I followed Senior Brother Fu out of the Hall, as we were walking, I was able to tell that he seemed not so surprised by this happening, it seemed that it might be something the first Senior Brother is being known for doing or maybe even Senior Brother Fu had tasted this himself .
As we got outside, I saw the guy whose name Mu Lu, that guy was the first guy I dealt with directly after I signed for the Dojo, he was waiting for me with a weird expression on his face, he seemed to be wanting to ask me something, but he just couldn't bring himself to ask .
As we came to close to him, he bowed his head and greeted us both respectfully, hailing us as Young Masters, he looked to be a bit older than the two of us, so it was a bit awkward to see him do that, but I just shrugged it off, he told me to follow him and Senior Brother Fu told me that he will catch up with me later, but now he needed to get something done, I nodded at him and continued to follow Mu Lu .
As we were walking next to the Courtyard where the disciples were practicing, I kept getting some weird looks being thrown at me, I saw some of the familiar faces from yesterday, they looked at me quite playfully, they most likely not have a clue that I got accepted as a Close Disciple, meaning that I was technically their new Senior Brother .
Seeing these familiar faces, I once again was reminded by their banter from yesterday and that I still hadn't have any clue about what were these guys talking about yesterday, seeing that Mu Lu was here, I thought that it was a good chance as any and decided to ask him about it .
But just as I was about to ask him about this, he seemed to have made up his mind about something and he said all of a sudden, cutting me off, he said :
How it feel to get accepted as master Chen's disciple ? .
Seeing the serious tone in his question and the despair in it, I couldn't help but look straight at the guy in front of me, I was quite perplexed by him asking me this out of the blue, he also seemed to have misunderstood my reaction as he apologized in a hurry for offending me .
" Don't worry much about offending me and tell me, what exactly is your position in the Dojo .
He fell into silent after hearing my question for a few short seconds, then he said with a bit tormented tone :
Young Master Tian might not be familiar with the term, but I'm a voluntarily servant .
I was confused at what he was saying, because as he said, I really never heard of that term before, seeing my confusion, the guy expression darkened a bit more and he then began to clear the confusion for me, ge said :
I'm a person who volunteered to be a servant, just for the sake of keeping my chances in being able to practice Martial Arts .
" But couldn't you just pay the silver taels needed to learn, or were you unable to accumulate the fee .
Young Master is wrong, it wasn't because I didn't have money, but I got plotted against by the other Disciples here in the Dojo .
I expected him to be telling me about his past, so that I could help him or something, but even though I currently had no intention in doing so, I still continue to hear what he have to say, he seeing that I was silent, continued to say :
I had already used all my savings to get inside the Dojo then I was fortunate enough to have a little bit of talent and achieved to breakthrough to the 4th layer of Flesh Tempering in less than a year, but then it happened, I met with the cruel truth and hearts of some people here in the Dojo, there was a senior brother collecting protection money from the other Disciples .
The person who pays more gets to stay in the Dojo, but those who refused to pay, were bound to lose in the trial to become an Inner Disciple and they would given some period of time to challenge again, then they would require to pay double the fees if they were to fail again, or else get out .
I was one of those who didn't have a copper coin to spare on anything other than my training, unfortunately the person who was responsible for the trials was none other than the guy who was collecting the protection money from the disciples .
I was assigned to fight someone who was an Inner Disciple and was already two levels above me in strength, in the end I lost the fight and with it all my ambition as well, I had no money and no hope of winning as long as that Senior Brother was the one supervising the test, so in the end, I was going to be driven out, but I decided to volunteer as a servant, I had no other desire in this life but to practice Martial Arts .
I really had no ulterior motives, I was just wondering how it felt to be accepted as a disciple by Master Chen, it was a dream of mine too .
He skipped a few details that he seemed to have deemed as irrelevant here and there, but I was able to understand that this guy indeed was plotted against, I accepted his words, because even though I was new to this complete new world, I was still able to understand how cruel it was, so that Senior Brother being extorting the disciples wasn't that much of a surprise to me, what surprised me was the dedication that guy had for Martial Arts .
It wasn't everyday that I met someone that would rather volunteer to be a slave just for the sake of not losing his chances of practicing Martial Arts, looking at the guy who seemed to have been quite a promising guy before, but now he had at most 10th of the brilliance he had before and even that was an overestimation .
" I really don't know how to reply to you, I have only been accepted as master's disciple for at most an hour now, but if you were asking me about what do I think that have changed, I would say that I was now more confident in reaching higher achievements with my Master's help .
" No matter how talented or hard working a person can be, there is meant to be some troubles facing them in the way towards their goals, I believe that Master's guidance would allow that person to get pass the hurdles that might come in his way, at least that what I currently believe .
As I said this, the man in front me was quite confused of what I said and he stopped in tracks and kept repeating the words I said over and over, I let him take his time in sorting his mind, after a few seconds passed, the guy just sighed and said :
Young Master Tian is indeed someone cherished by the Dojo's Master .
I didn't have a clue on what might that guy had grasped from my words, but seeing a bit of myself in him perhaps made me want to give him a bit of guidance, I said :
" Tell you what, if you trust me, I might be able to lend you some money to get your status as a disciple back, what do you say, before you refuse, I will state clearly as well that I had no ulterior motives, I'm just lending you some money for you to grasp a chance to fight again, whether you still have the will to fight and accept my suggestion is completely up to you .
As I said this, I saw that the guy in front of was staring at me intently as if trying to discern something by looking at me, but it seemed that he was anticipating something else other than what he found, he stared at me with wide eyes then after a whole minute passed with us like this, he suddenly bent down on the floor and began kowtowing to me, saying that he will become my horse and my most loyal servant .
" Stand up and stop what you are doing, you are making a scene, I haven't even decided whether I might be able to help you clearing your debts or not ? .
As I yelled at him like this, he seemed to have finally came back to his senses as he said :
I'm thankful for the kindness Young Master are willing to show me, but I really shouldn't make you share my burden, that Senior Brother might choose to target you instead because of me, I really wouldn't be able to forgive myself if that were to happen .
" Why you guy are so talkative all of a sudden, yesterday I left the Dojo thinking that you were a guy with a few words to say, but looking at you spouting so much nonsense already, just tell me how much do you owe to the Dojo and what other debts you might have .
I saw that after Mu Lu heard my words, he seem to become stunned again, I was really beginning to wonder if that guy was as brilliant as he described himself, but I was still want to help him, believing that he might be able to help me in the future .
What made me certain that this guy might be helpful to me, was the fact that Master mentioned his name personally, that was more than enough to tell me that Master appreciated that guy, at least most than the other servants .
After he began kowtowing again in front of me, the people passing by were beginning to give us some weird stares and I once again told him to stop doing things like this anymore, this time luckily he complied .
He then began to tell me that all that he needed to settle his financial problem was only 20 silver taels, if before, I would have frowned on the amount of money needed and even now, I did indeed gained some money, but I hadn't had enough money to call myself a rich man, but I still told him that I will help him out .
I reached to a Hall that had the words Accomodation Hall on top of its entrance, the building was like a dorm, there were three levels in the building and it was shaped like a pagoda, the first level from the top was only for the Close and Core Disciple to reside in, the other two levels at the bottom were all for rent, disciple who wanted to stay there will need to buy a rent that rent ranged from one floor to another .
The lowest floor wasn't that pricey, 1 silver tael could allow you to stay for 3 months and you will be able to get 3 meals a day, the second floor was a bit pricey, 3 silver taels for 1 month, but the room was more accommodating than the rooms on the first floor, but the actual boon was in the food offered to them, they were still getting 3 meals a day, but one out of those three meals, will be a Ferocious Beast'meat .
That meat had quite the nutrition effect on those who practice Martial Arts, especially those at the Flesh Tempering Realm, it can help them increasing the time of practice, Mu Lu told me that in the Dining Hall, to eat Ferocious Beast'meat need a lot of money .
So other than those rich Disciples who stemed from big families, no one would be able to afford eating Ferocious Beast'meat freely, so that was why most people try their best to rent these rooms, but even so, there is still a lot of rooms on the second floor that unrented .
As we entered the Hall, a middle aged man who was called Old Hu by Mu Lu, looked at me suspiciously, but once Mu Lu introduced me to him, the guy who was the Clerk here, directly stepped out of the stands he was standing behind and greeted me .
I just nodded at him and already accepted that this was one of the things that came with my new change in position here at the Dojo, then after the greeting was over, Old Hu asked if I will be staying here and I nodded my head, the guy then looked a bit awkward, seemed to be troubled by something and finally he made up his mind and asked me to provide the Seal of Master to get a room .
I was beginning to understand his troubles, but it was me who got a bit nervous now, after all, I didn't get anything as close to a Seal from Master, but it seemed that my troubles were unfounded, Mu Lu directly took out a Token from his pocket and showed it to the guy in front of us .
Seeing the Token, he directly went back to his stand and pulled a silver key and handed it to Mu Lu without saying anything else, Mu Lu took the key from him and then handed me the Token, the Token was an indication of my identity as Master's disciple, Mu Lu was giving it to me as per master's orders .
The Token had one word on it Close and that was all that was written on it, I was told a few warning about not losing this Token at any cost as we took the stairs to the highest floor to my new residence .
I really was beginning to miss the elevator as we continued to go up, the stairs were quite long and my body was already screaming at me to get some rest, all the walking and now this were quite taxing on me, who had already spent most of my reserves .
After struggling through the stairs, I finally reached the intended room, my room was number 12, out of the 12 rooms in the whole floor, I asked Mu Lu about me occupying the 11th room, noticing that there seemed to be a pattern here, I said :
" Shouldn't I be occupying the 11th room ? .
Young Master Tian should have grasped the pattern here, but you should have forgot that Guardian Lu was staying here as well .
I nodded my head as the mistake in calculation was indeed my fault, I wanted to ask Master about the whereabouts of instructor Lu, but there wasn't a chance to do so, the door of the room was opened and I smelled the incense scent coming to greet me, I entered the room and Mu Lu soon followed .
I saw that the room was quite spacious, it looked more like a small apartment than a room, there was no bath still though, the bed was made for me, it seemed quite comfortable to me without even trying it yet, there were two wooden wardrobes at the corner of the room, the light in the room was coming from the circular window and at night I will be using the lantern that were hanged in the room .
The room was heaven compared to the hut that I lived in before, even though it didn't have that much of furniture, other than the essential things, desk and two chairs, a desk drawer besides the bed, it was quite good in my opinion .
What enticed me the most about this room was the spacious area in its center, it will be enough for me to practice Solid Rock Fist in, but the Gliding Swallow was still no go, I would need much bigger space and it was better to practice this skill outdoor, to net damage anything that in here .
I was handed the key to the room, then Mu Lu asked me if there was anything else that I needed from him, I told him to wait for a few seconds before I drawn out a Paper Money after I had finally regained some tiny amount of my Blood Qi, but it was enough to use the Beast Pouch, I gave him the 20 silver taels paper money and guessed that should have been able to know what to do with it .
Seeing the amount of money written on the paper I handed him, the guy almost had a stroke, then he was about to kneel down again to me, but I already expected this and pulled him up, telling him to just pay me back later, he nodded his head and I saw him getting a pouch from his pocket, he handed it to me and said :
Thank you Young Master Tian, please accept the 4 teals you have paid to enter the Dojo back as per Guardian Li's order .
" You can have those too, count them as me investing in you, but tell me about what those disciples from yesterday meant and then you really are free to go .