The Ashes of Fate - Chapter 10

Translator – Synthsoon

After becoming a recognized Senior Brother, An Jing and other young girls and boys were welcomed to the real training of the Life Suspending Manor.

Not only were they subjected to physical training, the Manor started teaching them true “Martial Arts Techniques” and “Mind Arts”.

The beginning of the DaChen style of Martial Arts started at the [Internal Breath], but before becoming a true Internal Breath Martial Artist, apprentice Martial Arts disciples had to pass through [Three Challenges].

The first challenge lies within the heart, one must not be afraid of danger, to the point where one could stay still despite seeing an incoming blade.

The second challenge lies within the body, one must have sufficient Qi and be able to unleash a thousand punches without tiring.

And the final challenge lies within one’s technique, they must refine one technique to the highest level, so that they may understand it fully and apply their knowledge to a hundred other techniques.

Only when the heart, body, and technique are all completely disciplined can one strike a blow that can penetrate an entire body, thus realizing the “Internal Breath”,

The challenge of the body is simple, as only training is required. The disciples of the Life Suspending Manor were gathered from all over the lands, so there is absolutely no question regarding their talents, anyone can succeed given enough time.

While the heart requires rigorous discipline, it must be trained until one could quiet their mind and concentrate their spirit, they could watch a fist flying straight towards them without blinking, nor would they panic when experiencing pain that penetrates the brain.

Since An Jing defeated eleven people in a row, sparring had become a common sight on the arena, even though nobody would challenge An Jing, the other four disciples who got to eat meat were challenged daily. The places would change every ten days, which sharpened everyone’s techniques extremely fast.

Speaking of techniques, the challenge of the technique was the hardest. It required training all day and night, so that one may use their technique to meld “heart” and “body” to master their “Innate Air”, then they may finally transform it into “Internal Breath”.

The reason why An Jing could crush the other disciples, was because his “body” and “heart” had long been mastered, only his “technique” had not yet been completed, but he was still ahead in progress compared to the others.

And technique, wasn’t merely limited to physical ones that could be used in combat, it was also about one’s awareness of their flesh, internal organs and body— if one couldn’t recognize their vessels and veins, couldn’t differentiate between the different meridian points, couldn’t understand their own organs, how could they realize their Innate Air and turn it into Internal Breath?

That’s why the Life Suspending Manor had been teaching disciples to read and write: Learning Martial Arts requires culture.

The Heart Arts the Manor taught was named “Abyss-Side Qi Cultivating Pole”, the disciples had to stand on a pole while blindfolded, closing off their senses as if they were standing at the precipice of an abyss. This taught them how to control their muscles and internal organs, without fear, panic, or movement.

Although it wasn’t a high-level technique, it was still much better than the simple techniques passed down by many other Martial Arts families, not only can it nourish Qi energy and focus the mind, it can also refine the body’s vital energies.

And the Martial Arts technique taught is called “Armor Piercing True Force”, which is a method of exercising energy, but something about it surprised An Jing.… it was only a part of a greater technique.

Armor Piercing True Force was only the chapter about Energy Release of a larger technique.

By using the heart to release energy, the more courageous and unyielding the wielder was, more energy could be released in an instant. Once this technique has reached the Grand Completion stage, its power can pierce armor and break steel.

The Abyss-Side Qi Cultivating Pole and Armor Piercing True Force were both Martial Arts techniques that aimed to cultivate the “Courageous and Resolute Fighting Spirit”. It emphasized explosive power and attacking in one breath, following the path of fighting to the death and exchanging one’s life for another.

Coupled with the name “Life Suspending Manor”, An Jing could essentially confirm this place was very likely to be a base of some large sect, and was used to cultivate assassins and Sacrificial Soldiers.

Although he had doubts before, he was not as sure as he was now.

For An Jing, the Abyss-Side Qi Cultivation Pole was very easy, the year he spent escaping from one place to another was filled with near-death situations, as if he was walking next to an abyss. This made it easy for his heart to get used to the technique and understand its inner workings.

The same was true for the other Calamity Children, they also quickly adapted to the technique, with the exception of a few slow learners who needed some explanations from the others before they understood it.

Perhaps this was a Heart Technique that was designed for these “Lucky Survivors”.

But for Armor Piercing True Force, it was much more difficult.

An Jing learnt quite fast, he was soon able to use a variety of weapons skillfully, he could even release an extra forty to fifty percent power in an instant burst. However only a few could keep up with his progress, most of the others couldn’t even get past the beginning stages.

As the Senior Brother, An Jing was willing to help the other children solve their troubles.

For example, he would give some advice on their training, teach them ways to deal with their fatigue, or talk about his own perception of certain Martial Techniques, which was much more detailed than the lecturer’s lessons.

Under his tutelage, Zhang Ying, Gu YeQi and Cang LinZu grasped the Heart Technique in a short while. Cang LinZu and several other talented children even mastered the Armor Piercing True Force as well.

Even though the others didn’t fully master the techniques, they created their own insights. They knew An Jing didn’t lie or hide certain things from them, and they could see he genuinely talked about his experiences. As a result, they were grateful for his generosity and began to trust him.

Since then, many children talked to him about their worries — most of them were children who were about to start puberty or those who just completed it, who had imaginative thoughts or mental stresses, while others missed their parents or hometown, and felt like they didn’t matter.

An Jing felt like he didn’t have a choice, but he was willing to hear them out patiently, and comfort them like an older brother.

In this way, not only did the children in his dormitory, even other dormitories, both male and female, developed a heartfelt respect for An Jing as an older brother.

It was quite a joyous thing to be respected and loved.

When it came to lecturing, those who were teaching had to have a deeper understanding of what was being explained.

During his lessons, An Jing realized his knowledge of Martial Arts was too reliant on his natural talents, even though he understood them, he wasn’t too clear about the specific concepts.

The process of explaining to his younger brothers and sisters was also a process of reviewing the key points and thoroughly understanding these Heart Arts and Martial Arts Techniques, from ‘proficiency’ to ‘integration’.

However, it was also during this period of time that the Life Suspending Manor eliminated te first batch of disciples who didn’t meet the requirements.

“There are a portion of people who do not meet the requirements of our Life Suspending Manor, and have been eliminated during these recent half-monthly drills.”

This was the explanation given by one of the Yao Pavillion doctors to the crowd’s skepticism early one morning.

There were thirty people missing from the entire Manor, no more and no less, enough for everyone to notice, but didn’t cause too much of a shock..

Most of those eliminated were children who lacked physical strength and whose progress in Martial Arts was extremely slow, which was perfectly reasonable and in line with the majority of people’s imagination.

It was only natural that they were eliminated, and neither everyone nor they themselves were surprised.

This was also the case with An Jing.

However, with his keen observation skills, he accidentally discovered an oddity.

It wasn’t that strange …… but on the day the children were eliminated, An Jing couldn’t remember hearing the sound of a carriage leaving the Manor.

The Life Suspending Manor was situated in a deep forest, every few days there would be a cargo carriage that carried supplies into the Manor, if anyone wanted to leave, they would have to take that carriage.

But there were no trucks coming or going in the days before or after that, and there were no sightings of the eliminated children in the Manor.

However this wasn’t a big deal.

Although he was initially a bit skeptical about the reliability of Life Suspending Manor, in the recent past, An Jing had personally experienced the treatment of the Manor – meat and food, compared to the chaotic world of the Northern Territories, this place was almost like heaven.

The instructors were a bit strict, but on the whole, they treated them well.

An Jing also got along well with a few of the instructors, who would even bring snacks and other things for the children, and while they were serious, they would also tell the children about their own training during breaks.

An Jing therefore didn’t take this matter to heart.

After all, they hadn’t met the five children who might have awakened their Fates in the beginning.

The Life Suspending Manor was very large, and there were many forbidden areas that they couldn’t enter. Those five children were probably living in other areas of the Manor, and those who were eliminated were probably also living in those areas.

Without realizing it, half a month had passed again.