In a neighborhood of old, single-story houses in the city, there was an old, antique-style residence.
Flanking the somewhat-antiquated gatehouse stood two stone lions, baring their fangs and brandishing their claws in a grand display of might.
The main gate was coated in black lacquer, thick and solemn.
Hanging on the beam above the gate was a plaque that read: "Jimin Medicine Hall." The vermilion characters were somewhat faded, not quite matching the jet-black facade.
Zhao Rui strode inside, where the sounds of martial arts practice—grunts and shouts—could be heard.
In the light of the setting sun, beads of sweat rolled down their young, tender faces, glistening brightly.
Zhao Rui bypassed this group of junior brothers and sisters and walked into the front hall.
In the center of the hall, an old man was sitting upright at an Eight Immortals table, casually turning a teapot in his hands and taking a couple of sips from time to time.
"Master, did you have the main gate painted? It really stinks! Why didn't you paint the plaque too?"
Zhao Rui asked with a smile upon seeing the old man.
"With a bunch of poor disciples like you, where would I get the money to paint? This was leftover from someone else. I just used what I could get. They didn't have any red!"
The old man was unshaven, with salt-and-pepper hair. His two eyebrows were as long as thumbs, and it was hard to tell if they were real or fake.
His head was noticeably larger than an average person's, looking slightly cartoonish.
This was none other than Zhao Rui's master, Li Da Nao, Li Cunxin!
"Just wait until I get into college and make a ton of money. I'll definitely get you a brand new plaque!"
"Don't. I'm not counting on you remembering me when you're rich. Did you pay last month's tuition?"
Li Cunxin said bluntly, crossing his legs.
"Hehe, Master, didn't you say that if I tutored Xin'Er, I wouldn't have to pay tuition?"
"Go on, get out of here. All you know is how to take advantage of an old man like me. Xin'Er hasn't finished her homework. Go check on her. She was nagging me to call you, but I ignored her!"
Li Cunxin said, sounding slightly impatient.
Zhao Rui chuckled and strode into the rear residence.
"Uncle Master, you're back from school! I don't know how to do any of these problems. Quick, come explain them to me!"
As soon as he entered the front hall of the rear residence, he saw a young girl of about thirteen or fourteen hunched over a wooden table, doing her homework.
Hearing his footsteps, the little girl looked up and called out happily to Zhao Rui.
"Can't you use your own brain?"
Zhao Rui said.
"I don't have one anymore! You and Grandpa knocked it all out of me!"
The little girl rolled her eyes. With two fingers, she blocked the hand Zhao Rui was bringing down to flick her head.
Zhao Rui gave an embarrassed smile, recalling his past "bad habit" of bullying the child, and couldn't help but feel a little ashamed.
'That was all "him," not me!'
'In my past life, I doted on other people's daughters the most. How could I possibly bully a girl?'
"From now on, your Uncle Master promises he won't flick your head anymore. Which problem is it? Let me see!"
Zhao Rui put aside his playful mood and began to teach his little junior niece.
He tutored her like this for an hour until the sky was pitch black. A chubby boy ran in and called for Zhao Rui to come to the front courtyard.
Zhao Rui gave his little junior niece a few instructions, then followed the chubby boy out of the rear residence's front hall.
"Senior Brother, Eldest Senior Brother and the others are back. The mood doesn't look good."
The chubby boy was an apprentice, the kind who paid money to learn kung fu.
"Mm, I got it."
Zhao Rui acknowledged him and arrived at the front courtyard shortly after. Just as he entered the gate, he saw a line of young and middle-aged people standing there, heads hanging in dejection.
Li Da Nao paced in front of them, holding a long-stemmed pipe and puffing out smoke.
"You all really make me proud," he said sarcastically. "Not a single one of you made it into the district's top fifty. What, do these old bones have to get on stage myself?"
Li Cunxin was in a foul mood. Each disciple he taught was dumber than the last.
'My judgment is truly second to none,' he thought wryly.
Not only were his disciples dumb, but his sons were too. Neither his eldest nor his second son had managed to inherit any of his Martial Arts.
As he was scolding them, his gaze fell upon Zhao Rui, who had just hurried over and was now pausing at the courtyard entrance.
His anger flared up even more.
He had originally hoped this youngest disciple could make him proud. If not the district's top ten or top twenty, then at least the top fifty.
But he had only managed to place in the top hundred.
"You, get over here and stand in punishment too!"
Li Cunxin snapped at Zhao Rui.
Hearing this, Zhao Rui quickly lowered his head, hurried over, and joined his senior brothers and sisters in their punishment.
"Look at you all! What a sorry sight!"
"I'm not even going to talk about extra training. You're all just dumb!..."
"Back in my day, I..."
Li Cunxin grumbled on for a long while before sighing, tapping his pipe, and shuffling into the back courtyard.
Once the man was gone, Zhao Rui cautiously asked his senior brothers and sisters about their results.
As expected, after asking around, not a single one had a good score. The best was his Eldest Senior Brother—the master's eldest son—who had placed 56th.
But Eldest Senior Brother was already forty; his talent was truly limited.
Everyone glanced at each other, heaved a sigh, and, with no mood for conversation, prepared to go their separate ways.
Zhao Rui was dumbfounded. He had come today specifically to spar with his senior brothers and test out his system's function.
Now that they were all leaving, who was he supposed to find?
Zhao Rui quickly called out to his Third Senior Brother, Luo Ranfeng, "Senior Brother, spar with me for a bit!"
"Are you sure?"
Luo Ranfeng's long, narrow eyes squinted, and a strange glint lit up within them.
"Holy crap!"
Startled, Zhao Rui quickly waved his hands in refusal. "Never mind, never mind! Some other day!"
"Too late!"
Before Zhao Rui could turn, Luo Ranfeng had already gripped his wrist at the Taiyuan acupoint and dragged him into the Martial Arts Arena.
Less than a minute later, Zhao Rui's bloodcurdling screams echoed from within!
"What the hell, Senior Brother, are you a pervert?! Stop kicking my ass!"
"You're going too far! Even a clay figure has a bit of a temper! Don't push me!"
Inside the Martial Arts Arena, Zhao Rui howled for a long time. Seeing that his senior brother was serious, he roused his spirits and began to fight back in earnest.
Luo Ranfeng was a Level 5 Professional Martial Artist with over ten years of Inner Power Cultivation. He was far beyond the level of Zhao Rui, who had only been in Cultivation for seven or eight years and had only specialized in Cloud Hand Star-Picking for the last five.
Furthermore, since they shared the same master, both were intimately familiar with each other's Martial Arts Techniques. In this exchange, Zhao Rui was naturally on the defensive.
However, it was just a spar between fellow disciples, so Luo Ranfeng wasn't going all out.
As they traded blows for a good while, a new line of information appeared on Zhao Rui's Martial Arts panel.
"Name: Zhao Rui
Age: 18
Copiable Martial Art: Cloud Hand Star-Picking (Copy? Yes/No)"
Seeing this name, Zhao Rui hesitated for a moment. Only after taking another kick from his senior brother did he cast aside his distracting thoughts and focus on the fight.
'Copy!'
Zhao Rui chose to copy without hesitation.
More than half an hour later, a panting Zhao Rui sat on a stone bench at the edge of the Martial Arts Arena. He took the drink his senior brother handed him and chugged it down. GULP, GULP.
"Your college entrance exams are coming up soon; you can't afford to be restless. Your skill level is much higher than ours was back then. Don't be impatient!"
Luo Ranfeng said calmly, sitting beside him and taking a sip of water.
"Yeah, Senior Brother, I know. My teacher said my practical combat skills are a bit weak, so I wanted to get in some more practice before the exams."
Zhao Rui said, half-truthfully.
"Alright. I don't have any competitions coming up, so come by whenever you have time. I'll practice with you!"
"Thanks, Senior Brother!"
"Don't mention it!"
After resting for a while in the Martial Arts Hall, Zhao Rui got up, parted ways with his senior brother, and entered the main hall of the inner residence alone.