Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
One step into the sky.
It was an understatement to describe being able to be the disciple of a head of department as one step into the sky. Such a great thing that countless Sacred Martial Hall martial artists dared not even dream of had actually fallen into the hands of Qin Fen.
“Azia, you are a martial artist who cultivates neo martial art. Why are you fighting with me for no reason? Qin Fen’s cultivation seems to be paleo martial arts.” Ferrero’s eyebrows that were like two golden swords were twitching constantly. They carried an intention that he would make a move if they were to have a disagreement.
“Martial dao is like the sea and stones of mountains that can attack jades. Neo martial arts can allow Qin Fen to widen his horizons.” Sakra looked gloomy and glared back at Ferrero with no intention of backing off. His face also showed a look that said: “try going against me”.
The quiet room that was just in a prevailing mood of harmony had become a brewing storm in a blink of an eye. Two great forces were pressuring one another.
Qin Fen, who was sitting between the two people, helplessly gave a bitter smile, “Two seniors, there is no need to be so anxious. I don’t think I have agreed to worship any one of you as my master…”
…
The aura of power and the noises that were clashing one other disappeared instantly without a trace.
Sakra and Ferrero were both stunned. Four sharp eyes shrouded Qin Fen as they asked at the same time, “What did you say?”
Qin Fen spread his arms out gently, “I don’t think I’ve agreed to be the disciple to either one of you, right? So, there’s no need for both of you to fight and spoil the peace.”
…
The small room went quiet once again. Only the appliances that were burned down by Sakra due to the anger before this occasionally burst out a few dazzling sparks every once in a while.
The two heads of department who didn’t like each other now exchanged glances. They couldn’t believe their ears and wanted to look for evidence that they have heard it wrongly in each other’s eyes.
As the heads of department of Sacred Martial Hall, who wouldn’t sharpen their heads and dive straight in if they were to say that they were recruiting disciples? As for the object of the apprenticeship, would there even be a need to ask if he or she agreed? This question was an extremely stupid question for many people.
However, today…
After Sakra and Ferrero went silent for a few seconds, they remembered one thing. The young man before them was a very strange person. Not only were his strengths and talents out of the ordinary, his way of action was butalso not something anyone could predict.
“Kid, why? Are you sure you really don’t want to?” Ferrero asked enticingly, “Do you think that I am not qualified to be your master? I have checked your information and you never really had a real martial dao master. Your first cultivation should be Dragon Elephant Prajna Art, and your later cultivations should also be very similar to Dragon Elephant Prajna Art. I’m guessing that you must’ve had some interesting encounters, right?”
Qin Fen’s heart shook a little. The metal ball was his biggest secret. He had never told anyone about this, could it be that Sacred Martial Hall had discovered that something was wrong through the previous monitoring device?
“Is it strange?” Ferrero shrugged his shoulders and sat back onto the sofa, “Ever since the martial dao civilization of Atlantis was discovered, relics of the Atlantis branch had also appeared around the world. Some martial dao among them had even been spread out. There’s nothing strange if you had picked up some cheat accidentally.”
Sakra nodded in agreement. There were several martial arts masters in the Federation that didn’t achieve the achievements they had today through the help of the Federation or the Sacred Martial Hall. They were just lucky enough to have had some small interesting encounters and developed into a martial arts master from these encounters.
Qin Fen’s nervous heart once again restored its calmness. The saying: ‘the precious stone lands its innocent possessor in jail’ had been repeated countless times in human history, all was good as long as it wasn’t his secret that had been revealed.
“Kid, you probably still don’t know the benefits of becoming the disciple of a head of department, right?” Ferrero explained with patience, “If you become my disciple, I will let you see anything you like from the Secret Art Pavilion. Even though you still don’t have the qualifications of entering the Secret Art Pavilion directly, this is no different than having the right to enter the Secret Art Pavilion. Besides, as my disciple, you can even get a monthly batch of additional medicines for support.”
“You’ll also have these as my disciple.” Sakra interjected indifferently, “Any disciples of all the heads of department would have these benefits.”
Qin Fen’s calm eyes lit up suddenly, “There are such benefits of being a disciple of a head of department? Does this mean that the benefits would double up if I were to be two heads of department’s disciple at the same time?”
“What?”
Ferrero and Sakra expressed their shock simultaneously and looked at Qin Fen blankly again. This young man didn’t seem to have a problem with having too many masters. But the Sacred Martial Hall head of department’s position was extremely noble, how could they share their disciples with other people?
Ferrero gave two awkward coughs. He sat next to Qin Fen and said with a very serious expression, “Kid, I know your love for martial dao, but you can only choose one master.”
It was a rare occasion that Sakra stood in the same boat as Ferrero, indicating that he also shared the same thoughts silently.
“Is it?”
The light in Qin Fen’s eyes dimmed down instantly. His black eyes evaluated the two Sacred Martial Hall heads of department next to him left and right.
Silence, silence…
There was only silence left in the small room. Ferrero and Sakra stared at Qin Fen nervously, and their hearts were filled with mixed emotions.
On usual days, whenever a head of department of Sacred Martial Hall wanted to recruit a disciple, they would always choose slowly according to their own preferences. Who knew that all of this would be flipped over today? As heads of department of Sacred Martial Hall, a disciple-to-be would actually be the one to pick his own master.
One second, two seconds… ten seconds… thirty seconds…
In just a minute, Ferrero felt that time was as long as the whole world.
The two heads of department looked at each other subconsciously and saw the same thought in each other’s eyes.
So be it if we are to be his masters at the same time! I’m afraid it would be extremely difficult to find such a talented young man in these times!
A wry smile filled both the heads of department’s eyes in an instant. Everyone’s encounters couldn’t be the same, and their final achievements in martial dao would also not be the same.
Ferrero was clear that being able to become Sacred Martial Hall’s head of department also meant that his future martial dao development would already be very slow. It wouldn’t even be strange if he were to stay in this realm forever.
As martial artists who had dedicated their whole life to martial dao, who wouldn’t want to see what exactly lied at the ultimate end of martial dao?
If one knew that this wasn’t something that he or she could accomplish, people would want to pin their wishes onto their descendants.
It was just like a common man who had lived in mediocrity, yet pinned his hopes on his own children to become someone great.
Divine beast martial artist! Sacred Martial Hall had never produced divine beast martial artists! Sakra was very clear that if Qin Fen could maintain his momentum and was lucky enough to survive the incoming martial arts barriers, he would much likely become the next divine beast level martial artist.
Cultivating a divine beast level martial artist was not only the goal and dream of Sacred Martial Hall but also the goal and dream of any martial artist.
“Ai!”
Sakra and Ferrero sighed at the same time. It was probably also not an easy task to want the other party to give up the position of being Qin Fen’s master.
As martial artists, who wouldn’t want their own disciple to become a divine beast martial artist? In that kind of situation, even their masters would gain a high reputation.
“Kid…” Ferrero leaned back against the sofa and said as he patted Qin Fen’s shoulder with one hand, “You won. We agreed. Even if we will be laughed at by the other heads of department, we still agree! We’ll take you as our disciple together, what do you think?”
“This…” Qin Fen raised his hand, scratched his head, and shook his head slightly.
“What do you mean?”
Ferrero, who had just leaned against the sofa sat up straight again and looked at Qin Fen with a puzzled face, “Kid, I’ve already agreed, so why are you going back on your words?”
“Two seniors…” Qin Fen got up, circumvented the coffee table, and looked at the heads of department who were sitting on the sofa with confusion. His expression got a little more serious, “I am extremely flattered to be so valued by both of you. To be honest, I also wish to be both of your disciples immediately.”
Ferrero listened and nodded. It was obviously the correct thing to have such thoughts, so why did he have to shake his head?
“But, I’m not able to do so at the moment.” Qin Fen said immediately as he saw the huge change in both the heads of department’s expression, “That is because I didn’t come to Sacred Martial Hall alone. I still have a group of friends. And because of me, they followed me to the basic type Outer Sacred Martial Hall stubbornly, leaving their possibilities of an even better future.”
Ferrero’s forehead was drenched with cold sweat as he listened. The muscles at the corner of his eyes were twitching slightly as he said in his heart. Kid, don’t tell me that you want to demand an exorbitant price from Sakra and I to not only recruit you as our disciple but to also recruit your group of friends?
“I really hope to achieve a higher martial dao, but I cannot be so selfish.” Qin Fen said as he bowed gently, “I believe that being able to be a disciple of Sacred Martial Hall’s heads of department is something that all young martial artists in this world are wishing for. I think that my group of friends would also be willing to become disciples to both of you. So, I hope that I can have a few more brethren.”
The small room had fallen silent countless times today.
A demand for an exorbitant price! It was indeed a demand for an exorbitant price! Ferrero sighed weakly. He is indeed a young martial artist who walked on the divine dao path. With just an opening of his mouth, he spoke of such an unreasonable price.
“Kid, I admire your friendship.” Ferrero applauded, “They are indeed lucky to be able to be your friend.”
Qin Fen shook his head gently as he bowed, replaying the scene of the tragic battle on the beach the other day in his mind. If it wasn’t for that group of friends who fought with their lives, he would probably be dead a long time ago.
“It is my luck to be able to be their friend.”
Ferrero shrugged his shoulders simply as he listened to Qin Fen’s answer, “It doesn’t really matter as to whose luck it is. What I’m trying to say is that, kid! I don’t know if you’re smart or stupid. Even if I were to circumvent the rules of Sacred Martial Hall through other methods, I will still have to go through a lot for you. With such a group…”
Sakra’s silent face showed a worried look and nodded in cooperation with Ferrero’s words.
Even if the heads of department of Sacred Martial Hall wanted to avoid this rule, they would still have to deal with the aftermath of this. It wasn’t something that was easily said and done.
“Is that the case?” Qin Fen straightened his back slowly and looked sorry, “Seniors, I am really sorry. I didn’t know that my request would cause you such troubles.”
Ferrero looked at Qin Fen’s serious expression, and his heartfelt a slight tickle as he guessed silently, This kid isn’t possibly going to say something like if they can’t join the apprenticeship, he wouldn’t join it too, right?
“Since they can’t join the apprenticeship, I will not join the apprenticeship either. I can’t abandon my companions…”
Ferrero’s mind went blank as his worst guess really came true. He had some regrets for having met Qin Fen. If he were to truly miss this chance of recruiting him as a disciple after seeing such a talented young man, he might keep comparing his next potential descendants to Qin Fen subconsciously in the future. Then, there would be a possibility that he wouldn’t be able to find his own descendant even till the day he died.
Sakra’s expression was no better than Ferrero. He had only heard of a buy-one-get-one-free situation, yet today Qin Fen was proposing a buy-one-get-four, five or even six-free. This was even more horrifying than hypermarket sales.
“This… Qin Fen, let’s discuss it again.” Ferrero smiled and said, “Actually, this isn’t because we don’t want to accept them. The key is that they all have large family forces behind them. These forces will not necessarily allow them to worship us as masters. You should know that social science and technology are developing at a high speed, but the relationship between mentoring and apprenticeship has not been eliminated. On the contrary, with the rise of martial dao, the relationship between mentoring and apprenticeship is more valued than ever before. It can be said that there is a close benefit-based relationship between them.”
Sakra cooperated with Ferrero once again and nodded. This method was indeed the best way to reject him. Those young martial artists had a completely different background from Qin Fen, they would naturally not make decisions in doing things as simply as Qin Fen.
“Is that the case?” Qin Fen took out his own badge and chose conference mode. He waited till Caesar and the rest were all transferred in and said, “This is Qin Fen. There’s something important and I’ll need all of you. Can you all come to my room immediately, please?”
Five seconds later, Xue Tian walked through the door smiling. His pupils shrank and enlarged instantly as soon as he saw the two heads of department sitting on the sofa, and then returned to normal.
Caesar appeared in Qin Fen’s room in nine seconds. His eyes stayed on the two heads of department for a few seconds before returning to normal.
Brooks, Mourad, and Solomon also appeared in the room quickly.
Everyone did not ask and simply waited for Qin Fen to explain.
“Here’s the thing.” Qin Fen reached out and introduced the two men on the sofa politely, “These two seniors are Head of Publicity Department, Ferrero, and Head of Criminal Department, Azia.”
Head of department? The young martial artists showed a surprised expression once again. It was already extremely difficult to see a head of department in Sacred Martial Hall, yet there were two heads of department in Qin Fen’s room today!
“These two heads of department would like to accept me, and everyone as their disciples. But because of your families…”
Pu tong… pu tong…
Besides Xue Tian and Qin Fen, all the young men knelt on the ground and said loudly as they saluted with their hands, “Worship Master!”
Qin Fen’s mouth hung open as he looked at his several companions. This simple and neat movement was indeed unexpected, they had already worshipped them before they even finished listening.
Ferrero looked stiffly at the four young martial artists. He had never imagined such a response before. According to the information from the Invitation Department, the families of these young men all had their own forces in different districts.
If their families were placed in ancient times, they were compared to the influential clan and the aristocratic families back then.
In theory, the children of these wealthy families would go through a holistic decision-making process before doing anything. Especially when it comes to big events, they would have to contact their families first to ask for their opinions before taking action.
“You…” Sakra hesitated and asked, “Don’t you need to contact your families?”
“Nope.” Caesar looked up and said, “If I can’t make my own decisions in matters of martial dao and still need others to make arrangements for me, what’s the point for me in practicing martial arts?”
The other three just nodded silently. Sakra’s hesitant eyes turned into admiration suddenly. The children of aristocratic families would usually have excellent education and apex-level martial arts, but they would often be distracted from learning to balance and compromise because they had been receiving the nurture of benefits since young. They would often only end up being a martial artist with adequate strength, and could never really climb to the top of martial dao.
With their hearts scattered, they still wouldn’t be able to be the top martial artist even if they had the cheats to secret martial arts! Sakra didn’t expect that these children of aristocratic families did not have the educational shadows of compromise, balance, and thorough decision-making at all.
Simple, neat, and decisive! This style of handling matters was somewhat similar to that of Qin Fen.
Ferrero’s stiff expression had all turned into a bitter smile. He didn’t expect the excuse he thought of previously would be broken by these kids through real actions in just the blink of an eye.
Xue Tian smiled as he followed Qin Fen’s steps consistently. They knelt down and shouted in unison, “Master…”
“Nevermind!”
Ferrero’s wry smile turned into pride in the blink of an eye. He tapped on the coffee table and said, “Each of you young people has good qualifications. To me, having you guys as my disciple is not a loss at all!”
Sakra also had a feeling of relief. He got up and walked out the door along with Ferrero.
“Wait a minute.”
Qin Fen’s voice halted the two heads of department’s footsteps at the same time. He walked up to the two people and said seriously as he bowed deeply, “Thank you, two Masters.”
Ferrero and Sakra caught a glimpse of each other and a graceful smile flashed across their eyes. It seemed that their other purpose had yet to escape the eyes of this disciple.
With a gentle smile, the two men passed by Qin Fen and walked toward the door again.
“Two Masters.” Qin Fen’s voice rang again. He whispered as he looked at the two heads of department who looked back with confusion, “As for these damaged appliances, who would be responsible for paying?”
“Him!”
Ferrero pointed at Sakra and disappeared at the door instantly. His speed of hiding from debts was the best in the world.
Sakra looked at the damaged electrical appliances and sighed. The neo martial art he cultivated was indeed powerful, but it also had a very bad shortcoming. With just a slight carelessness, he could damage the household appliances easily.
“Record it onto my account.”
Sakra gave a long sigh helplessly and turned to walk out of the room.
Caesar smiled at the home appliances that sparked in the room, “Qin Fen, the thanks you said earlier was for this?”
“No.” The gratefulness on Qin Fen’s face had not yet faded, “I killed Bae Seong-Joon’s two personal disciples that day, and it can be said that I have formed a deep hatred with Neo Taekwondo. Even if Bae Seong-Joon came looking at the door to say that he wanted to fight me as revenge for his disciples, it would be completely reasonable. It wouldn’t be too good for Sacred Martial Hall to interfere, right?”
Caesar smiled and understood instantly. Qin Fen’s strength was indeed a lot stronger, but his star-class strength was still a little weak if he were to face the real martial arts master. To go against a martial artist founder of an established sect like Bae Seong-Joon, there was a great chance that he would be killed.
In addition to Ferrero and Sakra accepting Qin Fen as their disciple in order to teach him martial arts, there was also an even more important point. That was, to provide invisible protection.
If Bae Seong-Joon came to the door wanting to kill Qin Fen before Qin Fen had fully grown to reach a certain strength, as Qin Fen’s masters, they would also have enough reason to guard their disciple.
With this, as long as Qin Fen didn’t choose to face Bae Seong-Joon straightforwardly, Bae Seong-Joon must first pass the first two heads of department of Sacred Martial Hall before he could kill Qin Fen.
To fight against Sacred Martial Hall’s heads of department? Caesar was not optimistic that Bae Seong-Joon could pass. Although he was the martial master of his own established sect, he would still not have the ability.
If he could win the heads of department, why would he even go out to open up his own sect? Wouldn’t it be better to just simply be Sacred Martial Hall’s head of department?
