat for him.
"Boss, get 'im something on the house! He just got into the White Tiger School for darn's sake!", a patron shouted out.
Yan Guang was surprised to see just how much fame being a martial school student gave. He was instantly swarmed by people who he had never known before and given free food and drink.
Unfortunately, he couldn't drink so he politely refused.
That didn't seem to dim the crowd's excitement, however, as they insisted the boss get him a juice instead.
"Yan Guang's the name, huh? Gotta say, yer really got no presence for a martial artist! The rest of the students I done seen in the papers, but you? Risen up from the filth of this very inn! What a story!", praised an old man.
"Alright, alright, thanks for the enthusiasm, everyone. How's a round on me sound?", offered Yan Guang.
Forking out 10 silver pieces, he handed them over to the boss, the lady who ran the inn.
The folks erupted into cheers and chants and unintelligible nonsense as Yan Guang played along. He would be lying if he said this was no fun.
I guess this can be considered my first time at a bar..., Yan Guang thought to himself.
After an hour or so, the festivities ended and Yan Guang left his seat to return to his room.
Falling onto his bed, Yan Guang's damaged muscles and expended mental energy finally had time to rest and recover.
As Yan Guang began to drift deeper and deeper into his sleep, reality lost hold and imagination took over. He began to dream.
In a nondescript location at an unknown time, a rabbit appeared in front of him.
Yan Guang felt a strange compulsion to punch it.
As soon as he acted on his urges, the rabbit disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Next, a wolf appeared. Once again, Yan Guang punched it into a cloudy mess.
Animals began appearing all around him, reminding him of all the ones he had killed in the past month or so.
Eventually, he found himself matched up against the tri-horned rhinoceros.
Although he wasn't lucid enough to remember every detail of his fight, he knew there was some regret associated with this fight. He could've done better.
Outmaneuvering his behemoth of an opponent and striking with all the power he could muster, Yan Guang was eventually able to reduce the rhino to mist all the same.
Suddenly, he felt a new kind of power flowing through his body. At least, it appeared new to his dream self.
His next matchup was a human, who he also defeated with no contest.
Eventually, a human who he recognized appeared. This was yet another battle that needed optimizing. Yan Guang instinctively knew he had messed up this fight.
This was a chance to rid his regrets.
Instead of utilizing flashy martial arts, Yan Guang simply waited for the opponent to bring out his secret techniques and dodged them till they were exhausted.
Defeating them then was easy.
Next, a figure formed out of the gases released by all of his opponents. It vaguely resembled... himself.
Before Yan Guang could even react, he was blasted into dust by his opponent.
His last thought was of confusion: In the end, was I an illusion like all my opponents?
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