Why do I have so many masters?

Chapter 136 Wang Anfeng's First Step (1/2)

Qibian Helili stared blankly ahead.

He spread out his palm, where golden sands slipped through his fingers with the wind, and the heat in his nose and mouth was painfully familiar. It was just like the scorching Great Desert near the grasslands where his tribe had been when he was young.

But wasn't he just in Great Qin?

The wind grew stronger, sweeping the sand from between his fingers.

Following the trail of the sand, he saw before him an endless expanse—the Great Desert landscape, with its roaring winds as loud as thunder, seemed to parch his throat just by looking.

He and Tuoba Yue's tribe weren't particularly powerful; even their strongest General was only a Fifth Rank strongman. Hence, he had never seen such extraordinary powers before. The sudden change in the world around him momentarily gave rise to the ridiculous notion of divine intervention.

That thought was quickly suppressed.

The wind picked up, stinging his face with sand. Qibian Helili paused briefly, then swiftly turned to look behind him. On the boundless Great Desert, a black column of wind had suddenly appeared, rising up to the heavens, violent and rolling toward him, engulfing everything in its path, tossing it into the air.

It formed and moved faster than any sandstorm Qibian Helili had ever seen. His young pupils dilated as confusion was buried beneath more pressing concerns. As the sandstorm, like a great monster, approached with overwhelming force, he gritted his teeth and turned, fleeing desperately for his life.

Even in such a situation, he hadn't completely lost his composure. Running wildly, his eyes searched all around until he spotted a rock that could shield his body. His eyes slightly brightened. Clenching his teeth, his battered body burst with tremendous strength.

He staggered forward at a speed even faster than those who had practiced some martial arts. Like a starving wolf darting through the Great Desert, he threw himself ahead of the sandstorm's devouring reach, taking cover behind the rock. The wind howled as he hugged the stone, his fingers digging into it, unheeding of the blood they drew.

In the Great Desert, sandstorms are a more terrifying disaster than bandits' curved sabers.

A bandit might kill a dozen people, but a sandstorm could wipe out an unprepared tribe—men, women, children, ordinary herdsmen, and strongmen capable of wrestling wild bulls alike—indiscriminately under the wrath of Heaven and Earth.

From experience, sandstorms didn't usually last long, but this time it seemed unending.

Qibian Helili's consciousness began to blur, but his arms refused to relax their grip.

Suddenly, he felt lighter. The remains of the wall in his embrace were lifted by the fierce wind. Despair flickered in his eyes, yet he still clung to the debris desperately.

As the wind weakened, the rock started to fall. If it crashed down, he would surely be badly injured and powerless—a fate as good as death in the Great Desert. Glancing at the three-meter drop beneath him, Qibian Helili steeled his heart, released the rock, and let himself fall to the side.

A dull thud sounded as Qibian Helili hit the sand. His chest and abdomen shook, forcing him to cough up blood. His limbs were weak, yet without hesitation, he bit down on a stick in his mouth and, scrambling and rolling, made a pathetic run for it.

The fading will in his mind sharply controlled his body, propelling him to find another place to take refuge while the wind still lessened.

But just as hope seemed within reach, the wind surged violently again.

As if the previous abating of the storm had been Heaven's cruel mockery, Qibian Helili grunted, and despair finally took hold. Looking up at the dim sky, he remembered the tiger he had seen when he was a slave in his third master's house, feeling as helpless as the deer under the tiger's paw, endlessly tormented out of malice.

The deer's fleeting chance of escape was but a cruel game for the tiger, who ultimately snapped its neck with ease, blood spilling everywhere. It was his first sighting of such a ferocious beast, starkly different from the reserved and ruthless desert wolves.

Though wolves were cruel, they never toyed with their prey.

Feeling his strength ebb away in the relentless wind, Qibian Helili's heart filled with hopelessness. Gazing at the high, distant sky, he felt a bitter helplessness.

Since when did Heaven and Earth display the traits of a tiger, taking pleasure in the despair of its prey?

............

Meanwhile, at Shaolin Temple.

Master Ying stood with his hands behind his back, looking at Wang Anfeng beside him, and said, lazily,

"Do you know what to do now?"

Wang Anfeng took a deep breath and nodded slightly.

In front of him stood a large circular disc, elaborate with dragon and phoenix carvings, and it displayed the very struggle Qibian Helili faced in the Great Desert sandstorm.

He recognized this foreign youth.

It was the same boy who had been chained by an exotic merchant and seemed to have some connection with Tuoba Yue.

Wang Anfeng had just returned to the Academy with Tuoba Yue, who was in low spirits and had departed after a few words of farewell. With a sense of helplessness, Wang Anfeng had been heading towards the Wind Character Tower when Master Ying informed him to hurry back to Shaolin Temple to witness everything Qibian Helili was going through.

As he read more scriptures, Wang Anfeng understood that Shaolin Temple must be one of the rumored Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands. The youth's encounter was under the masters' control, and his life wasn't in danger. Although anxious, he didn't lose his composure and steadied himself to listen as his Master explained the situation.

He learned that Master Ying found the youth had some potential worth cultivating and, having nothing better to do, provided this foreign boy with an opportunity, which also served as a trial for Wang Anfeng.

Wang Anfeng took another deep breath, watching as a passage gradually opened before him.

With just one more step forward, he could directly step out of the Shaolin Temple and appear in the middle of the Great Desert.

The longsword was not carried on his back, but held in the palm of his hand. It was at the moment of stepping forward that the Scholar suddenly stopped him and said,

"Do you know what you must do?"

Wang Anfeng's steps briefly paused, he remained silent but nodded his head.

The Scholar said with seeming casualness:

"Remember, this is also a test for you. What you need to do is not to save someone but to subdue him."

"Only by taking him as your subordinate and passing on your martial arts to him can you truly save him."

"Go now."

Mr. Ying rarely said so much this time. After he spoke, he waved his hand, and Wang Anfeng was immediately engulfed within, nearly vanishing when he heard his Third Master's loud shouts in his ears.

"Remember to do as I told you..."

Before he could hear the second sentence clearly, the scene before him already turned into the dunes and swirling sands of the Great Desert.

Back in the Shaolin Temple, Hong Luoyu gritted his teeth unhappily, looking at Mr. Ying's figure with a ready-to-pounce attitude. Wu Changqing, seeing this, only felt a headache coming on. To prevent further provocations and disturbing his observation of Wang Anfeng's performance, he took the initiative to speak,

"Mr., isn't this matter a bit too premature for Anfeng?"

Mr. Ying was silent for a moment and did not respond with the usual sarcasm. Instead, he stood with his hands behind his back, looking into the distant sky, and it was only after a while that he finally spoke, his voice indifferent,

"Premature?"

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"Sooner or later, he has to walk this path. Whether sooner or later, what's the difference?"

His voice carried into the distance, seeming tired, or perhaps it was just the elder's illusion. Just then, he noticed Hong Luoyu's increasingly hostile gaze toward the Scholar, felt a sudden jolt in his heart, but showed no sign of disturbance and smilingly said that Mr. truly spoke in an unfathomable manner, then he turned to look at the Thief, stroking his beard and smilingly said,

"However, speaking of which, Thief, the way you've been teaching Anfeng is quite masterful."

"It did surprise this old man."

Seeing Wu Changqing brought himself up, Hong Luoyu first paused, and then a look of satisfaction appeared. He raised his chin and laughed proudly,

"Of course."

"You know, in our line of work, if you want to make a name for yourself in Jianghu, you can't keep a low profile. Your skills can be mediocre, but you can't skimp on the style. What with chasing the moon and searching for fragrance, dressed in white against the wind, tsk tsk tsk, that grandeur, that bearing..."

Seeing the latter shaking his head and rambling as if he had forgotten about provoking Mr. Ying, the elder breathed a sigh of relief, watching him speak with a smile, feeling rather emotional in his heart.

Although the Thief often spoke disrespectfully, this character of his was indeed easy to deal with.

Before this thought faded, the Scholar in green clothes sneered, glanced at him sideways, and his lips curled up as he uttered one word:

"Showy."

Hong Luoyu was like struck by lightning, his body suddenly trembled, and then he flew into a rage, turning his head to look at the Scholar and burst out,

"What did you say, Mr. Ying? You son of a—, let me tell you..."

"Do you think you're something special? When you made your move against that kid, you said it was to test his character, wasn't it just for your own amusement?"

The smirk on the Scholar's face faded and his voice grew chilly as he said,

"What did you say?"

Hong Luoyu drifted back a step, no longer pressing aggressively but with a mocking expression, he used his Qinggong to float teasingly in front of the Scholar,

"Oh, getting angry out of embarrassment?"

"Hit me then. If you dare, don't use your authority and just hit me, come on, lah lah lah..."

Wu Changqing sighed and no longer paid attention to them, together with Ci Yuan, neatly stuffed earplugs into his ears, and turned to check on Wang Anfeng's situation. He faintly heard some kind of scream and the sound of a face rubbing against rock violently, but he pretended to have heard nothing, murmuring to himself,

"Indeed..."

"Quite easy to deal with."

PS: Offering up the first update...