Rise from a Low-class Family to Martial Artist

"Director, I am over sixty years old, and my Qi Blood is already starting to decline. I just want to contribute one last effort to our Martial Arts Academy in my final year. Can’t you agree to such a humble request?"

"Junior Martial Uncle Liu, you’re already over sixty. You should be enjoying your later years and give us juniors a chance."

"Junior Martial Uncle Liu, if you want to make a final contribution to the academy, it’s not impossible. Out of the 100 freshmen this year, you can choose any one, except Lin Chen."

"Choose my ass! You youngsters don’t understand what it means to respect the elderly and love the young?"

"Respecting the elderly is deserved only if the elder is worthy of respect. Some people act shamelessly because they’re old and use their age as leverage."

"You brats, today I’ll show you not to underestimate an old man’s poverty!"

Seeing that everyone in the yard was about to fight, an elder spoke up: "All of you, stop it! You’re all instructors of the Martial Arts Academy. What kind of example is this? Liu, you’re also in your later years; why argue with these youngsters?"

The elder’s words quieted everyone down. "You’re all aware of Lin Chen’s situation. His Qi Blood is extremely vigorous, and coincidentally, I have quite some research in this area. It’s most suitable for me to instruct Lin Chen."

But as soon as the elder said that, the originally quiet crowd started arguing again.

"Senior Brother Zhang, I disagree with you. If I remember correctly, when Liu Ru first made an offer to Lin Chen and the news returned to the academy, you thought Liu Ru was being a bit reckless."

"That was then, and this is now," the elder replied, his expression unchanged.

"Junior Brother Zhang indeed has deep research in Qi Blood, but the Martial Path is not solely about Qi Blood. The Refining Viscera Realm involves the refinement of the five viscera, and my lungs are famously strong. In terms of training the lungs, who in the academy can compare to me?"

"In training the lungs, Senior Brother Zhou is indeed first in the academy, but if one does not train the kidneys in martial arts, they grow old only to shed tears in vain. The kidneys are the most important to a martial artist. In training the kidneys, I claim to be second, and no one dares to claim to be first."

"Training the kidneys is important, but so is the liver. Without training the liver in refining the viscera, where does courage come from? When facing demon fiends, one might become frightened without even fighting."

"Nonsense, it’s the spleen that’s important!"

"It’s the heart that’s most important!"

"I can offer my contribution points to help Lin Chen exchange for resources!"

"Lin Chen doesn’t need your exchange for crap. The academy has covered all of Lin Chen’s training resources. Junior Brother Zhang, you should keep your contribution points for your retirement."

"Yao Xuan, do you think my sword isn’t sharp?"

"My mace has never been dull!"

...

...

"Everyone, please quiet down,"

The white-browed elder standing on the top steps of the courtyard looked a bit helpless. He had somewhat anticipated this scene but hadn’t expected his junior brothers to be so shameless.

How is this any different from a group of village shrews hurling insults on the street?

"As for who will instruct Lin Chen, I have decided that Lin Chen will choose for himself."

Traditionally, it was the instructors who selected the disciples, not the disciples choosing their instructors.

However, Lin Chen’s situation was special, and everyone could understand the director’s arrangement. This way, it was indeed the fairest.

"Director, I have no objection to letting Lin Chen choose the instructor, but I’m afraid Lin Chen isn’t too familiar with us. If he chooses based solely on appearance, I’m afraid he might not select the most suitable one for him."

An elder with a hooked nose and triangular eyes spoke, knowing his appearance put him at a disadvantage, as some disciples in the academy often fell silent in fright upon seeing him.

"Junior Brother’s suggestion is good, and I have considered this as well. When Lin Chen arrives at the academy, we will give him the Master’s Seal directly. All of you can write down your specialties, including the strength of the disciples you have taught in previous years, and after Lin Chen reviews the Master’s Seal, he will decide which one of you he will choose as his instructor."

Upon hearing the director’s words, everyone pondered for a moment and agreed that this method was indeed the most suitable.

Only the middle-aged instructors had bitter expressions on their faces. If this was the case, they couldn’t compare to these vice-directors at all.

These vice-directors all came from instructor positions, and their current disciples were all Grade-Entering Martial Artists, with even some Middle Grade Martial Artists among them. In contrast, the strongest disciples taught by the middle-aged instructors were only of the Lower Grade, making it no comparison.

Since these vice-directors had agreed, there was nothing the instructors could do even if they wanted to oppose it.

Among all the instructors, only Liu Ru’s expression remained unchanged. He never considered being able to accept Lin Chen as a disciple, but Qu Feng had already sent him a message that there were a few promising students this year, especially one named Ye Feng, who had matched up against Lin Chen and only lost by a single move.

He dared not hope for Lin Chen, but getting Ye Feng would be satisfactory.

Soon, everyone had written down their details on paper, which were collected uniformly and sent to the director’s study.

The Martial Arts Academy Director glanced over the contents his junior brothers had filled out and couldn’t help twitching his mouth. This bunch of shameless old fellows had written down their realms and positions directly.

This left Liu Ru and the other instructors with no chance at all.

"A bunch of shameless old bastards!"

Hua Qianwu cursed under his breath. The middle-aged man responsible for collecting the papers had a look of agreement on his face, as he had gathered the papers from each vice-director’s residence and naturally saw their contents.

Truly shameless!

"Director, should I organize these and give them to Lin Chen all at once?" the middle-aged man in charge of sorting asked.

"Yes."

Hua Qianwu nodded. Just as the man was about to pick up the materials, he watched as his director opened the drawer and took out another piece of paper, placing it on top of the others.

Middle-aged man: ?

Hua Qianwu: "Take them."

There was a gleam of pride in Hua Qianwu’s old eyes. He hadn’t said he wouldn’t participate from the start, and since the vice-directors could recruit, so could he.

The middle-aged man was dumbfounded for a moment, then took the papers and stepped outside.

As soon as he walked out the door, the middle-aged man eagerly glanced at the contents on the paper. Upon seeing what the director had written, he couldn’t help but gasp. Who could be more shameless than the director?

[Hua Qianwu: Martial Arts Second Grade Realm, Director of Canglan Martial Arts Academy, ten years as academy director, accepted two disciples, both have reached the Fourth Grade Realm...]

The director’s shamelessness lay not only in writing down his position but also using wording that could easily cause misunderstanding.

Indeed, the director had been in his position for ten years and had only accepted two disciples. Those two senior brothers truly were of the Fourth Grade Realm, but crucially, the director had taken them under his wing back when he was the vice-director, over twenty years ago.

But the way Director Hua worded it, Lin Chen might think those two disciples were taken under the director’s guidance within the last ten years and reached the Fourth Grade in that time.

At this moment, the middle-aged man wanted to inform those junior uncles: You all have fallen into the director’s trap!

When it comes to shamelessness, the director takes the cake!