Volume 4, Chapter 3 – Getting Started

After they finished registering, Liu Yong glanced at the still somewhat dazed Dongzi and thought that he probably still had no idea just what kind of opportunity the two of them had stumbled into.

If nothing unexpected happened, the ticket slip the girl had given him definitely had something special about it. Not only did it let him skip those complicated procedures and go straight to registration, there was a very high chance he could also skip the exams later and directly enter the dao field to cultivate.

He even suspected that if he hadn’t misunderstood, he was allowed to bring one extra person along—meaning Dongzi could go up the mountain with him.

Even if Dongzi did not get disciple status and only did odd jobs up on the mountain, that was still a position most people would kill to have.

It was just that this preliminary test was way too sneaky, not explaining anything up front. He had really almost made a huge mistake.

“You two, stop standing there like idiots blocking the way.”

Seeing the registration finished, the girl in white snatched the ticket slip from Liu Yong’s hand, looked it over, nodded in satisfaction, and waved them over. “If your ticket has the cicada seal, you don’t need to stay here and wait. Come with me, you’re going up the mountain now.”

Stay and wait?

Liu Yong reflexively looked around and noticed several dozen boys and girls crowded together on the steps at the mountain gate. They had probably gone through the first ticket check and now had to wait until a full group had gathered before they could head up the mountain.

Of course they had also watched what just happened to Liu Yong. Most of them were looking at him with eyes full of envy and jealousy, though a few had different attitudes—some cold, some openly fawning.

The only exception was a tall, slim boy in traditional clothes, good-looking, with long hair tied up in a jade crown and a wooden hairpin stuck in the middle. The look in his eyes held a faint hint of approval. When his gaze met Liu Yong’s, he did not look away but instead walked over naturally.

“My name is Zhu Sheng, courtesy name Zouhua. Once we enter the dao field, we’ll be fellow disciples. Let me congratulate you two in advance.”

Is this guy a bit too confident?

Liu Yong was not used to such frankness. He thought about how Zhu Sheng and the others still had to go through both martial and written tests after going up the mountain, yet Zhu Sheng acted like he was absolutely sure he would become their senior brother. Liu Yong couldn’t help wondering where all that confidence came from.

“Stop staring.” The girl in white suddenly stepped between them. “His family had him take a courtesy name at sixteen. You don’t even have to ask to know he’s from a big clan. He’s not even on the same track as you. If you think too hard about it, you’ll just get upset.”

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“Senior Sister Hu, now you’re overselling me.” Zhu Sheng raised his brows. “These days anyone can spend some money at a temple or daoist shrine to get a name. If that doesn’t work, there are schools and dao fields. It’s really not some rare honor.”

A blur of motion flashed by. Zhu Sheng clutched his forehead with a yelp as the girl in white smacked him and pushed him back, chewing him out nonstop.

“You haven’t even officially entered the sect and you’re already getting called ‘senior sister’?”

“And the rest of you, what are you looking at? Don’t go thinking just anyone can get in through the back door. Especially that Zhu Sheng—if any of you draw him in the matches, beat him within an inch of his life for me!”

The boy’s face changed at once, but the girl in white just laughed and joked as she led Liu Yong and Dongzi up the mountain.

On the way, the girl finally gave them a proper introduction.

“I’m Hu Hu—Hu as in walnut, Hu as in fox.”

“Don’t copy those rich young masters and get slick with your tongues. Just call me Senior Sister Hu honestly.”

“You’re probably wondering why you’re being treated differently. To be honest, even I, as an inner-sect disciple, don’t really know. All I was told was that when the grandmaster was giving instructions, he especially mentioned ‘teaching on the master’s behalf.’ What exactly that means, you can think about yourselves.”

Teaching on the master’s behalf?

What did that mean, that the one who would take them as disciples might actually be someone else?

The more he listened, the more nervous Liu Yong became, and he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Then, Senior Sister, may I ask… will Zhang Donglai and I still count as disciples of Shenming?”

The way he asked was so earnest that Hu Hu couldn’t help glancing back at him before she answered, “Of course you count.”

“Your character and Dao hearts have already been tested, and you’ve also helped the dao field. Even if that person doesn’t plan to formally claim you as disciples later, the dao field has no problem giving you the official status of disciples.”

As long as that’s not a problem…

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Liu Yong finally let out a breath of relief.

It really did seem like these two had no idea whose iron-strip sword that was.

Seeing his reaction, Hu Hu secretly nodded and went on explaining the other things they needed to know.

“Once you enter, you’ll be considered outer-sect disciples.”

“Outer-sect disciples live on the front mountain. After you go up, you first pick up your robes, then go choose a dorm room. Once you’ve chosen, change into the robes. You don’t need to wear this kind of thing anymore.”

Dongzi had been in a daze ever since they started up the mountain. When he heard this, he finally couldn’t hold back. “There are dorms too?”

“Of course. What, did you think we’d make you sleep on the ground?” Hu Hu rolled her eyes in front of them. “The first day is for you to get familiar with the place. When it’s mealtime, a bell will ring. Go to the cafeteria yourselves. You only get one hour. Once that’s over, the doors won’t open…”

Before she finished, Dongzi cut in again. “Do we have to pay to eat in the cafeteria?”

Hu Hu was almost at her limit. She squeezed out her words through gritted teeth. “We’re such a big dao field at such a big mountain gate. Do we look like… like we can’t afford to feed two people?”

?

Dongzi didn’t understand and his face was still full of confusion.

Just shut up already.

Liu Yong jabbed him hard with his elbow, wishing he could follow it up with a kick and send him rolling back down the mountain.

Fortunately, this Senior Sister Hu was fairly patient. She explained all the procedures from start to finish, then led them to the gate of the courtyard where they would receive their clothes before turning to leave.

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Before she left, she turned back again and said in a teasing tone, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you… after you pick your place, it’s best if you take a nap first.”

Sleep?

Why would they need to sleep?

Now it was Liu Yong’s turn to have question marks popping up over his head.

But Hu Hu didn’t explain any further. She waved a hand and slipped away.

Once she was gone, they decided to go into the courtyard first.

The two of them had well and truly come in through the back door. There had been no line when they arrived; they just showed their ticket slip and each of them received four sets of dark black training robes, two summer sets and two winter sets.

Besides that, each of them got two pairs of boots—and, most importantly of all, a wooden sword for sword trainees.

“Wash and change often,” the disciple handing out clothes warned in a low voice. “You’ll sweat a lot during daily practice. Don’t lose hygiene points over it.”

There are hygiene points too…

While Liu Yong was still inspecting the quality of the robes, Dongzi suddenly had a bright idea and ran over to ask, “What if we wear them out?”

“…?” The disciple looked up at him in disbelief, opened his mouth, took a deep breath, and then said, “If you wear them out, just bring the old set here and swap it for a new one!”

“This place is amazing!”

On the way to the dorms, Dongzi hugged his new clothes with pure joy.

“They cover our food and lodging, give us clothes, teach us skills, and we’ll have high status when we go out… Hey, Brother Yong, doesn’t this count as us leaping over the dragon gate?”

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Liu Yong could only look at him helplessly. “If you keep yapping like that, I’m afraid they’ll kick us off the mountain.”

The dorm building was separated from the clothing courtyard by a small stand of trees. They followed a narrow path up the steps and saw a three-story building appear ahead.

It wasn’t very tall, but it was quite long. Just by looking, Liu Yong guessed it could house at least a few hundred people. They walked in, looking around as they went, and with the help of a guide disciple, they picked out a room.

“Two people to a room. Don’t wreck the place.”

Once the guide disciple left, they finally dared to really explore the dorm.

Bunk beds, folding desks and cabinets—nothing much to say about those.

The room wasn’t big, about the same as a school dorm, but what really blew his mind was that it had a private bathroom. That kind of thing on a mountain was sheer luxury.

There had to be construction companies and renovation firms sponsoring the dao field.

As he lightly ran his hand over the tiles on the balcony, Liu Yong’s heart was full of excitement—so much that he actually felt like crying.

Dad, Mom… are you seeing this?

I finally… finally have a real shot at making something of myself!

With emotions like that, there was no way he could sleep. He and Dongzi took turns using the bathroom and cleaning up, then, with a mentality almost like going on pilgrimage, put on their summer-weight black training robes and sat at the desk chatting idly.

Without them noticing, time slipped by. Before long, noise rose from the corridor outside, as if a lot of people had just poured in.

Liu Yong opened the door and saw that the corridor lights were already on, and only then realized with a start that the whole day had almost gone by.