Inattention is the greatest iniquity a Martial Artist can have, and that has been proven on many occasions. An inattentive man never achieves what one can with pure uninterrupted dedication. But that was the problem. Though I'm in a Martial Sect, I couldn't bother less about these manuals that they are handing out to all kids right now.
'How can a book be so badly written?!' That was my first thought when I skimmed through the first few pages of the Martial Arts Manual.
The characters were written so hastily that my eyes could bleed.
"Wang Lei! How many pages did you finish?"
That person is Fenhua, who shared the dorm room with me. He was a close friend of the previous owner of this body, and it was quite a memorable experience meeting him yesterday.
-
The Senior, whose name no one knew, instructed me to announce his deeds. But there was a problem. I couldn't discern the acquittances that the senior was referring to. So I had to awkwardly ask the guards about my dorm details, "What?! Your room?!" And as expected, the guards pulled fun of me. Not knowing of my dorm, nor about any friends of this boy, I was helpless.
As I was conversing with the guards, a boy called out to me from behind, near the entrance, "Wang Lei, what are you doing here? It's getting dark, let's go back to our dorm."
I turned around to see a boy, who just like me left the sect with some money and brought a wooden sword which I could see him holding.
"Fenhua! Take care of your buddy! He says that he forgot the dorm he lives in!" And then they laughed out loud as if wanting to embarrass me, but I paid no heed to their words. With a flat face of no expressions whatsoever, I just entered a mode of deep thinking again.
'So his name is... Fenhua? If he's a friend, then how should I talk to him? Maybe I can use him to extract information?'
"Ignore them, let's go!" The boy who wore an innocent smile atop his bright and clear face held my arm and pulled me away from the guards. If it weren't for him, then I'd have been humiliated by those guards even further. He then showed me my room, and I told him about the job that was given to me by the senior.
"You don't seem well, lately... I'll announce it for you..."
With those words, he won my trust. He was an innocent boy in white torn rags, but a warm one to depend on.
-
"Oh me? I'm on the sixteenth page!"
"How?! No one has finished even a single page of that bulky book!"
"Oh... I see... but this only looks like it has only a hundred pages though..."
"Exactly! A hundred pages!"
'Maybe I spoke too much. Let me just read the book silently.'
Another interesting thing is that the rumours about the Beggar Sect were kind of baseless. I assumed that all beggars had no manners, but then in front of me, I can see a hundred beggars around my age. They are all seated in a well-organised file, and they are strictly concentrating on reading their respective books. And the Beggar's Sect didn't look poor at all, it was quite exorbitant on the inside. The training grounds were all well maintained, and so were the dorms.
Of course, there is unseen darkness behind this. To maintain this extravaganza, they charge a lot of tax on the peasants.
I am seated in one corner of the file alongside Fenhua.
"Fenhua, that man is looking at us! Stay quiet and read your book. Let's not talk here!" I warned him with mutters expressing my fear.
Though the beggars all lined up in a file, they weren't self-disciplined. A man woke us all up early before dawn and then handed out books. He then arranged us in this place. Rumours about him state that he is a first-rate martial artist, one that kids like us had to fear. He's been walking around here and there for half an hour now in the silent training ground. And he still hasn't taken any action on any kid though many were murmuring behind his back.
"You two, get up! One-Hundred sit-ups!" And unfortunately, we are the first victims of his wrath.
As we were being punished by that man, all the other kids giggled at our misery. I was infuriated, unable to understand what brought them pleasure in our misery.
As soon as the count of sit-ups reached a hundred, my knees collapsed and fell to the ground. I took in deep breaths before picking up my book to resume reading it.
-
Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms Wasn't the name you'd expect from the Beggar's Sect, but that was the name given to the manual in my hands. I could see Fenhua beside me wanting to apologize to me, but he was scared to utter a word in the presence of the teacher.
'Poor kid,'
As the name suggests it has eighteen stances. Each stance is detailed in about five or six pages.
This Martial Arts Technique was the primary Martial Arts taught to all sect members of the Beggar's Sect after a certain age.
Depending on your mastery of this Martial Arts, you can be graded in four ranks.
Third-Rate Mastery, which meant you got the basics down along with four stances. Second-Rate Mastery meant that you could proficiently use eight stances. First-Rate Mastery is when you can use the twelve stances successfully at a moment's notice.
The final mastery was the Peak-Grade Mastery, which meant you have access to all eighteen stances.
Though everyone had the manual, not all can understand the hidden meaning behind the words written in these books. That was the reason I felt bored whilst skimming through the pages. I couldn't quite grasp the meaning of it. It was all riddles and mysteries, that confused my mind.
Nonetheless, I kept reading as I had no real work to do under the hot sun which stung my gentle skin.
-
Time flew by quickly, and it was already noon. Noon's hour meant lunch, thus we were set free from our shackles. My legs pained all over due to a prolonged lack of motion. I got up and walked towards the man in charge, handing over the book. And from there headed to the dorm with Fenhua to have my meal.