"He is an orphan, how do we reconcile that with the authorities at the capital?"
"We can't don't be absurd the capital never in it's 500 years history taken a noname as an disciple."
"Does it matter we all know strength is what matters."
"Hmm, he only needs to prove is strength and talent to be taken as even a lowly outer disciple by one of the school instructors."
"It would benefit the clan still even if he was just a outer discple."
"The others will have to perform better since we have one of our own handicapped."
"Enough talking for now I am going to go and talk to our new trainees"
"..."
"Overseer Ying go out also this year has been fruitful who knew 3 of the 8 towns under the Zhan clan would produce potiental disciples"
"As you wish elder."
...
The doors to the pavilion opened showing a middle aged man with slightly graying hair. A scar ran from his forehead down to his nose across his cheek. It never healed properly and gave the man a stern warrior like look. Despite the scar he was handsome and radiated power.
Zhan Hui walked to the porch of the Pavillion and looked out to the two groups of disciples one was the new ones who we'd taken from the surronding towns from the compound and the core disciples born into the Zhan clan.
The new disciples numbered only four, but it was enough to finally push the Zhan clan into the province capital. This was the moment Zhan Hui had to win their minds and hearts to be loyal to only the Zhan clan. Once in the capital their would be many powerful clans trying to snipe talent from smaller clans like Zhan.
The Qin, Go, and Liu clans would prove difficult to take power from. The youngest of the main clans from the capitial the Go clan had already been established for around a hundred years.
Scanning the new trainees one by one the burly pig farms son excelled at strength based martial arts and would be immovable fortress once trained to hone his technique. Besides him stood a thin boy who looked even smaller next to the burly pig farmer's son he had shown a hugh skill level in daggers and archery being the son of a hunter.
Behind them stood the girl known as Li Ming the blacksmith's daughter. Standing behind the other two boys she clearly had a shy personality that would be her biggest challenge to overcome in the coming years, but wasn’t to much of a inhinderance in the meaning time. She was quite beautiful with flowing black hair and amber eyes she displayed surprisingly graceful martial arts.
Lastly was the dark horse, the boy known as Rin. Zhan Hui didn't particularly know what to make of this orphan child. Under most circumstances the boy wouldn't amount to anything more then a farmer, but he managed to train himself into someone with an extremely crude understanding of martial arts. Similar to how the first martial artists to exist would have started when stepping into the world of combat. Zhan Hui raised his eyebrow this boy could have immense talent it was a shame he had no family backing or he would have been much farther along.
The orphan had potential and these next 4 months would prove to be vital to the future of the Zhan clan.
Overseer Ying came up behind Zhan Hui. A smile on his face.
"Let me address them."
"As you wish Lord Zhan."
Zhan Hui stepped forward clearing his throat "hemm new disciples today begins your journey into the martial arts world."
...
Rin never expected to be chosen it was a fools hope, but when the clan leader himself spoke to him it has shook him to his core.
He looked up at the pavillion as all the discples waited for their new master to address them.
Besides him and Li Ming two other boys the pig farmer Ka Feng and the hunters son Hwang Ro were chosen from the other surronding towns to be brought in as trainees. One was large and burly boy a year older than himself likely 15, but his large frame made him appear much older. The other boy was scrawny and had a mischievous look to him that Rin noted to stay away from him.
The training grounds were huge and the Zhan family compound even larger. It made the small village look pathetic. Rin looked at the clan disciples on the otherside of the yard. Some of them looked over with disdain while others gave no heed to the newcomers. The young disciple in the front, however was a face Rin couldn't forget.
In the front of the group stood the arrogant young master son of the current clan leader who had the guards beat him. Rin didn't let his displeasure show. It was best to not ruin this opportunity over a slight that amounted to nothing then some bruises and scrapes.
Rin knew nothing of world affairs and was oblivious to the obvious tensions that all the other disciples including the other new disciples were quite displeased with the idea of a noname being given the opportunity he had.
In this world nonames were little better than dogs.
One thing was certain. This world would remember forever that a noname had climbed to the top of this brutal world.
"I will change my fate."
Rin swore to himself.
...
What was he doing here! That was all Zhan Min’s mind could think of. If he chose to speak he would probably stutter from rage that boiled within him.
The other disciples mocked the orphan Rin since we arrived back at the compound.
"Who is this kid to even try out for a spot?"
"Pathetic!"
"Shameful to be put on the same level as someone like him."
The other disciples were both ashamed and arrogant about Rin noname.
Zhan Min wanted to rule over people like Rin, not potentially be equal to him in the capital.
He allowed himself to calm down. His father always had a reason for what he did. It's best to remain calm and think rationally not out of arrogance.
His father continued speaking to the new recruits the same speech he gave all of the new disciples every year.
The tournament in the province capital of Qingdao was what Zhan Min needed to do now. Not on the minor annoyance this orphan caused him.
After the speech had ended Overseer Ying walked out to begin our day of training.
The sun was halfway thru the sky as Overseer Ying taught us the foundations of breaking into the first rank of the warriors path. It took hundreds of hours of meditation and physical training to reach this pivitol landmark.
The new students were taken to the otherside of the training field and further examined to determine where they would start in their training.
Sweat rolled down Zhan Min face as he trained in his families martial arts.
Once one broke into the first rank of the warriors path they were considered strong enough to pick a legacy.
Legacies were granted to only those who could prove themselves worthy. One could choose a new legacy or follow the teachings of their families inherited legacy.
Immense power was given those who could obtain the power necessary to be granted a legacy.
The training was intense and Zhan Min was still angry about the noname who was here.
Focusing all his frustration into his fists as he struck the practice dummies in front of him. Leaving ever so slight dents in the think oak wood.
Zhan Min was so close to breaking into the warriors path he could taste it. His fists exuded power as a powerful aura filled him.
The other disciples stopped training and looked at him. Zhan Gan the second strongest disciple in this years group stood by shocked. Zhan Min was breaking into the warriors path. His aura spread throughout the training field.
Overseer Ying ran over a smile on his face. It was always pleasing to see one of his students move into the realm of the warrior. He was particularly proud of Zhan Min in Ying's 20 years of being the overseer for the Zhan clan he had only seen one other with as much potential as Zhan Min and that was Min's sister Zhan Su Ven.
*dak *dak
*dak
The sound of clapping came from the pavillion. Zhan Hui stood their a triumphant smile on his face.
"Congratulations you've moved on from being a child to an adult."
Zhan Hui lept from the pavillion soared threw the air gracefully landing in front of his son. He reached forward grasping him by the shoulders.
"You've become a man at such a young age with this the rise of the Zhan clan is guaranteed."
He whispered into Zhan Min’s ear.
"Thank you father."
Zhan Hui waved Overseer Ying over.
"How long have they being training?"
"About 5 hours my lord."
Zhan Hui gazed at his disciples "let the rest of them finish for the day. For tonight we celebrate."
"Of course!"
Overseer Ying turned to the other disciples.
"You heard him! Go wash!"
The remaining discples all left to go wash. Except one.
...
Rin didn't understand all that was going on. He had spent the last 5 hours learning the basics of martial arts and some basic forms that he could use effectively and everything stopped cause the spoiled and arrogant son of the clan leader advanced to some sort of higher level. It was simply to silly for him to understand.
To his core Rin didn't care about the Zhan clan only how far they could bring him out of his current situation. So he decided to stay behind and train more.
Rin felt power in his bones and blood. It was a strange sensation that Overseer Ying never mentioned when he instructed them earlier. Even as his muscles and veins burned ever so slightly with exhaustion he kept moving. In the distance the Sun began to dip below the horizon. Using up the last of his energy Rin collapsed onto his hunches.
He had nothing left he could do to train more.
'Time to go rest for the evening' Rin walked towards the discples rooms for the evening.
Feeling the glares from the pavillion Rin knew the others would dislike him even more for blowing off the Clan leaders celebration. Rin laughed to himself. Did they honestly think Rin cared at all what these people who never gave him a passing thought about him before thought about him now?
Rin sighed as he grabbed his towel from the nearby seats and entered his room. All he cared about now was to enjoy the free food and hot bath that he would experiance for the first time in his short life.
Rin swiftly disrobed and headed towards the sauna room. The room should be empty of anyone since the party was still going. The stem flowed out into the hall as he opened the door to the public bath. Excitement built up in Rin as he threw his towel and dove into the waters. Letting out a groan as his aching muscles released the tension from the day of training. To be fair he had worked out harder in the past working in the fields, but many of the forms that he was taught today were new and not something his body were used to repeating all day.
Rin laid in the pool the steam so thick it was hard to see more than a meter in front of him.
As Rin soaked in the hot spring he heard the door entering the hot spring open. Rin sat uo and lowered himself into the water. Still wary of the fact that many would like ti beat him senseless if they had the opportunity.
...
Zhan Min had left the celebration as soon as everyone was distracted by the various festivities.
He tossed aside his towel revealing his toned body. His black hair normally tied up in traditional hair clasp hung below his shoulders.
Zhan Min wanted nothing more than to meditate and accept his family legacy. He only needed to focus on the spiritual realm and call on the power from his bloodline. Zhan Min wanted to be alone since he reached the first rank of the warrior’s path. No one knew what effects accepting a legacy and all it's power would have on others around them so it was always done in seclusion.
Lowering himself into the spring Zhan Min began to immediately he meditated trying to call upin the spiritual realm to guide him to selecting a his legacy.
Unaware to the eyes that watched Zhan Min began the process.
Zhan Min concentrated allowing his aura to leak into the surrounding area enveloping the whole room.
Connecting to the spiritual realm was something his father had been preparing him to do since he was 4 years old. It wasn’t something that commoners could do nor should they. To be able to choose a legacy was a privilege above all others. Legacies granted powers above what normal warriors couldn’t attain, this didn’t however make Zhan Min arrogant or confident that a legacy holder who faced off with a normal warrior of the same rank would easily defeat them. To the contrary legacy was used to enhance
your skills and focus your training it didn’t make you a better warrior automatically it just widened your skill set in one direction.
Zhan Min’s breathing became heavier as the pressure increased several times over. Finally he felt enlightened as his power finally broke thru.
“Welcome to the first step of the spiritual realm.”
A mysterious voice filled his head reaching deep into his body and pulling his soul out of his body.
“Today is the day you choose what legacy you will follow.”
His soul was tossed into what appeared to be a bottomless pit.
…
Darkness.
That was all Rin could see. One moment he was watching Zhan Min meditate the next his soul was being wrenched from his body and sent flying into pure darkness.
Soon after Rin’s soul had hit the bottom of the pit he could ‘see’ Zhan Min coming down as well.
“Who the hell, how the hell?!?”
Zhan Min was flabbergasted he couldn’t comprehend why the noname was here as well. He was certain that he was alone in the hot spring when he began to meditate.
“What are you doing here?!”
Zhan Min yelled his anger rising. If his soul was capable he would have already had his hands around Rin’s throat. This young kid would come back to pull him down in front of his father's eyes.
Rin puzzled looked at Zhan Min.
“Listen I am just as confused as you are” Rin said coldly “I just wanted to be alone and enjoy my hot bath when you swaggered in and started all that soul stealing crap.”
“Soul…Stealing!” Zhan Min couldn’t believe how ignorant this kid was.
“This is the place where we choose a legacy! Only those who are deemed worthy are allowed to get one!”
Rin was taken aback he didn’t know much about legacies, but from the little he did know only noble families and great warriors ever had them.
“I don’t know what happened any more than you do.”
Zhan Min’s rage boiled with in him.
“You are a noname with no talent in martial arts besides lots of stamina! You disgrace the spiritual realm, by being here!”
As Zhan Min spoke those words a loud voice boomed over him.
“Who are you to decide who is worthy and who is not?”
The mysterious voices appearance was quite sudden a large light filled the darkness lighting it up yet still somehow dark.
“Only the creator makes those decisions, do you think yourself more wise and more knowledgeable than the creator?”
Zhan Min’s soul seemed to shrink back in shame from the lecturing.
"Who...who are you?!?"
The mysterious voice was much more calm now.
"I am the curator who guides people who are worthy to take a legacy."
The curator smiled.
“Zhan Min you are a powerful young man with a bright future, but the creator has tied this young man’s fate with yours and that is not something you can avoid.”
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