Feng Qianjun had stopped Wu Youren with one fundamental goal: he wanted to be the shot-caller for the five hostages at Red Pine Martial Academy!
He didn't think this would pose any problem. For now, Wu Youren at least wasn't disputing the point… which was satisfactory enough.
He then added, "Now that we're at the martial academy, our families can find other ways to send us some money."
There was nothing wrong with that reasoning. Back at Jin Garden, the hostages' stipends from home were watched like hawks, but things were different here at the academy.
"My family… is poor," Wu Youren replied even more bluntly. Without his nominal grandfather, his family couldn't even afford twenty silver dollars!
Surely they knew that already, didn't they?
"I'm not after your measly scrap," Feng Qianjun said straightforwardly. "My only demand right now is that we advance and retreat together."
"Naturally, we advance and retreat together," Wu Youren answered without hesitation. *I don't even have the qualifications to sell out Great Jin!*
Our ancient god never lacked self-awareness; given his strength, going along with them was his only real option.
At any rate, as long as money wasn't involved, they were all in similar straits, so he had no reason not to cooperate.
"There are martial instructors from Kang in your residential area," He Wenhao spoke up. "Even so, I still don't advise you to take any of them as a master."
Relations between Kang and Great Liang weren't good either, but it was hardly uncommon for individuals to serve Liang.
"Even if I wanted to take a master, I wouldn't have the money," Wu Youren sighed, touching his forehead. "Do you really have to keep your eyes glued to me?"
"If you don't take a master, you won't be considered a true graduate of the academy," Feng Qianjun said, clearly unconvinced.
This wasn't hard to understand. Taking advanced studies at the martial academy was entirely different from Red Pine Martial Academy certifying that you had earned the right to graduate.
Jin held martial artists from Liang's academies in high esteem, but there was a prerequisite: you had to possess the actual diploma!
Otherwise, just anyone could wander through a Liang martial academy and boast that they were a top talent.
"Lineage? I have to be able to make it back first," Wu Youren thought. The fellow was getting ahead of himself, but he couldn't be bothered to argue.
Instead, another matter came to mind. "By the way, they actually sell cultivation arts here!"
Feng Qianjun and He Wenhao both chuckled upon hearing that. "Do you think the people of Liang could really be that foolish?"
The Technique Pavilion only sold the most basic cultivation arts and combat techniques. As for advanced versions, those weren't things anyone could simply purchase.
You either had to learn them by apprenticing under a master, or by pledging loyalty to certain departments of Great Liang.
As for basic arts being rare on the open market? Don't worry about that—hardly anyone who managed to enter the martial academy was an ordinary person.
Many of Great Liang's foundational arts had spread to other nations long ago; there was simply no stopping it.
Take Wu Youren, for instance. Even without becoming a hostage, if he put his mind to it, he could still have purchased some ordinary arts back in Jin.
When it came to higher-tier arts, however, one was out of luck. What Red Pine Martial Academy made openly available for purchase only went up to the apprentice knight stage.
As for the arts required to cultivate at the knight stage, those could only be obtained through specific channels.
What Wu Youren currently cultivated was Great Jin's Gale Internal Breath Art, which led straight to Divine Might Knight.
Yet all he possessed were the techniques for the apprentice knight and knight stages.
Once he reached the knight stage and wished to advance to grand knight, he would still have to return to Jin to seek out the subsequent methods.
Red Pine's Technique Pavilion was merely responsible for guiding people across the threshold, so teaching those arts carried no burden or risk.
"Even so, this is quite remarkable," Wu Youren couldn't help commenting.
If he hadn't become a hostage and had remained an ordinary person, getting his hands on an introductory art in Great Jin would have been exceptionally difficult.
Here, all it took was money, and one could choose freely. It truly lived up to its name as an intermediate martial academy.
"Is your art Blazing Flame or Gale?" Feng Qianjun couldn't resist dropping a hint: Where did his allegiance lie?
"Gale," Wu Youren replied offhandedly. "Rest assured, gentlemen, I'll still have to seek the subsequent parts from Great Jin."
"As long as you know where you stand," He Wenhao said as parting words, and the two walked away.
Wu Youren shook his head with a smile, not taking their words to heart.
Circumstances were shaped by the mind; if one viewed those words as a threat, things would inevitably drift in that direction.
If he treated it as a well-meaning reminder, wouldn't that settle the matter?
The fact remained that these two had arrived only recently and had already figured out the situation at the Technique Pavilion, proving they had their own avenues of information. He needed companions like that.
Returning to his dorm and seeing his two frosty roommates, Wu Youren grew even firmer in his resolve.
At the academy, it was impossible for him to become friends with Liang locals, so he couldn't afford to sour his relationship with the hostage faction as well.
Over the following days, he spent most of his time wandering around, prioritizing a thorough understanding of Red Pine Martial Academy's conditions.
In the eyes of his two roommates, he was somewhat idle and neglecting his proper duties. He had been there four or five days without attending a single open lecture.
Wu Youren had his own pace. Only on the sixth day did he finally attend a free open lecture.
The instructor giving the lecture actually had real skill—at the very least, it was better than fumbling through cultivation on his own.
When the lecture ended, only one student stood up to ask a question, and the instructor offered a brief answer.
—Anyone wanting to know more would have to pay.
Wu Youren had no intention of drawing attention to himself; the lower his profile, the better.
On the eighth day, he attended another open lecture, slipping away the moment the instructor finished speaking.
By the ninth day, his communication wristwatch vibrated. It was a message from the academy's mailroom: a package had arrived.
Wu Youren calculated the time; it was about right. It had to be his stipend from home, as no one else would possibly send him a package.
He truly had no idea where the mailroom was, so he casually followed after a female martial artist to ask for directions.
His Jin accent wasn't particularly heavy, but any male martial artist who could pick up on it usually showed him a poor attitude.
He had no choice but to ask female martial artists for directions—being in a foreign land, shouldn't he make good use of his advantages?
Unfortunately, not all women cared for good looks. Being on the scrawnier side, he sometimes drew disdain instead.
This time, the female martial artist was rather warm. Not only did she point out the way, but she also mentioned she was heading the same direction, chatting and asking questions all along the road.
As the two walked and talked, three people approached from the opposite direction and froze upon hearing him. "A Jin native?"
Judging solely by the accent of those three words, Wu Youren could be certain they were from Jin as well.
"Yeah," he grunted softly and nodded, saying nothing more.
His demeanor clearly signaled that strangers should keep their distance.
Meeting a fellow countryman in a foreign land wasn't necessarily a good thing.
Even if this truly was a chance encounter, his own identity was extremely sensitive, so why drag his countrymen into trouble?
Seeing his cold demeanor, a sturdy young man with a scar above his eyebrow sneered, "And whose young master is this supposed to be?"
Wu Youren didn't even bat an eye, acting as if he hadn't heard a thing.
The female martial artist's eyes lit up slightly at the comment. After brushing past the trio, she asked, "Why didn't you acknowledge them?"
"People from a defeated nation shouldn't make a scene," Wu Youren replied calmly.
"Then are you…" The female martial artist sized him up from head to toe, asking uncertainly, "From a well-off family?"
To be fair, judging by his attire, she found it hard to believe.
Yet at the same time, she hoped what those three Jin natives had said was true.
"Very… ordinary," Wu Youren said after a brief hesitation.
Leaving aside the grievances of the previous generation, his nominal grandfather had given him quite a substantial sum over the past eight years.
Furthermore, because he had come here as a hostage, his family back home was being well looked after.
His family's true situation couldn't be hidden from his fellow hostages, but when facing outsiders, he couldn't simply say his family was destitute.
Seeing his hesitation, the female martial artist grew somewhat displeased. "It's not like I'm after your money… My family doesn't lack for coin!"
"Of course," Wu Youren smiled. "How could a poor family afford to cultivate a martial artist?"
In the end, the two exchanged contact information through their wristwatches, making her his first acquaintance outside the hostage group.
The female martial artist was named Cynthia, seventeen years old, and was also an apprentice knight on the verge of attempting a breakthrough to knight.
Following that, a noticeable shift occurred in Wu Youren's daily life.
At first, Cynthia remained fairly restrained, chatting about information related to the open lectures, knowing he was a newcomer.
Two days later, however, she began steering the conversation toward other topics and even sent him sparring invitations.
Wu Youren's perfunctory attitude was glaringly obvious, just short of expressing outright annoyance, but the more he acted like that, the more persistent she became.
On the seventh day after they met, Cynthia actually showed up directly at his dormitory!
"My… wristwatch ran out of charge," Wu Youren said, utterly speechless.
In the dead of night, a female martial artist could stroll right into a male dormitory, while male martial artists couldn't… It was thoroughly unfair.
"Tomorrow is my friend's birthday," Cynthia stated bluntly. "If I don't have a date, I'll lose face!"
*My heart belongs only to the Dao!* Wu Youren pondered for a moment before replying, "My mother told me I'm not allowed to date before advancing."
He had no idea if this world had a concept like "mama's boy."
"Isn't your mother back in Jin?" As expected, Cynthia looked utterly surprised.
"Yes," Wu Youren nodded, answering solemnly. "Before I came to Liang, she exhorted me repeatedly."
"I thought she had come to Great Liang," Cynthia murmured with some disappointment.
If the mother were in Liang, she could find a way to persuade her, but Jin… that was simply too far.
Then she forced herself to rally. "Who said anything about being girlfriend and boyfriend? We're not at that stage yet. I just need an escort."
"You could consider me," one of the Liang roommates spoke up. His name was Salinen, a tall and lanky fellow.
He claimed his lean build was purely due to a recent growth spurt, as there wasn't a single thin person in his family.
It was just that his facial features… were a bit too rugged.
Cynthia didn't even spare him a glance, keeping her eyes fixed intently on Wu Youren.
Wu Youren hesitated before saying, "That still requires my mother's permission. In fact, even my marriage has to be decided by her."
Cynthia was visibly startled. "Do women in Jin hold such high status in the household?"
"At least my family cares a great deal about it," Wu Youren said. Since he had already started spinning tales, he wasn't afraid to paint himself in an even more pathetic light. "Our ancestral teachings emphasize upholding male virtue!"
"Understood—a live-in son-in-law!" Cynthia caught on with surprising sharpness, a look of longing appearing on her face. "I envy that kind of family so much!"
Seeing this, the other roommate, Subar, couldn't take it anymore. "Don't listen to him! What kind of nonsense is 'male virtue'?"
"Did you get your head slammed in a door?" Salinen glared fiercely at him and covertly shot him a wink. "He's talking about Jin!"
Chapter 14