Chapter Eight: Sakima Academy

“Hey, old man, the benefits for Basic Tang can’t be too low either. I only came because of him!” Amory declared with loyalty to Old Wei.

Tang Tian’s opinion of the Fly Ox instantly improved. What a good guy!

The old man pondered. “Alright, double allowance, but not a bit more. You can pick any bronze soul general card you like—even second or third tier, the school provides them. But for every card, you have to master it fully before picking a new one. After all, these are for training; biting off more than you can chew will get you nowhere.”

The old man’s calculations were clever; mastering a second-tier martial skill wasn’t easy, and third-tier was even harder, so his actual cost was minimal.

“Deal!” Tang Tian was very satisfied.

Originally, Tang Tian had planned to work for a soul general card. Now that he could get one, he was more than content.

Being able to focus on training—nothing could be better.

“By the way, what’s our school called?” Tang Tian suddenly remembered to ask.

“It’s called… um…” Amory had to look at Old Wei for help.

“Sachima Academy,” Old Wei replied with a chuckle.

Tang Tian’s face darkened—how much must the founder love Sachima? But he quickly put the odd name out of his mind and eagerly asked, “Where is our school?”

Although the name was strange, Tang Tian didn’t feel it mattered much. Because Starwind City offered generous subsidies, academies were everywhere. Andre Academy, which ranked in the top ten, was certainly prestigious, but there were far more small academies, unknown to most. That was perfectly normal.

“Haha, young people are full of energy—I like that! Not far,” Old Wei beamed, his wrinkled face scrunching until his eyes nearly disappeared.

Two hours later, in a deserted, dense forest.

Tang Tian stared blankly at the few ramshackle, half-collapsed wooden huts before him.

A broken wooden pole, missing a section, hung a rusty iron plaque with the crooked words “Sachima Academy.” The sign rattled in the wind, and Tang Tian’s heart sank.

“This is Sachima Academy?” Tang Tian turned with a dazed expression, pointing at the nearly ruined huts.

“Hahaha! The conditions are a bit rough, but young men should be tempered by hardship, don’t you think?” Old Wei showed no embarrassment at all.

Amory cried out, “Old Wei! How did you end up like this? Didn’t you say your school was in the top fifty?”

“I wasn’t lying! Fifty years ago, Sachima Academy did make it into the top fifty!” Old Wei swore solemnly.

“And now?” Tang Tian eyed him suspiciously.

“Well, we've hit a few minor difficulties but…” Old Wei tried to brush it off.

“The ranking!” Tang Tian’s eyes narrowed.

“The ranking… oh, it’s three hundred and fifty-second.” Old Wei blinked his small eyes.

Tang Tian turned to Amory, “How many schools are there in Starwind City?”

Amory frowned, thinking. “I think about three hundred and fifty.”

“Nonsense!” Old Wei jumped up. “There are three hundred and fifty-four!”

Tang Tian’s face turned black. “Third from last!”

Old Wei blinked innocently.

Amory suddenly understood. “No wonder you’re so generous with the benefits—it’s because your school is about to lose its qualification due to low points, right? Hey, old man, can you really pay us?”

Old Wei patted his chest. “Don’t worry! Sachima Academy has eighty years of history; we have some reserves. I can pay you an advance.”

“What about students? Are there just the two of us?” Tang Tian asked.

Old Wei looked even more innocent. “The last student transferred out just two days ago.”

“And teachers?” Tang Tian pressed on.

“Me,” Old Wei said, pointing to himself as if it were perfectly natural.

Tang Tian turned to Amory. “How do you know him?”

Amory looked a little shy. “I think I met him once as a child. He said I was a genius. Every time we met, he’d praise me. After a few years, we got to know each other well.” He added, “And I think he was right.”

Tang Tian was speechless, staring at the almost ruined academy before him.

“Are you going to be scared off by this minor setback?” Old Wei blinked at them.

“Scared off?” Tang Tian scowled, staring menacingly at Old Wei.

He snorted, his face darkening as he rolled up his sleeves.

“What are you doing, Basic Tang? Gonna beat him up? Honestly, he could use it,” Amory tilted his head, curious.

“Build a house,” Tang Tian replied without looking back, heading into the woods.

“Build a house?” Amory glanced at the dilapidated huts, suddenly understanding, his eyes lighting up. “As expected of an extraordinary man! I knew it—this is nothing for you, Basic Tang!”

Unwilling to listen to more rambling, Tang Tian pointed deeper into the woods. “Go get some timber.”

“No problem!” Amory thumped his chest and charged into the forest like a bull.

Tang Tian began planning. This place was too far from Starwind City; they needed proper housing. Three people, three cabins. Simple training equipment, like wooden stakes, was also essential. One of the tumbledown huts was supposedly a library, probably full of useless things, but he decided to build a small shed to store them.

Tang Tian had lived alone for years, fixing things was second nature, and he was always efficient. Soon, he had cleared a patch of land.

Before long, the ground began to shake with thunderous noise.

Tang Tian turned reflexively and was instantly stunned.

Amory was carrying a tree trunk over three meters in diameter on his shoulder, dragging the other end behind him. He charged forward like a wild bull, flattening everything in his path.

“Haha!” Amory’s sturdy frame looked pitifully small under the massive tree. His mouth formed an O, muscles bulging, each step sinking deep into the earth. The huge crown swept behind him like a giant broom, carving a path through the forest.

Even someone as confident in his own strength as Tang Tian was left speechless by this display of brute force.

Thud!

Amory dropped the tree at Tang Tian’s feet, making the ground tremble.

“Is this enough? Need more?” Amory looked brimming with energy.

Tang Tian made a quick, wise decision. He found a battered knife in the pile of junk and handed it to Amory. “Cut them into planks.”

“This thick,” Tang Tian demonstrated, his expression solemn. “It’s excellent training. The requirement is absolute precision.”

“No problem!” Amory’s eyes sparkled as he snatched the knife and dashed toward the giant log.

A perfect human machine! Tang Tian sighed in admiration and got back to work.

“Young people really are full of vigor!” Old Wei said admiringly from a distance, then struggled up onto a broken hammock under a tree and promptly fell asleep.

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Looking at the newly built wooden cabins, Tang Tian and Amory felt a deep sense of accomplishment. The planks Amory split were smooth as if planed, and Tang Tian’s carpentry wasn’t bad either. After a whole day of work, they were exhausted.

“Time to rest.” Tang Tian waved and slipped into his cabin.

Yawning, Amory crawled into his own to sleep.

Tang Tian didn’t sleep immediately. He spread out a sheet of paper and began writing to Chihui.

“Chihui: Today I transferred schools. The new one is called Sachima Academy—interesting, isn’t it? The whole place is steeped in nature…”

Under the night sky, Old Wei opened his eyes on the hammock, glanced at the softly glowing orange light in the little cabin, and smiled, his cloudy eyes suddenly deep.

A night passed.

Early the next morning, Tang Tian awoke. Though exhausted from the day before, his disciplined routine made him rise on time. Beside the academy ran a cold stream. He washed up, instantly alert.

“Young man, you’re full of energy!” Old Wei’s voice came from behind.

Tang Tian didn’t even turn around. “Principal, you’re up early too?”

“Ah, when you’re old, you don’t sleep as well as you youngsters,” Old Wei sighed, then continued, “By the way, what kind of soul general card do you need?”

At the mention of soul general cards, Tang Tian perked up.

“Second tier is fine. Hmm, give me a fist technique card first.”

Tang Tian’s training talent was average, but perhaps because he’d been fighting a lot lately, he found punching people both satisfying and exhilarating.

“A fist technique? Not many people choose that. Let me see.” With a flourish, Old Wei produced several bronze soul general cards and spread them before Tang Tian. “Here, pick one.”

Thrilled, Tang Tian began examining them carefully.

Bronze soul general cards had a bronze sheen. In the center, a blurry figure stood with fists clenched. Each card showed the figure in a different pose.

On the back was a description of the card.

When a martial artist mastered a skill, a soul general card could be created. The cards came in three qualities: bronze, silver, and gold.

Each contained a portion of the martial artist’s soul imprint and insight into the technique. The higher the quality, the more insight it held—thirty percent for bronze, sixty for silver, and all for gold.

Soul general cards had two functions: summoning the soul general, and possession. When possessed, the user absorbed the information from the soul imprint.

Both summoning and possession were time-limited.

At first, possession was mainly a combat method, but people soon discovered it was an excellent way to learn techniques. Soul general cards caught on and have been popular for over a thousand years, with an intricate, vast system.

Tang Tian picked up the cards one by one, choosing carefully.

Thousand Whirlpool Fist: Fists like whirlpools, turning endlessly, leaving no opening. Requires water force to activate.

Blazing Sun Fist: Fists like the blazing sun, dazzling and domineering. Requires fire force to activate.

Withered Wood Fist: Fist like a dead branch, overcoming skill with simplicity, defense as offense. Requires wood force to activate.

…

Tang Tian immediately put aside any requiring the five elemental forces. Soon, only two cards remained.

Lightning Fist: Swift as lightning, can be powered by any force.

Heavy Fist: Mighty and overwhelming, using strength to break skill, can be powered by any force.

Thinking of strength maniacs like Amory, Tang Tian decided on Lightning Fist.