Chapter 23 - 22: Yu Xun Martial Arts Hall, Special Trainee!

Chapter 23: Chapter 22: Yu Xun Martial Arts Hall, Special Trainee!

Shangjing City. East Suburb. Yu Xun Martial Arts Hall.

Liu Zimo stood under the martial arts hall’s plaque, gazing up at the four bold, flamboyant characters. His heart surged with emotion.

This was the place—hailed as one of the three Great Holy Lands of the Federation’s Martial Dao in the Post-Apocalypse. Aside from Elder Martial Saint Hong Yuxun, three Martial Arts Grandmasters—Zhao Jiajun, Sun Xincheng, and Wan Hongying—had also walked out of this very hall. Over the next thirty years, this establishment would train and cultivate nearly a hundred Iron Bone realm and dozens of Golden Body realm martial arts powerhouses for the Federation Government. It was said that the Guiding Breathing Method and the Five Animals Fist were meticulously deduced and created by the Yu Xun Martial Arts Hall at the invitation of the Head of State to cope with the catastrophe following the onset of the Post-Apocalypse.

In the Post-Apocalypse, this place was unequivocally the holy land in the hearts of all the Federation’s martial artists. Liu Zimo had fantasized more than once about having the opportunity to study at the Yu Xun Martial Arts Hall. Unfortunately, his martial arts talent had been limited. All of his accumulated military merit had been spent on improving his strength and exchanging for daily necessities. Up until his rebirth, he had never gotten the chance to further his training here.

Liu Zimo quietly recalled memories related to Yu Xun Martial Saint. Although Yu Xun Martial Saint’s fame was not as resounding as Yu Chen Martial Saint’s, his true strength and influence in the Martial Arts Realm far exceeded his. Rumor had it that even before the Demon Calamity descended, Yu Xun Martial Saint had already successfully broken through his limits, stepping into the Golden Body realm known as Innate. The reason Shangjing City managed to preserve most of itself during the catastrophe, suffering far fewer casualties and less impact than other cities, was precisely because Yu Xun Martial Saint stepped forward at a critical moment.

With these thoughts in mind, Liu Zimo lifted his foot and stepped into the martial arts hall.

"Hello, sir. Are you here to visit a friend or become an apprentice?"

As soon as he crossed the threshold of the courtyard, a young man in a training uniform approached to greet him. Floating above the young man’s head was a Shadow Lock shining with green light, indicating decent potential. Liu Zimo’s gaze swept over him. After seeing white lights all along the way, this sudden pop of green instantly lifted his spirits. He secretly marveled that this was indeed the Yu Xun Martial Arts Hall; even a disciple standing at the door to greet guests possessed considerable potential.

The young man looked to be only twenty-one or twenty-two, yet he had already achieved some success in body tempering and had even birthed a hint of Inner Breath. Truly not bad! When the world underwent its drastic changes and Spiritual Energy erupted, he would definitely enter the Copper Skin realm after the first baptism of Spiritual Energy, becoming a minor expert in the Post-Apocalypse.

TSK! If even a greeting disciple had a Green Lock over his head, wouldn’t the official disciples and even True Disciples inside the martial arts hall be even more formidable?

In an instant, Liu Zimo’s anticipation reached its peak. He couldn’t wait to go inside and see for himself.

"Neither! I heard that the Yu Xun Martial Arts Hall has a public security service. Is that true?" Liu Zimo said softly.

Hearing this, the greeting disciple’s eyes lit up at the prospect of business.

"You want to hire bodyguards, sir? No problem! You’ve definitely come to the right place. Our Yu Xun Martial Arts Hall indeed offers this service, and every Martial Master in the hall is an expert. Whether it’s guarding a residence or providing close-quarters protection, they are highly experienced—much more reliable than those so-called security companies outside!

"However, this service is currently only available to our hall’s members. If you have such needs, sir, how about opening a membership at the front desk first?" the young man said, seizing the opportunity to pitch a membership as he pointed to a nearby cashier’s desk.

Liu Zimo nodded in understanding. This was very modern. No matter the business, memberships paved the way. However, he also knew very well that this so-called membership system was likely just a screening method for the Yu Xun Martial Arts Hall before negotiating any security services. The appearance fee for any official Martial Master in the hall would probably be several times, if not dozens of times, the membership fee. If a client couldn’t afford or was reluctant to pay for a membership, what was the point of discussing security?

A few minutes later, after Liu Zimo readily paid the 88,888-yuan membership fee and became a gold-tier member of the martial arts hall, he was smoothly led deeper inside by the greeting disciple.

Though it was called a martial arts hall, it functioned more like a martial arts academy. The interior grounds were incredibly vast. As far as the eye could see, it was filled with towering trees and deep courtyards, boasting multiple teaching buildings, dormitories, and martial arts training centers. Aside from that, it was fully equipped with open-air tracks, basketball courts, football fields, and swimming pools.

Walking along, Liu Zimo was astonished, secretly praising the Yu Xun Martial Arts Hall as truly deserving its future title as one of the three Great Holy Lands of the Martial Dao. Setting everything else aside, this level of financial power alone was far beyond ordinary imagination. Even if it was the suburbs, this was still the Jing Suburb! To acquire such a massive plot of land would likely cost hundreds of millions, if not billions. Furthermore, occupying such a large area in the Jing Suburb to build a private martial arts hall of this scale wasn’t something that could be achieved with money alone. He had long heard that Yu Xun Martial Saint had joined the Great Xia military before the catastrophe, serving as the military’s Chief Martial Arts Consultant. Now, it seemed the rumors were true.

"Hm?"

As they reached the open-air track, Liu Zimo’s figure suddenly paused. He stopped right at the edge of the field, his sharp gaze lifting toward a group of martial arts students practicing the horse stance. Among the two-dozen-odd young men, there were actually three Green Locks, two Blue Locks, and one Yellow Lock!

However, these were not the reasons Liu Zimo had unexpectedly stopped. Having already made up his mind not to lock onto anything other than red or purple Shadow Locks, he naturally wouldn’t be swayed by these locks below the red tier. What truly surprised and even shocked him was that among these twenty-odd young students, he saw a person with absolutely nothing floating above their head!

This was a situation Liu Zimo had never encountered since awakening from his rebirth. Just what kind of person didn’t even have a white Shadow Lock above their head? From Sanyuan to Luozhou, and then from Luozhou to Shangjing, Liu Zimo had met all kinds of people along the way. Men, women, the elderly, children—he had even seen several infants who were only a few days old. Among these people, as long as they were living, breathing human beings, there would always be a virtual Shadow Lock hovering over their heads. Whether the lock was white, green, or yellow, it was ever-present.

But what was he seeing now? A guy with an empty space above his head, without even half a Shadow Lock! With such a unique existence, it was hard for him not to notice!

"Is it a Superpower, or some other reason?" Liu Zimo wondered, growing increasingly interested in the young boy on the field who looked to be in his teens.

Noticing that Liu Zimo had stopped to watch the newcomers in their horse stances, the greeting disciple introduced with a smile:

"Mr. Liu, those are the newly enrolled students practicing their basic skills. Since they are beginners without the slightest Martial Arts Foundation, they have to temper themselves in the beginner class for three months. After that, they will be specially instructed by the masters of the hall, who will teach them according to their individual aptitudes.

"If you’re interested, Mr. Liu, you can also come and give it a try later. It strengthens the body and prolongs life, while also giving you a certain degree of self-defense capability."

It had to be said that this young man was quite eloquent, never forgetting to develop clientele for his martial arts hall regardless of the situation.

"Alright, if there’s a chance, I’ll definitely come and experience it!

"But for now, business is more important," Liu Zimo replied softly. He withdrew his gaze from that special student and continued following the greeting disciple deeper into the martial arts hall.