Chapter Sixteen – The Iron Lock

Out of curiosity, Xu Yi stepped forward to find out what was happening over there. Eventually, he saw a pyramid-shaped building with a glittering golden plate hanging on the top of the gate – Lecture Room.

“Is it a Lecture Room for Wu Dao?” Xu Yi wondered.

Walking several steps closer, Xu Yi found an introductory essay sculptured on the wall, which narrated the establishment date and purpose, etc. Definitely, this kind of essay was tedious, but Xu Yi was quite interested in it.

Actually, the Lecture Room was an official building, established by the Emperor of Yue. He built it in an attempt to narrow the resource gap between rich and poor cultivators. Anyone who was born in a rich family, for instance, would certainly receive the best education in Wu Dao, while those aspiring, yet poor cultivators, could only learn by themselves, without any effective guidance. Therefore, many of the poor cultivators would encounter bottlenecks they weren’t able to overcome, for the long road of cultivation in Wu Dao had many realms that could only be achieved after breaking through a bottleneck.

The Emperor of Yue had built these Lecture Rooms throughout his territory. Though it might’ve only been a political strategy to win credibility among the poor people, it really brought concrete benefits to those sincere Wu Dao cultivators, especially to the newcomers.

Xu Yi felt tears of happiness coming up and was about to cry out in joy, due to the information on this wall inscription.

It was true that Xu Yi had entered the peak state of a forged body, but his theoretical basis for Wu Dao was next to nonexistent. Before, diligence and practice had brought him to this point. However, he never actually knew anything about Wu Dao itself. What he had learned so far was from his Sifu, Liao Chen, who taught Xu Yi out of gratitude. Any rudimentary knowledge or anecdotes in Wu Dao were out of reach for Xu Yi. So he was desperate to learn more!

During the three-day recovery period in the Mu Family, Xu Yi began to consider his future. Right now, there were two main tasks. Firstly, he had to kill Zhou Daoqian. Secondly, he wished to return the scripture to the Heaven-Zen Temple, which was Liao Chen’s will.

In order to complete these two tasks, Xu Yi had to improve his cultivation in Wu Dao. He set himself a short-term goal – to surpass the peak state and enter into the next realm – an ocean of qi!

At his current stage, Xu Yi wasn’t capable enough to kill Shirong, let alone his father – Daoqian. Therefore, he really hoped that in this Lecture Room he would encounter some experienced mentors. Because right now, Xu Yi was in dire need of a teacher.

...

In the middle of the Lecture Room, there stood a gigantic iron-made lock. Suddenly, a man in plain clothing stepped forward: “The greatest of gratitudes to our Emperor for providing us with this Lecture Room, where we can discuss, compete and absorb knowledge of Wu Dao. We’re all born mundane, yet our love for Wu Dao will never wither. Let’s show our Emperor that we’re worthy of this place! Let’s practice ten… no, a hundred times harder than those privileged cultivators!”

After his introductory speech, the man in plain clothing pointed at the iron lock and said: “Let’s begin!”

Once he stepped away from the iron lock, a man in green clothing casually walked in front of the giant lock. After he had finished stretching and his warming-up, the man in green clothing grabbed the lock with a loud roar. The muscles on his arms became visible due to the great strength he exerted. As expected, he successfully lifted the lock over his head.

- Hooray! -

The room exploded with exclamations and clapping.

A few seconds later, the lock fell back on the floor with a - thud! -. The man in green clothing bowed to everyone, with his hands folded in front of his chest. Everyone’s passion was ignited by this first challenger. After the first there were at least another fifty people who attempted to lift the lock, but only less than half of them managed to lift this iron lock up.

After he had observed for a couple of minutes, Xu Yi figured out that the iron lock was about 250 kilograms in weight, which was exactly the threshold for entering the level of a forged body. Only those who passed the test were qualified to participate in the class.

Later, another ten people volunteered to lift the lock, while only three passed.

The man in plain clothing said: “Anyone else? Time is limited, if there’s no one else, we will call it a day. Oh, I have some words to say for those who didn’t pass! Never, ever, give up. If you failed this year, try again next year! As long as you never quit, sooner or later, you will be a member of the Lecture Room!”

As soon as the man in plain clothing finished his speech, he casually lifted the lock with his left hand. Everyone was astounded by this show of strength.

“Let me have a try!” Finally, Xu Yi stepped forward.

Now, everyone’s attention was focused on Xu Yi, as he was the only stranger here. Hibiscus Town was rather small, so everyone here was familiar with each other. Xu Yi was obviously the only exception, as he had only lived here for 3 days.

“Who the hell is this guy? He’s not supposed to be in our Lecture Room.”

“Look at you, stranger. You are too skinny, have you really made yourself believe you can lift the iron lock?”

“Boss Gu, this man is not even an inhabitant of our town, please send him away. You know that we don’t cultivate with outsiders.”

The room was quickly filled with noisy complaints, as if there were dozens of flies buzzing around. Most of these villagers were far from accomplished in Wu Dao, but they had obtained certain accomplishments in bullying newcomers.

“Hello everyone, let me introduce myself. I’m a passionate cultivator in Wu Dao. I have been cultivating for some time now, but I’ve realised that the further I move forward, the less I know. You know, I’m a man full of questions about Wu Dao, I’m so eager to find these answers. Since we’re all Wu Dao cultivators, why won’t you be so generous as to let me in. Besides, our Emperor founded this building in an attempt to benefit all poor cultivators, regardless of their origins. If you insist in deterring me, I’m afraid you’re going against the will of our Emperor.” Xu Yi gracefully bowed after his persuasive remarks.

Xu Yi was quite articulate in front of so many people. This might’ve something to do with the previous life of Xu Yi’s soul. He used to be a high-ranking commander, whose talents stood out amongst millions upon millions of people.

At the same time, the original Xu Yi (before the new soul transferred had entered into his body) was also talented in various areas, such as history and classics.

The combination of the ‘two’ Xu Yi’s had dramatically boosted his abilities. So it was no wonder that he was so eloquent, despite the fact that most of the people here were hostile towards him.

The man in plain clothing was actually touched by Xu Yi’s remarks, especially when he had mentioned the Emperor of Yue.

He meditated for a while, and then replied, “What a persuasive speech! You are right, we shouldn’t expel you from this Lecture Room. But we have rules here, only those who can lift this lock are allowed to join the class. Since you dare to step into this room, I bet you are quite something. So please move ten steps away from the lock, and I will throw the lock towards you. If you don’t miss and manage to catch the lock and hold it steadily, then you’re welcome to join us!”

On the one hand, Since Xu Yi had mentioned the Emperor, the man in plain clothing was compelled to be generous to him, as he didn’t want to hurt the reputation of this Lecture Room. While on the other hand, looking at those furious warriors, he didn’t want to displease them either. Therefore, he came up with a win-win solution – to show kindness to Xu Yi, but set a higher bar for him.

Indeed, the man in plain clothing was a well-known figure in this town. That was because he was one of the few in this town, who had achieved the middle state of a forged body. If he threw the lock towards Xu Yi, the momentum of the flying lock, together with its original weight, would certainly exceed 250 kilograms.

Would this new-comer successfully catch the lock, or would he make a fool of himself?

People applauded for the upcoming show, as most of them predicted that Xu Yi would never catch the heavy iron lock, it was simply impossible, at least for them.